Genre: Thriller III

The Machinist

The Machinist is a thriller film following the character Trevor Reznik. He works in a factory as a machinist and has many psychological problems including extreme paranoia and insomnia. It is obvious that Trevor has been affected by a bad past experience and the point of the film is to unveil what has happened.

The film starts out somewhat eerily, there is a black screen with slow and heavy breathing heard in the background. This fades out into an unfocused blur through a window where the viewer can easily recognise the shape of a man rolling a dead body up in a carpet. From the reflection in the window, you can see that it is night time - when most bad things are known to occur in the thriller and horror genres. The music used in the background is quiet and creepy, it is made obvious now that the heavy breathing is coming from the alleged murderer in the film. The man calmly collects himself when he's done rolling the body up and it gives the viewer a minute to wonder across the screen and notice the metallic rusting window frame, as well as the reflection of the dark city outside. Already you can recognize that the setting is in a city and the first character introduced is probably a working class man considering the state of his apartment. The man gets a cigarette and wonders closely to the window where his face is seen on camera for the first time. He is extremely thin, pale and tired looking. His clothes are worn and his face is all cut up and bruised. It is clear that this man is very troubled - this immediately gets the viewer's attention as they become interested in this character. As the movie title comes up, the character lights up his cigarette and the title seems almost like an introduction to the person's identity.
Throughout the entire scene, the camera has stayed in the same position with the same lighting. The camera angle is effective because it forces the viewer to focus on the actions of the main character and become curious about the circumstances of the scene. The lighting is equally as effective, being extremely dark outside and dimly lit inside the apartment with a grey undertone to the scene.