Conventions of the Sci-fi genre are seen throughout this scene, such as, the bed that ‘knows’ when Willis gets up, fantastical technology has always been a common element of Sci-fi. It is used to shock the audience, to stretch their imagination, to create questions about the future in the minds of the audience. The room in which he lives holds hints of the sub-genre of future dystopia common in Sci-fi, the setting plays on the fears of the audience. The media constantly informs our culture of the dangers of overpopulation, and other films such as ’The Matrix’ show audiences the possible powers of future technologies. This film plays on the fears of the audience of a dystopia in which the world is over populated and living spaces are small, dirty and lit only by false light with no windows. The dialogue on the phone is used to establish Willis’s character and a little about his past (his reference to the space fighter) which suggests that he is the hero. He wakes alone, his only companion the cat; again this plays on the fears on loneliness in the audience perhaps making them feel insecure.
Willis opens the door to find an amazingly dressed character (futuristically dressed, another convention of Sci-fi) armed with a futuristic gun. Another convention of Sci-fi is the technologically advanced firepower and weaponry. Willis knows about the gun and his reaction to it hints to the audience that he is not as ‘normal’ as previously thought.
The next shot in the ‘talking-cab’ again holds conventions of the genre. The cab shows the futuristic technological advances often-illustrated in Sci-fi films. This becomes even more apparent when the cab unexpectedly hovers off into more flying traffic! The use of iconography throughout this sequence tells the audience that the film is Sci-fi and therefore they expect certain things from the film, e.g. futuristic settings, clothing etc, and they also expect certain things from the narrative because of this. Generally the audience will expect an action hero who will save the world. The dice and hanging air-freshener in the cab provide the audience with something that is common between now and the future (common cabs have dice in them). By putting those small items in the cab we not only see how normal Dallas’s life seems to be (adding to the balance of the equilibrium) we see a craze of today in the future dystopia – showing the strong possibility that this could be the future.
A narrative style used in Sci-fi is the fact that some force/ person is trying to take over the world! A part of this style is demonstrated when we cut to the next scene. Here a very common aspect of Sci-fi appears – the spaceship. An image of a huge space ship can be seen, it is surreal unlike anything the audience has seen before. This image and the borders around our planet create the futuristic Sci-fi idea that earth isn’t the only ‘living planet’ in the universe. The camera shows the inside of the ship…we see an alien figure seen earlier in the film. A space battle then begins, a sight often seen in Sci-fi movies. The mise-en-scene and setting in the spaceships is used to show how evil and uncivilised the other aliens are, there ships are dark and small and they laugh as they attack the other ship. A feeling of chaos is created in the audience as the shots are edited together so quickly. This section is futuristic, action packed and imaginative…therefore it shows the audience things it hasn’t seen before and is exciting.
The ‘uglier’ aliens are immediately seen as villains as well as Mr Zorg (the man in the office). The voices and appearances of them plus the act of the aliens in taking the peaceful spaceship out (which held earths hope of survival) make them evil in the minds of the audience. Zorgs office (from what we see of it) is big and clean, even from the back his clothes seem bold and colourful. This high contrast to the hero is created purposely to make Dallas seem much more accessible to the audience in compassion with the villain. The audience can relate to the hero because he is much more similar to them, they can share his emotions and view the narrative through him. Many villains in cinema are wealthy and crave power, the audience recognise this in Zorg. The audience also share the emotions of the priest, as he believes all hope is gone now that the stones and the fifth element are lost. The close-up shot of his face help the audience to share the emotions with him.
Up to now the director has imposed a feeling of dislike or distrust in technology the audience. All technology used up to now has been involved in threatening someone or something (the mugger with the gun) or making the audience feel inferior (like Dallas’s room – which is ruled by computers and technology). It seems to the audience that the only thing, which can save the world, is the priest and his ‘fifth element’ and stones. The whole film seems to follow a narrative based around an old almost biblical weapon/faith that will save the world, but the next section tells the audience otherwise. Here the fifth element is revived using technology, and ‘playing god’. This makes the audience question issues in society such as immoral medical advances and how far technology should advance.
The bright lights in the corridor leading up to the scientific area impose a feeling of inferiority in the audience, similar to that we feel to doctors in well lit hospitals.
When she is revived, Leeloo (fifth element) is naked and the thermal bandages don’t cover much! The bandages are white – a symbol of innocence, this immediately proposes her as the ‘princess’ role in the film…she becomes a sex object to the male audience and a physical role model the female audience. Therefore, when she forcefully escapes gender roles in the film are blurred (she isn’t the conventional love/sex-object of the film), the female audience feel empowered and it is suggested that Dallas isn’t the only hero. The police in the sequence are portrayed as being quite idiotic, stating the obvious for example. Their uniform makes them seem slow and unable to function properly in the eyes of the audience, this makes Leeloo seem more agile in contrast.
When Leeloo is outside the shots are edited between her face and the city, her expression is one of terror and disgust, this technique is used so that we feel that same way. As an audience we become scared by what has happened to earth as we see a city similar to Ridley Scott’s ‘Bladerunner’, again an example of future dystopia.
When she dives off the audience are left confused and on edge, we wonder if she will die. When she lands in Dallas’s car his equilibrium is upset, and the main protagonists are introduced, making the audience excited at the possibilities of the ever common romantic interest.