Cinematography

Fast Five

There is an establishing shot which opens the scene, it reveals the very isolated setting and the slight pan following the bus indicates that this is the main subject at this stage. The camera then zooms into one of the protagonists and we are aware who he is due to Fast and Furious being a sequel and also because he is the only character on the bus who we can identify with, due to his facial expression contrasting and being more prominent in comparison to the rest of the characters. The wide shot, which shows more of the surroundings and the blurred bus, again, highlights just how remote the area is and almost foreshadows that something bad is going to happen, we can anticipate this simply due to the wide shot revealing the area. 

When the 3 cars appear in the shot, the camera shot becomes a crane shot, showing a chase sort of scene as we see the bus in front and 3 cars, which are gaining their speed and enclosing in upon this bus. There is a close up on the male character and the female character, immediately revealing their importance as they are one of the first characters appearing and in a close range, causing us to see their face directly. The camera is very low and tracking the 3 black cars, in general the pacing of this scene is very fast and exciting. The high angle crane shot, which tracks all the events adds more excitement within the scene as we, as the audience, are able to experience the whole event in full. The low angle shot in the car is a medium shot of the woman, with this shot it makes us involved in the scene, it is like we are in the car with her, watching her pull the handbrake and turning. Also, we can anticipate her handbrake turn before she does it as we are essentially 'in the car with her;' this shot makes it so much more compelling. Again, there is a close up in the car of the male character applying his foot brake, foreshadowing and anticipating the crash due to the next camera angle showing the bus directly behind. 

When the bus actually crashes, there's a sort of POV shot as we can see the bus crashing into the back of the car from the rear window, which is what the male character would see too. This makes the audience part of this crash as we can see exactly what he is seeing. Several different camera angles and shots are used when the bus rolls over, from tracking shots, tracking the movement of the bus; crane shots so we can see the debris flying from the bus and showing the complete destruction caused; and also a medium shot which shows the bottom of the bus skidding across, this is also one of the only shots where the camera is static yet still ties in with the fast paced movements and camera angles due to the fast paced editing involved too.

Overall the camera movement is fast paced and rapid, suiting and complementing the action genre and making the scene a very exciting and thrilling opening scene.