Usual Suspects is an action crime thriller which can easily be mistaken for a horror in the short clip given because we see blood and gore. Although it is easily mistaken it is a thriller, we can see this for several reasons. We are introduced to two different characters in the first scene, although the lighting is dark we are just able to see the first character is dressed in dark clothes and it is visible he is smoking a cigarette as a prop which could stereotypically mean that he is not a good character. This character then goes on to light a flame on a flammable liquid on the floor without the audience having any idea why making it very interesting to watch. The next character introduced to us we are unable to know his identity because his face is never revealed which creates suspense and mystery, because we cannot see his face it means that we cannot compare the two characters on who could be the more important and powerful.
The next few shots after the two mystery characters come together compare the two, we see the man without his face being shown stood over the man who's face was revealed and at a really high angle to make him seem much smaller.
When the two characters start exchanging dialogue we are still restricted in our knowledge about what has happened to the dead man laying on the floor and also their relationship and how they came to know each other as the more high status man called the other male character "son" implying they must have been somehow relatively close whether sarcasm or not. When they start speaking the shots begin to slow down so the different cuts are fewer. When the man without his face being shown pulls out a gun on the other character we still have had no information on what has happened before this also reveals this film is a thriller with the constant confusion and mystery. The whole time the characters are speaking there is a constant orange-yellow light in the background from the fire which we are - again unown as two why the place was set on fire. When the more dominant male character shoots the other the sound bridge is followed by two different cuts which still has the diegetic on screen sound of the gun. After this there are five more shots followed revealing their location which is the most information given so far, during these shot transitions non-diegetic off screen music plays in the background, the instruments are the typical String group which gives us a low and sad effect that we can easily relate to the shots and assume as we see the other character run off that the other character is dead.
As the scene starts to come to a close we hear non-diegetic off screen police sirens which indicate authority, the scene then fades into an interview between a man and two police officers. Although we assume he is a bad character he is in an office and well dressed and obviously of some importance as there is a crest behind him. When this male character begins to speak we get an insight into what happened before the first scene started and gives us enough information to leave it on a cliff hanger.
Girl with the dragon tattoo
The scene starts with a fade and straight away shows the audience a package and a knife both props are distinctively shown as the lighting on the package is quite bright and hard which highlights it, the knife however has no light exposed to it so it is very easily made out, throughout the first few shots there is eerie non-diegetic off screen music playing.
When the shot cuts to the male character there isn't much light so we are unable to get a clear picture of him. He is an older man who is quite smartly wearing a dark jumper and tie for a costume, from what he looks like we cannot tell what kind of character he is whether he is good bad although the camera angle is a slightly low angle and the light is shining off his face we don't have enough evidence to say whether or not he is an important character.
When the character reaches out and gets the frame with the plant inside the shot cuts to a close up of the prop and more dramatic sad music comes on. Although we have no information on anything that's happened so far we can tell that this prop is clearly quite important for the story line and leaves many questions such as; who was it from? why has he got it? what significance has it got? Afterwards the shots cut to the man looking more closely at the frame and the camera tilts up to reveal the entire picture, during this sinister off-screen music comes on which almost sounds like it could be a foley of a creaky door.
After the scene of the man getting quite emotional a shot cuts to a picture of a woman in black and white and very delicately zooms in. This raises more questions on whether or not this was the woman who's plant this was, who she is, and what relationship do the two characters have. These points are exactly why we can understand that this particular movie is a thriller because within the first minute and twenty seconds so many questions have already been raised and not a single word of script has been spoken. The only information we have been given is that a man received a plant within a frame which has significance to him and that an unknown woman is involved in some way.
Afterwards the shot cuts to a group scene which is a medium close up of what seems like a woman but we are still unable to see the features of the character. The question is could this be the same character that was walking?
The last shot shown in this opening introduces us one last character of a man who doesn't seem of any important but his facial expressions seem curious and he looks worried, this leaves the audience on a mysterious note.
Transporter ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WUaDcmfgQc)
The scene starts with the camera tilting down to show a male character sat in a car, his window is up so there is a bright light reflection in front of his face hiding his eyes. The only part of the costume we can see is his shirt and tie implying he is of high status.
The shot then cuts of to show his prop which is a watch and here we can hear on-screen diegetic sounds of it's timer or alarm going off. Another shot then cuts to a close up showing the male character putting on black gloves, it also reveals more of his costume which we can see he is wearing a black tuxedo.
After a few more shots it cuts to an over the shoulder shot where the character is introduced to an attractive female character with long blonde hair and her facial expression seems kind and innocent with a huge smile on her face, her costume seems to look as if she is wearing a school or college uniform with cleavage showing she seems in her teens.
After exchanging some conversation which includes her asking for help with her car he clearly implies that he has an appointment, so far we don't know much about this character or what kind of appointment he could be speaking about. The shot then cuts to a close up of the male characters face and the female character hand holding a prop which is a gun to his head, although this is a tense moment his facial expression stays indifferent.
After stepping out of the car it then cuts to a group shot/ over the shoulder shot of a stereotypical black man holding a metal pole, we too don't know the identity of this character and what his motive is. A group of thugs all black and dressed in black then surround the main male character to fight him which the main character then asks them to wait whilst he takes his tux off, although the man is out numbered by many we get a sense of danger from him as he seems again indifferent, the angle of the shot is also low making the main the character seem big in a medium group shot. The lighting in the shot also quite clearly defines the girls hair, this could be to outline the fact that this character is out of place and it wasn't appropriate for her to be there. The only diegetic sounds we can hear is the echoing of the groups shouts.
The man then fights all the thugs and beats them all even when they have knives and poles as props the shot shown is a long shot and shows the surrounding of the man much clearer, it was filmed in a story car park and we see that he has put his entire costume back on and is stood next to his car which shows he is a wealthy man. Surrounding the scene are two men lying on the floor in pain and the girl runs away afterwards the man claims he is late. What makes this an obvious thriller film apart from an action film is because of the amount of questions raised and the amount of information given in two minutes. We meet a character who is able to fight a large group of thugs with weapons and afterwards is more concerned about an appointment which we know no information on.
The Birds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHh6bwuPShw)
The opening shot shows a woman in a medium close up at eye level, she is attractive and her facial expression shows her as a happy person. The woman is wearing a fur coat and she wears natural make-up, she seems of some kind of high status. Around her we can see she is on some kind of boat going across the sea as in her background we just see open water some land a distance away and a very cloudy sky. There is some light to highlight her face which makes her face very easy to see.
Another shot later and we hear on-screen diegetic sounds of flapping and a bird comes swooping down and attacks the woman, the camera does not track the bird but shows us the speed and power of it by keeping focused on the woman. The shot then cuts to a close up of the woman's hand and although she is wearing gloves we see blood on her finger, there is particular side lighting on her hand which shows to highlight the blood and gives the audience a sense of danger we can see it is side lighting due to the shadow on her hand. Although the woman has just been harmed the sound effects do not change to create any urgency or emotion which creates even more of an effect of mystery as to why the woman got attacked.
Now you see me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiPQmbEGeZk)
The scene cuts to the first shot straight away of a man holding a pack of cards and playing with them, with these props we assume that the character is going to do a magic trick, there is a sound bridge of his voice over the top of the action to show that he is in control.
From the next group shot of the male character who we know nothing about except that he looks like an orginary person who is talented with performing magic, we see him in a much higher status having lots of power in his position. After a few shots of the different characters we get a medium shot of a tall building revealing the card in which the girl guessed, in this shot we get a clear view of where abouts these characters are. It seems that the scene is in a busy city and it is night time which we can see from the dark sky, they may have used a steadicam to film this because it gives off the feel as if it were floating. It then cuts to a group shot of everyone almost at a birds eye view or very high angle and in the scene all their facial expressions seem amazed and they are all cheering but the male character who performed the tricks indifferent, he seems as if he is the odd one out.
Afterwards the shot changes and we get introduced to a different character who is completely separate from the character we first met. The first shot we see him he says the words "now sleep" and a woman falls in his arms. We can assume that this man too is some kind of magician although he does not look like one, he is nicely dressed with a short beige hat on with a friendly enough face, in this group shot we also see the woman's husband we can assume staring in disbelief.
The next shot we're given is an over the shoulder close up of the woman and the magician holding a dollar note, the camera editing here is very precise as it focus' more on the money and blurs the face of the woman and her surrounding. Here a slight bit of light is on the money to make it more interesting and bold.
After the magician starts to patronise and intimidate the woman's husband he decides to leave on the risk he'll be caught out cheating. In the group shot screen shotted we see the frustration in the husbands face and the confusion in the wives, we can tell that the characters of the husband and wife don't know much more about the character than we as an audience do as not much information has been given so far.
The last shot given is another commonly used cut of a figure standing in the rain at what seems like a cafe, the figure wears a black hoodie and we are unable to guess whether this character is a male or a female. Stereotypically we could assume this character is a bad character because of the hoodie. Although lot of people walk by no one looks at him nor he looks at them.
Jack Ryan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSajqPnfJB0)
When the scene first fades on we get a long shot at very high angle of a city. the camera almost pans around giving the audience a better view. The next shot cuts to a close up of a man with dark brown hair and his eyes closed lying on a field, the camera then zooms out and we see his surroundings more clearly and what seemed like he was lying on a field he was asleep on a very thin piece of wood, the background is blurred at first but becomes more focused when he wakes up, the editting could be about him waking up and slowly becoming more focused.
As he wakes up non diegetic off screen music starts playing, it sounds like string instruments building up a suspense moment.As the shots changing the camera ends up behind him tracking in a medium close up shot. In his surroundings it seems like he is at college or a school or a university with lots of people around him. The character then exchanges dialogue with a female character asking "what's going on", clearly insuating some event has happened that no one knows about yet. As he walks through to see the tv the camera tracks him and goes round people, even stopping at and over the shoulder shot. The lighting in this shot is very particularly bright on his face to show his features.
When he finds out the news the music gets a more eerie feel to it and the camera zooms in on his face. The transition into the next shot is a dissolve and we see a helicopter, here we get some information on the character who is speaking over the scene which gives us a feel that he is of some high status and could possibly be quite official. We learn his name and his job. Throughout the speech we see lots of different shots of the helicopter moving, we see extreme long shots of mountains. The next shot we see is a close up of a different male characters face, the camera crabs around him as if we should be paying attention to him, from their costumes we can see that they're with the army we can also tell from the props they have.
Well done Annie some good analysis on here a little descriptive in parts make sure you focus on how meaning is made for the viewer.
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