Attack the Block Analysis

Analysis - Attack the Block by Joe Cornish 2011

Attack the Block starts by showing something falling from the dark, haunting sky (pathetic fallacy) whilst non-diegetic dramatic, loud and quick music plays. We then see (crane shot/establishing shot) and hear fireworks going off (diegetic) all around London, which suggests its a special day, possibly Guy Fawkes night, which then turns into an establishing shot of London and we are shown an undeground station, can also hear traffic sounds (diegetic).

Cuts to a low medium shot of a middle aged, well dressed woman, walking out of the station on her phone and we hear dialog (diegetic). People walking infront of the camera and surrounding her, to show she is in a busy environment.

It then cuts to a medium shot of the woman walking, speaking on her phone. The first lot of titles come up in white and capitals, against a black background (very slick and neat). Creepy, dramatic, cold music also starts at this point.

We then see a side on, medium/wide shot of her walking past shops, where it is busy with people again. With a cut transition, titles appear against a black background, but this time some are white and some are brown. The white titles are bigger that the brown, for emphasis on the words.

The camera cuts to a worms eye view of her feet, walking down a different busy street, with people going home probably from a fireworks event, mainly couples or families and houses surrounding. We are shown two small children playing and hear them too (diegetic). Camera pans as she crosses the road and becomes a crane shot, to show her walking in the road and all the people going home.

Then camera cuts to a behind, medium shot of her walking down an alley where no one is, which contrasts with the previous scenes where it was busy. Camera moves foward slowly as she walks, it seems like someone is following her. The camera then at the same time as moving foward, pans onto a brick wall where we see her shadow and writing in graffitti (which we later in the film find out is the group of boys's names). A sharp light is lit onto the wall where we see two shadows of hooded boys, it then lights up in red and the music gets louders at this point with a thud.

The camera then shows us a close-up shot (to see her reaction) of her turning around, whilst gasping because she is slightly scared, to see if anyone is there. It then quickly cuts to a wide shot of her in the same position, to show the audience what she sees, there is no one there, then it cuts back to the close-up of her relieved face that no one is there, but we then hear a boy shouting (diegetic) and she then carries on walking (showing she is frightened), still talking on the phone in a medium shot - camera pans as she walks.

Cuts to a wide shot of her walking down a street where we can't see the group of boys yet clearly, but we know there is something further on. On a close-up shot we are shown the woman get off the phone, the non-diagetic background music dies down at the point and becomes a soft sharp sound until it eventually stops. Once the woman gets off the phone she looks up and her face drops with horror. The camera then quickly flashes a wide shot of what she is looking at and it is a group of boys in dark, hooded clothes, some with bikes and bandanas, reinforcing the stereo type of teenage boys.