Usual suspects: 22nd September 2011

For our first task we had to look at a scene from a thriller and look closely at certain aspects of it.

We look at:

·         What creates suspense?

·         How the camera (shot types) tell the story to create mystery?

·         Genre conventions of mise-an-scene

The thriller we looked at was ‘The Usual suspect’

1.       What creates suspense:

When the guy drops the match after lighting his cigarette it sets a light a trail of fumes on the floor, the following of the fire creates suspense especially when it goes past the dead body. It makes you think where does it lead to and why is there a man dead next to it. Also when you just see some liquid drop from above causing the fire to burn out you wonder what is that.  The sound effects help set the mood throughout the scene.

The music which goes with the clip also creates suspect because it’s all dark and freighting, this is done by using organs and musical instruments.

2.       How the camera (shot types) tell  the story to create mystery:

The tracking shots show the scene from a low point of view, and then suddenly there is a long shot from the floor showing a tall dark man on the balcony. Using the over the shoulder shots of the other man creates mystery because you think who the other guy, because you never see his face only waist down.

3.       Genre conventions of mise-an-scene:

Dark lighting is used though out the scene. The men in the clip are wearing dark cloths nothing that stands out, also they speak with monotone voice to make them sound more scary and mysterious.  
There are some good close ups of the props like the gun and the matches.