Secret window essay

This scene was taken from the start of 'The secret window' it was written and directed by David Koepp. the film is a psychological thriller. The scene starts with the character 'Mort rainy' played by Johnny Depp inside a car, then we hear a voice and he starts to drive the car away, he stops the car and we hear the voice again, he then turns the car around and drives back from where he came from, as he drives away we see the motel sign, the angle then changes and we see 'Mort' then picks up keys from the motel lobby and drives to the end of the rooms ad breaks into a room and we see two people in bed and the camera pans out of the room.

                 The sequence opens with a sound bridge of a slow knocking noise, the sound can cause speculation as to what it is when it is not showing the wind screen wipers. The noise sound very similar to a heart beat and could be mistaken for it. We then hear a voice which is non diegetic, we figure out that the voice is actually Depps and he is speaking to himself he says "turn around. turn the car around and get the hell out of here right now." this shows us that Depps enemy in this film is himself. the voice is very chilling and menising. After Depp doesn't listen to himself he reverses his car toward the motel and a diegetic sound is used when his car comes to a stop and screeches, this reflects his anger and shows us hes impatient. When Depp breaks into the room all the sound goes distorted and muffled, what the audience hear at this moment is what Depp hears, but we can make out that Depp shouts "no" at the women in the bed who we find out is his wife.
                  Now looking at the use of camera, the sequence starts with a close up of Depp in this shot we can see his facial expressions ad emotions and that he is inside a car. As depp starts driving the car away the camera stays eye level to Depp which helps us focus on his angry expression, when the camera stays eye level to a character it is known as the "eye-line match", using the eye-line match means that the surroundings as very unclear and we are forced to keep eye contact with Depp. Eventually the car reverses away from the camera and the establishing shot is formed as we can now see there is snow on the side of the road which means its set in winter and we can see a red motel sign, it then changes into a medium shot of Depp walking into the reception area, in the medium shot you can see most of the room this suggests that he doesn't care if he is seen, the medium shot could have also been used to not show what the keys where for.
                  In this sequence the mise-en-scene is very important when it comes to understand whats happening and why.  The original setting is inside of the car with dark and low-key lighting, the lighting could portray the mood of Depps character, but as he puts his left hand on the steering wheel its not hard to notice the ring on his finger suggesting that he is married. Later on in the sequence when the car reverses and we reach the establishing shot we notice that there is snow on either sides of the road so we know that it is now set in winter time, In the establishing shot we can also see the red motel sign and the brake light are red, the colour red is normally incorporated with danger, this is probably telling us that it is a bad idea for Depp to return to the building as something dangerous might occur. Overall I feel that the main theme for this film is isolation, this can be reflected in the weather and the fact that it only includes four characters in the opening.
                 Finally moving on to the editing, the first half of the sequence is one long clip but as the sequence ends the clips get shorter building up the tension, there is a continuity error in the sequence when Depp goes in to intrude in the motel room the car door can heard closing but later on as the camera pans out the door is wide open.
                 To conclude I think this opening sequence explains alot of the acions which take place quite well, even though a first time viewer may not of seen the ring on their finger they could of guessed that he was in a relation ship with someone as the voice over says "Do not go back to her" . I believe that this sequence is very good at setting in motion the rest of the film and displaying the plot point of Depp's mental issues.