implications in the first 2 minutes of a thriller film

Implications in the first 2 mins of a Thriller film (Isabelle smith)

The first 2 minutes of a film has many implications on the film as a whole; a mood needs to be created, a narrative needs to be established as well as a strong opening can all be important as a hook to engage the audience. If people aren’t intrigued or gripped by the opening it can have an effect of people having a more negative opinion of the film overall, so the opening to minutes is vital as it establishes certain key themes and indicates what kind of film this is going to be (genre).

Panic room: the first 2 minutes is solely the opening credits in the background of New York City, while this could be considered as not particularly gripping, it is done in a way which sets the mood and tone predominately through sound and the films score. In the opening indents there is a sound of thunder as if a storm is brewing, as well as this sound unnerving the audience it could be argued foreshadows later events in the film. The score (by Howard Shore) is important as most of the pieces follows a similar sort of pattern to the overture in the opening credits; it begins with a double bass playing a very minor, deep base tune, so the audience begin to feel more unsettled and are made more aware of the tone of the film and an implication that something unpleasant or bad is on the brink of occurring. This is reiterated by the sound of police sirens suggesting that crime is one of the key themes. The music gets noticeably more in the minor key as it slowly pans across Jodie Foster’s name (which is in white bold text and appears to be a part of the one of the cities buildings signs)which signifies her importance, and may also suggest that she is in danger. Not long after this we see the film title which appears to be floating in the city among the buildings as soon as it cuts to Kristen Stewarts name the music’s pace increases dramatically it has a much more staccato pace it is much shorter and faster which successfully keeps you on edge and arguably it could be foreshadowing the theme claustrophobia, the fear of being trapped. The music reflects this theme by the increasing intensity of the music, it becomes more jerky and a tapping begins and gets faster (possibly mimicking the increasing heartbeat). The implications of the opening are effective in foreshadowing like feeling uncomfortable (e.g. when Kristen and Jodie are hiding in the panic room from the criminals) later events and keeping the audience intrigued by the unnerving sounds and music  and the new York city setting and therefore would have a more positive opinion of the film as a whole as openings are often crucial in setting up ideas, key themes and symbolism in the film so when done effectively has the implication of making the rest of the film more engaging as it relates to the start of the film.

Inception: the opening of the film has lots of implications on the rest of the film as we don’t really understand at this point why certain things or people are there as we are not aware of what significance they carry yet. This leads us to asking a lot of questions in our head, the mystery arguably helps us to pay attention to what’s going on in the opening 2 minutes as we are trying to engage ourselves to understand what it all means. The film begins with brass music, its very deep and increases in pitch and intensity throughout the company idents. The opening shot is an extreme close-up of some strong waves smashing up against rocks, the music previous to this reflects the wave’s strength and power, the fact that the music has stopped when the waves are shown could imply that a harsh sea storm has just passed. The next shot leaves us asking questions in our head;  an extreme close-up of Leonardo Dicaprio swept up from the sea, we are intrigued as we want to know how he got there. It then cuts to two young children playing and laughing on the beach, the shot is slowed down and the shouts and cries sound echoic almost as if they are not there, this is also reiterated when Dicaprio tries to reach out his hand to them whist still on the ground which suggests that he cannot reach them in the sense that they are fictional and that they are significant to Dicaprios character. When he closes his eyes this is foreshadowing later events ‘ the dream within a dream’ theme. Significant objects are shown in the opening 2 minutes which implies that they will be important to the narrative later on. The spinning top for example; the man who has taken Dicaprio to his house is intrigued by it, “I've seen one of these before” which connotes that is more than just a regular spinning top and speaks about it as if it is of great rarity. The opening in Inception whilst unclear is very intriguing as it helps us identify narrative and has the implication of gripping us and helping us understand later events as they are foreshadowed in the opening.

