Nightcrawler
The film opens significantly with still shots of empty landscapes at night, all of which have the background diegetic sound of ambient sound (cicadas and calm night sound) and this combined with the slightly eerie non diegetic soundtrack rock type tune that also follows these shots. 
The fact that all the landscapes are abandoned truthfully doesn't give off an overly unsettling vibe as they are all at night so it changes what would originally be feared in a slight calm. The credits then start to appear with well respected actor Jake Gyllenhaal’s name coming in at the bottom right hand side of the screen as to not take away from the shots but still be noticeable. There is then a shot of a far away city at night that then welcomes the title right over the city landscape which then with the combination of the soundtrack spiking with an off note starts to set the eerie note. Another thing this title shot does is slightly confirm that the majority of this film will be set at night as ‘night
crawler’ and all of the landscapes being shot in the dark. Also the title is in white writing to stand out against the dark settings that have been shown and the very ordered and uniform structure of the font also gives a slightly psychopath vibe when combined with the other aspects this opening is giving(darkness-unknown, eerie music, empty landscapes) also as psychopaths are usually presented as overly organised characters. The name of the film appearing in a shot over the city also hints to the possibility that the ‘nightcrawler’ who we are guessing from the unsettling name is the villain and he will be praying off people in this city that we are shown. The city setting also hints to the time being more current and therefore more familiar with the audience. The more the sequence of landscapes go on the more diegetic and ambient sound gets introduced such as a truck backing up and city traffic sound while the non-diegetic soundtrack has now changed into a more cool and coming of age intro sort of tune. There is also a still shot from a low angle of palm trees which as everyone knows are a setting descriptor for LA. What is interesting with the lighting in these landscapes in that they are all 
coming from lights. already in the setting as it is nighttime and all of the lights (except for the blurry city lights in the background) are giving off a slight lime green hue of light which hints to a thriller as it is a classic horror colour especially as it is feature in empty settings in the dark. As the sequences go on we are also introduced to people working at night giving us a sense of security seeing something/someone we are familiar with. The non-diegetic soundtrack starts to get more and more intense as it goes on, then as it builds up to what we think we'll be a big crescendo and reveal it, with the non diegetic sound of a bell or a soft sound like it, stops. A diegetic sound and visual image that comes right after this stop is a train horn and it passing quickly, there is a warm hue of lighting around this scene which set it apart from the others but we also see in the bottom right hand side of the frame a car with its trunk open and this car is the only thing in shot with that familiar lime lighting we have been seeing in the rest of the shots, as it is the only this in frame being lit cold this way it suggests danger or even evil. As the shot duration of this scene is enough time for us to see a figure moving on a fence of trying to break it, we can not she anything but their silhouette and them moving creating the phenomenon of the fear of the unknown and this hidden identity and the cold lighting on what is suggested to be their car it becomes clear that is person is up to no good. 
The next sequence of shots becomes very close and specific which the sequence of landscape we were given was not suggesting that the audience needs to pay attention now. The wide shot from behind of the person we saw before transfer to a close up of the wire cutters cutting the fence confirming that this person is committing some sort of crime, the didactic sound of the train we just saw in the distance. The cutter suddenly stops and a blurry white light comes into view and the wire cutters are pulled away, this white light could be a signifier for justice or truth suggesting that this person is about to get caught or found. There is then a close up shot of their trunk and none of the objects in there are indistinguishable so it really gives no clues to why they are keeping the mystery constant, the lighting on this shot is at a very low intensity as well keeping the atmosphere dark and eerie. There is then a change from that darkness to the trunk of the door being closed as the trunk is slowly lowered, the face of the person that has been hidden is slowly revealed, the pace of this shot really adds importance to this moment as it really is a moment we have waited for since we saw his figure. The man that is revealed has quite a frightening look about him as he is very chiselled, his hair greased back and his eyes being very large and not blinking that often he is very intimidating but still not what you would have expected as he seems completely unfazed and calm. It also then becomes clear that the white light we had seen before is a police car creating tension as we now have the classic good vs evil and no clue what is going to go down. We then have some diegetic dialogue between the two characters and we see the ‘bad’ character lysing once again, adhering to the evil stereotype presented in thriller films. This calm facade is then destroyed when he starts nervously laughing suggesting he wasn't really all that prepared but also giving a creepy view to him as he is acting casual when being asked questions by the police. He then begins to approach the officer with his back to the camera back in darkness and then the darkness in the next shot is everywhere but his face as a flashlight is being held to his face, this dark lighting being present in all frames keeps the tension when the soundtrack has left.
