Panic room opening sequence analysis

Opening sequence (Panic Room) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqIclb4qsJI

In the opening sequence of the film the director has used an Establishing shot, aerial shot , high and low angles and pan. The director would have used an establishing shot to give the audience an idea of the type of surrounding in which the rest of the film will take place and where the film may be set. The director may have used an aerial shot to establish the location or setting of the film on a larger scale. The director also uses high and low angles in the opening sequence, high angles have been used to make the object focused on and seem more dominant and powerful. Low angles may have been used to give more of a speeded motion and make it seem more inferior. The director would have used a pan from left to right to gives the audience the idea of the location. 

The sound/ music in the opening scene is mysterious and eerie. This gives a sense of something is going to go wrong further into the play. It also creates this sort of tension and danger. The sound in this scene is non-digetic sound this is because there is music playing in the background but no sight of instrument or device which it is coming from. The sound of ticking in the scene gives the sense of tension and danger and the tension is leading up to something bad.

The editing which I can identify from the opening scene is the actors name are put into the first scene in a bold text while shooting the surroundings. The shots have also been cut and switched to a new location several times during the opening scene. Also the shots seem to cut when the music changes pace or melody which shows they work in sequence with one another.

In the opening scene there are objects such as Large Buildings, Billboards, Skyscrapers, People, Cars, and Houses. These are the kind of things which you would associate with the city and with it being an American film suggests that the majority of the film would possibly take place in New york city. There are no characters identified in the opening scene, which suggest that the director wanted to keep the audience in suspense. One shot in the opening sequence does show people but because it is a long shot you cannot identify any characters.

 From just viewing the opening sequence I believe the location of this film is New York City. I believe this because there are a vast amount of skyscrapers, billboards and people in some of the shots. Also a piece of evidence which supports this prediction is in one of the shots you can see the empire state building.

From the opening sequence it is very hard to identify what the plot of the play is because no characters are identified and no objects which may suggest that the film is about that is shown. But judging from the surroundings the story takes place in New York City in a lab or company and some sort of experiment or discovery goes terribly wrong.

The opening sequence gives off the theme of death and destruction and indicator of this suggestion is the eerie music in the background throughout the opening sequence. The visual style in the opening sequence is a misty effect. Which creates this sort of mysterious atmosphere. Also the bold text across the side of the building also gives an example of the visual style.

Thriller is the genre in which you get from the opening sequence this again comes from the eerie and mysterious music in the background. The fact that no main characters are identified shows that they want to be kept a secret and to keep the audience .