Starship Trooper
The film which I will present my Close Textual Analysis will be Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci-fi "Starship Troopers". The sequence which I will focus most of my analysis on is the opening sequence of the film. The beginning point of this sequence is shown by the Federal Network advisement image, informing us that this sequence is going to be some form of news broadcast. The end point of this sequence is shown through the diegetic camera work on planet Klandathu. The camera has been knocked to the ground due to the camera operator being killed by the bugs. The camera is positioned awkwardly on the main character, Johnny Rico. Here the end point is shown by the camera becoming static and hearing Johnny Rico screaming "oh god, oh god", finally the camera goes blank. We can understand that this is a complete sequence as each cut from one scene is directly relating to the previous scene. The sequence simply flows; there is also a continuous narrator who is explaining what is going on. Also the next sequence starts by using the blankness of the camera. Using this blankness it states "one year earlier". The narrative operation that I will elaborate on will be the mise-en-scene elements of th
The way in which Verhoeven grabs the audience's attention is through the Federation network broadcast. However the fourth Federal Broadcast is more of a conclusion to the first Broadcast. We the audience are immediately engaged with controversy. This is also shown by the computer mouse running across the screen and clicking on different options. From this we can conclude that the first sequence is a good representation of the film, it does not steer away from the mise-en-scene elements that were shown in the first sequence, they continue throughout the majority of the film. Furthermore the audience is always involved in the enigma of the story through the repetitive question "would you like to know more?" The last element that is noticeable repeated is the multimedia format creating audience participation within the film. There are many elements of this sequence that give good support that Starship Troopers is a sci-fi genre; the Network News Broadcast, Footage of the Bugs, the many space ships, Earth Threatening circumstances, the advance weaponry and protective gear such as their guns and helmets, also the continually space talk and footage of other planets. In this particular sequence the costume and make-up don't play a significant role in helping the audience understand the main characters, because the main characters are not introduced until the next scene, yet we are shown small clips of the three main characters however we don't know that they play the main roles in the film. The Broadcast continually repeats the question "Would you like to know more?" The audience is once again engage by the enigma of the story through this and also by the documentary live feed coming from one of the battle ships as they did in the first Federal Broadcast. The stylistic approach of the opening sequence is repeated another three times throughout the film, as though we are watching a film being played out through the media. The first sequence supports this by showing close-ups of mobile infantry soldiers stating "I'm doing my part". Yet he is presented to us as being killed in action. However as I stated before the military uniform and violence on planet Klandathu suggest the genre and time of the film. This blue light gives an element of suspense yet also makes for an indication that the bugs will in fact come out victorious as they did in the first sequence.
Common topics in this essay:
Starship Troopers,
Federal Broadcast,
Johnny Rico,
Dizzy Carman,
Federal Network,
Earth Threatening,
main characters,
federal broadcast,
Paul Verhoeven's,
Ken Barbie,
starship troopers,
Footage Bugs,
diegetic camera,
enigma story,
sequence shown,
throughout film,
live feed,
main character,
mobile infantry,
SCREEN NARRATIVE,
camera planet klandathu,
diegetic camera planet,
shot diegetic camera,
throughout majority film,
fourth federal broadcast,
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Acceptance Essays
