The Bourne Identity (2002) - Opening Sequence.

I watched and analysed the first 3 minutes of this film on DVD.

Camera:

• One camera movement I thought was effective was the first one in the opening sequence; the camera zooms in on a character in the water and it looks like a floating dead body. This fits with the genre of a thriller because it follows the conventions of narrative enigma; the audience wouldn't know it's the main character at first in the water, and they would question whether that character is dead or not and if so who did it or what happened would also be questions raised. Another convention this follows is that a possible crime may have been committed.
• The close up of the scalpel cutting into the character's wetsuit makes it look as though it is cutting his skin until it shows the man peeling back the wetsuit. This raises narrative enigma until that point.
  

Sound:

• In the first 30 secs of the film there is the sound of thunder, this is effective as it sets a estranged atmosphere and a dark, gloomy mood, all of which is typical of the thriller genre.
• The soundtrack on this opening scene is dark and starts off slow paced but then gets slightly faster pace. It is orchestral, dramatic and uses a low pitch and minor key on violins and cellos. This is effective as it creates the right kind of dark and mysterious atmosphere that would be typical of a thriller movie.
  

Editing:

• The title sequence transition used is effective but goes against the convention of the title sequence reflecting a character's state of mind. Though, the way that the title sequence fades in from the dark, stormy sky and has a black background and the colour of the font is like that of the thunder is effective as it depicts the dark mysterious atmosphere further.
• The straight cut from one of the men on the boat saying 'have you ever seen a dead man before?' and another doing a cross-sign to the character that was in the water moving his hand is ironic and lifts the narrative enigma that he isn't dead but the audience still wouldn't know what happened to him. This goes against the thriller convention that a crime or a murder usually happens at the start, but he is obviously helpless at this point which portrays him as the protagonist and a victim which also goes against another typical thriller convention that a child or a woman is the victim as this one is a man. This makes the plot more intriguing.
  

Mise-en-scene:

• The lighting is naturalistic and no artificial light is used as this is filmed at nighttime so it keeps the dark gloomy mood that would be seen in thriller movies.
• The costume that the character found in the is wearing is a wetsuit and he has a flashing light attached to him. This raises narrative enigma as it would be unknown at this point why he was there and what he was doing and this adds to the mystery of the plot.