I Am Legend.

I Am Legend

I Am Legend is a film about a man who survives a virus pandemic. A cure for cancer went terribly wrong when the cure turned everyone rabid. He is now surviving with his dog, the film shows the struggles and how he discovers a way to reverse the cure.

Camera Angles and shots
The first shot is an over the head/pan shot. It begins high to introduce the main character and his dog but it then pans down to then reveal the street that he is in. It shows how ruined and wrecked the, once cared for, street is now. There is then a mid shot, showing the character, his costume and his body language. It shows how agile he is moving and how careful he is being with each step he takes. It also shows us the massive gun he is using, which suggests to us that he is in danger. There is then a close up of the characters dog, to show how well trained but oblivious the animal actually is in this terrible situation. Then there is a shot through the guns telescopic lens which quickly switches to a close up of the character. This shot shows the frustration in the characters face because the previous shot showed us that he missed the deer he was aiming at. Finally, there is a range of different shots from 0:43 seconds to 0:58 seconds which shows the character running through the abandoned street, these shots allow us to establish where he is and how ruined and secluded the surroundings are. The shots used in this short sequence are long shots, mid shots and tracking shots.

Editing
The editing in this clip start off reasonably slow, which is good at the start of a film because it allows the viewer to settle into it and understand what is initially going on and where the first scene is set. But at 0:43 seconds the character starts to move faster and faster, to eventually begin running, this is when the editing begins to pick up the speed too. This shows the panic and movement the character is making and it makes it look quicker and full of more action.

Lighting
The lighting at the very beginning, when there is only overgrown grass being shown,  is rather dark and dull. This suggests that something terrible has happened or is about to happen. But as the camera begins to rise, the lighting gets slightly brighter in places. The sun is shining through the gaps in the buildings so some of the scene is light and some is dark. This suggests to me that something terrible has happened but the character is adjusting and learning to accept what has happened and finding good, secure ways to live. When the character runs to the edge of a building and begins to peer round, the lighting returns to dark again. This suggests to me that the character has now entered a danger zone and may be at some sort of risk now. Dark lighting is a typical convention of post-apocalyptic films so this films does follow those conventions to a certain extent.

Sound-
There is not any sound in this opening apart from the diegetic sounds of the footsteps rustling through he grass. There is also the characters breathing and sighing. You can also be able to slightly hear the dog breathing when it is running. No non-diegetic sound has been used in the opening.

Costumes-
The character is actually rather well dressed in this opening, which doesnt typically follow the convetions. Typically in post apocalyptic films, the character are wearing dirty, ripped clothes. This character however, is just wearing large, protective clothing that isnt worn out at all. This suggests to be that the character has infact found himself a good place to live, with access to luxuries, such as clean clothes.

Setting-
The setting of this opening is a street in America. This street is usually bright and thriving, it looks like it would normally be a busy street on an average day. The fact that they have used a street that used to be busy, just emphasises how much the world has changed now. The street now contains wrecked buildings, abandoned and crushed cars and litter and rubble spread across the street. The overgrown grass is also a good symbol to portray abandonment, it shows that no one is around to care for the grass or the streets any more, therefore they are now abandoned.

This opening makes me wonder what the character is hunting. It also makes me wonder why the dog is so trained and how it got to be like it is now. The dog is also not on a lead so the dog and the character may have a special bond in order for the animal to stick around because it would be so easy for it to run away if it really wanted to. It also makes me wonder what has happened, why it happened and how did the character manage to survive.

We are putting some of these ideas into our film. For example, we are using a gun too. We are also using he gun to kill whatever has killed off the population. We have used the storyline of this whole film as our inspiration. There pandemic started from a cancer cure, whereas, ours started from a cure for the common cold.