Killmonger Death Scene Analysis

 

                      Killmonger Death Scene

the shot	A shot is an uninterrupted sequence of film/video bounded by edits. Note that camera and/or actors can move or zoom, and any elements below can change as that happens.
focal depth/ implied proximity		Closer to people’s faces seems more intimate and “about” the character, usually.
		extreme long shot/ establishing shot (XLS)				Bigger than characters. Places. Cities.					0:03-1:14 -- a view of the sunset off a cliff top with both T'challa + Killmonger watching
		long shot (LS)				Bigger than characters, but they are in the space.					0:26-1:14 -- Both characters are in the space near the Vibranium ore cave, but since still outside there is space depth still present
		medium close up (MCU)				Chest up.					0:12-1:14-- Killmonger 0:17-1:14 -- T'challa
		close up (CU)				Face.					0:12-1:14 -- Killmonger
		close on				Close up of an object.					0:57-1:14 - knife/sword in Killmonger's chest cavity

angle		Looking up gives them power. Looking down disempowers them.
		high				Looking down.					0:26-1:14 -- looking down at a 30 degree angle towards both characters on the cliff
		eye level (mostly)				Straight on from level.					0:02-1:14 (various others)
		low				Looking up.					0:22-1:14 -- a slight angle looking up towards T'challa
movement		tilt				Stationary camera person, moving camera, vertical.					0:04-1:14 -- opening landscape clip 1:05-1:14 - their personal background viewing clip as Killmonger dies
		pan				Stationary camera person, moving camera, horizontal.					0:55-1:14 -- slight pan downwards toward sword/knife in Killmonger's chest
		POV/subjective/”I”/eye camera				Camera is a character as it moves.					1:10-1:14 -- POV shot as T'challa gets up from his knees to stand on his feet

plane

foreground

Many shots use these three focal planes.

T'challa + Killmongerà

0:09-1:14

midground

cliffs à

background

the sunset à

primarily foreground + background

Some shots reduce to foreground & background.

Killmongerà

0:13-1:14

The Vibranium ore cave à

space

onscreen

vs.

Seen in frame.

T'challa à

1:12-1:14

offscreen

Out of frame, but still existing.

Killmongerà

open

vs.

The top of frame feels free.

0:06-1:14

closed

The top is closed in.

0:35-1:14

A mix…

0:28-1:14

diagonals

balanced/centered

The diagonals converge in the center, giving a sense of balance.

Large scale example à

0:03-1:14

Medium scale ex. à

0:24-1:14

Small scale ex. à

0:13-1:14

oblique/unbalanced

The diagonals pull to the sides, creating motion and lack of balance.

Small scale ex. à

0:30-1:14

lighting

Note the way 3-point lighting works, first. The fill light removes shadows. The back light makes figures pop from the background.

low contrast/high key

The typical Hollywood bright lighting style.

most of this scene

high contrast/low key

The fill or backlight is brighter than usual:

sidelit

0:37-1:14

frontlit

0:12-1:14

oddities

diagetic lights

“diagetic” is stuff inside the fictional world of the film; the sun in this scene

0:04-1:14

photography

aspect ratios

See this diagram – the top 3 traditonally used 35mm film.

1.78:1 (16x9) & 1.85:1

Dominant size for 1950s-current films. Only a portion of the 35mm film is used.

lens

Films often use various lenses.

wide angle

Allows for deep focus (multiple planes in focus).

0:04-1:14

telephoto/zoom

limited focal depth

0:13-1:14 (various others)

flattened space

0:21-1:14

image quality

Film is a sandwich of light-sensitive particles in fluidic emulsion sandwiched between harder layers of acetate. Less expensive and/or faster film leaves more unresponsive particles in the emulsion, leading to speckly grain. This can be an aesthetic choice (gritty, realistic, etc.)

film

grain

low grain/smooth

0:34-1:14

condition

Film degrades over time and needs restoration. Some films are left behind and forgotten.

restored

a clean quality throughout the whole scene

quality

8mm

digital

degradations added/virtual grain

For aesthetics and/or to make it seem more “believable.”

0:21-1:14

exposure

The amount of overall light.

“correct” exposure

You can see lights and darks.

0:25-1:14

editing

The joining of shots together.

styles

“classical cutting”

The norm for editing for 100+ years. The idea is to explain scene transitions in and out of a space.

outside in

XLS à Killmonger

0:10-1:14

inside out

T'challa à LS

0:25-1:14

master shot & coverage

This is a ubiquitous style by which a director provides material to editors to give freedom to shape the film in the editing room. A master LS of the shole scene is filmed, and the MS or closer of each character is filmed; again the whole scene each time. It can all be put together in many ways. This scene does that by cutting back and forth between T'challa and Killmonger whenever they are having a somewhat heart-to-heart conversation at 0:30-1:14.

some cut types

For the examples below, look sharp! The edit is pretty immediate (and indicated by the “X” in my descriptions below.. And because edits can be quick, make sure you see the first one, otherwise 3 or 4 edits will go by and you’ll wonder which it is.

invisible (ish)

shot reverse shot

T'challa gives Killmonger a way to survive X Killmonger questions it

0:30-0:37

visible

jump cut

T'challa + Killmonger standing around looking at the horizon X Killmonger close up

0:08-0:11

sound

These 5 pairs of terms can overlap and serve to differentiate kinds of sounds. For example, a voiceover is diagetic…

diagetic

Supposed to be in fictional world.

This is like 99% of film sound-- sad, yet sentimental

onscreen

We can see the source that is supposed to be making the sound.

This is like 99% of film sound.

simultaneous

Sound takes place at the time of the action onscreen.

This is like 99% of film sound.

synchronous

Matching the action on screen.

This is like 99% of film sound.

external

In the shared “real” diagetic world.

This is like 99% of film sound.

Citations:

      Killmonger's Death        

      Vrooman's Chart                                             

Analysis of Killmonger's Death Scene

        

Opening up the scene, they start with XLS used in a wide angle that has a tilt to create this enchanting, breathtaking slow zoom in technique that invokes the emotion of the moment T'challa and Killmonger are having. In addition, the music as well as the planes of foreground, midground, and background techniques used further adds on to the effect of the filmmakers creating a sentimental moment between the characters and the audience.

The scene previous from the XLS goes into a medium close up/close up which is some form of a jump cut that has an eye-level angle making the scene have a more personalized and more emotional tone since you can see more of the emotions being presented through his distressed facial expressions. 

As this scene goes on, the real highlight here is the sound. The music goes from a slow and somewhat mellow to almost ceasing to exist above a whisper. With the addition of the music gradually going into a quieter tone; it foretells an unfortunate end to Killmonger. The music ceases to stop as T'challa pops on screen with a 45-degree low angle looking down at Killmonger that appears to be off screen.

An inside-out editing techniques starts this scene going from a medium close up of T'challa X LS (long shot) of T'Challa standing and Killmonger on his knees that is viewed from a higher angle and has a mixture of a closed and open space. I believe this correlate to the emptions that T'challa more feels than Killmonger. T'challa has a dilemma where he wants to help the world and people outside of his country, but mutually feels it can put his country and Killmonger is a prime example of this dilemma with the usage of space, grain, and correct exposure; it results in a relatable scene for anyone who is on the fence about 2 different things that can end in 2 completely different results.

As T'challa crouches down, there is a master shot and coverage editing style that can be seen as the camera goes back and forth to each character. This can create a fill in the blank type of approach to which takes that the actors best performed that best match the overall tone and message of this 1:14 second scene.

As this scene takes place continuously from the previous, an invisible shot reverse shot is performed by the editing crew. The side-lit lighting technique gives a further soul-stirring effect towards the audience of continuing to relate to the situation of the characters on a more surface level approach.

Killmonger did not end up agreeing with T'challa on coming to compromise to ensure his survival due to the fact that he did not want to endure a life of bondage for feeling a certain way based on his own personal experience. Due to this the camera takes a pan shot into a close up on the sword that is in Killmonger's chest. In which he ends up pulling out and bleeding out; this scene really pulls on the audience's heartstrings since the filmmakers more than likely wanted to induce sympathy from the viewers as they watched. This gives the image to the audience that a person's downfalls are truly based on one's personal experience and I feel they conveyed that well here. 

The scene ends with Killmonger unfortunately appearing to be dead (some marvel movie fans would hope otherwise). There is a tilt movement shown as Killmonger drops to the ground dead infront of the vibrainum cave with a huge black panther statue. It gives the image that in the end, the black panther won in protecting his country and their most reliable resource-- Vibrainum. But in the end, T'challa still feels indifferent in the situation and ends up coming to a decision about due to Killmonger's death. One can say that Killmonger's death is a pivitol moment for Wakanda since his death and the story behind it is what changes the future of Wakanda forever on after this event.