The Negotiator (1998) opening :analysis

The opening sequence of the negotiator starts with a montage of photographs, the soundtrack is high pitched with a constant rhythm this suggest that time is ticking or playing against them. The music has an eerie pitch and suggest that the photos shown are old and the men shown in the pictures now have a different relationship. The photos help the viewer understand the relationship between the characters in previous years, the fade in transitions also suggest that these photos are from the past as it resembles flicking through and album. The men are dressed in suits and ties and some images showing medals being awarded, this connotates to the importance of the people in the pictures, the viewer expects that the characters are professional and have been awarded for their contribution. However the editing changes slightly as it starts to zoom into certain parts of the photographs, a zoom into a hand shakes could suggest there may be trust issues now, and also into crowd members gives a suspicious feeling about the people we see. 


The blue tint connotates a cold mood, suggesting also that now time has passed the relationships have changed and perhaps not so friendly any more. After the montage it cuts to black, this editing technique shows the viewer that time has passed and builds slight tension as we wait to see what is happening. There is a sound bridge of diegetic sound, a man is speaking about dogs, as the shot pans over to the man we see a extreme close up of his face and think he is on his own, but as the shot zooms out we see a number of police officers waiting with him. The uniform here is an important choice to make sure the audience understand the nature of the scene. This montage has given the audience the opportunity to think about the significant pictures they are viewing which are reinvent to the storyline.

It cuts to an extreme long shot of the room the police officers are waiting outside, we now have an understanding of what's happening as we can see everything. The man standing holds a gun over a young girl on the floor, tension is built further as the audience sees the importance of the polices' presences. The extreme close up of a pitbull dog suggests violence and distress, diegetic sound is used as we hear the dog bark constantly and the nature of these dog puts even more tension into the scene which is vital for thriller genre films. The natural lighting shows that the incident is taking place during the day time, which could suggest the police are under pressure to sort the situation out before passers by start to question. The body language of the balding man towards the man who speaks suggests that he trusts the man speaking. The man speaking has confident actions and his cocky but assertive way of speaking suggests he is in charge and knows what he is doing.

As it cuts to an extreme close up of the girl on the floor as a viewer we feel distressed and have sympathy already we are in the mind of the film, the tears on her face show the urgency and the crescendo of high pitched sound adds tension to the mood. A wild track is used of a train squeaking this connotates the location of the scene, it is most likely a city. The next scene is of a police station a sound bridge of the dog bark is a transition to link the situation. We see many police men watching the screens of the man with the gun this shows us that it is a highly urgent job. The older police man sends his team in via a walkie talky. It then cuts to police in riot uniform, the music is loud and has a fast paced beat this is also matched with faced paced editing as it cuts from close ups of their fee running up the stairs to their weapons and faces, this puts the audience on edge as we wait for them to enter the room. An extreme long shot of the city outside shows many people gathering as police try to control, this shows that the incident is a big story and people want to know what is going on.

In this short five minute sequence the thriller genre is defined with the choices of editing sound and cinematography. The importance of high pitched sound and use of crescendos builds tension likewise the pace of editing and the shot variations as we a restricted to what we can see with extreme close us. Focusing more on the music with this opening more than i did with inside man, The music is used to carry the opening of a good thriller movie and it is important for me as an aspiring movie maker not to settle for just any sound track but to choose one that creates the appropriate mood to match the clip, this is essential for my intentions for my own film as I want the audience to be mentally involved during certain points of the sequence therefore viewers can escape in to the right mind set which is influenced by my choice of sound.