Open Sequence Analysis 3

Never Back Down was theatrically released in the UK on March 14, 2008. It was directed by Jeff Wadlow and produced by David Zelon, Bill Bannerman and Craig Baumgarten and distributed by Summit Pictures. The film stars Sean Faris as Jake Tyler, a teenager boy who, after the loss of his father, has befallen into an extremely irascible person. After a comment is passed about his father from a person on the opposing team during a football game Jake is sent into a wrath and he starts a scrap with the other player thus causing Jake to be released from the football team. But he takes this in his stride as he is moving schools, due to the fact that Jake’s younger brother Charlie (Wyatt Henry Smith) has been awarded a tennis scholarship in Orlando. Little does he know that his brawl had been recorded and uploaded onto You Tube. Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou), Baja Miller (Amber Heard) and Max Coopermen (Evan Peters) also play crucial parts in the plot of the film. The genre of the film is action, which is apparent right from the start even before the film begins. Just the title of the film is enough for an audience to establish the genre and target audience. This is because “never back down” suggests there is an almost impossible task ahead, probably to do with a fight of some description that cannot be walked away from placing it firmly in the action/drama genre. The target audience is clearly teenage boys as stereotypically, boys, especially teenage ones, are not supposed to back down. The opening sequence evidently highlights the action genre as there are displays of fighting and the colour of the general picture is very dark. The music in the background is fast past and suggests something dire may happen. The fact that the opening sequence involves two of the things most connected stereotypically to boys; firstly sport which in this film is American Football, a very masculine sport and secondly; fighting.

We are first shown who distribute the film; Summit Entertainment. Then an advertisement for the company who produced the film; Mandalay Independent Pictures appears. Aggressive diegetic music starts to play as the title of the film appears. The film in sans serif and the writing is white on a black back ground which has an affect on it to make it look as if it’s raining. The first shot is that through a video camera screen, where we see a rainy American football pitch. This straight away tells us that the film is set in America and that the central character is most likely male as women do not tend to play American Football. We then see a close up and mid shot of a man in a white football shirt and helmet, clearly taking part in the game. As the shot is on him the music begins to sound like a heart beat and continues during the first part of the game that we are shown. This creates tension and shows that the game is an important part of the film. The game goes underway and the ball is passed about by the team in dark blue until the character who we were originally shown tackles the player resulting in the man who had the ball, number 32, trying to start a fight with the man in white by pushing his helmet. The man in white response is to simply laugh. We assume his name may be Jake as in the background when he tackled we hear “Tackled by Jake Tyler” and when the opposing team attempt to start a fight we hear “Cool it Jake it’s all good”. There is then an establishing shot and a tracking shot of the stadium in which the game is being played. The scene is then back to the action of the game being played and Jake makes another sensational tackle on “32”. Once again he gets rowdy and tries to start something, Jake simply shrugs it off by saying “Keep it up baby. It aint going to change the score”. All of this shows that the game is between two rival High Schools or Colleges as they are not in a lavish enough stadium to be professional and the fact that fights nearly erupt several times means the teams obviously have some kind of rivalry.

In an extreme close up we are shown how many seconds are on the clock, as well as the score, it appears to be with a hand held camera as it is not a steady shot. All the while a commentator is commenting on the behaviour of the to players who keep ending up in each others faces. Again the shot goes back to the game being played and it looks as if the black shirted team may score until “32” attempts to catch the ball but in unsuccessful as once again Jake tackles him. And they land straight in a muddy puddle.  This time as Jake is being applauded by his team mates “32” pushes him and says “It’s too bad about your old man”, evidently Jake had lost his father and this was a cruel and unnecessary comment to pass. While he makes this comment more diegetic music plays in the background, it is hostile and implies that a brawl is inevitable. In a close up we see Jake’s face immediately change, he goes form happy and cheerful to stern and serious at the mocking of his dads death. Jake looses his cool, undoes his helmet and grabs “32” around the throat, in a point of view shot through “32’s” helmet we see Jake screaming in his face. “32” pushes Jake’s helmet off in an attempt to get him off but Jake rips off the helmet throwing “32” to the ground as he does so, as he is about to hurl the helmet at him his is stopped by one of “32s” team mates whom Jake simply pushes away as if they weight nothing. Jake then punches “32” in the face knocking him to the floor, flips one of the opposing team who was running a them over his head, during this we hear the sound of a whistle, the referee is trying to stop this happening but Jake pays little attention. A fight between both teams break out and we are shown this through a long shot at a high angle. Already this film in undeniably an action film due to the fighting and the fact that Jake is a clear protagonist whom the audience already sympathise towards as he lost his father.

The next scene is in the changing room as the players are getting dressed after the game. Jake is sitting on a bench emptying his locker into a bag. He has his head down suggesting his is upset and he is being consoled by fellow team mates. In dialogue between Jake and his friend we hear the friend say “way to go out with a bang” signifying Jake will not be playing football anymore and when asked if he was coming out Jake replied “I still have some packing to do” this shows he is moving. We are also told where he is moving to; Orlando, this shows the setting of the film. During the dialogue between Jake and his friend we are shown many close ups of Jake, he is clearly saddened by the fact that he is moving but tries to put on a front that he is fine. There is also point of view shots, both from Jake showing his friends reaction to him leaving and vice versa. Diegetic music plays in a similar style to earlier on in the film, it sounds reminiscent of to a heart beat, except the music is softer creating a feeling of sadness As the shot zooms out we are shown the two characters shaking hands, the music becomes slightly louder and more depressing.

The opening scene of Never Back Downs shows codes and conventions of an action film throughout the duration of it. Through this action we are introduced to the central character and shown some of his personality traits and are enlightened about a sad time in the characters life which causes his uncontrollable temper which is evident in the opening sequence. The substancial amount of fighting is enough to keep an audience intised and contiune watching the film.