In Spider-Man costume and setting are also used to create empathy with the viewer but in slightly more subtle ways. The costumes are those of very ordinary stereotypical teenagers made to make the atmosphere feel close to home so that when the fantasy element to this film is concentrated more on later in the film the world of Spider-Man doesn’t seem too unreal. The characters are created solely at first by what they wear, for example Peter Parker the outsider and “geek” wears less fashionable clothes than the other students and has the prop of his glasses. Primarily this shows us that he is different from the other character and picks him out as the principle character. Secondly every teenager has felt as if they are wearing the wrong clothes and felt cast out like Peter Parker. The glasses and “geek” costume put the viewer immediately into Peter Parker’s shoes.
The setting on the school bus and outside the Columbia University Science Department is very normal and stereotypical just like the costumes. This helps the viewer to empathise with the characters and to understand their feelings since they are normal teenagers like the viewer at first. We get properly into the film before we are confronted with an unreal situation.
The Columbia University Science Department combines old fashioned, artistic architecture with new, modern, cutting edge technology. This reflects the change in science and the old fashioned architecture emphasises how ultramodern the technology looks. It also incorporates the theme of double personalities and how something or someone can be both one thing (a traditional building or the class “geek”) and another (a futuristic style laboratory or Spider-man).
In Spider-Man in the opening scene and also later in the film the primary colours red, blue and yellow are emphasised. This reminds the viewer that Spider-Man isn’t meant to be completely realistic. Here we have an exaggerated sort of reality that is used in a lot of American teen movies and more importantly reminds the viewer that Spider-Man is based on a comic book.
In Minority Report, on the other hand, a bleach bypass process is used to fade out the colours so that the viewer sees mainly greys, blues and metallic tones that give the world of 2054 a hard, cold and mysterious atmosphere. This gives the impression that there is no room for emotion, warmth or human imperfection in this world. The machines and the system are perfect- it is only humans who can cause error and humans are what cause the pre-crime organisation to break down at the end of the film. Both the films Minority Report and Spider-man deal with the theme of human error, evil and weakness. In Spider-man it is the human side of Peter Parker that is finally tested at the end of the film as well as his superhero side.
In the Marks’ house in Minority Report dull, hazy lighting with a lot of shadow is used to show the viewer that the Marks have something to hide. This contrasts with the clear, bright precrime centre that has a lot of light in it and is made of glass. This suggests that the precrime centre has nothing to hide and everything is open. This is ironic since we discover later that the precrime centre has the biggest secret since Llamar Burgess murdered to set it up.
The back lighting in the “temple” where the precogs are kept in Minority Report is used to make the precogs look angelic and associates them with religion. Light coming through the water shows us that they are like gods: they have the power of life and death over people but people don’t know who or what they really are. People are in awe of them yet also scared. There are three of them so they are reminiscent of the Christian trinity and the name “the temple” reinforces this idea. This theme of gods and religion means that later in the film when we realise they are fully human it is more of a shock to us.
The lighting in Spider-Man is not used very obviously. It is used to simulate natural light both inside and outside. It gives the film a bright, sunny feel which many people associate with memories of childhood, innocence, normality and the American dream. It picks out the main characters faces as in most films but is not the main technique used in the opening scene of Spider-Man to create meaning.
In Minority Report at the very beginning cinematography is manipulated to make the sequence look very unfocused. Discontinuity editing is also used to show the prevision as disjointed and confusing.
Since the precog vision is of the future the depth of field and focus suggests to us that the future itself is very unclear. This links in with the idea of the minority report later in the film: the future is not definite and an individual can change it.
Extreme camera angles are used in Minority Report to give the world of 2054 an alien atmosphere. This links to film noir conventions. In Spider-Man however extreme camera angles are used to give the viewer a sensation of height. Spiders are seen very high in the air in their webs and very low on the ground crawling on the floor. When Peter Parker later becomes Spider-Man Sam Raimi uses a lot more extreme camera angles to show the viewer what a superhero Peter Parker is: he is not merely human. The cinematography emphasises his acrobatics and heroics.
When Peter Parker is looking though the camera taking photos of Mary Jane he is alienated from the rest of the class. Firstly the clear separation of what Peter sees and what his classmates see shows us that he is an outsider and an observer. He is distanced from Mary Jane and he doesn’t have a real relationship with her yet: he looks at her and is in love with her but the feelings are not mutual. This is also focused on in the scene outside the Columbia University Science Department when we have a point of view shot from Peter looking at Mary Jane and thinking he is waving at her when in fact she is waving to her friends. The shot through the camera also forces the viewer to feel what Peter is feeling and make us see through his eyes. The romantic music used in this part also helps us to empathise with Peter. We feel pity for him since we have all felt the same way.
Lighting is used in Spider-man to light Mary Jane up in a circle while Peter is taking photographs of her and gives her what looks like a halo. This shows the viewer that she is merely the object of his desires and fantasies and he thinks she is perfect whereas later in the film when he really becomes involved with her the viewer discovers that she is no more perfect than Peter is and that she has problems too.
