Film Analysis- I Am Legend

By Joseph Beardsall

Film Analysis- I Am Legend

I have decided to analyze the first 10 minutes of “I Am Legend” because of its similar genre to our film of a thriller, horror. The first aspect you will recognise about “I am legend” is it begins with a blank screen and an innocent conversation is taking place between two men, referring to sport which soon moves onto a conversation between to two women that ends with a shocking discovery followed by a minor, non diegetic sound. The women are dressed formally and are in a studio. One woman is questioning the other and is dressed more formally than the other, who is wearing a spotted jacket. At the end of the conversation she is asked if she has cured cancer and she hesitates in reacting which symbolises she was not completely sure.

Then the next shot is a long shot of Manhattan which pans upwards into an extreme long shot. This establishing shot sets the scene of the film and reveals that something has gone wrong as the city is empty. Then there are various shots which all back up the first establishing shot by showing smashed cars, birds flying around and worn posters which imply no one lives in the city anymore. There are also army vehicles on the street which shows some sort of major conflict had taken place. I recognised that Christmas decoration were still up but yet it looks like a hot summers day which symbolises the city has been like this for some time. The last thing I thought of in the establishing shot was that birds were flying which shows that whatever happened did not travel though the air so most likely only this city was necessarily affected by the problem.

The first three minutes of the films represents the change in circumstances. The men’s conversation represents normality then the second conversation between the women appears to be normal but shows a change in the last sentence followed by the non diagetic sound which implies something goes wrong. Then the film goes onto the establishing shot which shows the major change in circumstances and appears to show the result of this problem in the form of the abandoned city. It also says three years later which represents the time period in which this problem took place.

One of the shots is an over head shot of a car driving and the top of buildings that have been covered which symbolises that the city was quarantined. The sound of the motor is loud and you can still hear the wind blowing. The next shot is a close up of a man’s hand holding a gun dressed in a black jacket, jeans and a casual shirt. In the same shot it pans towards his face which reveals him to be driving the car, and he is also wearing a wedding ring so we know he’s married. Then the next shot shows a dog in the passenger seat. The shot after is of the man looking at the dog and then a shot of the dog looking at the man followed by a shot of the man pressing a button to put the window down and then a shot of the window going down and the dog sticking his head out of the window. This hand full of shots shows great continuity as it flows well and the window goes down as he presses the button. Then there is a shot from the back of the car which appears to show the car looking fresh and bright and new as if it represents a beacon of hope. In the same shot it shows birds flying away and the next shot shows the man looking up at the birds followed by a view from inside the car of the birds flying away which in the same shot leads up towards seeing tanks and other army vehicles. This represents the battle that took place in the city. The next shot is a medium shot panning left to right of the car turning and driving away leaving the focus on a poster on the back of a tank. The poster states “god still loves us” which represents faith and hope but also above the text is a distorted face which could represent the figure of the people infected with the virus.

The next few shots are of the car travelling at a fast speed though the city which links back to what the women said about been able to control a fast car in the conversation she had at the beginning of the film. The man talks to the dog for the first time which draws his attention away from the road as he nearly crashes into a dear. This shows the signs he really cares for the dog as he treats it like a human and possibly has no one else to talk to. He then peruses the flocking dear in a high speed pursuit with lots of medium shots of the dear and the car travelling at a fast pace. The shots vary from the dears running, the car and him in the car. The pace of the shots then slows as he is forced to stop because of a barricade. The shot to identify the barricade is paned from a low angle to high angle to reveal the barricade though the shot.

Then there is a non diagetic sound which fades and changes to the sound of wind. The screen then shows grasses blowing and pans from a low angle to a high angle which reveals all of the set and follows the man and his dog’s movement. It then shows a medium shot of the man looking rather nervous and hesitant followed by a close up on the dogs face. The next shot is a again a medium shot of the man putting the gun scope to his eye line then the shot after is the view from the scope followed by a close up of the man removing the scope and the gun from his eye line and dropping it to shoulder height. These three shows great continuity and that the scene was well thought out. The next clip is a panning shot of him and the dog running though the city. What you will notice about the next clip is the American flag which sets the scene as been America in case you did not realise this from the American ascents at the opening of the film. There also are large worldwide brand names such as MacDonald’s which shows that the area is most likely a large well known city which at a time was in full working order. The next shot is a medium shot of him running and we have the view of his back. It is worth pointing out that a lot of the ground has large weeds and some of the lampposts are covered in vines which show the city has been dormant for some time. The next two shots are of him peering around a wall but across from him there are images of children which are an implication of his everlasting thoughts about his own child which linger in the back of his mind. He then peers completely round the corner and sees one of the dear though a car window, this shot continues as he crouches’s down and begins to investigate further. At the end of this shot the depth of field changes from him to the dear to show the dears importance and to imply he is targeting the dear.


