Study of Layer Cake (2004) - Mattew Vaughn

The opening shot of the film is a close up of the back of a car. The shot has been edited to be in slow motion. This helps add dramatic effect to the explosion, as you can see people running to help and hear screaming. Having such an opening shot helps 'hook' the audience as it leaves them intrigued in what happened and why. The shot starts off in black and white, to indicate it was an event that happened in the past. There is then a lot of clever, swift, sharp editing which then makes several different shots look as if they are all one; as the camera pans, it goes through different events and places, however it seems that it is all filmed in one take. This helps give the connotation of the film being professional. The events you see in the opening credits consist of sexual images of half-naked woman, police, and drugs. These can all be seen as thriller signifiers; half-naked woman can be seen as sex symbols, which is common in thriller genre films. There being police and drugs present in the opening scene suggests the film is to do with crime and the criminal underworld. Already the audience gets a feel for how the rest of the film will be, and what it will be about.

There is a shot in the opening scene where there appears to be a range of FCUK products, however the boxes also have the names of recreational drugs on them (e.g. cocaine). A man is looking at all of these products on a set of shelves as if he is browsing to buy some. This implies to the audience that buying drugs is easy for this man, and that it is just like going to the shop to buy toiletries. It may also indicate that peoples' use of drugs at that time was as normal as wearing FCUK perfume; the whole scene may indicate to the audience that in the UK drugs are easy to get hold of and are a regular/normal thing for people.

The opening credits are integrated with the film; rather than being on a black plain background, the credits appear to be written on actual objects in the film. For example, one part of the opening credits were on a closed door, then when the door opened, they moved with the door as if written on it. This too helps give a professional feel to the film, rather than a violent/sinister feel like more classical thrillers.

The film is set in an urban city, which is a thriller signifier. However, unlike other thrillers, the city is not a 'gritty' run down area. Instead, the city looks 'neat and tidy' and crime-free. This helps add to the professional atmosphere of the film. Rather than typical chiaroscuro lighting, typical outside lighting is used. These aspects of the film show how the directors have tried to challenge the classical thriller conventions.

The music in the opening scene is soft rock/pop genre, which also challenges the classic thriller conventions (typical thrillers tend to have jazz music (especially film-noirs)). The music helps towards the professional and relaxed atmosphere rather than the typical sinister feel of other thrillers.

The narrative of the film is shown using an internal monologue. The internal monologue is quite serious, but also humorous at times. There being humour in the internal monologue helps add to the relaxed feel of the film. This was inspirational to my thriller, as I wrote an internal monologue after watching the film, however mine had no humour in it. Internal monologues are a thriller signifier and are used commonly in thriller genre films. The film is shown in a man's point of view, which shows the film has a male protagonist. This is a very important thriller signifier and is common in most thrillers.

The film links to my 'opening to a thriller' because of the use of a male protagonist and the sub-genre of crime/gangster/drugs. Both films appear to have the objective of showing the audience what the criminal underworld and drug gangs are like in the UK. Also, both films being made in the UK and having British casts helps the audience be more able to relate to the film and feel more involved.