A Mini Micro analysis of the Opening Scene in Die Hard

In this scene we are shown a group of people working at what seems to be a high tech building hacking into the government’s computer system. They are delivering some sort of virus to some other people. One of the men say “is this legal” and the woman replies”were just doing some tests, its fine”, this shows that these people are up to no good as the man wouldn’t be worried otherwise. The sequence i am going to analyse is the opening scene to the movie. Through the whole of the scene the colour isn’t very full, it’s a bit monotone, and this suggests that were watching information not a storyline.

The film is based around computer and we are shown that in the first scene by the way that the people’s names are written as they would be on a computer and dissolves away like it would on a computer, connoting the films storyline. It begins with a 12 second take which begins with a close up of the back of a computer with a hall with many other computers in the background. The camera then cuts to a close up of a woman’s face as she works on a computer and talking to a man who is also working on a computer. The camera then reframes to a close up of the side of another man’s face as he works on a computer.

The camera then cuts into a shot reverse shot of the two people talking as they work, but the shot reverse shot is taken from a high angle when it’s at the man’s point of view, connoting the woman’s power over him and possibly his vulnerability. The camera then starts to cut very quickly as the people talking start sending more emails, also the non diegetic music starts to build up volume. As the camera keeps cutting to black to show the casts names we hear what one of the men hear in his headpiece. It then cuts to a mid shot of the woman, half her face is covered in shadow, which shows that she has got an evil side.

Also, her face is tilted up as if she is proud of what she is doing and isn’t as frightened of the consequences as the other man. It then cuts to black to show some more actors names and then cuts to an extreme close up of the computer screen, as next to each name the box turns to delivered. The cuts are now becoming very quick and the music is getting louder as we feel the anxiety the people feel as they put their plan into action. The camera then reframes into a close up of the woman’s face as she utters the words “were ready”, she seems very pleased with herself.

The camera then cuts to black as the music draws to a climate and as it reaches its loudest point, the camera cuts to a long shot of a house. This take opens with a close up of the TV, as one of the two men in the house are playing a video game. The camera then reframes into a mid shot of the side of the one man sitting down as the other walks in. The man that walks in has half of his face in shadow also suggesting that he could be helping the woman with her plan. The camera pans to the right and follow the man to his computer, the man then cracks this head to the left as if he plans to be there a while in concentration.

We then cut to a close up of him typing on the keyboard; the non diegetic music in the background seems to have quietened down now, to either assure us that everything is fine, or to lure us into a false sense of security. The camera then goes into a shot reverse shot of the computer and the man and the music starts to build up again as he does more on the computer as if something bad is going to happen. The camera reframes to a close up of the other man with this man on the computer in the background, suggesting that the man on the video game is in power, but our main focus is on the other man suggesting that he could be quite important.

The cuts now become quicker again and the man on the computer becomes agitated, he thinks someone messed with his computer, it could be the email that woman was sending out, the virus inside of it could’ve spread to his computer. As he says “never, ever touch my computer” The camera zooms into the keyboard as he hits the delete button then very quickly cuts to the back of his computer as a red light on the back goes green, the camera does another quick cut to a long shot of the house again as it explodes and a black van drives away.

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