Mise en Scene:
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From seeing the first shot of the opening to The Road, we can see that the world had come to an end, and that it is a apocalyptic film. This leaves the audience asking "what happen?" which leave them wanting to watch more. We know that the world has come to its worse because the scenery had burnt down tress, broken houses and ashes over the ground. In the opening we see two character, one older man and another young boy. They are both wearing big coats, connoting that its cold, but we can also guess this because it is low key lighting (with no sun) but also there is no hope. We see them pushing around a shopping cart, looking for rations and supplies. This makes it clear that there is nothing left in the world and it has lost all of its control. In the clip both main characters walk on money and jewelry, this connotes that no one cares about money, being rich and being famous. It is all about surviving. When watching the opening I noticed that there was no one around apart from the new characters. This makes the audience question did anyone else survive? We also see half broken roads and sink holes. This makes us feel intrigued to know what happened. Was there a earthquake? or maybe a war? It also shows that there is a lot of danger in the world. When the two characters are walking down a empty road they come across a sign saying "behold the valley of slaughter" . This creates tensions for the audience, because we want to know why someone has spray painted that on to a billboard.
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The Road is a journey of a father and his young son over several months, across places that was blown with an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed civilization, over the years and almost all life on Earth.
The Road
Camerawork:
The opening starts of with a long shot, showing us a broken but long road. This links to the title of the film. Because in the shot we don't see anyone we think that no one is around. A pan is used when showing the two characters walking down the broken road. It really focuses on the both of them struggling and supporting one another. This makes the audience feel good, knowing that even though the world has ended there are still people looking out for each other. A crane shot was also used to set the scene during the opening. It showed all the trees fallen down over a massive piece of land, this made the world look so lonely. When the older character gets out a ripped map, a close up is used. It shows the map being in a bad condition but also the character trying to keep it together to look at it. This makes the audience feel like sorry for them because the characters have so little to work and survive with. A tilt shot is used when we see the two characters walking down another long road, which is empty, in moves in a downwards motion. This is to end the focus on the two characters. This gives the audience a good view of how empty the world is. As the man opens a box or some sort of storage system we see and over the shoulder shot being used to show us human bones.From this it shows that hundreds maybe even thousands of people have died, and that it has been a long time since they died.
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Editing:
The opening starts of with a fade transition, from the title sequence to the first shot. This is to slowly show the begging of the film. The opening also used a cut in at the start. It showed the two characters walking down a long dried out path from a far away distance, to a closer shot of them just before a falling tree comes down. At first it gives a good clear view of the setting and surroundings, but when it changes to to medium close up it shows the situation they are in. This makes the audience feel sorry for them. When watching the opening I noticed that it uses quite a few jump cuts. It used them to show different setting, different situations and struggles and different time period. A good example is when it shows a different time periods, this is because it shows this clearly. One shot shows us a gloomy setting, maybe Autumn time but it then changes to Winter. We know this because the setting they are then in is surrounded by snow. When this is used not only does it show us different time periods, it also shows us that for the two characters nothing has changed. They both were still trying to find supplies, trying to find warmth and also trying to find fuel. Because of this it makes the audience feel sorry for them. I found that it not only used a cut in, it also used a cut away. This was when we see a long shot from behind the characters looking in to a tunnel, to an extreme long shot from the other side of the tunnel. This has similar effect as the cut in.
The whole opening has a voice over/narration, because of this it makes the audience feel closer and involved with whats going on. Through out the opening we hear a sad piano score, this makes the mood negative, upsetting and also makes us feel sorry for the two characters. Also because of this we see them as victims. At the start we also hear, off screen, "right here" repetitively. We, as an audience don't know why this is happening. making us watch more. We see one of the characters step on pieces jewelry, because of this we know that people no longer care about money or expensive things. Connoting that money is now worthless. Maybe survival is worth more? We hear a background effect of a tree breaking, and falling down. From this we see the male character (the father) pull away and protect his son. Due to this it suggests that the last standing nature is falling down, the world is becoming to nothing. We hear silence, through the quite piano score. Because of this it makes everything feel as like there is no one around.
Sounding: