Past Student Work Analysis - 'No Way Out'

Past Student Work Analysis – ‘No Way Out’

The opening sequence we chose to write about is ‘No Way Out’. The narrative is about one main female character and she is walking through a town to a particular destination in a suspicious way. The audience recognises there is something important on her mind because she is walking quite slowly on top of the slow motion edit. She arrives at her destination which is a big gate next to a building and she gets a phone call, possibly from an interrogator, but an unknown person and it seems as if they are holding something against her. The audience would think this because she comes across quite distraught from the conversation.

Micro Areas

Mise en scene: Setting is very modern day as the whole time she walks through town. Costume is very sensible and smart clothing for the main character. Lighting is very low key due to the black and white edit and is also bright through natural lighting. This tells the audience that it is a working class, modern, urban life. This together could create an enigma as the audience would be wondering where the female character is going.

Camera work: For camera work the audience sees a tracking usage for the majority of the beginning of the sequence. Over the shoulder shot used after the tracking, creates a sense of destination and so tells the audience that she is worriedly walking towards a certain area. As she is walking slowly you can get an idea that she is hesitant about the place she is walking to. The point of view shot gives the audience an understanding of how the character’s body language, which shows her looking down and walking slowly. This results in us believing she is ashamed of her destination in which she is walking to.

Editing: Throughout the sequence, there is slow motion and black and white colour. This would create an almost past life effect for the viewer and also because it is in slow motion it shows that the character is taken back by the place she is walking to and makes the audience notice there is tension. The group has also used many dissolve transitions from one shot to the next. This could have been done to create time going slowly and to add slow pace to the narrative.

Sound: There is non-diegetic parallel sound throughout the majority of the beginning of the opening sequence. This follows along with the motion happening with the main character and tells us time is moving slowly because theres a chance something important is on her mind. There is also diegetic dialog at the end of the opening sequence where the main character is on the phone to someone. This tells the audience that someone is bothering her as she looks at her hand and tells them to leave her alone.

What was good:

What was good was how the music really complimented the slow motion as it is in parallel with each other; it places a very dramatic sequence together and makes the audience become quite thoughtful. What was also good was the type of camera work used right at the end of the opening sequence when the gates close and how the camera zooms out. It creates a very dramatic end to the opening sequence and creates enigmas for the audience making them ask questions such as what is going to happen next, who is bothering her and why.

What needs improvement?

What needs improvement would be not to have slow motion for the majority of the sequence, it creates good effects in terms of the main characters feelings but it doesn’t give off enough enigmas throughout because it takes too long and also doesn’t really tell the audience much information. Also, how the opening sequence is all in black and white. This would make the audience think it is a very past tense theme in terms of setting but you see other characters in the sequence but they’re dressed in more everyday, urban costumes.

Sub Genre Conventions:

This opening sequence is a psychological thriller. We can tell it is a psychological thriller due to the mind games it plays on the audience. The music playing along side the sequence, we notice it follows the psychological theme as it is very calm and moving. The theme in particular is mind, and the audience knows this because at the end of the sequence the female character is on the phone with someone and in conversation she comes across quite emotional. I would give this opening thriller sequence a C. This is because it does show some forms of psychological conventions but some haven’t been seen such as the main female character doesn’t show a lot of emotion or mental torment. The audience also doesn’t know much about the story line which wouldn’t be correct in terms of psychological thriller conventions.