By Pierre Morel

Narrative

In the opening scene of Taken, the first shot we see is of a party hat and so we know the clip is of a birthday. It shows a home video of a birthday as we see a little girl blowing out a number 5 candle, indicating to us that she is turning 5.

The whole shot seems to be focusing entirely on the little girl, although the mother is by her side, she is the centre of attention.

The next shot we see is of Liam Neeson’s character Bryan Mills. He seems to have just woken up from a dream, signifying that the footage he was seeing was a dream. The room he is in is very dark, which can indicate death and sadness.

Characters

Kim • First shot we see of her is at a young age which represents her vulnerability throughout the film.• In the scene she is surrounded by her mum and dad to show her reliance on them.

Lenore• Shown right beside her daughter – Very protective of her.

Bryan• Not shown in the home video because he is recording –could represent how later in life he is almost out of the family picture due to divorce.• Shown in his house, very messy. Lives a sad and lonely life.

Location

In the first shot the location we see looks as if it is in a house, most probably the house that belongs to all three of them. Showing they live together and are a happy family.

The next location goes immediately to Bryans house in which he lives in alone and this shows that something has happened now that they dont all live together.

Titles

Titles were integrated with the scene by fading it in and out of the footage but they are quite subtle and difficult to notice so it doesnt take the attention away from the scene.

Also, the way the titles were gently fading in and out relates to the music because the piano is playing gently like the way the title appears.

CinematographyThe use of cinematography in the scene is very useful as it allows us to get the full experience of the movie.

This scene mainly consists of home video which is very unsteady, representing how their family will be in the future.

Shot of the mum holding the cake showing us that it is a happy occasion.

We see a long shot of Bryan sitting in a chair and from this shot we can tell that he is isolated and all alone.

There is a single shot of a picture frame and this allows us to focus on that item as it may hold useful information.

Mise-en-sceneMisce-en-scene in this scene is very significant and foreshadows later events in the movie.

Party hats and decorations scattered on the floor showing there is a party going on.

There is also a very significant shot of the mother holding the cake showing that Kim is turning 5 years old – vulnerability.

As he gets up there is a shot just focusing on a photo of Kim, telling us how she is his main priority in life. And also, when this is shown, the title of the movie appears which is ‘taken’ and so that indicates that she will be taken.

SoundSound really allows us to get the full effect and so everything has a meaning.

The beginning clip includes mainly diegetic sound of laughter and happiness but the non-digetic sound played over that gives a sort of sad viibe.

There is contrapuntal sound as it is a happy scene but slightly disturbing, sad non-diegetic sound playing over it. This makes it seem as if the happiness shown is just an act, and behind all of that things are going wrong.

The same sad music with the piano then carries on into the next clip and this creates continuity within the scenes.

EditingEditing just puts the whole thing together and creates continuity which makes the movie more enjoyable to watch.

As she blows out candle shot immediately turns to Bryan as if waking him up. Makes it seem as if something is going to happen to her and its is almost like a sign.

There are a lot of quick jump cuts in the birthday scene, this could represent how the happy times of when they were a family went by so fast and now everything has changed.

The End