One of the thriller openings that we have watched in class is 'Arlington Road'. This film falls into the mystery-thriller genre and terrorism is central to the plot. The film is based around the fictional Michael Faraday, who suspects that his new neighbours are actually terrorists; acting on his suspicion, Michael embarks on a hunt for evidence that could prove his suspicions to be true, which concludes in his own death, caused by his seemingly 'normal' neighbours.The opening of the film contains lots of suspense, which is created through the use of camera movements, sound, mise-en-scene and editing.
There are many camera shots used in this opening. In particular, establishing shots used to pinpoint to the audience where the film will be set. As far as the audience can see in this opening, the film will be set in a suburban area in the USA, somewhere that the audience would not expect issues such as terrorism to arise; this makes them wonder what could possibly go wrong in such an area and so they become curious to know more of the plot. Another camera shot that helps to provoke suspense is the extreme close-up (ECU). The ECU is used in different parts of the opening to really emphasise normal activities and make them seem eerie, e.g. it zooms into a person walking their dog, which makes it seems as if they are under surveillance; this causes suspense as it seems as though even normal, every-day things, such as walking a dog, may prove to be threatening or dangerous. There is also a lot of hand-held filming in the opening, creating a of sense jumpiness, which adds to the feeling of suspense. There are also many camera shots that concerntrate on the houses in the area. There is a panning and an ariel shot, which show us the houses very clearly - a feeling of suspense is created here, very subtly, as we cannot see into the houses; this shows the audience that we do not know what goes on behind closed doors, even in the most 'normal' places. The emphasis on houses also indicates that the film has got something to do with secrecy and hidden acts.
Mise-en-scene also plays a vital role in creating suspense in this opening. It is very important to mention that very normal things such as baby-prams, swing-sets, trees, dogs etc., are used in intensifying the level of suspense in the clip. This is a common element in thrillers - starting off by showing normal life and then twisiting it to show disruption and problems, leading up to the climax of the film - as it adds an element of excitement to normal life. The use of these things - babies, swing-sets etc. - makes normal things seem very creepy, which adds to the intense suspense that is created in the clip. These things also add to the suspense in another way: these people and normal occurances seem unaware of what is to come and the idea of the unknown provokes suspense and creates a sense of foreboding.
Sound is very important in creating suspense in this opening. The sound is quite muted, which actaully adds to the eerieness of the clip and intensifies suspense by making it all seem a little bit creepy. A faint, eerie wailing and singing can be heard, which sounds very distressing and makes the audience wonder what caused such a sound or who is making that sound; this curiosity and strange wailing provokes the feeling suspense by ruffling the audience a little, making them a little unnerved. There is also the use of drines and violins, common things used to provoke suspense in a thriller. The use of violins creates the sense of startling movement, which indicates tension and surprise. Everyday sounds, such as people talking, dogs barkings and the sound of trains passing, are amplified, which could be used to represent normality, or could be used to create suspense as, again, everyday things are made to be quite creepy, adding to the suspense.
Editing is used to create suspense in this clip and does so very effectively. The images of the clip are distorted slightly through the simple editing technique of reverse neagtive and sepia effects. This adds to the suspense as it seems a very spy-like and the colours used are very dark, provking a sense a foreboding, which in turn creates a sense os suspense. A lot of the images use a blurred effect to emphasise and then de-emphasise on a particular object or occurance; this adds to the idea of curiosity as it makes the audeinnce wonder about the object's/occurance's relevance to the story. There is also the use of montages, which really add to the sense of mystery to the clip - there is a shot of three girls playing on a swing-set and then we jump away from that and arrive at an empty swing-set, indicating that something has taken place: this creates a huge level of suspense as people wonde what has happened to those girls, and it also adds another element of eerienss to the clip. The titles in the opening add to the suspense as they are quite jerky, which indicated sudden movement and surprise.
The opening of 'Arlington Road' creates a huge sense of suspense and tension as it uses all of the elements mentioned above to emphasise that abnormality may lie in the most normal of situations.
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