Notes On The Opening Sequence Of The Girl With The Dragon Tatto

Notes On ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’
Camera:

Movement – Steadicam to show the shots clearly, uses tracking shots at the beginning to follow the images and show a journey.
Angle – Midshots at eye level to be clear.
Frame – Close ups to show great detail.

Editing:

Transitions – Straight cuts.
Orders of narrative – Audience do not have enough information to discover this.
Pace – Fast pace that continues to increase over time as the clip progresses. It does not slow down.

Mise-En-Scene:

Costume – Very strange. The audience do not see the actors wearing clothing, but dressed in black paint.
Lighting – Low key: this adds mystery.
Actors – we see two main actors whom are kept secretive throughout the clip. We do not find out much about them.
Make up – Paint, this keeps the characters and props very hidden so that the audience are left questioning.
Props – Fire, key board, tangled wires, water, a match and flame.
Setting – Mysterious as this is not revealed and is unclear.

Describe –
In detail –

Setting – Mysterious as this is not revealed and is unclear, we as an audience can only make assumptions.
Theme - Mystery, negativity, pain, disturbance, ruin.
Icons – The burning match and the facial expression of people represent and are iconic of pain. This also is the same for everything, like the eye, bursting and braking: it shows ruin.
Narrative – Cannot interpret this.
Characters – Two set characters that we can clearly see. However nothing about them is revealed other than that they are in pain.
Textual analysis –

Sound:

Parallel – Parallel sound is used within this clip. The angry guitars and drums within the soundtrack reflect the anger and pain within the moving images.
On screen –

Diegetic – The voice of a woman moaning could be diegetic sound of the character within the moving image however it could also be a part of the soundtrack.
Contrapuntal –
Off screen –

Non diegetic – The soundtrack.
Soundtrack – A rock song that conveys anger.
Symphonic –

Melody – The soundtrack is a distinctive tune.
Rhythmic – The soundtrack uses percussive sounds to form a beat.