The film ‘secret window’ is directed by David Keopp and is in the genre of psychological thriller. In the opening of this film we see the protagonist Johnny Depp (mort rainy) finding his wife (Amy) cheating on him with another man at a quiet motel.
The sequence opens with a shot of the production company logo and in the
background there is an audio which appears to be a high rated heartbeat, this
is great because it creates suspense for the audience but this only happens
until we see the opening shot where we realise that it is the wiper blades of
Mort Rainy’s car, this has tricked the audience because it has got them on the
edge of their seat but he got their hopes up at made them realise that it’s a
chilled opening shot.
The mise-en-scene makes it clear the audience where the actor is and
where the action is going to take place, the surroundings of the scene, the
floor covered in white snow and wet and icy, because of the white and black
colours of ice and snow it creates monochromaticity. From this I can infer that
it is either set in winter or in a really cold country like Canada or Alaska.
Also, the clothes that the actor Johnny Depp is wearing are warm and wintery
clothes to keep him warm, when mort rainy gets out of his car we can denote
that it is cold because there is a cloud of cold air coming out of his mouth
when he breathed. In juxtaposition of the cold exterior of the building there
are bright lights and warming colours inside the room keeper’s department of
the motel to show it is welcoming and warm in here. Finally, when Mort Rainy is
in his car we see a crucial indicator which shows that he is married because we
can see a wedding ring on his hand, this is good because we see this ring
before we know he is married so the ring denotes that something is going to
happen between him and his wife and from power of deduction after the opening
sequence we could infer that they have separated.
The camera shots and movement sin this opening sequence are minimalistic
with basic angles such as close-ups of the protagonist Mort Rainy to a low
angle shot of the car reversing into the motel, this shot is used as the
establishing shot to set the scene for where the action is going to set place,
this establishing shot begins when the car pulls away from the camera for the
first time in the film revealing the exterior of the motel. On one
circumstance, there was a close-up shot of Mort Rainy in his car debating
whether or not to go back to the motel, this shot is significant because the
camera stays on his face for a lot longer than all the other shots, the
director has done this to keep the audience looking at what frame of mind Mort
Rainy is in. Next, when Mort leaves his car to go to the reception of the motel
we see a crabbing shot following his walk from his to get the keys and during
this it follows him through windows and the only time we see him in the
reception is when the crabbing shot turns into a medium shot of Rainy. Finally,
we see a POV (point of view) shot from Mort Rainys perspective entering the
motel room where his wife Amy is in bed with another man, this is a significant
shot as it puts the audience in Mort rainy’s position and makes them feel like
he did seeing his wife cheating on him.
To conclude, in my opinion I think that the opening sequence of the film
‘Secret Window’ is a successful representative of a thriller movie as it
matches most conventions of a thriller opening sequence and it gets the
audience on the edge of their seats when watching this, this is the most
effective opening sequence that David Keopp has created along with the help of
the well renowned actor Johnny Depp.
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