The Hurt Locker and Sounds Essay examples

Many forms of cinematography, sound, and editing are portrayed within the two scenes from the movie The Hurt Locker.
The first scene in particular begins with humor and the crew seems to be completely friendly with each other. It seems very calm, giving the audience the perception that nothing is happening. We have the view of Thompson walking from the top of the building, the back as he goes further away from Sanborn. Then we also can see Sanborn and how he was investigating each and every one of the people watching them. They show a view through the gun, and what detail was being viewed. There are all kind of views in this scene- there are close-ups, half-body views and views where we can see the entire body of the character. With diegetic and nondiegetic ambiance sounds, the scene begins to intensify. We hear Thompson breathing heavily, the background music that builds suspense, helicopters that cause suspicion. The audience can then see both where Thompson is headed and what he sees from inside his helmet. They keep switching views between Thompson and Sanborn. Things then begin to heat up when a strange man begins to distract Sanborn and strikes up a random conversation. It is then the mood is lightened with all of them sharing a quick conversation. Thompson begins to do what he needs to do and the audience watches with their eyes completely glued to the screen in anticipation. The sounds have ceased and it is completely quiet with the exception of some soft pitched ambiance sounds. This is quickly followed by panic when they see a civilian using a cell phone. They both run at the civilian in an attempt to stop him from doing what he was doing. With this panic the scenes are much choppier and quickly go back and forth between the different things happening. The video was also shaking, as if we were running along with James. This added to the panic the audience felt and increased commotion. We then find out that this cell phone detonated the bomb the men were investigating. We then hear a quiet airy sound followed by a huge explosion that unfortunately kills Thompson. While this event occurs, the scene becomes less choppy and actually comes to a standstill. We see a view of Thompson and the bomb right behind him in slow motion, to give a more impactful effect. We see how powerful this bomb by being shown how it startled a metal car looking object. Everyone was hit by the smoke and rubble, but we see Thompson lying on the ground helpless in the end.
The second scene is the “sniper scene” also beginning in a very calm and serene environment. It then takes a dramatic turn when one of the men is randomly shot. From this point everything becomes completely chaotic. Everyone is running around, gunfire is being heard and shot from every angle, people are running around and looking for cover. Dirty is flying everywhere and men are shouting out directions. The way the scene is edited is also very choppy. The scenes cut between one person to the other in a very quick manner to heighten the panic and tension. The way the scene is being filmed is also unfocused. We see the cameraman zooming in and out of the frame, shaking as he goes through it. It is after this commotion things settle down and it gets very quiet. We could see the snipers perspective as well as the main man being portrayed in this scene perspective. We also can view the entire group from afar at a top angle. Most of the sounds here are diegetic, with little ambiance sounds and nondiegetic sounds to add emotional appeal. This gives focus to the sounds and the editing techniques that are being used for this particular scene.

The Black Hawk Down used different techniques that in my standpoint seemed much more effective. The sounds in this scene are both diegetic and nondiegetic. The shots and the way the scenes are edited are continuous throughout with exceptions of one or two scenes. They add background musical sounds as things start to turn out unexpectedly;

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