Collateral
A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles. He must find a way to save both himself and one last victim.
Collateral is another iconic and suspenseful thriller that graced the screens of the cinema in 2004. Starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Fox and Jada Pinkett Smith, Collateral holds the essence of a classic thriller with an innocent cab driver Max (Jamie Fox) who becomes caught up in the Dramas of the contracted killer Vincent (Tom Cruise) and must find a way to overcome his hostile actions and protect the people on the hit list, which becomes more Relevant to Max as the story unfolds.
Incredibly written by
Stuart Beattie and Directed by Michael Mann Collateral achieved:
This trailer is extremely powerful however i believe it is somewhat irregular compared to other traditional thriller trailers. There is a wider variety when assessing the speed of editing in each sequence, there are sections where the editing is extremely fast where there is a strong amount of fast paced and suspenseful action on screen with impacting non diegetic music which is then juxtaposed to the calmer diegetic speech of the characters in the trailer and a decrease in the speed of editing within the trailer. This is effective as it allows the audience to experience a diverse range of emotions and feelings while they are watching the trailer and there are sections when they can slightly relax and then contrasted through moments of climax which altogether instigates apprehension yet also to some degree makes them feel shocked and further fully engaged in the action.
The trailer has a powerful and brutal start with the presentation of the hostile behaviour/actions of Tom Cruise shooting the man at the table. This immediately shocks the audience and they question why he done this as the setting looked rather calm and almost innocent. What Cruise tells Fox next the audience can infer that this is a lie based on the fact that in the previous picture they witnessed him kill another man so by telling him he is a real estate worker is obviously a lie. Where we are next introduced to the Police force, the audience assume that they will be in pursuit of Cruise based on him killing the man in the opening shot. As the trailer progresses, it becomes evident that Cruise is a Hit-man who has assigned killings and it portrays Fox's involvement with him.
Technically, the trailer is very accurate, it holds the correct mix of diegetic and non diegetic sound and presents the action throughout the film effectively without giving too much of the plot away. The names of the people involved in the film are inserted correctly throughout the trailer and helps move the action on screen along and separates time between the sequences. The editing allows the audience to follow the different stories of the film and illustrates what parts everyone involved plays within the film such as Mark Ruffalo as the head police officer in pursuit of the Tom Cruise, Jamie Fox as the innocent by-stander involved in the plot and Tom Cruise as the hostile main character with hits he must carry out throughout the night and the editing helps the audience establish the relationships between the different characters.
Digital Technology
Collateral is one of the first films to use digital cameras for filming, Michael Mann chose to use Viper Film Stream High - Definition cameras to film many of the scenes within the film, this can sometimes be detected through the glow of the picture which was absent in previous films which did not use digital technology. This gave the film an edge when introduced to the film industry as people were not used to this picture on screen and this is one of the reasons why the film gained a large audience.
Scenes within the film where the LA skyline or background are seen, the digital technology is prominent and visible. Furthermore, there was a particular shot that Michael Mann took where a coyote ran across the road and based on the Viper Film technology was able to do this spontaneously without an lighting set up as the digital camera was able to adapt to the low level of lighting.
Scene Analysis
This scene is effective as the audience know prior to this event that Vincent is a hostile and brutal killer, and therefore, when the criminals fray from helping Max and instead hold him at gunpoint and take Vincent's briefcase, they can infer that something unfortunate is about to happen to these people and they believe that they have made a mistake by doing so. As they walk away with the briefcase, Vincent steps into the picture supported by suspenseful and menacing music. When he establishes that they have his briefcase and the criminals further threaten Vincent, the audience brace themselves for trouble. Although they anticipate this, the audience are still shocked by the abruptness of the Killings of the criminals and furthermore reinforces the hostility of Vincent's character, topped off by the double shooting of one of the criminals to make sure that they are dead.
This scene offers a lot of suspense for the audience as they question whether the police will realise what has happened prior to this and whether they will establish what kind of person Vincent is. They know what is in the boot of the car and are afraid for both Max and the Police officers safety. This anxiety is increased where tension is building through the questioning by the police officers and when Vincent explains to Max that if the officers establish what is in the boot of the car then they will be killed, the audience begin to anticipate something terrible such as the killings of the officer. The non diegetic sound throughout this part of the scene aids in creating tension where the men step out of the car and Vincent is holding a gun, this implies that he is about to shoot the officers. When the officers get called to another incident, the audience are allowed to feel relieved that nothing is going to happen and find it quite ironic that where the police officers have just been called to s where Vincent has murdered a victim.
35mm Picture Scenes
This scene was filmed with a 35mm lens, this means that the quality of the picture is better than previous films which did not use this quality of digital filming. Examples of improvement of image from 50mm to 35mm can be seen through the width f the screen. The 35mm picture captures more of the setting through a wider lens and for a location such as a nightclub, this could work effectively because more of the venue you can capture, the more reality you bring to the audience and they can imagine themselves being there. Although in some instances the image is not always clearer than previous lenses in length such as the 50mm, it can be justified that in most cases the quality is of a high definition standard and the width of the picture makes up for this.
Facts on the film
The film was co-produced by DreamWorks and Paramount pictures with DreamWorks liable for North American rights while Paramount were liable for international rights. When Paramount brought DreamWorks in 2006, they also became liable for US and Canadian rights. In March of 2010, Paramount released Collateral on Blu-ray making it the first region 1 film they were to release o the new technology.
Collateral was on DreamWorks books for 3 years and was initially said to be directed by Mimi Leder and was the passed to Janusz Kaminski, however, it was not until Russell Crowe expressed interest in playing Vincent that the story began to pick up interest.
