Professor_Macky

How is a feeling of suspense created Through the narrative & Technical Codes in ‘Band of Brothers’' In the clip of ‘Band of Brothers’ suspense is conveyed to the audience in a number of ways. One way in which suspense is portrayed is through a close up. One of the characters is holding a crucifix in the palm of his hand and the camera has a close up shot of this crucifix as he is moving in his hand before he is about to get on a plane with all his military equipment. The use of the crucifix infers that that character is religious and the fact that he is holding it could suggest that he needs the power of Christ and god to get him through the impending events. This thus indicates that he is going to into a dangerous event as he needs the help of Christ and the use of the close up camera shot accentuates this indication that this man will face considerable danger and will need the help of Christ. Or another interpretation could be that the man isn’t religious but he has turned to religion in this time of need so that makes us quite sympathetic of the character. As this shot is polysemic it means that it has more interpretations and another one is that .This cause us the audience to feel suspense as we do not know what the fate of this character will be. Suspense is also conveyed through the narrative codes such as an enigma code. Through the clip the soldiers are moving equipment into aeroplanes this is conveyed through a panoramic shot also we see the soldiers preparing themselves like praying or holding a crucifix, however it is not said what they are preparing for. This creates the enigma code in which we are asking ‘what are they preparing for'’ Enigma codes allow the audience to question certain aspects of a film. Within film, the use of the enigma is much more common in the horror and drama genres. These are films that rely strongly on suspense to generate the right effect on the audience, and enigma codes help to enhance this. We assume it is something important with all the self-preparation we see however as we don’t know what they are preparing for then it creates suspense as we do not know. Another way in which suspense is formed in the Band of Brothers clip is another close up shot which is a technical code. The shot is very iconic and ambiguous as it shows a close up of a military helmet being dropped by who we assume as a solider. Because this shot is so ambiguous it could have a multiple of interpretations: one could be that the helmet could connote death as one of the soldiers may have died and that was his helmet and the helmet could be symbolic of the soldier as the helmet is falling which could connote a fallen brother. This interpretation would connote suspense as we don’t know if the character holding the helmet will suffer the same fate as the fallen one, this unknowingness will intern create the suspense; another interpretation is that of relief in that the fighting is over and the solider is pleased that it is over so much so that he feels safe enough that he can remove his helmet or another interpretation is that the character has seen something astonishing and is removing his helmet because he feels somewhat overcome by this event that he sees, this would thus leave us wondering what he is looking. The fact that we are left wondering and questions what the character is looking at creates suspense in itself as woe don’t know if the solider is in danger. In addition to this suspense is create through narrative codes such as the Todorav’s theory. This is where there is an equilibrium at the start with the troops working together to load there equipment on to the planes however then it becomes a disequilibrium when they are told that they cannot ‘jump’ by a more authoritative figure as it has a low angle shot of the man telling the troops. We know that the fact that they cannot jump causes a disequilibrium as, as soon as they are told we see a mid-shot of the men simultaneously looking down which could connote there disappointment and thus the equilibrium being broken. The use of a low angle shot accentuates his power, strength and importance of the man which would thus show the hierarchy of the system. The fact that the equilibrium is the troops preparing for a battle it therefore shows that these are not the circumstances of the norm. However as we do not see a resolution then that would leave the audience curious of the troops situations and in that it also cause the suspense as we are left wondering what will happen and will the disequilibrium be resolved or not. Additionally the use of a moving close up shot also creates an atmosphere of suspense with Band of Brothers. The shot is after they hand been told the news that they cannot jump by the more authoritative figure and as a compromise the officers have put on a movie for them to watch to fill the time. The camera pans across a row and a close up of all the men on the row and then it stops on one man who is lighting a cigarette. Form this shot we can infer that the man the camera stops at is an important character in this media and thus could be the protagonist as the camera stops on him to emphasis he is a person of importance. This is emphasised further as he is the only one doing something the others are not, he is lighting a cigarette which could mean that his is different for the others and thus a protagonist. Also the men do not seem to be concentrating on the film as it seems they are staring into space due to the lack of emotion which doesn’t coincide with the film. This would suggest that they are concentrating on something other than the film and due to the recent events we would assume that they are contemplating on what had just happened with them not being able to jump as they had prepared so much. This would leave us think what are they going to do if they are not going to jump which therefore causes the suspense as we don’t know what they will do. In conclusion the clip of Band Of Brothers portrays the feeling of suspense to the audience in a number of way: the use of close up shots of a religious object before the jump and of a falling helmet both are polysemic and thus have many different interpretations; the use of narrative codes like enigma codes and Todorav’s theory also create suspense and finally a combined shot of a panoramic close up of the men after they were told that they couldn’t jump. These use of technical and narrative codes combined create a suspense felt by the audience throughout the whole clip.