Comprehensive Analysis of the Film 'Changing Lanes' (2002) - Report

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of the 2002 film 'Changing Lanes,' examining its narrative structure, semiotics, and cultural context. The report delves into the genres of psychological thriller and drama, exploring the setting, landmarks, and justification within the film's context. It identifies and analyzes key movie characters, including Doyle Gipson and Gavin Baneck, alongside the plot's progression and pivotal scenes. The analysis covers the film's synopsis and explores the relationship between the movie and related articles. The study also highlights the character development, thematic elements, and the impact of the film's setting in New York City. The report underscores the film's exploration of vengeance, moral choices, and the consequences of actions, providing a detailed overview of the film's key components and their significance.

ENGLISH; MOVIE
ANALYSIS AND REPORT

Table of Contents
CHANGING LANES (2002)...........................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
PART 1............................................................................................................................................4
Genres and Explanations........................................................................................................4
Setting.....................................................................................................................................5
Landmarks and Justification...................................................................................................5
10 Movie Characters and original names...............................................................................5
Plot..........................................................................................................................................6
5 Favourite Characters and 5 Favourite Scenes.....................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Movie title and Synopsis........................................................................................................8
Original articles......................................................................................................................9
Relationship between movie and the articles.........................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

CHANGING LANES
(2002)
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INTRODUCTION
Movie analysis is a process where film is systematically analysed in terms of narrative
structure, semiotics, cultural context, sound, cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and various
other approaches. This study will include genre and explanation, setting, landmark and
justification, movie characters, plot, five favourite scenes from the movie, synopsis and
relationship between articles and movie respectively for better movie analysis and report.
Changing lanes is an American thriller melodrama film which is directed by Roger
Michell. The film follows a booming young wall street lawyer who crashes his car into a vehicle
which is driven by middle aged alcoholic insurance salesman.
PART 1
Genres and Explanations
The movie, Changing Lanes released in 2002 was a drama thriller film i.e. the major
genres that it covered were psychological thriller and drama.
Psychological Thriller:- Psychological thriller genre emphasize on the psychology of the
character and the unstoppable emotional state of mind of an individual. This genre often
incorporates elements such as drama, mystery, psychological horror, action, etc. The movie can
be categorized as a psychological thriller because the entire plot revolves around the decisions
that both male protagonists would take (Gilley and et.al, 2017). It leaves the audience thinking
that whether they would really understand the wast impact and consequences of the decisions
that they are making. After initial 40 minutes of the movie, it is clear to the audience that both
male protagonists are going to fight hard. The delusional state portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson as
a recovering alcoholic who is constantly being lured. Also, the surprising twists of events like
Gipson listening to the voicemail of Baneck where he informs him about zeroing his credit rating
and the immediate shift in Gipson's state of mind from forgiving to resenting is an example of
the elements of Psychological Thriller.
Drama:- This genre relies on the relational and emotional development of characters in
order to play dramatic theme play role. It s a narrative fiction which is intended to be more
serious realistic role. It is based on serious presentation of themselves, force of nature, life
situation, etc. The movie plot can be categorized under the genre drama as well because the tone
does not convey a humorous or sarcastic narrative manner and rather it depicts the internal
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conflicts of the deepest desires of a human being and shows the conflict between choosing what
is right and letting go of the wrong but lucrative path. Both the protagonists are forced to think
about what they are doing and how their actions will impact. The strong exchange of dialogues
between different characters portrayed by excellent actors has lead to categorization of this film
as a drama film.
Setting
There were different interior setting that were used throughout the film. Majorly the setup
was of office where Gipson worked, the attorney office and building in wall street of Baneck etc.
The movie is set in the year 2000 and had been shot in various locations in and around New
York City. There were various scenes shot in Bergen County Court House,10 Main Street,
Hackensack, New Jersey and also a lot of scenes were shot in the Brooklyn borough and
Woodside, Queens borough. Some of the introduction scenes were shot in Wall street and also
on the streets of New York City where both the lead actors Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson
were driving their cars Mercedes CLK320 and the 1998 Toyota Corolla before they collided into
each other.
