PEEPING TOM OPENING SCENE In this essay I will be focusing on how the camera, sound, mise-en-scene and the

editing build atmosphere and tension within the opening scene of Peeping Tom. The opening scene of Peeping Tom starts of with a man looking through an object. He is a voyeur in this scene and the scene is called a point of view shot as we see the action from the characters point of view. The scene denotes him looking at a woman which he then follows into a house and then watches her undress. She is portrayed as a prostitute here. He then walks towards her and she starts to yell as she is scared, the scene is then blacked out. The opening scene of peeping tom denotes a close up shot of a big blue eye. The director has decided to use this as it may tell the audience that it is an important part of the scene. The eye could connote that the person is either surprised or stunned by looking at a person or an object and tells us he is vigilant. The scene is in a point of view shot as we see all the action from the characters point of view. This shot creates atmosphere as the audience is hooked already to what he is looking at. The sound playing also could foreshadow mystery and that something mysterious is going to happen. This image denotes a woman in a dark alley way in the middle of a town. The dark alley way sets the atmosphere for the scene telling the audience that it is going to be a thriller. The woman stands out in the scene as she is alone in the alleyway. This connotes that the voyeur may approach her as she is alone and has caught his attention. The shot used is a long shot so that the shot can capture everything in the scene. In this shot she is shown wearing red. Here the director has used mise en scene of the woman wearing this. This stands out to the audience and could be foreshadow danger which she faces further into the scene. Also the colour red stand for the character being seductive which emphasises that she is a prostitute. Shots which have the camera focused on the character like this one tell the audience that the person watching is a scopophilia because he is obsessed with watching images. This shot denotes the woman walking up the stairs and the person watching follows her closely. This connotes she is taking him somewhere they can be alone and she looks back at the guy to lead

him on. As he follows her he looks at different objects and images that he comes across, this builds tension and creates atmosphere in the scene. Sound is used strongly to create atmosphere in the opening scene of peeping tom. The piano is played in a way where the audience is aware that something bad will happen, this is non-diagetic. The sound of the piano helps to build suspense to the scene as the tempo is gradually built towards the end. Sounds such as the whistling and echoing help to build up the scene too, these are diagetic sounds. In conclusion I believe the camera shots help best to create atmosphere and are predominant in the scene as throughout the scene we see it through the characters eyes which creates tension and atmosphere. This enabled the audience to be in his shoes and join the experience with him.