Analysing Thrillers - Inception

Inception - opening scene

Inception is an American film directed by Christopher Nolan, produced by Syncopy Inc, Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers. The film opens with the production credits on a black screen, written bold, large font in muted grey colours. This begins the implication that this film is dark and could have a negative/pessimistic narrative as these colours are usually associated with those ideas.

Sound - As soon as the film begins non-diegetic, sinister music starts to play and is present throughout the introduction to the main character and several unknown characters, up until the point where the scene jumps back in time. The music has a building tempo and multiple stings throughout the sequence to create tension and excitement for the audience as it foreshadows that an event or focal point in the narrative is about to occur.
The lack of dialogue from the main character in his introduction to the film also builds up the tension and mystery surrounding the narrative as it's unclear what his role in the film is and how he has arrived at the location at the start of the film. His lack of dialogue creates an anonymous air around his character, therefore creating an intriguing effect for the audience as they have lots of unanswered questions about the narrative already in the first 5 minutes.
When the characters do start to use more dialogue, they often refer to thoughts and dreams, and 'dream states' which suggests that this is the focal point of the narrative, and this is what the narrative is going to revolve around. This creates a mysterious effect as their agenda is still unclear, and working with dreams isn't an ordinary occupation.

Camera - An extreme close up is used to show the audience the face of the character's watch as the seconds tick by. This creates tension and anxiety for the audience as the event the time is ticking down to is unknown to us, and the characters themselves seem to be tense and nervous, which causes the audience to mirror their emotions. This close up is used multiple times throughout the extract which emphasises that the concept of time is essential to the narrative.

An over-the-shoulder shot is also used in this extract during the scene in the oriental-style room with the unknown Japanese characters. The OTS shot shows Leonardo DiCaprio sat with his back to us at a long table opposite the unknown character. The shot is focused on the other character's face, which creates tension and mystery as he looks concerned and slightly fearful. This creates a tense and mysterious effect as the audience doesn't know the backstory to the situation that's at hand, so the reason for the character's fear isn't clear. The OTS shot also highlights the distance between the two characters, literally and emotionally. The long stretch of table between the two characters suggests that they have a distant relationship and are possibly opposing enemies as they're sat on opposite sides of the table, and seem to have a dislike to one another.

Editing - Ellipsis of time is used at the very beginning of the clip when the main character is shown lying face down on the beach, and then slowly looks up to stare after two children playing in the sand. The clip is deliberately slowed down to highlight the character's dazed confusion towards the two children, which suggests that what he's seeing is actually a figment of his imagination and that he's hallucinating. His concerned expression could also suggest that he may have a personal connection/relationship with the two children, and possibly they're his own children that he's imagining.  This creates confusion and intrigue for the audience as they don't know who the children are or what their importance is to the storyline.

An abrupt cut is used during the scene in the oriental-style room with the unknown Japanese character to transport the character back in time. The scene jumps from the oriental room to the main character in a completely different building with his colleagues and a client, whom he is trying to persuade. The cut between two different periods of time creates an effect of increasing mystery and intrigue for the audience as it is unknown when these two events are taking place, and how far ahead in the future the first clip is. This technique is used again after the scene with his colleagues, as it jumps again to a scene in a hotel room in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic time period, which yet again creates lots of mystery and confusion as it is unclear what is happening.

Mise-En-Scene - Low key lighting is used throughout the majority of the clip to create shadows and darkness in the indoor rooms to create mystery and tension with the audience. The low key lighting makes it more difficult to clearly distinguish the characters, therefore creating an anonymous effect which is reinforced by the other techniques previously mentioned.
During the business meeting scene with the main character's colleagues and the client, all the characters are featured wearing costumes that create the effect of authority and high class. Each character is wearing a formal suit and expensive watches, which suggests that they're in positions of high  power and authority, and live a high class lifestyle as they can afford such expensive looking outfits (costumes). It also implies that they have a highly important occupation.

Original Clip:

Analysing Thrillers - Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction - opening scene

Pulp Fiction is an American film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and produced by Marimax, A Band Apart and Jersey Films in 1994. The film begins in a stereotypical American coffee shop filled with diner-like furniture and red booths. A couple is featured sitting in a booth together having what appears to be a normal conversation over a cup of coffee, but once you listen to their dialogue their conversation is anything but ordinary.