Landmarks and Justification
In the movie, Changing Lanes released in 2002, the major locations that have been used
are located in New York and even the film story is based in New York. The major landmarks
covered in this film are Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York; Hudson St,
Manhattan; Bergen County Court House- 10 main Street, Hackensack, New Jersey. The film was
shot in New york and the budget of the film was around $45Million. New York City is an
important landmark for shooting Changing lanes because Wall street in Manhattan is one of the
famous street where Gipson work (Narayanan and et.al., 2019).
10 Movie Characters and original names
Doyle Gipson- Samuel L. Jackson
Valerie Gipson (Doyle's wife)- Kim Staunton
Stephen Gipson- Akil Walker
Danny Gipson- Cole Hawkins
Gavin Baneck- Ben Affleck
Michelle (Baneck's past lover)- Toni Collette
Stephen Delano (Baneck's Boss) - Sydney Pollack
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Mrs. Delano (wife of Delano)- Tina Sloan
Cynthia Delano Baneck (Banck's wife and Delano's daughter)- Amanda Peet
Walter Arnell- Richard Jenkins
Plot
Entire movie occurs in New York, America between two male protagonists Doyle Gipson
who is insurance agent and a recovering alcoholic and Gavin Baneck who is young and rich wall
street attorney. One crucial morning, Gipson is in a hurry trying to reach the court on time so that
he can claim joint custody of his children with his wife and Baneck is also in a hurry so that he
can prove before the judge that an old dead man left his foundation over to the law firm in which
Baneck works. They both crash their cars and Baneck in a hurry tries to brush off Gipson by
giving him a blank check so that legal formalities of filing a report can be avoided but Gipson
refuses. Baneck however, leaves the scene saying better luck next time to Gipson but forgets a
crucial file that was the main evidence in his case. Gipson ultimately reaches late and looses the
custody without putting forward his intention of buying a house for his wife and children so that
h could make joint custody work. This sparks off the war between Gipson and Baneck where
both try to take each other down by going to extreme levels and ultimately they both realise that
this desire of vengeance has costed them on their life and ultimately both come together to mend
their actions and ways. Gipson given the file containing evidence (which was obtained illegally)
back to Baneck which he uses as a blackmailing tool in front of his boss forcing him to conduct
his business and fight cases of the firm honestly and in return to Gipson, he decides to solve his
problems pro bono and movie ends with a scene where Gipson spots his wife and children
standing across the street and smiling at him.
5 Favourite Characters and 5 Favourite Scenes
Doyle Gipson- Samuel l. Jackson
One of the most iconic scenes of the movie was when Doyle Gipson and Gavin Baneck
confronted each other and just after that when Doyle Gipson reached the court and he found that
the Judge has ruled the order against Gipson in his absence, it was truly a heartbreaking and sad
moment in the movie because due to the argument between Gipson and Baneck, he lost the
custody of his children to his wife. This scene made audience empathised with Doyle Gipson
over Gavin Baneck because of his poor and isolated life (Neuendorf, 2016). It is also considered
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to be a pivotal scene in the movie as it built a strong story line for the characters from there
onwards.
Gavin Baneck- Ben Affleck
The most intimidating scene of the movie 'Changing Lanes' involved the head to head
face off between Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck when their cars collided and both of them
confronted each other by arguing over. Also, the scene revealed the true shades and attitude of
both the characters where Gipson came out to be an annoying and a man with principles whereas
Gavin appeared as a young ambitious lawyer who believed the fact that money can buy
everything except time. Therefore, after the collision Baneck wrote a blank cheque to Dayle
Gipson and upon the rejection of cheque by Gipson, Baneck drove his care across him and
shouted 'better luck next time'. The scene proved to be extremely influential and reflected the
beginning of end for both of them.
Cynthia Delano Baneck (Banck's wife and Delano's daughter)- Amanda Peet
Cynthia Delano Baneck is Gavin Baneck's wife and the daughter of Stephen Delano who
is the boss of Baneck. Upon marrying Cynthia Delano, Stephen made Baneck his partner in the
Wall street firm. The scene at the lunch table has to be the most powerful scenes of the movie
Cynthia delivers a monologue speech and blames her father for cheating on her mother for the
past 20 years and also expressed her mother's point of view and how she felt that it was unethical
to leave Mr, Delano because it was for him that she and her daughter could afford the expensive
and luxurious lifestyle. She also expressed the importance of lying while working in wall Street
and the value of money. This was a powerful and one of the most impactful scenes of the entire
movie.
