The music used throughout is a relatively slow melodic tune on a piano
coupled with a female vocalist giving an eerie and mysterious scene of
discomfort to the scene before the first piece of film even appears. The dark
nature of the music and the lyrics like, surrender your soul, cast into the
dark and branded with a mark; gives you a clear feel for the film. Within the
first 30 seconds, before an actor has appeared or a scene has been set you
understand the nature of the film.
After the production company logos disappear at 0:30 there is a pause of
just music and darkness for the next 3 seconds; then out of the darkness a
strip is revealed showing you a glimpse of your first image from the film. You
see a strip of a man’s face focusing on the eyes which appear solemn and deep
in thought.
As the second and third strip is revealed you see more of the characters
face, you can see he is frowning in contempt not just depression as the camera
pans around him (adding to the deep contemplation look). The names of the
important people who worked on the film are put in as a strip is peeling away.
1:07 all the darkness and confusion has been peeled away piece by piece and
you have a full scene setting. It appears to be a hotel room with bland, yellow
walls and a lamp fixed to the wall, also in a bland, dull, yellow; this dull,
uninspiring room in keeps with slow perpetual mood. This mood is enhanced by
the fact that you can no longer see the main characters face as it is now
shrouded in darkness, reflecting his emotions.
At 1:11 the title appears, the title animation and font is in different
proportions and is all not aliened with each other. This shows instability and
again reflects on the films story. Before the word talented appears it
flickers through many other adjectives, like intelligent, each in a different
colour and font, showing the many qualities of Mr Ripley. The speed at which
they flicker between on another again shows instability and indecisiveness. But
then it settles on the word talented in a red font and the other word fade out
leaving only the word talented; meaning this is his most significant and best
quality, perhaps all the other word shown add up to make the sum of talented.
At 1:25 we fade to see man playing the same tune that has been playing the
length of the opening. The female vocals have faded out and we hear a narrative
from a male character, talking about his regrets. At 1:30 the camera has paned
upward to reveal the mane playing the tune is same man who we saw sitting in
the room before; but now he is outside, in a suit with glasses and combed hair,
not looking anything like the depressed man from earlier.
The camera then tracks around to show a classy group of well depressed
people listening to a new female vocalist accompanied by the same tune on the
piano, suggesting a switch in roles as the vocals and attitude of the character
changed. The older man is standing at the front of the crowd, with what we can
assume is his wife, this position of front row the the entertainment shows his
power of seniority over the other guests; this is his party or he is a guest of
honor. The names of people who worked on the film shown at the foot in a green
tinted box.
Then
the camera flips to see the skyline a city behind the singer and our main
character showing the location. Now the credits appear length ways in a blue
tinted box; these tinted boxes are iconic of the modern upper-class styles of
the 50’s giving a clue to the timeframe in which the film is set.
We then see the camera cut to a shot of an older man who we saw earlier was
at the front of the crowd watching, this introduces another character of some
kind of significance, as he is the focus of the shot.
Finally it ends with an extreme long shot showing the group of people on a
rooftop garden with a view of the city and a park. The grand piano, the way in
which they people are dressed and the location of this party suggest a wealth
person must be throwing it and the main charter is somehow connected to him/her
if he has attended this exclusive party.
PG - PG for Parental Guidance and is similar to U in the way its for everyone, but if a parent were to show this to their 4 yr old child they may want to view the content first to make sure nothing too rude or upsetting for the child to see. Bad language is unlikely in PG films, but if there are any they should be subtle in the way that they cannot be strong language and not offensive to viewers either. No sexual nudity but natural nudity is acceptable (like in U films)