In the next shot he begins to stand and the dear is attacked by a lion. Then the almost silent approach turns into the dog barking and the man aiming his gun towards the lion and the dear. Still at this point the depth of field is on the lion and we see a over the shoulder shot of him looking at the lion kill it’s pray. As the man begins to take aim the lion’s family comes into the picture and the man takes interest in this before hearing his watch go off and leaving. The shots are of him looking at his watch from a medium close up of his face, gun and other arm baring the watch. Then followed by a close up of the watch and a shot of him turning to view the sun going down. He then tells the dog to go and begins to retreat himself again jogging which implies he’s in a rush. Then the titles follow with some non diagetic music which could be described as minor key and scary.

The next shot is of an arch which is lightened by the sun and also some barrels with bombs strapped to them, again I believe this is another sign of hope using the arch to represent good and the bombs to represent the bad. In the same shot we hear a noise from the distance which increases in sound and then is viewed to be a car and the noise is the diagetic sound of the engine. The next shot is a medium shot of the man removing several items from the car followed by shutting the door of the car. Then a paned shot of the man’s feet which pans up wards and reveals the man spreading a substance from a bottle over the stairs and also the front door of a house. The door is unlocked which implies that he is not scared of anyone entering the house and conforms that the man believes no one lives in the city anymore.

The next shot is of the man wearing an apron and appearing to be rummaging for food. The man then vacates to another room were the television is on and the news is playing. The news lady mentions the biggest snow storm in New York City which reveals that either he is not located in New York or this news report is a recording. In the shot the man is again is out of focus and not in the depth of field which shows in this shot the television is more important than him. The next shot is then of him again walking over to the sink will some sort of food, still he is listening to the news. In the next two shots the man is talking to the dog and poring this substance over what appears to be the dogs dinner will saying “here you go just the way you like it” to the dog. Though out the first 10 minutes you will realise that he treats the dog like his child and the dog treats him like a father this is made clearer as the film progresses. The reason behind this relationship is because the man may have a son or daughter and the dog reminds him of them or maybe he is just very lonely. He then takes the plate removes something from the fridge and begins to kneel. In the next shot he says “hear you go” in a soft calming voice as if again he was talking to a child, then he places the meal onto the floor and the dog begins to eat. He then sits himself to the table and begins to eat will talking interest in the weather forecast. On the screen you notice a recording box which shows this is a recorded video not a live weather forecast. He then tells the dog to eat his vegetables and threatens him by says “will stay hear all night” as a punishment which again is something a parent would say to his child.

The next scene is of the man bathing the dog and asking him “what you worried about?” this is an implication that the dog is not worried but he is worried so to take his mind of it he makes conversation with the dog. He then turns on his ipod and begins to sing to Bob Marley’s don’t worry about a thing. This again is another method to take his mind of whatever he is worried about. He then continues to wash the dog and sing to him as a father would to his child. We then hear the sound of his watch alarm going off again which then makes the man stare into space to speak with great fear in his eyes and a non diagetic sound comes on. It shows the dog barking but the sound is not heard at all which is to help put us into the man’s frame of mind and realise that at this moment the man is blanking out the sound of the dog and the music and can only hear this scary music as the terrible thoughts travel though his brain. The music is used to represent his fear though out and also to signify so something getting closer. After a brief ten seconds he comes round and the music and the dogs marking is returned.

The reason for my choice of analysing this film is because at the beginning everything is normal which is also how our film is represented in the first few minutes but as it progresses you begin to understand something isn’t right. The difference between this film and our film is this film spends the first 10minutes building up suspense were as our film builds up some suspense but not in such a large time period. The scenes are completely different but have a similar effect, one been an abandoned city another been an empty forest. Each of these I believe are good sets for thriller horrors but “I am legend” is a large production wear as are is a small budget production which limits our soft ware and sets. Overall I like how the film begins as it builds suspense up from the beginning, leaves clues to what might happen next and also has great continuity though out all the shots. I believe every great thriller keeps you guessing.