Source Code Opening Scene Analysis

Source Code is a thriller/ sci-fi movie starring Jack Gylenhaal and Michelle Monaghan about a soldier who wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find a bomber on a train. A task in which he has 8 minutes to complete.

0.06- 0.13: In the first part of the opening scene we see a closeup shot of a man wake up with his head pressed against a window. When the sound comes in we can hear the voice of a distant speaking person and a train going past suggesting that he is travelling on a train. When the man wakes up, he looks bewildered and confused to where he is. 

0.21-0.31: The next thing the audience see is a women sitting across from the man hinting that they could perhaps know each other. The over the shoulder angle is used in this scene so that the viewer gets a clear point of view of the other character. In addition we find out that the mans name is Shaun and it is repeated twice so that the audience are sure of his name and possibly for emphasis. Throughout this part he is still very edgy and confused as to his whereabouts. 

0.33-0.58: In this scene one of the passengers spills some of their coffee onto Shaun's foot making him even more uneasy than he already was and leads to suspicions of what is going to happen later on. A two shot is used here to show the two characters to which we can see that Shaun appears to be holding himself up on the table in front of him. This shows his uncertainty of what and where he is doing. Furthermore when the women is speaking to him he is not really listening to her speak but instead to the surrounding noises and actions made by the other passengers.

1.37-1.50: In this screenshot, the audience find out something crucial about the character we know to be Shaun. He says to the women that his name is "Captain Coulter Stevens" and that he has been flying helicopters in Afghanistan. This makes the viewers a bit confused into who this man really is and why he has a different name. Music is also used to show that this is an important detail for the rest of the film. 

1.53-2.33: The man decides to go for a walk because he is feeling sick and you can see that he is constantly looking for something in the train itself; possibly a bag or maybe a person. He then looks down the side of the train and sees a skyscraper in the distance to which he asks the other man in the screenshot, where is that, to which he replies "Chicago". Music starts to play again which could be implying that something is going to happen in Chicago.

2.51: The first thing we see in this next bit is an overhead shot of the train he is on heading towards Chicago. Cautious music is being used again to make the viewers sense that something bad is going to happen.

3.01-3.14: We then see a closeup angle of Shaun's face again of him staring out of the window. This closeup is repeated twice and both times he gives a strange confused look as if he has seen something that he didn't want to. The women across from him is now getting puzzled because she can't see what he is seeing outside. The look of bewilderment on Shaun's face combined with the tense music puts the audience on edge and perhaps worried.

3.20-4.00: Next he gets up again and bundles into the toilets on the train in a sort of frantic panic. He then looks into the mirror and see's himself looking like an entirely different person. He also checks his wallet and see's that same mans face on a teacher ID card. Throughout the film, confusion has been one of the main themes and this just adds to it, making the viewers even more baffled and perplexed to where this film is going.

4.07: We then get an establishing shot of the city of Chicago which could be the final destination of the train. 

4.18-4.31: The ending to the opening scene ends quite ironically because the women says to Shaun that "everything will be alright" and then the train blows up. Throughout the opening of the film, confusion and bewilderment have been common themes, keeping the audience on edge throughout, with this crucial part at the end of it.