Thriller genre film opening analysis #3

The third film opening of the Thriller genre i chose was Dirty Harry

Director: Don Siegel

Release date (UK): 7 April 1972

Dirty Harry opens with the Warner Bros. symbol, followed by a fade out to a fade in of a San Francisco police memorial with a drone playing with church bells, the camera zooms in to the badge at the top. The badge fades out slightly as the names upon the memorial rolls up the screen, the names then stop rolling up the screen and the camera then focuses upon the badge again which zooms in and fades out to reveal the barrel of a sniper rifle as this happens the music changes to a drum kit. There is a jump cut to a Point-of-View shot down the scope of the rifle which tracks the target it is aimed at, there is a transition to a extreme long shot of the target, that moves away to reveal the shooter on screen, the camera is placed above the shooter's right shoulder. This shot allows you to see the distance between the shooter and the target which adds tension and suspicion, this is followed by a rapid transition to a shot of the barrel of the rifle again, there is a cut to a POV tracking shot down the scope of the rifle. There is a rapid close up shot of the shooter pulling the trigger which then goes to a medium shot of the target in the pool as the target gets shot as this happens the soundtrack stops, which then cuts to a longer shot to reveal he body in the pool and the water turning red from the blood. This shot is then followed by a jump cut to advance time to a long shot of the door opening and Harry (Clint Eastwood) stepping through the door which is being guarded by a police officer, as this happens the titles begin. Harry comes up the steps towards the camera, the camera is locked down so that it seems as if Harry is walking towards the audience.

Synopsis:

In the year 1971, San Francisco faces the terror of a maniac known as Scorpio- who snipes at innocent victims and demands ransom through notes left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is assigned to the case along with his newest partner Inspector Chico Gonzalez to track down Scorpio and stop him. Using humiliation and cat and mouse type of games against Callahan, Scorpio is put to the test with the cop with a dirty attitude.

Mise-En-Scene:
The lighting in this scene is natural and the setting is in Downtown San Francisco. the costumes are a bikini for the woman that got murdered, dark suspicious clothes for the shooter and a suit for Harry, this is typically what you would expect for each of the characters shown.

Target audience:
The target audience is 17+ as there are some adult elements contained in the film, the film is for anyone who is a fan of crime thrillers and police action films.

Institutional information:
Budget- $4,000,000 (estimated)
Sales- $28,153,434 (USA) ( 1972)

Genre Conventions:Genre conventions:

This film is typical of the thriller genre conventions as it follows the basic plot of a thriller and adds suspicion as the opening goes on, it is shot in a standard thriller way, this film I believe does not break any genre conventions and stays true to the thriller genre.

Reflection:

I chose this film as i am a fan of Clint Eastwood and police thrillers, i found the plot of this film grabbing and threatening which makes a good and attractive thriller to the audience.