The film Public Enemies was written and directed by Michael Mann. It describes the events of crime relating an infamous bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) as he is pursued by an FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). The scene where the FBI agents gun down John Dillinger starts when they enter a cinema to watch a movie with the lady who is a spy agent. The FBI agents wait outside until Dillinger comes out to complete their main mission — to kill him. The leader of the mission, agent Purvis, tells his crew that he will signal them when to start. After coming out from the cinema, Dillinger and the lady spy are noticed and then agent Winstead shoots him on the head.
Cinematography has been widely applied in this scene. The cinematographer uses the aspect of lighting to show the time of the day. Dark and bright spots clearly indicate that it is night. The aspect of camera movement portrays the position of all the characters. The movement takes all directions. This multi-directional tendency shows all the actions of the characters and their movements in the scene. Due to this, we see the agents facing their guns at Dillinger, spy lady walking with guilt on her face while Dillinger walks with confidence. Aspect of zooming in and out shows the mood of different characters in the scene. Zooming in at agent Purvis as he lights his cigar shows how he signals his agents to take their positions as they wait anxiously.
Cinematography in this scene creates an environment of ambushing a criminal. The surrounding clearly indicates this; in the scene the agents have rounded up Dillinger when he is in the cinema. When he walks out, the agents have already positioned themselves to shoot him. The cinematographer chooses aspect of slow motion to tell the audience how anxious the agents are to kill Dillinger, who is very confident to run away from them. This is opposed to the spy lady, who is guilty of setting up Dillinger to the agents. Darkness in the movie symbolizes death, and the lady spy wears a reddish skirt which signals danger. Dillinger is finally shot dead.