The Talented Mr. Ripley - Pycological Thriller

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.