Valerie Gipson (Doyle's wife)- Kim Staunton
Valerie Gipson is Doyle Gipson's and she is frustrated from her husband's drinking
problem which is in a way breaking their family. A powerful scene occurs where her husband
tries to save the marriage by talking with her and trying to sort out things but instead she tells
him that ''this is the sort of thing that always happens to you- and never happens to me unless I
am not in your field of gravity.” It was small yet powerful dialogue by Valerie Gibson after that
Gibson walks into a bar and indulges into a fight purposely without even having his drink (Lee,
Cui and Kim, 2016).
Stephen Delano-Sydney Pollack
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There was a scene where Stephen Delano provides life lessons to Baneck, his son in law
by stating him that ' this is a tight rope, you gotta learn to balance' to which Baneck replies 'how
can you live like this?' Stephen explained Baneck that he could live with himself because at the
end of the day he has done more good than bad in his entire life which allows him to judge
himself and live with peace. The entire dialogue made very much sense to the audience as well
as for the entire movie.
PART 2
Movie title and Synopsis.
“Changing Lane”
Changing lane 2002 is an American thriller melodrama film which is directed by Roger
Michell. The main characters of this film are Doyle Gipson who is insurance agent and a
recovering alcoholic and Gavin Baneck who is young and rich wall street attorney. Doyle Gipson
is a happy, non- alcoholic man and he is also ready to claim his children's custody. Gavin Baneck
is young and a happy man. He is a lawer and is married to his boss's daughter. He has a bright
future ahead. The morning before the crash, Gavin was supposed to present in the court in order
to prove that billionaire Dunne has lawfully turned over his charitable foundation to Sydney
Pollack (Father in law) firm. The film follows a booming young wall street lawyer who crashes
his car into a vehicle which is driven by middle-aged alcoholic insurance salesman. A minor
collision on New York City on F.D.R. drive turns two strangers Doyle Gipson and Gavin Baneck
into vicious adversaries. Life of both the men drastically changed upside down when they had an
autonomous accident while driving to court (CHANGING LANES, 2018).
Gavin Baneck leaves Doyle Gipson with a broken car. But he forgets the important
document related with his case on the scene of accident. On an hour later, Gipson lost his
children custody, which in turn made him drink again. Baneck was not able to preset the
important document into the court which in turn will lead him to jail.
Changing lane is one of the most fascinating fender- bender movie which proves that how
a small event can profoundly change the lives of individual. “One wrong turn deserves another”
is the formula for this film to take revenge (Changing Lanes Movie Review Summary, 2015).
This film creates some frightening as well as funny escalating cat and mouse scenarios which
contrast the infidelity of business against infidelity of marriage. This story demonstrates the price
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one will pay in order to love a happy and a comfortable life. This movie shows to dig right into
the depths of the soul and value of the two men (Lu, Dinner and Grewal, 2019).
Changing lane is one of the most fascinating fender- bender movie which proves that how
a small event can profoundly change the lives of individual. “One wrong turn deserves another”
is the formula for this film to take revenge. Although the incident seems to be minor, but their
road rage intensify into dangerous feud. There way of destroying each other might be contrary,
but ultimately their goals will be same. Both of them try to dismantle each other life in a reckless
manner in order to reclaim something which they have lost. Changing lane is a different type of
dramatic thriller for the clear-eyed adults who are looking for redemptive experience movie
(Baid, Gupta and Chaplot, 2017).
Original articles.
Driver Struck And Killed After Fender Bender On FDR Drive. 2018. [Online]. Available
through: <https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/09/15/fdr-deadly-crash/>
Car KARE Tip: Fender Benders. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/02/19/car-kare-tip-fender-benders/
23666293/>
Minor Car Accident Claims: How to Handle a Fender-Bender. 2019. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.injuryclaimcoach.com/minor-car-accident.html>
Legal Malpractice Claims. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://litigation.findlaw.com/filing-a-lawsuit/legal-malpractice-claims.html>
How Can a Person Win Back Legal Custody of Their Children?. 2019. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/how-can-a-person-win-back-legal-custody-of-
their-children-41028>
Relationship between movie and the articles.
