The+Girl+with+the+Dragon+Tattoo+(2009)

I chose the pivotal scene where Lisbeth Salander rushes to Martin Vanger’s (the antagonist) house, in order to save Mikael Blomkvist from being hanged. She takes a golf club, hits him across the head and then proceeds to save Martin, by cutting the rope around his neck. Martin still manages to escape, despite having a broken arm, and drives away, unaware that Salander will be pursuing him on her motorcycle. To steer clear from a frontal collision with a large truck, Martin briskly swerves off the road and his car begins to topple over down a steep slope. Salander arrives and sees the vehicle completely upside down, with Martin still trapped inside. He begs her for help, for mercy, but she simply looks at him and starts to remember a part of her childhood: When she had set her abusive father on fire as a young girl. Martin is killed in the explosion, when the gasoline leaks and catches on fire, as Salander calmly walks away from the scene.
 * 10 choices for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)" **

I decided that the central theme throughout the movie, particularly in this specific scene, are pain and death, which my choices will explain in more detail.

__ First Choice: __

The extremely similar shots when both young Salander and present Salander watch a male getting burned alive, and neither one of them is doing anything about it: The camera is zooming on their faces, specifically on the intense look in their eyes, to demonstrate the fierceness of the protagonist, and how powerful she can be. Twice she passively watches a man being burned alive and barely even flinches in the face of such horror. The two shots can be characterized as being //familiar images//, because they convey new meaning by displaying something that the viewer has already seen before differently. The two shots are separated by a shot of the cars who've caught on fire. The difference in both shots is that in the first one, the lighting is cold, and it is much warmer in the second one. Young Salander looks more preoccupied and worried in the first shot, so the lighting is harsher and colder, to illustrate her fear or concern, and in the second shot, it's softer, warmer even, and Salander looks rather nonchalant and composed, as if the idea of death no longer scares her anymore. The lighting in these shots described the emotions of the protagonist, without having needed any dialogue to explain them.

__Second Choice:__ The music sequence during the chase scene between Salander and Martin. As she is chasing him on her motorcycle, there is a distinct fast-paced soundtrack, which only adds to the overall intensity of the situation. Besides the screeching of the tires, all you can hear is the music accelerating, which allows the viewer to feel more involved in the scene, as Salander is quickly approaching her target. The increasingly fast-paced music is fore-shadowing what's about to happen, which is that Salander will be responsible for Martin's death, in the car crash. As the music grows more intense, the closer death approaches in the scene, death being the central theme throughout the entire film.

__ Third Choice: __ The amount of close-up shots in the scene. There are numerous close-ups on Blomkvist's face, as he is being tortured, or on Salander, as she is driving her motorbike. Seeing their faces up close can make the viewer feel uncomfortable, especially when seeing the blood on Blomkvist's face, but it also makes the scene even more intense and powerful.

__Fourth Choice:__

The long shot when you see Martin's car toppled over on the ground. The camera placement is really interesting, since it's dark everywhere but the car itself, where it's like there's a ring of light around it. This is surely to add emphasis on the wreckage of the vehicle. A lot of the shots in this scene concentrate on the aspect of death, and make a point of portraying it in the very center of the shot (View also my "Seventh Choice"). Death is the only somewhat colorful (and centered) part of the shot. Death and pain surround the main character, Salander, so the cinematographer and director must have carefully chosen to depict death in the very center of the shot, with the most color and vividness. This shot is a familiar image to the shot I showed in my Seventh Choice, because both depict darkness around the //central// theme of the movie which is death.

__Fifth Choice:__

The props, costume, and makeup of Salander. Her jet-black pixie haircut, nose ring, dark makeup, and leather jacket make her look like a tough, gritty character, which she is, and kinda add to the dark, gothic tone of the entire film. The movie wouldn't be as gloomy if it weren't for Salander's rough appearance.

__Sixth Choice:__

Another similarity of shots where both young Salander and present Salander are watching, through flames, the men being burnt alive. They're both so stoic and calm when watching the flames, not moving a muscle in either shot. These shots add to the overall character development, since the viewers realize that Salander truly is a killer (albeit with understandable motives).

__Seventh Choice:__  My seventh choice is when the camera is pulling out on the flaming corpse, which once was Salander's father. The camera slowly zooms out and displays a burst of vivid colors, amongst a rather dark and dull background. Death is the only colorful (and centered) part of the shot, which I interpret as being the central theme throughout the movie. Death and pain surround the main character, Salander, so the cinematographer and director must have carefully chosen to depict death in the very center of the shot, with the most color and vividness. It was very interesting how the camera was slowly pulling out of the shot, and then returned to present time, when Salander is currently looking at yet another car fire. It's as though the camera was pulling out back into reality, reality being present time in Salander's world.



__Eighth Choice:__

My eighth choice is when Blomkvist is being hanged and all you can see are his trembling feet, dangling in the air. The camera starts to shake, along with the feet, which makes the viewers feel even more worried and scared for him. In my opinion, in most cases, the shaky cam effect does not always effectively work with the context of the scene, but here it does, because it's shaking as the feet are shaking, which adds to the overall intensity of the situation. A //simple// shot of shaking feet, which could have been filmed anywhere or of anyone, displayed a //complicated// situation, in which one person was strangling another. The viewers don't even need to see the expressions on the people's faces, or dialogue, they just saw a quick shot of feet with a shaky cam, and new meaning was created from it.

__Ninth Choice:__

The extreme close-ups ("italian shots") on Martin and Blomkvist's face. You don't really know what's going on, besides the fact that Martin is attempting to kill Blomkvist, and all you see are quick alternations between close-up shots of Martin's upper face (no mouth) to Blomkvist's face. The editing is really cool here, because it skips from one person's eyes to another, and you can really see the fear in Blomkvist's eyes, as he is being brutally tortured.

__Tenth Choice:__

The cool slow-motion technique the director used when filming young Salander running towards her father's car (prior to setting it on fire). The shot is dark and suspenseful and you're not exactly sure what she is running towards, especially since the shot is slowed down. The entire next 10 seconds are pretty dark, except for the sudden blast of colors when she pours gasoline on the car and it sets on fire. The combination of slow-motion editing and the contrast between dark/vivid colors gives a really interesting effect on the story and keeps the viewer focused on the scene. Young Salander's movements become slower, as she approaches the car, and as she is also approaching death. Once again, everything is dark and makes use of low-key lighting, before she finally reaches the car, sets it on fire, and then the shot has become brighter and more vivid, this time with high-key lighting. I noticed that almost every shot in this scene could be related to the film's theme of death and that the director made sure to portray death in the lightest way possible.