Textual Analysis

Textual analysis-

All of the three films that I have analysed, Swordfish, collateral and eagle eye are thrillers which have some differences and some similarities in both their entire plot and the opening sequence.

In all three of the opening sequences they start with either music or sound playing over the opening titles.


In swordfish the film starts with sinister non-diegetic music which creates distortion as the audience doesn't know what it going on as you do not see any footage just the production titles and then the title of the film, this is the same for eagle eye as you do not see the start of the film just the DreamWorks production alongside some sinister music this creates tension straight away which is what a thriller film should do. Unlike the other two films collateral doesn’t start with music it starts with diegetic sounds of an airport this unlike the others sets the scene as you can tell that the film is going to be at an airport from the noise of the plane landing in the background, although the music doesn’t create an sinister feel like in the other films, the black and white DreamWorks sequence which sets a dark tone of the film to follow instead of the non-diegetic music.

In the film collateral the scene opens up in a crowed airport where there is two men in focus and the rest are being focused pulled as they are walking you can hear their footsteps which are closely miced as you can hear them over the noise of the crowed airport, the footsteps that you can hear match their personalities and what their appearances are, both men are smartly dressed but one is wearing sunglasses and seems to be in control and calm as his footsteps are slower, he is not looking around but just straight ahead looking where he is going, which is unlike the other man whose footsteps are much faster which emphasizes his bobbing and constant looking around like he isn’t in as much control as the other  man. This is unlike eagle eye and swordfish as they have different sounds in the opening sequences. Swordfish has very sinister non-diegetic music that has carried on form the opening titles this changes slightly to fit the dialogue, as Gabriel says certain words that need highlighting and are important to the events later in the film they are recognised by a change in music that gets higher in pitch and makes the scene on a whole seem more sinister which is consequently making the audience confused and intrigued, it also makes them scared as the dialogue its self is sinister and confusing, this continues throughout the majority of the opening sequence. Whereas in Eagle eye the music form the start continues with the film until you see the small village over the hill this then changes when the scene cuts to jeeps driving down a road the music becomes diegetic as you can hear the car on the road but you can also hear some drums in the background creating tension and uncertainty in the scene as when it cuts back to the village using parallel editing, the diegetic sounds then turn into the non-diegetic  music that was heard at the start of the opening sequence this change in music and sound keeps happening throughout the sequence which makes the audience wary of what is to happen, parallel editing is used. Then once the scene changes to the USA surveillance the music changes again to an up tempo action like non-diegetic sound this shows the audience that there is going to be some action but at the same time they don’t know what, which creates tension which is what a thriller film should do.

Both swordfish and Eagle eye have parallel editing but they both have different effects on the audience, in swordfish the parallel editing creates tension and confusion although the parallel editing in Eagle eye also creates confusion it has a completely different effect through the music and the situation of the characters and the place it has taken place in the narrative.

 In Eagle eye the parallel editing is at the start of the sequence and it makes you more confused because you don’t quite know what is going on so there is not much tension. But in swordfish you know more of the narrative so there is more tension created this is also helped by the chaotic sounds and background noise in the scene which is not present on Eagle eye.

Collateral also has parallel editing at the start of the film where the two men are walking through the airport this shows the two events that are going on at the same time the two men in the scene are also framed on either sides of the screen.

Also both Swordfish and Collateral have focus pulls this makes the object or subject in the focus the more important thing in the scene, again in the two different films they have different effects although they both have the effect that the person/object in the focus is the main object in the scene, in Swordfish this changes to always keep you thinking and entertained which we later find out is a surveillance camera following the moves of Gabriel the main character, this makes the audience confused and wanting to see what will happen. In Collateral the focus pulls are used to make the two men seem the most important in the scene so you just focus on them and not what is happening in the background behind them, showing that the background scene isn’t important.

All of the films have different lighting, creating different effects and moods of the audience. In Swordfish when you are in the cafe there is dark lighting which is common in thrillers as they either have extreme dark or light lighting and this film has both, the light lighting is when you see the SWAT team in the street, in the crowded streets you see this contrast in both the lighting and the Meese on scene in the scene at that particular moment. The lighting has gone form one extreme to the other by doing this you are shocking the audience because that is not what they would expect after the minimal light in the previous scene. The contrast in Meese on scene also shocks the audience as they don’t not expect there to be a whole SWAT team greeting them in the streets.

In collateral the lighting is normal it has no extreme lighting which goes against the conventions of thrillers, whereas in Eagle eye there is gold and yellow lighting that represents innocence of the two boys running around on the hill this gives a false impression of the film thinking that the film will be innocent, where in actual fact the film has quiet a sinister message. There is also low level lighting in the government scene this makes the audience feel like what they are doing is secretive as there is not much light in the room this creates both tension and confusion both conventions of thrillers.

