Hanna Opening Scene Essay

       In the opening scene to Hanna, director Wright uses mainly sound and specific camera work to create and effective scene through tension and suspense.

       Wright uses a wide variety of sound during the opening scene, firstly through using a low-key, synthetic white noise effect over scenes of almost silent, remote nature shots. This affectively creates tension because the juxtaposition of the natural setting with the synthetic, incompatible buzzing sound off-sets the audience and alludes to something unexpected and out of place: Hanna.

       Secondly, Wright uses the diagetic sound in the scene to great effect in order to create tension. By emphasising the sound of the breath of both Hanna and the Moose, and also the sound of their footsteps in the snow, the audience becomes aware of the immanent action between the two. Following this, the solitary line of dialogue spoken by Hanna to the moose clearly indicated her as the titular character and effectively closes the ending.

       Wright also uses specific shots and camera techniques to produce an affective opening scene. He effectively creates tension between the moose and Hanna by revealing them first in separate, wide tracking shots in the forest. This is followed by two interchanging shots of the two, one mid-shot and a close up of the face, before Hanna shoots the moose. This is an effective way to create tension because the audience can begin to suspect some sort of action between the two, and understand the hunter/hunted aspect of the scene.

       Another affective camera technique used is when Hanna has caught up to the injured moose, delivers her dialogue and shoots the animal. The low angle on Hanna suggest to the audience she is a powerful/dangerous character in the film, therefore creating expectations of the character and alluding to the tension centred around her.

       In conclusion, Wright mainly uses the sound and camera techniques to create tension and therefore an effective opening sequence to Hanna. By keeping other methods for creating tension such as lighting and focusing on the two techniques, tension felt by the audience is amplified; the merging of the two therefore creates and affective, concise opening sequence to the film, establishing it as a successful thriller.