Analysis …

The Life Of David Gale

The typical conventions used in thrillers are, flashback/flash
forward, red herring, dramatic irony, foreshadowing, pathetic
fallacy and twist. In ‘The Life Of David Gale’ the first few
minutes we see Pathetic fallacy, which is shown through mise-en-
scene, especially through lighting. The lighting is low key, due to
the weather being dull and cold, which conveys the mood of the
narrative. The mood of the narrative may be that it is dreary and
depressing.
Also when the character Barbara, says “Hey, maybe he’s even
innocent.” could be foreshadowing that he is innocent and hinting
that someone possibly ‘Bitsey’ will try and prove this later on in
the film.
In thriller opening sequences, you will always see titles, themes
being represented, mise-en-scene, a narrative, sound, and dialogue
(very little). Also opening sequences will aim to get the audience
to ask questions. Having watched the opening sequence of The life
Of David Gale, it made me ask ‘where are we?, what happened? Who is
she and why is she running away from her car? And Who is David
Gale, and what did he do?

‘Where are we?’

The opening: weather is dull and

looks cold.
 ‘Why is she
running away
from her car?’

Who is she?

Why has
she got a
tape?
What is
on the
tape?
In the opening sequence, it opens with a long shot, and we see a
car pulling up with a women running away from her car. We then see
what she is wearing through camera work, and we see that she is
carrying a tape in her hand. This could be suggesting that she is
being chased by someone due to some important information on the
tape. We then move to a different location, New York, in an office.
We see a women sitting eating, and watching the news. In the news
we see ‘David Gale’ and a protest happening , stopping capital
punishment - execution. We then see the women who was running
entering saying , “Gale is going down”. Which may imply that she
found out information about David Gale, which is why she was
running with the tape.

In the opening sequence, the audience are given clues to what the
narrative of the film will be. For example, when we see the news
being watched, and see that the “BREAKING NEWS” is about David
gale and the protest. This gives the audience some information
that the films narrative will be about Law, protests and capital
punishments. Also to add the sense that it will be a film based
on law, the typography of the title ‘The Life Of David Gale’ is
written in Ariel and plain, which is a font type mainly used
formally, especially in newspapers, conveying that it is
important.

Whilst watching the opening sequence I was able to identify some

themes of the film. The themes are, Law/Legal, capital punishment
(execution), and crime.
 One of the codes used in the opening sequence is
camera work. This long shot was used from the
opening, for roughly two minutes. The camera shot
emphasises the genre, thriller as it does not give
the audience any information about where there are,
and why they are here. Also, when we see a car
pulling up and someone coming out, running away from
the car, make it difficult for the audience to see
who the person is. This shot gives a limited view of
the film, creating suspense.
Another code used in the opening sequence is Sound. First we hear
Foley sounds of birds, then as the women gets out the car and
starts running the music starts of being creepy, and then becomes
a little faster as she is running in order to create the
atmosphere of the film. We then get a Foley sound of her
breathing.
Sound in the opening sequence is used to emphasise the thriller
genre of the film.