Analysing Thriller Openings: "The Girl on the Train" (2016)

The film "The Girl on the Train" begins with a series of the film's production companies. While the logos are on screen, there is the sound of a train braking and moving along some tracks. This creates an ominous effect with the screeching and high pitched noises as it initially just sounds like stereotypical background music in a thriller film.

The logos fade out into a black screen and the train sounds as though it is getting closer by the noise steadily yet quickly increasing in volume. The sudden crescendo of a train horn sounds the same time the picture comes up. The first shot is of the sun as trees rush past, the shot is blurred to make it seem like you, the audience, is actually in the train as a character; it's a point-of-view shot. More credits are shown on screen over the top of the blurred trees as the steady noise of the train going along tracks is quiet in the background.

The title of the movie is paired with a sudden change in sound and angle. The steady sound changes to the sound effect as though you are now outside the train watching it pass by. The angle suddenly cuts to watching the train zip by in a blur of grey. This sudden change in perspective makes the audience feel less like a participant of the film and more like a watcher, which reflects the main plot of the film which has an aspect of watching someone's life from afar.

There is a jump cut to looking into the train window as a voiceover begins. The new shot draws attention to the woman's eye which again emphasises the idea of watching something as it passes by. The voiceover is paired with a slow, high pitched music that makes the scene seem rather grieving and mundane. The next shot is an eye line view that gives us a look at what the woman was watching out the window. It's jumps from different houses as the voiceover continues to increase the mellow tone of the scene of someone looking at them as they pass on the train.

The screen jumps to a black screen and fades in the name 'Rachel'. This creates the sense of mystery for the film as it makes the audience wonder who she is, if it's the woman giving the voiceover and on the train or if it is someone else entirely. The shot jumps to a mid view of the train, it shows her sitting alone in the train, which draws attention to her as the main character and possibly hints that she is isolated and alone as she watches out the window. Another jump and it shows her from a side angle, writing in a book. It shows her appearance as someone who has to dress smartly each day, which contradicts the normal stereotype of people who watch others; usually you think that they're maybe not to well off and they're not that smartly dressed however she gives the opposite impression with the suit and journal.

A close up of her face shows her watching a house intently as it goes by. This immediately tells the audience that this is the house she cares the most about on her daily commute as she says she sits in the same spot each day to see it perfectly. This suggests that she is obsessed with the house and who lives there but it doesn't give any major reason why other than talking about the woman who clearly lives there. The angle changes to a long shot of the house with the woman on the terrace; this establishes the house which she stares at and gives the impression that there is nothing majorly significant about it.

The train stops and the camera shows a group of workers on the track, the camera then follows the woman's face as she turns back to the house, keeping her face the centre of the screen. This keeps the attention on how her facial expression changes; it goes from confused about why they stop, to a realisation that she can see the house perfectly, to her leaning forward to get a closer look at the house, to just a blank look as she watches the woman in the house. The next angle is a low angle looking up at the woman on the terrace; it shows how normal and ordinary this woman is and again suggests why is the woman on the train so intrigued with her.

The train starts moving again and a close up of the woman’s face is seen to project her curiosity about the house outside the train. It has several jump cuts from her face back to the woman in the house, making sure to emphasise the importance of this woman’s indicated obsession with the woman and the house, which no doubt sets up the rest of the film in under two minutes.