Analysis of the opening of 'The Machinist' 2004.

The film starts with a sound bridge, of a man groans, breathes,and sighs, which is almost sexual sounding, whilst on screen all we see is titles slowing fading in and out on a black background, this immediately disorientates the audience wondering what is going on as, these previous groans which were most likely assumed to be sexual by the audience are shown to be the groans of a man rolling up something in a carpet.There is use of music, which is mainly, once again consistent of violins and synths, the volume of this goes up and 

down parallel to the tension in the film.

• There was low key lighting
• Slow pace (only used 6-10 shots in the 2 minutes)
• Fade in with a sound bridge of a man struggling with someting
• relection of the city lights on the window which creates tension
• MCU and Close Ups
• Over the shoulder shots to show what he is doing
• Voyuerism and some of the shots seemed to be 'spying' on him and he doesn't know about it which creats suspension and more tension
• Sensory depriavtion- dpriving our sight which makes it scary
• You can tell he is an unhappy man by the way his clothes are untucked you would say that he had an office job and he was wearing a shirt
• He has cuts and bruses on his face
• Eyeline Match is used(This is when two people are having a conversation, you have to make sure that the eyeline match, no matter where the camera is.)
• The torch is reavled by paning
• Music- instruments
• sound effects- water running
• Reflections from the Mirror
• Mysterious sounds( grunting 'uh', sexual connatation which is intentional)

 

 

 

In the first scene (where we can just about make out that he is rolling up a body in a carpet), the camera makes use of another technique which is even more sensory deprivation, firstly the black screen although we can hear, and then when the visual fades in the cameras focus is on the window, and everything in the room, (the significant part of the shot), is blurred, disorientating the viewer.
 

Atmosphere of the opening is definitely reliant on the suspenseful tone of the music and as the piece continues it almost feels like that what we are watching is following what we are seeing like the opening has been cut to fit the music. For example the cuts between the approaching torch in the dark towards Christian Bale and Bale’s reaction happens during a wavy hum which stands out against the rest of the piece giving that scene a feel of panic and continues that feeling afterwards not with the hum but with an increased volume and tempo with the other instruments to keep up the tension as the body Bale kicks down the slope unravels itself during this time the cutting and editing still feels like it is following the audio as it increase speed much like the tempo of the music.

The atmosphere and mise-en-scene used in “The Machinist” is fairly common amongst other similar thrillers. It is a dark time of day so early morning or late at night alongside the dead wasteland like setting gives an ominous feel. The way Bale looks himself shows how edgy and paranoid he is with how he carelessly is wearing his clothes and how dirt covered he is especially his face. Bales truck like the setting itself appears old and rusted almost like the entire place is dying. 

The camera shots are very steady and contain little or no movement at all giving a sense of a false calm in the opening. Many of the shots are done from low or high angles. The camera shots also use voyeurism, this is a technique that makes it seem as if it is from the audiences perspective, as if they are spying on him, this is noticeable, once again in the first scene where it is shot from outside the window, and then when he is throwing the body into the water, we are almost "hiding" as many things  obscure our vision in the shot yet the main character can always be seen.The first 2 scenes are also establishing shots first of the character and second of the location. Going back to the end of the clip the identity of the body is not shown the audience only Bale’s reaction doing what thrillers do best and builds tension and intrigue.