Enemy of the state ( Thriller) opening

Film : Enemy of the state ( thriller)

Introduction sequence-

Enemy of the state is a thriller movie which was released in 1998, it s directed by Tony scott and starts Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight

Mise en scene in the Sequence includes  costumes, the scene includes black suits with the tie’s and glasses giving the secretive government look which its trying to portray. Many thriller movies are to do with the government which this film follows. The other mis en scene in the opening sequence is the obvious lighting,  the lighting is used to lure the audience into a big sequence and this is obviously shown in the opening sequence of this film.

Cinematography in the opening sequence includes the use of fast editing and close ups on the characters reaction to give true show of emotion and get the audience’s minds racing its also used against the long shot to give a distorted feel which is very effective in this sequence.

Sound included in the opening sequence plays a vital row as it carries us through the start of the film, it creates the mood and atmosphere setting the audience right into the film this is also common in most thrillers as it sets the thrilling/ heart racing mood.  The start of non diagetic music happens when the character Phil’s arm is grabbed, this starts a Slow tempo orchestra type of music, which gives the audience a sense of disturbance bringing across this sad kinda feel, the music suddenly changes when Phil is murdered the music drastically changes into this fast tempo kind of music  which is combined with fast handheld camera movements and we see close ups of the needle, this gives the audience a shocking feel combined with a sadness and a thrilling feel as it is a thriller movie.

The narrative is shown throughout this opening sequence and it makes us ask a lot of questions about the movie and what might happen,  THe enemy of state posts a variety of different questions including... Will Voyeuriusm be abused? Why was it important to kill Phil? Who will be the next victim? The opening sequence tells us that teh wrong people are in control.

To conclude the opening sequence follows many of the Thriller conventions we have learnt about however it doesn’t fit all of the conventions as during this opening sequence no gun/ weapon is used to kill Phil its a injection which doesn’t follow the usual thriller genre?However even though it doesn’t follow all the Thriller conventions how come Enemy of the state is still seen as a thriller movie?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcKR5X5cz7g -  Opening sequence