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The film I am
going to analyse is called “Taken”, it was released on the 26th of
September 2008. The director of Taken is Pierre Moral who is also the director
of another famous film called District 13. The genre of Taken is an
action/crime/thriller.
Equilibrium
The
Protagonist, in this case, the father “Bryan” is a divorced man who’s pride and
joy is his seventeen year old daughter. His daughter, “Kim” gets information on
a tour of museums in Paris and she asks her father for permission to go. Bryan,
being the caring father he is, isn’t so sure about his daughter’s idea but for
her own happiness he agrees to her request. However, his daughter hid the fact
that her and her friend were actually going on tour with their favourite band.
Disruption
The
disruption escalates when Kim calls up her father, Bryan, to notify him that
she has made it to Paris safely.
Suddenly, she realizes that in the opposite room her friend is being
kidnapped by men in black clothes. Terrified, she silently whispers the situation
to her father while crying hysterically. Listening to her father’s instructions
she hides under a bed and waits but before she could confirm her location to
her father, she is pulled out from under the bed, screaming for help, and then
there is a silence. With no sounds on the opposing line, Bryan assumes that her
daughter has been kidnapped.
Repair
Bryan then
sets on a journey to find track down his daughter in Paris and pay them back
for what they did to her. Using his skills he gained from the past, he slowly
and eventually susses out the criminals and finds out that his daughter has
been sold to prostitution. He watches as many rich men bid money on her.
New Equilibrium
Bryan forces
a buyer to buy his daughter back and once he retrieves her, he escapes back to
America with her safe in his arms.
What makes Taken’s narrative a very unique narrative is that it is more of an
awareness of some of the crimes that have happened in real life. Although Taken
is not directly based on a true story, it holds some of the many criminal
characteristics that we would imagine happening in actuality.
Genre codes
Firstly, the
main character (protagonist) is very typical of the action/thriller genre. This
is because we learn that he has gained past professions and experiences in the
CIA. This is usual for this genre type because we expect the character to have
some form of experience which will lead to the action genre of this film. In
this case, the film contains guns, cars, explosions, crime and murders, which
is predictable within an action/thriller genre. For example Rush Hour & Sherlock
Holmes is some films which contain these aspects. The
Protagonist
is aged between his mid-30 to his early 40’s which is also typical of this
genre because it shows that the character is experienced. Furthermore,
throughout the film, the protagonist’s body language is usually a confident,
solid character who the audience rarely see fall to their knees towards the
antagonists, which is also distinctive because as the audience know, the
protagonist, at the end of film, always wins.
Secondly, we
have the daughter of the protagonist. The fact that she is a female plays a
huge role in a typical action genre film. The women in most action films are
portrayed as helpless victims and are usually saved by the protagonist, For
example, in transporter, we find a female victim in the back of the
protagonist’s car, tied up with cello tape on her mouth. This is typical of the
role that women play in an action/thriller genre film. In this case, the
Daughter is
kidnapped and saved by her father (protagonist). However, being a daughter
instead of a partner the audience is able to empathize with the characters.
The crime in
Taken is also very typical in the genre of action. French actors play as the
criminals in the film and they are in charge of the kidnapping. This may be a
racial conflict against French people; however, Taken is not based on a true
story. Though there have been situations of kidnapping of young girls being
sold to the sex trade. Every crime is almost typical of an action genre, since
there has to be a need for the protagonist.
The editing
in Taken consists of straight cuts and fast transitions to show the tension in
the movie and to highlight the most action-packed scenes of the film. However,
a slow motion zoom is also used when the protagonist is speaking on the phone
to his daughter’s kidnapper and this creates even more tension. The smaller the
screen gets, the more futile it seems for the protagonist to save his daughter.
This also allowed the audience to see the protagonist facial expression change
immensely to a hopeless look.
Furthermore,
when the protagonist is talking to the kidnapper, there isn’t a shot reverse
shot, which made the film become a restricted narrative because the unknown
individual on the other line has not been introduced to us; therefore the
individual’s identity remains a mystery to us until the protagonist has
revealed it. This leaves the audience with as much knowledge as the character
in the film which creates tension and a sense of empathy.
The extract I
am going to be examining is: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVXLzcaMObg&feature=related)
This short clip contains some of the various shots and shot sizes in the action
packed scenes of Taken as well as the simplistic narrative scenes between the
protagonist and his Daughter.
In this short sequence, we can see that many of the scenes are in a low key
lighting state. This creates a danger atmosphere as many of us would consider
the dark or night time to be the prime time of crime. In addition to lighting,
many of the gun scenes look as if they rely on natural light and this is to
make the scene seem as realistic as possible. This is very distinctive of an
action/thriller genre film.
The editing
in the scenes is also very distinctive to the genre. For example, the scenes
consist of fast cuts which occasionally use wild transitions to make the
audience focus on the action. These fast scenes also create a sense of tension
because as an audience, the fast shots make it seem to us like we are in the
fight scene with the character. There are many continuity shots to show the
results of the fight between two characters. Every aspect of the fight scene is
monitored to make it as entertaining as possible for the audience.
Furthermore,
the props also play a huge role in relation to the action/thriller genre. For
example, the use of a weapon is very typical of this genre and these gun scenes
usually contain most of the action. In addition to this, explosives to create
mass destruction are also used very
often in an action/thriller genre movie to create suspense and a sense of awe.
Some of the characters locations may also represent who they are in the film.
For example, in one scene, a group of characters are sitting at a table. They
are smoking, drinking and gambling.
This clearly demonstrates that these
characters are the bad guys of the film. On the other hand, the protagonist
wears a business suit and walks into the criminal’s location with a suitcase.
The sound and
music within the sequence is usually diegetic. However, in some cases there may
be background music playing. For example, the gun shots and sound of things
breaking is diegetic since the character can hear them too but the low volume
of action music also plays alongside the diegetic sounds. This is usual in an action film. The sequence
does contain some non-diegetic music when the fights and gun scenes are taking place;
however, they are very low in volume since the diegetic sounds create most of
the excitement.
Most of the
shots are in medium, close or long range and this allows the audience to see
everything that happens within the scene. The long shot give the audience an
overview of the situation and allows them to see the body language of the
characters while the close-ups show the facial expressions on each character.
These shots are typical of the action genre because the audience is focused on
the characters actions rather than the backgrounds.
Finally, the
protagonist body language throughout the entire sequence is rigid and sturdy
which represents a masculine physic as well a sense of heroism. It implies that
the protagonist will take risks and will fight through the hardships to have a
happy ending. This is expected in a action genre as most of them usually have a
clear equilibrium.
