Individual Analysis- X-men First Class

For this task I chose to look at the film X-Men First Class, one of the similar films to our own.

Trailer:

Plot (From imdb.com):
"In 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start world war III."

Stars:

• James McAvoy
• Michael Fassbender
• Kevin Bacon
• Jennifer Lawrence
• Nicholas Hoult
• Lucas Till
• Rose Byrne
• Zoe Kravitz
• Caleb Landry-Jones
• Oliver Pratt
• Jason Flemyng
• Morgan Lily
• Laurence Belcher

Details:

• 20th Century fox
• Action, Sci-fi and Adventure genres

Analysis:

The start of this film is a very standard one, going through the distributors logo and production companies starting with 20th Century Fox and moving through to Marvel who own the rights to the X-Men franchise.

From the Marvel logo it moves into an upwards tilt through a black screen, this then becomes a sort of wipe where the frame turns into a wall. This leads into an establishing shot, with a tagline of text which gives some context behind the scene. It is common knowledge that 1944 was the time of World War Two, and the fact that it is a dirty and dark scene means that a link to the Nazi concentration camps can be made due to the fact that it is set in Poland. The dark tone set by the dark lighting and colours as well as the rain shows the audience that this isn't going to be a pleasant scene.

This close up on the arm of one of the men shows a tattoo, which are fairly painful even when voluntary, shows numbers which has a strong connotation of a prisoner number. The rain in the background shows that he is at the place that we assume is the concentration camp, which this now backs up. He is standing in heavy rain with just a flimsy shirt on which shows just how badly he is being treated.

This high angle shot to look up at this particular character gives him a powerful status, he is inside away from the rain, looking down at the other people and simply watching them work in the pouring rain while he's in the comfort and safety of inside. Even though he is poorly lit, it can be seen that he is wearing an expensive looking suit which backs up that he is in high status, and he is drinking from some fine china which would not be cheap.

This next establishing shot with text to give context shows a much different scene from the one that we have just witnessed, set in the same year but in a different country altogether it shows a nice country mansion surrounded by green land and it looks like pleasant evening weather. The dark shows that it is nighttime in this scene, and all the lights but one room in the house are on which shows the audience that someone in the house is up, whether it be someone who lives in the house or someone who is visiting illegally.

This medium shot with a zoom out is showing the audience the powers which this young girl has, the blue skin that she has stands out against the plain colour scheme of the interior of the house. This makes the point that the girl is unusual, someone that is different and would possibly be scary because of how she could easily sneak around.

This two shot shows us the blue girl once again, but the way that she is clearly smaller than the boy shows her innocence and that she is not a danger even though she isn't something we see everyday. The way that the boy is extending a hand out to the girl shows that he is friendly and that this relationship is going to be important for the rest of the film.

The fact that every single character in this shot is in focus, gives the impression that even the ones that are placed at the back of the shot are important to the scene. The characters on the right side of the shot all have brown, dull looking clothes on which shows their lesser status to the man sat behind the desk with the posh suit. The fact he is holding a pistol which he is holding up to the weak looking woman in relation to the young boy is holding his arms out clearly attempting to use super powers but the pain on his face still seen though this wide shot shows that he is struggling.

These next two master shots show both sides of the young boys power, in both it is clear to see that with his arms raised he is putting a lot of force into his powers, and the pain that was expressed earlier when attempting to use his powers has now been replaced by anger. The first screen cap by only seeing the back of him and watching as all the metal objects flying around through the windows, makes him look powerful. Then the next screen cap from the perspective of the room where all the metal is flying around, it could possibly make the audience feel like they are in the middle of the metal storm, in a dangerous place and they're looking right at the anger on the young boys face. 

Because this scene is all spoken in German, reading the subtitles is important because it makes the whole thing even more believable. Linking the subtitle to the image of the man guiding the boy into the wrecked room, "You and me..." and the close proximity makes it appear that they are father/son rather than two strangers. The dark lighting and their silhouetted bodies gives off the sinister tone that is behind this relationship. 

The graphic match of the Nazi coin to the movie logo finally completes the title sequence and the silver on the black background gives it more of an official and serious look which sets the tone for the rest of the film.

When we get this close up of the arm, with a number tattoo similar to the one which we saw at the start of the show. From the way that the Nazi coin is seen hovering above his hand gives us a hint that this person is the same boy that we saw earlier on, just grown up.

This low angle shot gives the audience the first glance of the man's face, and the blank look he has on his face while concentrating on something off frame. The low angle on him links him back to the boy because its hinting at the fact that he's constantly oppressed. 

Once it has completely zoomed out to this wide shot, the date on the text shows that it is now 1962 which means that the war is over and the man on the bed very much is the little boy from the start of the movie but grown up. The props fit the 60's era furniture. What made him make the move from Poland/Germany to Geneva, Switzerland?

The close up on the pencil drawing means that the audience can recognise that the man in the picture is the same one from the start of the movie, and although at this point the audience don't know it the coin in the middle of the head is a very significant image. It is foreshadowing what is going to happen to this man by the end of the film, by the man on the bed who fired the coin at the wall with his super powers. This shows us a line of sight, as this is what he was concentrating on in earlier shots, and the fact that he's done this to a picture of the man shows great anger towards him.

As we now have the context of the leap in years, by the close up on this particular character we can assume that this man is the other young boy that we were introduced to at the start of the movie, and he is physically demonstrating his power here, by placing his fingers against his forehead. Certainly hinting that his power is mind related. His hair look neat and done well, which matches with the nice suit he is wearing which shows that he is much better off which makes sense if he grew up in a mansion.

When it comes to the first shot, it is a two shot but it is framed in a way that the blonde girl sat at one of the tables at the back of the pub is perfectly in shot even if she is out of focus. This means that she is going to be an important character, the fact that she is a girl could mean that she is the little girl who has the blue skin. She has the power of disguise, which means this could be the form she wears now she's older. In the second shot we see her moving into focus as she walks towards the two at the front which shows that she is in fact important.