Lord of War

Shot by shot analysis

The whole of screen is filled with used bullets; the connotations of this include death, destruction and anger.

The camera moves upwards and we see a man standing on these bullets. There is smoke in the shot suggesting this is a war torn country. The man is dressed in a black suit and has a brief case, from this we gather he has something to do with bullets. Black could also have conations of death.

As the camera zooms in for a medium close up. We now here Nicholas cage start to talk to us directly, this is called breaking the 4th wall. It helps the audience to engage with what he is saying. He is also wearing a red tie with suit, this has further conations of this sign could be blood and death.

In this frame we can see him smoking a cigarette. As he is talking, he tells us there are enough arms for one in 12 people. He says this casually as if its good and then has a casual toke. He then says calmly, how do we arm the other 11. The way which he spoke suggests he doesn’t care for the death and destruction, but instead maybe something like profit.

The scene suddenly changes and we are shown this very metallic place. We can take that this is probably a factory but we aren’t certain what for. Nicholas cage also comes up in font we might see on the side box’s carrying weapons. For a while there aren’t really cuts, and for a while it is just a long shot.

The camera appears to go into a machine of some kind. We can hear the sound of the machine stamping down onto the copper and the camera follows the copper as it goes into the machine. The music being played is calm but relevant to the movie however it almost doesn’t suit the factory surrounding and this is why it fits and creates contrast.

We are now know this copper is being made into bullets. The bullet takes up the screen which shows its impertinence, yet again we have connotations of death popping up this time with the sign being the bullet. The title ‘lord of war’ appears over the bullets. The ‘lord’ and the ‘war’ are in capitals to highlight them and to bring them to the audiences attention.

In this frame the camera is showing the first person view of the bullet if you like. There are bullets all over a conveyer belt suggesting this is a munitions factory. The way in which the two characters are inspecting the bullets is very calm, and reflects attitudes towards weapons being relaxed despite their ability to kill. The lighting is at the back with the bullet facing it, this may suggest the bullets journey in the world. The bullet is self is also well lit and is in the centre of the screen to help your eyes focus on it.

This shot shows the bullet has been picked up, the sound is diegetic and we hear it quite clearly being picked almost like we are hearing what the bullet would be hearing. We are shown a man looking at the bullet, his facial expressions tell us he is bored and bullets seem everyday to him. We have to notice his ethnicity, and we can see he is white, therefore most likely from a western country.

We can see that the bullet is now in a crate amongst other bullets. We can hear the hammer shutting another box in front. We can gather these crates of munitions are about to be sent off somewhere. The dark dingy lighting suggest misery, sadness and maybe anger.

He crate was box up and has now been opened again, we see a man dressed in uniform, wearing uniform that suggest he is part of the Soviet Union. The filter used carries on to create this very dingy cold feel. The man’s face, yet again is very expressionless showing that he is used to seeing bullets a lot which reflects many people’s relaxed attitude to arms and warfare. We see that the character is in a port, we know this because of the ship and also the sound of seagulls. we now wonder where they are to be transported next.

The crate is opened and we see yet again that we are in a port. You can see that the ethnicity of the characters has changed. We now know there has been some dodgy transaction. This scene is far lighter than previous frames; this may symbolize the end of the journey for the bullet.

The bullet is tipped onto the floor; we can see a man collecting to bullets. We can here the sound of guns firing quite frequently; this suggests that the bullet has arrived in a warzone.

The screen is nearly entirely black with a circle of light in the top middle of the screen, this shows the guns barrel. Down the barrel there is a red building, connotations again to do with blood, death and injury. We can still hear gun firing, reminding us that this is a warzone.

The camera follows the bullet as it leaves the gun. It is in the centre of the screen, the shot I believe is a wide shot.

The flash of the gun draws our eyes, we can see that the person is wearing red, this is a sign with connotations of blood and death. There is also red drapes behind the person on the right.

This shot we see the persons face, we can see that they are young and also have a emotionless face, this shows us again some peoples relaxed attitudes to warfare. The bullet we can see is going to kill him. As the bullet is travelling we hear the sound of the air passing the bullet and the music cuts for effect.