Film Analysis: Safe House

Safe House

Shot Types

• Over the shoulder
• Action Match
• Wide Shot
• Close Up
• Focus Pull
• Two Shot
• Arial Shot

Titles

This film is based on a man who is struggling to keep interest in what he does, He is chasing a promotion and spends his working days in a safe house waiting for someone to be brought in, The titles in this film show his standard day a workout, shower then to work. It creates an atmosphere with no intention to change the music is slow and the characters emotions relay emotions of disinterest. The combination of these things are shown to setup for the body of the film, The safe house keeper is unprepared and lacks training as he cant be promoted until he gains experience which he clearly isn't receiving stuck in a  what appears to be a dead end job.

Music

The music in the opening sequence is slow paced and is used to add to the sense of disinterest and lack of interest shown by the main character. Throughout the film music is used only in scenes of tension, This film seems to stay away from using sound to create any other emotions other than the building of tension and when the tension hits its peak they cut the music to break it.

During the scenes before the delivery of the fugitive the music changes to make the housekeeper look like a small part in a big picture, The daunting task he has been faced with, one of americas most wanted, is much more skilled at what he does and has been praised in his skills of human manipulation. 

Mise en Scene

At the start of the film where the intentions are to show the main characters lack of interest in his job the lighting and set used are of a safe house, Dull and dark, There is never anything going on there and there is a very dull monotonous environment. 

The props and set play a big part in showing characters personalities and how they operate. The fugitive is a simplistic yet complicated man, This is shown by how he operates places he meets yes he posses no personal belongings or anything more meaningful that next apart from the information he is dealing to his buyers.

The housekeeping and men assigned to secure this fugitive are well armed and supplied with everything they need to keep control of him. This will be turned against them later on in the film and instead of making them look like the more powerful side the simplistic nature of how the fugitive operates combined with the failure of the heavily armed well equipped men make them look like the weaker side and create an almost god like character who shows no fear in any situation and still manages to gain complete control with no force or input other than his voice. 

After creating the character of the fugitive he is thrown onto a set of a downtown city in the custody of the untrained housekeeper, This shows to the viewers that the fugitive combined with the weakness of the housekeeper will put he will be in control but will not be aware of it.

The props used from here on out are basic, With small firearms against heavily armed men and small rundown cars against large modern vehicles.