Thriller Research - Natalie Sergeant (Silence of the Lambs, Sin City, Pulp Fiction & Taken)

Silence of the Lambs
Mise en scene

• With the setting being placed in a forest is already gives the audience a bad vibe. Forest are usually seen as associated place where most murder and violent happenings. This sets the scene for the audience to think that something is going to happen and also to think that this character is a victim and not the protagonist. The forest implies more tension with the fog adding to the atmosphere making it harder to see and connects to the audiences confusion. 

• The female character doesn't follow with stereotype's such as when we see a creepy forest it is seen that they are running for the lives but in this shot she is represented as a strong woman how can defend her self. This is seen due to her clothing because of her wearing running clothing, showing her not in typical femininity. 

Camerawork 

• For our first shot in the opening we have an establishing shot, where all we see is trees, we are stuck in the establishing shot for about 16 seconds before tracking and tilting the camera to see the character appearing. This whole shot take up to 1 minute due to how slow the camera movement is creating an eerie atmosphere of not knowing what is coming up the hill.
• The opening consist of rear, frontal and side tracking to follow the moment of the female character through the assault course. This tacking lets us feel as if we can be someone watching her and following her when we become to rear view and then when frontal appear we get tension that something may appear in the background a chase her. 

Editing

• In the sequence mainly used are long shots as the first shot takes up to 1 minute, then the next being 20 seconds. This matches with the slow pace of the music but when music starts to pick up pace so does the shot becoming around 6 seconds long increasing the tension more.

Sound

• The non-diegetic sound of the orchestral music in the background starts of at a relaxing pace before we meet the character. Though the deeper the character goes the more the music's pace quickens to imply something bad is going to happen causing suspense to the situation.
• Diegetic sound can first be heard in the woods of birds a crickets. These sound add tension as it makes the audience scene that she may be far from others and is alone in the woods creating a large empty place.  

Characterization

• From the opening sequence we have not much to go by on information about his character that we meet. We guess that this character must be a part of the plot of the movie as we focus on he for a long period of time. Thought from the little information the we receive can see her as the protagonist as she is seen as a FIB student, implying she is good. The audience can also see that she is hard working from all the effort she is putting into the work out and is not giving up.

Narrative

• This opening can be classed under Todorov's Theory as the equilibrium allows the audience to know that the character is in  a dark forest alone. This creates enigma code as we do not know what's going to happen to her and we feel that she might be in danger. The Disruption is when the male comes up behind the characters, as the audience you become worried he may be dangerous but when he tells her to see that captain this creates more enigma as we don't know what she is being sent about. Though later we know that the man is the disruption as he sends her to find out about her case that stats the movie and where her the protagonist will go into the third stage in fighting back.

Sin City
Mise en scene

• The first thing we can spot is our female character she stands out the most due to her symbolic colour of red from her dress and lip. This is as red can represent passion or danger, and through the sequence we see both of these things reflected. Also her green eyes can represent envy as one of the deadly sins and forbore the future. The red is made more prone by to the desecration colour of the setting.

• The sequence has been made black and white this could be used to create a comic book feel as it is based of one but also with the use of low key lighting in the begging creates a cold atmosphere with darkness and no light, due to this we see the woman as weak and in a saddening state as she has not much light to show her. Though 16 second the lighting is changed to high key introducing use to the second character, incarcerating he could be there to bring happiness to the woman. 
• From the clothing we can see both characters reflect elegance and higher status as the male dears his hair slicked back and a black suit, where the woman has a low cut dress. When comparing both he seems to be a more power figure due to how he is purely dark, representing evil, where to woman is more seen as vulnerable.

• We have a use of 'pathetic fallacy' later into the sequence where the man starts to offer help, the weather changes to rain and thunder. This moves with the change of atmosphere becoming more romantic, but it also show a way of how the woman is being fooled and deceived by the man as we later find out. Due to it raining at a romantic moment we get a feeling that something is not right.

Camerawork 

• A close up used is of her face and eyes, when the male offers her a smoke. We can see her facial expression of fear as her eyes light up to the green colour that we had not seen before. By seeing the fear in her eyes we know how desperate her situation is. 

• Near the end a close up is used after the couple has kissed. This restricts our view from seeing the lower part of their body so when the woman is shot it is a surprise to the audience because we couldn't see it coming the only way that we know that she has been shot is from the sound and how she becomes limp. Only after shes shot do we see the gun come into the shot. This shot restrict the narration as we didn't expect for this.

