We open the student thriller ‘Overhaul’ with the production
logo for ‘Black Rose Media’ which has deliberately used the binary oppositions
of black and white to connote the familiar conventions of thrillers. After the
student logo fades, the audience see a black screen for an unusually long
period of time (14 seconds) along with the diegetic sound of footsteps
conveying the idea of anonymous villains which we expect to see in thrillers
which adds a sense of eeriness and ambiguity to the opening, making the
audience wonder what’s going to happen rising tensions.
We see that the door is
part open as we can see some movement within the slit, connoting that we can
only see part of a situation. This shot also applies to the ‘rule of thirds’ as
the slit is located on the far left third which is a creative and innovate composition
of shot. The chiaroscuro lighting conveys a thriller and as the door opens we
see an over the shoulder shot with a man stood on the outside in. The diegetic
sound of people and things moving about can be heard, but not seen, giving the
sense that some actions are taking place but remain hidden from the audiences
view, again creating ambiguity and enigma. The scale and the size of the shot are
revealed when the door is opened and we see a male wearing a suit and tie with
mackintosh, connoting professionalism and importance. The characters face
remains hidden however, maintaining the enigma of the thriller. The shot cuts
to a medium shot of a victim sat restrained in a chair covered in blood with
his mouth taped over, connoting that he has been captured by the mystery man in
the suit and tie and is now being checked up on. A non-diegetic backing track
with the buzzing sound of electricity has been playing in the background since
the beginning and at this point changed to industrial style music, with an
unpleasant sound to it, connoting the dangerous and uncomfortable position the
victim is in. The victim’s head is face down and slowly rises with a slow
motion effect applied to create a disturbing jump cut effect and connote the terror
and exhaustion of the victim.
We see a long shot of the mystery man attacking
the victim in his chair, connoting the victim’s weakness and vulnerability as
he is not in a position to defend himself. The man’s face is still hidden,
maintaining the ambiguity and enigma.
The slow motion effect continues, possible this time connoting the
victim’s drowsiness and he loses consciousness. The slow motion, jump cut effect
continues for several more shots while we see a couple of events take place
such as the killer dragging the victim out of the shed with his feet dragging
along the floor, creating a disturbing, disjoined effect. A fade in connotes a passing of time when the
next shot shows a medium shot of the mystery man leaving a house, with his
clothing looking scruffy and blood stained, connoting that he has been torturing
the victim, his identity still remains hidden. We see the man fetch a saw from
a tool shed, connoting that he is planning to return to his captive victim and
cause him further harm. We seem the killer fetching the saw rather than
actually killing the victim with us this signifies that the opening is that of
a thriller and not a horror because the event of the victim being killed is just
connoted rather than actually shown, just imagining the event will be
sufficiently disturbing for the viewer.
There are several match on action shots
here to show the man travelling back from the shed to the house. The camera is
shaky, located at a higher level and angled downwards on the scene, connoting
that the shot is a point of view from someone watching in secret. The shot fades
to black and fades back in again on an interior
close up of a sink containing water as blood drips and dissolves into
it, then the presumed killer washes his bloody hands, connoting that they have just
seriously harmed or killed the victim and is now cleaning up after himself. His
identity continues to remain hidden. There is a cut in to an extreme close up
of the bloody water disappearing down the drain, connoting that the evidence
has been disposed of. We then have an ellipsis edit to a long shot from behind
the mystery man, walking into a fire and candle lit living room and sitting by
the fire. At this point the non-diegetic backing music returns but sounds more
formal and old fashioned, connoting that the killer is calm and relaxed with
what he is doing and feels a certain amount of class and sophistication about himself.
This connotation is then reinforced by an extreme close up of the man’s hands
as he pours himself a glass of red wine, the red of the wine bearing strong
connotations of danger, evil and pain.
We see the man begin to light a cigarette as he sits by the fire,
showing both flames in the shot, connoting that the man is somehow connected
with the fire, perhaps in the way in which they both can kill or seriously harm
so incredibly easily without any guilt or remorse. The scene ends with a medium
long shot of the man leading with one hand against the wall above the fire
while looking down at the fire as if entranced by its power and capabilities. Though we still can’t clearly see his identity
the enigma of never actually knowing what the killer looks like is one of the
most effective factors in what creates the eerie and scary mood and atmosphere that
is typical of the thriller genre.
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