SAW: Opening Scene Analysis-Psychological Thriller

SAW Opening Scene Analysis

In the opening of the first SAW movie camera is used in a variety of ways, which shows the audience straight away that the movie is a thriller movie. For example one of the first shots used is an extreme close up of the characters face under water, this creates many questions for the audience already (showing the Blumler and Katz theory of surveillance) such as why is the character under water, and why is only part of his face showing, this makes the audience want to carry on watching to find out the answers to these questions, not only this but as the first shot of a character is an extreme close up it makes the audience feel fairly uncomfortable as you are only just introduced and feel like you are so close to them already which helps show the idea that the film is a thriller. There is also another shot near the beginning where the character wakes up and gets his face out from under the water  and there is an extreme close up of just his mouth, this is clever by the director as it shows us straight away the characters struggle for breath and it makes you fear for the man’s safety, as you wonder if he will be okay as he is struggling with his breathing, it also strikes us with a bit of fear, as it shows he was near death which would worry the audience. There is also a close up of the plug hole of the bath and something going down the hole, this creates a variety of questions, such as why is there so much focus on the whole, does it mean anything? Is there a reason the director wants us focused on the hole?  Then it also creates the question of what the thing going down the whole was? Is this significant to the film? Is it dangerous? One shot creates a variety of questions which makes the audience want to carry on watching, it is also quite spooky and creates the feeling of mystery as you don’t know the significance of what the thing going down the hole is. There is also a long take and long shot when the character is falling out of the bath this creates intensity as you are focused on the same character for a substantial amount of time and it makes you wonder why this character is getting so much specific attention and it makes you realise he is one of the main characters, then it poses the question what his role is in the film, why he is in that place, why he is chained up, and why he was under water in the first place? We are then introduced to a new character when the lights are switched on, when the lights are switched on they use a pan shot so we see each individual light come on, this creates an effect the lights coming on separately sets the scene of an old abandoned place as they go on slowly, we then meet a new character with a medium shot, we are not as close with him as we were the first character which suggests to us he isn’t the main focal point like the first character was, but he is still important as we are introduced to him and see him waist upwards so are still fairly close to him which still creates an awkward feeling to the audience. We also get a close up of the first character we meet eyes squinting when the lights are turned out, this suggests to us he has been out of light for a long time and isn’t used to it, this makes us wonder how long has he been out of the light, why has he been out of the light? After that we get a close up of the dead body that they see, this creates a huge amount of terror and disgust from the audience as you are straight away close up to a dead rotting body with no face, it then goes to an aerial shot where we see the whole body and blood surrounding him and the room, which sets the scene and makes us ask questions like how did he get there, why is he dead in that specific place, and how did a die in such a gruesome way?  We then get an extreme close up of a gun in the dead person’s hand, this makes the audience think why has the dead person got a gun? Is that what got him killed? It also creates a feeling of fear amongst the audience as they see a weapon in his hand and it makes them scared to see if he had a gun and died, what did the other person have?

Editing is also used throughout the opening of SAW to create the idea of a thriller movie, an example of this is at the start of the opening the shots all have quick cuts, going from different parts of his face, to different parts of the bath, the quick cuts creates the effect of chaos and makes the audience think the film may be chaotic as everything is so quick, which may strike fear into the audience as they will be worried about the chaos that might be about to unfold in front of their very eyes.  There is also a montage in the bath, there is a series of shots whilst he is in the bath it creates a feeling that the bath means something and this makes the audience feel intensity as they don’t know why the bath has a meaning but they feel like it must have some sort of meaning, this creates the feeling of mystery as the audience want to know but don’t know why the bath is so significant. Though the quick cuts are stopped once the character gets out the bath as there is a long take of the character getting out of the bath, this feels like we are just staring at the character which connotes intensity as we wonder why we are spending a long amount of time focused on this one character.  They also use a spinning effect to an aerial shot of the dead body, this creates an effect of chaos as the quick spinning makes you feel like your head is spinning and something chaotic is happening then you are left with an aerial shot of the dead body, this strikes fear in to the audience as the quick spinning leaving your head spinning leaves the audience in fear as it connotes that death can happen quick.

