First Blood (Trailer 1982)

4. RAMBO – FIRST BLOOD

Mise en Scene

The location could be a prison or a camp this is also shown with the guards with guns and uniform. The film starts with the director drawing the viewer’s attention to an explosion indicating that something has happened or going to happen later on in the film.  There is a close up on a guard with a gun this could show power and authority. The main character is introduced to us by one of the guards shouting his name this again could be showing authority. Rambo’s clothes are dark for him to hide from others, they’re apart of his identity and he has all the iconic traits of an action hero to connect to his identity, from his muscles to his stance and stunts throughout this sequence.

Setting and Props are used as we can see a man in the centre of the picture that he is in front of two men. This suggests that the character in middle is an important person and is main the main reason of where the picture is aimed at. The background of the characters are seen that they are in a forest and this shows that the films genre is an action based genre with a knife holding on the left hand side in the picture.

Costume hair and make up are used because it shows that both the character on the left and on the right are wearing some sort of army uniform and the actor in the middle is seen with no clothes worn which suggests what kind of role they have in the movie.

Facial expression and body language of character in the middle shows that he is a hostage and is tied up so he cannot escape. This also shows that the character in the centre is shown being torched by the two men on his right and left. The other characters looking at the centre character seems that they just had some sort fight, battle and the centre actor is caught.

The colour being green in the background gives an impression of it is a natural environment because in the picture it is clearly seen that the scene is took place in a forest. High key lighting is used in this scene. This can be seen because it looks that it is in the evening or something and light is used because on the centre actor’s body light is flashed on his body.

Editing

The director has chosen a long shot to show the main character talking to what looks like an important person, we can tell that he is important by the fact that he is on the other side of the fence and in a suit. Where Rambo gets chased by the police, shows a lot of quick edits between shots, creating a fast paced sequence, gripping the audience, like me to keep watching Rambo is the main focus of this film because there is a lot of long shots focusing on his figure and movement, he is also in the centre of the frame, which gives him an heroic look because he is the main focus of that shot. There are also a lot of extreme shots of the environment, which are mostly forests and tree’s, which suggests he’s escaping for freedom.

Camera Angles and Movement

There is an establishing shot showing the main character and the man in a suit talking over the barbed-wire fence this also indicates power and authority. When the man is talking to Rambo the conversation is an over the shoulder shot with the main character not making eye contact with him showing arrogance and maybe disrespect of what the man has to say.

Sound

The sound in this scene shows a lot of small diegetic talking. This could indicate that Rambo is a bit of a rebel and doesn't want to be there. After the explosion there is diegetic sound of machinery and voices this shows that there is a lot going on. The erie soundtracks are used to create a tense atmosphere that the audience responds to by feeling suspense and by including some ambient sounds we wanted to achieve the same thing. This tension and suspense was then increased at moments for example before the character begins digging the ambient sound is cut and the non diegetic soundtrack increases in pitch, this is done to attract the audience to this moment particularly so they focus on this part of the narrative as it will hold significance during the film.

The music is harsher and dissonant in keeping with the overall tone of the film and uses electronics but is primarily orchestral.  The title track "It's a Long Road" keeps to the theme of the film suggesting the struggle to re-integrate into a society that no longer understands the soldier after the horrors of war.