Task 1: Textual Analysis

Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare

Nuclear Explosion Scene

[Note: Skip to 0:24 on the video as I begin to analyse from there, the first several seconds are just gameplay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB-n_8zq9Qo&hd=1

Call Of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare (Which I will herein merely refer to as ‘CoD4’) is a military first-person shooter available for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC and was the highest grossing game of the year on its release. The scene to be analysed occurs midway through the story and is shown from the perspective of Sergeant Jackson, a soldier who the player controls for about 70% of the game up until that point. After having just conducted a search and rescue in a country in the Middle-East, all forces in the area begin to be evacuated due to a nuclear threat. Unfortunately, the bomb is detonated and all of the forces are hit with lethal force. As players, we see this all through Sgt. Jackson’s eyes, even as he draws his last breath.

One of the most striking aspects of this segment is the camera angle, or more so the lack of different-angles; the entire sequence (bar the brief intermission) is viewed through a Point-of-View shot. This ensures that the audience/players feel utterly connected with the character and are able to project themselves on him. Furthermore, throughout the scene the character doesn’t say a single word, which helps to maintain a sense of immersion (and avoids breaking it if the character says something the audience wouldn’t expect him to based on his projected persona).

Another technique employed is the use of tragedy and scope; by showing the death of (until then) the protagonist and making us control him as he crawls in agony, we get a very personal sense of tragedy and sympathise for this soldier (whilst feeling a very real sense of sadness as if a part of us has died). However, in binary opposition to this personal moment is the intermission sequence (which also serves as a covert loading screen) which shows a digital interface scrolling through a substantial list of personnel which are classified as ‘K.I.A’ (Killed in Action) before stopping on the name of our character. Following this, we are instantly thrown back to the scene of the explosion, except now there is silence and colours are in blood-red hues.

By allowing us to control the character as he crawls out of a plane, dying from his wounds, we as players are given a deep sense of tragic and loss, and feel a genuine sense of sorrow.