Analysis of a Film Opening (Pineapple Express)

Pineapple Express is an American action comedy, it was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released in 2008. Seth Rogen is a big inspirational actor in recent comedy films of this style, in this film he plays Dale Denton, a lazy middle aged process server who witnesses a murder by a corrupt police officer and the city’s most dangerous drug lord and accidentally leaves a rare strain of marijuana behind at the scene, Pineapple Express. Unfortunately Dale was seen leaving the crime scene by the murderers and the marijuana he dropped was found by the drug lord who is able to trace it back to him. Dale goes to visit his dealer, Saul Silver (played by James Franco) who sold him the Pineapple Express, in order to avoid being pursued. I chose this film because it is quite a recent film and contains the same type of humour that we want to achieve in our film.

The film begins in black and white with non-diegetic music playing, this music is old fashioned and dramatic and is used to add tension to the opening scenes. The very start of this film is made to look like an old drama style film where the camera pans to follow an old car driving through a large abandoned area. A long shot is used to capture the vast abandoned area of mountains and trees behind them, as well as the car driving closer towards the camera. Text appears towards the bottom of the screen that reads ‘1973         The United States of America’. 

 

At this point the car stops and cuts to a medium shot showing one man in a military uniform and one in a black suit step out of the car, diegetic sounds are heard as the camera goes back to the long show from before and pans to follow the men as they close the car doors behind them and walk across to a trapdoor disguised as a large rock. The men are continuously looking around to ensure that they aren’t being watched, this adds to the tension and gives the audience an idea that the men are doing something illegal and/or secretive which will help to keep their attention. A long over-head shot shows the two men climb into the trapdoor and close it behind them, whilst they are doing so the camera zooms in slightly and tilts up as it pans down to get onto the same level as the men were.

 

 

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the men climbing down a ladder which is guarded by a man in a military uniform holding a rifle up to his chest. A long shot shows the military man, with his usual serious expression take off his hat, this suggests that he is comfortable which indicates that he is in his natural surroundings.

The man in the black suit follows him in silence as they pass a man sat down at a desk wearing a long white coat, this is the first indication that the trapdoor leads to an underground lab.  To confirm this, the camera cuts and pans along a row of windows with different experiments taking place in each, a naked man in a wheelchair is pushed passed the windows by a man in a lab coat this adds to the sinister themes of the film so far. 

 

It then cuts back to a long shot of the two men, the camera pans downwards to follow the men as they walk down some stairs, no dialogue has been heard in the film so far which gives the idea that the men are visiting the lab for a specific reason. They then meet another man wearing a lab coat who walks towards them, they exchange dialogue straight away but only ask quick questions. The camera pans and follows the men as they are led into an observation area. Diegetic sound in the form of a loud cough disrupts the formal style of the film that has been built up so far, at this point the  tense music fades out. The man wearing a lab coat is shown looking shocked and worried, a medium close up shot has been used to show and emphasize his expression.

 

We are then shown the subject, Private Miller, he appears happy but is acting rather strange by singing and dancing in reply to the questions being asked by the scientists. We keep seeing medium long shots of Private Miller sat alone whilst he answers the questions without any interruptions from the scientists, this allows the viewer to get drawn in to how he is feeling, only for this to be broken off with the contrast of the scientists looking un-amused. Close up shots of Private Millers face help the viewer to understand how he is feeling and to correctly show his expressions and reactions to the questions.

We then see Private Miller from the scientist’s point of view, this is done by showing a medium long shot of Private Miller with the scientists reflections in front giving the impression that we are also viewing him through a pane of glass.

 

The scientists are shown to be very unmoral and unfair as they are each looking down on Private Miller even though they are the ones who have given him the drug. This is emphasized when we see the man in military uniform from earlier drinking from an alcohol flask. He is in the centre of the shot making him the main focus. All of the characters up to now are wearing old fashioned clothing and have old fashioned hair styles to make the scenes more realistic and fitting with the time that they are supposed to have been filmed.

