Usual Suspects commentary

One of the first tasks we had to complete was a commentary on usual suspects. 
As we had trouble uploading it to our blogs, we decided to write it onto our blogs instead. My group involved me, Georgina Ladley and Alexandra Ryder.


We had to look at: 

- What creates suspense?

- How the camera (shot types) tell the story to create mystery? 

- Genre conventions of mise-an-scene

My involvement in the group was answering the question:

What creates suspense?

In the film Usual Suspects it creates suspense by the use of slow strong beat of organs and the sound effects, such as  when the match is lit and dropped + also the gun shots created curiosity. The line of fire on the floor also created suspense as you didnt know when it was going to stop. The sound effects help to set the mood throughout the scene. 

How the camera tells the story to create mystery.

The tracking shots show the scene from a low point of view, and then there is a long shot from the floor showing a tall dark man on the balcony this is dark and mysterious. Using the over the shoulder shots of the other man creates mystery because you wonder who the other guy is, as you don't see his face. 

Genre conventions of mise-an-scene:

Dark lighting is used though out the scene. The men in the clip are wearing dark, dull clothes nothing that stands out, also they speak with monotone voice to make them sound more scary and mysterious.  

There are some good close ups of the props like the gun and the matches.