Case Study - Vantage Point

Vantage Point is a conspiracy-crime, action thriller. With some typical thriller conventions, Vantage Point is is  however a unique thriller focusing on the attempted assassination of the president from eight different perspectives or, 'vantage points'. One of the major, common generic conventions includes the narrative being centred around crime, exploring kidnapping, terrorism and assassination. There is no particular protagonist as the story is told and re-told from many different viewpoints however we see an intense situation of peril played back in more than one scene before the resolution - the attempted assassination of the president and the bombings are shown in each of the perspectives as it works toward a final resolution. This one important enigma is set up right at the beginning of the film instantly from the first viewpoint and only further complicated during the film only until it is finally resolved at the very end. The first perspective focuses on a neutral point of view to show what happens though this is a very effective opening scene as it immediately creates great tension and suspense. It does this by vaguely showing the issue which narrative is based around and keeps viewers asking questions wanting to find out more and watch on - and these questions are slowly answered as the film shows each perspective but with various twists throughout keeping the viewers in high anticipation for an end result. These elements are also combined with other features efficiently to place this film into another sub-genre of action. For example, editing is used very effectively to excite (specific) audiences with explosions and gun-shots etc. This is accompanied by fast-paced, loud diegetic sound (music) and quick cut transitions to thrill the viewers constantly through each vantage point.

This short clip shows the perspective of secret service agent, Thomas Barnes, though also shows two other characters who are later shown in more detail through their own vantage points - this is the second vantage point and still early on in the film showing the drama right after the catastrophic terrorist attack.