Arlington Road

Arlington Road is a 2 hour mystery/crime thriller

released on March 19th 1999; it was directed by Mark
Pellington and had a box office of 41.1 million USD.

Why I chose this film:

I have chosen this film to analyse as immediately at
first glance of this film it caught my eye and provoked
me to want to watch the entire film, as Mark Pellingtons
immediate enigma created in the opening scene using a
unique audio visual style makes you question what is
going on, and intrigues you enough into wanting to watch
the rest. Pellington instantaneously creates suspense and
mystery in this ingeniously, however unusually and not
typically to influence the viewer and intrigue them even
more. This movie has many psychological aspects which
make the audience interact to find hidden clues and
information making you put pieces together and makes you
think for yourself throughout to find out the truth
behind this mysterious neighbour. I will analyse the
first 5 minutes of the film which is the opening scene.

Summary:
Arlington Road is a mystery/crime thriller with
psychological aspects which tells the story of a widowed
George Washington University professor who suspects his
new neighbours are involved in terrorism and past
terrorist attacks as the professor becomes obsessed with
foiling their terrorist plot. The film stars famous at
the time actors and actresses by the names of Jeff
Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope David. I will
analyse the first 5 minutes of the movie as this is the
opening scene which caught my eye the most.

Enigma Codes:
Pellington incorporates many
enigmas in the opening
immediately to purposely
create a sense of confusion in
the spectator and make them
question and provoke the audience to wonder why the
things that happening are occurring. I believe Pellington
has purposely created suspense and mystery in the opening
to provoke many different thoughts from viewers as to
what is happening based on what they know already about
the film from what they have read and/or seen on the
poster, which will carry out
throughout the film connoting
many different viewpoints and
questions which hopefully lead to
the final answer.
The main questions that are immediately triggered from
the opening and were my own questions in order are;
Who is this boy stumbling through the road?
Why is he stumbling?
Why does he seem so lifeless?
Why is he bleeding, who is driving the car?
What happened to the boys hand?
Do these two know each other?
Lastly what are the random sequences in the rest of the
opening?

How are the characters established and

represented?
This opening introduces two vital characters important to
the main plot of the movie, which are Michael Faraday the
George Washington University professor and Brady Lang the
son of the suspected terrorist neighbour.

First in the scene we see

Brady; who is introduced
into the movie with
enigmatic music in slow
motion as well as a blurred
effect as we see him
stumbling through the middle of the street being
illustrated in a very unstable state as we see few POV
shots showing his perspective to be blurred as he tries
to regain clear vision, as well as him sweating profusely
and his eyes looking lifeless. We also hear many voices
whispering, which we assume to be in his head as there is
no one around him, established by the long shots,
repeating do it and calling him a chicken; meaning he is
scared to do something. The effect of this is to
immediately spark question and a thought of who is
telling him these things, and if what he was being told
to do is what made him end up in this state because of
the things they are telling him to do also show that he
may have succumbed to peer pressure as him being in a
poor state connotes that whatever he was told to do got
him like this. These assumptions could carry on
throughout the opening as he continues to stumble until
Michael discovers Brady stumbling through the street in
his car. It could be assumed that Bradys hand is like
this because of something to do with his father, such as
tampering with explosives.
This could be foreshadowing
what will happen in future
events to do with explosives
and potentially portray that
Oliver Lang may be the voices
in this boys head.
Secondly, Michael is introduced into the opening with an
over the shoulder shot of him driving through the streets
where he doesnt yet know what he is about to come across
as we assume he was on his way home from an average day;
and in seconds his day took a disturbing twist.
Immediately, if the viewer doesnt know that he is a
professor we may assume that he could be a teacher, or
work in an office due to what he is wearing which is
often what teachers wear; as of this information, it
could be assumed that he may have taught younger children
so he may know what to do to help this child. We can also
assume that Michael does not know Brady and is not
familiar as he calls him by the name of kid rather than
his real name. However, the spectator would not have time
to think in such detail due to the short takes and fast
paced editing of cross cuts back and forth between

Michael and Brady as Michael

approaches him, also using
slow motion. It may further
be assumed that Michael is
portrayed to be very helpful
and considerate as he
stopped to see why this child was stumbling in the middle
of the road, as he easily could have driven past him in
frustration due to him being in the road. This may be as
he can sympathise with children he has taught. Also, as
he takes Brady to the hospital
immediately, making him his
first priority trying his best
to get Brady to hospital as
fast as possible.

Locations:
There are two locations in this opening, the street Brady
staggers through and the hospital Michael rushes Brady
to.
The first location is very
typical of the thriller genre
as it shows themes of
isolation which leaves Brady
very vulnerable as he is
staggering through empty
quiet streets where no one is around to help him. At this
moment in time we do not know what has happened to him or
what is wrong. A typical thriller film would have an
antagonist in a chase scene with the boy; however this is
not a typical thriller film so there is no one around him
that couldve hurt him. This leaves the enigma as to what
has happened if there is no one around to inflict this
damage, further creating the mystery and vulnerability of
Brady. This may cause discomfort in the viewer as they
may be fearful of the unknown and be curious of what is
wrong with this seemingly perfectly fine neighbourhood
that caused this damage. In addition, although Brady is
stumbling through the streets, it is portrayed that this
is an everyday quiet environment which may cause little
comfort for the viewer as it
may relate to where they grew
up or live at the moment.
This creates a calm
atmosphere in contrast to the
dangerous atmosphere Brady is
creating.

