The Usual Suspects

Analysis

0:00 - 1:00
The film begins with a close up of matches being set on fire. This immediately suggests a thriller genre. It also suggests danger which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. There is low key lighting to suggest hiding. Diegetic thunder sounds in the background, through this pathetic fallacy the hints of danger are reinforced. There is inter cutting between the matches and the petrol, this makes the audience nervous and keeps their attention. When the fire is put out Keaton's facial expression hints that he feels defeated which makes the audience wonder why he is so determined to set fire to his surroundings. Dead bodies lie around, this creates enigma as the audience want to know what happened.

1:00 - 1:56
As Keyser flicks his lighter it reveals his identitiy to Keaton. Keyon's defeted facial expression and slumped body language make the audience wonder what he has seen to cause this reaction and makes them more curious about who Keyser is. The camera tilts upwards to show Keyser's body but stops at a midshot from his throat down so that the audience don't see his face. This builds enigma as they want to know who he is. The low key lighting makes sure that the audience can't see any of Keyser's features. There is some dialogue but not enough to reveal a lot aout the story, this builds enigma. Keyser's dark clothing hints that he is trying to hide and has connotations of evil. It also means that he blends more with the dark lighting and this hides his identitiy even more.

1:57 - 2:37

The gun suggests thriller and danger

Keyser pulls out a gun, the use of this prop immediately shows the audience that danger is imminent and keeps them on the edge of their seats. A diegetic gunshot is heard off screen, this hints that Keaton may have been shot but because it was off screen enigma is built as the audience doesn't know for sure. The camera does a close up of the leaking petrol again to hint at danger and emphasize that it is important to the story. A slow motion shot of the ciggarette Keyser drops shows its importance. This makes the explosion that's about to happen very obvious to the audience which keeps them interested as they want to know if Keyser or Keaton survive.

Narrative
The film begins at the end of the story and then goes into flashack. It is a restrictive narrative because we don't know what happened to put the characters in the dangerous situation they find themselves in as this scene would take place at the end of the story but it is the opening of the plot. The audience also don't know Keyser's identity even after Keaton has seen his face. The plot doesn't follow Todorov's theory as it doesn't begin with an equilibrium, the story does but it is not shown in chronological order.

Audience
donalsblog.com says that "the movie is aimed at an adult predominiantly male audience". This means that the target age is fine but we want to target more females. To make this more friendly for our target audience (17-25 all genders) I should also include female characters. The movie is rated 15 meaning that my target audience could watch it without parental supervision. This means that it is the right type of content for our target age.

Evaluation
I thought the slow motion shot of the ciggarette dropping was very effective. I would like to use a form of this in my film as I thought that it built suspense really well and made it even more dramatic. I also like that they defied Todorov's theory by starting at the end, I thought that was a very effective way to immediately suggest the thriller genre and to keep the audience on the edge of their seats from the very beggining.