• As the male character slowly sets the female on the ground the camera stats tilting downwards showing how he is a professional and that he is doing it with grace and that this doesn't farce him, also could show that he had some feelings toward the woman. 

Editing 

• In the sequence mainly used are straight cuts and long takes. This is so the conversation stays as a continues. By doing this it allows for the people to understand what is happening and to be able to follow with the conversation. From these cuts we can see the emotions of the characters more clearly and see the tension in the air. 

• When the two characters a kissing a long shot is used to show both characters body. In this shot a cartoon effect is created as the background is a black except for the white windows and the characters are fully bright white so stand out from the background. The whole sequence would of been done on a green screen as also the background of the opening is CG I building as seen in this video "Green screen".

Sound

• Diegetic sounds that are heard is the police sirens in the background when we are introduced in the begging, this will create tension as connect the sirens as danger or something bad is happening, that for bore's future events. Also another diegetic sound we hear is the gunshot, the use of the sound is the only way that we, the audience, can fully understand what has happened the female character due to the quick and sudden sound it surprise the audience as we not expecting it.
• Non-diegetic sound use at the beginning is a low saxophone playing with a voice-over that we can connect to being the male character. The voice being place over emphasizes the coldness and loneliness of the shots. At the end dramatic piano music played to build up suspense. All of these non diegetic sounds give a very old time feel to the setting such as the type of music being used more connected to the 20's.

Characterization

• At first we see the male as a protagonist. The audience see's him as a hero as he wants to help the woman from what she is running away from and protect her. Only until late at the end of the sequence does this change and he becomes the antagonist when he kills the woman and we see that everything he was says was false.
• The woman presents femininity and sticks to woman stereotypes of being weak and needing a male to save her from danger. She has her femininity from the clothing that she is wearing, she has class and elegance due to her low cut dress. 

Narrative

• Sin City follows Todorov's Theory as the first stage is The Set Up, this is where we see the establishing shot of the woman and her surroundings of the building and the man coming to talk and being introduced. This then goes into the second stage where we see stage 2 start to form the Disruption, of him kissing the woman and then shooting her. Thought we do no have the other stages as that would stop there being the rest of the film but also to leave the audience wondering why he shoot her and if he did feel an emotions towards her.

Pulp Fiction
Mise en scene

• The scene is set in a American diner with a relaxed atmosphere. We can tell from some of the shots that the place is mostly full, with a friendly type of setting. Due to this we don't feel like anything would go wrong in this normal setting but are slightly on edge because of how our two character are acting.
• From the body language we can see the both character are very laid back as the male has his feet up on the chair and the woman at one point lounges on the table. This laid back attitude doesn't matches their serious conversation and there attitude to it can make the audience feel uneasy.

• Their clothing is also very laid back. The male has jeans, t-shit and a Hawaii shirt. The woman has a simple purple every day top and a skirt, her make up is very simple, when comparing to Sin City, where that character has red lipstick to increase her beauty, where in this film we keep to a simplistic view. 
• The main prop at the end being the gun, is the final piece to our puzzle of these two characters and is completely of out of place with the other props helping to set the scene and are known to be placed there. When following these two's conversation we feel that they are robbers but there is a sight of being unstable. When the male character places the gun on the counter do we fully know what is going to happen and it's quite a spontaneous decision.

Camerawork 

• Through the sequence shot reverse shot is used through out the conversation. There is a mixture of medium shots and close ups so we can see the characters reactions as well as get a small understanding of the surrounding of their location. We also have over the shoulder shot over the man so that we can see the woman's reactions for what he is saying.

Editing 

• Similar to Sin City jump cuts have been used to keep continuity of the conversation. This is so that we can follow all of the detail that needs to fill in the narration of the story or of the scene. Though a difference between them is that Sin City will have shots, where Pulp Fiction has short fast paced cuts going with how the character personalities, getting "pumped up" to do something.

• Near the end a freeze frame is used at the end to cut of the sequence and for the next scene to start.

Sound

• Most of opening is only diegetic sound of the conversation between the two people. We can hear people talking, and plates being moved to give us a scene of how busy the place is so that in future shots this knowledge is with us. We can also hear the sound of a radio quietly being played in the background, it's a happy and soothing melody that is quite strange and out of place to the conversation our two characters are having. Due to having only diegetic sounds it makes us stay more concentrated on the conversation as the conversation holds the key for what is going to happen. 
• When the couple start the heist the radio quiets down and then the shot freezes to then play up beat, "surfing" style music, that is quiet comical due to it being so unexpected.

