Thriller Opening 2 - Sin City

Thriller Opening Analysis Sheet

Film Title: Sin City
Director: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez
Title Designer:

Technique
Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement…
Camera uses mainly mid-shots and close ups to help the audience relate to the characters. Also the camera zooms in on their faces when they are talking to eachother, showing they are becoming closer emotionally and physically.
Typical in romance thrillers, is having a relationship that is complex and one of them being murdered. The director in this film decided instead of having a third person killing off the other man or the woman, he would have the man who could have had a relationship with this woman kill her, adding confusion and keeping the audience’s attention to find out why. Camera shots really helped with this as they made it obvious there was a connection between the male and female character in this title sequence and to make it unobvious that he was going to kill her, as used a close up on them smiling at eachother and then all the audience hears is a gunshot.
Editing – speed, style…
The speed of editing is slow to create a calm atmosphere, also adds to the sensual atmosphere between the man and woman. Having a peaceful atmosphere adds more of a shock when he shoots her, adding to the mystery of this thriller.
Editing helps with the typical romantic thriller and it added to the tension between the two characters and the atmosphere around them, peaceful, quiet, secluding them from the party they had walked away from. Made it more mysterious as no one had come looking for either of them and no one had heard the gun shot, even after she is shot, the atmosphere and pace of editing is the same. As if the male character was ok with what he had done and was prepared to do it.
Sound – effects, musical score…
The only music used is a diegetic sound of a saxophone in the background coming from the party that both the man and woman had walked away from. Saxophone adds to sensual atmosphere between the man and woman, as the sound of it slowly fades away, seems to help the narrative of what the man is feeling. The reason he is there seems apparent but slowly fades away to what he is really there for – to shoot her. Also a diegetic sound of his footsteps to make it seem like he is creeping up on her, and diegetic sound of the lighter being lit, the small lighter makes a tick sound, almost like a trigger. Also diegetic sound used of thunder and rain, typical in thrillers to create tension. Also a non diegetic sound of the male characters thoughts, immediately captures the audience’s attention and lets them relate to his character.
Sound effects have a huge part in this title sequence in showing that this film is a romantic film, using narration helps to connect to his character, showing he is most important, but even though the audience knows what he is thinking, they still don’t as they don’t know his prerogative for killing the female character as he seemed to want to love her, not to kill her. Adds to the mystery of this character. Also the sounds seem to be what he is thinking and feeling, thunder and rain appear before he is to commit the crime to show trouble is brewing, also the rain shows deep down he is upset by what he has done. Other sounds like the saxophone relate to both characters, what they both seem to feel towards eachother at the time.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…
Set in black and white, shows it’s a memory, adds to mystery as the woman’s dress and lips are still in red, showing she is there for the man’s love, but then later on when she is shot, represents blood. Signifiers of her death include her black make up on her nails and eyes, and shivering at the beginning of the extract to show she is weak. Also he gives her the cigarette and lights up the lighter for her, smoking is known as a drug that can kill and he is also the one to shoot her, smoke leaving the gun after she is killed.
Black and white is typical in thrillers as normally the audience is given one character to relate to, not necessarily meaning they are a good character, but you see their memories and thoughts as the film goes on, as this creates tension and mystery, as the audience doesn’t know that much about them until the end of the film, creating no certain good or bad figure. Which relates to this title sequence as this particular memory obviously belongs to the male character, thinking he is a good guy as he says he wants to love this woman, but instead he kills her in a calm and collective way, which gives off a creepy vibe to the audience as he doesn’t seem too bothered about what he has done. She was there to love him which is represented by the red lipstick and dress she wears, showing the physical attraction and then from the way they were talking, they seem to make a emotional attachment, she learnt to trust him as so did the audience, which makes it more shocking when he kills her, as he seemed like a decent man. This is a very clever technique created by the director as the male character seems normal, but then kills the female character, showing looks her deceiving, adding more mystery and tension.
Special Effects – CGI, animation…
Shots of images appear on screen, they come up at what seem to be vital parts of the title sequence, helps with narrative – adds mystery and reinforces this part of the film is a memory.
These added images show that he is thinking of this memory in block images, in black and white, trying not to see in detail what he did, showing that the male character could be ashamed of what he did, but again, audience is unsure of him and cannot trust their instincts on this particular character.
Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…
No text appears in this title sequence, instead the narrative of the story starts straight away to verify the type of film it is and immediately attracts the audience into relating to the characters – especially the male figure.
Having the film start with a memory, getting straight to the narrative will keep the audience fixed as already they have started to be introduced to characters and a murder has taken place, creating confusion and suspense as there seems to be no reason why it has happened. This is cleverly done, as most films start with the production teams names coming in and out of the starting setting and this director has got straight to the story instead, creating that mysterious thriller type of suspense.