Driver Struck And Killed After Fender Bender On FDR Drive
This article states about a fender bender in the New York City where a Honda Civic side
met with Jeep SUV. This scene is related with the movie Changing Lane where the Gavin Benek
Mercedes CLK320 collides with Gipson's Toyota Corolla. A fender bender collision on New
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York City on F.D.R. drive turns two strangers Doyle Gipson and Gavin Baneck into vicious
adversaries (Driver Struck And Killed After Fender Bender On FDR Drive, 2018).
Car KARE Tip: Fender Benders
Fender bender can happen anytime. In case of such minor accident, it is very crucial for
calling the police, exchanging information with other driver, take pictures and call insurance
company. It is very crucial to claim insurance in fender bender claim even if no damage was
done, so that on is not liable for any additional cost. The Changing lane is related with this article
because Gavin Banek didn't exchange insurance information and also disobeyed the law (Car
KARE Tip: Fender Benders, 2015).
Minor Car Accident Claims: How to Handle a Fender-Bender
A minor car accidents tend to happen on everyday basis. The main cause of fender bender
is due to slippery roads, distracted drivers, rear end collision. To stay away from additional
trouble a person needs to take control of that particular situation by calling 911, safety first,
medical care, etc. (Minor Car Accident Claims: How to Handle a Fender-Bender, 2019). The
Changing lane is related with this article because Gavin Banek was distracted while driving the
car which in turn results in collision of car. Banek was in rusk to visit court to prove that dead
man has signed the foundation to Benek's law firm. Instead of giving proper care and support to
the individual and exchanging insurance information. He has rather disobeyed the law by
offering Gipson blank cheque.
Legal Malpractice Claims
The main legal practices must be followed while handling legal law case. There are
various legal malpractice claims such as ineffective communication, incompetence, dishonesty,
inadequate legal work, bill, arbitration, etc. (Legal Malpractice Claims, 2019). The Changing
lane is related with this article because Gavin Banek didn't present the power of appointment file
to the judge which in turn will result in huge penalty and charges.
How Can a Person Win Back Legal Custody of Their Children?
Losing a child custody is one of the most heart wrenching moment for a parent. This can
be due to illegal and immoral behaviour, consumption of substance by the parent. This in turn
impose negative impact on the health of the physical and mental of a child. In order to gain back
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the custody of the child, parent needs to seek legal counsel, determine the positive circumstance
and condition, request of evaluation and be patient (How Can a Person Win Back Legal Custody
of Their Children?, 2019). This article is related with the movie Changing lane because Gipson
was an alcoholic person. In order to gain his child custody back, he was attending Alcoholic
anonymous meeting on order to remain sober.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the study focuses on the 2002 released
movie, Changing Lanes directed by Roger Michell starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson.
The movie follows the lives of Banek, a rich and successful Wall Street advocate and Gipson an
alcoholic insurance company. The collision between the two contrasting personalities resulted in
a havoc that changed their entire lives completely. It also justifies the fact that why the movie
was put under psychological/crime and drama genre. The movie was a box office success and
received positive reviews from both audience and the critics. The report also includes a detailed
plot of the movie, the landmarks where the movie was shot, setting, screenplay and detailed
introduction of the cast and crew of the movie. Also, it included some of the most note worthy
scenes of the movie that were applauded by the public. It also included a synopsis to get an
overview about how the storyline unfolds and what happens in the climax.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Narayanan, S and et.al, 2019. Linguistic analysis of differences in portrayal of movie characters.
U.S. Patent Application 16/137,091.
Gilley, T.S and et.al, 2017. Movie advertising placement optimization based on behavior and
content analysis. U.S. Patent 9,654,735.
Lu, S., Dinner, I.M. and Grewal, R., 2019. The Ripple Effect of Firm-Generated Content for
New Movie Releases. Available at SSRN 3336856.
Baid, P., Gupta, A. and Chaplot, N., 2017. Sentiment analysis of movie reviews using machine
learning techniques. International Journal of Computer Applications, 975, p.8887.
Lee, S.H., Cui, J. and Kim, J.W., 2016. Sentiment analysis on movie review through building
modified sentiment dictionary by movie genre. Journal of intelligence and information
systems, 22(2), pp.97-113.
Neuendorf, K.A., 2016. The content analysis guidebook. Sage.
Online
Changing Lanes Movie Review Summary. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<http://allreaders.com/movie-review-summary/changing-lanes-17808>
CHANGING LANES. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.movieguide.org/reviews/changing-lanes.html>
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