An analysis of an opening sequence: '"The Secret Window"

An analysis of an opening sequence: '"The Secret Window"

This analysis is taken from the movie 'The Secret Window'. The film is a psychological thriller about writer, Jonny Depp who plays Mort Rainey and is based on the novel book 'Secret Window, Secret Garden' by Stephen King. The film was released on the 12th of March, 2004 by Columbia Pictures.

In the very first scene you hear a sound bridge of windscreen wipers when the Paramount Pictures is on screen. The scene opens with a close up shot of Jonny Depp sitting in a car and looking very distraught. We hear a voice, which is a non-diegetic voice, which we believe is his. This creates an enigma code. We realize the emotions running through his head at that moment in time. The sound of his voice is being defeated by his own actions. He seems to have some sort of dialogue problem as he is always questioning himself before he does anything. His mental state does not seem to be perfect which makes him vulnerable; we can tell this by the way he is driving his car, which is fast and dangerous which suggest that he is angry and upset about something. We then notice the ring on his finger while he is in the car; it shows that he is married and could be an enigma code. The stubble on his face and his unkempt appearance shows that he could be having psychological problems.

In this scene the colours are very dull and monochromatic. He is wearing scuffy, wash out clothes with dull wash out colours. his suggests that the main character is in deep thought about a serious issue. The colour red is repetitively shown in the motel at the start with the sign, which is red, the red keys for the red doors, which is significant because it represents caution, danger blood and also passion. The main character is glaring ahead and driving dangerously, suggesting he is upset and angry at something. The colour of the title ‘Secret Window’ switches from a over image or black, white colour that signals purity, life vitality and innocence timing, credits to a red colour presentation which again signals caution, danger and blood. The signs are not too great, but this is one of the main conventions that make a psychological thriller movie. In general, the presentation of the film suggests that there is a lot to come later on in the film.

After the close-up shot of Jonny Depp in the car, the camera stays at the same position as before as the main character reverses back to the motel. When the main character runs into the reception the camera tracks him as he runs over to get the keys. The main character then jumps into the car and speeds off to one of the motel rooms in which we believe that his wife is staying in. The camera is a dash cam that shows him using the key to gain access to the room in which his wife is in when the main character is doing this is horror music in the background. This helps create a eerie atmosphere and add tension to the scene. A camera then follows him into the room and goes into a high angle shot of his wife in bed with another man. Then out Depp screams showing his emotion of what he has witness which show the audience how he is felling to back up emotion they play and dark deep almost screeching sound which create tension and makes this scene seem more dramatic

Editing directions there are three fade cuts which signals the passing of time. The most notable fade cut is when the camera reverse shots zooms out from the sea and fades into a medium shot showing the main character sleeping, with a clear sign that says ‘six months later’.

After watching the opening of the secret window a couple of times I notice that most psychological thrillers are mostly the same, for example they all use amplified music to create tension and drama, also the weather tends to be similar as it is normally cold and raining during scenes. They use the enigma codes to give us a taster of what is to come by shocking/surprise us and giving us a false sense of security.