"Breathless"

The beginning of Breathless opens with titles that flicker in and out. The title is in black and white which gives a dark and eerie feel as there are no colours used to provide any sense of light. I felt the title was effective as it appeared on  the screen as if being typed on a type-writer like a police report which again gave a sense of suspense which is something I wish to re-create in our thriller opening.

There is a quick shot of someones eyes which is mysterious as their identity is concealed. Again this is a technique I could use in our thriller to create suspense about a mysterious or dangerous character. Another effective technique used is that there are also shots of objects on their own, which shows to an audience they are significant to the story. 

'Breathless', a detective thriller had an effective transition between shots to keep continuity throughout the opening. In addition the sound had good continuity. It was set in a dark setting, in a dark room where you never saw the detective's face. This created suspense and tension as I was waiting for his identity, and the room to be unveiled.

The use of a torch to light the room was effective as it allowed the showing of only certain objects that the director wanted you to see. . The candles looked eerie as the light created by them was flickering against the dark walls which looked very effective.

However the dialogue used in this film sounded unnatural and very staged. Also the speaking through a walkie-talkie was firstly overused, and secondly was off putting and sounded comical rather than scary. Therefore I have learnt in my Thriller to use little or no dialogue as firstly it can be distracting to the visuals and secondly if I do use dialogue, it will need to be natural.

Overall, 'Breathless' was a great thriller opening as it used some of the key features of thrillers such as dark lighting, concealed and mysterious characters and dark and spooky settings. However the issue which distracted from the great visuals was the unnecessary use of dialogue through the walkie-talkies.

Brad