Hurt Locker – Opening Scene Analysis – “Drop the Phone”
Location: Desert Town- Iraq? This location has a very realistic war-torn aesthetic. The rubble, and crumbling buildings along the desert streets are very realistic.
Costumes: The costumes in this film are extremely realistic, down to the padded suit on the de-arming technician. The worn/dirty helmets and uniforms on each of the characters, and Sambourne’s gun even has dust and black electrical tape on it, signifying that these men have been in active duty for a significant period of time.
Shots: Opening shot is a medium shot of the de-arming technician’s legs, the camera then pans up to his face, medium/medium close. We then cut to an extreme long shot of a man sitting on his balcony, and the warn-torn town. Cut to a close-up of the technicians hands lifting the handmade bomb, cut to a medium shot of the technician with the bomb, zoom in to a close up. Cut to a shot of the bomb resting. Cut to medium shot of technician turning away from the bomb and heading towards his company. Cut to a series of medium close shots between two men in the technicians company as they have a conversation. Cut to an arial view shot showing the two men alone in a desert street. Cut to another series of medium close shots as the two men speak to each other. As he delivers the punchline of his joke we see a quick zoom to a close up. Suddenly, the mood changes, the music becomes eerie, and we no longer feel like everything is ok. Cut to an extreme long shot of a tiny butcher shop across the way from the men in the company. We then cut to a close-up/medium close of the man peering through his scope. Cut to, a “scope-view” medium long shot of a man holding a cell phone. Cut to a close up of the man with the scope, he’s concerned and begins running towards the man with the phone, the handheld camera tracks him for a bit before cutting to a medium long shot of the man running, then to an extreme long shot of the man in the company running. Cut to a quick medium shot of the de-arming technician. The music and eerie sounds intensify. Cut to a quick medium shot of the man with the phone. Cut to the technician in a medium close up at a canted angle. Cut to a medium shot of the technician beginning to run away from the bomb. Cut to an extreme long shot of the butcher shop with a zoom in to a long shot. Cut to a medium shot of the man in the company running towards the butchers shop/camera. Cut to a very quick over the shoulder extreme long shot inside the butcher shop as we watch the man run towards the shop. Cut to a medium long shot of the other man in the company aiming his gun, we see a quick zoom out and back in here in this shot. Cut to a long shot of the technician sprinting away from the bomb. Cut to an extreme close up of the “butcher”, and then to an extreme close up of the cell phone as he presses the button. Cut to a long shot of the technician running with the bomb explodes behind him, then to a low angle/worms eye long shot of the bomb exploding behind the technician. Then to a close up of an old rusty car being jostled by the explosion. Cut to a long shot of the technician falling as the explosion occurs, then to an extreme long shot from a birds eye view as the explosion occurs, then a pan up of the fire and smoke. And finally a slow motion long shot of the technician falling.
Lenses/Camera Movement: The camera is definitely handheld for either the entire clip, or at least 90% of it. Handheld camera gives the clip a certain “in-the-moment” feeling that is very popular with war films as well as in certain portions of horror films. This clip has a decently wide depth of focus, but in all seems very realistic and similar to what the human eye would view. I’d say they’re using a mid-range lens (28mm-50mm), but its also very possible their using a wide-angle lens (9mm-24mm) as well, as in some shots, the background is very in focus.
Nickolette L. Lannan 