I am going to analyse the beginning of 《Lost in translation》that is the first minute of this movie.

Harris is a famous film star. He came to Tokyo to appear in commercials. Harris just arrived Tokyo, this is a totally strange country for him. Sitting in the car, his face looks full of weariness and mist. From his melancholy eyes we can know although Tokyo is very beautiful, but he didn’t quite enjoy this journey. Harris certainly did not expect that this is the way for him from reality to fantasy.

2. Shot analysis

Shot 1: 7 seconds

Shot type:
This is a close up shot

Duration:
00:01:00 – 00:01:07

Music:
There is a soft music from the beginning, the main character Harris, he just deplaned, and we can see he looks very tired. Sitting in the car quietly with this soft music, that is quite matchable.

Character movement:
It doesn’t have any character movement in this scene. Harris just sitting quietly.

Camera movement:
It doesn’t have any camera movement during this period.

Camera angel:
It is using the over the shoulder angel to describe Harris’s action. Because he is inside the car, over the shoulder angel give us a comfortable view to watch.

Light:
Because of his position, we can see any Obvious light inside the car. But outside the car, we can see a lot of shops and also the colourful neon light, so it is a strong contrast.

Colour: This scene’s colour is mostly blue. We can feel the blue colour means lonely, cold and something like that. So the director wants to show the same feeling with blue colour mode because Harris feels lonely when he arrived Japan.

Contrast Dominants:
There is a contrast of inside and outside the car, the director wants to show people the mud of Harris at this moment.