Hostage opening sequence Analysis

The film opens with several images in 3D showing mainly credits and characters on top of buildings, which are used as a taster for the rest of the film. One of the images, showing a man on the telephone, Joe, holding his other hand on his head in despair while holding a gun, fades into a real-life image. This shot slowly zooms out from a close up to an establishing shot showing the man’s face, his body, the house he is in, the neighbourhood, snipers on the roof of the building next to the house: the setting, Los Angeles.

After this shot the same smooth camera movement is used to show Jeff Talley, on the phone with Joe, in a birds eye view shot showing him in a long shot, that slowly zooms in ending up showing Jeff’s face in a close-up. These two shots immediately show the audience the contrast between Joe and Jeff in what kind of situation both men are finding themselves. Joe is the hostage-taker who threatens to kill his wife and son, Jeff is a negotiator for the LA Police Department.

Frequent cuts are used to show the setting and what is going on, on the roof. The movement of the camera is slow and it shows a lot of the setting but also emotions and thoughts.

From that point on the roles seem to be switched as there is more shown of what is happening inside the house than outside on the roof. Jeff is shown in a close-up while the camera is circling around his head while he is on the phone speaking to Joe when Joe tells him “God already decided everything” and he hangs up the phone leaving the audience in anxious suspense whether he is going to kill anyone. Jeff is shown in different shot’s and angles while running of the stairs to Joe’s house, all of these shots are in slow motion while the audience can hear a voice-over of Joe praying but can’t hear anything besides that. From this point there is a cutting rate that builds of suspense showing Jeff running to the house filmed with a handheld camera giving a jerky and bouncy shot, and the house getting closer and closer (still in slow motion).

Everything after this seems to happen really fast as the shot’s are brought to a normal speed again. Jeff runs into the house and sees Joe and his wife shot dead in a mid shot. Joe’s son did not die immediately when Joe had shot him. He dies in the hands of Jeff and this is shown in a close-up, shot/reverse shot between Joe and the kid. From the beginning ‘till the end of the opening scene there is dark and sombre music playing in the background. The tones used are very low and slow.

The opening scene in general is just a taster of what is shown in the rest of the film. All of these things aspects of the opening scene makes the audience get acquainted with the main character Jeff, his personality/character and job, but also the genre of the film, location, mood, themes and visual style.

The use of light in 'Hostage' and our own film 'The Missing' are quite the similar. In the beginning of both sequences it is quite light and the light gradually gets darker. The opening sequence of 'Hostage' is set outside and our excerpt is also filmed outside. Both excerpt show someone on the phone on a particular moment. For example in 'Hostage' the main character spends the most time on the phone with someone who is taking his wife and son hostage. In 'The Missing' the stalker shown is on the phone at one point in the sequence as well. Both excerpt show frequent cuts to create suspense towards the plot.

Credit/Opening sequence of Hostage(not the full opening sequence)



Sound/music creates a particular atmosphere and it shows the setting in 3D