Analysis of thriller opening : Taken

Hey,

Introduction to 'Taken';
Bryan Mills is a former government operative who is trying to reconnect with his daughter. His worst nightmare comes to life when herself and a friend are kidnapped shortly after arriving in Paris for a holiday. He has just four days until she is auctioned off. He must work on his skills to try and save her.

Here is a link to the movie opening:

Opening to Taken

 The opening to 'Taken':

The first thing we see is the opening titles telling us what production company supported the movie. As we can see the company was, Twentieth Century Fox. The titles are white on a black background, this could suggest danger and death or the use of white could suggest innocence of the person in danger. 

The opening officially begins with home movies of a young girl, (The main characters daughter) here we can see a shot of the little girl. We know that theses images were taken in the past because of the quality of the image. The lighting of the video represents the peoples emotions in the video at that time. With the help of the title we can come to a conclusion that the young girl in the movies is the girl who will be taken later on. The importance of these images at the beginning thriller show her innocence and how anything can happen to anyone. At this point the background music is quiet but sharp and louder and points, this helps create a suspenseful atmosphere. At points we can hear diegetic laughs from the little girl and the mother, this is important as one again it shows her innocence.

It is then cut to our main character; Bryan Mills. Who appears to be asleep, the sequence we just witnesses could have been his dream so this makes us wonder why it was his dream and who that little girl was or is to him. (We later find out this is his daughter). We then see him sitting in a chair in the dark, the lack of light could represent the way he feels and it also portrays his emotional state at this point. Dark, alone and miserable. 

We then cut to him turning the light on and reaching fora picture frame. As the audience we do not know who the picture is off at the moment, but we can infer that it is someone of importance to him because of the way he is holding it. This long shot shows us the Mise-en-scene of the setting. Set in the living room - where family normally gather, this helps us see his loneliness and wishing for a family. It is dark, they're takeaway boxes on the table and there is a lack of personal items. This shows us he possibly lives alone and/or has no family members living with him. The way he is slouching into the chair show us his emotional state.

He then picks up a newspaper and begins to read it, in a previous shot we see that he is looking at a page that says; Karaoke singalong. We are unsure why he is looking at this page in the newspaper but it could be significant in the scenes to follow, as the film makers would not have shown this for no reason. We could infer that this links to the daughter as she had always wanted to be a singer, this could be his way of reconnecting to her. The light is still on but there is still a presence of darkness, suggesting the mood of the main character.

We then see the man stand up and as he passes the photo, the title of the movie appears. The shot of a photo frame that he was just admiring and the title of the movie appears which of course it is 'Taken'. This leads me to believe that the person in the photograph was either taken or will be taken. (Obviously as the movie we learn that this is his daughter but as a first time watcher we would not know this at this point). The white writing links back to the beginning of the opening where it suggested danger and death so the significance of this could suggest that the danger and/or death links to this girl. 


We then cut to a long shot of a car and the title remains, this is just to reinforce us that it is the same time and same characters etc. We then see our main character step out of the car and enter a shop. Here he chats with the shop owner and buys someone a present. He is then seen wrapping the present. At this point we as an audience have no idea who the present is for, because he appears to be a lonely man based on what we have seen in previous scenes. Therefore this is a complete contrast to his nature and his character.

 We then see him arriving to a pary, whose party it is, is still unclear. We see a long shot of the event and this helps us see the setting, which is a very wealthy characters home. He then has an altercation with a security guard who mistakes him for a stranger and not the girls father. He then has a conversation with the mother, where he blatantly ignores what she is saying and does not acknowledge her. He is obviously just their for the daughter which he states. His body language shows us how he feels towards the mother which is obvious resentment. 

This is the first part of the movie where we can finally know for sure that he has had a family and has a daughter from this relationship. Here in this two person shot we can see the distance between the two which can also symbolise the distance they have with each other. This is important in showing the audience the nature of their relationship and the effect it has on their daughters life. The present is still visible in the scene so we know that it is definitely his daughters birthday party as he also stated in dialogue.

 The daughter then arrives, they body language of the Dad and the daughter have a good relationship. The mother begins to interrupt and argue with everything the dad says, but he is defiant and continues to talk to his daughter. This once again shows us how the parents do not agree or even get along. The daughter opens her present and is thrilled by what her Dad has given her. She is very appreciative of the present but the Mum criticises him for getting a present that she would not find use out off. In fact he knows her better than appears because the girl admits she still wants to be a singer.

The Dads day and surprise present is then ruined by the girls StepDad buys her a horse. She imidiantly drops her new Karaoke set and goes over to her new horse. We as the audience know that there will be an immediate effect on her dad and his emotions and with the help of camera shots helps show this, for example the most important camera shot that shows his emotions are;

A close up shot of Bryan Mills. This shot clearly show his emotions with what has just happened. This is an important shot because we need to know how he feels about the sep dad, the mother and the situation he is in. The music is diegetic as the crowd sings happy birthday to the girl. This links back to the beginning of the opening where it was her birthday in the home films from when she was a little girl and everyone seemed happy. Now it is her birthday again and her dad feels over looked and is upset with the outcome of the day.