American Sniper

• American Sniper is a biographical war drama released in 2014, the film was directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jason Hall. The film is based on Chris Kyles memoirs which document his four tours in iraq, the title if the book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History (2012) by Chris Kyle.

• The film follows the Kyle’s life who has been recorded as the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War

• The purpose of this film opening is to establish the film setting to the audience, it tells them that this film is darker and will feature graphical/violent scenes. It prepares the audience for the remainder of the film

• In addition, this opening establishes Chris Kyle’s character to the viewers. The opening demonstrates that Kyle is a highly trained marksman in the US military

• The opening displays a shooting scene, it says to the audience that they should expect his throughout the film

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83DVg6A65w.

Camerawork: EWS

• The film provides an example of an extreme long shot (EWS) when the camera jump shots to a different angle revealing a wider view of the Arabic land

• This establishes the location of the film to the audience. Also, from this shot, the audience can see that the land is damaged. The audience will use this shot to infer that the film takes place during a war. This shot reveals to the audience the destruction caused by the Iraq war, this shot can be used to make the audience sympathise with the Iraqi people as their country is being destroyed

Camerawork: Eye Line Match• Frequently, the opening shows Kyle looking

down the sight of his gun. It is always revealed what he is aiming at. In this example, he is aiming at the mother and son who are acting suspicious

• The eye line match is used in this shot to show action, it demonstrates to the audience that the main characters attention has been diverted-he is focusing on something important. The eye line match doesn't immediately reveal what Kyle is looking at therefore it creates suspense, the audience will want to who Kyle is aiming at. It makes the audience want to keep watching to find out more

Camerawork: Panning

• The film uses a panning shot, this is exemplified when the woman throws the explosive device. The camera follows and moves with the woman as she prepares to throw the weapon

• This type of shot is used to create tension, the camera is not steady and creates the illusion that the woman is approaching the audience. It gives the impression that the camera is from a first person perspective thus the audience is moving away from this thereat

Camerawork: Close Up

• During the scenes when Kyle aims, the camera will give a close up (CU) on his face. The films includes a CU to demonstrate to the audience that Kyle is aiming, it emphasises the tense atmosphere of these aiming shots. The shots demonstrate to the audience that Kyle is focused, he is aiming on his target which is off screen.

Mise-en-Scene: Costumes

• In this film, each character is given a unique costume. For example, Kyle is given a US military uniform, the Iraqi child is dressed in dull coloured poorer clothing

• This is done to make the film appear authentic, it wants to immerse the audience. In addition, the uses of different costumes makes the film more believable and realistic. The audience would expect characters to be dressed a certain way, the viewers would want to see Chris Kyle in a US army uniform because he’s in a war fighting for America

Mise-en-Scene: Props

• The film contains multiple examples of props, the most notable being Kyle’s sniper rifle. Other examples include the explosive device the civilians use and the assault rifles given to the other soldiers

• Despite being props, they are designed to look realistic to make the film believable. This keeps the audience interested on the film as it does not look fake . The use of realistic looking props keeps the audience interested in the film, fake looking props would divert their attention away from the film/plot

Editing: Increased Pacing

• When the opening scene begins, the pacing is very slow however, this changes when Kyle begins shooting his targets. The pacing between shots increases which suggests to its audience that the action shots have begin. The increase in pace places emphasis on the action, it makes the action scenes more dramatic and tense to the audience.

Editing: Decreased Pacing• During the action scenes, the pacing increases. However,

when Chris Kyle is on screen, the pacing suddenly slows down and Kyle gets much more screen time. Often when Kyle is on screen during these action shots, he is seen aiming through his scope. While the increased pacing emphasises the action, the slower paced shots builds tension. These shots become more tense because they last longer, the audience is waiting in anticipation wanting to know if Kyle made the shot successfully. These longer shots vary the pace of the action when compared to the faster paced shots.

Editing: Jump Shots

• Between shots, a simple jump shot transition has been used. Overall, a jump shot has been used because of its simplicity. The jump shot is very simple and it doesn’t divert the audiences attention away from the film, it often goes un-noticed. The jump shot is very unlikely to distract the audience and adds to the realism of the film. Alternative transitions such as the fade in/out and the wipe would immediately distract the audience because more happens in these transitions than a jump shot, these alternative transitions are often used to open or close a scene.

Sound: Soundtrack

• Throughout the entirety of the clip, a soundtrack plays in the background. The soundtrack gets louder during the action scenes, for example, the bass of the soundtrack increases moments before Kyle shoots the first target. The soundtrack is used to build tension, the music will build up anticipation before the shot, it raises expectation and makes the viewer want to keep watching. Overall, the soundtrack adds an extra dynamic to the opening scene. The music makes the action shots more tense and builds anticpation

Sound: Diegetic Sound

• The most prominent example of diegetic sound this opening scene is the gun shots. After Kyle shoots a target, the sound of a gun shot has been edited in. The effect of this is it makes the film more believable, the edited sound effect makes the audience think that Kyle has shot from a gun. Furthermore, it makes the audience believe that they are watching from the perspective of a real life solider, it doesn’t divert the audiences attention because they will think that Kyle has shot from a real gun. Overall, the edited gun shot sound makes the film more authentic to a real war

Conclusion• American Sniper is similar to the opening scene we will produce

because it deals with the themes of war. From the clip, there are several elements used that can be applied to our own piece.

• Firstly, the use of props and costumes. These devices makes the film more believable to the audience because it makes them think they are watching a real life war.

• We could also use a EWS to establish the location to our audience • Another element we could include is the non-diegetic edited gun

sounds, the inclusion of this will make the war scenes more authentic and believable. The edited sound will make the gun scenes more convincing because it will sound more genuine.