art of film paper

8/6/2019 Art of Film Paper

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Greg Probert

Taken

Taken is a 2008 French action thriller film starring Liam Neeson, Famke

Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark

Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former CIA operative who

sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave

traders while traveling in Europe.

This film does a great job of using a mix of all shots with quick cuts to keep

the audience on the edge of their seats and hungry for more action. All

throughout the film there are tons of vertical lines that help to both mold the

shots into a fluid moving film and suggest action and well as dynamic movement. It

also proves to show that Liam Neeson has the power to overcome obstacles, in

finding his daughter as well as the kidnappers who have taken his daughter into the

human slave market. Taken not only uses the lines to focus our attention but also

uses almost all of the focusing attention techniques, mainly with movement and

extreme close-ups. Which gives the viewer a never stopping action film with focus

on main events in the storyline that help the viewer connect with Liams character

and understand his internal struggle to find and get back his daughter. Pierre

Morel, the films director does a great job of keeping almost all of the images in


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motion throughout the movie. Most of the shots in the movie are from a fixed-

frame movement, such as the dinner scene with Liams character and the French

police officer in which case the camera stays in one position and the actors are

moving about the frame with fluid movements, as if the viewer is looking in through

a window.

Color holds a powerful position among the elements of film structure, says,

Lewis Jacobs, a film critic, when asked about his views on color. In this film

saturated tones, white and black, are used to express the deep trouble faced by

Liam in search of his daughter all throughout France. The use of dark colors helps

to darken the mood of the film and even the shots during the day are full of dark

colors and deep shades to help keep the focus on the father who tirelessly

searches for his daughter. It isnt until the end of the film when he is reunited

with his daughter that the viewer once again sees intense whites and brighter

colors on the actors which was present in the beginning of the film as well. When

Brian saves his daughter from the head kidnapper she is wearing full white which

helps the viewer realize that she is true and innocent while her father wears a

darker black tone, allowing us to contrast between the two. All of the Albanians in

this film wear dark colors and dark tones so we can parallel them to Liams

character, grouping them both under hostile and dangerous.


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Pierre Morel does a good job of using setting and location to enhance the

movie as a whole. The setting of the movie was perfect and helps to connect the

struggle of the father with many parents who fear for their childs protection

when they cannot be watching over them such as on trips and vacations. The

location of Paris as the storys main location was a great choice for the Irish actor

Liam Neeson who seems at home among the streets of Paris recalling facts and

experiences he learned from his days in the CIA. Location shooting for the movie

also helped me to feel like the movie and places were authentic because seeing the

Eiffel Tower in the background helps to validate that he knows what hes doing and

has the experience that he claims he has had in the CIA. The setting also helps to

create an emotional atmosphere, the buildings and slums that most of his searching

takes place in helped me to connect more with his struggle and accept that his

daughter might be lost in the filth of human prostitution and slave trafficking.

Liam Neeson helps to make the film a better movie by his great acting and

his ability to connect with the audience and convey his emotions very easily using

facial and vocal expressions. The other cast which includes countless kidnappers

and pimps as well as the high society ringleaders and slave purchasers were also

cast well. The clothes that all actors wore helped to make their parts in the movie

helpful and Liams trench coat that he is sporting for most of the movie helped me


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visualize him as a detective searching for his daughter. The music and props of the

movie also helped me to connect on more of action fan level by offering not only

life size and realistic guns, cars and knives but realistic fight scenes and

techniques that one can really only obtain from government training. The

background music for the movie helped to keep me adrenaline filled for action and

sad for the more depressing parts of the film.

Editing is an important stylistic element because it affects the overall

rhythm or pace of the film. The fast paced editing and close ups helped me to stay

focused on Liams character and the action in the film. Most of the fight scenes

are either fast cut/fast paced scenes or just fast pans. The car scene at the end

when he is chasing the boat by driving in a car on the side of a river is one of my

favorite parts of the movie due to the fast cuts that help to keep the action

suspenseful and helped to keep me focused on the position of the car and the boat

in the river. The average shot in the movie is very short which makes the movie a

fast paced film. The director picked the appropriate actor and scene composition

for a face paced film and has enticed my senses into wanting to see the sequel that

he says is already in production. There are many ways of effecting transition, some

more evident than others. Editing is an effective transition. As in most films

released today the film editor has done his job by placing the pieces together into


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a coherent whole. The editor builds coherence, continuity an d rhythm. He uses

cuts a s the o nly mean s of tr an sitio ns, f a ster cuts a ppea ring nea r or duri ng a ctio n

sce nes an d slower o nes to help keep a tte ntion on det a ils. The editor a lso uses

inside/out editi ng in the film multiple times o ne of which whe n Liams cha racter is

ca lling his ex-wife to let her k now their d a ughter is missi ng. I n the sce ne it cuts to

a dimly lit room where his ex-wife is a sleep which the viewer a ssumes is her room.

