The opening scenes of the psychological thriller film "Cape Fear" introduce the main characters - a female victim and male villain who is released from prison. Various film techniques are used to convey that the man is the antagonist, including showing him in prison clothing with a tattoo symbolizing death, while the woman wears white and speaks gently. Though minimal details are given about the plot, the chronological storytelling and setting in a city and house provide clues about the genre being a psychological thriller.

1. 1403350-878205 2796540104140Cape fear is a psychological thriller which is financed and distributed by Universal Studios. Universal Studios is one of the six major American movie studios, which produces and distributes films. It was found by Carl Laemmle in 1912, and is one of the oldest American studios which is still running continuously. In this film, Cape fear, the opening of the film shows Universal Studio’s logo for 24 seconds, the length of the time signifies the importance of the studio.-870585-41275Titles The film starts with the credits of people that star the film. Each name is written in white slanted form and lasts for 4-5 seconds. The name of the film is also shown like this but lasts for 6 seconds and is in capital letters. The name of the male characters appears first and then the film’s name and then the name of the female actresses. It moves in order of position. The speed of the credits is increased according to the music, it goes faster, and the background turns red. -109855488953355340558165Camera Angles/movements/shots: The film starts with an Extreme Close-up shot, which then is followed on by a zoom out, where the fist character of the film is introduced. The camera then uses a Medium close-up shot where the next character of the film is introduced; we only see the back of the character which shows the importance of him. -414655194310-3105151588770There is a long shot used where we see the set of the opening of the film, from this we can see that the male character is most probably the villain of the film as he is just being released out of prison. The house also help identify the location of the film. -648970172720 26746201814195Miss-en-scene: The miss-en-scene used helps highlight the roles of the characters in the film. Firstly, when we are introduced to the girl at the opening minute of the film, we can consider her as the villain because of her face is zoomed out of red colour, which could suggest that she is the victim. Also because of the white shirt she is wearing, this helps suggest that she could be the victim, as the colour white is a symbol of purity and honesty and that’s what we as audiences would expect from a victim or the hero of a film. -92392563500However, the man could be considered as the villain of the film due to the black cross tattooed on his back. The cross is a representation of the death of the Christ which shows that this man likes killing and that’s why he is prison. The red books on the shelf could also represent the onscreen character as the villain due to the colour red being the symbol of death and danger. 3037840419735Lighting: There is only one type of lighting used in the opening of the film, which is high key lighting. Weather is also used as part of the lighting to convey different meanings. Even though there is high key lighting used and the opening scene is set in a day time, the grey, dark cloudy weather makes the scene very sinister and also gives a clue about the male character who is shown under the grey weather. This also hints out the position of the character in the film, which in this case could be the villain. The colour of his clothes also adds to the idea of him being the villain of the film. He is wearing red/orange trousers which again represents as the colour of danger. 354584022840952849245237490Editing: There are several different editing techniques used in the opening of the film. The first one which is used is the editing of the colours on the screen. The colour red is use dint je opening as a technique to show the victim of the film. The second editing technique used is the jump-cut where the screen jumps from showing the victim to the where the villain is. Sound There are many different sound techniques used in the opening of the film. There is non-digetic and digetic sound used. At the very beginning for 4 minutes there is loud and dramatic music used. The music helps convey the idea of a psychological thriller. It starts slowly but then goes faster and louder. It then stops where the opening actress speaks, and talks about the film. After the dialogues are continued by the villain of the film, and we are then moved back to non-digetic sound, where the dramatic music returns.1346201059180Actors positioning: The way the actors move and are positioned in the opening of the film is used as a symbol to represent their roles in the film. It is clear that the girl shown at the right opening of the film is the victim or the protagonist of the film, because she is facing the camera and is talking very gently. However, when the villain is introduced, it is clear that he is the villain in the film because he faces his back to the camera and we are introduced to him very slowly which shows his importance as the villain in the film. Also as the girl is the villain in the film and the man is the villain it show the power that the male actors will have in the film. The y are shown as tough and strong, whereas the women are shown as weak and less powerful. Narrative Theory:Who is the hero and who is the villain and how do you know?The villain is the male that is shown in the prison, we can consider him as the villain of the film because of the way he is positioned at the beginning of the film, and also as he is in jail we know that he is the antagonist of the film. However, we are not sure who the hero of the film is as we are only introduced to two characters, but the girl at the beginning could be the hero as she is the one wearing white and talks to the camera as oppose to the villain who is facing his back to the camera.Where is the story set? And what does this tell you about the genre of the film?The story is set in a city but we are also introduced to a house where most events of the film take place. Also as the jail is shown in the beginning it shows that the film is a thriller and because of the colours due to editing and miss-en-scene, the film is considered as psychological thriller.How many principle characters?There are only two principle characters shown at the beginning of the film, where we are introduce to the villain (male) and the victim (female).How is the story told? Chronologically or not? What is the effect?The story could be seen to be told chronologically as at the beginning we are introduced to a victim who has been attacked by the villain and then villain is defeated by a hero. The effect this has is that we as audience know what to expect from a film like this and gets us interested.What questions are you left with?If we see from the beginning of the film only, we are left with many questions such as, what happens to the girl. Why is she upset? Why was the man in prison? What crime has he committed?