Analysis of cinematography in la haine free essay sample

The scene I am going to analyse is the ending scene of the film La Haine (Mathieu Kassowitz, 1995). In the beginning of the scene, the camera gives us a longshot of the protagonists pulling the gang members body into the room, this shows the audience a view of what is going on in the distance. The scene then progresses further, and we see that the gangmember the protagonists have pulled into the room has been thrown onto the bed, Vinz, one of the protagonists, pulls out a gun, it is here we see a point of view shot from the gangmember. The gun in question is also out of focus to show the character is focusing on the conversation between the two men that stand before him. The scene cuts to a high angle tilting down on the gang member to make him look inferior, he has blood on his face and his expression shows exasperation and fear which all ties in with the fact he is helpless in his situation. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of cinematography in la haine or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A close up shot of the gang member reveals his emotion that is shown throught his expression, his eyes are squinted and his teeth are clenched, we can see this clearly because of the close up on it, it adds to the effect on the audience of his fear of Vinz and Hubert. Furthermore, there is also an extreme close up on Vinz’s expression aswell, to show his distaste in what he is doing, the audience is given a clear message on Vinz’s viewpoint on trying to shoot the gang member. Afterwards a shot reverse shot is used to show the gun in vinz hand and the fearful expression on the gangmenbers face, the scene then cuts to a wide shot of the characters after the moment that just passed, Vinz is shown to be retching whilst the others look on, it gives the audience an impression of what is going on fully in the scene, and also as to what Said is doing, as he is not present in the tense minute where Vinz was going to shoot the gang member. The scene progresses completley to a different location where they boys are now on a train, in this scene the camera tracks forwards to show the train is moving forwards, there is then a cut to a long shot of the boys at the back of the train, looking In different directions to connote their different hopes and directions in life. The scene cuts to another location again, where we see the boys together, represented in a close up, the close up connotes their togetherness, as Said says ‘see ya tomorrow’ (as show in screencap), the director foreshadows the point that this is the last time infact they will be together, and this is reinforced by the close up shot. In conclusion, this scene provides a variety of different locations in which the boys have gone which may symbolise their ‘journey’ in life, and foreshadows that it may come to and end.