SHOT BY SHOT ANALYSIS

‘Step Up’

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8qQcc2eDc

A detailed analysis of the 1st 2minutes (scene 1) of ‘step up’

The film starts off with a long shot in a prestigious dance studio , where you can see a group of dancers

preparing to dance.

It then goes to a black out

We then have a contrasting shot in a different location , with another group of dancers preparing to dance

The camera then cuts away back to the prestigious dancers, I feel the director chose to do this to

emphasise the contrast of the two lifestyles but yet they still do similar hobbies

The extreme difference of mis – en – scene in this case costume becomes apparent as the shots cutaway, you

can see in this clip the dancers are dressed in more sporty, loose street like clothing whereas the dancers

are in tight clothing and ballet shoes

We have a medium close up of the dancers feet and the title appears

We have another medium close up this time of the street dancers feet, I feel the director chose this way as it makes the contrast be seen more clearly as you see

one after the other.

We have neutral lighting in the prestigious dance studio to represent the softness of the dance moves

that the dancers are portraying.

However when we cut back to the street dancers it is night time so everything appears dark and mysterious, the fact that some of the dancers have hats and hoods on also shows and represents the mysteriousness of their character, whereas the contemporary dancers

don’t wear as many layers which be a representation of how much of their character they are willing to share

through dance.

The music is the same in both scenes, this could mean that no matter how different certain things are such as

lifestyles, there can be that one things that makes them similar or bring them together, in this case it is

the music

So at the end of the 1st scene we can already see some themes ;

•Dance

•Different lifestyles

•Expression through dance

•The streets

•Middle class lifestyle

•What unites them

It is a successful opening as the audience are automatically aware of what the film will be about yet

the audience are still to meet the protagonist and antagonist etc so they are intrigued into finding out

what happens next