How is tension created in the opening scene of "Vanilla Sky"?

The opening scene of Vanilla Sky shows a man, following his routine, but then finding New York completely empty. The end of this sequence is the man waking up from that nightmare, but the audience only finds out it’s a dream after about three minutes during which tension is created by the use of specific camera shots (like wide shots, long shots and close-ups), the different camera movements that reinforce the tension, and finally the sound (diegetic and non-diegetic).

The opening sequence starts with a few wide aerial shots that establish the location, we see Central Park and skyscrapers, so from the start we know we’re in New York and what to expect from that city: exciting and very busy. The first shot inside the character’s house is quite interesting because we see half of the frame is the TV playing the black and white film Sabrina and the other half is the character’s room. This may give us an idea of contrast between fiction or fantasy (the black and white film) and reality (the room in colour). This idea is reinforced when the character wakes up and turns off the TV, now he is out of the dream world, ready to start a new day.

The next shot is a head and shoulders shot of the character in front of the mirror where he pulls off a gray hair, this suggests that this man might be a perfectionist and makes him mysterious. We feel we are watching what he does every day, he is following his routine. Then there is an extreme close-up of his watch that shows it’s seven thirty in the morning, so the audience knows what a city like New York should be looking like at that time, we expect the streets to be very busy and energetic. But then, a long shot presents an empty street, no activity that suggests that there is something unusual and strange happening. The camera moves in track while he’s driving, and the scene is slowed down to emphasize on the rareness of the situation, the scene is quite slow even though he’s driving. These long shots alternate with close-ups of the character’s face, in which we are able to see his expression of growing astonishment because of how desert the street is. Then the use of an extreme close-up of the watch where we read it’s five past nine and a wide shot that shows us that the street looks too empty emphasizes on the idea that something is wrong because we know that at that time in a city like New York everyone should be going to work. We then get point of view shots, the audience is positioned as the character so we see everything he sees at the same time he does, this makes it easier to feel the character’s tension because we feel we are the ones that are alone in New York.

When the character arrives to Times Square, the director uses a wide shot to show a full view of one of the most crowded places in the world, completely empty. By this time, the audience has already realized that there is something strange in the city and when he gets to the middle of Times Square, our tension increases because we don’t know why he’s the only person in the city. An arc camera movement when he gets out of his car symbolizes his stress and anxiety, he looks around while the camera turns around him which raises confusion and may give the audience a feeling of sickness or dizziness. This was a medium shot so we could see the character’s tension in his facial expressions, then the camera zooms out and there is a crane shot when he starts running to give us a full view of the surroundings, a wide shot of Times Square. This makes the character seem very small and creates a feeling of isolation in the audience, which builds up more tension. While he’s running through Times Square, there is a succession of several shots: medium, long, extra long that change very fast and represents the stress and anxiety of the situation. This is interesting because it seems like the camera shots change fast just like his heart is accelerating because he is running, but also because he doesn’t understand what happens.

In this opening scene, the sound has an important role in the purpose of creating tension. During the aerial shots, we can hear a woman’s voice whispering “Open your eyes, open them”. This makes the scene a bit eery, we think is non-diegetic sound, but then when we get into the character’s room and we can still hear the woman’s voice, we realize it’s his alarm clock, so diegetic sound. This gives a first idea to the audience of the eccentricity of the character. The non diegetic sound is a calm music maybe chosen to suggest a routine, his daily activities.

When he leaves his house, the only diegetic sound we hear is his car, the scene is quite silent because there is no one in the street. While he’s driving the music volume is turned down and the music stops. This emphasizes on the idea of isolation, and the audience only hears what the character can hear.  Then, when the character starts feeling tense, a new non diegetic sound appears: we can hear strange and pretty spooky sounds that turns into an exotic music, a bit ritualistic, to create an atmosphere of creepiness and represent something psychedelic, it seems like he’s on drugs. This is another reference to the dream world, it gives the audience a clue about what it’s really going on, but we’re more focused on the tension and anxiety we feel with the character. The music has a fast strong beat that symbolizes the character’s heart accelerating, this makes the audience feel pressured and stressed, and our own heartbeats accelerate. Then, with the succession of different shots while he is running, the music is faster and faster and this gives the audience a feeling of alarm or urgency.

Finally the liberation of the character’s tension when he screams to the emptiness of the street finishes with the scene of him waking up from that nightmare, with his mouth open, so we know that he was screaming while sleeping. He is sweating and accelerated but the audience finds this scene as a relief because it gives an end to the tension created before.

We can conclude that the combination of technical choices create an atmosphere of tension. The contrast between close-ups and wide shots, the diegetic and non diegetic sound used in the sequence and other details like camera movements, for instance the zoom out and crane to give a feeling of isolation when the character starts running in Times Square, reinforce this idea of tension and suspense.