The thriller Film opening sequence I'm going to be analysing is from the film 'Joker' which was released in 2019, directed by Todd Phillips and wrote by Todd Phillips, Scott Silver, and Bob Kane. Starring actors including Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz. The Film had a budget of $70 million USD. At the box office it received a huge profit making $1.074 billion USD worldwide. 'Joker' also won the award for best actor at the oscars. In total 'Joker' has won up to 98 awards.
Joaquin Phoenix as Joker/ Arthur Fleck is a mentally ill, impoverished party clown and stand-up comedian disregarded by society, his history of abuse causes him to become a nihilistic criminal with a clown motif.
The beginning opens with the original Warner brothers logo which instantly tells the audience that this is a period movie and isn't in recent times there is also the use of the sounds already beginning with the logo appearing instantly plunging the audience into the heat of the moment and transporting them to the time in which this is set.
The opening of the film begins with a tracking shot inside of what looks to be a old building in a low status part of town, as you can see from the window that this is located under a bridge already implying to the audience that this story may be about the low status of society. During this tracking shot there is a diegetic sound of the local news and the ambient sound of the city outside playing underneath it whilst the audience meet this first character which we can assume is the main character. Who is alone putting on his make-up connoting to the title 'Joker' that he is a clown or is seen as a clown by the world. There is another sense which we could say that the character is mentally ill and has to hide it from the world with his make-up. Having him sit alone gives the audience the feeling to sympathize with the character as he is not with anyone.
The second shot of the films shows us a close-up shot of the the. side of Arthur Fleck's face in the foreground with the background blurred, this could be the director wanting to focus on one thing only that being Arthur. This shot gives the audience a very unsettling feel of this character who is separated from everyone else around him in the room and his character is trying to figure out how to put a smile on his face and his his true emotions. We can assume the film will make us feel unsettled throughout. In this shot we see Arthur physically pulling his mouth up and down in a way of fighting the comedy, tragedy that could be his life as he is all alone with people laughing in the ambience. The shots here are filmed by handheld camera movements, in a way to try and make the audience feel a sense of intimacy with the character.
The tear in another close-up shot of Arthur's face after he forces his smile and his frown, maybe here it's still him trying to figure out whether his life is a comedy or a tragedy. The tear could be representing the start of him starting to lose himself in this crazed alter ego in a way and becoming crazy. His makeup ends up smudged implying that he doesn't care for the way he looks to other people. telling the audience a little about his story like he may have been bullied now he just thinks its normal to be alone and have no one around to support him. this also gives a convention to the genre that it being a thriller because we get a sense of many unanswered questions about this character that we want to know and find out about, and giving us a sense of suspense partnered up with anxiety as this character looks a bit scary.
There is sound-bridge now using non-diegetic sound of a piano transporting the audience to an establishing shot of where we can see we are in a wealthy area, we can tell this because of the lighting as its Dim and of the fog in the background and some of the buildings are worn down. In the bottom right of the screen you can see Arthur which he also looks very different to everyone else here, connoting to the audience that he is different to everyone that surrounds him. Also this is showing a little clown that is looked through in this big imposing and scary world, to the audience i think this shot helps us set the stage for arthur's world. Again this convention helps us establish that its thriller from the explicit moods that it gives off that everyone around is moody, again leaving an element of suspense. we find out in this scene that the sound of the piano is actually diegetic as we a shot of a man playing the piano.
We can clearly see from the expressions on Arthur's face that this is where he feels happy and at home with what he is doing, he has a mask on so therefore he doesn't have to be 'Arthur Fleck' but he can be who he wants to be a 'clown' a 'Joker' as he's pretending to be someone else and gets so invested and lost in his work. From here where he is dancing about we can see that Arthur has musical side of him which is able to show a visual representation of him to the audience almost a way of making the film seem brighter and take away from the dark sense that we fell and the anxiety that the audience may feel. There's an element to Arthur that if he would let go and take of the mask which he has put on he would become himself which his him becoming the Joker.
After Arthur had his sign stolen there are a few shots that track alongside of the the action in the street to make the audience feel apart of the action alongside the thugs who stole the sign to see what it's like from their perspective. having arthur belittled not only by people severely younger than him showing to the audience again that sense that arthur is looked over we get that sense as well from the scenery around him as the building are also towering over him in a way of hiding him from the real world. This makes the audience also feel in a sense trapped and can't escape as the whole of the place surrounding him is filled with no empty spaces. When Arthur is running down the busy streets no one who runs past decide to help him, telling the audience again that arthur is very much looked through and not cared for by society. Which leads to the audience having the feeling of anticipation hoping that someone will help.
Once Arthur makes it down the alleyway and is on the floor getting beat up, there is a dutch tilt angle shot used from a high perspective to make us as the audience are watching over this situation but there is nothing we can do to intervene as we are 'far away' in a sense. also having this down an alleyway makes the film darker than it is as they aren't on the main road anymore where maybe someone could have helped. this us the feeling to again sympathize with Arthur as no one decides to help. The shot used also be showing that Arthur's life has never been easy like a straight line but has always been twisted. When Arthur is hit by his own sign it manages to give the audience the element of surprise which thrillers normally intend to do.
When the thugs run off, Arthur is left alone on the ground in the rain to me I think this is the most powerful shot of the film as it tracks back and really gives the audience an incentive to what the film could have in store and the story for this character. This shot manages to portray Arthur's pain and his loneliness. We see arthur trying to reach out with his arm to grab his sign maybe thinking that he can fix it but can't reach it or doesn't have the strength too.
After he accepts his own fat he rolls over and presses something in his jacket in order to make water falling out of his flower that he is wearing. This could be Arthurs way of crying that he doesn't want to show it through his own tears, because at the end of the day here he is still the 'Joker'/clown figure, he is still there to try and make people laugh. Arthur even though he has been beat up and is badly hurt he still manages to see the comedy in this moment of pain. This puts the audience on edge and leaves them with suspense and Anxiety again, that the Arthur is still managing to see the funny side of the situation he is again clearly showing he is mentally ill.
Over the mournful non-diegetic music that is being played, the title appears when a certain low note is played and the title dominates the whole screen, where you can only slightly see Arthur in the background almost a way of showing that the director is trying to pull us away from Arthur but also hid him in a way to show that we can't help him. I think that the film is going to be about Arthurs decent in his life and ho these traumatic experiences are going to send him on a downward spiral and go insane and wanting to seek revenge on all the people that have hurt him in his life which i think will be the whole society as no one cared to help him so I think he wants to seek revenge on pretty much everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment