Opening sequences

Se7en by David Fincher;

In this opening you see a mysterious character, you cannot see his face at all, you can only see his fingers.
You also know he is planning to do something bad, from the surroundings he is in, and from his intense note writ ting.
The misenscene is a darkened room, almost like a cellar, there are photos and notes spread around the entire room of dead people and plans to kill them. This creates intensity already in the film.
The credits flash white on black, they also appear on the screen as if the character has written them onto the screen in scruffy handwriting.
The music is very effective, it makes the audience feel very uneasy and at edge, this is because the sound track is very strong sounding, picks up in sound and pace.

There also is a colour scheme; red white and black, the red gives off negative connotations of danger and blood. There are also many photos of dead people spread around the set, this is suggestive that the character we see on the screen is a brutal killer.

The camera angles and shots are sped up, and flash on to the screen. The camera shots gain focus on to the notes he is writing, and are mostly close-ups and medium close ups so the audience can view some of what he has written, or view photos of his victims.


Psycho;

The music in the title sequence creates a tense opening, it finishes with a low note which is contrasting and creates a mood for the film.
Panning shot is used - then dissolves to next shot behind.
The text appearing disguises the screen transition.
The shot then focuses on a random window on random building this creates tension as the audience is wondering what is happening inside the building, the shot then swiftly enters into darkness, this creates tension into the first scene.
Close ups are used on (Sam), then the camera pans across the room, and a medium long shot on Marion.
Panning/circular panning - follows actors and medium close up shows intimacy.
Camera focuses on the movements of Marion - pans across room as she walks.


In the opening scene, the mise-en-scene establishes the hotel room as the camera pans straight to the bed and a medium shot of Marion lying down.
Marion is wearing a white bra and underskirt, which suggests her innocence because of the colour, however it also suggests that they have been having sex; fan on the wall which signifies heat. A cut away shot is used to show the uneaten lunch, which looks like a take-away,as if they are both having an affair on their lunch break.

The opening makes the audience feel like they want to know the full story of what is happening in this building, the camera shots at the beginning is suggestive that there is a secret meeting between the two characters.






The usual suspects.

directed by Bryan singer
written by Christopher Mcqyarrie

Bryan singer creates mysterious characters by making sure the audience never sees his face, and he is dressed in all black. There are lots of digetic sounds at the beginning e.g birds and sounds of water on the harbour.

He has used lots of low angled shots and mid close ups to keep the camera on the lower part of the villains body. There is lots of reassurance shots where the film opening shot is set.
Bryan singer uses big explosions within the first couple of minuets of the film, which draws the audience in straight away, and gives a unexplained thriller storyline.

Forms and Conventions of a Thriller

Forms and Conventions of a Thriller


- A build up to the action
- Creation of fear/apprehension/unsettling feeling/confusion/doubts over a character.
- Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images).
- Establishing mood and atmosphere (use of light and dark images).
- Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film.
- Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event.
- Creation of suspense using soundtrack music- eerie innocent music?
- Morally ambiguous central character - film noir (Seven)
- Murder encouraging suspecting audience.
- Realistic setting to create a sense of 'the unusual' occurring within a normal setting.
- Flashbacks
- Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle.
- Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
- Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
- Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of out seats.
- Making the audience think throughout the film; confuse them.
- Villain driven plot
- Fast pace.
- Digetic sounds (door creaking).

Thrillers and sub genres

What is a thriller?
A thriller is a book or a film which is created to keep the viewer on edge with suspense. Thrillers have also been produced in the radio, theater and television media.
This genre is very large, e.g mysteries are often thrillers.
Many people find thrillers very enjoyable, as they keep the viewer constantly occupied with the fast pacing and complex plots.
The plots of thrillers can vary, some supernatural, scientific or medical e.g mysterious scientific happenings. Some are simple straight mysteries with clever, horrific story lines. Others could be the workings of environmental threats, technology or natural disasters.
Some thrillers are intellectual, encouraging more educated people to enjoy them. Many have a psychological aspect, encouraging people to think about the back stories of the character to try figure out the plot.
By having these different genres in a thriller, this is called a sub-genre, and
because thriller films/stories have a wide variety they appeal to a much wider audience than other single genres.

Examples of sub genres;


Religious Thriller

This type of film keeps to the themes of religion, often using religious characters. 'The Da Vinci Code' is a perfect example of this, and come under this sub genre.

Drama Thriller
Drama thrillers focus more in depth on a character, revealing a lot about there personality and lifestyle. Drama thrillers usually have a 'twist' at the end of the film about the character, or somewhere in the middle to shock the audience and keep them engaged in the film.



An action Thriller
Action thrillers often feature chases or the character has a limited amount of time to complete a certain challenge or something bad will happen to them, the environment or a loved one. Action thrillers most often include violence; guns and explosives.
A good example for this is James Bond films.

Research into Thriller films

Analysis of Thrillers
Layer Cake (2004)
Written by J.J Connolly.
Directed by Mathew Vaughn.

Layer Cake is set in modern day London and features a smooth-talking drug dealer, who's plan is to quietly roll in money. Operating under the polish veneer of a business, his main aim is to keep a low profile and run a tight operation.
This film is a British gangster thriller. The main character Daniel Craig narrates the film, he is deliberately unnamed throughout. This is not showing identity therefore a convention of a thriller film.
The opening of Layer Cake starts with white on black credits, while these are showing, the film is silent; creates mystery and shows it is serious.
Following this, there is a black and white scene with an explosion, this emphasises the explosion. The audience at this point gather this scene is from a past, or future event from the black and white effect, and wonder what is happening.
Throughout the opening we already see twister thriller conventions.
The camera shots focus on the expressions on the main character Daniel Craig, like as if he is talking to us directly, and we are trying to read his mind.

