Brick

The film 'Brick' was written and directed by 'Rian Johnson', and came out in the year 2005. the film is about a teenage loner who pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. this thriller opening creates plenty of media language and mystery.

This opening begins with a male character kneeling down against a wall, the camera looks at his feet and then his eyes. As the camera looks into his eyes, it makes the audience think who is, where is he and whether he is good or bad. soon after this an establishing medium-long shot is used which is also very effective. for instance this shot allows the audience to picture what is happening, but also to get into the mood of what is being shown. in addition this shot shows rule of thirdsm the male character is shown on the left of the frame, the tunnel or sewer in the middle, and a dead girl on the floor on the right. In this shot the tunnel plays a big part, as the tunnel is dark and the setting is grey, this creates an eerie and bleak atmosphere and questions whether he is the murderer.

Furthermore, another shot shows the women lying down on the floor and only her legs are visable. This shot shows what has been caused and gives the aduaince an idea of what kind of women she was. the shot shoes her legs, her red/brown shoes and also a bit of her brown dress. this dress looks as if it was white but has got dirty due to her being in the river and is also wet, which can suggest that she was perhaps drowned. this idea can be evidently shown by the water next to her, but also as her dress looks torn at the bottom. during this phase of shots, after everytime she was shown a shot reverse shot was used onto the man, which can imply that he was the killer. Moreover, the rule of thirds is effectivelly used which creates the audience to focus and admire the shots. The rule of thirds is a composed shot where the frame can be divided into three, also this feature can make the audience focus specifically onto something which may be the center of attention, but also make things uneasy.

In this opening sequence the colours begin to be dull such as black grey and dark blue. however when the girl is shown the colours begin to brighten up. for example the girl is wearing a long dress which i think was oringinally white but turned brown due to the dirty water. also she is wearing a white jumper and a set of blue bracelets, which are contrasted to the white clothes and dirty water, however the colourful bracelt and imply that she was young and perhaps the boyfriend of the man. in addition as the girl is wearing a dress and nice clothes which could suggest that she was going somewhere and didnt intend on being the way she is now. the setting of this film changes fast throughtout the opening. for example it begins in the sewer, but then changes to a school where a shot shows the girl before she was murdered putting something in a locker. soon after this is turns to the boy before the incident, where he goes the locker and takes out a little note. moreover, the boy is then shown in a telephone box ringing the girl. this creates suspision and a mystery as at first we dont know who he is ringing and where he is, but a car drives past and drops a ciggarette. this prop is key to the film and is a clue to the boy, the ciggarette has an arrow on it which points to a sign or another phone box. the opening sequence near enough stops here, but we wonder what the ciggarette clue has to do with the story and whats going to happen next.