Research and Planning: Opening to Panic Room

Opening to Panic Room.
Camera shot, angle and movement.

Shots - The opening scene of panic room contains alot of wide and aerial. The effect of these shots gives the audience a wide view of what is going on in the scene and also where the scene is located.

Angle - The director uses high angles alot of times to dominate the scene and it also gives the audience an idea of what is going on below. Also the director used low angles, this could be added to give the effect of the largeness of the buildings maybe making the person who is watching it feel small. 

Movement - The director uses pan movement which gives the audience the feeling of expanse and a wider view of the location and setting of the opening scene. 

Characters, Location and Narrative/Plot.

Characters - In the opening scene for about a minute there is no characters present, it is not until the last 20 seconds that two characters are introduced to the audience with a walking dialogue. 

Locations - In the opening scene the audience are straight away told that the film is going to be filmed in New York, time square due to the fact that there are lots of shots of buildings within Time square.

Narrative/Plot - The audience is not given no idea of what the plot or story line is going to be about in the film. The opening shots are of buildings. However due to the punchy music played in the background, the audience could guess that its going to be maybe a thriller, and that something interesting is going to be happening within the movie.

Themes, Visual style and Genre.

Themes - It’s hard for the audience to tell what the main themes are going to be for Panic room. The normal conventions of a horror are not as present as they usually are in horror movies. The camera pans the skyline and the high angles gives the audience the sense of being watched. Also the title contrasts the bigness of the city and the little ‘panic room’. 

Visual style - The way that the director uses a very unconventional way of long shots establishes openness and a sense of grandeur. He also uses the buildings to present the actors names this suggests that they are almost part of the building. 

Genre - The audience can tell that the film is going to be a thriller maybe from the title, however the actual opening scene definitely contrasts with the title how the opening is very calm and there is not many horror conventions present.

Sound - The use of sound within the opening scene of panic room creates quite alot of tension due to the punchy beats. It leaves the audience feeling quite uneasy and confused because the music does not really fit in with the calm setting.  The calmness of the setting definitely contrasts with the sound that is used. Towards the end of the two minutes there is a bit of dialogue which contrasts with the calm opening. 

Editing and Mise en scene.

Editing - The way that the director has paced the opening scene of panic room leaves the audience questioning the story line and plot of the film. There is not alot of editing in the opening scene at all which makes the audience feel at ease and leave them interesting and wanting to watch the rest of the movie. However for an opening of a horror there are not all the usual convections present as in other movies, the pace is slow and there are not lots of sharp cuts. The one convection that suggests to the audience that it is a thriller is the music, with the slow but edgy beats that it has to it. 

Mise en scene - In the opening scene, there are many shots of buildings and New York time square, this tells the reader where the film is set. The dull lighting used within the opening also suggests a cold like atmosphere, making the reader maybe feel uneasy and a bit uncomfortable.