star wars

In the opening scene we have an establishing shot. This is common for most film opening. We can see where we are in the film. As we can tell, we are in space. Space is common of sci-fi films as they usually have some kind of high tech space craft that they use to travel to different places. If you look in the background you can see that the death star is half built. This lets us know that we have arrived in the middle of something. The death star is also some iconography as any Star Wars fan would instantly recognise it when watching.

The establishing shot seems to last for a very long time. Although this shot is common, for it to last for so long is very uncommon or unconventional. This shot is used for an extended amount of time because of the ship flying over. This allows us to see how big the ship is. A large ship suggests power since someone with a small ship wouldn’t seem as threatening.

After about 28 seconds the shot changes. We can now see the whole ship and because of the shot before can tell that, even though we are far away from it, it is a large ship. The slightly smaller ships are show here flying towards us. Since the camera is focusing on them we can assume that there is something important about them.

This shot shows the 2 characters flying the ship and also where they are flying to.

We see a close up shot of the computer screen. Computers, usually very advanced computers, are seen in sci-fi films.

We have another establishing shot of the death star but closer up. We can see that it’s unfinished in multiple places. The smaller ship we saw earlier flies inside of the death star showing us that something important is likely to happen.

We see another establishing shot from a different angle of the inside of the death star, showing us where the ship is flying to exactly.

A high angle shot is used here to make it seem like we are watching the ship arrive from a balcony. Since we have been focusing on the ship for most of the shots we know that something or someone important is on that ship. In this part we can hear a siren going off which signals to everyone that the ship has arrived, again showing importance.

Although it isn’t too easy to see, there are a lot of people lining up to greet someone. A fan of Star Wars will quickly guess that the people in white are the storm troopers.In this setting we can see lots of lights. Sci-fi films usually have dark places that will require lights to see anything.

In both of these shots we can hear the iconic theme tune playing in the background. This tells the audience they are watching Star Wars because they recognise the music.

In this part, we can see the use of tracking on one character. This shows us that he must be important as we are following him and he’s the only one walking now. He is also walking down the middle of all the other men.

We have a close up on this characters face which shows his emotions. We can see that he is tense and nervous.He appears to be dressed in green. Green in a colour we normally associate with sci-fi films.

Just before the smoke appears, we see a figure dressed in black. We only see the lower half of him though. We then see smoke appear on the camera tilts/pans up to reveal who he is.

When the camera stops we see who it is. We see it’s Darth Vader and even non Star Wars fans can tell who he is. The helmet that he wears is iconic enough for everyone to recognise it.Darth Vader is one of the main characters in this film, he is even given a formal greeting with everyone lining up to meet him.The colour black that Darth Vader wears a lot of can be associated with evil and death.

We see a tracking movement again this time in the opposite direction and with an extra character. Both of these characters are important so we follow them across the room while they exchange dialogue.

We then cut to the front of them both. We see the character walking with Darth Vader more in this shot and we also see their men behind them.

We see Darth Vader’s men, the storm troopers, behind him. The storm troopers are another iconic thing in Star Wars. You can easily tell they are Darth Vader’s men by the helmets as they are similar to Darth Vader’s.

A shot reverse shot is used here to show that both characters are talking to each other. Since we can’t see Darth Vader’s face, the shot reverse shot helps us realise that he’s talking.

Here the character looks rather tense still. He looked nervous before and now he’s with Darth Vader so it’s understandable that he would be tense. A close up, over the shoulder shows us his face clearly so we can see his emotions.

Here a high angle is used to show the setting from the point of view of someone on the balcony. We also see the camera panning up to keep Darth Vader in the frame. This shows he’s more important than other characters. We also hear the theme music play again as he walks off.

A wipe transition is used here which is rather uncommon for a film to use. The transition shows that there is a different location that we’re in now and also that it is a rather contrasting place.