2. Context
i. Directors work
This film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal. This film won an academy award in 2009 for american war films.
ii. Time when made (historical, socio-cultural)
This film was made during the Iraq War, which is a big historical event. The war and life in Iraq is the main idea for the film.
iii. Relations to other films
The film can relate to a lot of war films that currently exist. This film can also relate to any other film which characters who have a struggle with their living style and obsession.
iv. Thematic Threads
The overall theme for this film is that in life we only cherish/enjoy few things. When we do find that one thing we can't get over, we become attached to it and it becomes an obsession. It becomes apart of our daily life.
3. Setting, Acting, Costume
A. Visual Style
This film is very vivid. We see a lot of details and it makes us feel like we are right there on the battlefield with the actors. I think that the details captured in the film is very realistic.
B. Iconogrphy
The symbolic representation of the guns, bombs, tanks, and etc give us a sense of danger which helps captures the feelings of a war film. The enemies (bombers) also create the vision of danger in life. The soldiers create a hero like figure where they are the center of the film. The people in the city of Iraq are a source of needing help because the soldiers need to help them become safe.
C. Actors
The actors in this film were very good. They portrayed their roles as a soldier. The characters were all male. as the movie progressed we learned a lot about the characters. We started to see the emotional aspects that war does to a soldier when away from home for so long. We also see the emotional contacts that are constantly being ripped away because of the war. The characters can be characterized as brave, loyal, helpful, and emotional.
D. Production Design
The film was filmed a couple miles out of Iraq in a city called Jordan. Being able to film in the area of where the event is actually being taken place helps bring a realistic sense to the film. The props and costumes couldn't have gotten any better. They looked real and it looked like we were actually on a battlefield with the soldiers.
4. Cinematography and Lighting
The style of this film is realistic because the focus of it is on a current event that still goes on today in our society. The attempt of this film was to focus on a bomb squad and there everyday struggles. I believe that the people that put their lives in line for us don't get enough recognition for what they go through to keep us safe. I think that this movie tried to bring a real issue to the screen to show us the life and death situations that our soldiers go through without resistance.
B. Angles, Framing, Lens choice
The angles and framing in this film help bring the dramatic tension to the screen. A lot of close ups are used to help show us the stress and emotions that the soldiers struggle/deal with on a daily basis on the battlegrounds. The close ups were used extra during dramatic/tense scenes while information from the characters were being revealed. The lens choice was amazing on the directors choice because it had to stand the heat and dust that they were filming in. The lens had to withstand a great amount of heat through out the days they filmed.
C. Camera and Actor blocking
The director in this film uses establishing shots to distinguish the scene and then cuts to waist shots and close ups for dialogue and information. The director uses a variety of shots depending on the mood of the scene.
D. Dominant imagery/icons/color
I believe that part of the film was meant to show us how corrupt some people are. I think that the bombs resemble those corrupted people in our world. The icon of the film is the soldiers and their hard work that they put in to keep our country safe. They are the heros of the film. There isn't much bright colors when you think about this film. The colors that are continuous throughout the film are orange/red and green/cache. The orange/red resemble flames and blood which connects to danger and violent like the war. And the green/cache resembles the soldiers uniforms and how they are brave and protect our country from harm.
E. Camera Distance/ Proxemics, territorial design, open vs. closed forms
A lot of the camera distances was based on the tension in the scene. There wasn't a lot of long shots unless the director was showing us the bigger picture to a problem. Mainly there was close ups used to reveal tension and stress through the characters emotions. The camera is close to the action so we can see the details that we normally wouldn't pick out with our own eyes. The film has a lot of areas that are new throughout the film that the director uses establishing shots to distinguish where they are at. There is a lot of area that the director needs to reveal through out the film. The film is made of open forms compared to using closed forms.
F. Light Design- Key and Contrast
The sun is mainly used as the light source for most of the film since they are shooting on location outside. The only times that they had to deal with additional light is when in doors and at night. In one shot there is a explosion which causes fires that spread. This shot is at night so the fire's flames are used as a light source. That is probably one of the only contrast lights. There isn't much low key light because it is shot mostly during the day.
