RESEARCH: Genre

The Bodyguard

Released: 1992

Certificated: 15

Director: Mick Jackson

Deconstruction of the first 2 minutes:

The film begins with a black
screen and repeated gunfire, the darkness then fades into an establishing close-up
shot of a middle aged man firing a gun, the man is dressed in a suit; this shows
that his is not hiding his breach of the law because he is showing his face,
the suit also suggests that because he is professionally dressed his job might
be to use his gun. When the gunfire
stops a slow sad soundtrack begins; this suggests the receiver of the gunshots
has died. The shot then zooms out and
reveals the character holding an older characters head down, the man is also
wearing a suit may suggest high class and wealth, he then attempts to raise his
head but the middle aged character pushes him down again and says ‘stay down’
the tone of his voice is concerned but gentle this gives us the impression he
is protecting the older character instead of threatening him.
As the camera continues to zoom
out we can see the setting is in a dark garage with expensive cars, this would
infer the social class of the film is higher and there is wealth present. A third man then enters the garage, the
character holding the gun quickly turns around and shout ‘freeze!’ he then
turns back around, this would suggest he knows this man and isn’t there to
mindlessly kill but in fact to do good. At this point the camera has zoomed out enough
for the audience to see a dead man covered in blood we assume this was the
man’s target, in the background the man stays frozen; this would indicate that
he doesn’t enjoy killing and is embracing what he has done. The zooming out
shot then merges into a crane shot and lifts into the ceiling.
A piece of non-continuity editing then takes
us to an extreme close-up shot on a glass of whisky; as whisky is a beverage
drunk by the wealthy we assume as the shot zooms out we will appear in a higher
class surrounding. The shot then pans travels up the holder of the glass’
shaking arm, this may infer nervousness or because of the wrinkles on the man’s
hand possibly an old age illness. The face of the man previously being held
down then appears but this time his suit is made up and neat; the shot then
arcs and the shooter from the previous scene comes into view, the pair then
talk about the continuation of a job contract. The shooter refuses the offer
and says with a strong masculine voice that he is no good in permanent
positions. This would suggest he isn’t a very committed man, a two shot shows
the pair and whilst the shooter replies and the relationship projected looks
strong as if the two care a lot for each other, this explains the shooters (who
is now referred to as Frank) apology because he hates to let the older man
down.
A fading transition promotes
another piece of non-continuity editing which shows Frank on a roadside bending
down and picking up some suitcases; as he does this a piece of background
diagetic sound implies a car is driving off. Frank then walks towards a front
door of a dark house , as he does this a match on action shot shows his feet
kicking large clusters of post from the path; this suggest no one has been here
for a long time. Frank then opens the door with his own key; this shows that
this is his house and as no one else is there suggesting he lives alone; this
projects him as attractive as one of the qualities of a stereotypically
attractive man is to be independent.