How micro elements have been used in Guy Richie’s Sherlock Holmes to add effect and give meaning?
The scene I have chosen to analyse begins with a panning shot, which follows Robert Downey Jr across the prize fighting arena, fighting with another competitor. Automatically, the viewer can identify the time era which this scene has been set in, Victorian 1880s. Around this time, as a way of earning money, peasants or lower classes would engage in pugilism and prize fighting to win money through wagering. This scene is a fine example of what prize fighting resembled during this time. Pugilism often involved violence and drunkenness for these sporting events. This can explain the amount of alcohol consumption portrayed in the scene through the vulgarity of the spectators. The type of panning shot starts with a medium close up of Sherlock himself, he seems to be struggling with the fight at this stage, which is unusual for a hero-like figure. From this shot, throughout the whole scene it quickly moves from medium close shot, to close ups of the men’s faces in pain, to medium long shots and even from long shots. The shots constantly changing, which helps emphasise on how frantic and intense the fight is. Just as the viewer is about to focus on one thing, the shot changes to another creating a feeling of tension and excitement.
Inside the hall which they are fighting is dark and dirty- just like the conditions which the lower classes lived in. Sport was just developing around this time, and the idea of two men fighting for money seemed very exciting to society. The only light in this scene seems to be coming from the light hanging above the spot which they are fighting in; this puts the focus on the two men fighting. The diegetic sounds of the hits and smashes which the men receive between each other sound harsh and sore to the viewer. The diegetic sound of the spectators screaming and shouting at the competitors to fight creates a strange atmosphere in this scene,...