For my first essay, I chose the film ‘Inception’. I’d say the genre is mostly mystery, certainly within the first three minutes of the film. Straight away, a pan shot of the sea along with diegetic sounds of the waves and children laughing is used after non diegetic music introducing the film, representing the main character, Cobb, regaining consciousness. This is also supported by slow motion and blurred and focused shots when he looks up. 
The children we heard are shown with their backs to the audience, keeping an ambiguity to their characters, before running away after the little girl screams. Presented in high key lighting and heard unclearly, the audience may realise that Cobb is in fact hallucinating, the children disappearing as he loses consciousness again. 
Another character finds him, who is shown by a low angle shot in order to represent his power, and (higher) authority/status. He wears a military, smart uniform and carries a large gun, a huge contrast to Cobb who is hurt, dirty, and wearing ripped, shabby clothes. 
We notice due to an extreme wide shot that this is based in an area of Asian influence due to the architecture of the building, also doubling as an establishing shot, giving the audience an improved perspective on where the opening is set.
The scene changes, transitioning from high key to low key lighting. With the doors and guards kept in shot, the man, Saito, in the centre of the new scene is clearly represented as well protected. Adding the golden walls and warm lighting into the scene creates a strong sense of superiority and wealth. However, these factors combined with non-diegetic music containing a slow pace and low tones created a daunting and fearful feeling, suggesting Saito, in the centre of this shot is the villain, and with an increasing zoom on the character, is perhaps becoming a bigger problem.
When one of the guards presents the items Cobb was holding, the obviously harmful one is almost dismissed when it comes to camera shots. As a gun is placed on the table, it stays out of focus as Saito reaches for his wine. However, when a seemingly innocent spinning top is placed down, the camera angle switches to a close up, focused on it. Saito’s withdraws his hand, showing he recognises it, again supporting the relevance of this item.
Cobb is then dragged in by two guards. The diegetic sound of keys rattling show he is a prisoner (along with being dragged). In the next shot, a close up camera shot is used to show he
is hunched over a bowl of food, quickly transitioning into a medium shot at eye level, focused at first on the back of Cobb’s head with a blurred background, until focusing on Saito when he says the word “kill”, in; “Are you going to kill me?”. The use of pull focus creates emphasis on the word and the relationship between Cobb and Saito. The low key lighting could represent the dark tension that lies between the pair.
Close up shots and slow transitions are used here to build tension. A close up of Cobb is filmed, with his mouth in the shot but no other parts of his face. This emphasises his silence – he doesn’t answer as to whether he is there to kill. The next close up is just as effective: even though Cobb doesn’t answer and the tension seems to be building, Saito’s hand moves from the gun on the table to instead, the spinning top.
As Saito spins the spinning top, a close up of the spinning top is shot, building tension as the audience expect it to topple over. Whilst it continues to spin, Saito explains how he knows what it is, due to a man with “radical motions”, at which point, the music fades out and a close up of Cobb is shot, transitioning into the next scene. The low bass tone (non-diagetic sound), leaves the audience feeling full of fear and suspense, as we are left to conclude that Cobb is the man Saito mentions.
