Sam McLeish's Textual Analysis of 'Phone Booth' (Joel Schumacher, 2003)

Image 1

Key 

Camerawork, Editing, Mise en scene and Sound track.

Image 2B

Image 2A

Like in 'Total Recall', 'Phone Booth' starts with an establishing shot of the Earth, as shown in image 1. At this point in the film, the non-diegetic, off-screen soundtrack, is a relatively upbeat and entertaining song. This isn't typical for the industry but it is still useful because it completely juxtaposes the action that is later to come. Also, as the 'camera' zooms into the Earth, more specifically New York, it turns into a circuit board, as shown in images 2A and B, through the editing. This is clever because as the whole narrative of the film revolves around this motif of telephones.

Image 3

Next, after the camera starts to film, it zooms out from an ECU shot at a rapid pace to the Long Shot/Establishing Shot with the focus of the man holding the phone. This is clever because as the imagery would of have to been sped up during post-production in order to achieve this. However, these variations of speeds temporarily make the audience loose focus on what's happening in the scene which is useful for thrillers as it makes the audience focus on what's happening at that moment, and not what's happened in the past.

Image 4

After an establishing shot of New York (which is still important because it is relatable to many of the audience members), the camera cuts into a shot which zooms into a group of singers, as shown in image 4. In terms of their costume, they are dressed in typically late-90s, early 2000s style clothing. For example, the John Lennon-style glasses and the leather jacket wore on the central singer gives a clear indication of the time period. 

Image 5

Image 6A

Image 6B

This also fits in with the next shot, image 5, because at this time in history, flip phones were the centrepiece of most people's technological lives. Again, the motif of phones are shown so the sequence has so far, clearly established the time period and has vaguely established location and some of the narrative. 

Image 6C

Image 6D

Image 6E

In image 6A, the camera focuses on the man first talking on the phone, which then speeds up, zooms to another performer in image 6B, which then cuts onto a CU shot of a woman's face in C. After this, the camera then again cuts onto the man's face in D and finally cuts onto a shot where the Shallow Depth of Field changes from the poster onto the cop. All of this happens in one very fluid movement and sped up in the editing process. However, this sort of filming gives the impression of an outer-body experience because it is no way that they are trying to convey a POV shot with the extremely low angles of the people. As a result, it is just clear that the producers are simply trying to create an upbeat sense for a thriller in an interesting way. However, the distorted way they present it to the audience suggests they are trying to make it confusing for the audience to watch. 

Image 7

From the shot of the man with the billboard, image 7, a diegetic, off-screen voiceover is introduced. This is useful because previously in the sequence, the only information in that is provided to the audience is visually which is;

• It's set in New York
• There is a motif around phones

This then is useful in a thriller film because it allows the audience to actually get some background information on what they're about to watch. If this wasn't done for this sequence, we would only know the above which isn't useful because the film wouldn't be as dramatic.

Image 8

Finally, the use of the diegetic, on-screen overlapping sound of all the people talking at the same time in image 8 allows the audience to get a sense of how busy the phone network is. Also, the editing is clever because the combination of the images and the sound is too much for the audience to take in. This disorientates them which makes them feel tense.

Overall, I feel that this film doesn't tell the audience that it's going to be a thriller film from the outset, unlike the other films that I have analysed. As a result of this, I don't think my target audience would approve of this because it has a rather dull opening sequence in comparison to other thriller films. 

However, what I would steal from the film is the use of overpowering sound and visuals and the same time to make the audience not know what to focus on whilst emphasising a point.