The Usual Suspects analysis

In the the opening scene of "The Usual Suspects", the audience first see darkness which gives us a sense of mystery. This darkness is directly contrasted by a match being lit and we are then introduced to the first character, who is smoking. The next cut we see is a panning shot of a gas can dripping. This gives the audience the impression of danger.

When the first character drops his lighter to allow the fire to spread, we are introduced to the second character who appears to be an antagonist as he puts out the fire with his urine, this leads the audience to believe that he is destroying hope. The camera then pans upwards to reveal his silhouette within the shadows, This leads us to believe that he is a mysterious character with an unknown identity. Whilst the second character walks toward the first character, the camera only tracks his feet leaving the antagonist to remain faceless adding to his obscurity. A low camera angle is used to show the antagonist (however hi face is still not shown) which makes him seem powerful, this is contrasted with the high camera angle used to show the first character, this makes him seem inferior to the antagonist.

After the first character and the antagonist finish talking, the antagonist raises gun gun in  the characters direction, leaving the audience in suspense, it then cuts to a long shot of the boat that the characters are on, and the audience hear a gun shot without seeing anything. The audience then see the antagonist setting the boat on fire and leaving the scene which leaves the audience wanting to watch more so that they can discover the background of the scene.