Erol, Charlie and Harry: Harry's Textual Analysis of "The Usual Suspects"

Camerawork

The use of a camera tilt to hide the face of the killer adds to the enigma of the sequence. The fact that the audience is unable to see his face leaves them pondering throughout the film about who he is. Despite using a tilt to cover his face, a low angle shot manages to make the killer appear threatening, which adds more questions. Does he play an important role in the criminal world? Is he just a henchman?

In this sequence is a still shot of a dead body (with a knife in its back) as the killer walks past it. The use of this shot adds to the suspense of the sequence as the audience doesn't know who killed this man. Some may think it is obviously the killer as he is the one with his face covered, but he is first shown standing on a balcony, so because of this, some of us may be lead to believe that the character killed him instead. Once again we are left with questions.

Just as the killer is about to fire his gun, a cut transition is used to cut away from the gun being fired. This is an excellent use of editing for a thriller opening as it keeps the audience guessing about what is going on. Did the killer actually shoot the character, or did he leave him alive to burn? No one knows as the gun shots were off screen, but by doing this, it adds to the suspense of the sequence, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.

One use of Mise en Scene is through the fire trail (prop) to add suspense to the sequence. There are multiple shots of the trail as it nears the gasoline that sets off the explosion on the ship. As the camera shots follow the fire trail, getting closer to the gasoline container, the suspense builds and builds (especially when a camera tilt (third screenshot) is used to follow the trail is it nears its destination) before the climactic explosion goes off. Once again it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

Another subtle yet effective use of Mise en Scene is the lighting used throughout the sequence. Despite the fact that the sequence is set during the night, lighting is used to show clear contrasts between the antagonist and the victim in this particular scene. An example of this is the low key lighting on the victim's face. The use of this lighting helps show the audience that this man is the victim, whilst the dimmer lighting helps show that the other man is the antagonist.

The dark clothing (prop) that the antagonist wears is used to represent his personality: Evil, vile and sinister. As well as this, the pure black clothing goes hand in hand with the dim lighting used, which is a clever way of showing the audience just how evil the antagonist is.

One use of sound is the sound of thunder. Once the gun shots have been fired, there are a few shots of the ship. After these shots, you are able to hear what sounds like thunder. By editing the sound of thunder after the gun shots, it adds to the atmosphere of the sequence (e.g. gloomy, miserable and sinister nature).
The sequence is made more dramatic by the fact that there isn't much dialogue. The lack of dialogue helps to immerse the audience in the setting of the sequence as they are able to hear the flipping of the lighter, the gun shots, the sound of the fire as it travels towards the gasoline container etc. The immersion allows the audience to experience what the characters are experiencing.