Sam Duxbury: Conventions, Representation and
Audience
Alex Hetherington: Sound, Camera and Editing
Emma Bailey: Titles and Themes
The Miramax production company logo starts the film, fading in and out,
followed by their own production company logo for Fractional Studios, which
also fades in and out. The Fractional Studios logo is black, with a black bird
on it with a red eye, looking mysterious and scary. As the logo for the
production company comes in, the non-diegetic music immediately starts with it.
The music is eerie and sinister, immediately anchoring to the viewer the fact
that it is of the thriller genre. The title screen with the name of the film
then fades in, the letters in the word ‘Obsession’ flicker and when they do so,
they are synchronous to the non-diegetic music in the background. The text is
white against the black background, in serif, slanted font, signifying that the
audience is adult. The title of the piece ‘Obsession’ is in the centre of the
screen, white sans serif text on a black background, fading in and out, letter
by letter. This shows a binary opposition between the two colours, thus
anchoring the genre as thriller. It looks very mysterious as the letters
glimmer on the screen. This titles then quickly fades into the opening
establishing shot of an extreme close up of a tap dripping. Throughout the
opening sequence, overlay titles fade in and out of the corner of the frame,
letter by letter, starting out small and growing while they fade out, setting a
mysterious mood, signifying something hidden. This keeps the audience’s
attention on the main action in the frame. The titles for the names of the cast
are larger than the titles for the director and music composers etc., showing
the importance of the different crew members and cast in the production. All
titles are displayed as white sans serif text with a black outline, except the
title naming Madeleine Lewis, which is serif, with the same colour scheme. The
title of the piece shows again, still white sans serif text on a black
background, fading in and out and still glimmering, as we hear a crackling
radio in the background, making it feel mysterious and uncomfortable.
From the production logo screen before the clip starts, the screens fade to the
first shot of the extreme close up of the tap dripping. The mise-en-scene of
the film again starts unconventionally, with the dripping of the tap,
symbolising something normal, but broken. The diegetic sound of the water
droplets hitting the sink is heard clearly, this gives a tense feel to the
beginning, especially alongside the unnerving non-diegetic music which
continues throughout the production. This shot creates a tense feel with just
the tap dripping as it is a thriller convention as it builds interest as the
viewer wants to find out where this tap is; it makes the audience wonder where
they are, and who they are with. We see close ups of someone getting dressed into
informal attire and having some cereal, however they do not reveal who the
person is or what they look like. This sets a sinister tone, connoting that he
has something to hide. This again shocks the viewer, as he is revealed to be
the villain of the production, but he initially seemed like a typical person.
However, some of the seemingly normal, unconventional shots have connotations
of a thriller, as evidenced by the establishing shot of a dripping tap, a
metaphor for life dripping away and murder, which is typical content in
thrillers. The piece uses natural lighting for this. We then see a series of
longs shots to set the scene, we then cut to a medium shot of someone lay in
bed however their identity is hidden from us again another thriller convention
of a killer/criminal used to create an ominous feel. We then have a series of
close ups to follow, which show the viewer that this person seems to be a man,
again another thrill convention for a criminal.
Next we cut to a series of medium shots which show his everyday morning
activities. There is a close up of a mobile phone as we hear a diegetic
vibrating sound coming from it, meaning that the phone is on silent, and so the
character wants to be quiet and unheard. What the hoodie the villain wears is also
significant, as it allows his identity to be unknown to the viewer, making him
seem mysterious, which is conventional for thriller villains. The lighting
changes to low key high contrast chiaroscuro lighting when he puts his shoes
on, and then it goes back to natural lighting when he opens the door and goes
outside.
This thriller is located in a semi-rural area, as shown by establishing shots
of a typical rural scene of hills and vegetation, as well establishing shots
from both the inside and outside of houses, meaning the area has been
urbanised. This is not typical of a thriller, as they are most often set in
urban settings like cities, but there are still many thrillers that use rural
locations as these remote areas allow for more crimes and violent acts to be
committed, where victims are far from help and witnesses, making them very
vulnerable in the eyes of the viewer. This sets an edgy, scary mood, especially
with the shots of him with the binoculars, connoting spying and stalking. The
other shots before this have made him seem normal and his tasks have been
‘everyday’ menial tasks, but these few shots make him seem somewhat sinister.
Whilst the rural area could appear to be hospitable, this production has been
filmed near winter, when the trees have no leaves, which makes the setting seem
somewhat harsh and unwelcoming. As the mystery man is walking down the road, we
can hear the diegetic sounds of cars, setting the scene. A series of ellipsis
edits show the man walking down the road until we see him stalking a woman, who
seems to be the 'damsel in distress' character as she fits the convention
criteria. As the man travels through the forest, we can hear what seems to be
the diegetic sound of birds, however, the sound seems enhanced as if it may
have been added post filming, connoting nature and the normal life of the
victim. As the woman is walking and the man is following her, we can hear the
diegetic sounds of their footsteps.
