The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Suzanne Collins (novel), Peter Craig and Danny Strong (screenplay)
PG-13
Adventure, Sci-fi, Thriller  


At the very beginning of the opening scene, the screen is completely black and there is a sound bridge of a woman talking, the scene then cuts to Katniss sat alone in the dark. Katniss is chanting something under her breath, she is hugging her knees and seems nervous and twitchy. This shows that she has been through something distressing and traumatic, she is tucked away in the corner of a room, which could suggest that she feels safe and comfortable there.

The lighting at the beginning of the scene is extremely dark it is difficult to even see Katniss' features. the dark lighting and the fact she has secluded herself to a dark corner in the room gives little of her location, it is doubtful she is in any real immediate danger as all we can hear is hear is her whispering and an ambient sound of blowing air. But the darkness could suggest something is lurking in the shadows. A white light is then shone on Katniss sending her into a panic and she retreats further into the corner, when her features are finally shown it can be seen that she looks tired and appears to have been previously crying. This suggests that she is scared of the people who found her and that she has been through a deeply disturbing event.

After the light is shone on her, there is a long take. There is dialogue of a voice that is quite clinical and condescending that tells Katniss 'you need to sleep. We can help you sleep.' This suggests that the people are taking care of her in the unknown location, Katniss refuses the help suggesting she the woman may have an ulterior motive. A mysterious figure dressed in all black descends down the hallway and goes to grab Katniss. This creates tension as the audience doesn't know who the figure is and where they are taking her. There is more use of dialogue as Katniss shouts for the man to let her go, this could possibly suggest a fear of where they are taking her.

The scene cuts to Katniss lying on her hospital bed. the cameras focus changes from close up of pearl to Katniss. this suggest that the pearl is of great importance and is significant to the character. the fact if focuses on it for so long is to make the audience remember it, this film being a sequel so the pearl might have been something she was given or she found in the last film and it is focused on so the audience see she still has it. The focus then pulls from the pearl to Katniss' face as she sits up after Katniss hears crying. This suggest that the pearl brought her comfort when she was alone and it was silent, but when she hears crying the pearl cannot act as an object that takes her from the reality she is living.

During the duration of the scene the editing is at a quite slow pace, which suggest there isn't any sudden danger and Katniss is safe where she is. In the scene they have used a handheld camera which make the scene seem shaky. This could suggest Katniss has a fear or reluctance to be there. It creates tension as it shows us that even though everything seems quite quiet and relax she is afraid of something we haven't been shown on screen.

The font is very simple and minimalistic. It is a basic white font on a black background, they font is also very big, bold and in capitals which makes it stand out a lot. The 'mockingjay' is bigger than the other words because it is the actual name of the film and the most important part in the titles. 'The Hunger Games' is also bigger than 'Part 1' because the film brand is more important than the fact that it’s only the first part of the film.