Serenity opening analysis

George Griffiths

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/serenity/

FilmFilm name: Serenity

Previous title of the series: Firefly (TV Show)

Director: Joss Whedon

Actors: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau.

Year: 2005

Genre: Sci-fi/Western/action/adventure.

Narrative: Linear

Conventions in the opening

Conventions seen in the opening: Name of the film Publishing company, name of director, studio names, etc. Establishing shot – exterior of the ship. Characters and their places defined mostly. Setting – Space ship, going to land on a planet. Clearly shows weapons, showing that there will be violence in the

film. Interior of the space ship appears to be futuristic but a bit clustered. Almost stereotypical characters Problems immediately from the beginning (something wrong with

the ship)

Outfit showing western twist, setting inside the space ship so it’s a sci fi. Toys to show Wash’s childish nature

Name of the ship, Serenity, gives the film its title.

Challenged Conventions in the opening

Sound – Most films featuring space ships have sound while they are in flight, this film is more scientific in the fact that there is no sound of the ship until it starts to enter the planets atmosphere. Instead it is playing music.

Music – the music is what you would expect to find in a western film, with the violins, etc. and not what you would expect to be in a film set in space.

Costumes – Instead of the costumes being ‘space aged’ or futuristic, the majority of the clothing once again being something you would expect in a western, brown coats, etc. This ties into the TV program the film is based on as the captain of the ship was part of a resistance movement called the Browncoats.

The 180 degree rule is also broken in this as the camera swerves from side to side, often going the opposite side from where it previously was. The rule can be broken here as it is not a fast cut and has next to no chance of confusing the audience, which is why it is avoided in cuts.

Mis-en-scene

Costume:

The majority of the crew of the ship wear ‘raggedy’ clothing that resembles something you might of seen in a western film. Apart from the Doctor, played by Sean Maher, whose costume is simple but obviously well kept. The colours of his costume are also completely different from the others, as his is black/white, and the rest of the crews is mostly brown. As the interior of the ship is mostly futuristic, colours and all, the costumes are what you would expect in a western film, keeping the sci-fi/western cross genre going.

Jayne’s and Mal’s clothing show use and give a rugged look.

Simon’s clothing is well kept and clean, showing he is different from the rest of the crew.

LightingA lot of the lighting is neither low key nor high key, but a mixture of the two. All of the light inside the ship is man made, but some of the light on the exterior of the ship is natural, from the sun by the planet they are landing on. Mal, the captain of the ship, is usually in lighting corresponding to what member of the group he is talking to. E.g. when he is talking to the Doctor, Simon, he is mostly in dark lighting, signifying that there relationship isn't to strong, but when he is talking to Wash, the pilot, he is in bright light, showing that his relationship to Wash is a strong one. He is also in bright light at this point as he is on the deck of his ship, where he feels most happy. When we see Kaylee, the engineer for the ship she is in bright lighting, this signifies that Kaylee is a bright person throughout most of the film.

Low key lighting between Mal and Simon.

High key lighting, showing Kaylee, and Mal in low key lighting in an over the shoulder shot

The actors in this film are all chosen from the roles they played in the preceding TV series. Mal is clearly defined as being the most dominant on the ship, however he is challenged by Simon whenever it comes to River, Simon’s sister. This shows that Simon cares a lot about River, as well as he will stand up to Mal, something which others on the ship rarely do. Jayne’s interaction with Mal also shows that Mal is dominant despite the fact that Jayne looks stronger and has hold of all the weapons. When Mal talks to Kaylee, she is seen holding her hands up in defence, and arguing that everything is ‘Shiny’ despite the fact that the ship seems to be partially damaged.

Actors

The only visible makeup in the entire scene is seen when Mal is talking to Kaylee, she has something that could be oil on her face, showing that she is currently in the middle of fixing the ship. No other character has visible makeup, showing that they don’t have things like makeup and that they are on ‘the raggedy edge’. It also shows that people in there sort of circle care less about looks than most people today.

Makeup

Props: At the beginning there are a collection of toy dinosaurs seen on the controls for flying the ship, as Wash is the pilot it shows his childish nature as he has children’s toys where he works. Soon after we see Jayne with lots of weapons, this shows that he is the person who always has the weapons and is more of an action person compared to the rest of the crew. Kaylee is seen moving along with a sort of bolt gun as she goes about keeping the ship going, showing that she is in the middle of the job. We see Simon giving Mal injections for when he goes to the planet, this signifies that Simon is the doctor of the crew.

Setting: The entire setting for this scene is on the spaceship Serenity. This is to show that the film is a sci-fi. It also shows where the crew live, work and eat as well as show how the film got its name as we see that the Ships name is Serenity.

Props and Setting

Camera and Editing Camera: The first shot is a close up of the ship name, Serenity, this

then zooms out to do an establishing shot of the ship and where the rest of this scene will take place. The rest of the scene consists of close ups, mid shots, tracking shots, two shot, some over the shoulder shots and long shots. The varied use of shots is used to show who has the power in each scene as well as focus on different characters at each point with subtle zooms and retreats.

Editing: The establishing shot of the opening is done in a single shot fashion, with the camera rotating around the ship as it drifts in space and starts to come down on a planet. There is then a fast cut to a close up of Mal, this is the only cut in the entire scene as the rest is done in an impressive single shot where the camera tracks Mal through the ship, this tracking shots connotes the importance of Mal, it shows he is the person to focus on throughout the rest of the film. There is not a lot of editing in this scene which is challenging the conventions of general film openings as most of them usually use many different cuts to show where the main characters are and what they are doing.

Establishing shot

Two shot between Mal and Jayne as the camera spins and breaks the 180 degree rule

Genre Characters:

Throughout the beginning the characters and their roles on the ship are clearly defined, except River who serves as a leading enigma throughout the film in what happened to her and why the Alliance want her and Simon. Mal is clearly the Captain of the ship as he is referred to by Kaylee and he is the key person of this scene. Mal is the mostly serious male lead role in the film. Wash is the pilot and serves as the comic relief character, making jokes about the ship crashing. Jayne is shown to be the un-educated man of action, with his dialogue showing this. Zoe and Kaylee are both shown to be strong female characters as they both take on full tasks by themselves, Zoe prepping the ‘Mule’ and Kaylee working in the engine room, as well as Kaylee’s role defined, Zoe’s is a bit unclear but is shown to be the second in command as the film goes on. Simon is shown to be the medic as well as the educated character who does not directly get involved in action, shown through his clothes and his dialogue.

Iconography and Themes Iconography: The setting itself, a spaceship in space, is

unique to the Sci-Fi genre, and the clothes being unique to the majority of the Western genre. The characters themselves are almost stereotypical from an action genre, with a strong female character, the main character being almost cocky and there being a comic relief character.

Themes: Throughout the opening there are no recurring themes other than the fact that the ship could possibly crash and that there is an upcoming job, which Simon does not want River going on. Another regularly occurring message is that everyone on the ship respects Mal as the captain e.g. Jayne giving in and not bringing that many weapons and Simon letting them take River, although reluctantly.