Explain how camera work and sound are used to establish the situation and the characters in the opening 2 minutes of the thriller ‘The usual suspects’ and how the film intrigues it’s audience.
In the opening two minutes of ‘The Usual Suspects’ the first shot is an eyelevel shot, close up, this close up of the matches brings the audience into the action to what’s happening, which makes them feel more involved as the film begins. The sound of the matches being stricked is diegetic as its from a source from the film. A cut is used in the following shot to show the audience the first character in the scene and that it was him who had lit the matches. The camera tilts up towards the characters face to show he’s lighting a cigarette. A following cut is used to show the trickling of water from the barrels, the sound from the water is quite loud compared to the flow of the water coming from the barrels.
In the following shot the male character is poisoned in the middle of the frame, at the medium close up at eyelevel to show the characters actions, this helps to build suspense and intrigues the audience as we don’t know what the character is lighting.
A close up is used in the following shot to show the barrels again, this shot is also the first real shot were the audience can see the location and the situation the male character Is in, the audience can see he doesn’t seem to be worried or scared even though his situation seems to be in a pretty remote lonely place. The camera movement tilts down towards the ground and pauses at the ground for a few seconds. The next shot is the male character sitting on the floor looking slightly bewildered or that he’s just given up with what ever it was he was trying to do, this is shown as he drops he’s match onto the floor and just watches it to show that he doesn’t care anymore. The shot is a medium shot at eyelevel, as the flames ignite on the floor the camera movement follows the fames by panning to the right. The sound of the flames is diegetic but it could also be off screen diegetic as the sound could have been created off screen. In the next shot the audience can see a dead man lying on the ground, at this point the audience realises that the characters situation isn’t right, as he doesn’t seem to be bothered about the dead man at all. This scene also intrigues the audience as we don’t know what has happened to the man, or who killed him or what both men are even doing in this location. This shot is a low angled shot, the low angle allows the audience to see the situation that the dead character may of got himself into although we don’t know if the first male character killed him or if he was already dead this shot also allows the audience to their own interpretation of what’s happened as there is no dialogue to explain what’s happened. The next shot shows the camera tilt down towards the flames and shows the audience that someone from above is trying to put out the fire. This intrigues the audience as their not sure if someone’s trying to help the first male character or not.
The flames sound like a crackling log fire; this may be because the sound effect has been added in after making it off screen diegetic.
In the next shot the camera tilts up slowly to where the water is coming from, and suddenly the audience realises the second male character isn’t trying to put out the fire but infact urinating from above. Again the camera tilts up towards the second character, as the camera reaches him, music begins this is non diegetic sound as the characters can’t hear it. The sudden involvement of music shows the second characters importance; it also adds tension as the audiences know something’s going to happen now that this mystery character is in the scene. A cut is used and the next shot is of the first male character, the shot is a medium close up and the audience can see from his facial expression that this new male character isn’t here to help the man. The first male character looks down at the floor as if he’s disappointed, the soundtrack used is parallel to the actions, but non diegetic, the soundtrack adds a sense of danger and disappointment, which allows the audience to suspect something bad is going to happen before it does.
As the second male character walks down the metal steps the sound is diegetic as the character can hear his footsteps. The camera slowly tilts back down to the ground, the shot is a mid-close up of some rope and the audience can just see the man’s feet walking towards the camera at a low angle. The next shot cuts to just the man’s feet and the audience watch him walk out of the frame, this is shot at a low angle to show the characters importance and mystery as he walks towards the first character. This shot also establishes the second man’s character as he walks straight past the dead man on the ground and doesn’t even ask the first man what happened or anything about the dead man, he just walks straight past as if he wasn’t there. This shows the audience he’s used to this type of situation and that he’s not afraid this also intrigues the audience as to what type of man he is and what he’s going to do next.
In the following shot is a medium shot at eyelevel, the camera stays fixated on the first character for a few seconds. A cut is used and the next shot is a close up of the second characters hand as he flicks his lighter up and on, this sound is off screen diegetic. as the man brings his hand towards his face the camera cuts to the first male again so that the audience still doesn’t see his face keeping him the mystery character so that no one knows what’s going to happen next. This shot is the first shot with dialogue, it’s one minute and thirteen seconds into the film, this has kept the audience intrigued and guessing throughout the begging on the film. Shot reverse shot is used as the camera goes back and fourth to each character as they engage in conversation. The audience still cant see the second characters face, you can just see him flicking his lighter off. The next shot is at eyelevel and a medium shot. The second male character is also in the frame, but only his shadowy outline, and the vague outline of a gun. At this point the audience and the first character knows something bad is going to happen and his situation doesn’t look good. As the first character looks up the camera pan’s to the right at the second male and the audience see’s him look at his watch at eyelevel. The next shot is a low angle shot as the man switches the gun from one hand to the other, the camera tilts back up to the second male character as he points the gun at the other character, the shot is a medium close up, and the soundtrack seems to build suspense and tension as it gets louder. A cut is used and the audience doesn’t seem the man get shot but they know he has been through the music and the lack of no camera movement, is a long shot and just focused on the outside location the first gun shot is heard, it’s on screen diegetic. As the second gun shot is heard a different part of their location is shown, at a medium shot at eyelevel. The soundtrack also changes and almost sounds sad from the use of violins which is a contrast from earlier when the soundtrack created tension and made the audience wonder what was going to happen next.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t6msq8mgdnE
Posted By Jo White. 25/01/09
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