Film Opening Deconstruction: Six-String Samurai (1998)

Directed By Lance Mungia

For my first film opening deconstruction I have decided to do the film “Six string samurai”, which is about Russia dropping a atomic bomb on America and the only place left is a city called Lost Vegas and Elvis Presley has died and they need a new king.

Camera Work

The film opens to real footage of the Americans testing an atomic bomb; the significance of this is so that the viewer gets a real sense of destruction which is the primary theme in this film.

When the main character first enters the scene we never actually see his face. Because he is always looking away from the camera, being over cast by shadows or as in the first instance being blocked by the foliage in the environment, maybe to add a sense of mystery to identity of this unknown hero.

Sound

The first thing you hear in this movie, is a very soft tune played on an exilaphoine which is very soothing, but is then seen to be a complete contrast to the blood curdling scream of the two civilians that follows. When the hero arrives, a very lively guitar and drum piece beings probable to try and match the high levels of energy shown by the main characters fighting style.

Editing

The introduction of the film is produced on to a type writer real which gives the impression that this is a report of the events that followed the end of the world, the narrator acts like as if he is informing someone of this tragedy with a voice full of sorrow. Title roles that follow appear every time a new character enters the frame and then immediately disappear as that person is killed.

Mise-en-scéne

The first people we see are dressed in rags which give the impression that the overall living standard of the civilian population is rather terrible; in addition to that the bandits are covered in old car parts acting as improvised protection, this also tell us that the production of such essential items has stopped implying that industry is none existent. When the hero enters he leaps over the boy in an act of protection to save his life. Throughout the intro the light never shines on the heroes face or is covered by the tall grass probably in an effort to cover his identity to maintain secrecy in the eyes of the viewers. The fact that the heroes sword is covered in blood and is severely damaged probably means that he has had lots of experience in battle as well as killing people.

Representation of characters

The young boy’s mother fulfils the stereotype of women being weak and helpless; this becomes apparent as she dies in the first 30 seconds of the film. Her son shortly follows suit, without his mothers protection he falls to the ground with a look of fear in his eyes. But on the other had the hero of the film fulfils the stereotype of a typical man in that he is brave, decisive as well as being very mysterious.

Aspects I might use

Probably the only aspects I will take away from the opening will be that they use real life footage to illustrate the time period in the film and the fact that the opening was read like a report on the events that occurred to introduce the story.