Opening Scene Analysis - American Psycho

For this task, the genre that I am examining is psychological horror. To this end, I have decided to analyse the opening sequence from the film American Psycho; which pits Christian Bale in the role of gruesome serial killer Patrick Bateman. American Psycho features several key hallmarks of what a psychological horror film should be - elements of black-comedy and surrealism; giving the film a strange and almost unreal feel. This feel is something that - in later practical work - I would like to be able to emulate or even develop further; drawing inspiration from American Psycho and other films of the genre, such as Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

American Psycho opens with long shots down the corridors of the main character - Patrick Bateman's - apartment. This is the setting for the entirety of the opening scene of the film, though it utilises various rooms throughout. The scale and luxury of the setting reflects both the affluence of the main character and the materialism that ran through the era that the film is set in - the 1980s. Lots of light is allowed into the apartment - though the decor is largely in bland, pale colours, giving the impression of a clean, well kept world - something that features heavily in this scene. These shots move down the hallway, through to the living room, maintaining the same camera angle throughout the first portion of the scene. 

These long shots start by panning into the apartment's living room, before cutting to the bedroom - showing the character's unmade bed (slept in on only one side) - and panning into that room.The opening part of this introductory scene is made up largely of long shots that pan and then cut to the next shot, giving the visual impression of something gentle,slow moving and then suddenly changing. 

The mise en scene in these parts of the scene is vital to the impression that we are given of the character. The fact that his lavish apartment is kept in near perfect condition, the fact that his bed is only slept in on one side. The cold, pristine stainless steel of the kitchen - it all adds up to give an impression of the character that we are being introduced to. Patrick Bateman's apartment is a reflection of himself and this scene - combined with the non-diegetic soundtrack and voiceover (which will be discussed later) - is aimed to introduce the character's personality and temperament. His cold calculation and sociopathic nature is reflected in his apartment.

When the character of Patrick Bateman is finally, physically introduced into the scene - he is again a reflection of the space around him. Via a long shot down a hallway to his bathroom - Patrick strides calmly and confidently through the doorway, wearing nothing but a pair of white boxers. He is an image of male masculinity - his whole body is shown in the shot; to show off his physique and give an impression of a character who sticks to a strict exercise regimen - which is demonstrated later in the scene.

The entire scene is overlaid with non-diegetic sound of two varieties. The first is an instrumental soundtrack, made up primarily of piano music. The soundtrack gives the scene an idea of calm -meant to give the audience the impression of a character that is stable and collected.

The second important, non-diegetic element that is featured in the scene is the use of a voiceover from the main character.

The voice over in this scene is used to introduce and describe the character of Patrick Bateman and describe his daily routine. The voiceover follows his actions - as he describes his exercise routine, the audience will see him do it, as he describes his skincare routine, the audience will watch him apply it, etc.

A crucial element to notice about both the voice over and the soundtrack is that they change slowly as the scene progresses; reaching a fever pitch at the end of the scene. Matched with a close up shot as Patrick Bateman peals off his skincare face mask - the dialogue and the music turn from that of a calm introduction into something much more eerie and sinister.

As Bateman describes how he "simply is not there," (meaning how he feels he does not really exist behind his mask of sanity), the piano music fades out to an eerie, horror movie style string sound. These two elements are matched with Bateman peeling off his face mask for maximum effect - using it as a metaphor for the mask of sanity that he wears in everyday life. All of these elements are meant to give the audience the impression that the calm and collected character that has been introduced to them throughout this scene is in fact a cold and calculating sociopath. It tells the audience that everything they have witnessed - the apartment, the exercise routine, the skincare regimen - is all, in fact, a mask to cover the reality of a deeply depraved individual. 

The opening scene of American Psycho is meant entirely to introduce the main character of the film. No other characters are seen nor mentioned; the focus is entirely on Christian Bale's character of Patrick Bateman. The purpose of the scene is to draw the audience into the character, into his world. He is a character of egotism and narcissism, who clearly loves himself and sees himself as the centre of his own universe. This is exampled in his rigorous exercise and skincare - Bateman is a man who loves himself and ensures he is in peak physical condition at all times. However, especially at the end of the scene, he is shown to be openly aware of the fact that - at a base level - he is some form of psychopath or sociopath; as he describes his mask in the final moments of the scene. The key line used in the voice over - which rounds off the scene - is, "I simply am not there," telling the audience that Bateman himself both realises and feels that there is no identifiable emotion or person behind the mask of his body, his apartment, his facade, 

Review and Write Up of Shoot

When we came to film our preliminary task, we ran into more problems than we initially thought we would - however, despite this, our worked turned out successfully.

