Black Hawk Down analysis

This opening starts with a long shot which sets the scene, in what appears to be a desert or some other exotic location, at first the pace of cuts is relatively slow with not much going on, but the music theme in the background is very threatening and suggests something bad is going to happen. The mass of people on the ground appear to be wearing very poor clothing and suggests to a location in Africa, as most people in Africa have donated clothing from charities, the soldiers appear to be well trained, with full gear on and military hair cuts, it is very common in action films for the good guy to be American and the bad guy as a foreigner. The gunfire used to kill the crowd is very common in this action film and adds to the excitement and adrenaline of the film. The film uses a lot of long shots to help establish what is going on in such a large area and it helps show what the soldiers in the helicopter are seeing, there is a medium shot of what looks like the main antagonist pretending to shoot down the american helicopter, this could show the audience his intentions and it suggests that the helicopters are under threat and they are a main piece of this film. The helicopters and soldiers in this clip suggest that this is a war film, some of conventions of these films include heroes, gunfights, ruined city streets and something to protect or capture, they can also end up with a character making the ultimate sacrifice. The arid area suggests that there could be a lot of crime in the area , which there is. The scene of desperate people trying to grab the food could help show the audience the desperate situation there in and make them feel sorry for the people who live there, the sudden massacre of these people would also make them feel scared as they were attacked so suddenly, it is used to help differentiate the Americans and the antagonists in the film, but it could be seen that the Americans are simply overseeing the massacre making them look like the antagonists, but the audience already has an idea of who the antagonists are, probably from trailers and advertising.