In the opening sequence of ‘City of God,’ the genre is
quickly established as an action movie; this is signified by the extreme close
up of a knife blade being sharpened by a rock, the denotation of the knife
blade being sharpened would be danger.
Whilst the knife is being sharpened the camera back and forth between a
black screen and the knife being sharpened, this could give a sense of the unknown
because the viewer is not sure of what’s happening.
An image of a male character taking a picture which leads to the title ‘Cidade de Desus,’ appears on screen, which translated is ‘City of God,’ a town in Brazil, because the male is taking a picture it could speculate that he is a main character within the film. On screen there are quick shots of the knife being sharpened and music being played which is followed by a close up shot of a chicken then back to a knife peeling vegetables. The camera goes back and forth between these three images using close up shots on each. For a brief moment there is a close up shot of the chickens head sliced of which could act as a signifier that there is death within this film.
The chicken in the opening sequence could act as a metaphor of the boy who seems to be running away from somebody, ‘ If Li’l Ze catches you ,he’ll kill you.’ The camera then cuts to a low medium shot of the chicken nearly getting run over by a car, as it is being chased by the older boys who want to kill it. The young boys reply ‘yeah, well, he’s gotta find me first.’ The older boys with their guns approach from an alley way and the main culprit of the chicken chase is focused on, the image goes in slow motion with a close up of him. As the boy tries to capture the chicken police approach, to the audience it isn’t yet quite clear as to what their role is however the older boys get their guns out and point them at the police. This suggests that in Brazil there is a conflict within the police and the society.
‘In the City of God, if you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too.’ The chicken may be used as a metaphor to show that the people who live in this town are very trapped within. The continual shots of the chicken running away from the group of boys chasing it leave suspense for the audience because it doesn’t show that it has been caught, however the image does present that it’s trapped. In the beginning of the opening sequence the chickens have a rope tied around their leg which signifies that they are trapped from living freely and the camera that is wrapped around the boys neck could be another interpretation of that, ‘a picture could change my life,’ these words could make the audience what relevance a picture could do for his life or what kind of picture. The boy doesn’t run and he’s trapped between the police and a group of boys who have guns which adds to his sentence, ‘if you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too.’
An image of a male character taking a picture which leads to the title ‘Cidade de Desus,’ appears on screen, which translated is ‘City of God,’ a town in Brazil, because the male is taking a picture it could speculate that he is a main character within the film. On screen there are quick shots of the knife being sharpened and music being played which is followed by a close up shot of a chicken then back to a knife peeling vegetables. The camera goes back and forth between these three images using close up shots on each. For a brief moment there is a close up shot of the chickens head sliced of which could act as a signifier that there is death within this film.
The chicken in the opening sequence could act as a metaphor of the boy who seems to be running away from somebody, ‘ If Li’l Ze catches you ,he’ll kill you.’ The camera then cuts to a low medium shot of the chicken nearly getting run over by a car, as it is being chased by the older boys who want to kill it. The young boys reply ‘yeah, well, he’s gotta find me first.’ The older boys with their guns approach from an alley way and the main culprit of the chicken chase is focused on, the image goes in slow motion with a close up of him. As the boy tries to capture the chicken police approach, to the audience it isn’t yet quite clear as to what their role is however the older boys get their guns out and point them at the police. This suggests that in Brazil there is a conflict within the police and the society.
‘In the City of God, if you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too.’ The chicken may be used as a metaphor to show that the people who live in this town are very trapped within. The continual shots of the chicken running away from the group of boys chasing it leave suspense for the audience because it doesn’t show that it has been caught, however the image does present that it’s trapped. In the beginning of the opening sequence the chickens have a rope tied around their leg which signifies that they are trapped from living freely and the camera that is wrapped around the boys neck could be another interpretation of that, ‘a picture could change my life,’ these words could make the audience what relevance a picture could do for his life or what kind of picture. The boy doesn’t run and he’s trapped between the police and a group of boys who have guns which adds to his sentence, ‘if you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too.’
No comments:
Post a Comment