Disturbia

Disturbed has been said to be "...sick, savvy and suspenseful", but the beginning scene is much different to those that we have been shown in lesson.

Disturbed begins with a very nice scene, where everything is nice and cheerful. It is just the back-story to show the audience why Kale Brecht reacts the way he does to specific things.

Before the movie begins the background music is very tense, Erie. It is very low but adds in a couple of high notes - this draws the attention of the audience as it resembles a female’s scream. Human ears have developed to hear high pitched sounds better; this is because in the past it was the male’s job to protect the female. So if a female was in trouble she would scream and a man would be expected to save her. This is why alarms are so high pitched - our ears are more attuned to it.
This music informs the audience what type of genre the movie will be - thriller.

The 'scary' music dies down as there is dialogue. The screen is still blank and the audience does not know what is going on. However, the dialogue is very calm and you can hear water in the background.
As the image fades in the water sound becomes diagetic and other sounds are introduced. We can hear birds, the fishing rail plopping into the water and calm, happy music fades in slowly. The music is very upbeat but in a calm way, suggesting the feeling of relaxation. The camera tilts up following where the fishing rail is coming from and shows two men standing in a lake with grass and mountain behind them. This establishes the time - day, due to the sunny sky. The place - in the country side, isolated by fields and mountains. The mood - happy and relaxed, due to the weather (sunny), the music (happy) and the two people are laughing and appear to be relaxed.

The relationship between the two men is made apparent straight away through their body language and the dialogue that is shared between the two characters. They are not near each other but they do lean toward one another. Their facial expression is a mix between relaxed and concentration. This shows that they are fairly close. The dialogue - "Pop? Oh, that's a big one, Pop." They are farther and son. Through the father's response it also shows that his father is very supportive of Kale. The activity that they are doing also suggests to the audience that they have a relatively close father-son relationship.
The dialogue tenses and speeds a bit and the background music slowly weaves into a more adventures sound. The background suggests happiness and freedom.
When the fish gets away the music weaves back down a couple of notches and the farther, once again, shows his support through reassurance. There is a lot of joking around and the image dissolves into another of the two in the car.

The son is driving and on the phone which suggests to the audience that something may happen. The music has faded out the image dissolves into one that is outside a house and tracking toward the house. It switches to inside the house and it is a woman on the phone. The audience realizes that she is talking to the boy driving the car as his voice replies to what she said but it sounds as if it is coming through a tunnel. The image is cross-cutted to the car again where another, unidentifiable, car overtakes Kale and the emphasis on this car makes the audience think that the car may be the cause of what ever may be coming. The car is black - black is a very dark color, death.

The phone is passed over to Kale's father and the mood is still very light as they both joke around with Kale's mother. All of a sudden there are breaks screeching (the black car going around a stationary one), the music cuts out and the screen cuts to Kale's father's face while he shouts for Kale to turn. The editor uses the word 'Kale!' to add in music without the audience realizing when it begun to sound. The music has long, dragged out notes and very tense. The screen cuts to in front of the car as half of it goes over the car in front and is flung into the air. The audience can hear the engine rev with no effect. This just makes it all realistic. As the car impacts with the ground the audience can hear the bodies hitting the seats and sides inside the car and the glass smashing. The car slides along the concrete and we can hear metal being scraped.

This event not only gives the audience a reference for the rest of the film but it also emphasizes the love between the two and how much Kale depends on his father. Kale's Father is shouting for Kale and this emphasizes the love he feels toward his son as when both their lives are in danger, he is worried about his son. The first thing the audience hears when the car is finally stationary is "Kale, you okay?”
There is a lot of grunting and panting of pain to make it realistic.
There is panic in Kale's voice when he replies "Dad", this tells the audience something bad is about to happen but we are unaware as to what as the camera is still on a close-up on Kale - showing the fear.
The camera cross cuts onto Kale's father's side and as he turns his head a pick-up is revealed. Once again he shouts for Kale. Even when he is in the most danger it is his son he is worried about.
The music stops as the pick-up impacts giving even more emphasis. The audience realizes that they have been breathing in time with the music and now that it has stopped, so have they.
We can hear the brakes of the pick-up, the glass, the metal scraping on the ground and bits falling on to the floor.
There is no gap of silence - as soon as the car has stopped moving the background - tense - music sounds again. We can hear gas coming out of the car.
Can hear movement from the car but the audience can not see who it is moving around. There are grunts of pain and as kale crawls out of the driver's window we can hear the glass he is rubbing against and his clothes scraping on the ground. We can hear him hitting the metal as he tries to use the side of the car to pull himself out.

When he drags himself and gets up we can see the prosthetics used to create a big gash on his leg. And he hobbles over to the other side of the car.
The music gets louder as the footage progresses.

When Kale looks into the passenger window the music is loud and so the transformation is very noticeable. The music turns from tense to sad - raising Goosebumps on your arm. Kale's face is drowned in pain and sadness. His breathing slows dramatically but gets much heavier.

Everything fades out and the title fades in to the middle of the black screen, but the music stays the same so that the audiences stay in the same mood - sad.

I think that this beginning is very good to think about when making our own thriller opening as it actually introduces the character and shows the audience why he acts the way he does and explains how he gets into the situation he does. I think it is also very good as we want variety and this is very different to all other thrillers that I have watched recently.
Statistics:
These ratings are out of 10.
Males rated Disturbia a 7 on average, with 49, 622 votes.
Females rated Disturbia a 7.5 on average, with 10, 381 votes.