The Secret Window

WRITE UP AN ANALYSIS OF THE OPENING SEQUENCE TO 'THE SECRET WINDOW' PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO HOW IT ATTRACTS AND AUDIENCE

Today, I am going to analyse the opening of 'the secret window' using camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. The film,'The Secret Window', is a psychological thriller directed and written by David Koepp. 

In the opening sequence we see the main character, Mort Rainy (played by jonny depp) sat in a car looking annoyed, yet very focused. Throughout this scene the camera does not move from the close up and stays focused on Depps facial expression, which also does not move. This draws the audience in to what Depps character may be feeling at that moment. The camera moves ever so slightly, still focusing on Depp, but it reveals his hand which shows a wedding ring. This suggests to the audience that something may of happened within his marriage which would explain his facial expression. 

Eventually, the car reverses with speed, leaving the camera behind, forming the establishing shot of the motel.The speed at which the car is reversed at shows Depps characters reckless state of mind. His car reverses and he drives towards the motel. 

He then enters into the reception which is shown through a medium shot, which from this shot, exposes the whole of the reception. We then see Depps character looking frantically across the desk at the keys for the rooms. We then see Depp reaching and grabbing at a set. The medium shot of Depp grabbing the keys, once again show his reckless state of mind. 

The scene then pans out from the reception and towards one of the motel rooms, where Depps character barges into. There is then a medium shot of the bed in the room of a man and a women, which suggests that this may possibly be his wife. 

The film opens on a black screen which displays loud thudding sound bridge, which at first could be mistaken for a heart beat. It is then shown within the establishing shot that it is in fact wiper blades from a car. We hear a voice speaking within the opening sequence, but Depps character is not actually talking. 
'TURN THE CAR AROUND AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, RIGHT NOW'
This then suggests that it is in fact the characters own thoughts speaking to him. This makes the audience curious as to what is happening, but also reinforces Depps characters unstable state of mind. Depp then ignores his own advice and We then hear the digetic sound of the car reversing and moving against the road, which represents the main characters out of control behaviour. Once Depps character enters the motel bedroom, we hear muffled distorted sounds and the shouting between the characters can just about be heard. I believe that this is to represent Depps characters mental state and his lack of control of his anger.

Throughout the opening sequence, mise-en-scene is very important. The first shot is of Depp in a car, which is in the dark, which could be a way to represent the darkness lurking over the main character. Within the establishing shot, we are able to distinguish two features. One of which is that it is night time, and is set in winter. This again, could represent the darkness of the character,but also the coldness of him too. The second feature is of the Motel sign, which is lit up in the colour red. The colour red may be used to show the danger that may occur in the next few scenes or within the rest of the film. We later see that the colour red is also used on the motel doors, which could be used to show the danger that may be behind them. This then puts the audience on edge as to what may happen.

Within the editing aspect of the sequence, the length of shots are unusually. The first shot we see lasts for over a minute. But then as the sequence moves on the editing becomes more fast paced and the shots become shorter, creating tension.

Overall, the opening sequence builds tension and entices the audience to find out more about what is happening. 

survey monkey analysis

to get a better understanding of what people like in a thriller film I created a syrvey on survey monkey where I asked different questions about a thriller.

below you are able to see my results. 

The first question I asked was 'what is your age?' I asked this to get a better understanding of what the age group may be when I make my thriller film. from my survey i was bale to see that 90% were ages 13-18 and the remaining 10% is aged 19-24. these results are important as i am able to see and think about who my target audience may be and how to make it appealing for them. 

I then went on to ask them what their gender is. I asked this so I would be able to get a better understanding at who may watch the thriller opening we create. From my sirvey I was able to see that 50% were female and the other 50% were male. Due to these results I know that I will be aiming my thriller at both males and females. 

The third question I asked was what their favourite sub genre of a thriller is. From this I was able to see that 20% of them chose conspiracy thriller as their favourite. 30% chose crime thriller as their favourite. 30% chose horror thriller as their favourite. 10% chose comedy as their favourite and 10% chose supernatural. due to these results I will base my thriller opening around either a crime thriller or a horror. I will most likely pick crime thriller as i find this would be the easiest to come up with ideas for. 

I then went on to ask what they think the most effective features are of a thriller. 10% said music, 30% said actors/actresses, 40% said mise-en-scene, 10% said opening titles and 10% said camera shots. From these results, I am able to see that the most effective feature that my audience prefer is mise-en-scene. Therefor I will make sure the mise-en-scene of my thriller is well chosen and symbolises a thriller.

I then asked what they think the most appropriate colour is for a thriller. 30% said grey, 30% said white, 20% said black, 10% said red and the remaining 10% said purple. From these I am able to see that the majority said white, grey and black. Due to these results, we will make sure too use these colours in our title to ensure it stands out. 

For this question i asked what the think would be the most effective in a thriller. for some reason one person skipped the question, but these are the results from the 9 who did answer. 11.11% said kidnapping, 33.33% said murder, 11.11% said chase scenes and the remaining 44.44& said psychological. From these I am able to see that the majority think a murder or a psychological scene would be the most effective in a thriller, there for we will base our thriller around one of these.

The last question I asked was whether or not they think an intense opening is important or not in a thriller. 90% said yes and the remaining 10% said no. From these I am able to see that the majority do think it is important for a thriller to have an intense opening. We will take this into consideration when filming out opening, we will ensure we have an intense opening. in my opinion, I think it is important to have an intense opening as it intrigues the audience to find out more about the film.

These results are very helpful as they have helped me get a better understanding of what my target audience will want to see in my thriller opening. I will take these into consideration when discussing to my group what to do for our opening.

Analysis of Existing A level media thrilllers

CAPTIVE - AS MEDIA OPENING




The opening of this film starts of with an establishing shot of the main character tied up, which immediately links it to the title 'CAPTIVE'.
Throughout the opening there is digetic sounds which are of the main character breathing heavily and the sound of water dripping. The use of these digetic sounds adds tension to the opening. There is also the use of non-digetic sounds which are of a high pitched string instrument, once again adding to the tension of the opening.
The film uses a range of shots, but close ups are the most used. The use of the close ups used within the fast paced editing draws the audience in to find out more. They also create suspense as to what has happened to the main character.
From watching this film, it is clear that a lot of money and time has been put in to produce this film to make it as real as possible. 

EXCEMPTION - AS MEDIA OPENING





The opening of this film consists of a montage of shots of E.C.U, P.O.V and C.U. These are all shown with the digetic sound of a boy/boys breathing heavily, which suggests that something has happened and they are in fear. The shots used are very shaky, which links into the heavy breathing which is also shaky. 
The beginning of the film is very slow and the story line is not very clear. They then use fast paced editing when they two main characters run away from their supposed kidnapper after stabbing him in the leg with a pen. I think where they placed their fast paced editing was a good choice as it ties in them running away. It also creates tension and draws in the audience to want to know if they get away or not.