Sound - The dialogue in this extract has a comedic effect as the conversation between the couple is so unexpected and breaks the stereotypes that would usually be associated with this particular couple through their appearance. The female character's voice is stereotypically very high pitched, sweet and innocent which contrasts with the conversation at hand as the couple are talking about murder and committing robbery. She also sounds childish with some of her dialect, for example she makes multiple 'quack' noises when referring to her partner as a duck, and also when she lays her head on the table and says "I'm not gonna kill anybody". Her high pitched voice is the binary opposite of what you would expect from such a violent conversation, which reinforces the comedic effect it creates for the audience. This effect is then increased further at the end of the scene when the couple stands up and announces that they're robbing the café, as her voice completely changes. Her original childish and innocent voice changes to a maniacal shriek as she shouts "'I'll execute every motherf***ing last one of you" to the customers in the building if they dare to move, which contradicts her previous statement.

On the other hand, the male character's voice sticks more to the stereotypical connotations of a criminal, as his accent and dialect reflect a common and lower class attitude. The male character has a London/Cockney accent which is often associated with being common and rough which would be stereotypical of a criminal, and his frequent use of explicit language further reinforces this impression.

Camera - A two shot is used multiple times throughout the extract to highlight the couple's close relationship with each other. The two shot features both characters' together in the frame, and shows them as the main focus of the camera which implies that they're together and in a close relationship. It also implies that they're partners in crime and work together.

A close up shot is also used in this extract multiple times throughout the scene to highlight the characters' intrigue and excitement towards their plan. A close up of the female character is used during their conversation about the bank robbery to highlight her interested and quizzical facial expression towards her partner's story, and implies that she is fully engrossed in the conversation and the idea of stealing from various establishments without a thought for anyone else.

Editing - Shot reverse shot is used throughout the conversation between the two characters to capture the progress and growth of their plan and the increasing excitement as the idea develops. As the conversation progresses, the shot reverse shot pace increases slightly and the facial expressions of the two characters' become increasingly more excited and joyful at the prospect of robbing the café.
An over-the-shoulder shot is also used in the extract to reinforce the couple's close relationship even further. This shot shows the scene from each character's perspective, however in this scene you can still see a small portion of the character who's perspective is being shown so both characters are still featured in the scene together. This suggests that they're relationship is very close and that they're never without each other, which is mirrored in the editing.

Mise-En-Scene - The female character's costume is highly stereotypical of a typical female role in thrillers, who usually portray a 'damsel in distress'. She is featured wearing a pinky-purple dress with a gold necklace and natural makeup which would usually portray her character as being girly and defenceless, when in reality her character is the binary opposite of that portrayal, which highlights that many stereotypes have been broken in the beginning of this film.
The male costume in this extract is less stereotypical and more unusual for a male leading character. He's featured wearing a tropical/Hawaiian style shirt and jeans, which is unusual for his character as his personality and attitude is quite violent and rebellious which is the complete opposite of his costume. However, his accent creates the impression that he could be a tourist, so this costume could be relating back to that portrayal of his character at the beginning of the film.

The screen then wipes to a black screen with the title of the film Pulp Fiction written in bold, block, orange font in a reverse block manner to make it stand out from the dark screen and grab the audience's attention as the title could be essential to some part of the narrative.

All titles featured in the opening sequence:
Miramax Films presents, A Band Apart and Jersey Films Productions, a film by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Ficition, (Actors) John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Willis, co-starring Paul Calderon, Bronagh Gallagher, Peter Greene, Stephen Hibbert, Angela Jones, Phil LaMarr, Robert Ruth, Julia Sweeney, Quentin Tarantino, Frank Whaley, Duana Whitaker, Casting by Ronnie Yeskel C.S.A (and) Gary M. Zuckerbrod C.S.A, Music Supervisor Karyn Rachtman

Costume Designer Betsy Heimann, Production Designer David Wasco, Editor Sally Menke

Director of Photography Andrzej Sekula, Co-Executive Producers Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein (and) Richard N. Gladstein, Executive Producers Danny DeVito, Michael, Shamberg (and) Stacy Sher, Stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary, Produced by Lawrence Bender.

