The Elevator
It appears that the man who is seen walking into the elevator at the beginning is the protagonist or at least the main character. I can tell this because when the other people walk into the elevator the camera seems to focus on the initial man and he continues to look straight at the camera.
The crisis is introduced when you see the man look up at a sign on the elevator and the camera cuts to a shot of the sign and the viewers see that the max capacity for the elevator is 2000 pounds. As more people enter the elevator you can tell that the man is distressed about the weight capacity. The man does some calculations and quickly realizes that the weight limit is about to be surpassed. As the reach the next floor the man sees a large man walking towards the elevator and quickly gets off to avoid the danger. He then gets on the next elevator and a new conflict is introduced, everyone is coughing. He them begins coughing himself and after everyone gets off he realizes that he has arrived at the swine flu treatment center.
During the scene where there are alot of people in the elevator, camera focus is used to separate the main character from the rest of the people on the elevator. The camera remains at eye level of the character and he is always in the center of the shot.
In this film light doesn’t vary very much, the color and mood remain consistent throughout the film. The quality of the images appear to be kind of low quality, with not a lot of extra staging like overhead lights and things like that. One interesting thing that I did notice is that each time the camera cuts to people entering the elevator, the shot of people walking into the elevator is brighter then the shot of the man standing in the elevator. The first few floors of people entering the elevator appear to be very similar. This changes when they arrive at the floor where the larger man is seen walking toward the elevator. During this scene the shot of the man entering the elevator is darker then the other scenes where people entered the elevator.
The dimensions of the frame remain the same throughout the film however the camera moves a lot to suggest the focus of the character. During the scene where there is tension about the capacity of the elevator, the camera rapid cuts from a close up of the elevator lights to the characters face, this visually creates stress. Slow motion is used when the character sees a large man walking into the elevator, this is used to visually demonstrate the moment of panic and choice that the character has to quickly make during this scene. Overall the camera techniques and editing is effectively used to put the viewer in the mind of the character and the stress he is feeling.
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