One of the main problems that we encountered when filming our preliminary task was the issue of continuity. Mr MacDonald and a year 7 were both present in the room during the filming process, meaning that we had to ensure they were sat in the same places at the same times, doing the same tasks all the way throughout filming. This way - if we changed from one shot to the next - it would ensure that Mr MacDonald was not present in one and missing in the next.

Another of the issues that we ran into during filming was corpsing. Keron and I - being the actors - often found it difficult to keep a straight face and would laugh during takes. While some of this could be rectified through editing, other parts had to be re-filmed entirely as a result.

Overall, however, the shoot turned out successfully. We managed to include all of the shots that we had come up with on our shot list, including a point of view shot of the first character (played by Keron) sitting down at the table, opposite character two (myself).

We accomplished the point of view shot by handing the camera from Annie (who filmed and directed) to Keron, who filmed her actions as she entered the room, walked to the table and sat down.

The remainder of the shoot was filmed by Annie, who was helped by Gemma. They worked on the camera positioning, angles, etc and accomplished the list of angles that Annie had earlier written out.

The editing of the final result went well, with time taken to look through all of the scenes that we had filmed to decide which were the best to use. In editing, strict continuity was ensured throughout, so that there were no disappearing and then suddenly reappearing bottles of water, etc. One of the only issues we encountered during editing was moving from the point-of-view opening shot to the more structured over-the-shoulder shots which were used throughout the conversation had between the two characters. This was accomplished by using a fade transition between the two clips - a bridge between one kind of camera shot and another.

Preliminary Task Animatic

Animatic

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8EIV-2_PH0

We wrote out the storyline for our preliminary task and planned it using our storyboard and animatic.
The idea behind the preliminary task was to have a character enter a room, sit down across from another character and for the two of them to have a four line conversation.
We organised our camera shots into a list of those that we wanted to incorporate and then visually represented them on our storyboard by drawing them.
We wanted to make our piece different to the other preliminary tasks that we had already been shown in class, and so we incorporated the use of a point-of-view shot at the opening of the piece as well as a long shot at the end of the piece.

Opening Sequences from Different Genres

A Clockwork Orange

The opening sequence for A Clockwork Orange starts with bright coloured title cards – featuring the name of the director (Stanley Kubrick) and the title of the film. The title cards are red and blue – bright but basic colours to grab the attention of the viewer.

            The introductory sequence is laid over with a soundtrack; instrumental music that features as non-diegetic sound.

            The intro cuts quickly from the brightly coloured title cards to a close up shot of the main character – Alex’s – face. The shot is held for several seconds before it begins panning out, slowly revealing the interior of the Corova Milk Bar that Alex and his gang frequent.

            As the shot zooms out, non-diegetic narration by Alex begins, in which he explains who he is, who his gang are, why they are at the milk bar, etc – in a way of setting up the story.

            The dystopian nature of the film is already hinted at in the opening sequence through the use of strange costumes and surreal surroundings, as well as the unusual slang that Alex uses in his narration.

American Psycho

American Psycho opens with long shots down the corridor of the apartment building that the main character – Patrick Bateman – lives in. The shots at the very start then pan across his apartment, showing his living room – with its low couches and high ceilings – and then his bedroom, before turning to a shot of the corridor leading to the bathroom, down which Bateman walks and is introduced by.

            The entire sequence is laid over with a soundtrack – non-diegetic sound – of composed piano music. The music gives the idea of a calm and relaxing feel to the environment and the character. Other non-diegetic sound includes the use of a narrated voice over from the main character, as he explains his morning routine – whilst simultaneously going through it on screen.

            As the sequence reaches its end – with Bateman peeling off a facemask – the narration becomes more sinister, as does the previously calm soundtrack which begins to turn deeper and slower, before fading out into an eery sound; giving an idea of what the character is really like.

Scarface

The opening sequence to Scarface starts out with a black title screen, overlaid with text that sets up the story – explaining the Mariel Boat Lift and thus setting up the beginning of the story, about a criminal immigrant from Cuba to the United States.