The last king of Scotland: establishing narrativein opening 5 minutes of films +detailed CEMS analysing opening of film

the narrative is very quickly established within the first five minutes of the film; for instance within the first 30 seconds of the film starting we already know from the headings and subtitles that “this film is inspired by real people and events” so we the what its based on has a lot of truth to it and we also know the setting at the start of the film “Scotland 1970” (from headings). During the headings being shown towards the end of them we hear shouting and laughing from people of a Scottish heritage , it then cuts to the opening shot of a group of young people running across a field (most of them in their underwear). The narrative the narrative is very quickly established within the first five minutes of the film; for instance within the first 30 seconds of the film starting we already know from the headings and subtitles that “this film is inspired by real people and events” so we the what its based on has a lot of truth to it and we also know the setting at the start of the film “Scotland 1970” (from headings). During the headings being shown towards the end of them we hear shouting and laughing from people of a Scottish heritage, it then cuts to the opening shot of a group of young people running across a field (most of them in their underwear). The narrative is effectively established here by the Mis en scene; many of the young people who are not already undressed are wearing uniforms which conveys to us that they are students, but not just any kind of uniform, they are wearing graduation gowns which puts the fact the many of them are in their underwear and holding large bottles of champagne into context because they are celebrating because they presumably have just graduated. As the group race to the water, we get a long shot of the dock which emphasises the setting being Scotland as we associate with Scotland not having good weather (it often being cold,raining or overcast) and the long-shot depicting the landscape fits with this stereotype:the sky is overcast and grey, the lake is vast, it stretches out for miles, the vast woodland and hills as the graduates jump into the grey dark lake, all fit with our immediate associations with Scotland and helps maintain the narrative and the stereotype of the Scottish man is also implied when James Mcavoy is shouting and cheering in the water this matches up with the stereotype of the Scottish male being loud and boisterous.

The next shot (as the jump into the lake) is slightly slowed down. The slow-motion enables us to capture the moment more easily as  it has the effect of making it seem more significant as the image of them jumping into the water  lasts longer so we have more time to process it. The sound of the them jumping in and splashing around is amplified, and purposely made louder. This may also enforce the importance of this moment as it could be argued  that it symbolises how much freedom the main character has at this point and arguably its foreshadowing the limited freedom he has later on in the film.

 The narrative is well established through the dialogue of the main character (James Mcavoy) and his parents; it fills us in on what  Nicholas has achieved (a degree) and what he is planning to be in the future (a family doctor).

However the narrative dramatically changes after this when Nicholas gets out the globe in his bedroom later on and says “first place you land you go” as it implies to us what the basis of the narrative is going to be; he is going to travel to a different country(to do his work). The first time he spins the globe the camera remains on him. We know the second time that he spins the globe it is more significant as there is an extreme close up of it 
spinning around which indicates that where it lands will greatly impact his life and have a lot of meaning to it. The narrative is well established when the globe stops spinning and there is an extreme close up of Nicholas’s finger on the country Uganda( on the globe), so we instantly know the location of where the story is going to take place which greatly helps us to establish and understand the narrative further within the first few minutes.

MISS SMITH

How is disability represented in this extract?

By isabelle smith

How disability is represented through several aspects such as camera, editing, sound, lighting and Mis en Scene, in the extract from the TV series ‘The secret diary of a call girl’. In this extract camera is clearly and effectively used to depict disability in the extract. For example in the opening scene, when Hannah (played by Billie Piper) opens the door there are two men (Blake and his Father). As soon as the camera cuts to the two men at the door, the camera immediately looks down on the disabled character; Blake who is in a wheelchair. This is done to emphasise that he has a disability but it also suggests to the audience that he is a weaker, less dominant character. However, when the camera cuts to his father, the camera is angled so that it is looking up to him. This is to show the contrast between the Blake and his father, because his father is depicted as being tall and the camera angle also suggests that he is stronger and much more in control than his son Blake.

The music (diegetic sound) used in the extract is predominately used to underline the idea that his disability has really prevented him from doing many things and how it has had a very negative effect on his whole life. The harmonica music used during this scene (the champagne scene after the father leaves) creates a very melancholy mood which helps depict the sadness of his disability to the audience and emphasise the feebleness and how reliant he is on others.