The second location is also

typical of the thriller
genre as the hospital is
used to further create panic
in the viewer through the
fast paced editing as well
as the nurses and doctors rushing to aid Brady and
everyone shouting. Hospitals are where people are taken
where accidents occur, which is often the case for many
thriller movies as characters are left vulnerable and in
danger by the antagonist and they seek help. However,
this is not a typical location for the thriller genre as
this is where people get help and medical attention,
which is where protagonists do not have the chance to get
as they are eliminated by the antagonist before they can
get help.

Camera and Editing Techniques:

There are a range of shot types and editing in this

opening scene, we see slow motion shots all the way until
Michael finally grabs Brady and screams for help used to
show the emotion of Michael and Brady as well as the main
shots used most commonly is the range of close ups.
Pellington used close ups
of Brady in the beginning
and throughout to
establish his bad state,
such as him sweating, his
red lifeless eyes, the
blood dripping from his
hand to his feet and his actual hand. Also, we see many
POV shots of Bradys perspective to put the viewer in his
shoes and properly portray the bad state he is in as he
sways in and out of the frame. Pellington also used a
blurred effect throughout the beginning of the opening
where Brady is by himself struggling through the street
to show that there is something seriously wrong with him
and that he can barely see because of what has happened
to him, which we never find out; slowly becoming clearer
and clearer we see the POV shots of him blinking to
regain his vision. Many match on action shots are used
throughout the opening such as Brady stumbling from
different angles such as extreme close ups, close ups,
medium shots and long shots
getting closer and closer
to his destinations. We
also see match on action
where Michael is driving
Brady through traffic where
we see a range of match on
action shots on their way to the hospital, as well as
when they get into the hospital where Michael passes
Brady to the nurses and onto the table.

Use of Sound:
Immediately from the beginning of the opening we hear the
use of non-diegetic sound using very unnerving and
mysterious music to create an early enigmatic atmosphere
to just give a small hint of what is about to occur and
try to get the spectator on the edge of their seat from
the start. A use of diegetic sound would be where we hear
his footsteps and his deep breaths as he stumbles through
the street to show where things become more panicked as
we hear the increasingly faster eventually. This eerie
music plays throughout; it could be argued that we hear
diegetic sound of the voices in Bradys head, the effect
of this is to allow us to assume that the voices that are

saying bad things to him are the reason that hes in a

bad state. Further supported by the fact that no one else
is around to say these things. The use of the nondiegetic sound continues as we hear a shift in the tempo
of the soundtrack where Michael is introduced into the
scene as it becomes deeper and slower, and almost pauses
for a second as we see Michael slow down to try to
comprehend what is in front of him. The effect of this is
to make the audience do the same as Michael, and to
inspect the situation from Michaels perspective to see
if we can gather any more information. Which is where the
sound picks up again and speeds up as Michael stops the
car to see what is wrong with Brady. We also hear another
use of diegetic sound when Michael hits the breaks to get
out of the car as we hear the car stop quickly.
The non-diegetic music becomes very quickly more upbeat
and fast as Michael runs up to Brady and turns him around
to see Bradys hand. The effect of this is to create a
sense of discomfort in the audience as this is brought
upon them so quickly, with the help of the upbeat sound
to create an even more enhanced sense of panic. More use
of diegetic sound is when Michael is driving Brady to
hospital as we hear the car speeding up and revving as
see Michael speed through the streets with his eyes
focused on getting Brady help; this is used to create an
instant sense of urgency as this carries throughout until
they reach the hospital.
Further use of diegetic would be through the opening
where Brady is screaming, Michael is screaming for help
and the nurses and doctors asking questions about Brady
when he is finally taken to the hospital.

Titles:
Throughout the title
sequence we see the
use of motion
graphics and edited
photos and video to
change what appears
to be relatively harmless home video and manipulate it
into more of a twisted sense to create an unsettling mood
with the use of eerie music. This is used to reflect the
films dark tone as things become very twisted in an
instant.
We see the road sign of Arlington Rd to portray that
this event just happened on this road, and that
potentially more twisted things like this happens on this

road, illustrated by the creepy music and motion graphics

to create an uncomforting atmosphere.

Intended Target
Audience:
In my opinion, I believe
that the intended target audience for Arlington Road is
for people from their mid to late teens onwards, due to
the violence and gore of the terrorism, profanity and
frightening scenes which may be too much for younger
viewers; such as the opening scene. I also believe this
as there is very may parts of the movie that need to be
pieced together by the audience, which I feel would be
very hard for a younger viewer to comprehend.