            The film then features a black and white clip of Cuban leader fidel Castro, speaking about the Mariel Boat Lift and explaining that those being sent to the USA are “unwilling to adapt to the spirit of the revolution.” This part of the sequence is overlaid with a soundtrack that is slow but powerful, building up suspense across the scene.

            After the clip of Castro, the film cuts to a title card of red writing on a black screen, extolling the name of the producer and then featuring clips from the Mariel Boat Lift, as boats go from the Mariel Harbour in Cuba across to the United States. These clips are intercut with more title cards – red on black – featuring the name of the director, the main actor (Al Pacino) and finally the name of the film: Scarface.

            The scenes from the Mariel Boatlift feature images of the overcrowded boats that the people from Cuba were being sent over in, as well as the boats arriving in the USA. It shows the people landing at the American port and then being herded off of their boats by the coast guard officers. The reactions of the people as they arrive in America are shown – some crying, some cheering but all happy.

            This sequence uses a variety of shots, ranging from close ups to long shots.

            The end of the sequence shows the refugees from the boat lift being taken into large refugee camps to be prepared for processing into the United States of America.

            The entire sequence is overlaid with what would be considered typically 80’s music, pop-like music with a bassline which is markedly more upbeat and optimistic than the soundtrack heard earlier on in the sequence.

           

The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate features a stylistically different type of opening sequence from the other three that I have so far analysed.

            The idea of the opening sequence is to show how the transference of information has changed and evolved throughout human history. It features images of cave paintings from early human history, hand chiselling from the Roman Era, Martin Luther nailing his 99 Theses to the door of a church and so on. Eventually, images of printing presses, type writers, computers and television screens are also used.

            The sequence relies heavily on diegetic sound – using the sound of the nail being hammered into the door of the church, the sound of the chisel against marble – radio waves and so on. It also uses video and radio clips from throughout history – such a Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous Fear speech over the radio, as well as Neil Armstrong’s famous quote upon landing on the moon.

            The sequence shifts to old TV clips, featuring famous news anchor Walter Cronkite announcing the death of President Kennedy, news images of the Berlin Wall being pulled down, the death of Princess Diana and then 9/11. These sequences also use other sound clips of people’s voices.

            This entire sequence has a non-diegetic soundtrack in the background, building up anticipation as the opening scene continues. Close up shots are heavily featured and the information and images are cleverly presented – with an old picture of Roosevelt being played on a TV screen, with real news microphones being placed in front of that same screen.

            This sequence zooms out, showing iPhones and iPads, before going out to the whole world and then finally zooming in on a building in the middle of London – The Guardian Offices and overlaying it with text that reads _”The Guardian Offices, July 2010.”

Camera Work Task

High Angle Shot

A shot whereby the camera is positioned at an angle above the subject.

In this scene – from The Avengers – the shot is used to show the facial expressions of two of the main character’s as they see a look up at something in the sky.

 

Low Angle Shot

A shot whereby the camera is positioned at an angle below the subject.

In this scene – again, from the Avengers – this angle is used to show the main character’s assembled as a team.

Establishing Shot

A wide shot of a location that establishes a sense of environment and surroundings.

In this shot – from Harry Potter – the shot is used to introduce the Hogwarts Castle in which the film takes place – signifying to the viewer that this is where the film will take place.

Extreme Long Shot

A wide shot that places a person or object a long distance away from the camera.

In this shot – from the Disney film Ratatouille – the extreme long shot is used to show the size of the small, rat main character in comparison to the vastness of Paris in which he now finds himself.

Long Shot

A shot in which a person can be seen from head to toe.

This example helps to establish the character and shows him in comparison to the number of people he is running from in the scene.

Medium Long Shot

A shot in which a person can be seen from head to knee.

In this example the shot is used to introduce the character and show her reaction to a series of events that she has just witnessed.                                            

Medium Shot

A shot in which a person can be seen from head to waist.

In this example

Medium Close Up

A shot in which a person can be seen from head to shoulders/upper body.

Close up

A shot in which a person’s head is captured.

Extreme Close Up

A shot which captures a specific feature or reaction on a person’s face.

Point-Of-View Shot

A shot captured from a person’s point of view

Two Shot

Any shot with two people in it

Over-The-Shoulder Shot

A shot taken from the perspective of someone’s shoulder.