Thriller opening- A history of violence

Thriller opening- A history of violence

The 2005 film; a history of violence was directed by David Cronenberg. The film begins with an equilibrium and then a problem which shows it used todorovs theory. The film consists of four main aspects: the editing, the camera work, the sound and the mise-en-scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WokcHt5UQ-M 

Editing

Firstly to start wit the editing cronenberg chose to have the opening scene to be slow paced with the scenes to be around 10-20 seconds long. this helps us analyse the characters and observe their personalities' slowly getting to know them. there was some cuts during the scene around 12 during a 5-7 minute film. the cuts were jump cuts however the scenery stayed the same during the cuts. the editing is long ans slow making us feel relaxed and calm.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene was quite simple during the opening of this film due to the surroundings. there was a blue car and 2 men. one man was smartly suited whereas the other was wearing casual clothes. They were in front of a motel which shows that they may have been staying there for a while or visiting someone there. the surrounding were very quite and the area was deserted, this shows us some mystery as if something is going to happen. this describes the film to begin with an enigma as we have no clue who these people are and what they are doing. The film indicates that the man in black is the boss as the other man moves over to the passenger seat in the car giving the man in black total control of driving.

Building up our suspense the opening of the film introduces its first thrill being the blood on the counter and a dead body. this scares us a little as it shows a sign of danger. we still do not know if the character is good or bad so we don't know if we want him to be safe. we then see the little girl with a doll in her hand which shows she is vulnerable, she also looks lost which can be a sign of loneliness, the man pull out his gun which deters us from believing he is a good person. we are worried for the child as to us she looks innocent and now the man looks like a murderer.

Camera

The camera work consisted of a medium shot of the smartly suited man giving us an overlook of the character and basing our judgement on him from how he looks. the camera focused on the characters mainly during the opening scene giving us information about them. the camera doesn't change view while the men are in the car making us worry about what is happening around them as if they're hiding something. however when the man comes out of the car there is a close up of him as we wonder where he is going to go.

Then when we enter the motel we have a close up of the man to show his reaction when he enters the room. the camera then focuses on the blood and the dead body, showing that he may have something to do with it. There is s low angle shot of the man telling us that he is in power. then a medium shot of the girl showing us that she is on her own which shows she is in danger. lastly there is a close up of the gun which shows mass power over everything else in the room.

sound

The sound begins with off screen sound to set the film. this sound was digetic as it was the bird chirping, this gives us a calming effect as if everything is going to be alright. there is then some dialogue which tells us about the character, this is effective as we are trying to understand the characters and know who is good and who isn't.  the man then turns on the radio, which is a digetic sound as they can hear the radio too. this calms us down from any tension that has already built up. then there is more dialogue. the nature sound begins again, this shows that the film is trying to calm us down to show us that everything is going to be okay and there is nothing to worry about. the nature sound carries onto the next scene which is a sound bridge. the sound of the birds get louder indicating the isolation in the area. lastly there is creepy music which starts to play when we see the blood which tells us that danger is building up.