Sound is key in creating the idea of a thriller movie in the opening of SAW. Right from the start before you can even see anything you hear the sound of water bubbling slowly (diegetic sound) which straight away as an audience member makes you wonder where this water is coming from and what is the significance in water in this movie? This also creates suspense and you wonder what it’s for, and then is ended with the climax of the character coming from under the water heavy breathing and coughing. The heavy breathing and coughing makes you realise the character is in some distress and feeling sick and worried, this passes the same feeling on to the audience as you begin to feel empathy for the character as you only just meet them and they are heavy breathing in fear and coughing in sickness. There is also a loud whooshing sound as the object goes down the baths hole, which makes us think that the object is special and significant as the sound of whooshing connotes speed, so the speed of the object going down the whole making that noise makes us think that it must have some significance in the film and makes us wonder what the significance of the object is. Throughout the scene, especially when the dead body is revealed there is non-diegetic music being played, the music sounding like danger, the effect of this music is that it builds up tension as you don’t know what is going to happen but you know it’s bad then it gets to its climax where it is the dead body then you hear screams and it makes you question whether the screams are diegetic are non-diegetic which creates an idea of mystery amongst the audience so they want to carry on watching the film to find out about the screams. Dialogue is key to the sound used in this opening scene, the first words that are said are “someone help me, is someone there? Am I dead?” this makes the audience realise that the character is completely oblivious to where he is, this makes the audience also question where he is and why he is there as the character is just as confused as they audience as to where he is. Then off camera another voice says “You’re not dead” this has a good effect as it creates the mystery of wondering who said that as you can’t see the character who said that, so the audience wonders who it is that said that, it also creates a spooky feeling as the voice is very low, which could make the audience worry about who actually is in the dark in the same room as the other character. The first character also says “What the f**k is going on?!” which is effective as it shows that the character is worried and really confused as to what is going on and this makes the audience feel empathy for the character as he seems to be really scared and worried as he don’t know what is going on, then it also creates questions to the audience like if he doesn’t know what’s going on, then why could he be there? Is he in danger? When the lights are switched on there is a sound of electric coming on, this sets the scene of the room as the sound of electric coming on is very old school and only happens when lights haven’t been used in a long while, so it makes us think when was this place last use light? How old is this place? What is this place? They also use sharp sounds when showing various parts of the dead body, making each part they show seem even worse than they are with the added sound effect which makes the audience feel terror as they are witnessing a dead body.

Mise-En-Scene is used throughout the opening scene and it is used cleverly in making the audience know from the off that it is a thriller movie. This is first seen in the set, where it looks to be an abandoned mental institute, this straight away makes the audience feel disturbed, as an abandoned mental institution connotes that something crazy and bad will happen and have happened in that place, so this make the audience feel worried and disturbed. You can also mention the costume that is being used by the actors, for example both actors have wet hair, and both have shirts that are covered in sweat patches, this connotes that they have been worked hard, or are in a very hot environment which is making them sweat, this makes the audience feel they could have been there for a long time to sweat so much, which begs the question How long in fact have they been in this place? Lighting is also something that is very key in creating the scene, as the lighting is very low key and dark for most of the scene, creating a feeling of scariness as you don’t know what is going on in the whole of the room and you can only see certain parts as it is so dark, creating a feeling of mystery. It does turn very bright though when the lights are switched on but almost too bright as it makes the actors eyes squint, and it is so bright that it makes the audience think that something could be about to be unveiled as it has gone from complete darkness to bright light so the audience feels like something could be about to happen, building suspense. Props are also very important and many props are used throughout this opening scene, there is a chain which the character is tied too, this makes the audience wonder why is this particular character chained up? This also makes the audience feel empathy for the character as he is trapped and cannot move. There is also a bath, this is good as a bath is an everyday project that everyone has, so it seems normal yet it has so much attention drawn to it, that it makes the audience question what is different about this bath and why it has drawn so much attention. The gun is also used and is a good prop as it creates a feeling of danger as a gun is a dangerous weapon, so this makes the audience feel worried as there is a gun sitting in the middle of the room and no one knows what it is there for, creating a feeling of tension, as they want to know why the gun is there.