5. Editing
The style of the directors edit is quick short cuts during intense war scenes. There wasn't any flaws in the editing process because the finished product of the film was smooth and the flow kept going. I believe that the director wanted to keep the reality of the film more then adding special effects to create bigger war scenes. The reality of it all kept the flow.
B. Manipulations of time and speed
From what i can recall the only time where time and the speed of the movie in manipulated is in the beginning of the movie at the first bombing. During that scene there is a shot of the initial explosion, a car, and the sand coming off the ground from the explosion. Those 3 shots are captured in slow motion and are shown about 2-3 different times throughout that explosion sequence. In this scene time is re-winded a couple times where we see the explosion happen over and over again and where we see one of the bomb squad members being thrown in the air and hitting the ground at his death.
C. Length of cuts and pacing
The length of cuts depended on the scene. In action/war like scenes the cuts were fast. The pacing of each shot in those scenes were short and dramatic. In scenes where the director wanted us to feel the sadness that an actor was feeling the cuts were longer and the pacing of shots were held longer. This help us grasp the emotional connections that the soldiers dealt with a number of times.
D. Narrative techniques such as flashbacks/forwards, parallel action.
Through out the move neither flashbacks or forwards are used. This is because the flow os the film is kept in order to keep the audiences attention. But from what I can recall in the end of the film, one of the soldiers talks to his son and his obsession for war and then we encounter a flash forward to the near future where he is back in Iraq in the bomb squad outfit.
E. Montage or Visual Metaphor
I believe that some of this movie is a visual metaphor. Sometime in the beginning of the movie we see a limping cat which can resemble many things. One thing that comes to my mind that it can resemble is how vulnerable and in danger the city of Iraq has been in. It also shows us how our world is broken and we are trying to piece it back together one piece at a time.
6. Score
There isn't much music in the film besides the ending. But when there was music it was up beat and resembled a feeling of awareness and danger is around. Some of the sound had an erie feeling to it.
B. Repeated Motifs
Some repeated motifs through out this film are gun fire, bombs going off, and the frustration we hear through the soldiers voice.
C. Foley or FX
The sounds of the gun fire and bombs are most likely recreated at a different time because I don't think that the characters would actually be firing a gun or actually blowing a bomb up.
D. Synchronous/ Nonsynchronous
The film's sound is very synchronous. We know what a gun fired sounds like and etc. When we see an object we have a realization to what the sound is going to sound like. During a lot of the scenes there is a various amount of sounds that are going on at the same time. We can depict each of those sounds and understand where each of those sounds are coming from.
7. Script
The character dialogue flows through out the film and is continuous. There is no narration over the dialogue from the characters. If there was narration, I believe that it would ruin the feel for the film.
B. Character Driven vs. Plot Driven
I believe that this film is character driven. This is because the characters emotions and actions are what lead them to the next day. There actions are the only things that are moving them forward or holding them back from doing what they have to do. Even though what happens in the film is created and controlled by the director, the director has witnessed the war and written down events so the events in the film are similar to what goes on in actual Iraq.
C. Nature of Dialogue
The dialogue in the film flows and it sounds very well. I can picture that in an actual battlefield they would be saying the same things that are said in the film. It is informal with swear words, but I believe that this helps create the stress they go through.
D. Use of humor, subtext or irony
I believe that the use of some humor in this film made it more realistic. These men deal with life and death situations every moment of their day and they have to have some laughs while they could be living the last minutes of their lives. I believe that the title "Hurt Locker" has a deeper meaning to it. Everyone sees a different meaning in it. What meaning does it have to you? The meaning it has to me is that every day they live out there in Iraq, fighting not only for our lives but theirs, they struggle through the option of living and dying even though they don't have a choice at times. There life is a hurt locker out there on the battlefield.
E. Thematic message/Archetypes/Myth
I think that a thematic message to this film is that this men want to serve their country and prove people right, but in the end they don't necessarily know what they are getting themselves into. They are dealing with their lives on the line every second of the day.
8. Genre
The features that determine this movie as a war film/action are the battles fought every day, the bombs, guns, and people killed. It can also de labeled under a drama genre because these soldiers deal with the loss of friends while at war and the hardship of not seeing family members for a long time. Also because they deal with drama on the battle grounds. This movie can be labeled with all different kinds of genres.
9. Closing Remarks
