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TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Title: The Expatriate


Director: Philipp Stlzl
Staring: Aaron Eckhart, Olga Kurylenko
and Liana Liberato.
Date: 26th September 2012
Genre: Action & Thriller.

Media Language
The fist shot of the opening scene is a
slow pan across what looks like a wall of
capsules which then comes to a brick
wall with a metal gated door. Nondiegetic music starts before this shot
appears. The music is soft but creates
suspension as it is quite eerie like
something is about to happen. At the
same time the audience can hear
diegetic alarm ticks and beeps from the
capsules.
Suddenly as the pan reaches the door
there is diegetic machine gun shots
fired breaking the suspense of the
music. The camera tilts down to the
injured man on the floor and a loud
diegetic sound effect of the man
smashing into the gate is empahsised to

Media Language
Next, the audience sees a close up of a
person in rubber gloves and they assume
that this will be the same person who fired
the gun previously shooting down the
guard. The fact that this character is
wearing rubber gloves shows the audience
that he doesn'tt want his fingerprints on
anything and could also suggest he is an
experienced criminal. At this exact
moment the non-diegetic music builds up
tension as pace and volume picks up which
increases the adrenaline and thrill. The
editing also picks up in pace with quick
shots and transitions adding to the
adrenaline of the scene.
There is then a close up of the card swipe
machine where the audience sees the red
light turn green. This close up is showing
the audience that this criminal is highly
skilled as he has broken into the secured
room.
The next shot is of the man completely
covered up so he is unidentifiable, I will

Media Language
The following shots in the opening scene
are all close ups of the actions the man
carries out. For example firstly, there is a
close up of the man unlocking the
specific capsule and once again the red
light turns green which portrays to the
audience the sense that he is highly
skilled and can gain access to things that
are not meant to be in his possession.
Secondly there is a over the head shot of
the pulling out of the capsule which
shows the audience exactly what is is
and gives the impression its very
valuable.
Then there is a shot emphasising on the
bag that he is putting the capsule in and
zipping up which shows the audience
that he is stealing the object and hiding
it from other people, once again

Media Language
The next shot is CCTV footage of the
man leaving the room pointing his gun.
The mise-en-scene of the gun and
background characters on the floor
with fake blood and wounds create the
thrill and dangerous atmosphere as it
shows that this man is extremely
dangerous and wont think twice about
shooting someone. The tracking shot
of his feet as he walks through the
corridor shows his panther like walk as
he slowly creeps around portraying his
mysteriousness. The non-diegetic
music also slows down reflecting his
walk.

Media Language
At this moment in the opening
scene the editing is very
effective. The use of match on
action which is defined as: the
technique for continuity editing
which one shot cuts to another
shot portraying the action of the
subject in the first shot.
The first shot shows the man
shoot his gun which is followed
exactly by the man being shot
falling to the fall. The continuity
is spot on which enhances the
thrill and action in the film as it is
so fast paced.

Media Language
Once the character is out the building
and exchanged the bag with a man on a
motorbike driving past an establishing
shot is shown on the street when
diegetic typewriting sounds occur as the
words: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM appear
letter by letter. This shot and text
communicates to the audience where
the film is set.
There is then a transition to a car pulling
into a side road under a dark bridge
which is quite secretive which
contributes to the whole idea of the
mission going unnoticed etc.
An extreme long shot is then used to
show the motorbike swooping in and
throwing the bag onto the floor. This
action is quite discreet with smooth but
fast paced transitions which reflects how

Representations
This is the main character that the
audience is shown in the opening
scene. From the screenshots obviously
the audience cannot see any part of his
body apart from his eyes. This
represents the character to be
undercover and have the aim to be
unnoticed and unidentifiable. He is
reinforcing the stereotypical criminal
and allows the audience to make the
judgement that this he is the bad guy
because of his clothes and actions.
His weapon also contributes to this
idea because it reinforces the idea that
he is dangerous which links to the
genre of this film which action and
thrill.

Audience

Who is the primary target audience and how will they be attracted to the product?

The primary target audience for this film are adults. However I
would say young adults who enjoy films involving crime and
danger would really like this film. The rating of The Expatriate is
a 15 which ensures that the content of the film is not family
friendly. The generic conventions from the poster, film title and
even the trailer would attract the audience as shows the
audience exactly what to expect.

Screensh
ots from
the
trailer.

Genre

What is the genre and how is this communicated to the audience


through generic conventions.

The generic
conventions are the
weapon and the
images of the
characters. The
woman is showing
serious emotion of
fear and the man
looks intimidating.
This portrays to the
audience that this is
not a romance or
comedy film.

The colour
scheme used
in the poster
is cold and
gloomy
which can
represent
the film to
be nature of
cold hearted
actions e.g.
shootings
The gun
andshows
fighting
the audience
etc.
that the film
will contain
violence.

Narrative
Todorovs narrative theory can be applied to this film because
The Expatriate is a linear narrative which means the events
occur in chronological order. The film begins with the equilibrium
of a father and daughter living their everyday life making
breakfast in their home and he is excelling in his business which
is some sort of secret agent company. Then the disruption would
be the fact that the business completely disappeared and the
recognition is when he was told he never worked there. The plot
then goes on to the Restoration which is where the action of the
film occurs as the father and daughter go on this thrilling
adventure to find out who is behind this. Then a resolution is
found in the ending where a new equilibrium is established.

Institution
The Expatriate was produced by E-motions, uMedia, Informant
Films Europe and SMASH Media and was distributed by The
Weinstein Company (USA).

This film had many large media institutions involved in the


media text and the budget of the film was 12 million.
However this large amount of input did not determine its
success; Rotten Tomatoes said, Derivative to a fault, The
Expatriate squanders some nifty potential and its talented
cast in a bland retelling of a story action fans have seen too
many times before.

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