How is suspense created in the moving image sequence from 'The Untouchables'?

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Nida Nagra 10RHY

How is suspense created in the moving image sequence from

‘The Untouchables’?

        Having viewed the moving image sequence in ‘The Untouchables’, I will now analyse the extract and look at how suspense is created. I intend to do this by examining key factors such as camera angles and sound effects.

        By watching the short extract, it is evident that the film is of the gangster movie genre, and is set in the 1930s.  In this extract we are shown Elliot Ness who is a cop, arriving with his partner, Stone at a large station.  It becomes apparent that they are there to collect a man known as ‘The Book-keeper.’  However, they are not successful in doing this, as there is a shoot out at the end of the scene and ‘The Book-keeper’ is escorted away by someone who we can assume is a gangster.

        By examination of scene 1, the viewers discover that there are two men, Elliot Ness and Stone in a car.  We can tell that the two men are law enforcers, and that Ness is Stone’s superior as Stone refers to him as ‘sir’.

        The opening shot of the sequence is a close up shot of first a bonnet of a car, and then a close up shot of a wheel spinning.  This was used in the period when this film was made to convey to the audience that people were travelling in a car a long distance.  The next shot is a medium close up shot of Stone, which then pans over to Ness in the driver’s seat. This is effective in making sure that the viewers focus on Ness and Stone, and are not distracted by the background or the scenery. This also puts across to the viewer that whatever the men are talking about is serious, and needs all their attention.

        Little colour is used.  The scene is not bright at all, but dull.  The shots mainly consist of dark blues and blacks.  The colours indicate that the filming is taking place late at night.  The colours are used to make the scene seem as though everything is tense and serious.

        At this point there is no non-diegetic sound, such as the car radio, which is not on. The only diegetic sound comes from Ness and Stone’s voices. Stone says to Ness, ‘we need to be at the station at 12’, and Ness replies, ‘we’ll be there’.  This is the only dialogue in this scene, which is spoken, in short sharp sentences.  Ness and Stone do not engage in any unnecessary conversation, but exchange only a limited number of words, which are straight to the point.  This shows us, that they are very focused on what they are about to do, and it also builds up curiosity for the viewers who wonder why Ness and Stone need to be at the ‘station at 12’.

        Ness and Stone’s body language tells us a lot about how they are feeling.  They are both sitting very rigidly in their seats, with Ness hunched over the steering wheel. They are both looking straight ahead, and when they speak they do not even look at each other.  Ness is clutching the steering wheel with what looks like a dead grip.  As the viewer watches this, they can almost envisage the whiteness of his knuckles, and it makes the viewers

Nida Nagra 10RHY

wonder why he is so on edge.  They both have no expression on their faces, as they stare straight ahead.

        At the end of the first scene the film is edited.  The motion quickly moves from the scene in the car to the next scene.

        The next scene is of Ness and Stone walking to the station entrance.  The shot is a close mid-ranged shot, which unlike the close up shot in the first scene includes some background.  This shot is used so that the audience can see that the law enforcers have arrived at their destination, Grand Central Station.

In the following scene, the law enforcers enter the station. The shot used is a mid-ranged long shot.  As a result of the chosen shot, this becomes the first occasion on which we are able to see Ness and Stone’s clothing in full.  They are both wearing suits of different colours.  Ness’s suit is blue, and Stone’s is beige.  Along with this they both have matching hats, which conveniently disguise their faces.  This brings warmer colours into the shot, which may tell us that the storyline is now underway.

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Ness and Stone enter the station simultaneously from separate doors beside each other.

When they enter, we are shown a long shot of the whole station.  From this shot, we are able to see the entrance of the station, and the large clock above it.  This is the first time we see the time on the clock, which is 23:53, and from this the viewers can observe that there are seven minutes before the expected arrival of ‘The Book-keeper’.  This creates suspense, as the viewer is now aware that midnight, and ‘the Book-keeper’ is approaching.

 This first shot is used ...

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