Analysis of Thriller Clip

Deja Vu 

(2006)

'Deja Vu' is an Action Thriller movie which was released in 2006 and directed by Tony Scott. 

The clip starts off with slow piano and orchestral music being played, this is used to create tension as the music is slow but we see people looking running around looking happy. it also gives us a sense that something bad may happen. Sailors are running out of buses towards a ship with joy to be with their families. During this scene, there is a long shot of the bus, a medium shot of sailors running out of a bus,  and an extreme long shot of the ship. By just showing these three clips we know that the sailors are running out of the bus to go to the ship without actually making it long.  

A shot of a little girl dropping her doll is shown to build up tension to the big disaster. The shot is in slow motion and her cry "mama" is also in slow which makes the audience feel sad for her. Then we hear trumpets and drums being played and it creates a party mode which gives feelings of contentment. Everyone on the ship seems to be enjoying themselves with entertainment and laughter. This is to put the viewers mind off all the tension that they thought was going to happen. Subsequently there is a shot of the man who is on the lower decks smoking and all we hear is the radio along with fainted music from a car. He turns around with a puzzled face and throws his cigarette away. This brings back and also adds to all the tension and suspense that was created. Then there is a shot of young kids having fun on the ship, this shot creates a sense of sorrow as the audience could tell that something terrible is going to happen to all these innocent young kids.

The music from the car becomes the dominant sound as the camera shows the shot of the ship and also people on it. This lets us know that something was going to be caused by the car as it becomes the most dominant shot near the end of the scene. Just before the ship blows up it shows us a little shot of a toddler and then it goes back to the man in the lower deck who looks into the car, to see that it was filled with explosions and before he could even run the is a massive explosion on the ship.

The clip was all about the build up of tension and suspense to the outcome of it. I personally think that the build up worked well with the use of the kids, the party music and people enjoying themselves as it makes us feel that these people are all innocent people who doesn't deserve to die.