Brick (Johnson, 2005, USA)

In the opening sequence for the neo-noir Thriller film ‘Brick’, there is a range of questions that the sequence poses to the viewers.

In the beginning of the clip, the camera uses crab movements across the ledge until we can see a pair of feet that seem to belong to a male. Two questions that should immediately pop into the reader’s mind when observing the out of focus shot is why the shot is out of focus, as a majority of films start in focus rather than out of it, and who is this male character, as the viewer practically knows nothing about this man, yet the they are being presented with an extreme close-up of his feet. Johnson purposely provides these questions to the audience so they can feel engaged with his film, as the viewer tries to answer the questions with the information that he gives to the viewer later on so they can remain intrigued with what is transpiring in the film.

Continuing onwards from the use of extreme close-ups, another one is visible as the focus of the camera transitions from an extreme close-up of the male’s feet to the male’s eyes. Initially, the camera is out of focus when presenting the extreme close-up of the man, yet as the time progresses, the camera gradually gets more into focus until the viewer can clearly see the extreme close-up being used. The director of this film has once again purposely chosen to hide certain body parts and information from the viewer so they continue to ponder about this male character and remain intrigued as to who he really is, and therefore, remain intrigued in the film to find out more about this man and how significant of a role he plays.

Whilst various extreme close-ups are being used, non-diegetic sounds of bells (that are high in volume and pitch) and a guitar (that is lower in volume and pitch than the bells) are both audible. This sounds as if these non-diegetic stings belong in a Western movie rather than a Thriller movie, as the sounds seem quite reflective and meditative rather than chilling and unsettling (such as the music that is used in the opening sequence of ‘The Sixth Sense’).These non-diegetic stings may calm the viewer down and relax them so they don’t need to fret for any danger or horror that may transpire. However, this could also be used to startle the viewer when something horrific does come along as the reflective sting doesn’t match with the possible horrifying image(s) that will come into the viewer’s sight.

When the viewer witnesses the female’s dead body, a quantity of questions pop into their mind, such as whether or not the female is actually dead, and if so, how did she come to her demise? Another question may be why are the two characters located inside a sewer, as it is not an ideal location for two people to be together. A third question could be what was the role of the male character, and did he have a part in assisting in the female character’s death, as he is only gazing at her dead body with his mouth hidden to the camera.

Eventually, the scene comes to an end when the bracelet that belongs to the dead female is in the middle of the framing. A graphic match is used to show a new scene with the bracelet approximately in the same place as it was in the end of the last scene. Being logical, the viewer can tell that the next scene will be showing the female character when she was alive as her hand is moving, therefore, the next scene took place before the female character’s death. This will also tell the viewer how the female character died, luring them into watching the film so the viewer can find out whether or not their answers were correct about what happened to the female.

The male who is approaching the lockers seems to be the same male who was staring at the dead female, judging by the exact same clothing that is seen on both men, despite a two day difference. Anyhow, the man opens the door to the locker as a note eventually falls out of it. The camera then goes into an extreme long shot as the man looks around to see if there is anyone nearby, before reading the content of the note.

The whole of this scene could be an indication that the female has placed a note into the male’s locker, showing that she has an interest in him (which is later proved when the male reads what the note says, essentially asking him on a date), which could set up the entire plot of the film and show how both the male and the female got to where they are shown in the opening sequence, which is what the viewer is solely interested in finding out, as they will watch the film to gain more clues before eventually solving this mystery that Johnson creates for them.