Analysis of first 15 minutes of 'The Tortured'

Analysis of first 15 minutes of  'The Tortured'

The film first starts with a blank screen, as the opening credits appear. Although the screen is blank,we hear a woman say'911, what's your emergency?' A man then appears on screen, looking anxious and confused on a busy motorway, with many cars speeding past. This part of the film is not shot continuously, however, it is purposely jolted in order to emphasise his state of panic and also confuse the audience and show that something bad has happened. The man then tells the operator hysterically that his son has been kidnapped. A birds-eye style, high angle shot is then used to show us he is on a bridge. The camera is looking down on him to emphasise his helplessness in the situation. His car is aimlessly parked in the middle of the road which suggests he has attempted to chase the kidnapper. The title of the film is then displayed on a black background.

The next scene is shot outside a house surrounded by police cars - we assume

this is outside his home shortly after his phone call. A woman is seen driving past. She is driving very slowly. She gets out of the car looking extremely worried. Straight away we assume she has some relation to the missing child. As she gets out of the car, the film continuity is much slower, which gives the whole scenario a dreamlike and surreal effect. As she ducks under the police tape and gets closer towards the house, a POV shot is used in which we can see things from her perspective. She

is looking at a policewoman, however her vision is blurry and unsteady. The camera is purposely filmed handheld to give off this effect. The woman then rushes into the house, where the man who was on the phone is. She asks what's going on.When she is told, she collapses into the fathers eyes crying, which suggests they are partners or husband and wife, and she is the mother of the child.

The screen goes black again, and a close up of the poster of the missing child is being stapled onto a lamppost. The camera then goes to an extreme close up on the boys face. This gives the viewer a more personal sense of the boy. We then hear his mother talking in the background. She is making an appeal. There is then a shot of the couple on the news, with the headlines underneath them as they speak. This makes the situation realistic and helps us identify with the pain of the couple. 

As the news report goes off, we are introduced to a very eerie setting. The room the scene is set in is very dark and messy. The camera is on a dolly and shows us round the room. As it turns a corner, we can see a man. The camera is shooting over his shoulder, however he is facing a mirror so we can see his face

despite him having his back to the camera. He is a very disturbing looking middle aged man, and he is applying make up, which straight away indicates something peculiar is going on. As he does this, we hear the non-diagetic sound of his vinyl playing. The song that is playing is 'Hush Little Baby', a famous lullaby. This is creepy as it juxtaposes the disturbing sight we are seeing with something that is meant to be calming and relaxing. Suddenly, he gets up and enters a small room. He is shot from a low angle, to emphasise his power in the situation he is in. He then points down to the camera,

referring to whoever is in front of him as 'being a bad boy' due to the way he's looking down and what he is saying, we assume we are in a POV shot of the little missing boy. The man is clearly very mentally ill, as he shows schizophrenic tendencies through the scene, referring to himself as both 'daddy' and 'mommy' and talking to himself. A close up of the mans face shouting at the little boy is shown to emphasise that the boy is in danger. The scene then goes black for a couple of seconds. 

We then see a police car parked outside a house. They go and knock at the door. This is a shot done over

both of their shoulders. The creepy middle aged man is shown standing in the doorway. The police bust into the house - one of them hold the man down, and the other officer is shown going into the basement. As he walks through the door of the small room, a shot of the officer looking down on something is shown. We can just see the little boys legs laying lifelessly, so we assume that the little boy is dead. The camera slowly zooms in on the officers face to show his surprise and disgust. 

The scene then jumps straight to a shot of a telephone ringing inside the boys' mother and fathers house.The mother frantically enters the scene and picks up the phone,looking distressed. As an officer begins to speak

on the phone, we are shown that she is having random flashbacks of her little boy and her together before the tragedy happened. The film jumps from the look of anguish on the woman's face to her random memories with her little boy. She begins to cry hysterically and hangs up the phone as she slides down the wall sobbing. She is shot from a high angle to show her despair in this situation and her vulnerability. 

The couple are shown walking down a long corridor looking very melancholy. They are greeted by two officers who are also looking very serious. A body is pulled out from a room and the sheet is removed in order for the parents to identify it. As they realise it is their son, the father looks distraught as the woman begins to scream as she clutches onto her partners chest. The screaming continues, but the shot changes. The film is now showing a flashback from when the woman is giving birth to her

son. This is done so we can compare the scream to the beginning of her sons life and the ending. Another series of happy memories that the couple have shared with their son are shown, such as him laughing as they feed him on his high chair and the child playing in the garden when he's a little older. These scenarios are very ordinary so audiences can empathise with the couple as they would relate it to their own feelings if

something bad happened to their own children. When the flashbacks are shown, we are redirected to the couple filmed in two shot. They are dressed smart and in dark clothing, looking very upset. We assume the couple are now being shown in the present tense at their sons funeral. The couple are then shown the next morning. The woman is still in bed, and refuses to wake up when the man shakes her. He looks out of the window in a mundane fashion. He then begins to have a flashback. We are introduced to a sunny day in which the man is smiling outside on a deckchair and the son is playing

happily in the garden. His wife leaves for work and says goodbye to her son by hugging him and then getting into the car. The dad then suggests that the boy needs sun cream, and he goes to find some as his son plays happily in the back garden. However, we are shown a view from a car. The windscreen wipers are still in the shot, but we can see the little boy playing through the front car window. 

We assume this is a POV shot,

as if we're are looking through the little boys murderers eyes. To create intensity, the shots go from the boy playing blissfully unaware in the garden, to the father rummaging through to drawers to find the sun cream in the kitchen. After these reversing shots are shown a couple of times, we see the man snatch the little boy. As the father turns round, he makes eye contact with his sons killer. An effect is then put on of a shot of light,

and the image of the kidnapping turned still for a couple of seconds, as if the father had taken a mental snapshot of his sons killer. The man sprints outside as fast as he possibly can, while screechy high pitched diagetic music plays in the background to intensify the entire scenario. We see his son banging on the window of the car as the man chases after it. He runs for a very long time but eventually the car is miles in front of him despite his best efforts. The shot then goes back to him in the present tense looking out of the window. This is to express that he feels partially guilty about his childs disapearance, but also shows that he remembers every detail of his sons kidnapping and it haunted by it and will be haunted by it indefinitely.