Then you hea r a phone ri ng an d she an swers the pho ne shortly a fter tur ning on the

light. Another good ex a mple of this type of editi ng is prese nt whe n Lia ms

cha r acter first e nters the a pa rtme nt where his d a ughter w a s t ak en; he h a s a

fla shb a ck which st a rts out i n a blurry close-up, slowly zoomi ng out a s the a ctio n

progresses. We le a rn a s the sce ne unfolds th a t this blurry close up is the fight

betwee n his d a ughter an d her kidna pper. A good tr an sitio n using outside/i n editi ng

is when the two tee na gers first a rrive a t the a pa rtme nt where they will be

spending their v a ca tion the viewer st a rts by not kn owing the sp ace an d by the e nd

of the sce ne kn ow most of the i nside det a ils. Another good i nside/out editi ng

exa mple is when Lia ms cha ra cter first meets up with Je an -Cla ude we just h a ve a

shot of them both w a lking next to e a ch other not s a ying an ythi ng. It is nt until

they stop a t a crossw a lk th a t we fi nd out who Je an -Cla udes ch a ra cter is. As it

tur ns out he is the director of i nter na l a ff a irs for the Fre nch gover nment an d ha s


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moved up since la st he spo ke to Li a ms cha r a cter. Although there is a compressio n

of time i n this film a s in most rece nt films the editor does a good job usi ng fl a sh

cuts for a lmost a ll a ctio n sce nes. O ne good ex a mple is when Brian (Liam) is clea ring

out a brothel loo k ing for his d a ughter fl a sh cuts help to keep the actio n going

without the viewer feeli ng overwhelmed by the a ctio n. This is not the o nly scene in

which this cut is used an other good ex a mple can be see n when Brian goes into the

building with the red door which he discovered w a s where the guys who too k his

da ughter live. As you c an a ssume he k ills everyo ne in the buildi ng an d the cuts for

this a ctio n is short m achine-gun bursts of im a ges s an dwiched together. I n the

beginn ing of the a ctio n in this movie the editor does a good job of usi ng pa ra llel

cuts for whe n Brian is t a lking to his d a ughter a s she is bei ng t ak en. She is i n a

ba throom i n her a pa rtme nt i n Pa ris an d he is i n his a pa rtme nt i n the US yet the

a ctio n seems to t ak e place a t the s a me time. The e nd sce ne where he ste a ls the

ca r an d drives a longside the river to c a tch the bo a t s a iling awa y is an other gre a t

exa mple of p a r a llel cuts. Si nce they never show the c a r an d the bo a t i n the s a me

fr a me we cann ot re a lly tell for sure how f ar a wa y he is from c a tchi ng it an d the

cuts m ak e us hope th a t he c an ca tch the bo a t which seems to be getti ng awa y. A

good ex a mple of freeze fr a me in the film is a t the very e nd when he ope ns the

door to the he a d k idna ppers bedroom an d the he a d k idna pper is st an ding there


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with a kn ife to his d a ughters thro a t. Bri an fixes his pistol o n the kidna ppers he a d

an d a ll is still, they st an d there not s a ying an ythi ng for a bout te n seco nds the n the

k idna pper ope ns his mouth to s a y somethi ng an d Brian shoots him i n the he a d.

Sound in films tod a y is ofte n times t ak en for gr an ted. Just a few short

dec a des a go we did not eve n ha ve sound a va ila ble in films. Tod a y however we a re i n

an a ge where we c an t ak e ha ving sound for gr an ted an d ofte n times a re nt a wa re of

how or why we he a r wha t we do. O ne must first u nderst an d the differe nce

betwee n visible an d invisible sounds. Visible sou nd is a sound th a t would na tur a lly

an d re a listic a lly emana te from the im a ges on the scree n; such a s when Brian t a lks.

I nvisible sound is whe n sounds em ana te from a source not o n scree n; such a s when

Brian runs a red light an d you he a r other c ars sl a mming on their bre ak s an d la ying

on the hor n. Most of the film is shot with a subjective poi nt of view a llowing us to

hea r/see everythi ng th a t Lia ms cha ra cter does. A n exa mple of an est a blishing

shot is whe n Brian pa ys a tr an sla tor to sit i n a ca r whe n he goes an d t a lks to a

prostitute. The pimp comes over an d roughs Bri an up but he a lso plan ts a bug on

his la pel. This sce ne is a good ex a mple of an est a blishing shot bec a use it st a rts

off with a view of the street an d the prostitutes li ned up on the cor ner, most of

the sou nd coming from the prostitutes but with mi ngled street noises. I n one of

the e nding fight sce nes where he is o n the bo a t an d is wor k ing his wa y to where his


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da ughter is bei ng held he fights a guy with a comba t kn ife. The sou nd effect of

the guy pulli ng out the kn ife an d thrusti ng it a round is louder th an it would be i n

re a lity a llowing the viewer to re a lize the kn ife an d be a wa re of the new weapon.

Being a movie an d not usi ng re a l guns the gu n sound effect a re very re a listic. Sou nd

link s a re very big i n this movie, cell pho nes a re used throughout the movie an d the

sound link s help the viewer to cross bridges betwee n sce nes an d seque nces. The

movie st a rts off i n a fla shb a ck which is made awa re by the gr a ining look of a home

movie. Other fl a shb a cks in the movie i nclude when Brian visits the a pa rtme nt his

da ughter w a s kidna pped from he h a s fl a shb a cks of a ctio n th a t occurred while he

wa snt there but w a s able to piece together by wh a t he he a rd o n the pho ne.

This movie portr a yed a very re a listic a ccount of wh a t h a ppens to girls who

a re i nn ocently c a ught up i n the sex sl a ve tr a de. It could h a ppen to an yone including

young boys. Wh a t the movie did not portr a y wa s wha t h appens to these girls a fter

they h a ve pa ssed their expir a tion da te, if they h a ve not succumbed to drug

overdose. Although for the U nited St a tes audience th a t it w a s supposed to imp a ct

I thi nk th a t it w a s a good choice of story an d plotline for a dults who thi nk th a t

they a re bei ng over protective bec a use they c an rest a ssured they a re o nly doing

wha ts good for their childre n.

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