HW 1a - Existing film still analysis (DYM)

Film still from the movie "Gravity"

The Narrative:

• In the foreground you can see Sandra Bullock, who plays the main character Ryan Stone, it's quite obvious that her facial expression shows signs of distress and we immediately get the sense that she is in trouble. The dull, unsaturated colours also show this as it sets the atmosphere, leaving the audience feeling quite cold and hopeless.

• The colour scheme also symbolises her loneliness; the colour blue is quite ofter associated with sadness and depression which further emphasises how much trouble the protagonist is in.
• The buttons and dials act as a signifier and we understand that they could very much be the solution to Ryan's problem. However the connotation that we get from this is that this issue is not an easy one to solve. This is because the quantity of the buttons and dials add to the complexity of them - as an average audience would definitely not have had experience with the controls on a spaceship so they would find it near impossible to be able to use them correctly. This despair and helplessness would be reflected onto how the audience emphasises with the main lead and they would share the emotion of powerlessness with her.
• The blue theme of loneliness also links with the background where there is a window which reveals Ryan's surroundings - nothing. There is nothing but empty outer space around the protagonist, meaning she is all alone. This highlights how alienated and secluded she is. As outer space would be completely out of the audiences comfort zones they will definitely be able to emphasise with the remoteness and desolation of the scene.
• Again we get to really understand and connect with the character as this still uses a medium close-up. Therefore, we feel as if we are within the spacecraft with Ryan and see things a little bit from her perspective.

Audience and Genre 

• The obvious setting of a spacecraft shows that this movie is a science fiction. But due to the dramatic use of colours and atmosphere this movie is also a drama. In addition to this, the composition of the film still and the theme of loneliness in a foreign environment suggests that the movie is also a thriller, pivoting around the ideas of how a person reacts to a life-threatening situation.
• Since the movie is only rated 12A it creates space for quite a large target audience. The themes of space and NASA would attract many young viewers as well as older ones, many people are interested in space as it is something new and exciting. The movie also tries to engage the audience with different techniques to make them empathise with the lead (as explained above), therefore this movie would be very interesting and intriguing to watch.