This post will be discussing the opening 2 minutes of The Usual Suspects.
The very first thing that a viewer will see (that is not text) is a few matches being lit. This is very foreboding, as one soon finds out. The shot is an extreme close up, heavily suggesting the significance of this igniting. The camera work is very smooth and slow, as we find out from the shots that a fight has just occurred and is now over. As the new shady character appears, we get a low angle shot, transferring power to that character. The camera actually never goes above the assumed protagonist's face, all of which sends messages of power and significance to the man who is not lying on the floor.
Sound wise, it is fairly quiet. For the first minute or so, the majority is either liquid or fire. There is no non-diegetic or off-screen sound. This allows the viewer to focus entirely on the scene in front of them, trying to piece together the mystery of the fight that had just unfolded. After the two men have their conversation, it flips. Music appears (non-diegetic), and a gunshot is heard (off-screen). This makes the viewer tense and question the relationship between the two men (respectively).
The cuts are infrequent. It is not a quick paced action scene such as the fight that preceded it. We also know this from the slow camera work. It is a time to ask questions and try to solve a mystery that is deliberately constructed so that the viewer does not have enough information to answer it, despite it being the end of the narrative.
Finally, mise-en-scene. The setting is dark, wet and grey. The only real change of colour would be fire, which again, puts emphasis on it. We know a fight just happened because of the assumed protagonist who appears to be injured, the liquid drenching the floor, and the multiple corpses on the ground. The assumed protagonist himself also looks rather scruffy and beaten up, heavily implying a struggle. It very much gets across to the viewer that this is not a life of luxury, it is dangerous, a "fight for your survival" kind of life. After this first scene, we get to find out if that implication is true.
Daniel Poncelet
The very first thing that a viewer will see (that is not text) is a few matches being lit. This is very foreboding, as one soon finds out. The shot is an extreme close up, heavily suggesting the significance of this igniting. The camera work is very smooth and slow, as we find out from the shots that a fight has just occurred and is now over. As the new shady character appears, we get a low angle shot, transferring power to that character. The camera actually never goes above the assumed protagonist's face, all of which sends messages of power and significance to the man who is not lying on the floor.
Sound wise, it is fairly quiet. For the first minute or so, the majority is either liquid or fire. There is no non-diegetic or off-screen sound. This allows the viewer to focus entirely on the scene in front of them, trying to piece together the mystery of the fight that had just unfolded. After the two men have their conversation, it flips. Music appears (non-diegetic), and a gunshot is heard (off-screen). This makes the viewer tense and question the relationship between the two men (respectively).
The cuts are infrequent. It is not a quick paced action scene such as the fight that preceded it. We also know this from the slow camera work. It is a time to ask questions and try to solve a mystery that is deliberately constructed so that the viewer does not have enough information to answer it, despite it being the end of the narrative.
Finally, mise-en-scene. The setting is dark, wet and grey. The only real change of colour would be fire, which again, puts emphasis on it. We know a fight just happened because of the assumed protagonist who appears to be injured, the liquid drenching the floor, and the multiple corpses on the ground. The assumed protagonist himself also looks rather scruffy and beaten up, heavily implying a struggle. It very much gets across to the viewer that this is not a life of luxury, it is dangerous, a "fight for your survival" kind of life. After this first scene, we get to find out if that implication is true.
Daniel Poncelet
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