Research and Planning Panic Room

Analysis of Panic Room

The opening to a film is an important part of  any film, it needs to give the audience a clear idea of the genre of the film i.e horror, thriller, sci-fi etc., in a short space of time, they do this by using generic conventions within those genres.

Camera Shot, Movement and Angle 

The opening of Panic Room consists of long shots of tall buildings, these shots could also be described as establishing shots as they are showing us where the film is going to be set there are also a lot of wide shots.                                                                                             

This is the first shot of the opening, it is an

 establishing shot of the landscape of new York City. Immediately the audience knows where the film is going to be set.

The high shots of busy New York could be a clue to the type of film it could be. The film could be based around  people living a busy city lifestyle or even a poor homeless person. the high shots could suggests the film could be from the point of view of someone in an elevated position looking down.

Pan shots are used to show the dominance and power of the many tall buildings and skyscrapers that make up the city. the pans are deliberately slow, which suggests the directors intention is to convey the audience a sense of being watched, this gives a dark twist to the images of buildings in New York City. 

Sound

There is some diegetic sound in this sequence but only towards the end when the camera pans to reveal the characters walking down a busy street, but before then there is mainly non-diegetic sound in the form of music, it is a dark orchestral piece that creates tension and suspense.

Editing 

 The editing is quite slow, focusing more on slow pans and camera movement to make the audience feel tense, another convention associated with the thriller genre, also the shots are slow to gain a better understanding of the setting. 

Mise-en-Scene

Behind the text there are long and establishing shots of, what one would assume was New York City. There is not a lot of mise-en-scene in this sequence as it only seems to be shots of the city and everyday life.

Characters

The only reference to the characters are the the names that appear to belong on the buildings displaying their names and the few seconds of the characters at the beginning. There is not much information on wether these characters will become crucial to the plot of the story, or wether they are protagonists or antagonists. The brief dialogue at the end of the sequence hears them talking a little, one can tell from the way they speak and what they speak of ( a big house) that they are possibly upper class. 

Locations

The sequence is set outdoors during the day. One can tell that it is set in the modern day, by looking at the skyscrapers and office buildings present suggesting that the city is very developed. 

Narrative/ Plot 

There is not much given away about the plot in the opening sequence but one could guess, from the title ‘Panic room’ that i could possibly be set in an enclosed space, and the word ‘Panic’ could suggest a small uncomfortable place to be. If this is the case then there is an element of irony because the first few minutes of the film is set in wide open space, in the big streets of New York. 

Genre

There is no real indication of what the genre of the film is from these couple of minutes of opening sequence, but again, the title gives one a slight indication of the genre ‘Panic Room’ one would normally associate with thriller because of the word ‘Panic’