Immediately we are introduced to the contrapuntal sound of a brooding thunder storm however what we are shown is a calm lake. The diegetic sound of the storm creates a thriller setting however the close up of the lake takes away that feeling. When the non-diegetic soundtrack begins to play it soon reinforces that this is a dark film. The titles by Saul Bass use a simple bold font but it’s also jagged, representing the thriller genre. The exposure of the eagle over the top of the lake shows the audience that this film involves some sort of predator, when the eagle appears on the screen the music becomes more dramatic exaggerating to the audience that this use of iconography is important to the watchers.
Further exposures show one eye that is determined and then the second is scared, showing that one is the antagonist and the second is a protagonist, or the “killer” and “victim”.
The close up of the girl shows she’s a main character in the story, when she talks, she talks into the camera which involves the audience, the non-diegetic soundtrack stops when she speaks, showing what she has to say is important. Her costume shows a white shirt buttoned right up to the top, symbolising that she is innocent and pure, making the audience believe she is the victim.
The cut to Cady’s cell shows a tilt down through the pictures on the wall and his, the pictures themselves say a lot about this character, the image of Stalin is particularly interesting because Stalin took revenge on Ukraine through forced famine, could Cady take revenge too? Notice the eerie non-diegetic soundtrack from the start has begun playing again; perhaps the music only plays around danger?
The camera zooms out to reveal Cady exercising, the mid-shot shows the tattoos on his back, the cross represents his Christian religion and the scales represent justice, this signifies his old fashioned values, for example “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” which gives a sense that he will always get revenge. When Cady walks out of his cell downstairs you notice the inmates are silent and watch on as though he holds power over them, they respect him, also the prison guard walks behind Cady even though he is escorting Cady, it shows he has more power than them in this prison.
The long shot of Cady walking from the prison shows the Thunder storm behind him in the sky, this shows Cady as a force of nature, unstoppable and dangerous. As he continues to walk he walks straight into the camera and looks into it, give the impression that he is after the audience too making them scared and on edge throughout the film.
By Charlotte Mackenzie
