Sophie's textual analysis of "Drive"

Drive

Mise en Scene
Camerawork
Sound
Editing

Drive was directed by Nicolas Winding and was made in 2011.This thriller opens by seeing a drawn out map, this is in quite bright lighting so we are able to see everything. The camera slowly moves to the left, revealing a vase, and then starts to reveal our first character. The camera starts off by seeing the feet and legs at a medium shot then pans up to then reveal the rest of his body. We can hear diegetic sound of this character speaking on the phone. In the background we hear non-diegetic music, which is quite creepy as it sort of sounds like a very fast heart beat. This worries the audience as they aren't sure what will happen and starts to ask questions about what the man on the phone was talking about. The camera continues to move to the left and reveals a tv and then a packed bag, this is under very dark lighting however, with a spotlight on the

bag in the middle of the bed. This makes the audience wonder why the bag is like that and they might wonder what is in it.

The non-diegetic music continues however increases in speed as the character walks off and the camera focus' on the view outside as it zooms in on it very slowly. The lighting in this scene is pitch black apart from the little lights outside the window. The scene is then quickly cut to being in the car, all we can see is the drivers hand on the wheel and the view from the front of the car window. We can hear diegetic sound of the engine of the car from inside. We are then quickly cut to the next scene of the character driving at a worms eye view from the passenger seat. The characters wearing a coat and a hat, he looks quite like a detective. The lighting of this scene is very dark apart from a light on the character driving this car. 

We are then introduced to our second character, he is fairly older and is in a car garage, presumably because he works there. This is at a long shot of the garage as we see the other character walk through the door. These two characters have a convocation about a car that he is going to be collected. The camera follows the characters as they walk to the right, the building seems to be quite big, therefore the camera follows them for quite a while. We can hear non-diegetic sound in the back ground, increasing in volume as they can nearer and nearer the car that the character wants. There is a lot of dialogue in this scene, at the end as one character gets in the car, the other character says "no-one will be looking at you" this makes the audience worried as the character clearly is going to do something that he wants no-one to see or know about. 

The next scene is a birds eye view shot of the city that they're in. This is at night time so it's all dark apart from the lights. We can hear the non-diegetic music, however, we can also hear the sounds of an ambulance or police car as we go over the city.

The scene is then cut to a close up of the characters face in the mirror of his car, he looks very concentrated. We are then quickly cut to see him from the front. This is in very low key lighting, and his facial expression shows concentration, his make up on is face also shows he is slightly sweaty which may show that he is nervous.

We then see his car at a long shot, pull up again some barriers, it's dark outside which makes the ambience mysterious and creepy. The last scene of the opening is where we see this character about to get out of the car, however he suddenly stops, we are looking from an over the shoulder shot as we see him looking at a guy very far away dressed in all black. This leaves the audience at great suspense as they don't know what is happening. This is a good opening to a thriller as it creates a lot of confusion and makes the audience want to continue watching.