Music is used in Spider-man to mainly create atmosphere and to get the viewer to feel what the characters feel. Music is used in Minority Report for a similar reason: diegetic classical music is played when John Anderton is in the control room looking at the Marks murder. This is soft music lacking tension and shows that looking at murders is just John’s job. He is concentrating on his work, not horrified by the murder as the viewer is. The piece of music, being Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, could be showing the viewer that the future is unfinished and can still be changed as it is when the precrime agents intervene but this seems too subtle for the viewer to pick up in the opening scene.
Sound effects are used too in both films to build up tension. In Minority Report when the precrime agents are looking for the Marks’ house a few different regular, rhythmic sounds such as the roundabout squeaking, the sprinkler turning and the watch ticking are used to show the passing of time and to illustrate to the viewer that time is running out for the precrime agents: they must arrive at the murder scene and intervene before murder is committed. Sound effects are used in Spider-man when the spider bites Peter Parker to produce a “crunch” noise. This plays on people’s fear of spiders and brings the crescendo of music to a final climax. This onomatopoeic language like “crunch” is used in comic books. The crunch is obviously not realistic from such a small spider and therefore also reinforces the comic book idea and emphasises an important turning point in the film from where all the action stems.
Both Spider-Man and Minority Report deal with human evil and weakness through father-son relationships: the relationship between Peter and his uncle and father figure and the fact that Peter is really an orphan, the relationship between Harry and Norman Osborn, the relationship between John Anderton and his son Sean and the relationship between John and his father figure, Llamar Burgess. In each of these cases bad events are brought about because of human emotion. Media techniques are used to show us these relationships in the opening scenes. We see a shot of Peter and Harry with Norman between them. This shot shows the complex relationship between these three male characters and we see how Norman breaks up the good between Harry and Peter by turning Harry against Spider-man, Peter’s other side to his personality.
When Peter Parker is getting on the bus the viewer sees his reflection in the bus wing mirror. Firstly this brings up the theme of double identities since we see two Peter Parkers. For the main part of the film there are two Peter Parkers: one the class outcast who is weak and gets picked on by the others, the other spider-man, the strong superhero who is looked up to. When Peter Parker has his double identity there are two people who are qualitively different but numerically the same person. In this opening scene we see two Peter Parkers, who are numerically different but qualitively the same to represent the later change.
Identity is also a principal theme in Minority Report even if it is not strongly shown in the opening scene. In the Marks’ house Howard’s son cuts out the eye of a mask. This links in later in the film to when John Anderton has his eyes cut out and new ones put in to change his identity when he is hiding from the police. To someone who is familiar to the film this can show us how Howard Marks has his identity to hide but he cannot just as John cannot hide his identity later in the film. You can cut out your eyes but cannot cut out who you are: your soul. The eyes are not the windows on the soul. In this futuristic world even though it is very different and your eyes can change you cannot change your soul, or your self.
Alternatively the mirror image could also be used to represent who Peter Parker is incorrectly portrayed as. We see him first as a “geek” in the mirror. This shows the viewer that this is not who he really is, only an image of him. The outside appearance does not reflect true on who he can be and does become in the next scene: Spider-Man.
Mirrors are also used in Minority Report to show the truth although in Minority Report the mirror image is the part that is meant to tell the truth not the real image. In the Marks’ house there is a shot when the viewer sees the scissors being raised to stab Sarah Marks. The mirror shows us what is really happening under the shadows. The mirror view of Peter and the pane of glass between him and the people on the bus also show their separation and alienation.
To conclude, both Minority Report and Spider-Man use a variety of techniques within the opening scenes to set the mood, genre and expectations of the viewer. It is interesting that Philip K Dick, the writer of the short story that Minority Report is based on, came from a troubled background. On the Minority Report DVD, in a short discussion about the film, Jon Cohen, a screenwriter of Minority Report talked about Philip K Dick’s “unconnectedness to the world” and how he was “uncertain and paranoid about the world”. I think that Philip K Dick’s initial attitude to the world that he lived in is what created the alien atmosphere of the world of 2054 that he instilled and made it seem more real.
The opening scene of Spider-Man is also effective because it prepares the rest of the film and introduces key themes and characters. Willem Defoe, the actor who plays Norman Osborn, said about Sam Raimi: “What Sam’s good at is rooting all the fantastical elements of the film with a reality”. I think that is what the opening scene concentrates on which means the film is well introduced, easy to understand and the science-fiction parts don’t seem too far-fetched.
I find the opening scene of Minority Report the most effective of the two films since I like the unanswered questions it leaves the viewer with and the alien atmosphere. I think the Minority Report opening scene is better because it catches the viewer’s attention quicker and is faster paced and more exciting for me personally. In both of these films the use of mise en scene, cinematography, sound and editing prepare the audience for themes and the context of the films effectively. The opening scenes leave the audience eager to discover the plot and ready to anticipate the films’ actions.
