The Bourne Identity is a film that focusses on showing the journey of a man who is unaware of who he is after an incident occurred. It portrays the character, Jason Bourne, as a man who is trying to escape his past and look for a new way of life that is more peaceful. Throughout this film, this is shown through all the various modes of transport that are shown, for example, cars, ships and trains. This is a visual cue that Bourne is trying to escape the clasps of his past both mentally and physically. In the film, the director uses red to represent the antagonist’s future and blue to represent the past. There are many means through which the colours are used to convey their message, an example is through light. Jason Bourne looks outwards, it is snowing and there is blue light down a pathway, almost as though is the backlight. This is the director’s way of making it known that this particular part of the scene has something to do with his future, suggesting to viewers to put the pieces together themselves. An example of where red is used to represent the future is when first introducing the woman, we see that she has red hair and a red car. This is a means of showing the audience that the Lady will be part of Bourne’s future, suggesting/foreshadowing that she will be included alongside Bourne on his journey to finding his identity. The blue light and blue on the police cars contrast with the red car and red hair of the girl to make the separation clear between the present and future. This also suggests that this car is the car that will take Bourne to his future in a sense. Another example is relating to the mise en scene where Bourne is stuck out at sea on a ship and the light reflects blue off the water and this shows us that the situation Bourne is stuck in is because of his past. The mise en scene at the beginning of the movie is with the red train seats, as previously mentioned, red represents Bourne's future, the train is a mode of transport and so the audiences expectations and assumptions would be that he takes the train to embark on a journey in the future. A shot reverse shot is used when showing Bourne looking out at sea, showing the sea and back to Bourne looking out at sea. This shows us exactly what Bourne is focused on which is where he is, we watch as his reality settles in his mind. The camera was moving in a shaky way when showing Jason Bourne stressing about on the ship, this is so that the audience can be conveyed the tension that Bourne feels in this situation. This allows us as the audience to relate more closely to the character and sypathize with him. The shakiness of the camera replicates how when you're stressed, everything is moving fast and things get blurry, the director wants us the audience to feel what Bourne is feeling.
The director uses a close up shot to focus in on the bullet wounds, as well as the process of mending up the injury. This angle is used so that the audience focusses on exactly what the film makers want, showing an intimate moment where the character is seen as vulnerable, this makes the audience feel as though they are involved in the characters life, allowing us to enter into Bourne's personal space. The bullet in itself represents danger, shows that he has been in a line of fire and portrays him as a target. A low angle shot in combination with light coming in from behind Bourne, created a backlight effect that formed a silhouette of Bourne, this is a critical part of the movie as while this shot is taken, sound is used to portray an idea and that idea is that Bourne has no idea who he is or was, he says “do you know who I am? I do not know who I am”. The silhouette is a way of showing how Bourne actually sees himself, just a person, without being able to see facial features or anything of that sort, the identity is hidden, this relates to Bourne even saying he has no idea who he is, which is the idea that is the basis of the film. An over the shoulder shot, reveals one half of his face, illuminated by window light, this visually correlates to the narrative that Bourne doesn’t know himself. Just like in the mirror how he isn’t seeing the full reflection, he feels the same inside. The mirror symbolizes Bourne searching for answers of who he is and where he is as well as where he’s going. Whilst filming inside the boat, the camera is filming in a swaying motion and this so that the directors can replicate the feelings and movements of the boat moving out at sea, this is so that we can feel more included in the world of the movie, which directly relates to the verisimilitude of the movie. Just as the boat moves with the currents of the waves, the camera moves to allow us the audience to feel what the people in the boat feel. When Bourne fights the man in the heat of the moment, who supposedly is trying to capture him, he pauses once all the men are defeated as he comes to the realisation that he is capable of fighting multiple grown men. As he grabs the gun off man, he pauses and
realises what he has just done and throws the gun onto the floor, the camera shows a close up of the gun. This forces the audience to focus on the gun, which conforms to connotation of it which relates to death and danger. As the camera pauses as a close up of the gun, the audience is given this time to take in what series of events just occurred, leaving the audience just as shocked as Bourne.