When the next scene comes in, it is night time and we hear, as the man is still
following the woman, we hear their feet cracking branches as they walk, this
again links to anchoring the thriller genre. From this point, the non-diegetic
music keeps its eerie feel, however we also hear a piano add to the music, this
creates an even more ominous feel to the scene, letting the viewer know that
something is about to happen. The urban aspects of the location shown by the
mise-en-scene add to this unwelcoming theme, as dirty buildings and corrugated
metal fencing is shown is the background of shots featuring the characters,
indicating that the girl may be in danger even if the viewer does not initially
see she is being stalked. An unwelcoming, threatening location is typical in
thrillers, and the mise-en-scene conveys this. We then cut to a long shot of
her dropping her bag, then we have a medium shot of her rising and the man
stood a few meters behind her however when she stands fully, it blocks the
audiences view of the man, again creating mystery, however the medium shot
shows the viewer her reaction as she realises someone may be behind her. We
then see a match on action of her turning around however the man is gone, again
reinforcing this idea of mystery for the viewer.
There is an ellipsis edit to the night, a conventional time of day for a
thriller, of an out of focus shot, again creating mystery. The shot then cuts
to a long shot of her walking on the road. Then we cut to a long shot of her
walking towards the camera and then a parallel edit of a medium shot of the
mystery man presumably following her, although this is not clear, somewhere
else. Later we cut to a close up of a bridge rail, which, using selective focus
just on the rail shows two silhouettes, presumably the man following the woman,
in the background, again creating more mystery of what will happen. We then cut
to a long shot of the girl turning around, and then the legs of the man
stepping in front of the camera blocking our view again keeping the identity of
the mystery man unknown to the viewer however we now know that the girl knows
this identity. This is clever framing here as we see her through his legs,
connoting that she is trapped. When the inevitable attack on the girl happens,
there is a close up of her mouth as she screams. As the female character
screams the frame darkens, almost fading to black, so we can only see the
outline of her mouth and eyes, creating mystery as the viewer wants to know
what happens next. Again like the birds in the forest, the sound seems enhanced
to ensure it is heard and it has an impact on the viewer. The assumed murder at
the end of the opening occurs on a motorway overpass, showing the rural urban
setting, where there would be few witnesses, whilst still fitting the typical
urban backdrop of thrillers. The screen then goes blank and the title page of
the clip comes in again, however the sound of the girl screaming continues for
a brief period during this time; this acts as a sound bridge to the title page
and ensures a smooth transition between them. Finally, when the music begins to
fade, as with the first title page, the letters in the word ‘Obsession’
flicker, and as they do so, we hear the non-diegetic sound of a flickering
radio broadcast. This sound is, like the first, synchronous to the flickering
of the ‘Obsession’ title, linking clearly back to the opening shots.
We have identified several themes in this student piece, the first being the
title of the actual piece: ‘obsession’, as this man is obviously following this
girl persistently, stalking her until he can do whatever causes her to scream.
Another theme is ‘innocence’, as the girl does not seem to have done anything
wrong, or anything to provoke this man into stalking her. This adds to another
theme we have identified: ‘suspicion’, because as an audience there is no evidence
that this girl has any connection with the man, except that he waits until it
is dark until he approaches her. This is scary for the audience as the film
rolls on and he keeps following her. Finally, we recognise this ‘enigma’,
because as an audience we do not know what happens to the girl after the
titles, and we do not know what has triggered him stalking her and possibly
attacking her. ‘Obsession’ follows many conventions that allow the viewer to
identify the film as a thriller. One of these is the chiaroscuro lighting which
occurs at night, when the main incident, which the viewer assumes is a murder
or other violent act, takes place. This lighting only occurs after a majority
of the opening was high key, which is somewhat unconventional for a thriller.
This lighting change indicates a passage of time between shots, as well as
perhaps shocking the viewer, because the high key lighting might cause them to
believe no exciting incidents will happen, despite knowing that the girl is
being stalked, and the change to chiaroscuro lighting may make them expect the
stalker to do something to the girl, which then occurs in the attack and
assumed murder.
The main character shown in this opening is that of a typical Proppian villain,
who stalks and, the viewer assumes, murders a girl, who is a typical damsel in
distress, but is apparently not a main character, as she is killed or kidnapped
within the opening. The opening shots of the villains seemingly normal life not
only ensure the viewer is surprised when he is revealed to be a villain, they
also feature a life which is probably similar to the life of the as yet unknown
hero, whose normal life will most likely be disrupted by the villain’s actions.
Similarities between heroes and villains are common in thrillers, as they make
the conflict between them more difficult for the hero, as opposed to a villain
who is obviously beneath him. Also, the actions of a villain; disrupting the
hero’s normal life, conforms to Todorov’s narrative theory of an equilibrium,
disruption and eventual return to a new equilibrium. The disruption the villain
causes will either be the murder he committed in the opening, or this murder
will be first in a series of murders that eventually affects the hero. Of
course, to solve these enigmas we would have to watch the rest or more of the
film.
The audience this thriller is aimed at is most likely fairly young, due to the
sans serif font in the overlay titles, and the young dress codes of the
characters. However, there is a sense of mystery as to the killer’s identity
and no over the top action, so the audience will have to be fairly mature and
invested in the film as well.
The thriller opening is available to view as I have embedded it to my blog.
