The Secret Window - opening sequence analysis

This is my analysis for a film called ‘The Secret Window’ which was directed by David Koepp. It is a physiological thriller about a writer who is accused of plagiarism by a strange man who turns up at his door. This man then haunts the writer in seek of justice.
At the start of the opening sequence you have the Columbia logo on the screen with the non diegetic sound which creates a sound bridge, it is not until the screen changes to a shot of the actor, Johnny Depp, that you understand that the sound is coming from the windscreen wipers off his car, this could represent his heart beat as it is repetitive and he looks quite nervous There is only one character in the car and the mise en scene shows that it is snowing and the weather is quite gloomy and depressing, this could represent the characters mood, he is also dressed for winter which could indicate the time of year. Also the close up of the character shows that he is clearly stressed and worried about something. Then there is a voice over which makes you think that there may be another character in the car, then you do realize that the voice is representing what the character is thinking, it is his mind.

After the actor has turned his car around, with some shots of inside the car, a point of view shot, which shows the actor driving, there is a long shot of the car reversing to the hotel with the sign for the hotel included. The sign is blood red in colour which could represent danger and shows the audience that something bad is going to happen. The gloomy weather also adds to this effect.
There is then a shot of the motel car park, then the characters jeep reverses into the shot and the character leaves the car, the shot then pans and follows the actor a he walks into the building. Instead of the camera going into the building to follow the character, the shot looks through the motel window to watch the character looking for keys. I think this is quite an unusual shot although it does link in with the title of ‘The Secret Window’ as it is looking through the window at the character. As the character leaves the shot, another character enters and starts shouting at the first character who has just taken some keys. I then shows the Johnny Depp getting into his jeep and slamming the door.
In the next shot the first thing you notice is the noise of the car engine as the car makes its way to a motel door, you can see this from the point of view shot which is looking out of the windscreen and towards the door. The colour of the door is also bright red which shows that something bad may be waiting on the other side of it. You can then see from a shot of the wind mirror, the actor getting out and shutting the car door, he then leaves the shot and re enters at the front of the car with a set of keys. He then hunches over the lock and opens the door, as the door opens and you can see what’s in side the room, there is a sound which sounds like a sharp intake of breath, this shows that the man is shocked at what he sees. Inside the room, the sound of the wind outside grows louder so that you cannot hear what the couple in the bed are saying, all you can hear then is the actor scream, this shows how deeply upset he is.

After the actor found his wife or girlfriend in bed with another man, the camera shot sways slightly and the background music all adds up to show distortion, this could represent how the character is feeling. Then the shot gradually moves back to show the jeep sitting in the car park with no driver, it then fades to show a shot of the water.
There is then a very unusual shot of long distance panning across the water created by crane tracking which includes some fade editing, which helps to continue the long distance travel across the water. As the plain white titles then appear on the screen, the non diegetic sound of cellos starts building up and increasing in speed, this starts to add tension to the shot as it closes in on a wooden house.

As the camera gets closer to the house it starts to pan through a surrounding forest, this could indicate what country the character is in. The camera then slowly ascends up to a small window on the house, this again links into the title of the film. The camera then proceeds to go through the window and continues through the house. It then passes over a desk with a laptop on that has unfinished work on it. It then changes angle on the desk and you can see a pile of un opened letters, this shows that maybe he hasn’t bothered to pay any bills and might have let him self go with paper work. The shot then continues even further again, over the banister to a shot of a mirror. You can see the character in the mirror, lying on a sofa in his dressing gown. The camera then goes up to the mirror and passes through it, this also again links into the title.

The shot then gets closer to the character and you can see that his dressing gown is ripped and his hair is un combed, this could show that he isn’t really taken care of himself which could mean that he is in a depressed state. Even though the background music has been constantly playing, you can slightly hear the man snoring, he is asleep even though there is daylight outside, this could also indicate that he is depressed and very un happy. The background music then fades out to a knock on the door.