Misery - Opening Scenes

Misery is a psychological thriller film that combines many character conventions with narrative conventions. For example, the antagonist is a psychotic individual who is determined - as the number one fan of author Paul Sheldon - to change the ending of a series of novels.

The first scene of Misery introduces the protagonist, Sheldon, typing his up his new book. A fast editing pace is used initially as establishing shots are presented in order to give the audience a sense of location and setting. Though the music is tense with exaggerated typewriter sound effects, the scene is relatively calm which suggests that the film will become intense in later scenes. This puts the audience on edge and gets them engaged with the narrative.

In the screenshot above, low key lighting has been used as a subtle effect in order to introduce tension into the narrative. The early shots are easy going and well exposed (in terms of brightness) which contrasts with later scenes making them seem heavy hitting - particularly when the psychotic antagonist is introduced.

All of the titles are in a block font, and bright red in colour. The typed appearance could link to the author of the 'Misery' books and the colour red could suggest something bad happens to him. The first set of titles were on an all black background - black is important as it represents mystery and concealment to the audience. The use of the colour red, in contrast with the background, is important as it presents the idea of danger, fear and murder to the audience. Dark themes such as these are conventional of most thriller films.

The GIF above shows a shot of the antagonist. Bates' character is typical of the thriller genre as she plays a psychotic individual who is clearly mentally disturbed. The protagonist, played by James Caan, is also a typical character convention - innocent victims are common among thrillers.

Music is an essential element to her introduction as when she is presented to the audience, the music becomes tense and eerie. This is important as it gives the audience a clue as to what sort of person she is. Eerie tense music is, therefore, an effective and conventional element to thriller films.