The opening scene of Secret Window takes place in the main character's home, establishing him as a writer. He is seen lying on a sofa surrounded by books and an unfinished novel on his laptop. The character is disturbed by a knock at the door from a stranger wearing a black hat, hinting at a psychological thriller genre. Flashbacks are shown through sound and camerawork of the character discovering his wife with another man in a motel room. Throughout the opening credits, each name or company is displayed for a few seconds with gaps in between, giving a suspenseful feeling appropriate for a thriller film.

1. SECRET WINDOW – 2004UK RELEASE DATE: 30TH APRIL 2004DIRECTED BY DAVID KOEPP

3. Very first few minutes seem to be set late in the evening/ night time

5. MISE EN SCENE The use of mise en scene throughout the first scene of ‘Secret Window’ reveals a lot about the main character’s profession and life style. We begin to learn that he is a writer/author depicted through the busy desk filled with a laptop (which seemingly has part of an unfinished novel on the screen) and other books/journals around it. Secondly, we find the character placed and lying on a sofa instead of a bed which could possibly relate to his current state of mind which may have been affected by previously seeing a woman (who arguably was his wife) in bed with another man. The main use of mise en scene used in the opening few minutes of ‘Secret Window’ is when a stranger is seen at the door of the main character’s house. The stranger is wearing a black top hot which suggests that he may bring danger or harm that comes from his mind. By the use of the man wearing a black hat which dominates the majority of his head, it also applies the belief that ‘Secret Window’ is a psychological thriller.

6. SOUND Within the first minute of the film, dialogue is used but not directly spoken. The sound comes from a character’s head ‘turn around’ suggesting that his mind is telling him things that he does not necessarily want to do or feels some restriction from. We then hear the sound of tires and deep acceleration from a car through diagetic sound representing the strength that the character puts in to that particular action. As the character enters a motel room, in which he sees his apparent wife in bed with another man, the sounds presented are quite archaic and wispy revealing the tension and dismay the character feels in his head portrayed through non-diagetic sound. The tones continue to convey a disfigured nature which possibly corresponds to the plot behind the film.

7. CAMERA As the scene opens, presented is close-up shot of characters face and a rough resemblance of the inside of a car. Immediately, this particular shot allows us to get into the mind of the character which is further acknowledged through the use of sound. Whilst the scene begins to develop, it becomes recognisable through a long shot that the character is parked outside a motel establishing the whereabouts of the setting. We are then presented with another close-up shot of a door, which reveals that behind the unopened room lies the evidence to which the character was so tempted to drive away from. This allows us to understand that something very passionate to him could cause her emotional harm. Lastly, the camera zooms in after panning the area through an establishing shot. The zoom itself focuses on a very small window which later exposes the main character’s qualities, lifestyle and profession.

8. CREDIT TIMING Columbia Pictures Presents 2:36APARIAH production 2:39Main actors name 2: 43Title of the film (fades from white to red) 2:48Actor's name 2:55Actor's name 2:59Actor's name 3:04Actor's name 3:07Actor's name 3:11Casting by 3:15Costume designer 3:20Music by 3:24Edited by 3:28Production Designer 3:31Director of Photography 3:36Executive Producer 3:40Produced by 3:43Based upon the story... 3:58Screenplay by 4:11Directed by 4:17 From looking at the credit timings of this particular film, it is clear that there is a few second gap between each name or company displayed. As the gap is quite long compared to other films it resembles the fact that the genre of Secret Window is a thriller. Secondly, and different to what I originally thought, I found that the director’s name was the last name presented and the actors and production company came before. Thankfully, by looking at credit timings and the order of the names listed, it has given me a clearer idea on the way to present this when making my own film.