Textual Analysis

                                                        Textual Analysis Transporter 3

Transporter 3 is an action movie, it’s the third in the transporter film series it came out in 2008 and it was directed by Oliver Megaton. It was released into cinemas on November 26, 2008. The film has an open narrative set in chronological order.

Narrative Structure

Equilibrium-The story starts with two workers on a ship who are under the impression that they transporting.

Disruption-The two workers are set to go and steal some alcohol as they believe that their ship is transporting alcohol however as soon as they start searching for it they discover that they actually caring a cargo full of toxic waste which ends up killing them. Meanwhile the protagonist is being pressured to set on a life threatening quest.

Restored Equilibrium- The protagonist drives the car into a train carriage and after a long battle and struggle he successfully transfers the explosive device on his wrist to the antagonist he then sets the vehicle away from the train in order to trigger the explosive he just attached to the antagonist hand, the antagonist is then killed and then the protagonist is saved. Also the ship with all the toxic waste is retrieved by police and all men on board are arrested. Then then movie ends with the protagonist fishing into the ocean.

Genre codes and conventions

What makes the protagonist of this movie conventional is the fact that his a male which is very conventional for action movies and also he is being very protective of this females his meant to transport, it is very conventional for protagonists to be set on a quest to save a female or protect her from antagonists which is exactly what happens in this movie. Therese’s also a lot of props which can be linked with the genre of action such us the high speed car which is used for high speed chase scene which again is very conventional theme within action movies and especially in the transporter series, also there’s an explosive device attached to the protagonists hand which places his life in danger which again is a very common theme within action movies the protagonist is always at an disadvantage which he needs to overcome. The antagonist uses action props such as guns and knife. This movie could be also associated with the genre of gangster action due to the fact that the protagonist only wears suits which are not very conventional for action movies.

Movie Segment Analysis

In the following paragraph I will be analysing in depth and detail a short two minutes clip from the film.  I will be talking about the use of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDFNk_cqcWQ

At the start of this scene you can see the protagonist being faced against a lot of opponents however he doesn’t  show any fear at all the director shows this through the use of a close up on the protagonist face to show that his fearless. The director uses longshots and panning in order to show that the protagonist is surrounded and has nowhere to run this is used in order to create tension to the audience and make them believe that the protagonist has no way of escaping the fight. As he starts getting surrounded by his opponents he doesn’t show any fear he actually calmly analyses the situation and waits for the opponent to strike 1^st which is again a convention of action fight scenes against multiple enemies. The director uses slow motion during the fight scene in order to create tension because as we can see one enemy’s getting finish another two are attacking him at the same time; slow motion effect is a very conventional piece of editing during fight scenes in action movies. As the fight progresses we can see the female character watching from inside the car as the protagonist is beating one enemy after another, however when one of his opponents grab a weapon we can see a close up of her face which shows that she is worried for the protagonist which is very conventional theme in action movies that during a fight there’s a female character on the side watching the fight. The director uses editing in order to speed up some of the protagonists movements this is because he wants to create an ideology that the protagonist is invincible when fighting against multiple enemies.  As the scene progress and the protagonist is  winning the fight, one of the leader of the enemies is cowardly retiring which is very stereotypical representation within action movies of villains. The antagonists use weapons which are conventional action props. Another conventional thing about this scene is the fact that the protagonist comes to use the weapons that were used against him. Towards the ending of the scene we can see a shot of two antagonist being trapped being placed underneath a car and the director uses a zoom in close up to show the fear and panic on their faces as the car falls down on them. At the end of the scene we have a shot of the protagonist looking back at the car to make sure the girl is safe. This shows the audience that he cares a lot about the girl and that he wants to protect her.