Explore the use of film language for effect in the opening sequence to Inception. How does the director engage the audience?

Inception is a thriller genre film made in 2010. It is about a thief, who steals information from people by entering their subconscious minds using dream sharing technology. The story begins when he is given the chance to have his criminal history erased and be re-united with his children in exchange for planting an idea in someone’s mind, it documents his and his team’s journey to do this. As a thriller a film has to create a sense of danger and excitement that makes it thrilling to watch. Inception does this from immediately, as shown in the opening which engages the audience with the director’s use of lighting and colour, editing and camera work, sound, and mis en scene.

The opening to Inception uses lighting and colour to engage the audience by using it to construct atmosphere and mood in the scenes. The lighting starts low key with a lot of chiaroscuro, this creates a dark, gloomy atmosphere that immediately creates tension for the audience. The use of contrast between the shadows and the lights, coming only from the back of the room, makes the main character, Mr Cobbs, almost a silhouette, this adds to the tension by also making the audience suspicious of his intentions. Lighting and colour is also used to highlight the moment when Cobbs is caught, as he is suddenly flooded with brightness as the lighting becomes high key and the ceiling is revealed to be completely covered in tiny hanging lamps. Colour is also used to present the two different worlds, as the dream world is consistently shown with yellow lighting, which gives it an underground, un-natural feeling. This is shown with the Japanese paintings in the background, the lamps,the fog-like effect created by the falling earth, and even the lighting on the character's skin. Whereas the real world frequently uses the colour blue; as the room has big windows to allow lots of natural light to flood the room and to show glimpses of the sky. Blue water is also used as a symbol of reality as waves rush into the dream when Cobbs is waking up, as reality comes rushing back to him, this use of colour creates a clear contrast between the two worlds, which otherwise could be very confusing to cut between.  Lighting is also used to focus audience attention onto certain objects, such as the safe and guns. They gleam from lights shining directly onto them, which with the darkness surrounding them centres the audience’s attention.

 

Editing and camera work is used to create suspense and excitement in the opening to Inception. It starts with a slow pace, on a long shot establishing mood and location, this builds tension as the audience is made to focus on key details with extreme close ups, such as on the safe being opened and the tense face of Cobbs. However both the cuts and the character’s movements are slow, building anticipation as the audience knows soon something dramatic will happen. This is suddenly changed as Cobbs is caught, the cuts between the characters faces become more rapid making it exciting, and a shot reverse shot is used to create the feeling of a stand-off. A slow zoom onto the main character’s faces is also used to highlight the importance of the revelation “we are actually asleep” Then during the chase scene the anticipation built up between the last two scene is finally satisfied, it is given a frantic feeling, as there is frequent and quick cross cutting between the real world and dream world to demonstrate how much is happening at once. The chase itself is made to feel frightening and dangerous because the cameras stay close to Cobbs and roll with him as he runs, and with the business men as they chase him. Also there are frequent close ups of damage being caused such as glass sheets shattering and large objects like statues falling, this makes the audience feel as though they are right in the middle of the wreckage and also part of the chase. Motivated editing is also used to connect the two worlds, as though most of the time the two worlds exist separately towards the end as Cobbs starts to wake up actions that occur in one have reactions in the other. Such as Cobb’s sleeping body being slapped in the real world, and him falling in the dream, and Arthur being shot in the dream and the next shot shows a close up of his eyes opening in the real world. The initial shots use closed frames, but keep the edges shrouded in darkness so the audience still gets the sense of something happening out of sight, which creates fear and adds to the anticipation built up in this scene. This sense is also present later during the chase scene where open frames are used, as there are objects breaking and smashing just at the edges of the frame, this adds to the sense of chaos in the chase scene gives the appearance of the destruction being even greater what can be seen.

Sound is used in the opening in the form of music to engage the audience by building tension and reflecting the mood of the scene. The scene starts with a fast beat playing, that mimics a heart beat and grabs the audiences attention as it makes them aware that something important is going to happens soon, building anticipation. This regular rhythm is suddenly stopped and replaced by slow synthesised chords, giving the moment a jarring feeling, when Cobbs is caught by the business men. This sudden change reflects the emotions felt by the protagonist and the chords increase the atmosphere of tension, with a drawn out and ominous vibe to them. The music is also used to highlight the important reveal that “we are all actually asleep”, as here a new guitar motif kicks in just after this is said, the strings present a sharp contrast to the synthesiser and the intriguing tone of the phrase leaves the audience curious, again adding to the anticipation. This obstinate continue while the business men remain in power and in control of the situation. It switches suddenly to a frantic violin piece when Cobbs grabs the gun, as this flips the situation and changes it into a chase sequence. This again shows music being used to indicate the protagonist’s emotions and it adds more excitement to the sudden movement of the character. The violin ostinato is built upon with undertones and additions of other orchestral instruments that build into a crescendo that makes the chase scene feel thrilling and dangerous to watch. There is a brief pause in the music, when Arthur is shot and screams, the sudden silence that surrounds the scream, that punctuates the rhythm of the scene, makes it seem more significant and shocking. Diegetic sounds are also used in the opening, at the start there are satisfying sounds such as the clicking of the safe, the cocking of a gun, and the swoosh of it sliding across the table. These depict the idea control, efficiency and professionalism. Which presents a contrast the the diegetic sounds at the end of the opening sequence, which are crashes and shattering sounds as the ceiling caves in and large objects break as the dream world starts to disintegrate during the chase. 

Mis en scene is used in the opening to establish the characters and location. Such as the presentation of all the characters in formal suits and a ballgown, this presents them as professionals and indicates a certain level of wealth. It also hints at the setting of the scene, as there appears to be an fancy occasion going on that has been interrupted by this attempted theft. The location is also indicated to be somewhere foreign to the american protagonists, possibly Japan as indicated by the style of the paintings. Mis en scene is also used to draw attention to objects such as the envelope, its reveal is dramatic as there is a lot of emphasis on the safe as  it slowly clicks open. And then it stands out as a bright yellow colour, against the deep black of the background, the dark grey of the same and the darkness of Cobbs' suit, to indicate how important it is. The uses of colouring also displays it as a key part of the dream world, as the colouring for the dream world is all yellow. This is significant as the envelope and its contents are the entire reason for them entering the dream, and because it can only exist in the dream as it is a representation of information stored in the mind not a physical object, making it such a crucial object it is almost as if the the dream’s colour scheme revolves around it, rather than it fitting into the colour scheme. Mis en Scene is also used to draw attention to the guns, to increase the element of danger. Such as the use of framing in the shot where Cobbs first draws his out of his jacket. It appears to be pointed just over the audience and is very close to the camera, making it the largest and most prominent feature of the shot. Weighting is used here as it is the highest object in the shot drawing more attention to it. And when Cobbs pushes the gun across the table, it slides very slowly and the table is mirrored, making there appear to be two, bringing the audiences focus completely onto it with the double effect and the eye catching motion. This continued emphasis on the weapons is used as foreshadowing for the imminent violence soon to follow.

In conclusion the lighting and colour are used to set up the atmosphere of the opening sequence and display the differences between the two worlds depicted. Editing and camera work is used to create suspense by starting the pace slow and making it faster and faster to create excitement near the end of the sequence when it has evolved into a chases scene. Sound is used to reflect the emotions of the protagonist and the build anticipation and tension within the scene. Mis en scene is used to establish characters and location, and highlight important aspects of the opening.