Analysis to 2:48
Face/Off (1997) written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary and directed by John Woo is a straight action film, all the way through. It is about government agent Sean Archer (John Travolta), whose son was killed in a terrorist act by Caster Troy (Nicholas Cage). In order to bring down the terrorist organization Archer takes on the face of Caster Troy, who was assumed dead but merely in a coma, wakes up and does the same. This short extract from the start of the movie is designed to draw the audience in, introduce the characters and deliver some knowledge of the characters back story to the audience.
The films starts to some eerie music whilst the main credits roll, a child's laughter can be heard as the backdrop fades from black to a slow motion merry-go-round with John Travolta and his son sitting upon a fake horse. This image is juxtaposed by the music and effects placed upon the sequence, We are made to feel threatened by the music as it appears creepy and disconcerting whilst we are given the image of love and innocence by the two actors in the shot. This makes the opening appear ominous and make the audience feel that something terrible is going to happen to either Travolta or his son.
After a VLS (very long shot) of the merry-go-round the camera zooms out to reveal a gun concealed by a blanket which is soon pulled off, this confirms the audiences suspicions that something bad is going to happen and shows that Travolta's character is in immediate danger. Caster Troy is first seen bathed in complete darkness indicating that he is the bad guy in the film. We are then given a CU (close-up) of Cage's character and he is seen with a straw in his mouth and with shade covering the left hand-side of his face, this shows the audience that there is some element of mystery about the character, and as for the straw it indicates
that killing someone is something casual to him such as having a drink.
At around 1:30 the camera swaps between the two images of Caster Troy with the gun and Sean Archer with his child, This shows the two very different lifestyles that the two lead. Sean Archer is seen running his hand down his child's face and closing his eyes with his fingers, this hints that the child will die to the audience and that it is Travolta's farewell to his son.
John Woo creates suspense by alternating between images of the gun's sight and shots of Travolta playing with his son, this creates tention and causes the scene to appear much longer than it actually is. As Travolta turns his back to the camera Cage fires a shot simultaneously time slows down and we see the bullet fly out of the gun and hit Travolta in the back. This infers that Cage's character is cowardly and dishonourable. We are then given a LA (low angle) shot of travolta falling of the horse suggesting a fall from glory etc. We again are given a juxtaposition with the carousel's horse covered in blood.
A single steady cam shot is shown after Archer falls to the ground where we see he is injured and that his son has been killed, this shows the passage of time and that in those few seconds his life has been changed. The camera then pans upwards towards the carousel and the music is layered with a whirring, screeching, nightmarish sound.
Throughout the starting sequence the background is constantly out of focus, with both Cages and Travoltas' characters, to show that it is an ongoing feud between the two characters and that all else does not matter.
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