The Mummy (1999) Stephen Sommers

For my individual research I decided it would be good to watch a film in the genre I wish to make for my opening scene. Currently I am undecided between action/adventure and thriller so I chose the family adventure film The Mummy to watch.

The film takes place in Egypt where ancient priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) murders the Pharoah and is therefore sentenced to a fate worse than death. In 1923, adventurer and soldier Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) finds his tomb and along with other treasure hunters awakens the Mummy. He is joined by librarian Eveyln Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah). Eventually they find a way to defeat him and all is well. For a full plot synopsis go to: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120616/plotsummary

I am going to now examine part of the opening scene from the film and make analysis on the camera angles and techniques used.



I am using from 1:11 until 2:43 to establish the main shots used.
Unlike in the Dark Knight clip that I analysed before, there are not many consistant angles as most of the clip is characters moving into the room and from it. Therefore I cannot analyse the way I did before where I analysed each camera's individual use. I will analyse each shot as a separate thing.

1:11 : Mid Long shot to Close up, forward track/crane
In this first shot we see Imhotep on a balcony looking over the city and the camera starts from behind him but as he turns goes into his face from a MLS to a CU.

1:21 : Mid Long shot to Mid Close Up, Reverse track
We see Anck Su Namun walking through a big gold door towards the camera.

1:29 : Very Long Shot, High Angle
We see her continue down the corridor and there is a match on action from the previous shot. We see her from a diagonal angle. The shot pans down slightly at the end of the clip.

1:31 : Mid Long Shot, side angle, crab
Another match on action, she continues down the corridor and we see the back of some priest's heads in the foreground and at the end of this shot we see a priest's face and it becomes a CU as she looks at him and he watches her walk off.

1:36 : Long shot, reverse track
This shot shows Anck Su Namun from behind walking towards the curtains and draws back to show the size of the room.

1:39 : Close up
We return to the previous shot of the priest and we have a pan left which turns the shot into a long shot as the priests close the door at the end of the corridor.

1:42 : Long shot to Two Shot, Track left
As Anck Su Namun walks into the room the camera also goes left and zooms in as she goes up to Imhotep and they kiss.

1:59 : Close Up
This shot is used to show Imhotep smear the paint on her arm which is how the two of them are found out. It starts slightly further out but zooms in as he rubs the paint.

2:03 : Long shot, zoom to MCU
This shot shows the priests closing the door but the Pharoah bursting in and the camera zooms in on him into an MCU as he talks. He then walks out of shot and we pan left to see the priests close the door behind him.

2:24 : Long shot
Pharoah behind the curtains and then starts to sweep them

2:26 : Over the shoulder shot
Match on action as he opens the curtains and then a forward track as he walks towards Anck Su Namun.

2:30 : Over the shoulder shot
Anck Su Namun's shoulder, looking at the Pharoah as he talks.

2:31 : Close Up
Anck Su Namun standing by the cat statue

2:33 : OTS shot, shot reverse shot
We go back to the previous shot of the Pharoah over Anck Su Namun's shoulder as he points at her to shout "who has touched you?"

2:35 : OTS shot
Looking at Anck Su Namun over the Pharoah's shoulder. We see her glance behind him

2:39 : OTS
Shot reverse shot again, and we can now see Imhotep in the corner of the frame which is obviously who Anck Su Namun was looking at in the previous shot. The Pharoah turns around and we pan slightly left

2:42 : Mid close up, OTS
We can see all 3 characters in shot and the rule of thirds is used to space them out equally to show the reaction as Imhotep takes the Pharoah's sword.


Overall I think this shot demonstrates some basic but effective camera techniques which will be useful for making my own opening sequence