The opening sequence of this movie begins with a black background with white writing, this represents the hope of the entire film. There is hope throughout as we see as an audience which is reflected in the first few seconds. It begins with an establishing shot of an isolated hut, this isn’t the main setting of the film but begins the plot to come. We know that this is an opening sequence as there are credits throughout the opening. There is music playing from a car radio and it is operatic and serene and sounds very sad and depressing like the mood. There is a range of shots to show the development of the scene and gives the audience hints of what is about to happen. The lighting is dark and it is dark establishing that it is at night and that the people don’t want to be disturbed. The hook of the opening sequence is the murder that takes place, is it who we think? Or is that too obvious for the audience? There is cross cutting between the court room and the event that takes place, it keeps our attention on the sequence and we as an audience do not get bored. The opening continues and is quite dramatic, we are drawn in as an audience.
The first thing I realised after watching the clip was its very clever use of flashbacks and the way that makes use of after effects to separate the two,(Present tense and past tense) they do this by mainly 3 techniques, these are some of the techniques I will now be analysing.
Firstly, lighting, most of the whole opening section of the film, is in low key lighting, which creates dark shadows that darken the mood and add mystery to the scene. Uplighting is used to distort the mans face using on light from below the actor: creating shadows which distort his face and highlighting his expression. During the court room scene the overall lighting is grey and somewhat colourless.
Further to this when the lovers enter the cabin the filter is yellow adding the sense of past tension within the scene and on entrance both male and female have silhouette and low key lighting is used once again but to add a sense of passion.
Secondly, camera work, this is also very complex and clever firstly, it makes use of reflections, a common conventions of thrillers, which is quite disorientating. There are alot of close ups and extreme close ups in this scene, and some shots are in between medium and close up, mostly when he is getting out of the car, the particular shot just after he gets out of the car is a dominant medium shot, making him look very powerful and dangerous. Tracking is used frequently during the court scene to put emphasis on the persecutions authority and to highlight the intimidation. We could use this technique in our short film when the antagonist is on screen, making him also look powerful and dangerous.
The way the "flashbacks" are separated from the present tense, are the fact that in all the flashbacks, the shots have a yellow filter on them, making them look very vintage and old, they also have music playing, (The title sequence music) as if it is on a record player as you can hear the crackles of it. I feel this was very clever, and if we were to use flashbacks in our piece we would most likely use a similar technique.
Furthermore, mise en scene, they're are props like drink, the bullets, the hammer in the court case, even the womans red dress and jacket she wore, red connotes passion, intense, blood, love, lust, i feel this was particularly chosen also to emphasise the love, lust, and passion in the scene, i feel this was very clever.
In addition the film is edited very slow; which makes the viewer pay attention to detail and also during the court scene makes the viewer experience the pressure that the male is under. The font used for credits and titles, is very 1950's setting the scene, also it is much like bars and fences, like a prison or prison bars, it is quite formal, and very masculine.
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