the man also appears to be slightly in front of the others suggesting that he is in control of them. Non diegetic dialogue then kicks in as the audience learns that the sinister looking man is named Alex. As the camera zooms out fully the voice over states the words ‘ultra violent’ and the non diegetic music suddenly raises in both pitch and volume giving a sense of danger, and that these men could perhaps be very dangerous. Within this scene there is a lot of colour coding of the colour white and high key lighting, from the mise en scene of their clothes, to the mannequins scattered around the room, this gives the sense that the 4 men are within their own environment in this room.There is then a sudden clean cut as the non diegetic music stops revealing a close up of two bottles of alcohol and a man’s hand, the lighting is of a complete contrast to the previous scene going from high key to low key- a typical convention of the thriller genre- explaining to the audience that they are in a different place. The diegetic sounds of a man singing can be then heard and as the camera slowly zooms out revealing a homeless man it’s clear to see that its coming from him, the camera zooms out from a close up to a long shot showing him very vulnerable and perhaps in danger as the shadows of 4 men move into frame, suggesting that these men have brought the danger. The audience can then hear the ambient sounds of footsteps slowly walking towards the man as the voice over links directly to the images shown on screen ‘dirty old drunk’ as the camera quickly cuts to the 4 men slows walking towards him in an extreme long shot. Behind the men is a light source shining onto them,
linking them back to the place the audience saw them first, their own environment, suggesting that these men have done things like this before, as it appears they are ready to attack. The camera comes slightly closer into a long shot keeping all men in the frame but still giving the impression that they are in contact with the homeless man. We then see a mid shot of the homeless man being threatened by one of the four men, as shot reverse shot is then used with an extreme close up of Alex’s face, this almost confirms that he is the leader and is in charge as he is the one doing the threatening. As the four men begin to attack the helpless homeless man, its noticeable that the mise en scene of the props used are typical conventions of the thriller genre, with bicycle chains being used as weapons, bats and even knives being used all to the sounds of the men laughing at his pain, giving a contrapuntal feel to it all.
There is then another clean cut used as once again the lighting is a contrast of the previous scene going from low key to high key, the audience can see a close up on a picture of a vase holding flowers, with what appears to be non diegetic classical music in the background, a sight which would usually portray peace and happiness, however it is broken up by the diegetic sounds of a woman screaming. The camera tilts down revealing an establishing shot of what appears to be a run-down theatre. However, the non diegetic classical music doesn’t at all reflect what is going on onscreen as it shows a woman being attacked by 4 different men. The music therefore is contrapuntal, and this straight away gives off some enigmas – often associated with the thriller genre – as to why the beautiful classical music could be playing to such violent images being shown on screen, and could give an insight of what type of person the character of Alex really is.-By Anthony Wilson
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