5. Brick Analysis (Johnson, 2005, US)

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound are both important in this clip. The non-diegetic sound (background music) kicks in immediately; it has a high volume, low pace and a mixture of pitches. It is slow and solemn at first and then speeds up towards the end. The style of the music sounds like it belongs in a Western film which could suggest something about an event further on in the film. The diegetic sound within this clip also conveys meaning, when the non-diegetic background music stops, the school bell instantly sounds. This awakens reality as everything up until that point seems almost surreal; again, it is also a contrast to the music we had just been listening too. The ringing is a ‘Sound bridge’ because the sound of the bell is carried over from one scene to another.

 

As I said before, the Opening Sequence is set in both a school corridor and a sewage tunnel. The school corridor is safe, friendly, and colourful. In comparison to the sewage tunnel, which is mundane, isolated and dirty. There are mainly differences in these two places, some of which are the school corridor uses high key lighting to reflect positive mental states. The sewage tunnel however, uses low key lighting to convey feelings of negative mental states. There is also contrast between the characters in these two settings, the school corridor is full of innocent, vulnerable children who seem happy and upbeat, whereas the sewage tunnel is empty, apart from two characters- a boy, who is staring a girl who is either unconscious or dead on the floor. This boy has his hand over his mouth when he is crouching down in the tunnel, this suggests he is in shock about the state this girl (who we assume is his friend/sister/girlfriend?!) is in.

The cinematography in this clip shows various things. Firstly, there are various extreme long shots of the dead or unconscious woman’s body parts. This is ‘hidden information’ because it is only telling us certain things about the woman’s situation. Furthermore, we see a Crab (camera movement) which draws attention to the boy’s shoes.This also an extreme close up which emphasises the mystery of the woman’s condition. We learn that the camerawork also contrasts within the opening sequence. We see few mind shots but a lot of extreme close ups and long shots.

Finally, the editing within the clip from Brick makes us question various things as an audience. The editing is consistently fast paced throughout the Opening Sequence. This is non-stereotypical for an Opening Sequence as there is not much going on. Also, Cross Cutting occurs between the boy’s face looking on into the distance, and the certain parts of the girl’s body (her hair and hands). This makes us further question what is happening and why.