'A Beautiful Mind' analysis

Written by Emma Taylor
To view the trailer, click here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The trailer for 'A Beautiful Mind' opens with the promotional logo of 'Universal Studios', the main producers of the film, along with 'Dreamworks', which has the non diegetic sound bridge entering the first scene of the trailer, the sound bridge builds up the tension within the sound track and also allows the different scenes to flow smoothly. A screen full of numbers acts as a diegetic wipe as we see a tracking shot breaking the 180 degree rule as the hand-held steadicam shot makes a 360 degree loop along the main character, John Nash. As this shot breaks this key film making rule, the viewer becomes disorientated, connoting that there may possibly be a problem which we may expect, as he's the main character. This could also display that John Nash is a complex man, and that we need to see him from all angles.

An overlap of numbers displayed on the screen has also been added onto the timeline for this shot in post-production editing so we can half see what's in John's mind, making the viewer feel further disorientation. Meaning is anchored by the non diegetic voice over, with a montage sequence, forwarded in the mix over the soundtrack, stating that 'John Nash, was one of the most brilliant minds of his generation', which symbolises that this film will be for an older, more intellectual and educated target audience, where they will have to understand the plot in detail. 

As we do not automatically start with an establishing shot, this connotes that John is enclosed within his own mind, following the theme of the film - psychological disorders, more specifically, schizophrenia. A white transition is then used to show a long establishing shot of Princeton University, symbolising John's academic acomplishments as the mise-en-scene is showing prestigious authority; the setting is grand with its archaic structure and John's costume is formal showing his maturity. The long shot is very formal and symmetrical signifying order with traditional authority, so we see straight down the tunnel of the University, almost like the establishing shot is inviting us in. This shot may have also been colour graded in the editing suite, as the edges of shot is black, creating a vignette, perhaps hinting that John will transfer from a dark place, typically connoting ideas of death and misery to a happier place as he transfers through University. 

A cross dissolve is used with a series of slow tracking mid-shots introducing John's classmates and key characters to the plot line, and uses the diegetic voice of the professor to provide some narrative exposition, leading us into the film. The professor is old, and wears a suit connoting his prestige and authority, he also stands up, symbolising the evident difference in knowledge and intelligence. This diegetic dialogue explains the story in terms of  TzvetanTodorov's equilibrium theory here there is a beginning, a disturbance and then a resolution, but as this is a trailer, there is no ending. The diegetic dialogue from John Nash, turns into a voice over as we now see the long shot of John standing on his own connoting isolation and vulnerability. There are two cut aways used within the trailer to convey his attention to detail. Following these shots within the montage edit, we see John Nash in a low shot connoting his determination, however, in the next shot, we see his colleagues laughing at him, which displays to the viewer, quite directly that John is an outcast and this story could have a theme of isolation and loneliness. Following on from this idea, the next close up shot not only symbolises that John is trapped due to the two bars placed on his window, but also adheres to the rule of thirds, creating good composition for the shot. The fact that within this shot, it has a shallow depth of field, this denotes that John focuses on his work, rather than his surroundings (the men playing football outside). As John is inside the building the other men at the university are outside this symbolises connotes further that he is almost always alone, however, the audience are now starting to realise that this may be because he wants to be, not because he was made to be a social outcast, looking more in depth at this idea, we start to see the underlying hints of psychological issues or traumas.

 A montage of other close up follows this, displaying that the only part of the world John can see is mathematics, which displays his evident passion and ability for the subject.

We see the quick progression of John Nash as he achieves the 'achievement of a lifetime' which enables him to eventually win the nobel Prize in 1994, we also see him smile for the first time meaning that things are now looking up for him. 

The title plates track forwards onto the screen along with the voice over giving us a brief narrative throughout the trailer giving key detail such as the producer and the director (Ron Howard) and gives a unique selling point. Title plates are typical conventions of trailers and help to sell the film effectively. 

