I have not gotten a reply from Jessica, but since she found the idea interesting when I mentioned it to her during class, I assume this is a pass. So now I would like to have a quick and brief analysis of the scene I have chosen: The bullet dodge scene from The Matrix (1999). This is the link to the scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggFKLxAQBbc
Introduction
This is a classic scene from the entire series, where Neo the protagonist was dodging all the bullets from Agent Smith. It is said that the scene was captured by hundreds of cameras to generate the 360 angle in slow motion. I will analyse the scene in chronological order.
Analysis
0000 – 0002 Close-up shot on shoulder level. A pilot says “I repeat, we are under attack.”
0002 – 0003 Medium wide shot on eye level. Neo is fighting with 2 soldiers.
0003 – 0005 Medium close-up tilt shot. Neo grabs the gun from the soldier, hit him with it and turns around.
0005 – 0006 Hip level shot with a slightly low angle. Trinity knifehand-strikes the soldier’s face and then pushes his hand up to expose him and make him vulnerable.
0006 – 0007 Close-up shot on shoulder level. Trinity performs a neck chop on him with her left hand. Her voice here is very soft. I assume this is because the music has just kicked in, and it will disrupt the atmosphere if a powerful “huh” comes out suddenly. Also, this shot only lasts for a second, so the audience would not pay much attention to the sound, but more on the flow and the entire action scene.
0007 – 0011 Close-up shot on shoulder level. The pilot is controlled by the Matrix and he is transformed into Agent Smith as he struggles in pain. Interestingly, this shot seems to synchronise the previous shot, where Trinity knocks down the soldier, and at the same time the pilot turns himself. This looks like the pilot is also being knocked down by Trinity, and it adds the impact of her hand chop.
0011 – 0012 Medium shot and zooming in. Neo is shooting a gun towards the soldier.
0012 – 0013 Medium shot and zooming in. The soldier is shot by multiple bullets
0013 – 0014 Close-up shot and zooming in. Neo continues to shoot the gun while the soldier behind him is getting up and about to take him down from his back.
0014 – 0017 Trinity notices the soldier and immediately throws a knife towards him. I’m not sure where this knife is from, as all of the characters have guns and pistols only. I found this shot awesome when the soldier’s body covers Neo and reveals him when he falls. This creates suspense of Neo’s safety and a relief when he is shown on the screen. Maybe I can add some features here with sound.
0017 – 0020 Wide shot on leg level. The shot captures Agent Smith’s leg as he gets down from the helicopter while Neo and Trinity have just taken down all the soldiers.
0020 – 0023 Close-up shot on eye level. Trinity spots Agent Smith as she looks right. The camera zooms in to extreme close-up shot.
0023 – 0025 Close-up shot on low angle. Neo seems to notice the signal from Trinity and calm down. Then he gets ready and quickly turns back.
0026- 0027 Medium shot on eye level. Neo pulls out the pistols and shoots right after. The pistols Neo are shooting are 2 Beretta 92FS handguns.
0026 – 0027 Full shot on eye level. Agent Smith dodges the bullets smoothly. I am not sure why no bullet can be seen that is going through Agent Smith while he is dodging, is this because of the Matrix?
0027 – 0029 Extreme close-up close on eye level. Neo is frustrated to take down Agent Smith.
0029 – 0033 Full shot on eye level. Agent Smith continues to dodge the bullets smoothly.
0033 – 0034 Extreme close-up close on eye level. Neo runs out of bullets and panics. He yells, “Trinity,” while looking at the left. At this moment, Trinity should be on his right side so I am not sure if this is a tiny logical mistake or done with intention where Trinity has already gone someone else (potentially behind Agent Smith for the stealth assault in later shots)
0034 – 0035 Close-up shot on shoulder level. Agent Smith raises his pistol and points towards Neo.
0035 – 0037 Medium shot on eye level. Neo drops his pistol and gets ready to receive the bullets. He yells, “Help!”.
0037 – 0038 Extreme close-up shot on eye level. This shot focuses on the front of the pistol.
0038 – 0048 Arc shot. Neo dodges the bullets shot from Agent Smith’s pistol in slow motion. Compared to how Agent Smith dodges bullets, it is completely different from Neo. He seems to dodge the bullets easily, while Neo struggles and dodges them in a spin. I will see if I can create sounds to make the contrast of their performances.
0048 – 0049 Extreme close-up shot on high angle. A bullet rubs over Neo’s left torso.
0049 – 0050 Extreme close-up shot on high angle. Another bullet rubs over Neo’s right leg.
0050 – 0052 Medium shot on overhead angle. Neo falls down and panting.
0052 – 0057 Close-up shot on high angle. Neo keeps panting and looks up while Agent Smith walks towards and his shadows cover him. The shot appears to be much brighter compared to the previous shot.
0057 – 0058 Medium shot from the POV of Neo. Agent Smith raises his pistol and is about to execute him. The pistol just covers the sun and shows the whole image of him. In my opinion, this pulls the audience to the reality that Neo is defeated and adds tension from Agent Smith.
0058 – 0100 Close-up shot on low angle. Agent Smith says, “Only human.” in a pale tone.
0100 – 0101 Close-up shot on eye level. A pistol points towards Agent Smith’s back of his head, and he looks back.
0101 – 0102 Medium-shot from the POV of Agent Smith. Trinity says, “Dodge this.” with a bit of anger.
0102 – 0105 Full-shot on eye level. Agent Smith was shot in slow motion.
0106 – 0107 Close-up on low angle. Trinity looks backward to avoid looking at the strong light from Agent Smith.
0107 – 0108 Agent Smith turns back to the pilot from the beginning of the scene with electricity around.