SIDE EFFECTS

Amirah Bari

Movie Information

• Side Effects (2013)- Written by Scott Z. Burns, Directed by Steven Soderbergh• When a prescribed drug is given to a young woman by her psychiatrist, the world around her

alters and unravels when the drug leads to some side effects.

• Cast (Main) -Rooney Mara-Channing Tatum -Jude Law -Catherine Zeta-Jones

• It is a sub-genre as it is a Psychological Thriller.

Mise-En-Scene of the Opening Sequence

What can be seen at first is a clear skyline of a city area. Main focus being the building.

How you can tell it is the main focus is the high key light casting itself against it.

It can be guessed that the building is an institution of a sort with the way the building is structured.

There is also the contrast between light and dark as the camera zooms in. It is easy to detect the psychological elements by going from the wide shot into a close-up.

Mise-En-Scene Continued

The close up of the chair (excluding the blood), can suggest a careless act has been done and with the blood, it gives off the idea that the act was somewhat sinister.

The light is quite soft compared to the visual setting of the shot.

(Camera Angle aspects)

The camera then tracks the trail of blood in the shape of a foot. This could present the idea that a character is maybe disturbed.

The sequence finishes off with a close up shot of a boat, perhaps a gift to go with the bowed present beside it. The boat could represent a characters love of the sea or maybe a sense of loss as boats sometimes represent journeys to the underworld.

Sound/Music

Soundtrack composed and conducted by Thomas Newman. There’s a sense of juxtaposition as the soundtrack for the main title, is quite tranquil and calming however the title of the track is called ‘Very Sick Girl’ and put together with the various shots, it creates suspense in the viewers perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4K6VYWWWg