Collateral Overview

Hello again. A few lessons back we watched a movie called Collateral.

We start by analsying the poster (to the right). The poster has a picture of Tom Cruise, at the time of the movies release Tom Cruise was a huge hit amongst audience. Therefore it was no surprise that no Tom Cruise's picture was only used for the poster. In addition his name was enlarged, even Jamie Foxx and the directors name were nothing in comparison. Moreover Jamie Foxx who I believed was the main focus- protagonist in the film, had nothing other than a small printed name.

Collateral released in 2004, it is  a crime thriller; starring Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise. Directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beatie.
This film could be described as experimental as it was Mann's first feature film shot with mostly high-definition camera.

There is a lot of evidence of the use of high-definiton camera used in scenes where the LA scenery can be seen.

The Trailer:



The briefcase scene is also one to be noted:
The use of a gun- which is a convention of a thriller is seen in this scene. The man who had the gun, believed he was a bigger man as he had a weapon and even tried to apprehend Vincent, but was obviously no match as Vincent later on killed him.

Vincent's New Friend:
This scene is a very big contrast to other scenes analysed in the film. The lighting in the scene is very bright, full use of high-key lighting. We feel in this scene the uneasiness felt by Max, almost tension. We see Vincent, almost normal-like as he converses with the Ida and also buy her a gift.

Pulled Over:

Mann stated that the film takes place on the night of January 24–25, 2004 from 6:30 p.m. to 5:40 a.m. There is a reason why the film is predominately is set in the dark, except for the hospital scene. We see a lot of tension in this scene, between Max, Vincent and the police. As the audience we are left on the edge because we know that there is a body in the trunk and the police had requested for Max to open that trunk. 

Mann used a scene which was spontaneous to take advantage of the the low key lighting available. In the clip below, we hear the Mann's and Cruise's view of the coyotes running through to the intersection.



The sequence of the Korean Nightclub was shot in 35mm.

When analyzing this scene, I realise the film has a blue hue, mostly everything looks blue. The music in the foreground is very contrapuntal because as there are nightclub goers dancing, and having fun, howver the actions among the character can not be heard only seen, doing this as an effort to portray the audience as one of the night club goers. As we progress through this scene we see that guns and have been fired (conventions of a thriller) but the music still continues to play through.

Background information of the film.
The film was co-produced by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. Paramount released the film on Blu Ray, March 30th 2010.
Collateral had waited for 3 year for developing with DreamWorks. The work for directing it was passed from Mimi Leder to Janusz Kaminski. But it wasn't until Russel Crowe became interested in playing Vincent, that the project started developing. 
Crowe than brougt Mann on board, however due to constant delays Crowe pulled out. Which Mann decided to ask Cruise as Vincent and Adam Sandler as the cab driver.

The film opened August 24th 2004, in 3,188 in the theaters in the US and Canada and grossed $24.7 million; ranking number 1 in the first week.