Face Off Essay

At the beginning of the scene there is an establishing shot from a high angle which shows us where the characters and the scene is taking place, this shot has shown us that this particular scene is taking place in a warhorse that is stocked with jets and parts which appear to be weapons or from the military.

During the action sequence in Face Off the camera switches between a hand held camera for John Travolta and a stationary dolly for Nicolas Cage's character. This shows us that Travolta's character is nervous and unsteady compared to Cage's character who is portrayed as composed and confident.Throughout the scene there are hints of blue lighting which tells us there is a cold chemistry and sour history between the two characters, this also shows the distance between Travolta and cage's characters. The blue tint to the lighting is also contrasting the the fast moving and explosive atmosphere during the fight scene. 

This extreme close up on this characters eyes shows that there is a stand of between the two characters and that a feud or battle is about to commence, Nicolas Cage's character appear to wear a red suit with a dark red silk shirt, this implies that this character is dangerous and violent, contrariwise the red could foreshadow the characters death or that he is about to be injured or partake in bloodshed.

While these two characters have guns hold to their faces the camera does a 180° turn from a birds eye view angle which shows how these characters are now an arms distance away from each other, this shot is very calm even though it is a very intense situation, this shows how calm and collected the character are and how they're a-custom to this type of situation.

There is a close up shot of the knife Nicolas Cage's character is holding to show the impeding danger for Travolta's character. We see Cage take the knife out of the back of his belt, this tells us that his character is very prepared and knows what to expect in a fight him bringing knife to a gun fight shows us that he knows that if he looses his gun or runs out of bullets he has a back up plan.

During this face off scene the background behind Cage's character is a tunnel this foreshadows where he will end up at the end of the scene, also the background behind Travolta's character is the rest of the warehouse which shows us he will be the one to walk away. Also the fact that the jet is in the same shot foreshadows how Cage's character will get to the back of the tunnel.

At the end of the film the focus shifts from Travolta's face to Cage's unconscious face which implies that the situation has not been resolved and that these to characters will once again be caught up in conflict. Also the last sot of the scene s an over shoulder shot of Cage which looks through the bars he is leaning on, earlier on in the scene the two characters talk about jail, the view of the  bars makes it look like Cages's character is in jail and what was said has come a reality.

The mixture of fast paced movement and certain slow motion shots create a contrast between the scenes. The slow motion shots add dramatic tension to the scene and add emphasis on certain moments. For example when Travolta’s character leaps over an extra the scene is plummeted into slow motion, this shows us how this move insignificant to this fit scene and tells us how Travolta’s character has jumped head first into a face to face gun fight with Cages’ character and there is no longer any back up to help him or his opponent.

This scene in all makes me feel on edge, you constantly question the lives of these two characters and weather they will survive this particular encounter. the dramatic atmosphere attracted me to continue watching the scene. The closing shot to the scene made me think into the future of this story line and weather Nicolas Cage's character has died or he will make a forceful comeback. On the other hand i fine this scene stereotypical it has the same camera angles and action hots you would normally fine in a sequence like this, there are no surprises in this scene and it doesn't stand out over other action and fast pace scenes.