Sound
Mise-en-scene
Editing
Camera work
We Need to Talk About Kevin is a drama-thriller film, following the life of a mother who struggles to love her son as he grows from a misbehaved child to a vicious, sinister young man. The film opens with the film institutions, and from these we can tell it is an 'indie' style film. The 'BBC Films' logo is shown, and the film has also been funded by the national lottery. As the title animation appears on screen, a sprinkler sound effect can be heard. This creates quite a tense atmosphere as the noise is very repetitive, along with playing a part later on in the film. The title animation itself has been crafted in a deliberate way, with all of the words slowly fading out, until only the word 'Kevin' remains; which could signify that the character of Kevin could possibly prove to be an obstacle for the other main characters involved.
The first shot of the movie is a shot of the inside of a house, with the backdoor wide open and a curtain blowing in the wind. The lighting is very dim, which links with the conventions of thriller, and creates an eerie atmosphere. The non-diegetic sound of the sprinkler continues to build in intensity, which contrasts the setting shown. We can also hear the faint sound of someone breathing, which, along with the open door, creates the effect that there has been an intrusion within this typical suburban home. The camera zooms slowly forward towards the backdoor, mirroring the intruder's/character's movement, and this alone makes the audience feel uneasy.
As the camera moves into close proximity to the curtain, the screen fades to white, which could symbolise coming out of this flashback. The sprinkler sound increases even more in intensity and quickness, making it almost irritating for the viewer to listen to. However, this is sharply cut off by the harsh sound of a siren, followed shortly by a cannon blast. This radical change in sound could represent the contrasts and twists within the storyline of the film, and the rather unpredictable nature of the characters included. The screen cuts to an overhead bird's eye shot of a crowd of people in utter chaos in the street, and the sound of people screaming overbears all other previous sound effects. This contrast in setting disorientates the audience, as the tone has turned from being suspenseful to chaotic.
We can see that the people appear to be partaking in a cultural festival of some sort, as they are seen throwing around buckets full of red fruit. The camera then zooms into the crowd, cuts to show a man tip a bucket of pulp on another man's head, and cuts again to show another man help a woman off of the floor in slow motion. These rapid cuts and unpredictable filming techniques create a sense of uneasiness and we can tell this will be a recurrent feeling felt throughout the film.
The shot above shows a group of men holding a woman (who we later find to be the film's main character) up into the air. The low angle shot emphasizes the character's importance in the story, and reiterates the fact that she is the main character. We can also see that this scene is perhaps set in a European country with the villas in the background, and this could tell us the character is having a vision about a happy period of her life. The stance that the people are in could convey religious, sacrificial, or even worshiping connotations, which contrasts how the character is viewed later on in the film; in a negative light. The woman herself appears to be quite happy, and her general expression gives off the impression that she feels empowered more than anything else. However, the roaring of the crowd soon fades partly away, and is replaced instead by an insert of non-diegetic droning music. Also in the background, the sound of a hysterical woman screaming can be heard creeping in, and it is obvious that it is a non-diegetic sound as it doesn't fit with the playful screams of the crowd. This screaming could perhaps be an internal struggle within the character's mind, and shows that she herself is a conflicted character of unpredictability.
The men then put her back down onto the floor, and move onto scooping up the fruit and putting it onto the woman's chest. One of the connotations of the colour red is blood or death, and the recurrent use of this imagery gives us the impression that death will be a major theme in the film. The opening ends rather abruptly, cutting to a scene of the main character asleep in her room; letting the audience know that these previous scenes were in fact flashbacks. The red symbolism is still used frequently, and the lighting of the room, along with items such as candles, leftovers, and even the paint her house has been vandalised with are all red. This only strengthens the suspicion that death will play a part in this character's story, and that the suspense will continue to rise until the very end of the film.