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Analysing Thrillers - Prisoners

Prisoners - opening scene

Prisoners is an American film produced by Alcon Entertainment in 2013 and directed by Denis Villeneuve from a screenplay written by Aaron Guzikowski. The film begins with a male character sat in a Chinese restaurant alone on Thanksgiving night. He has a short conversation with the waitress before he pays the bill and leaves to get into his car, where he then receives a message through his walky-talky to go to a location of a campervan where the police suspect a kidnapper is hiding.

Sound - The main character, Detective Loki, has limited dialogue in his introduction to the film and has a low pitched voice which creates an air of mystery around his character as his character's intentions and personality is unclear.
Non-diegetic low pitched music is also used throughout the opening scene once Detective Loki leaves the restaurant which creates effects of tension and suspense as the music foreshadows that the narrative is building up to an event that the rest of the film will revolve around. As the detective approaches the vehicle the music fades out, and then begins to build to a crescendo as he catches the suspect and hauls him outside to arrest him. The heavy rainfall throughout this scene also adds to the tension and anxious feeling as the constant sound effects reflect the mood of the narrative, implying that the narrative will revolve around negativity and possibly sadness as these are common connotations of rain.

Camera - A close up of Detective Loki is used as the suspect is being dragged off towards the police cars for questioning, which creates anxiety and tension for the audience. The close up on the character's face highlights his angry and concerned facial expressions, which causes the audience to empathise and feel similar emotions as they relate to the main character. The close up also focuses all the audience's attention on his face and what he's saying, which shows he is one of the most important characters to the narrative and that he is highly respected and has power and authority over the other characters.



An over-the-shoulder shot from Loki's perspective is also used when the suspect is facing towards the forest, and turns back to stare at the police officers. This shot creates a fearful and uneasy effect as the audience feel as if they're in the situation too as they can see the situation unfolding through the detective's perspective. The suspect's facial expressions are also unnerving as his expression is completely neutral and blank, so it suggests that he feels no emotions towards the situation at hand and could also hint that he's unpredictable.

Editing - Detective Loki receives the most screen-time throughout the sequence which suggests that he's important to the narrative and is a character to pay attention to. His character is present in almost every single shot in the 4 minutes of footage I have watched, which implies that he is the main focus of the narrative and plays a key character of the film, so he's the main focus and is very involved in the plot of the film. This is stereotypical of thrillers, as the protagonist is usually male, brave and strong which is how his character is perceived from the beginning of the film.
As the detective arrives at the location of the campervan, the pace of the editing begins to speed up which creates an excited and tense effect. The editing starts to cut between different camera shots much quicker than before, which foreshadows that some kind of action scene is about to commence.

Mise-En-Scene - Low key lighting is used during all the scenes outside and inside the campervan, which helps to create a tense and scary effect as the characters are more difficult to distinguish in the limited lighting. The shadows on set are much more prominent and the scene appears to be much darker and spookier than before, which mirrors the narrative as it takes a sinister turn.

The clip then wipes to a black screen after the police officers take the suspect to their car and the detective heads off into the woods. The title of the film then appears in the centre of the black screen in white font to create a reverse block effect to make the title of the film stand out. The font is large and serif to attract the audience's attention and make them think. The title of the film 'Prisoners' hints towards the narrative of the film, suggesting that the girls the detective mentions are maybe being kept as prisoners, or possibly there's a deeper meaning implying that all the characters are somehow prisoners in some sense.

Original Clip-

Analysing Thrillers - Lost Highway

Lost Highway - opening scene

Sound - In this opening extract there is low pitched non-diegetic music throughout the sequence, which builds to a crescendo as the character moves through the house towards the door and windows. This creates tension and suspense as the eeriness of the music adds to the mysterious effect of the narrative as it's unclear what's happening. The lack of dialogue in this scene also adds to the mysteriousness and tension as there's a lack of clarity and detail.

Mise-En-Scene - Low key lighting is also used in the opening scene in the house to add to the mysteriousness as the character's facial features are more difficult to see so he seems anonymous, and the darkness of the scene suggests that there's up-coming danger.

Camera and Editing- Once the character has reached the window a long point-of-view shot is used to show the stretch of the street and the outside of his house. The length of this shot highlights the character's nervousness towards his suspicion that someone unknown is outside his house as the shot shows that he is repeatedly checking up and down the street for a mysterious figure.

Original clip:

Definition and Conventions of a Thriller

 

What is a thriller?

Actual definition- a novel, play or film with an exciting plot usually involving crime or espionage. Often leaves the audience feeling tense and intrigued.
 

Conventions: