Product Research - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

This is the 2011 American remake of the original Sweedish production of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatto'

Symbolism - The colours used for the dark, liquid sequence are black, grey/teal and some shadows include slits of white. In some shots we see a blast of fire including red and orange, as well as the deep and ambiguous colour scheme, we have danger. The idea of mainly black, grey and white suggests a dark atmosphere and mystery that is yet to follow. The images in this sequence include dragons, a man, a woman, eyes, lips and a flower opening (symbolic of a new life). The dragon is superior to the humans, and this foreshadows an idea of danger and power. The contrast between the superior and the inferior is very effective because it involves us as the human audience therefore, puts us in a position of fear as we can relate to these human elements.The significance of USB's and keyboards are implied, we later find out that our main character is a computer hacker which has relevance to this being a detective thriller. Other images include fire and a flowing liquid that is suggestive of water to which are binary opposites; this again foreshadows a message, conflict. The fire, dragon and woman also represent the title ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ which shows to have a strong significance to the thriller that is about to proceed.

Editing and Sound - Fast pasted editing is used to flash images on and off of the screen in direct correlation to the synthesised punk styled music, flashing from 0.5-1 second each, ambiguous yet building up to all connect. The lyrics in the soundtrack include words such as ‘midnight’, ‘hammer’ and ‘fight’. Just from the musical component the audience can understand that violence and danger is approaching.

Soren Staermose is the producer of the original trilogy of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ also including ‘The Girl who Played with Fire’ and ‘The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’. Soren Staermose produced all three films incredibly well with the intentions to shock the audience of which he did successfully. I think the fact that he made all three of the films gives him a place of power and is a producer to look up to. The original of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ was released on Yellow Bird productions, although is it all in the Swedish language it was released to fifty different countries, allowing it to accessible and global. This film is Scandinavia’s most successful production to date. The director of the new American version, David Fincher however, I also feel has the right to be rewarded for his success with the remake. He has produced other thrillers such as ‘Seven’ and ‘Panic Room’ which are both effective as thrillers yet different to ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ which shows his flexibility as a director and a person in the film making industry to focus on and research because of this. One of Fincher’s well known trade marks are to use low-key lighting sometimes with a green or blue tint. We see this trade mark in the opening of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ therefore; he has been successful with making the film his own.

The opening sequence for ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ is particularly successful as a thriller opening because of its symbolic images that are clues to incidents that will later occur and particularly those that concern us and our safety as humans. Involving the audience with the thriller shows to be very effective and is something to consider in the making of our title sequence.