Film Opening Scenes - Research 2*

Saw Opening Scene Analysis 


In this clip we see two characters, Adam and Dr Gordon. Straight away, we see the difference in representation between them, evident by the title for Gordon and the tapes left by the main villain, "Jigsaw". Gordon is shown immediately as the more educated one as he is a doctor and suggests to Adam of using his shirt to get the tape recorder. Also he seems more level headed and optimistic then Adam as when they can't reach the tape recorder at first, he nearly gives up but Gordon keeps saying there must be something. For the representation of Adam, he's less trusting and more paranoid by not wanting to give the recorder to Gordon saying he "doesn't want to break it". Also his tape describes him in greater detail, Jigsaw says he spent his time "hiding in the shadows" connoting that he is a more sneaky character and he is also described as pathetic, connoting further his life isn't worth living which is Jigsaw's main philosophy. Another character we get pieces about is the obscure Jigsaw. We only hear his voice through the tapes but it gives us a much more detailed view then we first think. From the first tape, we can tell he despises people who abuse life by the way he talks about Adam and his shadowed, parasitic life as we find out later that takes pictures of other people's private life. We also find he is sick himself from Gordon's tape as a deep cough fills the end of the tape, only representing is view on doctor's as he wants Gordon to break the oath he made when he first became a doctor by killing the man in the room with him, Adam. While the audience know that Jigsaw is the bad guy, they begin to doubt the moral standing of the two men in the abandoned bathroom as we wonder why he choose those two men in particular, wanting to know his twisted reason behind his game. This film opening fits well within the codes and conventions as while its revealed many bits and pieces behind the story, we the audience are no closer to finding the reason behind it all. This follows the main convention of making the audience guess and think up their own conclusion, also not forgetting the mind game element this opening has as that what most of these films include, mind games between the criminal and his pursuer. This element isn't shown till later in the film and adds to the premise by also including the victims in this loop as they want to know why they were picked for this game of sorts.

The whole premise of the film is that the situation the characters are in a game of sorts. Jigsaw develops the phrase" I want to play a game" throughout the series as the people he picked thought that life is nothing but a game to them or don't respect it enough so this "game" is used to test their willingness to survive and learn from the mistake of abusing the life they were given. This is what makes the Jigsaw so much more complex as he is technically not the one who kills his victims, they fail the test and essiently kill themselves as they did not learned there lessons.

While this clip and its content don't really suit our idea of short sequences of the killer's daily routine, it still offers us some ideas like the complexity the killers in this genre have and require. It gives us the idea of what sort of tone the title sequence should be and how the character should be structured e.g. not crazed and foaming at the mouth but more refined, calm and sophisticated like the characters in both Saw and Hannibal who don't think they are the villain necessarily as they just think they are either normal human beings with their own interests or trying to deliver a message to the people who abuse their life which is the case for Jigsaw.