The Divide - opening scene (Sarah Gilchrist)

It starts of with a close up of a girl's eyes crying, the shot does not tell us much about this character other than her emotions. In her eyes you see a reflection of a city being bombed, this shows the audience that there might be a link to her tears and the destruction of the city - it also leads the audience to many questions about why the city is being destroyed and what the girl's character has to do with the story. the second shot is of her blank facial expression and the reflection of the city, the shot is very abstract and strange which portrays the genre of thriller.

The editing contrasts, it begins with very long shots to show the characters sad emotions and then quick sharp edits to show the chaos and desperation the characters are feeling as the run to escape the demolishing building falling above their heads. A transition is used very effectively, where the shot turns black from the top, which looks almost like a point of view shot as if we were seeing it from someone in the films eyes and that character were shutting there eyes.

This action scene is totally chaotic and panicked, the characters are scrambling for their lives and still it remains a mystery to how this war was caused. At the end of the first scene the shot go back and forth from the people left outside this safe room running in desperation to get inside, and a man closing the door as the walls around him crumble. and the between the shots it fades to black, which makes the scene very dramatic and effective. There's one shot were it goes head first down the center of the stairs, which adds to the fear and gives a clear view of the people there struggling to escape. There's a close up shot focused on a man who's looking up and as an audience we know that this shows that he is looking straight at danger.

the mise en scene used is also very useful as the lighting and the crumbling walls around them adds to the chaos in this scene. the lights flash on and off, which appears almost as if as an audience we are in the scene and were blacking in and out of whats happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFpxPZfd82Q