The Shadow of the Heron

The opening shot was filmed from above the actors and a street lamp which was providing the only light in the scene. Straight away I could tell it was supposed to look old fashioned because it was in black and white, sort of a 1950’s styled film.

The actor was wearing a large overcoat and a hat covering his face, giving me the impression that he is some type of detective like in the old fashioned movies.  As the camera lowers and become of body level to the actor we are still not able to see his face because of the light and the way he is clothed, this suggests that the character does not want to be identified adding to the suspense and mystery of the film.

As the other actor walks into the scene, his face is also hidden and no words are spoken between the two making viewers feel more intrigued to understand clearly what is happening. The note which is passed between them is zoomed into, telling us that it is of importance. We can tell when the scene is ending because of the loud footsteps walking away.

In the next scene we can clearly tell that the person is watching the girl in the window because of the reflection on the camera lens. I thought this was very clever because we were able to see what do people were doing at the same time. We get a silhouette of the man although not enough to reveal his identity, constantly keeping it a mystery. Since the colors are very dark, we can tell what he is doing because of the noises that he is making, such as the sound of him taking a picture. Sound in this film is very important because through this we are able to tell what is happening.

The scenes fade into each other very easily here through the taking of a photograph and the looking at one. I think that this is very clever.

We see that the actor is wearing gloves this supposes that he is in a place where he shouldn’t be and does not want to be linked back to being there. We see a pipe on the desk adding to the 1950’s detective style theme. The camera only focuses on what the man is doing at the desk continuing to keep his identity a secret.

The title of the thriller is typed out onto the screen with the last word ‘heron’ being typed more slowly for empathies as well as to suggest that this is the main character of the story.

I think that this is effective as at thriller because throughout the whole film nothing is said, adding to the mystery of the film. As well as not being able to see who the man is, this keeps us intrigued so we want to carrying on watching.