Film Research #1 - The Naked Gun
The Naked Gun is a Parody-Comedy film based on an early run TV show called 'Police Squad'. Released in 1988, The Naked Gun uses stereotypes created by previous spy films to increase the comedy in itself, such as over-reaction in fighting scenes, political tendencies and a foolish main protagonist.
The opening begins with an establishing shot of an urban/rural town, due to the buildings seemingly being covered in sand and mainly dark yellow in colour, the audience can assume that the scene is set in an Asian country like Iran or Saudi Arabia. The soundtrack (non-dietetic sound) contains stereotypical Arabian music with lots of chanting, this also builds on the stereotype further reinforcing the fact that we are in Asia but also an Arabian part of Asia. During this establishing shot a word appears that says 'Beirut' as seen below;
'Beirut' is the capitol of Lebanon, a country in Asia, neighbored by Syria and Israel so the stereotypes lead us to the correct assumption, while a majority of the audience may not know of Beirut, some may and this will confirm the stereotypes. At the end of the scene they use a cross-dissolve to transition from the establishing shot, overlooking the city to a long shot, looking at the next area, this cross-dissolve could simulate the travelling from the high up location to the low down one, simulating a walk as it is slow and gradual.
The next scene is a long shot from outside, what can be assumed as a palace or state house. We can assume this as it is clearly heavily guarded by soldiers which we know because they are carrying varying types of guns and other types of gear which is typical for a soldier to wear as well as the white coloring which is a severe contrast from the other house we have seen. There are also a pair of flags (symbolic props) on the right, palaces/state houses are often expected to have their country's flag raised outside, for example the British flag outside Buckingham Palace or the American flag outside The White House. There are soldiers walking a pair of camels which reinforces the stereotype that camels are the main form of transport/luggage transport in the Asian/Arabian countries, however later on in the scene a soldier drives up in an army vehicle which shows that the country is somewhat developed and opposes the previously mentioned stereotype yet reinforces another in the form that Asian countries are quite oppressed by military action. The foliage in the shot, trees, bushes etc., shows that the climate in the area is humid/hot, we know this as the foliage is the type that is not often found in cold climates which is used to subliminally tell the viewer where about in the world we are, allowing them to understand some later aspects.
The transition is unclear from the previous scene to the next one, it could be a straight edit after the soldier has walked into the camera, using the black created by him walking into the camera to hide the straight edit as the camera starts from the man's back but it could also be considered a fade in/out as the man walks into the camera could be considered the fading out to black and the man walking away from the camera could be considered the black fade in, either way the effect of the soldier walking into the camera then the next thing we see is a man walking away from the camera is a smooth seamless transition between shots, displaying that the man in the suit has clearly traveled from point A to point B as not only has he come from the 'direction' the soldier was going (because the soldier walks into the camera and the man in the suit walks 'out') but he is walking away from the camera. In a broader scheme of things, this shows a change of position, and as we can immediately see, the setting is inside, presumably inside the building we saw in the background. In the next scene two soldiers are seen opening the doors, one of these soldiers could be the one used to start the transition meaning he was in a rush to get to the new scene so he wouldn't be punished, this is a stereotype as it is believed that anyone who does not follow the rules of these governments will be punished severely. We could presume he was in a rush as in the previous scene he rushes towards the camera.
In this shot we see a table surrounded by interpretations of a lot of the worlds 'dictators' or people seen as 'evil' country leaders for example, General Amin and Yasser (the two who are named in the scene), these are obviously not the actual leaders but instead interpretations of them, using the most stereotypical features of them and their culture hoping the audience would identify them and relate each member with their real world equivalent through the choice of clothing. We see them debating how to 'attack' the US, we know this is their goal as the man at the head of the table says they must come up with a terrorist act intended for the US by the end of the week, we can assume this man is the leader because of his place at the head of the table provides a sense of authority and importance. The comedy in this scene comes from the total generalizations of these characters and the simplicity of their answers and dialogue e.g. one characters wants to simply "Wipe out Washington" which is an extreme example of terrorism and depicts his character as a tyrant who uses excessive force to get his way and the alliteration enforce comedy, while the character known as 'General Amin' talks about hostages, which represents the real General Amin who was known for his constant abuse of the human rights, of course hostages are having their right to freedom abused so this represents him. Earlier in the scene before the doors are open we hear the discussions are already underway before he has even entered the room, meaning this is a popular subject of debate and causes a lot of discussion, we can also tell they feel safe in discussing their topic here as they do not whisper or keep their voices down meaning they are confident in their security. They are all dressed as government officials/Army officials which adds to the effect that an important meeting is taking place. As the man walks into the room a straight shot is used to simulate that we are following the character into the room and then observing the conversation as the camera moves to the side once we are inside the room, due to the context, we could be in the POV of a servant of the leaders at the table as he walks in and stands-by awaiting orders.
We can tell that the man wearing mostly black with the long white beard is the leader, this is because his character displays control over the conversation, he is able to use his position to stop the others fighting, as well as his seat at the head of the table. It is often thought that the head of the table is the leader, for example in families it is often the father that sits at the head of the table, this is because he is the head of the family, providing for everyone, the same can apply here as he may be the owner of the venue as well as the army protecting it. While comedy has slightly been hinted at with the reactions on how to terrorize the US, when the slave serving tea at the table puts the kettle on the leader's hand, his face goes into that of an over-reaction showing he is in pain but also displays a comedic effect as his reaction is over the top, and then when he stands up to punish the slave, the slave takes off his head scarf to reveal who he really is, pausing for an extended moment to provide suspense and surprise and comedy as the reveal would surely leave himself open to attack, then the soundtrack changes from a dark, mysterious song used as the leader was discussing his 'evil' plan to a more light-hearted, heroic track that displays the recent addition to the scene is the hero of our story. He is an old man as displayed through his wrinkles and grey hair, it is clear that he is not meant to dress as he has in the scene, signifying that he was undercover, or in disguise meaning he could be a spy. Following this is a fight scene between the old man and the other people in the room, this emphasizes on the comedy of the film as an old man who wouldn't be expected to be capable on fighting takes on multiple young, capable men.
Many over the top punches are thrown in this scene as well as punches which look weak but the actors over-emphasize the impact of the punch making it seem more powerful than it actually is, this is done in such a way it is obvious and silly. The protagonist also pushes over the tea set which is not required to deal with any of the immediate threats. They do this to demonstrate their 'power' and 'courage'. Afterwards he gets another man into a headlock and wipes off the mark on his head, with a cartoon-like sound effect to go with it and him looking into the camera and saying "I knew it" all come together to create an amusing series of events. He then engages with the supposed leader, who comes at him with a silly expression and stance to which the protagonist then treats as a punching bag. The ridiculous speed of punches, the clear non impact and the fact he turns away punched another man to then resume punching him all coupled together with the silly sound effects creates a ridiculous scene, not to mention when he stops punching the man's head keeps going up and down. When he takes out yet another man, the man's reaction is so ridiculous that it provides a comedic element because it is common in comedy movies to over-exaggerate a fall. Next a man purposely runs out of a window after being shoved by the protagonist who clearly did not push him hard enough to send him the whole way out.Lastly, during the scene the protagonist constantly pauses to look at the audience and provide a reaction to something silly that has happened like when the leader is shown to have an orange Mohawk, this increases the engagement by the audience because they feel included by the eye contact. He then ends it off my running into the arching windows after just opening them, making him seem incompetent and the feat he just did as a feat of luck
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