Characterization

• From the start we just see a couple talking and enjoying coffee having an conversation. Through the conversation we find that both character are antagonist due to being robbers. 
• From the conversation we can see that the man has a more dominate control of the relationship as they will do what he says and she will follow sticking with stereotype views. 
• We as the audience can also see a strangeness to how the woman reacts due to her staring at the waitress and her over the top emotions. This makes her look unstable and could cause some problems and danger.

Narrative

• The narrative for Pulp Fiction's opening looks like it is in chronological order due to all of the shots being consist and in a flow, thought the order is non-chronological due to the next sequences has it go back in time to the same moment that the first sequence started but instead following a new character until the end of sequence one and sequence two then meet. This creates dramatic irony as we our now acquainted with both groups of characters that don't know each other so we know that the couple is in the business of robing and the men are hit men. It creates and enigma code because we know this information about each of these characters and we question how are they going to interact with each other and will one kill the other as we know a bit about their backgrounds.

Taken
Mise en scene

• From the surroundings we can see a family home environment and being in the kitchen. From Iconography, focusing on the cake we can tell that it is the young girls birthday. Also from all of the props around such as the birthday hat we can tell that this is the little girls birthday. This all gives the audience a relaxing feel as we don't feel like anything will happen in this happy environment.

• Another Iconography is the toy horse and the picture-frame. From these two props we can make the connection that the little girl is the one in the frame and that make us suspect that she is his daughter. Due to the events of the old film and the picture we have a feeling that the victim shall be the girl due to we see the emotional connect between the two characters.

• High key contrast lighting has been used to help with the feel of an old video player. This is the same as the desiderated colours, of all the colours being brighter, increasing this scene of a very old video due to it being such bad quality and worn out. After the video Low key lighting is used to show the time and uneasiness from this happy environment to this dull cold one.
• We stay fully focused on the little girl through most of the opening. We can tell that the girl is happy and excited from her body language. Helping to create a uneasy feeling as it sounds and desaturation, distort this happy body language to worry the audience. 

Camerawork 

• Wide shots are use to create unrestricted narration so that we can tell that this is an event for the little girl and also so that we can tell that it is a home made video. Another way to justify this is by how the camera is hand held for realism, as a normal camera would not be steady and would shake due to an unprofessional using it, this effect is created in the same way by moving all over the place, creating a distortion to the audience due to the quick movements. Through this we also get a pov shot as we see the video as how someone ells would with it being static. 
• We mainly stick on a mid close up so see the reactions of the child. This would stay true to home video, of a parent wanting to see their child's reaction. This makes us see the strong connection between the family and we the audience start to make our own emotional connections towards the family. 

 

• Mid close up is also used on the male character that we meet to see him waking up. From this we pan to him placing down the frame to see the connection between the two and the love between the characters. Due to all this we have a scenes of foreboding to happen to the girl. 

Editing 

• Unlike the other openings that I have looked and they all have a continuous flow. This however has discontinuity editing by using jump cuts that disrupt the sequence creating a unsettling mood due to it jumping so fast and changing we are not sure what is about to happen next. The cuts are also fast phase worrying the viewer for something bad to happen.
• Through the video at the beginning there is an static overlay. This edit makes the audience understand that this is a old video. Due to the static it helps to distort the image and can make it uneasy feel.

Sound

• At the start we have no music just sounds of a video static sound and plates being moved, this silence starts to create a uneasy feel, to which we hear continuous laughter, we gather that the laughter is coming from the child but it doesn't match with the video, creating a distorted feel as we can not make a connection. The diegetic sounds carry on from mumbling of voices, again that we guess is the mothers but due to not understanding what is being said can be uncomfortable. Other child like sounds are created as well to have this creepy innocents.
• The music is soft piano playing the pace is slow and saddening compared to the images being shown. The music also fades in with the diegetic sound and almost just blends in. This is until it is quickly cut of to silence when the video is stopped. 

Characterization

• From these scene we can not tell much about the characters. We see the child as feminine due to her joy of horse and being surrounded by pink. We also see a shelter life with her mother placing a protecting are around her and her father holding onto her image while asleep. 
• We can also tell that the father had a strong love towards his child due to the video being so focused on the child's reaction, as well and when she is older we see him love-ling looking and the image and delectably placing it down. We have a feeling of closeness and forbearing that something is going to happen to this strong relation ship.

Narrative

• The narrative for Taken is an enigma cod as the audience doesn't have much information about the situation and question what is going to happen to this girl. This creates restricted narration as there is not establishing shot to set us in a place, only old videos that we know that someone is watching.