Task 2.1: Thriller Film Intro Analysis - Drive

The introduction to 'Drive' starts off pitch black whilst slow, techno music plays in the background as a non-diegetic sound. This is used to build intensity in the beginning and it makes the audience feel a sense of danger as they don't know what's going to happen. It then fades from the black screen to a map with markings on.

The map has a spotlight on it but it's only a small one, making the rest of the room feel very dark. The map's markings are different alleyways in the city. The camera then pans up and we can see the main character looking out a window on his phone.

The mise en scene in this is very well done as his jacket is silver with  scorpion on the back of it. This could connote that this man is dangerous and will 'sting' his enemies if they get in his way - just like a scorpion does.
After this, the camera continues to pan across the room and shows a television playing of a football match, which evidently plays a part later on in the next ten minutes. It then pans across to a heavily packed bag. I believe the first minute of this introduction to the film sums up everything we need to know about the main character. The lighting is dark which shows he is a mysterious character, the markings on the map show us that he plans every detail and the final zoom shot of the city through the window tells us that he works at night. This is also complimented with the diegetic sound of cars in the background, suggesting this man has something to do with driving.

In the next shot, the main character is driving a car and it's almost an over the shoulder shot. In every shot of him driving a car in this introduction, the camera does not leave outside the car at all. It stays inside the car in order to make the audience feel like they are in there with the main character. There is then a low angle shot in the car, facing toward the man. There is no dialogue what so ever in this shot, and it makes the audience feel both awkward and at the same time intimidated by this man.

The next shot shows a man in a garage smoking a cigarette and looking into the night. He is on the right of the screen and the camera is at a medium shot. I believe this was done to make it look like an old fashioned, film noir kind of shot as in those kinds of films, it's always very shady and mysterious, this really adds to the cliche feel of this.

This man then sees the previous driver and talks to him as they walk up the garage. This is done at a long shot and it follows them up the garage. The driver does talk at all in this scene yet his jacket seems to stand out from the other man's even though his character is obviously a lot darker. This could show that maybe he is a good character and not as bad as everyone thinks. At the end of this small introduction, the music starts to become more noticeable by getting louder - this builds up about what's to happen next and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat.