The opening scene of 'A History Of Violence'

A History Of Violence is a thriller of a mild-mannered man who becomes a local hero through an act of violence which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core. It was directed by David Cronenberg and written by John Wagner and Vince Locke. It was staring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and Ed Harris.



http://zumvo.com/watch-a-history-of-violence-2005-4396 This is the full movie of A history of Violence however i am only going to be analyzing until 6:03.

Miss En Scene

The opening scene starts off as a long build up, there are no cuts in the first scene so we can get an idea of who the characters are. The surroundings are quiet and deserted which shows the isolation, this also creates mystery and suspense. As we get a look at the characters we see two ordinary men come out of a house one dressed smart/casual and one casual. The man in the white top then smokes his cigarette and puts the chair outside straight, this could suggest that their may have been some altercation which caused the chair to be out of position. It is set near a motel which causes suspicion  as to what they are doing there. In addition the feature of motels in a film create suspense as they are usually the site to danger. As we get into the house we see it is run down and suggests that they may not have a lot of money, the slow movements on the man also suggests suspicion as looks uncomfortable to be there.

Camera Work

The scene starts with a medium shot and then a tracking shot on the man with the white top which indicates his importance as a character. One the two men get to the blue car the camera does not change its angle and is positioned directly at them. This suggests that the director wants us to pay attention to the characters and their body language and study their characters. As the man in the white top gets out of the car we get a close up of him, this is to get to know him and see what he looks like, which also shows his importance. As we go inside of the house we see blood which leaves the audience wondering who's blood it is and then we see a dead body. This then cuts and we get a shot of the man which suggests his involvement. We then get a mediums shot of a girl holding her doll crying which makes us feel sorry for the girl as she is alone and looks vulnerable and we know that something terrible has happened to someone close to her. The camera angle then changes and we get a low angle shot of the man which makes him look powerful and dominate. As he gets down to her level the viewers are wondering if he is going to be kind to her but as we get a shot of the gun we know all hope is lost and he is going to murder her. Lastly, the extreme close up of the gun shows mass control and power the gun has over everything in the room.



Sound

At the start of the scene we hear diegetic sound of nature and then we hear dialogue from the characters which makes us get to know the characters and their personalities. As the man in the white top is left in the car alone he places diegetic happy country music which calms the audience down from the quiet tense atmosphere but however also may convey that the character is calming himself down from whatever he has on his mind as he also looks distressed.  The director uses a sound bridge as the nature sound carries on into the next scene and becomes louder which shows tension. As we enter the house we hear creepy music and the see the blood and the dead body, which creates enigma as it leaves us wondering who's body it is and if the characters have committed murder. As the creepy music continues as we leave the dead body it conveys that something bad is going to happen next. The soundtrack is non-diegetic. As we continue this scene we see a little girl come out of the room crying holding a doll, this is diegetic sound as the character can see the source of the sound. The character then acts on this and we as we hear the gun shot.


Editing

The opening scene is 2-4 minutes long so we can really get to know the characters which portrays the slow build up of editing. The first cut was in the house and the cuts gradually become faster and faster as we got deeper into the house. There was a total of 12 cuts which all took place in the house,  demonstrating the house's creepy atmosphere and tension and build up of suspense.