Analysis of techniques used in the opening scene of The Butterfly Effect film
The Butterfly Effect starts off with a non diegetic sound of thrilling music playing, which gives a creepy effect to the opening to get audiences started, while also having diegetic sound of characters speaking, sound of a door slamming and pen noise writing on paper which connotes the suspense of which the character is going through to hide. It shows a medium shot of main character’s face expression and body language towards his situation which is him running from someone. It then moves to a long shot of him moving furniture in the room which he positions in front of the door to stop anyone coming in. close up shot of his face and of his hand writing down what he is saying on to paper with a pen. The diegetic sound then stops and all you hear is a different tone of music playing which is a non diegetic sound.. The music which are played where edited in which and also the special effect of the paper crumbling and turning in to butterflies with the film title and the image of a human skull in the background. The music edited in enhances the sounds more and also give a good effect to what is being shown on the screen. Special effects are added in as it is impossible to do on set.
The next part of the film fades from the film title to a long shot which is also an establishing shot of the scenery of houses and trees which is where the film is set and you can see children playing which suggests a peaceful area. Also this part uses non diegetic and diegetic sounds as well of the soft music playing of the image while you can hear the sounds of birds tweeting, which is an ambient sound as it fits in to the environment, and a dog playing showing the nature of the area which also connotes the peacefulness of the area. The non diegetic music continues to play a bit more quietly as the characters start to talk showing them in medium shots of what they are doing and their face expressions of what is being talked about. This gives the effect of fading the music away slowly and incorporating the voices in the scene making audience more engaged to how the sounds flow.
The camera then cuts to a long shot of cars parked outside a school and non diegetic sound of a music is still playing. The long shot turns in to a panning shot of a car pulling up in front of the school which connotes the movement of the car as camera follows it and the music stops playing with only the diegetic sound of the surrounding noises and the car can only be heard. This then jump cuts to a long shot of the front of the car with the camera view at the characters from the outside of the front car window. The camera shows the two characters having a conversation using long shot through the front car window. The camera then flows the little boy up the stairs through the school door while the school bell goes off, which cuts to medium shot of his mum in the car talking to his teacher which shows a shot reverse shot of both of them has a they have serious conversation showing their facial expressions.
The camera cuts to a low angle shot of the children playing in the class room and a boy bullying another boy with the surrounding noises of children laughing and making noise. This shot makes the bully very powerful towards the audience as he is higher than the camera. This shot cuts to long shot of whole class room where the children are all playing and the mother and teacher walk in and the camera follows them to the other side of the class room which then cuts to medium shot of both of them while the camera is on a over the shoulder shot from the mothers position with the camera viewing the teachers face. This shot then turns in to a 180 degree shot of the conversation between the two while the diegetic noise of the children still there.
The next shot shows a medium shot of the drawing made by the little boy which the camera zooms in to the drawings as it is very disturbing and then the non diegetic sound of a sad tone music starts to play with also the diegetic sounds and the characters voices, which then the camera goes to a low angle shot of the mothers face as it shows the in shock of the picture which makes her look in power even though she’s really scared of what she’s seen. The camera goes in to a middle shot of the little boys face and then back to his mum and the teachers face. It then goes in to a long shot and then a medium shot of a 180 degree camera shot. This shows audience’s the emotions and body language of characters as they speak about the problem in the film so that they can see how each character a=have reacted.
The scene jump cuts to a medium shot of the camera filming the mother upset while looking at the drawing her son drew sitting inside her car with the window open. The music still playing while the camera cuts to next scene of where the camera is following in a long shot of the mother and son walking up the stairs to a house at night. This scene the fades in to the next scene and the non diegetic sound stop and shows the boys head getting closer to the camera. This scene shows the boy laying down in a machine where his brain is being scanned while you can also see his mum and the doctor in a long shot in the background. Then a match on action shot is used of the same position on the boy but from the front side view showing his face in a medium shot cutting to the camera filming the back of the mum and doctor as they have a conversation. The next shot used is a 180 degree shot of the conversation between the doctor and the mum of the little boys condition but the camera positioned in a over the shoulder shot. In this part the non diegetic sound of music is again played over the diegetic sounds of the characters talking which is a sad tone to the scene as it is also a sad scene.
This scene then jump cuts a close up of a paper pad with a hand writing in pencil with non diegetic of music playing and of the boy speaking but in his mind so that the audience only can hear what he’s saying. The camera goes in to a long shot of him still writing while he’s sitting at the table having is breakfast and in the background you can see his mother on the phone. This cuts to a medium shot of his mum putting down the phone and the non diegetic sounds stop and only the diegetic sounds are visible. Camera follows her out the kitchen in medium shot to long shot through to the living room then medium shot of her back as she stops in surprise to see her son holding a knife who is seen in a long shot. At this point a sudden sound of music plays which is also an ambient sound because the tone of the music is very sharp which relates to the sharpness of the knife. Medium shot showing a 180 degree shot as well of the conversation between son and mother as she asks him what he’s doing in worry showing their facial expressions.
Cuts to an establishing shot of a house as a car pulls up towards it with non diegetic sound in the back ground. Panning shot is then used of a man walking from the house to the car to greet the boy and his mum which cuts to a medium shot of them two in the car getting out. Music stops playing and goes to only diegetic sound. Shot reverse shot is used here of the man and the boy looking happy as he’s come to play with his friends. Medium shots of the man, the boy and the two children of the man as they talk about their plans for the day. A high angle shot is used on the little boy as he seems to be happy with what he’s been told by the man which also connotes him being vulnerable to what is going to happen. This scene is then cut to the next with a flash of light which is from the camera light being used by the man in the film. This also can mean that the boy has come back to reality as he doesn’t know what has happened to him in the past few minutes. The non diegetic sound of high tone music plays in this part as the boy looks confused being filmed in close up of his face showing his facial expression of his confusion. The music plays over the characters as they talk and shows medium shots of all of them as one another talk to each other about what is going on in the scene.
The scene fades away in to the next in a panning style shot to a x ray image cutting to medium shot of the doctor and mother showing their backs to the camera as they speak. There is only diegetic sound of characters talking in this scene. This then goes in to a shot reverse shot of both the characters as they are talking in a long shot turning in to medium shots to shot more of the emotions on their faces which then goes back to long shots. Some shots here are also over the shoulder shots of what the mum is seeing. This cuts to a long shot of a car driving down a road toward the camera going to a medium shot of the boy and his mum in the inside the car. You can hear both diegetic sound of the car noises and the outside nature and also the non diegetic sound of the boys thoughts of what he is thinking about which shows his inside emotions. This goes in to a long shot of the car driving away from the camera which connotes that the boy and his mum are driving away from their problems.
