Jack Sadler's Textual Analysis of 'The Usual Suspects'

This essay will examine the use of Mise en scene and sound in the opening two minutes of Bryan Singers 1995 thriller, The Usual Suspects. It will provide detailed explanations of how each of these factors creates certain moods and also, how they hook the audience.


First I will examine the ways in which the director has used Mise en scene to establish the situation. Mise en scene may include may features. For instance, it includes lighting/ colour, costume/ hair and makeup, settings and props, positioning of subject in the frame and finally body language/ facial expressions. The first factor of Mise en scene I will examine is lighting/colour. Throughout the first two minutes of this film, it is set at night, therefore under starlight. The only other source if light coming from this area is that of fire. The fire and night light both portray a spooky kind of mood as we can tell there has been some kind of conflict or war. Also, it makes it hard to see so this also adds to the tension. As the scene moves on, we see a man looking over the edge of a ship. There we see light, but this is a different form of light. This isn’t a form of fire or nightlight, its electricity which conveys that once there was life on that ship. Now there is only one man standing. Now I will examine costume/ hair and make up. In this first two minutes, there are only three people. So we can only talk about their costumes. All the men are wearing dark clothing, which reflects the lighting and also gives a negative atmosphere. It kind of gives a businessman like feel to the movie, as typically Thriller movies are gang cultured. The man at the top of the ship is wearing a long black coat. This may suggest that he is hiding something underneath it, and kind of gives the impression that he is more important than everyone else. Also, is suggests wealth, no other character is wearing the sort of clothes he is. Next is settings and props. The scene is set at a harbour. This is also conveying a sense of danger. The props in the first two minutes are used very effectively. For example, two of the men are both smoking cigarettes, one man has a lighter and the other uses matches. This also contributes to wealth factors and order of importance. Other props in this sequence include; all the ship equipment, the actual ship, the dagger in the mans back and the gun he shoots him with. All of these contribute to character representation in different ways. Now I will discuss positioning of the character in the frame. The first shot of the man sitting down is a mid shot, this makes sure you can see body language but isn’t too far away that you can’t see facial expressions. Other shots used are, low level of the dead male, and low angle shot of male on the ship. The low angle of the man looking up at the other man, suggests inferiority and that the man on the ship is more important than anyone else in that general area. These add to the situation and character representation as it tells you who is in charge. The final contributing factor to Mise en scene is body language/ facial expression. Throughout, we only really see one mans face. His facial expressions throughout are ones of exhaustion and shock. He says the line “I can’t feel my legs”, this is the reason why he is sitting down instead of standing which makes him an easier target for the opposing male. He keeps the same facial expression throughout just as his body language doesn’t change. The man on the ships body language is totally different. We see him first when he is putting out the fire with his urine. This shows immediately that there is a touch of arrogance about this man, and this arrogance continues as he casually walks down the stairs. We don’t see his face in the opening two minutes, so we can’t comment on his facial expression. Both of these factors add to establishing the situation and character representation as we can get a general idea of who is in charge.



Now I will discuss how sound is used to establish the situation and character representation. This may include background noise and speech. All the way through, we can hear fire burning in the background and water pouring out of a canister. This sound would have been placed there by a Foley artist after the shooting of the scene. This would also include the background music, lighting of the matches and the lighter clicking, the man walking down the stairs. The fire in this sequence suggests war or fighting in the harbour and so does the sound of the water coming out of the canister. This sort of sound contributes to establishing the situation by giving more of a feel and contributing factors that otherwise would not have been there. The other form of sound used in this clip is voices. Both characters have deep voices which contribute towards the gang culture of thriller movies. For example if a character in a thriller movie had a high pitched voice, it would not be as believable as if he had a deep one.