Final Destination Plane Crash Scene - Textual Analysis - Jack

This scene has helped me gain a thorough understanding of how we will undertake the filming of our plane crash.  

The scene has created tension by controlling the timed sequence with the frequency of cuts. As the scene starts off with the plane taking off, it has a medium/fast pace to the sequence, and as we can see, the protagonist seems to be a very nervous flyer, which adds to the tension. As the plane continues, the cuts gradually get faster and faster, suggesting that something is going to happen. This is also additionally emphasised as the protagonist's nerves seem to be building. When the plane hits turbulence, the frequency of cuts increase which builds up the tension even more. However, as the turbulence stops all of a sudden, the pace of the clip slows down consequently. This creates a confused mood and the audience will assume that maybe nothing is going to happen, drawing up various enigma codes; 'Are they going to survive?' 'Will the turbulence occur again?'. The plane then all of a sudden suffers severe turbulence which creates a much faster pace to the sequence, and therefore a very quick editing pace. This has been used to shock the audience, as they thought that the passengers were fine after the turbulence had stopped. As the plane is crashing, the frequency of cuts is exceedingly fast, for example, from 48 seconds to 1minute 14 seconds there is a total of 30 cuts. Which means that there are 30 cuts over the period of  26 seconds, and is therefore showing that there is a cut more than one every second. 

Here are some examples:

This is at the start of the scene, as the plane is taking off. These 4 cuts are over a period of 11 seconds.

This is as the plane is crashing. The 4 cuts are over a period of 4 seconds. This is therefore showing that the high frequency of cuts is being used to speed up the pace of the scene. 

Close-ups have also been used so that the audience can focus on specific things that may be relevant to the crash. As the plane is hitting turbulence, there is a close-up of the protagonist's hand grabbing onto the armrest which is being used to show his fear and that his nerves are arising. 

A close-up of the shelf is then used, showing the shelf door shaking. This is used to make the audience focus on the shelf and gain tension as it could possibly fling open. It is also additionally emphasising the severeness of the turbulence. 

A very quick close-up of the toilet sign is then used, showing it flickering on and off. This is used to show that the plane now isn't just hitting turbulence, it is malfunctioning and this will now therefore raise enigma codes in the audience.

Long shots are used to show every passenger's body language and responses in relation to what has just happened. For example, as the turbulence stops happening it cuts to a long shot of every passenger on the plane which shows them seeming very calm. In contrast, there is also a long shot when the plane starts to hit the turbulence and through the passengers' body language and responses, the audience can see that the passengers are starting to worry. 

As the plane is flying normally

As the plane is crashing

Parallel sound is being used in this sequence - at the start of the scene the sound has a medium face, although it raises from low to high pitch and then suddenly stops and starts again every 3 seconds or so. The same sound is repeated however the high pitch gets higher each time. This is suggesting that something could happen at any time at that moment, raising the tension and enigma codes throughout the audience. The sound is in sequence with what is happening in the sequence, for example, as the plane suffers from turbulence, the pace of the music builds up, again creating even more tension. When the  turbulence stops and the plane is calm, there is in fact no music. Then when the turbulence occurs again, the music gradually builds up in parallel to how severe the crashing and malfunctioning of the plane is. 

It has also given me an idea on how I am going to create the anxiety and how I am going to simulate the plane crash. I will be filming with quick camera movement however I will be putting the shake in in the editing process in Adobe After Effects. Here is an example of where I have used this technique:

This is a video I made on Adobe After Effects which was filmed on a tripod however I put camera shake on to make it looks more realistic. You can see as I take off the camera shake increases and as I land the camera shake also increases quite a bit more. I will be replicating this as the plane is crashing; when there is more turbulence and more problems occur with the malfunctions, I will create more camera shake just as I did in this video.