Battleship, released in 2012, is an American Hollywood action film. The sci-fi naval film, storyline follows the United States Navy when an abrupt global alien invasion occurs. Many people may be familiar with the Hasbro board game, Battleship, which is what inspired the creation of this film. The scene that will be analyzed in this essay is when the aliens first strike China. The frame within this 60 second scene that will be examined is a still image of Chinese woman in a corporate high-rise building, reacting to a shredder that is rapidly approaching the building she is in. When the alien devices first strike China, the producers of Battleship used fast speed editing, high amplitude sound, and numerous camera angles to create a dramatic visual that makes the audience feel like they are there.
In this paragraph, we will examine the screen grab in regard to the mise-en-scene, starting very basic, with the environment and setting in which it is taken in. The shot is taken in a high-rise building in Hong Kong, China. Straight away, this image directly tells the audience that this lady is in danger, and potentially anyone who is around her. The conflict in this image is represented by an alien device called a shredder that is flying at high speed towards the building. The colour choices of this frame are very successful. The lighting in film is so important for setting a certain tone and emotion for the audience. The dull lighting in this scene foreshadows that something bad is likely to happen, which in this case is just what happened. The woman is placed at the foreground, where the videographer uses a low-angle shot to emphasize her size compared to the device coming at her. As a result of the camera positioning, the woman’s face becomes the focus point of the image. The way this frame is shot from the setting, lighting and character placement creating a level of intensity that is visible to the audience.
In addition to the screen grab, we will analyze the sixty-second clip that follows that still image. The clip run time is from 33:08 to 34:08. The number of cuts that occur in the sixty-second clip are twenty-two. Between each cut, there is a series of different transitions being used, including jump cuts, match cuts, cross-cutting, and continuity editing. The viewers’ point of view changes between the various cuts. At the start of the scene, the women are displayed at the foreground of the camera. This shot would be considered a third-person perspective where we see the woman as if we are standing in front of her. Following that shot, the camera angles move to a first-person perspective as we see the destruction of the city unravel. Overall, the viewer’s perspective of this scene is seen as exhilarating and fast-paced. The camera movements are done in a dramatic way with a mix of fast and slow transitions. When looking at this film through a critical lens, the viewer is aware of the edits being done as the cuts being clipped together are visible.
Battleship is considered a graphic film in regard to it being an action film, but the level of gore is very minimal. The level of violence in this film is fairly high, as it is based on an alien attack which the United States Navy is trying to fight off. It features the use of many military grade weapons. This violence is predominantly stylistic as they are fighting extra-terrestrial beings and objects. Any type of violence presented in films can affect a person and alter their thoughts after viewing. During the fight, the orders are made by powerful men, and then, the United States Navy crew acts. The crew on these boats are primarily men, except for one of the main characters in the movie who happens to be a part of the crew. The woman who plays a key role in the film is referred to as “Weps.” A character portrayed by Rihanna.
In conclusion, Battleship showcases how action films depend on the technical aspects that go into filmmaking, including camera movements and editing. Without these aspects, there would not be an action film genre. These dramatic and fast-paced cuts are what make an action movie. The frame that was analysed reveals how all these techniques work together to create emotion. The immense success of the film resulted in a worldwide gross income of $303,025,485 from screening and ticket sales.
Biblography
Atulkar, Anikait, Birju Rajak, Mithilesh Atulkar, Mitul Kumar Ahirwal, and Mangesh Kose. “A Brief History and Systematic Review on Editing Techniques for Film Making.” In The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2022 Official Conference Proceedings, 121-34. Raipur, India: The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), 2022. https://papers.iafor.org/wp-content/uploads/papers/mediasia2022/MediAsia2022_65766.pdf.
Box Office Mojo. Battleship. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1440129/?ref_=bo_se_r_1.
Jungbauer, Lennart. The Effect of Motion Dynamics and POV Shots on Film Viewers’ Narrative Engagement, Empathy and Arousal. Bachelor thesis, Tilburg University, June 2018. https://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=146343.
Muhammad, Mokhtar. “Media Violence Contents and its Effect on the Audience.” Forum Komunikasi 14, no. 2 (2019): 40-63. https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/48458/1/48458.pdf.
Poland, Jennifer Lee. LIGHTS, CAMERA, EMOTION! An Examination on Film Lighting and Its Impact on Audiences’ Emotional Response. Master’s thesis, Cleveland State University, 2015. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=csu1437562969&disposition=inline.
Alejandra Lainez
Senna does a great job analyzing “Battleship” from different angles as required in the assignment. She chooses the 60 second scene where a Chinese woman is reacting to a shredder that is approaching the building she is in. She starts by describing the mise-en-scene and elaborates more on the environment and setting, the conflict, the colour, the lighting and some angles of the camera. She moves on analyzing the sixty-second clip where she explains more about the different transitions used when editing, and the viewers’ point of view is in third person, making emphasis on this being an exhilarating and fast-paced scene with dramatic camera movements and a mix of transitions. She then mentions the level of violence being high and any level of violence can affect a person’s thought after viewing. I agree with her assessment and all the point she mentions, the only thing I would improve is expand more on the “why” those techniques are used. I believe she has broadened her experience with good scholarly sources and other materials to explain better the scene she chooses. The screengrab is definitely an accurate illustration of her description and helped me understand better her interpretation and the reaction the scene wanted to cause.
– Alejandra Lainez