Analysis of the opening sequence of Inception

There are many different elements that contribute to making Inception a thriller film. Sound, camerawork, mis-en-scene and editing all play a big part in this.

Firstly there is sound. The sequence begins with the use of ambient sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. When you hear this you automatically believe something bad is happening because the crashes usually represent that the weather is rough and it generally highlights something depressing. It is a very loud sound which catches the audience attention and makes them wonder what could be happening at the beach. It is very dark, fast, dramatic music that goes through you and scares the audience. As the first shot of the man is starting to be revealed the music starts to go quieter as if we are waiting for an answer as to what is happening but instead we just then hear more music.

However this time the music conveys a sound of wind mixed in with instruments creating quite a suspicious atmosphere as well as confusion as to what’s going on. Then to add to this the music is blended together with the sounds of children playing and screaming in the background. At first you believe this sequence must be quite relaxed and nothing bad is happening because of the sounds of the children. This is because it is setting at the beach and you believe it is just children enjoying themselves. Suddenly the music changes again when the gun is revealed it begins to get louder and more intense creating a spooky atmosphere where people want to discover more. Later on in the scene where the characters are beginning to be displayed dialogue is used. The man says “are you here to kill me?”. This instantly gives the indication to the audience that there is a underlining problem here that needs to be discovered. The tone of his voice is so serious that the audience then want to find who these people are, why are they there and what is happening.

At the beginning of the sequence the first shot we see is a close up of the waves crashing. This highlights that the area is rough and dangerous and nobody should enter the waters. The waves are flowing along with the foam splashing into the air and the brown rocks and displayed in the background. It makes you feel scared that someone is hurt. However even though we are seeing the sea we don’t make a connection as to why we are seeing this and don’t know who is involved. This is quite a long duration shot to draw the audience in and feel as though they are travelling in the sea with the story.

To follow we see a close up of the man. He is finally revealed but nobody knows who he is. He heads slowly moves up to look across to the other side of the beach. This is when cross cutting is used. It cuts between the shot of the man looking and the wide shot of the children playing. At first this could suggest that he has fallen and hurt himself and they are his children playing although it could then be the fact that he is dreaming and thinking he is somewhere that he is not. Then it could also be him looking back on his childhood. Nobody discovers the answers to all these questions that are going through their head.

This has been purposely done to get the audience engage with the film and want to continue watching. The man appears to be wearing very old, dirty clothes that are of very dark colours which produce that feeling that he has been there a while and hasn’t been in a safe environment for a while. It makes us feel slightly sympathetic for him as we believe he has been hurt but realistically he could be the antagonist because nobody knows.

Then this is followed by a close up of the gun hitting the man’s back. This suddenly creates intensity because a gun is clearly represented as dangerous and something bad must have happened. It makes you believe the man has been shot but then as the gun moves up his jumper it conveys how the man lying down has a gun too. This suddenly makes us feel more weary of the character and believe that he may not be the character we thought he was.

A low angle shot is then displayed of the officer and he is dressed smartly with a hat on and smart uniform. Therefore this indicates the he is more superior to the other man and that everyone should listen to him because he has the authority. This is quite a short duration shot perhaps because they don’t want the attention to be on him.

Finally a long shot of the temple is shown. This is the first time we see a clear shot of the setting and it surprises us. Originally we believe it is just a beach setting however there is actually a temple in the shot which gives us the understanding that this must be in an Asian country. The temple seems very posh and clean and quite different to the beach it even looks as though it shouldn’t be there. It contrasts with the beach setting. It seems like a very official place where very superior people live.

Near the end of the opening sequence as shot reverse shot is also used between the two men sitting at the table. This conveys how the old man in the suit is more superior than the other man because we can see his face whereas the other man is looking down at his food as if he is embarrassed and feeling guilty.