 

Private Miller then asks for a lighter, a man in a very protective suit is sent in with the lighter. A medium shot shows Private miller looking up to his face as we are only able to see the man’s torso, the camera pans up and around slightly so we are able to see the man’s face with Private Miller still looking up at him. I don’t think that this shows power but I think that it shows that Private Miller believes the suit to be excessive and he appears quite daunted yes impressed by him.

 

 

The camera then cuts to a long shot of the whole area and all the characters, this helps to set the scene once again and then back to the previous shots that we are familiar with. 

 

Private Miller is asked ‘When you think of your superiors, what emotions do you feel?’ his answer is harsh from the start as the camera quickly cuts to Private miller and begins to slowly zoom in as his answer unfolds, cutting regularly to the expressions of the scientists. We are still able to hear Private Miller as it cuts to the scientists but his voice is distorted to enhance the fact that he is still behind glass from their point of view. Familiar shots are used again here to help the scene flow.

 

The moment that Private Miller personally offends the main military character he picks up his hat and states he wants it ‘shutting down’, all the scientists act frantically turning off the machines and removing Private Miller, different shots are now used when showing each character this helps to give an uneasy feeling as though they are now uncomfortable. A single gunshot is heard off camera which silences Private Miller.

The final shots that we now see is the military captain on the phone, he begins talking formally but the camera pans and zooms in quickly to a close up shot of his face where he shouts down the phone the camera pauses on his final anger filled expression, this provides an end to this introduction of the film. He refers to what Private Miller was smoking as ‘Item 9’ which suggests that they don’t really know much about it and that it was only what we too have just witnessed that they have based their final decision on.

 

A wipe transaction removes this shot of the Captains face and replaces it with the present day, bright colours are now used throughout as the sun is shining and happy, lively music is playing. This music diegetic as it plays over the first parts of dialogue.

 

This wipe shot reveals such a massive contrast from the black and white serious scenes with the now happy and care-free feel of the new scene where we start to see the titles appear in a bright yellow playful font which gives the first impression that this film is going to be a comedy. The medium close up of the cars tyre shows fast movement which helps to quickly move on from the sinister themes from before whilst continuing the fast pace without quick cuts. 

 

The camera pans around the car and up onto the new characters face as the song begins to kick in and the radio presenter introduces our character as Dale Denton, they then proceed to having a phone conversation. It is made clear from the very beginning that he is smoking, a medium shot shows Dale sat alone in his car, however because he is the only relevant visual on the screen I believe that this shot sets the scene and gives an idea of his surroundings and personality. The actor, Seth Rogen, who plays the character of Dale was previously known for comedy films done in this style so we can already assume what he is going to be like. He has  curly hair which immediately gives him some comedy value and even though he is wearing a suit, because he is smoking and because of how he is talking on the phone this is just seen as being ironic.

 

 

His car is quite old and we can see that he has added to the interior himself due to the wire that stretches across the dashboard and connect to a small speaker. There are stuffed toys in the back of the car which adds to his childlike persona, this makes it increasingly difficult to take him seriously. The camera wobbles about as the car does which creates a feeling that he isn’t really concentrating on the road. This shaky camera movement continues onto the next shot we see of Dale Denton is a medium over the shoulder shot allowing the viewer to relate to his character. We can see his eyes through the rear view mirror so this shot still allows us to see some facial expression whilst allowing us to see more of what the character is like.

 

The next shot cuts to the radio, Dale is still slightly visible as we can see his arm and knee so that we still know we are in his car. The camera then cuts again to outside of the vehicle to help set the scene further when the camera cuts back to Dale we can still hear him as he continues to rant to the radio presenter but we can’t actually see him talking, instead he is just continuing to smoke. This shows the audience in a fun way what he thinks whilst also seeing how he acts when he is initially introduced into the film and as he pulls over and opens his car boot and the camera pans to reveal some humorous props, the audience is intrigued as to what he is about to do next.