Jess Barnett

The Imitation Game is based on the true story of a secret government team based in Bletchley Park used to crack the German code machine during the second world war. The story follows the life of Alan Turing who was a key member of the team as he was the person who designed the machine that would eventually crack the code. The plot focuses on themes such as sexuality and gender.

                                                The establishing shot is a mid-shot which                                                 reveals a man sat in a room. From his                                                     slightly tilted head and relaxed                                                               posture you can see that he is                                                                 waiting for someone to join him in the                                                     room. The pan allows the audience to see that the man is in a secluded room, which draws them in and makes them wonder who the man is waiting for and why.

There is Non Diegetic music in the background, it is repetitive and fast paced which helps to catch the audiences interest and build tension. The pan then turns into a tracking shot which follows another man into the room. The shot follows his back so his identity is not revealed until the next shot, this also aids in building tension.

The lighting is low key which adds a slightly sinister feel to the clip. The next shot is a mid, two-shot this allows the audience to see the relationship between the two men. They are both wearing suits which leads us to believe this is a formal situation, the man who is sat down looks up to the man as he comes in but doesn't stand which makes us believe that he is not friendly with the other man/is not intimidated by him, this further intrigues the audience and makes them want to know more about this man.

                                                After this, the camera cuts to black for a                                                   few seconds while a voice over starts, it                                                   then cuts to a pan on a desk with lots of                                                   pieces of paper and interesting objects                                                   on it, the voice over continues as the                                                       titles are superimposed on top of the moving image, as the pan continues you can see that the desk is a mess and there are many broken objects on it, this creates more questions for the audience who want to know what this messy desk has to do with the two men at the start and why it is messy.

From here on, a montage following the discovery of the messy room leads to a message being sent regarding the room. The story line follows the message to a call centre in which there are a line of similarly dressed people, all working with headsets on. From the mise-en-scene you can see that is a period film due to the hairstyles and clothing being from the 1900's. While the montage is being played, the diegetic sounds can still be heard such as the voices and machinery in the call centre. This helps to keep the audience involved in what is going on and adds a bit more interest to the voiceover which is a man describing in first person account of why they should pay good attention to the story is about to be told. From the voiceover you can hear that the man is speaking in received pronunciation which further helps the audience to determine which period the film is set in.

The non-diegetic music then increases in tempo and becomes more layered which makes the audience think something exciting is about to happen.

                                                   The next few shots follow the delivery                                                      of a letter, they show the journey using                                                    a range of shots including a long shot                                                      and a birds eye view shot, the                                                                montage of shots helps to keep it                                                            interesting for the audience and gives time for the voice over to finish what it needs to say.

The next shot is a close up of the telegram that the lady was delivering, it gives us a name and a story about the shots we have just seen which answers some of the audiences questions but also poses more, which can be answered later on in the film. The voice-over stops at this point but doesn't give anything away about the story-line. If anything, it creates more suspense by implying that he will be judged for a significant event(s) that has happened but not going into anymore detail about it.

                                                 The final shot in the opening sequence                                                     is the reaction shot of the man who                                                         received the telegram. We know this                                                      man is of importance because he has a                                                  huge office in a large and grand                                                              building and are aware that he is a part of the secret service because of the location names earlier in the sequence as well. The mid shot also shows the items on the desk as well as a clear view of his face, which seems to appear annoyed and confused by the message. The items help us to get a feel for this mans importance, for example the books show us that he is well-educated and the gavel shows that he is in a place of high respect, which makes us ask why this man Alan Turing and his robbery have come to the attention to a man of such a high status.