Textual Analysis: I Am Number Four

The film ‘I Am Number Four’ starts off with idents of Touchstone Pictures and DreamWorks that fade in and show in the title sequence.

The establishing shot of the film starts off with an extreme long shot of Earth, non-diegetic music is building up in the background with drums and strings. The camera then starts to zoom into Earth and then follows it round to then zoom in on Central Africa. The camera then rushes over the forest and the non-diegetic sounds build up with a bigger tempo and brings a sense of panic in, making the person watching think that the camera may be a POV shot of someone or something. As the camera is rushing over the forest, the diegetic sounds of monkeys, birds and various other species of jungle animals are heard as the camera flies over. Smoke is seen coming through to canopy of the rainforest, showing where wooden huts are, as they are being lit up by a glow from the fires. The camera then flies down under the canopy and then comes almost to a halt at the front of one wooden hut, keeping it in a long shot for a brief seconds before slowly moving towards the door handle and the lock below it. The non-diegetic music is building up a tempo like something is about to jump through the door and grab the people inside the building. The camera then starts to go through the lock in the door and into the house, the music suddenly stops and fades out as the camera stops for a brief second and starts to pan around the little wooden hut, showing the viewer the contents. Inside of the relatively messy hut are two men, both are asleep in makeshift beds made from the jungle.

Guardian (right) protecting Number 3 (left) with a futuristic
dagger

There is a cut to a close up on the lock of the door and the piece of wood that keeps the door in place so it doesn’t open, the piece of wood starts to move and makes a quiet diegetic sound as it scratches at the other bits of wood that makes the door and the wall. The camera then cuts to a long shot of a futuristic dagger, and the non-diegetic music starts to build up again, but only with slow, high pitched strings. The long shot of the dagger slowly zooms out to a medium long shot of one of the men as he picks up the dagger and starts to walk slowly and cautiously towards the rickety door, the camera tracks him as he does this. There is another cut to a close up on the side of the man’s face as he looks out the gaps of the door. The camera cuts to a long shot of the man as he acknowledges that there is nothing there and nods to the other man to say it is okay and lowers the futuristic dagger. As he does this, the diegetic sound of wood snapping and collapsing is heard as a jet black wing crashes through the wall and pulls the man through the wall, the music suddenly build up with drums and strings to tell the viewer that the man is in danger, the camera then cuts to an extreme long shot of a window in the hut as he dove through the window.