Research task!

Research task by Max Barnes

I will be analyzing five thriller movies opening 2 minutes for our next film. Films use certain techniques to make sure the audience knows what genre movie they are watching. I will be looking for these techniques which are sound, editing, mise en scene and camera work to translate them to my group’s next film based on a 2 minute opening of a thriller movie. Green writing is sound, blue is camera, yellow is editing and red is mise en scene.

 

First is 'A walk among the tombstones' starring Liam Neeson.

The important parts of techniques used:

Sound

Scene 1:

• Diegetic background noise of city.
• No background music to allow audience to hear quiet voices better.
• Angered tone from voices and door slam.

Scene 2:

• Quiet diegetic music and commentary from a radio.
• Heavy foley sounds, newspaper rattle and footsteps.

Camera
Scene 1:

• Camera pans to whom is speaking
• Depth of field very shallow
• Only (extreme) close-ups used for first scene.
• No establishing shots

Scene 2:

• Starts with a match on action establishing shot.
• Close-ups and one long shot.

Editing

Scene 1:

• Establishing text before first scene
• Filters - greyscale
• Very slow pace
• cuts only

Scene 2:

• whole scene 4 cuts
• continuity
• Cuts only

Mise en scene
Scene 1:

Scene 1 and before

The first part we see is text establishing that we are in New York in 1991. Before the scene has even started there is diegetic background noise of the city as well as radio communications with a woman speaking sounding like a police line, this makes the audience know that police are talking but they do not know why. When the first scene is shown there is a man talking. It shows the two characters in a dirty cluttered car which is inferring that they have not got lots of money to spend on a car. Within the sequence the characters speaking is a key feature to the camera works movement. The camera starts with a close up from behind the driver the shot then pans to the protagonist and this reveals the main character which makes the audience ask questions of who these two men are. The depth of field is very shallow with the steering wheel being blurred. This makes the scene feel claustrophobic adding to the characters grey and depressing world. Throughout the whole sequence there is no music, which allows us to listen to the characters speaking. The protagonists costume was selected to be a long waist coat with smart clothing underneath as it makes the audience asked questions about what the characters occupations are and what they are doing. It also makes the character blend into the world with the grey scale theme previously mentioned. From the tone of the characters voices you can tell they are at a disagreement, this makes people wonder how close these characters are, friends, brothers, detective partners. When the protagonist gets out of the car the door slamming is showing that he's angry as it is the only sound over the background noise.


Scene 2

When the protagonist is in the bar, the camera starts as long shot showing the entire room as an establishing shot, the audience will realize that he is in a New York bar.
The protagonist walks towards the camera and then we pan to him sitting down. The camera is still on the same shot but has changed from long shot to mid close up to show his newspaper with the articles which are important. In this bar there is plenty of diegetic sounds including music and commentary from a radio, to the character picking up newspapers. The pace of the entire sequence is very slow and to keep continuity only cuts were used between shots. The cuts in many thrillers usually speed up throughout a scene to build tension however this one seemed to stay the same and maybe even slow down. Throughout the sequence they use low key lighting and fake natural lighting through the windows in the diner and grey scale filters which could be from camera or editing. This makes the audience see the characters world as depressing and dark. This is common in thrillers as they have dark and depressing themes. Throughout the sequence in both scenes they use low key lighting, such as fake natural lighting through the windows in the diner and grey scale filters which could be from camera or editing. This makes the audience see the characters world as depressing and dark. This is common in thrillers as they mostly have dark and depressing themes. The camera is still on the same one shot but has changed from long shot to mid close up to show his newspaper with the articles which are important.

The first film was an interesting example of the other movies analysis, which are laid out more like essays. They all mostly have repeating themes except for "Gone baby Gone" and "Trespass", I would recommend looking at these two as they have very different opening sequences to the first three movies.

The 2^nd film is ‘The next three days’.

Sound

Unlike in the last movie there is non-diegetic music playing throughout the first 2 minutes sequence. The music is slow and eerie and makes the audience tense. At the same time there diegetic sound which is a man whispering “Help, I can’t breathe” multiple times over 30-40 seconds. The voice is off screen and we have not seen the man in the film yet. The audience will be asking the question “what has just happened?” There is more diegetic sounds effects such as the cars brakes but the music drowns out most of the background noise. Near the end of this sequence the music builds up and the completely drops off to show the audience that there is a new scene starting.

Editing

The first scene keeps getting interrupted by the opening credits making the scene seem longer. The first shot is around 30 seconds if you include the titles which have the sound still rolling, which makes the shot extremely long. The next scene has cuts for continuity and match on action which get shorter when the argument is building.

Mise en scene

In the first scene we see the use of make-up showing blood covering the face of the protagonist. This shows the audience that he was the murderer. The characters facial expression and body language also show that he is panicking when the voice goes quiet suggesting the death of the man. A repeating theme of thrillers is the movie setting at night to hide character to ask the audience ask more questions. This will be thought about in our project when we are in the process of making planning it. In the next scene, in the restaurant, the costumes of the characters suggest that they are two couples meeting as maybe a double date, such as the woman walking’s dress.

Camera work

The first scene the camera seems to be on an anti shake stand in the back seat of the car, I say this because the car is jumping around a lot. However this could be a stagnated car with green screens surrounding it. The camera is an extreme close up of the man’s face. Close ups are also very much repeating in the first parts of thriller movies. In the next scene the camera tracks the women on a mid-shot to long shot which sets helps set the scene for the audience. I have noticed in these movies that they make the audience have many unanswered question at the beginning however they give them the setting as solid information to where the characters are.

 

3^rd film – The Double

Sound

In this sequence there are multiple Mexicans whom seem to be illegally immigrating into the US. There is diegetic tense music playing throughout the scene. There is off screen diegetic foley sounds such as footsteps on and pans in their bag with rattling metal. The music gets more intense when they come across an abandoned car and the leader opens the back to find a body a new sound is added to the music which sound very high pitched. This makes the audience wonder what’s happened and what will happen to the characters.

Editing

The pace of the sequence is well balanced at round 4 seconds per shot, this means that the scene is a normal smooth pace. A repeating occurrence in thriller films is that only cuts are used in the first 2 mins unless there is overlays such as whole screen credits. This occurrence appears in this movie as well, this is mainly because of continuity.

Mise en scene

Costume, hair and make-up has played a huge part in this movies 2 minute opening. These along with the setting helps us understand what is going on this opening (Mexicans crossing the border to US). The three key points of mise en scene show us the stereotypical Americanized Mexicans who have dirty thick clothes, sombreros, straw hats and huge broken hiking back packs. The makeup and hair make the characters seem dirty themselves and have no way of cleaning themselves. This with the setting of the Senora desert in Mexico shows they are going over the border to America.

The next part of mise en scene to look at is facial expression and body language. The characters facial expressions all look fearful and like they are in big danger (Which they are). This makes the audience try puzzle together what they are scared of. Their body language however shows strength and support to one another as they are helping each other walk and climb to the border as a team. This shows the audience that the characters are strong, determined and scared, which was also the case in ‘The Next Three Days’.

Camera

The camera is using a range of close up shots to be able to get the characters facial expressions and focused body language such as someone pulling someone else up the hill. This is to show emotion from and between the characters to the audience which gives the audience the question of what the characters are fearing. However each shot is restricting as there are only close ups of certain characters, which makes the audience find it hard to work out what’s going on too quickly as it is the biggest question at the time.

When the characters find the dead body in the back of a truck the camera is zoomed on their faces and zooms out to a mid-shot with the body in the shot making the audience ask the next round of questions.

4^th film - Gone baby gone

Sound

Sound is very important in the beginning of this movie. Firstly the protagonist is narrating the city and the community after establishing shots of the city. This narration is carried through the whole 2 minute opening sequence and is over laying non-diegetic music. There is also very limited diegetic sound such as cars and trains but they are almost unnoticeable. This opening is very different compared all the others so far. The rest were dark and making the audience ask questions, this is fairly peaceful and having all the answers before the questions, such as location.

Editing

This opening is very slow paced making the audience feel at peace and on a ‘lean back’ viewing approach without any tension. The movie uses dissolve as well as cuts for its shots throughout the sequence. This is a very different opening than we have previously seen.

Mise en scene

Costume, hair and makeup also play a part in the opening of this sequence. This time is to show the poor families in a rough part of Boston. This helps with the establishing shots to show how the audience what the neighborhood (setting) is like.

The next bit is big props such as cars, buses and even a train. These are all used to show the busyness of the city showing that they live on a train track and main road.

The final part is lighting and colour, there’s lots of it. In the other thrillers we have seen off coloured and dark openings but this is based at sunset with 'orangey' yellow lighting making colours really ‘pop’ on the screen while having really good lighting.  

Camera work

As I have previously talked about in the other areas there is lots about establishing shots, as the entire 2 minutes are establishing the setting. This is strange as it does not make the audience ask questions about the characters and film. Instead is giving them information; location, time of day, protagonist. There are however close ups as well but are still establishing the characters such as the screenshot.

The camera does extreme long shots and wide shots which do not restrict the view of the audience unlike previous movies where they had very restricting close ups and maximum distance of mid shot.

5^th film - Trespass

Sound

The sound in the movie has diegetic sounds of the protagonist speaking down the phone, who we cannot see and the sounds of him throttling his Porsche. This is drained out with the dark fast paced music over the top which is non- diegetic and contrapuntal to the sequence.

When he stops the car the music fades out as he is now saying important information to the story. In the next scene of his daughter and wife, there is only diegetic sounds with good examples of foley footsteps of the daughter. This again is because the characters are saying information to the plot.

Editing

I had noticed that the 180 degree rule was broken in the talk between the mother and daughter however it did not brake continuity as it does not confuse the audience and would be completely unnoticeable by an audience who are just watching the movie for entertainment. There are very good examples of shot/ reverse shot in the sequence with 5 shots showing it.

Mise en scene

Lighting and colour are very similar to ‘Gone baby gone’ where by the scene is very bright but with mixed orangey yellow from the sunset effect. This is completely different from how the music is, making it contrapuntal. This suggests to the audience that something bad is going to happen and gives us an unrestricted perspective of the movie.

The props and setting also give the audience the knowledge that this family is very wealthy, Porsche, mansion, gardener(s). This is fairly different to other analysed thrillers with the audience usually seeing poor characters or criminals (or crime fighters) in these movies as the protagonist, showing it can be based on any story or characters.

Camera

The camera work in the first scenes of the Porsche driving through the forest are extreme long shots from a helicopter as establishing shots. However these do not give much information; you cannot see the protagonist, it could be set anywhere in America. After the protagonist stops his car you can see his facial expressions showing stress by having a dolly along his car to his face with a close up.

I know its long but thank you for reading it, it took a lot of time. Please follow our blog and I hope you have a good day!