Section 2: Research into examples of comparable products (American Psycho)

American Psycho is a 2000 thriller film directed by Mary Harron based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name.  It stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, with Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon and Willem Dafoe. The film focuses on Wall Street yuppie Patrick Bateman (Bale), whose mental instability and blood lust lead him to serial killing. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on April 14, 2000.

Narrative Structure 
At the start we are provided with a very upper class and sophisticated equilibrium, all of the characters are dining at an expensive restaurant, establishing the way these characters act and feel, which would make a more devastating impact on such a society, should crime be involved, as crime is expected least in this kind of society.

Mis-en- Scene 

• As the film begins, along with the credits, a white background is seen. The colour white connotes purity and innocence, however seconds later, red liquid drips into the frame (at first presumed to be blood) the feature of blood  death and gore, a complete opposite of the innocence portrayed at first, this oxymoronic symbolism suggests that death and gore will feature in the film, amongst a proverbial background of innocence and purity. 
• The drops of ‘blood’ fall in rhythm to the classical non-diegetic background music, suggesting that the blood and music are related. This implies that the bloodshed is somehow an art form and is peaceful and delightful, the attitude Patrick Bateman portrays later in the film.
• A knife also features in the opening credits, as it swiftly and violently chops through a steak; this is a visual metaphor for what is to happen later in the film with the murders committed by Bateman.

• Later in the sequence the blood is revealed to raspberry juice, suggesting that on the face of things, things appear to be rather normal (raspberry sauce) however when you look closer and deeper, they appear to be something else, rather dark (Blood), mirroring Bateman’s life, on the face of it, he appears to be an average member of society, however when looking deeper, he is revealed as a psychotic and deranged serial Killer. 
• The camera pans through several shots across dining tables elaborately decorated with highly expensive-looking items, cutlery and food and the characters are wearing very expensive clothing (dresses and tuxedos) This establishes the social class in which the characters are a part of, upper-middle class, where crime would definitely be unacceptable and non-existent. However this drastically changes when Patrick Bateman becomes a serial killer, verifying my earlier analysis.
  

Sound 

• At the start, the non-diegetic sound is very high pitched, using the sound of violins. This creates an eerie and sinister atmosphere, setting the tone and genre of the film. Also, as stated before, the music is in time with the dropping of ‘blood’. 
• As the cameras pans through the room of guests, we here the diegetic sound of the collective voices of the guests, all speaking with rather upper class accents, again this establishes the social class in which the movie is set, and when the waiters are shown, informing the gusts of all the luxury and expensive food items that are on the menu, emphasises this. As stated before, in this kind of society crime, like Murder, which Bateman commits, would definitely be objectionable and not to be expected within this class.

Editing and Camera work 
the camera slowly pans across the dining tables that are expensively decorated, again to set the atmosphere in which the characters live in. The fact the camera pans slowly, forces us to pay attention to these expensively decorated tables, foreshadowing later events in the film, of how obsessed the protagonist is obsessed with his physical appearance and the visual representation of everything he owns.

Graphics
 The graphics of the opening sequence are black on a white background; this creates the emphasis of 2 opposites, mirroring the upper class lifestyle Bateman leads, and his life as a serial killer.
However, once the white background has faded and we are shown the restaurant, the credits become white. White connotes innocence, and the white credits are only presented within the restaurant, again mirroring the innocence that Bateman must portray when in public.