We are all stardust

Film: Sunshine

Sunshine is a sci-fi thriller based in a future in which the sun is dying out, and a group of astronauts is sent to deliver a stellar bomb into the heart of the sun with the hope of creating a new star within a star.  This film is a visual masterpiece that relies heavily upon suspense and multiple unexpected plot twists to keep the viewer highly engaged and emotionally manipulated throughout its entirety.  But the level of suspense, and other emotions, is GREATLY magnified by the immaculate use of editing and unique camera angles alongside a very powerful and emotional score. 

These effects can be immediately be seen just a few minutes into the film (time ~7:00 and ~11:30).  In these scenes the score brings across a sense of wonderment as viewer is presented different aspects of this highly advanced and self sustaining starship, while at the same time it yields itself to empathy by showing the vulnerabilities of the particular crew members that are struggling with the knowledge that they are entering the transmission dead-zone much earlier than expected, which results in a communication blackout with Earth.  The solemn track appeals to the viewers own sense of humanity and the sadness that would accompany the fact that crew will never be able to receive any kind of closure from their loved ones that are back on Earth in the event that their fate is similar to that of the Icarus One (I will ignore the very apparent allusion going on with the naming of the individual starships because that digression would lead to a completely different blog…).

             However, later in the film (time: ~35:30) the editing and score is much different when Capa and Kaneda are on the surface of the solar shield making repairs.  Here, rapid scene splicing coupled with a score that shifts around according to the vantage point highly increases the suspense of the scene as well as increases the overall complexity of the entire moment.  Furthermore, instead of keeping camera angles at a true axis of action, most of the scenes have shots that are slightly, or greatly, shifted from a perpendicular “foot plane.”  Then once the imminent death of Kaneda is realized (time: ~40:00) the score is then double layered with a fast tempo but again the same music that was presented earlier forcing the viewer to be both caught up in the intensity of the moment hoping that Kaneda will survive, while at the same time harkening back to the sympathy felt when a sense of hopelessness overcame the vessel.  This duality then sets the stage for further emotional manipulation later in the film when the thriller aspect enters the plot.

MTG