Hanna Analysis

Hanna Analysis

This scene is the car chase in which Erik is chased by a gang.
The genre is action (Car Chase), Crime(Thugs) and mystery(Hanna's abnormality).
The use of Mise-En-Scene is very subtle but ultimately very effective. The graffiti'd street ands vans in the slums of Berlin indicate violence and recklessness. The gang represent the 70's skinheads that many pre-teens were scared of. Marissa is wearing a green coat that may signal envy or even sickness whereas her hair is red showing a feisty even dangerous side to her like a flame. Hanna has dull blonde hair and a grey sweater symbolising she is washed out. Erik is wearing a messed up suit showing he is the one in charge and that he used to be an agent. There are lots of little hints to things such as cars spinning meaning that Hanna's life is spinning out of her control, the cars are shaking stating how dangerous and unstable the situation is. There are two poles/bars at the end where Erik and a thug are fighting representing good and evil and when Erik merges into the one side he has become evil by killing the thug to protect Hanna. At the end he is seen dead on a playground spinner repetitively turning possibly representing the circle of life and how is life has now come to an end.

There are a lot of quick camera movements to emphasise the action with a mix of straight cuts and jump cuts. In the first scene it is a close up- eye level shot with deep focus, in the park there are a lot of distant long shots to mid shots. There are a few oblique angles with two 180 degree rules shots. It is set in daytime and therefore high-key lighting.

There is mainly Non-diegetic sound with there being a soundtrack provided by The Chemical Brothers which has all the attributes of an action score; the build up of pace to the full on fighting to the toned down realisation, it wonderfully compliments the scene. There is a use of slowed down breathing when Hanna is running and a non- diegetic use of an amplified heartbeat that shows the desperation. There are diegetic sounds aswell with gun shots, breathing and running sounds. As a child you are brought up to think people are nice and kind but when you get into the real world you realise people can be actually quite mean, Hanna shows that innocence in this clip more poetically than others when she drops to the floor when Erik is shot which envokes feeling because of the shot use, lighting, sound and the Mise-en-scene.