The film opens with Touchstone Pictures’ logo, which makes use of a formal, adult and blue serif font on a black background-colours suitable for a thriller. The jagged edges of the lightning blood could be seen as having connotations of violence and the flash as mirroring muzzle flash from a gun barrel. A sound bridge then leads to the opening credits which tells us things such as the names of the main actors and the director. They are white on a black background, possibly representative of the binary opposition of good and evil. The sans serif font could be an indication of the fact that the thriller is quite modern.
A ‘whoosh’ sound and a fade in takes us from the titles to the medium establishing shot of the film, which is out of focus and accompanied with ambiguous, non-diegetic background music, giving it an enigmatic feel. The forenames of the main actors in the motion overlay titles are white, whilst their surnames are black, further reinforcing the binary opposition of good and evil. The fact that one gets larger whilst the other gets smaller could be interpreted as foreboding a conclusion in the struggle for power between the protagonist and the antagonist.
The slow motion close up and medium two shots of the protagonist and his child suggests both physical and emotional closeness and provides a reason for his behaviour in the next scene through the Kuleshov effect. The use of a blue filter, making the carousel and the trees washed out, is an indicator that their happy circumstances are going to change for the worse. A longshot leads to an extreme close up of a sniper scope. It is accompanied by an exaggerated Foley sound effect and a change in music to dramatic and ominous during the lifting off of a clothe. Nicolas Cage is then seen backlit, making only his silhouette visible –indicating that he is the antagonist-with the main 
motion overlay title in the centre of the shot. His relaxed attitude, with the drinking from a straw suggests that he is determined and quite confident, much like John Travolta’s character. Later, a point of view shot through the sniper scope shows further emotion between John Travolta and his son and a slight zoom out perhaps suggests a lack of focus and a questioning of his actions.
This is however quickly disregarded and he proceeds to take the shot. The bass rumble sound effect before the shooting suggests that something bad is going to happen, just as the washed out colours also do, and it proceeds an extreme close up of the trigger and a cut to another extreme close up, this time of the CGI bullet emerging in extreme slow motion from the barrel-a cause and effect edit. The background music then stops accompanied with Foley enhanced, echoing sound of the shooting. A distressed neigh of a carousel horse is heard, along with the echo of the CGI bullet. From this extreme close up of a carousel horse a fast dissolve to rising balloons is seen, symbolising death. The
music then resumes, but this time it is definitely negative and melancholy. The reaction to the shooting is seen in Castor Troy’s face in a close up shot. This is later followed by a medium close up of the now eerie and sped up carousel-its disconcerting nature is emphasized with the use of sound stings. A fade to black ends the scene.
The film resumes with an establishing long shot a city, a suitable setting for a thriller. He appears distressed and this is reinforced with the non-diegetic music. The track and tilt shots of the awards on the wall of his office show that he is successful and the close up of a gun indicates that his job involves violence. Parallel editing between his office and the rest of the building show him holstering his gun in a close up, western-style shot, perhaps suggesting that there will be a ‘duel’ between him and the antagonist.
Nicolas Cage’s character, Castor Troy is established through the use of mug shots. A vertical tracking shot establishes his location and a superimposition edit leads to the inside of the building. The camera then pans downwards, with low angle shots indicating that he is in a positions of power. This is also shown in his owning of what appear to be bombs, with a skull and crossbones signifying danger. A non-diegetic ‘swoosh’ sound effect is heard as he casts his
cigarette over one of the bombs and activates it. During the narrative exposition that establishes John Travolta’s character as being the boss of his organisation, Castor Troy’s actions are seen through parallel editing, further reinforcing the conflict between the two of them; the former is unaware of what the latter is doing.
The slow motion close up and medium two shots of the protagonist and his child suggests both physical and emotional closeness and provides a reason for his behaviour in the next scene through the Kuleshov effect. The use of a blue filter, making the carousel and the trees washed out, is an indicator that their happy circumstances are going to change for the worse. A longshot leads to an extreme close up of a sniper scope. It is accompanied by an exaggerated Foley sound effect and a change in music to dramatic and ominous during the lifting off of a clothe. Nicolas Cage is then seen backlit, making only his silhouette visible –indicating that he is the antagonist-with the main 
motion overlay title in the centre of the shot. His relaxed attitude, with the drinking from a straw suggests that he is determined and quite confident, much like John Travolta’s character. Later, a point of view shot through the sniper scope shows further emotion between John Travolta and his son and a slight zoom out perhaps suggests a lack of focus and a questioning of his actions.
This is however quickly disregarded and he proceeds to take the shot. The bass rumble sound effect before the shooting suggests that something bad is going to happen, just as the washed out colours also do, and it proceeds an extreme close up of the trigger and a cut to another extreme close up, this time of the CGI bullet emerging in extreme slow motion from the barrel-a cause and effect edit. The background music then stops accompanied with Foley enhanced, echoing sound of the shooting. A distressed neigh of a carousel horse is heard, along with the echo of the CGI bullet. From this extreme close up of a carousel horse a fast dissolve to rising balloons is seen, symbolising death. The
music then resumes, but this time it is definitely negative and melancholy. The reaction to the shooting is seen in Castor Troy’s face in a close up shot. This is later followed by a medium close up of the now eerie and sped up carousel-its disconcerting nature is emphasized with the use of sound stings. A fade to black ends the scene.
The film resumes with an establishing long shot a city, a suitable setting for a thriller. He appears distressed and this is reinforced with the non-diegetic music. The track and tilt shots of the awards on the wall of his office show that he is successful and the close up of a gun indicates that his job involves violence. Parallel editing between his office and the rest of the building show him holstering his gun in a close up, western-style shot, perhaps suggesting that there will be a ‘duel’ between him and the antagonist.
Nicolas Cage’s character, Castor Troy is established through the use of mug shots. A vertical tracking shot establishes his location and a superimposition edit leads to the inside of the building. The camera then pans downwards, with low angle shots indicating that he is in a positions of power. This is also shown in his owning of what appear to be bombs, with a skull and crossbones signifying danger. A non-diegetic ‘swoosh’ sound effect is heard as he casts his
cigarette over one of the bombs and activates it. During the narrative exposition that establishes John Travolta’s character as being the boss of his organisation, Castor Troy’s actions are seen through parallel editing, further reinforcing the conflict between the two of them; the former is unaware of what the latter is doing.
The editing then focuses primarily on Castor Troy and his bombs are also seen from a low angle, reinforcing the fact that they are giving him power, in this case destructive power. The type of diegetic music used is contrapuntal, however it does match the setting, as it is religious with it being sung by a choir. Likewise, his headbanging, strong language and groping of a member of the choir doesn’t match that of a priest, but it does match his confident character. A zoom out then reveal the name of the event taking place at the location.The close up shot of the telephone with John Travolta’s character’s wife still on the line and being ignored may suggest that the pursuit of his son’s killer has taken over his marriage. A straight cut to the location he is heading-an airfield-shows Castor Troy getting out of a car. He does so in slow motion, with his jacket making a ‘whoosh’ Foley sound as John Travolta’s also did when he left his office, and with the accompaniment of slightly funky music, reinforcing his relaxed attitude. A low angle shot shows two gold holstered guns that are revealed after a further ‘whoosh’ sound effect that follows that removal of his cape. The fact that it is removed by another person, and that another low angle shot is used when he reveals his plans, reinforce his position of power.
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