The camera shots are also mid -close ups e.g to emphasis the explosion and make sure our eyes are focused on that.







V for Vendetta;
The thriller conventions in V for Vendetta create a effective atmosphere to the story; intense action throughout the entire film.


The main crime in the narrative is the government becoming a dictatorship and holding control over the nation. There are also many little crimes that come into the main story line.

The storyline is very complex and although it doesn't lead you towards any false paths like most thrillers do, it is very secretive. The main character also wears the mask which stops the audience from identifying him, which creates mystery and questions of what he looks like from the audience, these are also both thriller conventions, keeping the audience on their toes!





Paranormal activity;
Written and directed by Oren Peli.

It is a haunted house thriller.
Paranormal activity is one of those movies which slowly build up into a hard-hitting climax.
This film stars a couple who have recently moved into a house together, Michah a day trade and Katie a student.
Character development is seen through playful and suggestive dialogue, filmed and acted as natural as anyone’s home movies would be. Unexplained events have been happening in their home so
Michah decides to set up a camcorder and try capture whatever the evil thing is that is haunting Katie and waking them every night.
He teasingly suspects they are haunted and wants to catch a ghost on film. Each evening the camera is set up on a tripod in their bedroom with a full view of the room, capturing the two sleeping. It is here the horror gets worse. We know something is going to happen and must be an escalation of the previous night.
The anticipation of this certainty is the simple and thrilling aspect of this supernatural thriller.

We learn Katie has been having paranormal experiences most of her life. A brief history of the ghost’s possible source is given although never fully explained. This is the mystery key to the film and keeps the audience thinking.

The film became a sensation because of its simplicity. The movie is styled in a way that the entire film is presented in a viewpoint of the video camera;the sensation that the real terror is lingering just off the frame of your screen. Without smooth transactions, cool fades outs and effects, this film connects the audience as if you were experiencing what these two couples are, also the audio on the tape captures the door slamming, floorboard creak, footsteps up the stairs, groans screams and gusts of winds enter in the silence of the night. These digetic sounds are really powerful, as through the night everything is silent, so the noises really stand out and make the audience jump!
You never see the 'evil spirit', only shadows on the white door as it enters, you also see foot prints of it entering the room, but never leaving. This is one of the most popular conventions of the thriller genre;never showing any identification of the villain.

You are left with your own imagination running wild to picture the horror that's occurring. It builds up tension and anticipation throughout the entire film with its alarming ending; bloodcurdling screams and a very chilling conclusion.
Throughout the film, there are mirrors all around the house and closed doors, which gives the effect of the audience assuming you will see the ghost, but we never do.





The Number 23


This films is about a man named Walter Sparrow, and amiable dog-catcher, who one day was bitten by a dog making him late home to greet his wife. Whilst his wife was waiting for him she browsed in a book store, finding a blood-red-covered novel which she gives him as a present. He becomes captivated with the story and obsessed with the number 23, finding many coincidences with his own life, and he decides to find the author, believing the story is about him. His further investigation discloses a mysterious situation that makes Walther paranoid.


The photography is frequently dark and threatening, which fits the plot, the sets have a big impact on the audience, and the climax is perfect by making the audience shocked from the misleading storyline, and has you guessing until the end where everything makes sense.







Lucky Number sleven

Director: Paul McGuiganRelease
Date: 24 February 2006


Josh Hartnett plays Slevin, he is a man who's got fired from his job, lost his apartment, and has caught his girlfriend cheating on him one morning. As a result he decides to visit his friend who lives in New York to get away from these problems, but his friend was not in and slevin is taken as being as a mistake in which they think he is his friend, who owes money to two powerful bosses of that town. He is ordered by 'The Boss' to kill the son of 'The Rabbi', as revenge act for the death of The Boss's son.
Nick's next door neighbor Lindsay; she works in a morgue, tries to help Slevin and in the end they fall in love for each other.
Mr. Goodkat is mysteriously helping both bosses.


Towards the end of the film, the story starts to reveal itself and things begin to make sense, leaving the audience in shock.
The story of 'Max' from the beginning is revealed as that of Slevin's father. Brikowski gets a phone call and learns that "Lucky Number Slevin" was the name of horse Max bet on at the very beginning of the movie.
Max's bookie included Max's bet in a race meant for the Boss and the Rabbi.
Once they had found out someone else was apart of the deal, they killed Max, his wife, his son.
Goodkat had been hired to murder Max's son, this was revealed to be Slevin, because no one else would take the job. However, meeting the young Slevin, Goodkat couldn't kill him, and took him under his wing as little child.

Slevin realises that both the Boss and the Rabbi were responsible for his father and mothers death.
As revenge Slevin puts plastic bags over both the Boss's and Rabbi's heads and kills them the same way his father was killed by them.

I think this story line is really powerful at the end when everything is being reveled, leaving the audience is shock, and amazed by the twist. I hope to have this effect on the audience watching the opening to my thriller film, i would love to use a story line like this, but i don't think i could show this as well in the two minuets we have with such a complicated storyline.


Thriller conventions used;
-The film closes with a short flashback which reveals already a complicated story line in which the audience has been anticipating over.
-There are deliberately misleading flashbacks.
-The location of this mise en scene, is outside a penthouse building in a busy city life. It is quite a dirty run down setting.
- Lots of brutal twists thrown in the audiences faces.
-The film has a effective, dark unexpected turn.
-The sets, the colours, dynamic camera effects
-Audio; music is either slow and soft, or big and dramatic. Both build up lots of tension