There is a mixture of shots featured in all of the opening sequences which they all feature a close up, this close up shows that something is important in the scene and makes you take notice of it when you wouldn’t normally see it. In swordfish the close ups show the characters sudden movements like lighting his cigar or where he is placing his hands around the table. In Collateral there is a close up on the picture of a beautiful island this shows that this picture is important to the cab driver and he cares about it, it also makes the audience feel that this island will be in the film later on also while you see this close up you hear him shut his cab door and the noise from outside goes it almost sounds like a vacuum this then emprises the photo making it seem as an escape form his job as he seems to be in his own little world because of the photo.

Both swordfish and Eagle eye have Arial shots to show the scale of the location, in swordfish the aerial shot is to show the scale of the operation as it is after we see the SWAT teams, this makes the audience shocked but also intrigued to why the operation is on such a large scale, with the accompanying music the scene feels tense and chaotic at the same time, whereas in eagle eye the aerial shot is of the village where you assume the two children live as we have seen them in the previous shot, because the shot is of the whole surrounding area the audience feels like it will be important later in in the film, this shot is also seen as an establishing shot to show the whole area. Another example of when an aerial shot is used is when the men in the jeeps enter the village there is an aerial shot used to show the villagers fleeing showing that there are scared or threatened by the people in the jeeps there is also a pan used to show that they are at a funeral, these shots also reveal that the characters are foreign to us- the viewer, it also lets us see how poor and simplistic their lives is which contrasts when you see the government with high tech equipment, there are close ups and pans to show the expense and the quality of the equipment.

In collateral there isn’t any particular shots as when the scene cuts to outside from the airport you see a shot montage of the cabs and the surrounding environment, at first this confuses the audience as they are not sure what it is in the shots due to the short edits on the shots, it is very fast paced which creates confusion. Also in collateral there is a few wide/ establishing shots which are used to show a long journey that have taken a long time, this is also accompanied by non-diegetic music that changes with the different locations indicating that there has been a lot of time passed or a long journey.

Miese-on-scene is important in all films, in the tree films that I am analysing there is very different mise-on-scene but there are similar props and settings. In both swordfish and eagle eye there are uses of guns and weapons but they have different effects on the audience, even though they are in the hands of the government or a police department, in swordfish the audience feel more threated by the person who the guns are aimed at – which is the main character Gabriel, because the police are there in person pointing the guns at him, and the fact that Gabriel doesn’t seem threatened by them, the audience feel agitated and on edge. This is different in  eagle eye because the government are in complete control of the situation as the people who are targeted are not aware of the situation this makes the audience more relaxed, this is because you are seeing the men from a high angle showing authority, the audience also feels relaxed because of the nature of the situation- the government are watching the area on sevalience cameras and even though there is weapons involved they do not feel threatened because they are not in the same location as each of the parties, as there is parallel editing used.

There are not any weapons used in the opening of collateral. But there is suits and smart clothing used in the airport scene of the film, indicating power and wealth; the suits are also a convention of thriller films often used to create a wealthy in control image of the characters, in collateral this is exactly what their costumes do, this wealthy man is also present in both swordfish and eagle eye, this shows the control and the professionalism of the characters, especially in swordfish as the main character is in full control of the situation and the police around them which is a role change if what usually occurs with police and the villains in an ordinary situation but this is also common in thriller films to have the villain in control.

 The suits in eagle eye are worn by the US government showing their power over the smaller country that their targets are situated, it also shows their wealth in comparison to the poorer country involved, the audience can tell that they are less wealthy by the clothes they are wearing and the sounding meise-on-scene around them. They are wearing earth coloured clothes that are torn and not of good quality, this shows that they are poor, the location that they are living in also gives an indication that they are poor, as it is very simply, there is not much there apart from some houses and a what looks like a fire this juxtaposes the image of the government facility as there is very expensive equipment and blacked out windows.

In Swordfish and Eagle eye the villains cause a disruption to the everyday scene, in eagle eye we see this disruption happening which builds up tension. But in Swordfish we don’t see this disruption the audience are thrown into the disruption this creates confusion, but as there isn’t any disruption in collateral this also creates confusion of what is happening. But in collateral there is no change to the everyday life meaning that the narrative has started in different places according to Todrovs theory.

There are explosions in both Swordfish and Eagle eye, which use special effects.

There are many representations in all three of the films, in eagle eye there are representations of innocence this is shown through the two boys running through the hills and then the women and children in the nearby village, this is also represented in Swordfish through the hostages being captured. It is also represented in collateral through the man in the cab. There are also representations of violence in the films Swordfish and Eagle eye. In Swordfish there violence throughout the whole of the opening sequence in both the words and the action, the dialogue at the beginning of the sequence is sinister and is violent in the words that are said then the violence from the hostage situation. There is also violence in Eagle eye as you see a village get blown up.

Overall I think that Swordfish has the better opening sequence because it keeps you confused as you don’t know what is happening because of the part of the narrative the audience have been put into, I also think it the better of the three because it has a variety of shots and builds up tension straight away.