Study of Sin City (2005) – Frank Miller/Robert Rodriguez

The opening shot in the film is a tilted down, long shot of a woman overlooking a city from a balcony on the top of a skyscraper. The woman has her back to the camera which gives her the connotation of being venerable. The woman is wearing a red dress that leaves her back uncovered; her back being on show also contributes to the connotation of her being venerable. Her wearing a red dress could be seen her as being a ‘lady in red’ or ‘femme fatal’ which are thriller signifiers; women that are potentially dangerous, and also seen as sex symbols. The red dress could be interoperated as having the connotation of being dangerous, as red can symbolise blood, death and violence. However, the colour red can also symbolise romance and seduction. When you see her face you then see that she is wearing red lipstick. This contributes to the fact she could be a ‘femme fatal’.

In the opening shot you can also see many other tall buildings, cars and lights in the background. This shows the use of chiaroscuro lighting (light and dark). The buildings are all dark, except from the windows why are bright. There being many windows could suggest that she is being watched, which adds mystery and intrigue to the plot; mystery and intrigue are thriller signifiers that are very commonly used in films in the thriller genre.

The non-diegetic sound in the opening sound (music) is soft jazz which is also a common thriller signifier. This also helps give the opening scene a mysterious and sinister feel. As well as the music, sirens and vehicles can be heard in the background; crime is happening in the streets – crime is a thriller signifier and it can represent corruption, violence and even deception.

The narrative of the film in general is shown from different peoples perspectives at different time, than all of the perspectives start to link together. This is to help the audience get involved with the story and how the character see things and feel. In the opening scene it is in the perspective of the male. There is an internal monologue which is poetic, and is said in a calm, emotionless feel; this adds to the connotation of it being 'clod hearted' and sinister. This was an inspiration for my thriller introduction; I wrote an internal monologue, however in the end we were unable to use it due to the time limit (the narrative would have been unreadable using an internal monologue to tell the story in the short amount of time).

The opening scene being in an urban city is also a thriller signifier; the use of run-down, urban, dark, crime-filled cities is used in many thrillers. Also, there is diagonal rain in the scene which is also common in many thrillers, especially film-noirs.

In the opening to the film there is also quite a bit of editing. When the woman smokes a cigarette her eyes flash green, maybe to indicate jealousy or danger. This happens just before she is shot, then when she is shot, the film goes monochromatic; the characters turn into cartoon like silhouettes in black and white. Also, the film is filmed through a grey lens which makes everything appear in black and white, this adds to the chiaroscuro lighting effect and helps the colourful editing stand out more. The use of black and white filming is also a typical film-noir signifier.

The woman getting killed is a small twist in the plot, which is a major thriller signifier. This also helps contribute to the sinister and threatening atmosphere and adds more mystery and intrigue to the film. The man that kills the woman appears to be the dominant character; he is in control and deceives the girl by putting her into a false sense of security and then killing her. This shows betrayal which is also a thriller signifier.The man could be seen as a male protagonist and an anti-hero which are also significant signifiers that a film is a thriller.

When the film is in monochromatic, it appears as if the camera is panning away and upwards from the city, whilst spiralling. The spiralling is an important thriller signifier; spirals can indicate a twisting and turning plot, which are very common in thrillers. The image of the city then spells out the name of the film, ‘Sin City’. The name of the film then goes red as if it were blood which helps give a more sinister feel to the film. Throughout the opening credits there are cartoons of violent images such as guns. Violence and the use of guns can be a common factor in thriller films, however not so much in psychological thrillers. Certain words in the credits, such as “shot” and “cut” are larger than the rest; these words can be seen as violent and can help contribute to the sinister feel of the film. The jazz music in the opening scene gets faster which helps build up tension during the credits. This helps add suspense to the film and can get the audience on the edge of their seats.

Sin City having a sub-genre of being crime/underworld helps it relate a lot to my thriller, Abduction. They both have the same sort of sinister feel to them, made by the seriousness of the characters, the chiaroscuro lighting, male protagonists and use of violent images; Sin City was a great inspiration for the opening credits to our thriller, as our credits have red and black cartoons of violence as does Sin City. Although our films have to different types of music (Sin City has a more classic thriller music style (jazz) whereas Abduction has a modern hip-hop styled soundtrack), they both work in a similar way to build up tension and suspense.