CF:Conventions of a thriller film opening "Cape Fear" (1991, Scorsese)

Sound:

• There is a lot of non-digetic sound in this scene, mainly consisting of music, the reason behind this is that there is little significant sound inside a prison that would be relevant to this scene or even the rest of the movie, instead, the director has opted to use music in this scene, all consisting of loud, dramatic and slightly-frightening sounds. 
• The score is quite recurring throughout the film, it is very orchestral and definately creates a persona of suspense and fear, which is a recurring emotion in the film, both for the characters, and for the audience.
• The music consists of a number of wind instruments, which give a rather grandiose feeling to the scene, this would suggest that the scene may be significant for one reason or another, in this case, as the character is leaving prison, the audience may infer that he is already determined to do something dramatic.
• When the opening of the film shows a shot of a drop of blood, the entire screen goes red excluding the overlapping credits.
• The sound has been composed to correspond with this, as when this happens, the sound changes to a repetitive track of two very contrasting sounds,often found in horror and thriller movies when a killer is about to kill the "good" character. 
• When the shot then shows one of the protagonists who are far from evil, the music immediately stops for her dialogue, then when the shot moves onto another character who it is later revealed is a antagonist, the music then starts again, this would imply that this certain piece of music is used to convey evil, and the contrast between evil and good.

Mise en scene:

• The costume of the girl, is innocent to say the least. The style of her hair is simplistic, and she wears a clean, sharp-looking white shirt, this generally makes her look young and innocent, which ties in with her character who is later victimized in a number of ways.
• Alternatively, the set design of Robert De Niro's character's prison cell (already conveying that he is evil), he is shown to have a number of tattoos which are often associated with criminals and outcasts of society, he is also shown to be strong as conveyed by his muscular physique, he has long greasy hair showing he has little care for his appearance in this way. Although it does not directly state it, his appearance implies that he is going to be a 'bad' character, as the evil characters often have little or no care for their appearance. The tattoos that he has include images of scars, from which you could infer he has been involved in violence in his past.
• To emphasize the evil persona that this character is given, he is shown to have a lot of books, then leaves without taking them under the circumstance that he has "already read them", as their was a large number of books, this implies that he has spent a long time in prison, which emphasizes how evil he really is as it implies that he has commited a more serious crime (murder in this instance).

Camera techniques:

• The first shot from the camera after the opening credits, is an eye line-match with the female protagonist, the way in that she is shown to be sweating, and the look in her eyes both imply that she is scared, this is obviously a recurring theme in the film as conveyed by the title of the movie.
• The first shot of the antagonist directly shows the image of the character, which is not typical of films in both the thriller and horror genre. The shot characterizes his persona well, as not only show that he has been 'rehabilitated' by the scale tattoos on his back which are associated with the justice system, but it also shows him exercising to maintain his muscular physique (which makes him look more intimidating).
• The final shot of the opening shows him to be walking away from the prison, the camera actually zooms  out of the prison emphasizes how he is leaving. This has a meaning, which is that he is basically that he is walking away from justice and the haven that keeps people on the outside safe, and walking towards freedom, which shows him later to abuse, and decides to re-commit against society. 

Editing:

• Continuity editing is used in the opening scene, as the events of the seemingly evil character leaving his incarceration are all displayed to the audience.
• A large image of an eye (eye-line match) has been edited into the opening, which is overlapping the water, this is very relevant to the film's themes and events, which include people being watched, and not knowing where this 'spectator' is peering from.
• The actual words and names of the opening credits are in the style of the effect that occurs when an object is half in water and half out (like a pencil in a glass of water), this is completely relevant as a recurring theme of the film is water (as shown by the films name which includes the word Cape).
• The main theme of the movie is murder, which is associated with blood for obvious reasons, the first shot of the protagonist is an eye line-match which then fades to red (a blood-red to be precise), this immediately tells the audience that the film they are about to watch is strongly related to such themes.