Salt
Salt is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce, written by Kurt Wimmer and starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
The film is about, Evelyn Salt, who is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent, and goes on the run to try to clear her name. The film was originally written to have a male protagonist but Jolie fit the role more so the script was rewritten to fit her.
The film had a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22 and was released in North America on July 23, 2010 and August 18, 2010, in the United Kingdom.
Like most thrillers the film starts unclear, presented the audience with an unanswered/unanswerable question or situation right from the beginning. Camera angles are very up close a lot of close ups and medium shots showing parts of the body and not giving a full view of what's going on in the scene.Common in thrillers that shots, scenes aren't all presented clearly. We are also shown a P.O.V (point of view) shot when 'Jolie' is lying down look up at the people dragging her across the room.
The first thing we are shown other than complete darkness is 2 men opening a steel/metal door which creeks suggesting its a safe hold or is heavily reinforced, we are shown two Korean men wearing, traditional combat army clothes, dull and low on colour. They seem to be in a small confined room almost like a prison as it looks mostly grey, everything very dull, the colours ranging from grey to dim green keeping with mood of the scene.
The thing standing out in this scene is protagonist herself as she gives off a slight glow, the only person or object in the room not presented in full shadows and is bright enough to see.
The thing standing out in this scene is protagonist herself as she gives off a slight glow, the only person or object in the room not presented in full shadows and is bright enough to see.
Very low key lighting and not many light sources, only light source is a small window, which could symbolise her changes of escaping or how trapped she actually is.
The music starts very eerie and flat, its unclear if its digetic or non-digetic both the talking and the chords, like one continues cord playing throughout the start, then slowly as it gets louder and louder echoed voices start to fade in giving the impression that someone or something is waking up to theses noises or just becoming conscious, then the music changes a bit and becomes the typical thriller genre music (same as in the Codes and Conventions).
Next scene we see this unknown character as a harbinger walking a path with her saviour, ( the man in the suit who got her out of the torture room) being monitored by guards either side. The mise en scene presents the turning point in this opening as it is a complete opposite to what we were just shown. We are now shown her walking in the day light (clear, bright lighting to suggest freedom) on a bridge which suggests the passing of two from one event to another or an exchange from one end to the other, without much being said we can get a clear idea of what's going on in this scene just through the mise en scene alone.
The camera changes in this scene as it keeps switching to close ups then long shots of them walking across the bridge to allow is to make judgement of the situation and judgement of the character we have witnessed being tortured and not suddenly let free.
The camera is focus pulled on her face expression to allow us to see in detail what injuries she suffered from the previous scene, the tension building music helps emphasis the 'walk' and shots of the surrounding area because we pay more attention and are eager to know what's going on.
The final transition to the titles is signified with a change of music, a non digetic song that sounds similar to some kind of american anthem which could mean the beginning of her redemption.
Next scene we see this unknown character as a harbinger walking a path with her saviour, ( the man in the suit who got her out of the torture room) being monitored by guards either side. The mise en scene presents the turning point in this opening as it is a complete opposite to what we were just shown. We are now shown her walking in the day light (clear, bright lighting to suggest freedom) on a bridge which suggests the passing of two from one event to another or an exchange from one end to the other, without much being said we can get a clear idea of what's going on in this scene just through the mise en scene alone.
The camera changes in this scene as it keeps switching to close ups then long shots of them walking across the bridge to allow is to make judgement of the situation and judgement of the character we have witnessed being tortured and not suddenly let free.
The camera is focus pulled on her face expression to allow us to see in detail what injuries she suffered from the previous scene, the tension building music helps emphasis the 'walk' and shots of the surrounding area because we pay more attention and are eager to know what's going on.The final transition to the titles is signified with a change of music, a non digetic song that sounds similar to some kind of american anthem which could mean the beginning of her redemption.
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