AS Media "Shank" Deconstruction

"Shank" Film Opening Deconstruction

Brief

Influenced by the thriller "Maniac" that includes some urban issues, I am looking at the urban drama "Shank", whose film opening is incredibly tense and dramatic due to its fast paced chase rather than "Maniac"'s slow, creepy stalking sequence. Similar to targeting the women in "Maniac", it seems that the young boy in "Shank" is also being targeted. Hence, this is why I thought it would be suitable to compare the two clips that are of different genres and see how if we chose to do an urban drama, we can still retain suspense. The film opening is linked below:

Production

The camera shots are mainly tracking shots that are handheld, which with the fast paced editing adds a sense of urgency and tension for the chase scene. I felt this perfectly maintains the thriller genre and violent atmosphere of urban dramas. This would be easier to create in our film opening rather than a fight scene where with fake blood and gore may become artificial and amateur.

Doing a chase scene while hinting to some sort of plot with a vulnerable target and some sort of psychological antagonist could hint to the previous ideas influenced by "Mr Robot" and "Maniac" which we thought would be too hard and complex to directly address.

With the use of dramatic non diegetic sound and the diegetic sound of the motorbike/running this further emphasises the chase. The use of this prop heightens the drama of the scene and the consequences of the protagonist being caught by the chaser.

Post-production

VFX is also used with some glitches that creates an interaction with the audience similar to "American Horror Story: Murder House" and also increases suspense as it is unexpected. This effect also connects with the beginning footage of riots etc. which is similar to "The Purge" opening. Unlike the horror, however, it is a short clip that kinda offers a background story and urban life rather than forcing the audience to watch long clips of massacres due to "The Purge", which adds discomfort and makes "The Purge" opening more horrific.

Instead, the mise-en-scene and locations of flats, seen as poor due to the dark grungy colour grading, overrules the footage and makes it identifiable as an urban drama.