The Secret Window:
Titles (and the time that they appeared):
Columbia Pictures Presents 2:36
a PARIAH production 2:39
Main actors name 2: 43
Title of the film (fades from white to red) 2:48
Actor's name 2:55
Actor's name 2:59
Actor's name 3:04
Actor's name 3:07
Actor's name 3:11
Casting by.... (had 'C.S.A' after their name) 3:15
Costume designer 3:20
Music by 3:24
Edited by... (had 'A.C.E' after their name) 3:28
Production Designer 3:31
Director of Photography... (had 'A.S.C' after their name) 3:36
Executive Producer 3:40
Produced by 3:43
Based upon the story... 3:58
Screenplay by 4:11
Directed by 4:17
What can you tell about the storyline of the film from the opening titles?
From the opening titles you can tell that the main character is a man, who appears to be in his late thirties. He storms into a motel room and finds a man and women in bed together, which the audience presumes to be his wife as whilst steering the car at the beginning of the film the audience can see a gold wedding ring on his finger which suggests that he is married. After that the shot changes to show a remote location where there is a red house in the woods by a lake and as the camera goes into the house the audience notice a laptop on a desk surrounded by books. From this use of mise-en-scene the audience would assume that the main character is an author of some sort. In addition, whilst the main character is in the car at the beginning of the film you can hear someone talking, although the main character's lips are not moving and there is nobody else in the car with him, because of this the audience is lead to believe that the voice we can hear is coming from his mind and are therefore, his thoughts. This suggests that the film may have something to do with his mind.
Genre?
The Secret Window is a psychological thriller as psychological thrillers are based on elements that are related to the mind and processes of the mind e.g. the audience hearing his thoughts. The audience can also tell that it is a psychological thriller because of the tension building music in the background and because the title of the film fades from white to red (and red or white titles are quite a generic convention of psychological thrillers).
Technical Analysis: (mise-en-scene, camera work, lighting, editing and sound)
Lighting - the lighting at the beginning of the opening is quite dark, which suggests that something bad is possibly about to happen as usually in psychological thrillers bad things happen in the dark rather than natural lighting.
Mise-en-scene - at the beginning of the film the main character is seen to be wearing all black, which is quite an ominous colour and has of death, perhaps to signify the death of his marriage. Also there is a Long Shot of the motel and the motel sign is in red, which is also the colour of the doors on the motel rooms. Red has conntations of danger, stop and passion, all of which tie in with what is going on in the opening of the film. Futhermore, towards the end of the opening titles the main character is seen lying on a sofa in a blue bathroom with a massive hole on the shoulder, this could be to signify that the character doesn't care about their appearance as they are still traumatised by the incident at the beginning of the film.
Sound - the sound is mainly non-deigetic. Throughout the opening there is constant use of tension heightoning music to keep the audience on the edge of their seats as the music leads to a climax in the action. Whilst the main character is the motel room the music changes and it makes it sound like there is a voice in his head that whirling around and when he screams "NO" it sounds really disfigured and un natural which is why I think that the change in music is to do with the noises in his head.
Editing - there is an overlap of two shots (the shot of the motel and the shot of the lake) where the shots fade over each other really slowly to show the passing of time. Moreover, for most of the opening a normal cutting pace is used.
Camera Work- From the lake it one smooth, continous shot that draws the audience to the main character that is lying on the sofa and also makes the audience feel as if they are intruding as the camera goes through an open window. In addition, the camera goes through what appears to be a mirror that is hanging on the wall and as it does there are slight traces of smoke on visable on sreen prehaps to suggest that camera is entering an alturnative reality and that the mirror is 'the secret window' to another type of world or as it is a psychological thriller the main character's mind.
Panic Room:
Titles (and the time that they appeared):
Columbia Pictures Presents 0:21
A Hofflund/Polone Production 0:26
An Indelible Picture 0:29
Main actress 0:32
Main actor 0:36
Main actor 0:40
Main actor 0:44
Title of the film 0:48
Smaller actor's name 0:55
Smaller actor's name (two onsrceen at the same time) 0:59
Smaller actor's name (two onscreen at the same time) 1:03
Casting by 1:08
Costume designer 1:12
Music by 1:15
Film editors (two names onscreen at the same time, followed by 'A.C.E.') 1:20
Production designer 1:24
Director of photography (two names onscreen , followed by 'A.S.C.' and 'A.F.C.') 1:27
Produced by (four names onscreen) 1:32
Written by 1:37
Directed by 1:40
(NOTE: average time of four seconds between each title appearing)
What can you tell about the storyline of the film from the opening titles?
The opening titles do not give very much away apart from that the film is set in New York City, which the audience can tell because in some of the shots you can see yellow taxi's and there is a shot of what seemed to be Centeral Park and Times Square whilst the titles were appearing. The audience can also deduce that it is autumn time because there are brown leaves falling from the trees whilst the female character is talking. From the dialogue that she exchanges with the other character, "42 hundred sqaure feet, four floors, perfect. Courtyard and back south facing garden" it is possible that she is an estate agent, property developer or event planner that leads a hetic lifestyle. The audience can also tell that she is impacient because she says no to waiting for a car service because she does not want to "sit in traffic forever".
Genre?
Panic Room is a psychological thriller. The audience can tell that it is a psychological thriller because of the title of the film and the non-diegtic music played over the titles, as it is tension heightoning music which is commonly used in thrillers. Also most psychological thrillers start with the equilibrium of a normal day.
Technical Analysis: (mise-en-scene, camera work, lighting, editing and sound)
Lighting - The lighting in the opening of the film is natural and soft to make it seem like its a normal day.
Mise-en-scene - One of the female characters, presumably the main character, is wearing a long grey coat with fur on the lapel. This makes the character seem affluent, which is reinforced by the knecklace that she is wearing as it appears to be made out of diamonds. Also her and the other character, that is dressed in black, are wearing sunglasses, which adds an air of mystery to them to keep the audience guessing.
Sound - The sound is mainly non-diegtic, apart from the last five seconds or so of the opening titles and even then the non-diegtic music is playing over the diegtic dialogue. The music is repetative to build tension and it gives an eerie feel to the opening of the film. A continous ticking sound is added to the tension heightoning music after the title of the film appears on screen. The constant ticking gives the opening of the film a sense of urgency as it is as if time is running out, or could possibly even link to a bomb ticking. This keeps the audience of the edge of their seats and foused on what is going onscreen because they do not want to miss any of the action. In addition, there is also a sound bridge used from the shots of the appartment/office blocks to the female characters talking to link the two shots together. At the beginning of the opening titles one of the first things that the audience hear is a police siren, which is also an indication that it's a city and could be a possible forshadowing of the events that are going to unfold during the course of the film.
Editing - A normal cutting pace is used throughout the opening titles.
Camera Work - When the two female characters are introduced on screen a tilt shot (a movement which scans a scene vertically) is used as a way of allowing the audience to scrutinise the characters. However, for the most part of the opening Long Shots are used to allow the audience to take in the surrounding area.
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