Hard Candy and Training Day Analysis

We watched and analysed two films:

Training day (Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke)

This is a police drame film following a LAPD cop over a 24-hour period in the gang neighbourhoods of South Los Angeles.

The police guy is in the middle of the shot, he is isolated from the group and this shows he doesn't really belong there, but he is equal as it is eye-leveled. The camera moves but he is still in the middle meaning he has equal power. The audience is privileged in this scene as we are shown the sinister way one of the gang members is looking at the police officer, but he cannot see this. The audience are shown different reactions and things that the characters do not notice or see, this makes us think something is wrong and we start to question whether somthing is going to happen. Some of the people are smoking this alarms us as this represents danger.

When the police officer is lying on the floor is is at a high angle from his view and low from theirs, showing us who is in control. The police officer in inferior and the gang members are now superior. We are also shown the water, drain this alarms the audience that time is running out. The police officer tells them a story and when the girl starts to tell the truth the shot straightens up and comes to eye level.

Hard Candy (Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh)
This is a psychological thriller film focusing on a "pedophile" and a 14 year old girl who he attempts to seduce, but she has very different ideas.

The music at the start is very sad/depressing and also building tension this instantly changes the mood of the audience. Then we are shown a computer screen which shows a conversation between two people a male and female which we can easily establish because of the colours used (red-female, blue-male). We can also tell that he is an older as his screen name appears to be lensman and she is thonggrrrrl. The shot then starts to zoom into the screen which is drawing in the audience and the intensity is growing. The conversation is sexual and the man seems to be in charge as he is asking all the questions, this is stereotypical. The sound is diegetic, this creates a sense of realism and also privileges the audience as it lets us in.

In the next scene we are shown a eastablishing shot of a plastic fork, this shows the person is no longer at home as the fork is plastic and these are usually used in cafe's. We are also shown a chocolate cake which represents sexuality, curvey/thick women and being provocative. The girl lets out a "hmmmm" which is again sexual as it is an orgasmic sound. She meets him in a coffee shop showing she is trying to be mature (adult-like) and does not want to be seen as a little girl. The girl is wearing red this represents danger, little red riding hood wears a red hoody (also the man is the wholf/predator), but on the other hand it could also stand for lust, romance and love. The shot goes into a point of view shot, which lets the audience know how he is looking at her whether he is preying on her. They are both at eye level as he sees her as his equal (fair game) although he is an adult and she is still a child. The shot then focusses on the two characters, she gets embarressed and the camera moves towards her showing her vulnerability.

At the beginning of the scene they are both shown in seperate shots as they are strangers and still getting to know eachother, but they are shown in the same shot after he makes a joke which brakes the barrier and they seem more comfortable with eachother. He is wearing glasses which tell us he intelligent also another barrier between him and her, it also obstructs us as an audience as there is something in front of his eyes. The girl has a white light above her representing innocence and purity. Then the shot moves out showing the audience we have to get back to reality.