Insignia - AS Media thriller opening analysis

To benefit my group's thriller opening, we have decided to individually analyse a previous year’s work. I decided to analyse this particular opening as it is a psychological thriller. By analyzing this opening I can use the notes I have made to influence and improve my groups opening. The opening begins with the film distributors appearing on screen. the first is SYNCOPY whilst conducting research into the company to see if it worked well with the selected genre I found that Syncopy Films Inc. is a British film production company based in London, England. The company was founded by award-winning film director, screenwriter and producer Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas as the co-founder. The company has produced films such as Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel and Inception. Although the company has produced thrillers in the past such as The Dark Knight Rises, they mainly produce films within the mystery genre. However, this still works well with the chosen genre of a psychological thriller as mystery and thriller films both build suspense and tension. The second film distributor shown on screen is 'Knauf Pictures' upon research of this company I found that as a group they decided to create their own film distributor. The shot lasts four seconds and shows a blue and green coloured wall with a hand moving towards to camera lens to eventually black out the audience's view. This is an inventive and effective idea as no other group will have this company, also the action of the hand moving towards the camera suggests that the person filming the events that are about to unfold does not want the audience to see what is happening, building tension and suspense as to why the events should be hidden. The shot from black then blurs and fades slowly into what appears to be an establishing shot of the setting of the opening. Low dramatic and suspenseful music begins to play softly in the background. In the bottom, right-hand corner the date is given to the audience '15th November 2016' this is an example of editing within the opening through the use of transitions when the next shot is shown to the date given in the corner of the shot. As the text appears there is also the sound of typing to match the characters appearing on screen.

The shot then shows a bird's eye view shot of the boy laying with a blanket over him. the following shot through a cut transition features a close-up of the boy's eyes as he wakes and frowns in confusion this is used to show the audience the emotion coming from the boy at this point. we are then shown a wide shot of this boy leaning up into a seated position, the continued sound of suspenseful low music plays throughout the shots. The next series of shots shows a mid-shot of the boy begging to lift his t-shirt at this point the music begins to speed up slightly giving an indication to the audience that dramatic and perhaps dangerous events are soon to unfold. This sense of danger is continued through the next close-up shot showing a tattoo of an unrecognizable symbol on the boy's stomach. The next transition is another quick cut to a mid-close-up shot of the boy looking down at the tattoo in confusion, what is interesting about this shot is the low-level lighting as the camera is facing towards the sunset the lighting is very dark and you can barely make out the boy’s face. The following shot shows the boy standing and looking out over the hill he is on.

This is again followed by fast paced editing transition to an over the shoulder shot showing the back of the boys head, shoulders and his view of his surroundings. What makes this over the shoulder shot interesting and unique is the fact we see over both of his shoulders. The group obviously was pleased with how the shot came out as they decided to make it the shot that features their film title. 'INSIGNIA' appears in capital letters on the right-hand side of the shot. After this, the plot begins to thicken and the longer shots begin to play. A three-second shot showing the boy reaching for his phone followed by a close up of his dialling his Mum's number allows the audience to become aware of the time in which the film is set as we are now aware of the boy being in the present day, his clothes also gave an indication. This is all part of the mise-en-scene of the opening, the phone being a prop, the costumes used (basic black jeans and t-shirt) and the tattoo could be considered as makeup due to it only temporary. 

The next shot shows the boy reaching down for a skateboard that is hidden in the long grass. Through the next series of shots we are made aware of the boys confusion which keeps the audience on edge, through these shots non dietetic sound plays along with the omnibus soundtrack of a voicemail service. The next series of shots show great editing skills as one long shot would have been taken of the boy walking up the hill with the skateboard and the group edited small segments of the long clip together to show time moving quickly (almost like a montage showing the boys movements) this is an interesting and unwise way of showing time passing and the direction in which the character is traveling. The last in these four shots shows the boy nearest to the camera looking out on the rolling hills in confusion once again keeping the suspense high. This shot also brings in the high notes in the soundtrack accompanied by the boys voicemail to his mum, showing how he is feeling and what he is thinking. This reinforces the boys confusion and fear to thew audience. 

The following shot is a reverse zoom showing the boy skating a hill. What strikes me most when watching the opening is the skill used to allow the audience to gradually learn more about the character, we are aware that he has a mum and can skateboard what now interests the audience is finding out how these things will relate to the rest of the film. The next shot is from a low angle showing the boys feet on the board skating in and out of the cameras view. We are then shown the boy walking up to a house and discarding the board in what appears to be anger. As the boy approaches the door through a canted angle shot we are shown the door to the house he had approached left open. As soon as the boy enters the house and goes to shut the door behind him the soundtrack dramatically stops and the diegetic sound of the boy calling out "Mum? Dad? Kevin?" can be heard and is made slightly quieter that the music that had played before. This leaves the audience asking more and more questions, such as: Who's house is the boy in? Is this his home? Who's Kevin? Why was the door left open etc. 

The soundtrack then returns louder and more dramatic that it had been through the previous portion of the opening. This gives the audience some indication that they may begin to get answers as the boy starts to search the house. The boy enters a room and a pan shot from behind him, shows that the room is empty, the boy returns to looking confused as he exits the room and travels upstairs to search. A wide shot shows the boy running round the corner and up the stairs in panic. The following shot is from an extremely low angle, as i the camera is on the floor as the boy reaches the top of the stairs and stands with his feet either side of the camera lens. The soundtrack then appears to reach its climax as it slows. As the boy enters a room upstairs we are shown a mid close-up showing him inspecting the room, through another pan shot we are shown that the floor is covered with papers and documents. The audience does not recieve any answers, but is faced again with more questions. The soundtrack through this shot has changed to a more low pitched but faced paced solum track. 

The boy then lowers to the floor and picks up some of the documents beginning to inspect them, a close-up shows one of the dates on the document as being the 15th of November which is the date the audience was shown earlier when we first were shown the boy laying in the field. This builds suspense and the start to draw their own conclusions about what might be happening. This makes the idea behind this thriller opening unique and interesting. As many thriller films promote this type of thought provoking drama. A wide shot also allows us to see that the symbol that we saw tattooed on the boy earlier is posted all over the wall. Through a series of shot reverse shots we are shown the boy looking down at the documents and shots showing the audience  the boys point of view (looking at the documents) some of the shots don't allow the audience to read what is on the paper which frustrates the audience as they are left again in the unknown and the boy is able to read the documents. 

Through a series fast paced cuts and wide shots we are shown the boy exiting the room and running back down the stairs. He enters another room and the sun is begining to set. Through a mid shot we are shown the boy looking out of a window. The soundtrack has remained through this time as dramatic as when he reached the top of the stairs. A close up of the boys faced looking frightened and confused looking out onto the houses and land out of the window is then met with a sudden change in soundtrack. The soundtrack is cut and in the same close up shot the boy turns round as the door bell is heard. The boy looks round in confusion and the shot fades to black. Overall this thriller opening is very well directed. They have stuck closely to all the conventions of a thriller which allows the opening to build suspense. The emotion of the character through the opening is always kept clear and this also provoked emotion in the audience, a desired reaction to every thriller. I will take inspiration from this opening because of this. I can now see how important it is to keep the emotion of your character kept clear to the audience to try and provoke emotion in them as they watch the opening.