Tonatiuh Bieletto Trejo - 1st Draft Textual Analysis WITHOUT PICTURES BECAUSE I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW TO ADD THE WHOLE WORD DOCUMENT TO THIS!

The Island

Release Date: 12 August 2005 (UK)

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

Caspian Tredwell-Owen (screenplay) andAlex Kurtzman (screenplay)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

The Island is a sci-fi/action film. The film follows TzvetanTodorov’s equilibrium model. The film starts with an equilibrium, and then follows by a disruption, realisation of the disruption, a resolution and ending with a new equilibrium. Most action and sci-fi movies do follow the Todorov theory of equilibrium.

 The film starts with an equilibrium. There is balance and order. We can see the equilibrium, as every character is acting normal living there lives as they see it and the surroundings are clean, tidy and “normal”. We see the main characters in these opening scenes as normal, average human beings. They moan about the food and lottery, get angry, has fun playing games with one another and feel happy and sadness. Also not to forget curiosity, this is the factor that causes the disruption. These are all too common feelings that the everyday human experiences.

About 35 minutes into the film the disruption occurs. The main character, who is a clone, witnesses another clone being killed, and then realises everything he has believed in has been a lie. This sets up expectations of more clones being killed, which will set off a chain of more disruptions. The main character realises all his friends and everyone ha has known his entire life will get killed. He will try and save all of them. This is when the realisation of the disruption starts. We recognise the problem and know what has to be done to stop this. A mission has to be undertaken. After the mission has been completed we find the resolution of the disruption. Then a new equilibrium is then found.

In most action/sci-fi films when the equilibrium is disturbed then is resolved, there is a new equilibrium, leaving the audience happy and satisfied that everyone in the movie carried on with their happy lives. Some movies don’t end with a new equilibrium, or maybe even after the new equilibrium is established there is another disruption. This leaves the audience thinking about what happened after.

Levi Strauss......

The film is in chronological order. All events happen chronologically. We don’t see what happened in the past or the future.

The narrative is closed as the movie doesn’t have a cliff hanger or any disruption after the new equilibrium. In the movie, after resolving the disruption and the new equilibrium being established, the two main characters go on a boat to travel south, find a home and live together happily. So the audience knows that they lived “happily ever after”. This tells us that the movie has a closed narrative.

Restricted/omniscient narrative....

Part 2

In action movies typical characters include the macho main man, other strong macho men, a sexy female, and a male villain with a strong team of followers. In sci-fi typical characters include the Good guy who has been affected, the villain human or not human, and if human mainly evil scientists/doctors. In the film there is a mixture of typical characters of both genres of movies. The main character is the strong, fearless, smart man. He is accompanied by a sexy woman whom which they carry an attraction for each other. The villain is an evil doctor.

The behaviours of the characters are typical of the genres. The protagonist is strong, trustworthy, fearless, which are typical behaviours of protagonists in action movies. He is also curious and confused which are typical behaviours in sci-fi movies. The female character shows more feelings, is more gentle but also knows how to defend herself and isn’t afraid of using violence when it is necessary. This is a common behaviour of a female main character in an action movie.

The doctor speaks in a more intellectual level and slower. This is a common way of speaking in villain doctor/scientist characters in sci-fi movies. The police and Special Forces unit in the movie use police jargon and speak more rough and louder. This is also a typical way of speaking in action movies.

When the main characters realised the disruption their facial expressions were shocked, scared and horrified. These are common facial expressions in sci-fi films when they discover something weird or horrible. Also when the characters were on the mission their face expressions were determined and nervous. This is common in chase scenes in action movies. Also in the film there is fast body movements and aggressive body language which is common in action movies as there is a lot of fighting and violence.

                In sci-fi films common costumes are surgeon’s overalls, lab coats, glasses on doctors/scientists. In the organization’s building areas the clones wear plain white clothes, have electronic tag bracelets and an sign on their wrist imbedded into the skin. The villain who is a doctor/scientist wears glasses. Also there are other workers who wear protective gas overalls with oxygen masks. These are common costumes in sci-fi movies.

