Thriller Opening Research Task - Dan Fairhall (2 of 4)

District 9 - Neill Blomkamp (2009)

Camera:

• This sequence sets up to be a documentary about a fictional event of Alien life encountering Johannesburg, South Africa the way that it does this is by having framing of the character in the centre of the frame with a lot of excess space around the character showing the background (the office)
• Also shows establishing shots of the city show how everyday life is although it shows the inclusion of an alien space ship hovering above the city.
• In the opening sequence you do believe that this film is a documentary because of the uses of realistic Documentary shots.

Mise En Scene:

• The costume and facial expressions in this sequence makes it very realistic.
• The props that are used make it believable for the audience to see the sight of everyday life in an office.
• it then goes to one of the slums in which the aliens live and then it seams that this is a comparison to the real slums that would be on the outskirts of a large city.

Editing:

• The editing is parallel as it shows the questions being asked to the character in the office and then cuts to some action of the city or the aliens and then comes back to the character.
• The editing is also typical of a thriller opening because they are rather long takes and smooth cuts not to create a feeling of panic or confrontation even when we are introduced to the aliens first of all

Sound:

• the sound that is used is very diegetic because it is mostly natural sounds.
• and a lot of the sound is on screen because it is just naturalistic sounds or sounds that were made by the aliens.

the way that these four areas come together to create a sense of a thriller is by making an interesting and different style of thriller by starting with a documentary and then when the documentary thins out and the action follows the main character through his journey and how he actually turns into one of the aliens. what is interesting in this narrative is that the opening and Equilibrium lasts for nearly a quarter of the film until the disequilibrium seems to stem from the point where the main character comes into contact with the alien character Christopher where he begins mutating. this example is a questionable example of a cross between thriller and sci-fi