This is the opening scene from the music drama Whiplash. It shows the coming of age of a young jazz drummer in musical college in New York. The story is centered around the particularly harsh environment of the senior jazz band at the school and shows the evolution of the rocky relationship between the main character and the conductor of the jazz band. The opening scene shows the beginning of this relationship and the domination of the conductor is immediately clear to the audience.
The opening scene immediately lets the audience in to the start of the story with small dialogue between the two that reveals how the conductor Terence Fletcher is looking for players and the player Andrew Nieman is new and fits what Fletcher is looking for. The opening also indicates that the film is set in Niemans college years and so will probably progress over the coming term.
The scene starts black with single snare hits slowly increasing in pace building in pace, then the film title comes onto screen followed by black and once the snares have hit fever pitch it suddenly cuts to a long shot down a dimly lit corridor with a drummer and kit in a room at the end under lights. This then goes to the drummer adjusting his kit and starting to play with the camera slowing going down the corridor, this starts to set up the start of the story by showing a young drummer practicing hard while everyone has gone home. Once the camera gets to the room the drummer gets up and apologizes to what appears to be the camera but is in fact Terence Fletcher the conductor, this then immediately tells the audience of the relationship and how Fletcher is in control. This relationship is reflected throughout the rest of the scene in which Fletcher is always in control while Nieman is always apologising and stumbling on his words.
Terence Fletcher and Andrew Nieman are introduced in this opening and are an example of Levi Strauss's opposites. Nieman is the protagonist while Fletcher is the antagonist and they also have a teacher apprentice relationship in which Fletcher is always dominant. This is found out from the way Fletcher dictates the scene constantly and is control while Nieman seems very overawed by his presence and this tells us how their relationship will develop over the duration of the film.
The musical elements of the film are immediately obvious and the main goal of Nieman which is too be accepted into Fletchers Jazz Band. This is made clear in the actions and dialogue of the scene. Other parts are deliberately withheld though for example why Fletcher is in this deserted practice room and Niemans background. The scene shows the two main characters and reveals the mentoring relationship they will hold throughout the film but doesn't fully give away what the true plot will be about and it seems fairly normal about the idea of a drummer trying to get into a jazz band.
I think at the start of a film the audience does not need to know large amounts of the story, I believe its important to introduce them to a main character wether its a protagonist or an antagonist or even both. I think it should give a fairly indication as too the genre of the film and the setting and lighting should set the general themes for the film but the story should be more withheld and given away slower.
You have written two pieces of very good analysis. Both your film still and opening sequence show very good understanding of genre and narrative. However, when technical detail is required, you do tend to rely more on descriptive summary rather than than close textual analysis. This can easily be improved on for future research tasks by referring more frequently to the wider reading materials. Also, for HW1a please add in the required sub-headings - thank you.
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