This is a picture from the movie Space Odyssey. You can see the character wearing a space costumes and oxygen mask. These kinds of outfits are common in Sci-fi movies.

This is another picture from a sci-fi movie, showing us typical costumes used in Sci-fi movies.

The action characters in the film, police, Special Forces unit and the mercenaries, wear protective gear, bullet proof vests, gun straps, masks, hats, tough boots and uniform. These are common in action films as there is a lot of action so there are a lot of characters using these types of costumes.

These are some of the characters in The Island. They are hunting down the escaped clones, at all costs, even if it means killing them. They are wearing leather, sunglasses and black out clothing, which makes them look hard and tough.

This character is wearing police gear, which includes a bulletproof vest.

In the film almost all of the villains and hard men have bald shaven heads. A bald shaved head gives out a more strong and hard look to the men. Facial hair also gives a manlier look to the men. Having men with this type of hair is common as the film wants to show to the audience how strong and brave the men are. For make-up they used sweat, blood, scars and dry blood. This is common in action movies as there is a lot of violence and rushing around.  

The film is set in the future of 2019. There is a big company who make clones as an insurance policy for the rich people who can afford it. The clones live in an isolated high-tech compound and don’t know they are clones. When the two main characters find out they are worth more dead than alive they stage a daring escape. They have never left the compound so are clueless about life on earth. They risk their lives in order to save all the other clones from being killed.

The story line is original but there are bits were it can be said to be common in the sci-fi and action genre. Some sci-fi movies have been about clones and in most action movies the protagonist has to save people before they are killed, which is very common in action movies.

In the film Surrogates Bruce Willis and many other humans make robot clones of themselves. This shows us that how the story about clones is quite common.

The theme about the movie The Island is about humanity and feelings. The storyline questions ‘how far would humans go in order to live longer?’ it shows that even a clone of a human still has feelings and is not just a soulless product.

Because in sci-fi movies and action movies there is, almost, always a car and weapons there has to be sounds that make the whole movie seem realistic. In The Island non-diegetic sounds are used for future flying motorbikes. The sound is for the engine noise for the aircraft.  Also the computers in the high-tech compound are also diegetic. In sci-fi movies its common for non-diegetic sound to be used to replicate future machines sounds.

As there is there are a lot of cars in the movie and other action movies, the car sounds tend to be diegetic, as the stunt drivers/actors are driving the actual cars. So the engine noise actually does come from the car. But sometimes it can be non-diegetic as they edit the sounds of the car after, making the engine sound louder, aggressive and making the tyres squeal. In the movie there is a scene where the main characters are escaping and push massive metal cylinder objects onto the road. The sounds of the metal cylinders crashing onto the motorway and hitting the cars is non-diegetic, as they are not actually using heavy metal cylinders.  

In the movie there is a lot of close ups, to show the characters emotions and facial expressions. As the audience needs to feel the emotions they are feeling we get a lot of close ups to the characters. This is common in action movies. Also there is camera shaking in action scenes, which is also typical in action movies as there is a lot of explosions and violence. The camera shaking shows us instability and strong vibrations occurring in the movie.

In the action scenes the editing is fast paced and quick, to show all the action is happening quickly, adrenaline is pumping and a lot is happening in the moment. This is typical to action movies in the chase and fighting scenes.

Mise-en-scene

The film is set in the high-tech compound, the desert, train station, Los Angeles and the characters house. Typical settings in sci-fi movies high-tech compounds, laboratories, space ships etc. As the high-tech compound setting also has laboratories and hospital facilities it’s a typical type of setting for a sci-fi movie. Also when the protagonists are getting chased through the city, the city setting is common for action movies, where fast dangerous chases take place.

Common props used in The Island that are also used in other sci-fi/action movies, are guns, weapons, masks, phones and other communication devices. These are used throughout the film.

In a particular scene when they are escaping from the compound, there a lot of shadow formed, which is a result from using low key/high contrast lighting.