The thriller opens with the normal convention of studio the logos appearing first, eerie non-diegetic soundtrack music beings to play, setting a supernatural atmosphere to the film. The studio logos fade to black when the title sequence begins. The full screen titles are in a serif font connoting a more formal and old fashioned atmosphere. This is classic of films aimed at an older more mature audience who will be interested in a more psychological thriller. The titles are also white on black, creating binary opposition, connoting good vs. evil that is likely to occur during this thriller. This is often a key element of thrillers, therefore helping establish the genre. The titles are animated in a way that makes them dissolve in and out like an apparition would be imagined to, again connoting the supernatural feel to this thriller. The eerie non-diegetic background music continues to play and set the scene for the opening. The music is orchestral, connoting the past and sophistication. When the film’s actual title appears, the music suddenly changes to a louder shrieking sound, connoting fear and danger. At this point also, a shadow like figure wipes across the screen, again connoting evil and the supernatural. The full screen titles continue for almost three minutes, demanding a level of concentration that suggests this is a psychological thriller as opposed to being violent and action filled.
The first scene unusually opens with an extreme close up on a bare light bulb, slowly coming to light, creating a diegetic fade effect and enigma as we don’t know the location, what’s going on or why we’re there . The lighting is chiaroscuro, typical for creating mystery in thrillers; the environment appears cold, foreboding and uncomfortable. We hear the diegetic sound of footsteps as somebody enters the basement and cut to a long establishing shot from behind the storage shelves showing a woman entering the basement and heading over to get some wine from off the shelf. The camera tracks her as she moves up and down the shelf, with the wine rack enclosing her connoting the feeling of entrapment and also quickly connoting that she is in some sort of hurry. A medium log shot shows the women and her shadow stood side by side, the shadow appears to be behind bars, again creating negative connotations that she feels trapped. There is a long shot of the woman stood in the centre of the basement as she shivers and wraps her arms around herself, connoting that she is cold and uncomfortable with the atmosphere down there and also signifying unpleasant events suitable for this genre. The shot stays the same for quite a while as we see the woman briskly exit and run up the stairs, further connoting that she was uncomfortable as she was in a hurry to return to upstairs.
We have an ellipsis edit to upstairs with a close up on a mantle with candles and cards made by children upon it, connoting comfort and warmth at the thought of children and families living there. The atmosphere upstairs greatly contrasts with the basement as up here there is romantic music playing with a warm glow coming from the candles and a fire. We see an extreme close up of a man’s hand holding a glass of red wine, further connoting romance and that him and the woman are in a relationship. We see the two of them in a two shot as the woman enters the room; he is slightly higher up in the frame, putting him in a higher position of power and authority. As the man sits down on the couch, the woman follows, but chooses to sit on the floor, putting her in an even lower position of authority, connoting her love and respect for him as a strong and successful character. A point of view shot shows what the couple have been admiring, a framed plaque for ‘outstanding achievement in child psychology’ awarded to the man, narrative exposition as quoted by the woman. The plaque is shiny so the camera zooms into it and it is used as a new, interesting medium to show the action happening in front of it. We can see from this, the man and woman cuddling as the woman reads aloud what is written on the plaque. She mentions his name ‘’Dr Malcolm Crow, that’s you’’ identifying him to the audience. She is clearly very interested in what the plaque says and is very proud of him even though at first he doesn’t appear to be a conventional thriller hero as he is not in the law enforcement career but is around about the typical late 40’s age range. However Dr Crow looks bored as he continues to drink his wine. The woman says ‘’finally someone is recognising the sacrifices you’ve made, that you have put everything second including me’’ This connotes Crow not only has a very important job, but also that he puts everything after it, including his wife. We cut to them being upstairs heading to the bedroom, removing various items of clothing along the way, connoting that they are getting ready to make love. The mood is changed when the women discovers the window has been smashed, connoting that somebody unwanted has broken into the house. There are shakier point of view shots and the constant uneasy diegetic sound of the phone beeping and the wind whistling through the broken window; creating an eerie uneasy atmosphere.
A ghostly shadow appears to float across screen with an exaggerated wind sound effect relating to the similar shadow that appeared in the title sequence, the woman screams; connoting her fear and vulnerability. Focus is placed on the open en suite door and a point of view shot moves in towards the bathroom. As the camera pans around the corner we see a deranged young man in his underwear stood in the bathroom hunched over and shaking. The young man says to the woman ‘’do you know why you’re afraid when you’re alone’’ she relates to what he is saying and so does the audience as we have previously seen her scared when she was alone in the basement. The young man is established as one of Dr Crow’s old patients when he remembers him after he describes his conditions. During this conversation the non-diegetic soundtrack returns with eerie, tense music connoting that the young man is dangerous and a threat.
The patient continuously yells ‘’you failed me’’ connoting that he did not receive the correct treatment in the past. The patient shoots Dr Crow in the chest creating a huge disruption, he is not expecting it, connoting that Dr Crow doesn’t fully understand his condition and the potential danger he poses. This is clearly shocking to both the viewer and Dr Crow himself; this is the main disruption of the film as it demonstrates that Crow isn’t as good at his job as we thought he was. The camera pans away as the patient turns the gun on himself, we hear the gun fire and the sound of splattering blood. This would be a gruesome scene that doesn’t actually have to been seen by the viewer for them to understand what is going on. There is an overhead crane shot of Dr Crow lay in agony on the bed with his wife hunched over him, putting him in the vulnerable position as he has lost all control. The scene fades to black connoting a passing of time. To further establish the length of this gap and to create the audience assumption that Dr Crow had recovered from attack the scene fades in with the caption ‘The next fall’ anchoring the new time. The new mise en scene is a pleasant looking street of brightly coloured town houses connoting optimism and happiness. There is an extreme close up and a pan up, onto a notepad with certain notes circled such as ‘acute anxiety’ ‘socially isolated’ and ‘possible mood disorder’ these conditions are the same as or similar to the conditions described by Dr Crows previous patient who wasn’t cured and ended up shooting Dr Crow and committing suicide. Dr Crow now appears to be analysing a new patient with these conditions, connoting that the Doctor now has a second chance to give this patient the right treatment for his condition.
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