Here is Jonas as he dominates the mise en scène, after shooting dead his partner. his facial expression tells a whole story of what is to come for this confused character.
Here is Jonas's Partner in Jonas's arms dieing. The colour pallet in this frame is very dim again with blacks and greys dominating the mise en scène showing the bleakness of this mans future.
This screen shot taken from the cable kart scene where you can see that the other man suspects Jonas... or not suspecting but suspicious of him.
here is Tanya being filmed by what seems to be her lover but then of course she is brutally murdered. She dominates the mise en scène with the rule of thirds acting very well in this frame, as Tanya is taking up a third of the frame. the colour pallet in this frame, are much brighter and more colours involved too with the bright green of the grass and the deep blue of the sea. The colour pallet connotes the happiness of the character. Insomnia is a Norwegian thriller film created in 1997 directed by Erik Skjoldberg. In the film Jonas Engstrom and his partner Erik Vik, investigate a murder of a young girl in Norway. You view what looks like the murder in the opening sequence. The two investigators investigate this murder, which results in a chase scene between the police and the criminal. Unfortunately there is heavy fog resulting in a mix up as Jonas shoots his partner instead of the villain. Confused Jonas doesn’t own up to this even though he knows it was an accident.
The third man a famous film noir thriller is directed by Carol Reed and is set in the city of Vienna in 1949. The character Holly Martin travels to Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime who has a job waiting for him, when he arrives in Vienna a man greets him and informs, Carol Reed that Harry Lime is dead. As the story continues the truth is revealed about Harry Lime’s death. Harry lime turns out to have faked his death and committed a terrible crime.
In Insomnia the character Jonas must decide to admit his mistake on shooting his partner by accident. And in The Third Man, Holly Martin, meets his friend that he thought was dead, but he also knows that he is a criminal. So Holly is stuck with a dilemma similar to Jonas’s dilemma in Insomnia, where he has to decide whether to betray his best friend, or not. At the beginning of both films these characters seemed to be innocent, this gives a dark side to both characters persona.
In thriller films lighting and sound are both very important aspects. They are used to create suspense with the littlest actions in the film. The directors in the third man emphasise the impression of tension in situations. Most film noir films use strong lighting as a key for a good film showing light and dark, good and evil. The third man does, this very well and creates an ambiguity that, keeps the audience on there toes. Carol Reed uses a lot of silhouettes in the third man this connotes the confusion of the characters and the audience. As through the whole film you are never sure on who the good guy is or not. There is a scene where you first see the character Harry Lime, as he is standing in a doorway obscure from lighting so no one can see him, but then a car drives past and the headlamps glisten on the characters face. Half of his face is caught by the lighting where as the other side is still blackened, this represents the good and evil that is Harry Lime. In Insomnia, Jonas Engstrom is lit up in a similar way as Harry Lime. The Director uses this lighting effect on Jonas to imitate the mental tangle between good and evil, which affects Jonas throughout the film.
The colour pallets in the two films are very different as intently they are set in different time periods. In insomnia you can tell that its is set in a fairly modern time period as the colour pallet is greys, blacks and whites connoting technology which also connotes modern times. Where as in the third man, the colour pallet is just black and white as it is a film noir film. This just means that the film depends intensely, on the lighting in the film.
