Research into relevant key text- Collateral

The sequence of collateral begins with a medium slow motion shot of tom cruses character; this adds suspense and tension especial as we can hear his footsteps which are diegetic and have been enhanced and made louder. We know that Tom Cruse’s character is the one that we should be focusing on as he is framed in the centre of the shot. His character’s costume also makes the audience feel like he is more important than anyone else that we can see as he has a silver suite and silver tie on which makes him look “official” or someone that holds a high position. He also looks very mysterious as he has dark sunglasses on even though he is inside. Cross cutting is used to show the two characters walking towards each other, the audience waits in anticipation as we know that something is going to happen but we don’t know what. The other man is also wearing suite but seems less “official” as he doesn’t have a tie on and his suite isn’t as sharp as Tom Cruses character. We then see the two characters bump into each other and a bag drops on the floor this is shown with a medium shot and makes the bag become a key crop and brings up some enigmas about the bag and its importance to the rest of the story. The drop of the bag is also accompanied with a “woosh” sound as it is falling to the ground and a “bump” sound as it hits the floor this makes it more intense and dramatic. When the two characters have dialogue between each other we notice that one man has an American accent and the other has an English (London) accent this could be a clue to where this is taking place, we the hear the English man say “enjoy your time in LA (Los Angeles)” this informs the viewer where this is taking place. There is another medium shot as the bag is being picked up to draw our attention to this key prop again, this creates more enigmas.