Disability is represented in the extract through Mis en scene (props and makeup) to stress that Blake is frail. For instance the makeup used on the character is very pale giving the character a sick, pasty appearance which indicates illness. Another of example of how disability through Mis en scene is when Blake is put on the bed by his father. There is a long shot of him sitting on the bed. The large bed and the tall bed frame is used to create the effect of making Blake looking smaller and this  idea is amplified by the use of a long shot of the bed on the camera.

 Hannah’s apartment and certainly the room which the scene is set in is predominately a red colour scheme. Despite the red lighting and colour scheme (which typically portrays an intimate or romantic mood) there is a massive contrast to how the use of lighting would typically be used; the awkwardness between Blake and Hannah strongly contradicts how the colour scheme would be used normally.  This strain between them is also shown through the editing. When Hannah is talking to Blake on the bed it cuts and switches back and forth between the two to highlight how uncomfortable Hannah is and distinctively illustrates the awkwardness between the two and the delicate situation they are in.

Furthermore, generally most of the different aspects i.e. Camera, editing ,sound, lighting and Mis en scene are used to emphasise the weaknesses and negatives which come hand in hand with disability. In general they are effectively used as a device to make Blake’s character seem much more humble and less in control than his father and Hannah.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

CLIP ANALYSIS

By isabelle smith

The establishing shot of the FBI building portrays it as friendly and welcome; the building seems very clean from the outside and the shape of the building is very neat and square. The sky is fairly clear and blue which reflects off the glass building having the effect of it seeming more clean and bright. We know as the audience that it is a safe place because the way the camera slowly zooms into the building is friendly as it almost welcomes us into the building and it is a huge contrast to the previous scene with the misty dark forest.

The shot of Clarice in the lift is effective in emphasising the position in women as a whole of all the women who work in the FBI building. Clarice is in the very centre of the lift surrounded by a group of men. They are all very shaved and groomed which makes us feel like we have more trust in them (as opposed to them having a beard and looking untidy which would make the audience feel less comfortable with them as it could be suggesting they have something to hide). The men are all wearing red which shows they are all of the same work status. Colours like blue and grey are associated with learning or more manual working types and as Clarice is wearing a grey jumper we are lead to the conclusion that it is likely that these men are above Clarice. the men dressed in red all have strong broad shoulders which highlights that they are are safe as they are strong and able to protect 'weaker women' characters.

We get a very different feel from the training facility in comparison to higher up in the building. The people in the training facility of the building all wear blue which I mentioned earlier can be associated with learning so we know that they are being trained. However higher up they are all dressed in suits and it appears to be a more male dominated area. The sound in the two parts of the building are also quite contrasting for instance in the training section, there is more unclear voice ambience, people are chatting to each other quite cheerfully and through the sound its suggested its more busy in this area. When Clara gets to the higher part of the building the men in the red collar have left the lift prior to this which shows they are beneath the suit workers status, the sound has changed from bustlting,chattering people to more of an office ambience; telephones ringing  and documents being printed.

We know that when Clarice has reached the top level from the extreme close-up on the lifts dial. The perfect V shaped sweat on Clarices jumper has decreased in size to convey that a significant amount of time has passed from her entering the building to reaching the top floor. There is a suggestion of uncertainty; as Clarice exits the lift she passes a sign. Prior to this moment in the building the camera movement has been smooth. What’s also interesting is that also prior to this point we have stayed with Clarice but there is a sudden clunky unsmooth movement to the side to show the sign which says “behavioural science services” which may indicate that she is nervous to meet Jack Crawford but it may also suggest that maybe she isn’t going to be safe here.

In the opening sequence (first 2-3 minutes) the takes at the start of this sequence last a very long time which creates a slower pace and but a more eerie atmosphere. But after two long takes they begin to get a lot shorter creating a tenser atmosphere. All these takes revolve around Clarice; she appears to control the edits here; as the camera tracks her and she is in every shot which entails that she is the Protagonist of the film. The music mirrors the shots as the music becomes more intense (higher pitched melody) as the takes become shorter which has the effect of creating an eerie unnerving atmosphere, (which as has the effect of making Clarice seem isolated and vulnerable in the misty forest).