Monday 13 December 2010

Butterfly Effect Analysis - By Omar

The movie begins with a quote from 'Chaos Theory' and after that it opens up with a mid shot tracking a character. The character cannot be seen properly as the camera is inside a room and the character is outside of it and his appearance is blocked by the blinds covering the windows of the room. This gives a sense of mystery and begins with an enigma already. The name of the studio who distributed the film is seen as the camera follows the character. You can see that it is night as the room is dark and there are no lights on in the building the character is in. It gives the sense that the character is running away from something and he is all alone - maybe he has done something bad. Maybe he was convicted when he is actually innocent.


The movie then has a change of pace as the character bursts through the door by kicking it open closing it quickly and covering it with a sofa - preventing anybody on the outside from getting in. More questions that need answering are being asked to the audience by the movie. The mid-close up shot as the character kicks open the door and closes it again shows the emotions he is going through - he is desperae to get something done and the audience want to know what. The shot then turns into a mid-long shot as he puts the sofa in front of the door. We also see the clothes the character is wearing - casual baggy trousers with a normal white shirt on with a logo. Although there is one thing uncommon which is the long blue gown he is wearing that resembles a hospital - more questions are now being thrown at the audience.


The camera stays stationary and pans the character as he comes closer to the character turning the shot into a mid-close up. Some of the emotions of the character are shown as he moves and hides under the table although his desperation to get something done quick is shown as he grabs a notebook and writes down something as quick as possible (saying what he is writing at the same time). The camera then cuts to a close-up shot of the character now displaying what he is feeling to the audience - his need to gt something done quick whist not get caught is also freely shown.


The audience is then shown other people who are obviously looking for the character trying to break into the room. They cannot be seen due to the blinds on the windows. The shot is then focused into an extreme close-up of what the character is writing and looks at two words in particular - "Save her." This now explains more of the characters actions and the type of character he is as he might be trying to escape from the building to save someone important to him.


The scene then shows the notepad shattering and turning into butterflies as the title of the film is then shown. From a mid shot of a dark room to an establishing shot of a sunny day in an everyday neighbourhood is our next scene. The camera pans down and zooms in slowly to a long shot focusing on a younger  character whilst stating in captions that the scene is 13 years earlier from the opening scene the audience was shown.


What really surprised me is that after going over the movie again, apart from the name of the distributing company, no other titles were shown throughout the whole movie until the ending credits played.

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