Titanic (Focus Film) - First Key Scene

Searching the Titanic: 1:45-7:35
Micro Techniques:

- Screaming, non-diegetic, in the background barely audible, foreshadowing

- Naturalistic lighting, relevant to the fact it is a fake submarine, therefore it is trying to look like a real beam coming from a submarine.

- Image quality changes with the difference between fact and fiction. This may have been done to show the audience the difference between real footage of the Titanic and created footage.

- Soundtrack is quiet and very peaceful to mirror the action of the shot, a sign of resect could have been created by James Horner on purpose.

- Cross fade is used to open the sequence, show that everything is connected

- Foley sound of the submarines added to immerse you into the scene more, make the contrasted footage seem more real to the audience, little room for hint of a lie.

- Only lighting in screen is given off by the submarines, this exaggerated they are deep under the sea.

- Set design is exact to the real thing and makes the audience question what is real and what is created by James Cameron, lines are blurred.

- There's a mix of panning and tracking shots when looking at the submarines, using a tripod.

- Hand held camera is used when showing the effect of a video log, this is also used when real footage is shown of the Titanic taken by James Cameron.

- Actual location is used, much like a documentary , some of the footage of the Titanic is taken by James Cameron himself on his own dives. This may have been done so that Cameron can make the love story between Jack and Rose feel that little bit more real.

Characterisation and Relevance?:

- The scenes shows only men and none have a connection to the Titanic.

- This whole scene only shows fictional characters, this may be so that James Cameron can make the real characters from the flash back sound out be more poignant.

- Fictional characters give fact to the audience e.g ("Where she landed at 2:30 in the morning of April 15th 1912") by doing this James Cameron is entwining the fact and fiction form the very beginning and therefore it becomes known by the audience as his narrative for the rest of the film.

- Very little information is given about these characters, this may be down to the fact that James Cameron doesn't want the audience to focus to heavily on fictional characters other than the ones on the ship i.e Rose and Jack.

- The names of some of the characters on the ship layer on in the film are mentioned however by not going into the detail James Cameron want the audience to get to know them fully in their period (though the flash backs).

Messages and Values:

- From the very beginning the message of the film is that it was a disaster and James Cameron want sot respect it, he is passionate about the subject.

- Although the characters aren't real you can tell that the message is that everyone in the film is somehow connected and effected by the disaster.

- Through the fact there is an American describing the disaster a sense of American disaster is created and therefore linking to American dream. This is reinforced through the fact the main characters are American throughout.

- Another message that could be seen just though this first scene and is then continued throughout is that money is very powerful.  The reason these people are searching the ship if for 'The Heart of the Sea' worth millions and then later on money is reinforced through the use of class.

Narrative Devises/Features and Relevance:

- The narrative of the film is very delicate as the story is told to us by Brock Lovett who has a lot of respect for the ship.

- Although a love story isn't suggested through this scene a sense of foreboding is created by the fact they are searching for 'The Heart of the Sea' I feel this is key as it means that mots of emotion is holding together the narrative.

- Although the scenes shown to the audience are direct and obvious as to what is happening, as an audience were are unprepared for the flashback given to us by Rose.