The Bourne Supremacy Opening Analysis

The title is shown first in capital block letters which indicate the film’s seriousness and
on some ground sophistication as the letters spin in, the words are highlighted in
electric blue and then the letters spin out.

Immediately the film starts off with flashbacks of various scenarios first involving
travelling in a moving vehicle. Here the transition between each scenario within the
flashback start off quite moderate before the transition gets faster. This flash back
involved particular objects, numbers/words, faces, people and time and place. This
flashback had a very shaky camera effect which may have been due to intentional use
of a hand-held camera, which was quite effective as it gave the flashback a more
realistic feel. The transition is extremely fast and appear very hazy alongside the
echoing voices which are assumed to be apart of memories until we find out that they
regard to the future. At this point we as the audience do not know whether the person
experiencing this flashback is indeed conscious or not. The flashback is beginning to
end as a woman’s voice is heard as she begs (in another language) for not to get shot,
ultimately she does as the gun shot is heard, Jason Bourne wakes up startled thus
answering the enigma whether he was conscience or not during this flashback.

The camera is hand held at this point as the camera appears to be moving slightly. This
close-up aerial shot of his face shows the audience to construe his distress from the
flashback. From the light coming on to the side of his face, we can see a slight sheen
which may indicate that he had been sweating. While he is sitting up in his bed, only
his black silhouette is shown from the side. The mise-en-scene tells us that it is night
time during this scene as the moonlight comes in from the window lighting up a small
part of the dark room. At the bottom of the screen, the location is shown on the screen
which is Goa, India. We can already make supposition that the heat is not the reason
why Jason had suddenly woken up, but we do not know why he is in Goa.
The camera pans to the right showing Jason getting up and going into the bathroom.
As he puts the light on, the camera cuts to a long to mid-shot of Jason in the bathroom
with the door open (the camera showing the bathroom door open and Jason in side).
The light and noise Jason makes as he tries to search for medicine in the medicine
cabinet, draws the attention of a woman who wakes up, presumed to be his girlfriend.
The camera then cuts back to Jason where the woman is seen coming into he shot
towards the bathroom. As he looks at her, a point of view shot is taken of the woman
who seems puzzled as to why he is awake. The camera cuts to a mid-close up of Jason
assuring the woman that he’s okay and that ‘it’s just a headache’. Of course we know
it is not just a headache and that it has a relation to do with the flashback. In two shots,
the woman is shown walking towards Jason to comfort him as she puts her hand on his
forehead and determines that he is ‘burning up’. Upon realising this, she is heard
putting the tap on to wet a hand towel which she is then shown to put it on the back of
his neck. He again assures her that he is okay and that he is ‘standing’. The action of
him stroking her face indicates a relationship between the two. The camera follows
Jason out of the bathroom and onto the balcony, and the highway is shown with busy
cars driving along it. An over-the-shoulder shot is shown of Jason leaning on the
balcony with his head down. The camera cuts to a two shot, to show the female asking
a question to Jason. The camera cuts to a close up of Jason as he begins to explain in
detail. As he explains what the flashback was, the camera cuts to an over-the-shoulder
shot so the woman’s reaction is shown to the audience. During their conversation, the
camera cuts to over-the-shoulder and close up shots of both characters as they talk and
respond to each other. The female character then says ‘You should write it down’ after
Jason claims ‘it was a mission’. As they finish talking, music is heard which is soft,
tranquil but also mysterious. An extreme long shot is then shown of the bungalow at
which they are living in.

The camera cuts to a mid shot showing Jason sitting down at his desk, and then the
camera moves in closer to his face. Just at the bottom of the frame, his pen is shown
moving as he begins to write; this is where the camera cuts to a long to mid shot.
Jason is shown writing what is presumed to be his flashback, at his desk, and in this
shot the patio is shown with indication that it is early morning as you can see from the
light outside. The camera cuts back to a mid shot as he turns off his desk light, where
only his silhouette is shown.

As there is a new scene and location the music changes from being soft and tranquil, it
begins two ‘booms’ before falling empty but not completely silent. At this point, an
extreme long shot is shown from an aerial view showing glowing skyscrapers and a
city landscape. This image shows emptiness even though the city is where most of the
action is, from where the camera is it must feel very immense and empty. The location
is then shown at the bottom of the screen, saying, ‘Berlin, Germany’ in capital letters.

As characters begin to talk from inside of the building, the building in which they are
in is first shown before the camera zooms in slightly to the room that the characters are
in. The camera then cuts to a close over-the-shoulder shot of a computer screen. The
camera pans to the left showing multiple surveillance camera screens. As the person on
the other headset asks ‘Sever 2 have you got eyes?’ the person on the other end
confirms by repeating it. When the reply is said, the camera cuts to another female
where the camera shot is a zooming close up. The camera cuts to a long shot, showing
another part of the room containing hi-tech equipment. The characters in this scene are
thought to be highly skilled who may be suggested being involved in Secret
Government Missions. The male character in this scene known as ‘Hubb’ informs
Survey One that they have ‘visual contact’ where the camera cuts to an extreme long
shot of the buildings shown at the beginning of this scene. Shortly after this camera
cut, it cuts to a high angled long shot, tracking the two characters walking on the street
that are assumed to be the ‘visual contact’. The high angled long shot was what the
man (Survey One) looking through the telescope was seeing and we know this after
the camera cuts to a close up showing this. This could be a point of view shot in
reverse. This image of a man (Survey One) looking through a telescope fits the
conventions of a spy genre as communication and hi-tech equipment is involved.