When Bourne is looking for any source of identity, the camera pans across the ID’s and passports in such a way that replicates eye movement, searching in haste. This was eyeline shot taken from the point of view of Bourne's eyes, this allows the audience to feel the stress that he feels in the sense that the camera shows it as Bourne's eyes are moving fast and all around. Just as Bourne is about to escape the building, he reaches the outside exit and looks down the ladder, this is filmed using a point of view shot, so that we see what the character sees, we see that he only has one liable option and tension builds up as the drop is steep, this heightens the engagement of the audience, as we wait to see what he does next. When Bourne realises that he has put the Woman in danger, he tells her simply she needs to change her appearance, a mirror shot is used to show the girl looking at herself after washing her hair, before the haircut. The theme of mirrors is prevalent in this film as it represents how you see yourself, represents who you are, as the girl looks at herself she realises who she is about to become and comes to accept that she will no longer be who she is today, she is about to take a new path, switch routes so she is taking one last look at herself before she's someone new as she embarks on this journey with Bourne.
As Bourne is constantly surrounded by authority, feeling like they're always watching, the authoritative figures become suspicious instead of a place to go for security and reassurance. This is important in the film as it foreshadows that the police and governmental officials will have something to do with Bourne, as otherwise they wouldn't focus on them as much. When Bourne arrives at his once home, the mise en scene shows is to feel empty and not lived in, as the interior is white and pristine, colour is a symbol life and happiness and this house lacks colour.
In the beginning of the movie we hear the diegetic sound of the wind and waves as well as thunder, this gives us a sense of where Bourne is without even having to see what is going on, on screen, this also sets the mood of the atmosphere, which is glum and dark. As lightning represents fear and sudden bursts, which directly relates to Bourne having an outburst of anger, confusion and frustration. A violin plays as non diegetic sound, plays fast during intense scene to relate to the fast pace of the scene, accentuates the level of tension during the scene. Relating to sound, throughout the film Bourne speaks German and English, this shows us the audience and characters alongside him that he is educated and intelligent, his tells us that he is not a nobody and is actually smart, he just is confused with this whole situation. When showing Bourne in a tense situation there was eerie music playing and the reason is to show that something is off, this puts the audience and shows the character on screen as on the edge. When Bourne is going around and about tense, the sound of the beat picks up pace gradually replicating a heart beat, this is so that the audience can feel the tension as the goal of the director is that the heartbeat replicated on screen, will have the audiences slowly match up with the one in the film, which will in turn have the audience more emotionally involved into the film as the sound is messing with their heartbeat which is directly related to how they feel. When the Girl is recalling Jason Bourne's instructions as given to her, the thoughts are played out as non diegetic sound, this is so that we can be put into the mind of the character and feel almost as though we are her. During Bourne's flashback, the voices echoed with recall, this is emphasizing what is said, almost repeating what is said so that it sticks with him. This is showing the information slowly coming back to him on who he is, the repetition is a means of conveying the memories getting more and more vivid. This is a critical part of the film as it is where Bourne's identity is finally being revealed and this is what has been worked towards, the entire film.
In relation to the editing, there is a transition fade to black in the beginning of the film when showing the mise en scene of the ocean. This is so that the audience is easily and smoothly eased into being shown the next part of the film without it being straight cut to which would seem choppy and decreases the emotional involvement of the audience with the film. Cut aways are used throughout the film and this is used to slow the movement of the film and this increases tension, as we the audience eagerly wait for the next part of this series of events to take place. When Bourne is forming the plan on where to go and when, there is a map overlay edited on to the screen, while there is action going on in the background, this is so that we can see that they are searching everywhere it seems. When showing Bourne's flashback where he recalls what he has done in the past and who that might make him, the memories are shown with the camera flashes that replicate flix picture reels, all while there memories are shown as the videos are shaky, representing the fact that the memories are hazy. This lets us the audience know that he is not aware of his entire identity however its all coming back to him.
Relating to the conventions, the iconography of the explosions which represent things blowing up out of proportion just like throughout the film. Representations are changed throughout the film, first the girl is seen simple and feminine as she is cleaned up pristine and dresses semi formally, she is seen as irrational when she gets mad at Bourne. Bourne is seen as straight forward, emotionless and almost robotic like. The contrast between Bourne's mechanic feel, and the girls human like nature brings relatability, contrasting also between irrational and rational. This relates to the ideology that men are strong and women are weak whether it is mentally or physically. Over the course of the film we are shown the woman picks up courage and slowly makes herself more useful and takes on challenges she wouldn't have done otherwise, as she chooses to stay alongside Bourne and help him through.
