The American 

Mise-en-scene  

Mise-en-scene is used in 'The American' to build up tension slowly and to create many mystery's. It creates mystery because it never tells the audience where the two characters are, this then leaves the audience guessing because all they know is that it is in the wilderness, and is extremely cold/snowy conditions. Another way the mise-en-scene creates mystery is when the characters are getting shot at, the main characters facial expressions and body language

tell the audience that he is fine and calm, this suggests that he has been in a life or death situation before, which creates yet another mystery as we do not know about his past, this then leaves the viewer clueless as to whether or not he is the good guy because his origins are unknown and he is living in the wilderness almost as if he was hiding from his past. Mise-en-scene is also used to create tension as the audience are never told why the two characters are being shot at, and or why the main male character is so calm about it, this unknown builds up lots of tension, as well as it building tension it builds up on an enigma as to who he really is. 

Camera

The American starts off with an establishing shot of the place the two main characters are staying it, this shows the audience that they are staying in a cabin in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. as well as this there is an extreme close up on the characters faces as they cuddle the male protagonist keeps a straight face giving off connotations of him not caring about the woman hugging him, this is

emphasized by the juxtaposition of the woman smiling and looking as though she was in love, this juxtaposition contrasts so much to his facial expression that the audience is left thinking that she loves him but he doesn't have any feeling for her. Also the there is a medium shot of the two as they are pressed against a rock and he appears to walk away and leave her without giving her any guidance or reasurment suggesting that he truly doesn't care about her very much. As well as that the camera always seems to be looking down on or on the same level to the male protagonist as if to give off connotations of him being vulnerable. This all helps to maintain the tension, suspense, and mystery throughout the opening. 

Editing 

The editing helps to build tension throughout the opening, it does this by changing the pace of cuts, for example at the beginning of the opening it didn't cut very frequently, but as the tension in the scene grew it began to cut faster this

faster paced cutting builds tension and makes the the climax of the scene more dramatic and powerful, this helps to maintain the tension as well as build it up higher which is a necessary convention for a thriller film. 

Sound 

Sound is used throughout the opening to maintain and build tension. The sound at the beginning of the opening is very calm however it then begins to crescendo as the drama within the scene unfolds this crescendo builds up with the drama so that when it climaxes the scene is more powerful

as it has been built up by the editing, sound, and camerawork, this in turn makes for a more powerful climax as the viewer is left waiting in suspense. As well as this Foley sounds are used to make things like the gun shots sound more prominent this in turn helps to create more tension as the viewer is more fearful of the bullets as they sound much more powerful and therefore more deadly.