Hannah: Scene Analysis

In this post, I demonstrate a brief analysis of a scene in the 2011 action, thriller and adventure film 'Hanna'. I focus on the sound, mise-en-scene, genre, and narrative.

Immediately in the scene, there is ambient sound. This is the natural sounds of the room in which both the actors and the audience hear. This helps make the audience feel more apart of the film and engages us completely. Ambient sound soon shifts into non-diegetic electronic sounds, giving the scene an easy nature. Both this sound along with the blue-grey coloured surroundings makes the genre of the film to be suggested as a sci-fi. The teenage girl on the screen looks as if she has not seen much daylight in quite some time. Along with her pale face and ratted hair, she wears a bright orange jumpsuit. This suggests she is imprisoned - perhaps she is mentally ill and is being held in an asylum. The science-fiction nature of the scene suggests maybe she is not human.

The sound becomes more action-like as the girl kills the people holding her captive. By killing, the narrative of the film suggests Hanna is out for revenge and the genre switches to action/thriller. The blood splattered on her face shows the brutality of the killing, yet she doesn't seem affected by what she has done, suggesting this revenge. The audience now know she is strong and possibly an anti-hero. As she escapes, non-diegetic music is played in time to what sounds like her footsteps or heartbeat, amplifying the adrenaline surrounding the scene. As well as this, strobe lighting follows the timing of the intense sound. This makes the scene even more dramatic and riveting as we follow Hanna's adventure to escape.