As we chose
our genre to be thriller, I decided it would be suitable to research into the
codes and conventions of thriller films. One thing which is no doubt vital in
any thriller film is the building of tension and how the audience is led to the
climactic point of the narrative event. In order to analyse this, I have
selected a scene from the film ‘Shooter’, a thriller film released in 2007
regarding a skilled sniper assassin, which holds key relevance to our opening
sequence idea.
In this
scene, the protagonist prepares to stop the attempted assassination of the US
president, by identifying the location of the sniper assassin. As he is himself
a skilled sniper, he is capable of tracing his movements and though processes, and
as the scene progresses and the tension is built, our expectations are not met
as the protagonist is betrayed, and shot by his supposed team, and manages to
escape by jumping out a window as the president is shot. In the two minutes of
this scene, tension is built and released at one moment, changing the mood from
mystery and enigma to chaos and confusion. It is this effect which is
conventional of any good thriller film, and something we would no doubt like to
replicate through our 2 minute opening sequence.
As the scene
begins, it is fairly quiet, with the dialogue engulfing most of the narrative
events. Interestingly, most of what is said is muffled and inaudible, causing
the audience to focus more on the visual aspects of the film, while the camera
slowly zooms in creating an uneasy feeling in the audience. As the enigmatic,
eerie non-diegetic music begins, the camera shoots from location to location,
showing oddly framed scenes which seem to drag on for too long, while zooming
in, creating more discomfort from the audience.
Finally, as
the music becomes louder and more intense, the framing zooms further leading up
to the climactic point of the scene, where the protagonist is betrayed, as the
president is shot. The music also changes to a faster paced action type
soundtrack as the action happens all at once in the scene.
Although
this particular segment is not an opening sequence, it is a successful example
which highlights the use of tension in order to create an effective way to tell
the narrative. In this 2 minute text example, 1 minute and 40 seconds is used
to build the tension and a mere 20 occurs during the action part. This serves
as an example, as well as the music type and camerawork, of how to create a
successful thriller scene.
