Opening Scene - Mission Impossible - Thriller

For my fourth and last film analysis I studied the opening 15 minutes of the 2012 thriller Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. During the opening scene I have identified different camera angles, mise en scene, editing, sound, characters and plot to see whether I could find common conventions that are seen throughout many thrillers.

The first thing we experience in the opening 15 minutes is in the form of sound, we are introduced into the film by high pitched music that is continuous and the same sound repeated in different pitches. The music gets quicker and quicker the further we get into the opening it also increases in volume and other beats are introduced. The overall sound is mysterious and eerie and the slow increase in pace and volume builds suspense for the audience. This type of music is a common convention in thrillers as the eerie sound and increase in tempo matches the mysteriousness surrounding the film type.

Our first proper shot in the film is an establishing master shot of a city scene, this type of location is common throughout other thrillers I have watched, city scenes are effective in this type of genre because of how many people there are and how condensed and compacted a city is, they are easy places for criminals to hide. In this film especially where everyone is undercover the city location adds to the sense of hidden identity and that the criminal is unknown. This adds anticipation and suspense to the audience as they don’t know where the criminal is or when they are going to show. Our first character is introduced instantly after the music has hit its peak in speed, tempo and volume, the camera reverse and horizontal tracks him running away from potential killers, shooting and fighting along the way, tracking shots are more interesting and effective in chase scenes as it seems more realistic to the audience and the fast camera movement matches the high action scene being shown. 

Gun props are used straight away in the film, where our main character is seen fending off two armed men, they are all carrying guns and attempting to shoot each other,  the gun prop is used early on to show and  tell the audience that the genre of film is going to full of action and violence. Guns and weapons are also common conventions in thrillers because the storyline and plot usually includes a mystery, a criminal and a crime.

The credits are not introduced straight away and our instead introduced after the first 10 minutes of action, this is done because the credits positioning and style match the action scenes from minutes before and are more effective here than if they were shown at the start. The credits are seen flying in from different areas of the screen playing over a montage of high tech equipment and spy gear that links to the film, this is effective as the way the credits are shown links to the high action, high paced type of film it is. The colour of the credits is a shiny silver-white, this also incorporates with the style of the film as there is a lot of futuristic, sleek equipment and the credits match the colour of this high tech gear.

In conclusion the main common conventions I found in Mission Impossible that I have seen in other thrillers are city scenes, used to hide the criminal and build anticipation in the audience, high paced quick tempo music to build suspense and match the action and violence and tracking shots when following the main characters in chase or fighting scenes so the audience get a more realistic, high paced, action experience.