film openings, shot by shot: The Road

This is the first shot in the film 'The Road'. It is a close up of a tree in spring which shows a picturesque scene which gives the idea of the film being romantic and soft.



In the second shot of the film you see a 'family' house which further adds to the idea of this being a romantic film which is contrary to what the film actual is, a post-apocalyptic adventure-drama.

From this close up you can see that the main character of the film portrayed as a caring man who has strong relationships with the things around him.

In this shot the feeling of the film changes due the the low lighting giving a feeling of  darkness approaching compared to the high levels of light used in the previous shots. This allows the audience to know that some thing is going to happen that will change the feeling of the movie.

In this shot a close up of the woman's face is used to show her emotions clearly in order to make the audience feel how she feels in the situation.

Using a close up of the man just waking up helps the audience realize that what caused this apocalypse  happened but not long enough ago for him to not be able to remember, it also shows us how he has changed in appearance compared to close ups in previous shots giving yet more help to the audience in understanding the time jump.

In this shot we can confirm what had already been seen in the start of the film opening that he is a caring character and even in a destroyed world he is still looking after his child by checking on them as soon as he has woken up.

From this shot we can see what has happened to people between now and the apocalypse since at first he was living in a peaceful house but now is resorting to sleeping on the floors of caves, this helps us build a connection with the character and make us try to think about what they are going through. 

From this shot we can are put into the eyes of the main character as he looks out onto the destroyed world around him, yet again building on the relationship between the audience and character.

We yet again get another look into the personality of the man in this shot, comforting his child and they as scared, we also get a further look into how they now are being forced to live with the empty bottles scattered around them.

This is the final scene of the opening and although  it is only the title its connotations are that the man and his child have one single path to follow.