Sherlock Holmes (2009) Action/Adventure Practice | 19/10/13

Sherlock Holmes (2009)-Opening Scene

 The genre of this film is a hybrid genre. It is mixture of an action/adventure and an Historical. You can tell this because of the setting and the mise-en-scene. It is set in Victorian London, with the main characters of Sherlock Holmes delightfully remastered and remade. The books in which they feature were of course written in the times of Queen Victoria, her era and the Edwardian era. A carriage is shown with men looking serious, cocking guns. This gives me a sense of camaraderie  and adventure.These men are obviously looking for trouble. The tracking shot emphasises the urgency of getting to the place they need to go as soon as possible. 

The jeopardy and suspense is heightened by the fast paced orchestral music and the fast paced drums. When the guns are cocked, this gives the viewer the impression of a gunfight in which action is implied.  The fast paced running of a man heightens this sense of mystery and suspense. 

The speed and motion of the extract are the carriages and the horses thundering through London. More speed and motion comes from the shady man running through pedestrian streets. The shady man is taking shortcuts and jumping over things. This emphasises the speed and motion and the need for these men to get to wherever they're going.

A twang of a banjo starts playing as the movie begins but that slowly turns to a build up of music with loud drums. This is designed to build up the tension. This gives the signal to the audience that possibly action is coming. Holmes's pounding footsteps blend in with the orchestral soundtrack and the drums. The drums are there to reflect how urgent the chase is, and how urgent it is to locate the villain and liberate the victim. 

Our hero, Sherlock Holmes is not a typical action/adventure hero. He is smartly dressed but at the same time, he is disheveled, possibly from the running. He seems to be an antihero by the way he is dressed. He wears black which is not typical of the hero but rather typical of the times. He wears black and because of this colour, he blends in and is hard to notice. Prehaps this is because this hero does not wish to be acknowledged. He is mysterious.