Chappie 2015- Neil Blomkamp

Chappie 2015- Neil Blomkamp

Opening scene

The opening scene consists of different clips that appear to be from news channels on the TV. The first group of clips are interviews. Each person who is being interviewed looks worried and are all talking about crime. From this, we can see that the rest of the film will include crime and violence. This is effective in establishing the theme of violence and crime for the rest of the film. The last person to be interviewed says “I didn’t believe that this would happen in my lifetime”. This can hint that something has revolutionised the situation and that there has been a massive change, this draws in the audience and makes them want to carry on watching to find out has happened.

The next set of shots gives information on the setting of the film and when it was set. There is a clip of a helicopter and a voiceover telling us it is in downtown Johannesburg. We can understand from this, that the film is set either in the present or the near future. 

This is because they have the same technology as we do now, such as helicopters and weapons, but no there is no event similar to this in Johannesburg in the past at this level of severity. Being in downtown Johannesburg adds to the theme of poverty, because it is known for being a poorer area. Also in this scene, there is medium shots of police officers and close up shots of blood and gun shot holes in jackets. This is effective in creating a tense atmosphere because the blood can be an easy way of shocking the audience into realising how serious this issue is in the film.

The opening scene is effective in giving the audience obvious knowledge on the background story of the rest of the film. For example, the president of Johannesburg is announcing the issue of crime and that he is going to end it. 

Clips of the police robots are shown with the president's speech in the background. The police robots are introduced to the audience when they are training. The accuracy and effectiveness shown of the robots, shows the audience that the robots are dangerous. The way that the robots are presented through camera angles makes them appear to be similar to humans, which can also be a hint to the rest of the film. The fact that the police robots have the same camera angles as the human policeman can show the audience that they have been made to replace the police force in Johannesburg.

Throughout the scene, the lighting is consistently dark. This is effective in setting a tense mood for the film. The dark motif through the scene adds more to audiences information on the film as it shows that it was dark times for Johannesburg before the police robots were introduced. Any clips of a graphic nature were the darkest shots as they were the more serious shots and having the addition of dark lighting can make the scene more shocking for the image.