Trainspotting

 

Trainspotting has a brilliant and unique thriller opening. It is fast paced and grabs you straight away. The scene starts with two of the 4 main characters running from police which is actually a scene later in the film. The use of non-diegetic sound is used well here as its also mixed with diegetic sound. The non-diegetic sound is the Main character, who is also the narrator, talking about the luxurys that normal people and not drug addicts (himself) are able to afford. The script actually became very famous and was used in a pop song that went to number one during the time of the film (early 2000’s). The camera angles used are close ups,  medium close ups, noddy shots, long shots and still shots (to introduce the characters soon after the chase seen ends)   

 

 

 

 

Drive

 

Drive uses a tense opening which also grabs the audience straight away. It starts with our main character doing a job for some criminals who have just robbed a warehouse. He obviously is the driver and we get an impression of the type of character he is in the film from this opening scene. The shots used are a lot of close ups on the three in the car but mainly our main character. This is to show the moods and emotions of each of them and to build suspense and create tension. There is no non-diegetic sound used in this scene, I think this is to create the feeling that the scene is important and the job could go completely wrong at any time. The main character does not speak at all throughout the whole scene which again tell us that he is a reserved and mysterious character in the film. The uses of limited dialogue and the fact that no non-diegetic sound is used creates the feeling that something big could be about to happen. The scene is shot at night to create the feeling of crime and the police sirens are used a lot as diegtic sound again to emphasise the crime feel of the scene. The opening is longer than most (10 minutes) and this works well as the whole scene drags the audience in and encourages the audience to carry on watching.