Nigel's textual analysis of "The Usual Suspects"

The whole concept of a thriller is to thrill and put the spectator on the edge of their seats, this is done by combining mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound. 
This sequence starts off with a black screen and lights up as the matches are lit in a close up although the surrounding light is still low key. The actual flame of the matches could suggest what will happen to the setting, as we know after watching the sequence. It can connote danger and could show destruction of evidence. Once the tilting medium close up shot reveals the male character lighting up the matches more information is given away. His body language show the spectator that he is almost lifeless, everything now is a huge effort for him which suggests that he may be dying. There is a sound bridge between the character lighting up a cigarette and the fuel tank leaking, this means we hear what is about to happen before we see it. This sound is made more bold because of the ambient sound which starts as soon as the match is lit. There is then a mid long shot which reveals more of the setting and his body position, this is still in low key lighting. This could be a slight establishing shot as its the most of the setting and character we have seen so far. The fire in the background of the character lets go of the lit paper might foreshadow what will happen a short second later. The camera follows the fuel igniting across the ground revealing seemingly bodies as it goes by cutting to shots, this is more effective than a tracking shot because it allows more time and focus to be on each separate prop.  

The first time we see the antagonist character, we can only see half of him. Still in low key lighting, he slowly walks down the stairs and the camera locks onto him moving down as he does. His costume shows that he isn't a good person, the black trench coat, the colour black makes him seem even much more of a bad character which contrasts with the white background. This still cuts head out of frame which creates enigma around this new character. Just as the flame did, there are shots cut to follow the mystery man. This suggests to the spectator that he committed the murders but doesn't confirm it. When he reaches the man, the spectator has restricted narration because the smoking character can see the man's face and knows who he is when the spectator doesn't. The composition of the man in frame creates enigma and mystery behind him. 

There is then conversation between the dying character and the antagonist but shots that are of the dying character last much longer than the ones of the mystery man's torso. The low shot frequency of the shot reverse shot suggests that the situation is calm and his fate is inevitable. It also allows us to see his facial expressions clearly as a close up shot. In his final moments, we cut to a shot of part of the boat where there is an off-screen gunshot but this doesn't show us that the man is shot but it is suggested by the antagonist pointing at him before cutting to several other shots which are much more peaceful than the previous

In conclusion this sequence uses technical codes to create a thriller opening by using dark colours, enigma, camerawork to hide important parts of the plot and restricted narrative well whilst creating questions for the spectator to want the answers to.