There is then an eyeline match from the man's eyes to a close up on the cops watch suggesting it is something that he wants, takes notice of and admires. There is then a far away shot of the man punching the police officer which is quite sudden and catches you off guard but the man again seems unfazed adhering to the thriller stereotype as he has probably done something like this before. To accompany this there is the diegetic sound of the train coming in with the train horn once again giving the connotation that the train horn suggests dagger as whenever it sounds something bad is introduced.
coming from lights. already in the setting as it is nighttime and all of the lights (except for the blurry city lights in the background) are giving off a slight lime green hue of light which hints to a thriller as it is a classic horror colour especially as it is feature in empty settings in the dark. As the sequences go on we are also introduced to people working at night giving us a sense of security seeing something/someone we are familiar with. The non-diegetic soundtrack starts to get more and more intense as it goes on, then as it builds up to what we think we'll be a big crescendo and reveal it, with the non diegetic sound of a bell or a soft sound like it, stops. A diegetic sound and visual image that comes right after this stop is a train horn and it passing quickly, there is a warm hue of lighting around this scene which set it apart from the others but we also see in the bottom right hand side of the frame a car with its trunk open and this car is the only thing in shot with that familiar lime lighting we have been seeing in the rest of the shots, as it is the only this in frame being lit cold this way it suggests danger or even evil. As the shot duration of this scene is enough time for us to see a figure moving on a fence of trying to break it, we can not she anything but their silhouette and them moving creating the phenomenon of the fear of the unknown and this hidden identity and the cold lighting on what is suggested to be their car it becomes clear that is person is up to no good. The next sequence of shots becomes very close and specific which the sequence of landscape we were given was not suggesting that the audience needs to pay attention now. The wide shot from behind of the person we saw before transfer to a close up of the wire cutters cutting the fence confirming that this person is committing some sort of crime, the didactic sound of the train we just saw in the distance. The cutter suddenly stops and a blurry white light comes into view and the wire cutters are pulled away, this white light could be a signifier for justice or truth suggesting that this person is about to get caught or found. There is then a close up shot of their trunk and none of the objects in there are indistinguishable so it really gives no clues to why they are keeping the mystery constant, the lighting on this shot is at a very low intensity as well keeping the atmosphere dark and eerie. There is then a change from that darkness to the trunk of the door being closed as the trunk is slowly lowered, the face of the person that has been hidden is slowly revealed, the pace of this shot really adds importance to this moment as it really is a moment we have waited for since we saw his figure. The man that is revealed has quite a frightening look about him as he is very chiselled, his hair greased back and his eyes being very large and not blinking that often he is very intimidating but still not what you would have expected as he seems completely unfazed and calm. It also then becomes clear that the white light we had seen before is a police car creating tension as we now have the classic good vs evil and no clue what is going to go down. We then have some diegetic dialogue between the two characters and we see the ‘bad’ character lysing once again, adhering to the evil stereotype presented in thriller films. This calm facade is then destroyed when he starts nervously laughing suggesting he wasn't really all that prepared but also giving a creepy view to him as he is acting casual when being asked questions by the police. He then begins to approach the officer with his back to the camera back in darkness and then the darkness in the next shot is everywhere but his face as a flashlight is being held to his face, this dark lighting being present in all frames keeps the tension when the soundtrack has left. It then cuts out the man in his car driving while putting on the cops watch we saw him admiring giving the connotation that he has hurt him very badly and that he is dangerous and as we cannot see the police man you do wonder if he has really hurt him or it's even worse. There is then a close up of the back of his car from the inside and we can clearly make out that the wires he was cutting before are there confirming that he got away unscathed. The next couple of shots show him watching the streets as he is driving, specifically taking a moment to look at 
expensive cars and atms and this is done by the method of eyeline match, this really gives a hint and glimpse into the character showing that he wants money and he wants power. The non diegetic soundtrack of eerie music also starts to play again suggesting that the action is over for now. I wanted to also take a moment to analyse the title as nightwalker is already a very eerie title as night is not the most friendly time and is inherently a engineered fear in humans and the title of nightwalker also seems not human suggesting that what will play out in this film and what this character will do is inhumane, he also works at night.
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