Boogie Nights

The opening of the sequence positions the audience outside with Todd, Dirk Diggler and Reed as they are in the car before they enter the drug dealers home. There is no music just diegetic sound of speech as they talk to each other, this suggests that there is no one around to help, they are isolated.  Before they get out of the car Todd looks in the mirror and looks at his reflection, this tells the audience that Todd thinks he is cool and rather cocky as if he has been in a situation like this before. When we look at Todd he has one feature that singles him out, his moustache, it's a sign that Todd is the one that causes the problems and gets Dirk and Reed into bad situations.

On the way to the house Todd pulls out a gun, Dirk and Reed become uncomfortable and increasingly nervous. After knocking on the door we are positioned to see a POV from Dirk's perspective, in the tightly framed shot all we can see is the eye of the drug dealers body guard which foreshadows the entrapment the trio face. As the door opens immediately we here 'Sister Christian' playing loudly inside, throughout the sequence the music is the same volume as the voices of all the characters; this is disorientating and overwhelming for Todd, Dirk, Reed and the audience. Not only do we here the music but the pop of firecracker as they are set off, the fire crackers contrasts the sound of the piano on the song as it is loud and sharp in comparison to the docile melody from the song. This links our experience with the trio because we feel on edge as they do. At this point there is only diegetic sound, which makes us identify with the situation as we can only hear what they hear. The song playing is a juxtaposition to what's happening, it seems to drown out everything else, all the sounds are loud and chaotic. When the door closes and the music starts the room is literally a prison, the song acts like a timer, no one knows how the tables could turn when it stops and we come back to reality.

As the men walk in the camera tracks forward into a continued wide shot, by doing this we can see the setting and the main drug dealer standing at the front of the room. The mise en scene in this scene makes us feel increasingly unnerved, if we look at the costume of the drug dealer with only underwear and a robe; it's vile and disgusting to watch him. This is due to the fact that there is a young boy running around the room also in his underwear, which sparks warning signs, the audience don't even want to think about the relationship between the drug dealer and the boy.

During the beginning of this scene the framing is open, the men have space to move and somewhere to go if need be, however as everything becomes more unstable the men are captured in a tighter frame. Tightly packed together on the small couch, they have no escape. It echoes Dirk and Todd's apprehension, the camera tracks all the character which positions the audience so that they can see everyone's reaction. The men are below the drug dealer as he cowers over them, low angle shots that portray them let the audience know that they are powerless, they have no control over this situation. Dirk's point of view makes the audience feel claustrophobic as the drug dealer is his personal space.

The scene gets increasingly uncomfortable, as 'Sister Christian' continues to play and the firecrackers continue to shock us the sequence becomes dream like. This is because of the contrast between the mellow diegetic sound of the song and the intense, uncertain situation. When Dirk Diggler looks over his shoulder and sees the bodyguard looking at the drugs he turns back quickly to whisper to the others. This indicates that something is wrong, there's a problem. The body language of Dirk and Reed changes, we can see they are closed and tense whilst Todd is still cool and collected. Throughout this scene there's no point when we have nothing to worry about, we were thrown into the unknown just as the trio where. We don't know what to expect.

The shot when the main drug dealer is messing round with the gun catches us off guard completely, it is intriguing, it portrays the sheer insanity and the stupidity that is going on his mind as a direct effect of drugs and alcohol. The drug dealer seem to flaunt himself throughout the scene, he feels like he can't be caught.

In the final shot, all we can see is Dirk, Reed and Todd packed together on the couch. Individually their body language tells us how they're feeling. Todd is laid back, he's comfortable and does in way look phased by what's going on. Reed is leaning forward, with his hands together with closed body language; it's clear he is very apprehensive. Dirk is sitting with his head down, looking like he is in despair.