When John gets asked to dinner by his wife-to-be, she is higher up in the frame and we see a series of shot-reverse-shots displaying the dialogue between the two characters. The mid shot on the woman, and the bright coloured clothes symbolises that she is 'the light at the end of the tunnel' for John and will provide him with some security. She is higher in the frame and his high angle shot suggests his vulnerablility and lack of confidence through this. there is a focus on the ideal of love being the most important thing and seeing her love is vital to him.

John, however looks anxious and as there is a high shot looking down on him we see him looking out of his comfort zone. The shot that follows also follows the story of the couple as they're pointing up to the sky showing each other the stars, symbolising that only the sky is the limit for their relationship. This could further connote that love is 'infinite' like the universe itself (as it is believed by many people).

The soundtrack as the relationship gets more romantic and passionate, suddenly drops slightly when we see the establishing shot of buildings in the university at night and has pathetic fallacy connoting secrecy, and the chiaroscuro lighting displays the 'darkness' in John's psych. The internal shots of 'men in the white coats' could symbolise the doctors which John hallucinates, but in this instance where the viewer thinks these hallucinations are happening in John's life, denote scientists working for the government in highly secure bases. The white lab coats connotes prestige and authority, and John Nash still wears black, this contrast of 'black and white' could connote reality, or lack of reality in this case, but could also display the difference in knowledge between them. This particular section of the trailer gets very stereotypical of thriller here, with shadowy images created by the use of chiarascuro lighting, and government agencies seem to be using John, this is typical of a thriller story line. As we are seeing the world from John's point of view, we do not know if this is in his mind, or if it's real, as John is an 'unreliable narrator' creating enigma in the trailer. Tension is clearly created here and uses Barthes' theory of enigma codes.

 Both diegetic and non diegetic dialogue leads us to understand that John is now working for the department of defence and shows that John is truly 'one of a kind'. However, the story starts to become sour, and as the editing pace speeds up, John becomes more desperate and leads to relationship problems for John. His wife states 'what's wrong with you' in lighting resembling bars across her face, perhaps implying that she, herself feels tapped due to John's psychotic state. The colour grading has clearly changed from strongly saturated colours to dark ones displaying depression. 

John tries to run a away, not only denoted in the following shot but also metaphorically as he 'runs away' from his wife trying to help him, as he just falls to the floor in a psychotic state, displaying his fall into depression and madness, even though his wife is still trying to help him by asking him 'John, tell me what's happened?' According to Barthes enigma and action codes theory, here the action is that John Nash is sinking to the floor in a psychotic state, and the enigma created here builds u the tension because the audience doesn't know why - and is not displayed in the trailer. In trailers, only the original equilibrium, and the disruption is seen, and not the end resolution (Tzvetan Todorv's Equilibrium theory), and this explains why the audience never find out what's 'wrong' with John in the trailer.

The editing pace of the montage continues to get faster and shows destruction throughout this section of the montage, including shouting screaming, throwing of glass with a selection of close ups to show a tense atmosphere and full frame long shots to display the loneliness and isolation of the characters. The montage continues to build momentum and the sound tack grows until the screen fades to black and the music slowly dies down. His wife's voice can be heard over the blackened screen connoting that in times of despair, the only person John listens to is his wife who will help him through. But no 'resolution' is found as even more heart breaking clips are shown but at a slower editing pace. The trailer cannot show the resolution other wise nobody would see the film, so continues to show  the destruction of the characters to make the audience wonder how the story could end.

Interestingly, these shots of despair are followed by more 'happy' scenes of John and his wife getting married, providing a resolution for the trailer, but not the one which will appear in he film. The voice over provides sound bridges for a montage of both 'happy' and 'sad' clips followed by other title plates trying to conventionally selling the film on the actors involved; Russell Crowe, Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly by stating their names. The film is also sold on the prestige of its actors, where they are academy award winning actors. We are then left with a quote coming from the book the film was based on also called 'A Beautiful Mind' which is based on the true life events of Professor John Forbes Nash to give it more weight and dramatic impact.