The conventions of a thriller opening

The opening to a thriller film is very important as it gives the very first impression of what the film is gong to belike and whether or not the audience is going to want to continue watching. There a certain features that are needed to create a good opening these include the camera angles and shots, the title of the film, music that relates to the story and something that shows some part of the storyline. To make a good opening to a thriller there often needs to be tension and suspense to grip the audience and the music can be a good feature to help create the creepy and wary feeling that thrillers need to be effective.
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One very effective and powerful opening scene is from the film Se7en directed by David Fincher it creates tension and suspense which grips the viewer. The darkness of the scene shows the mystery of the film and the music in the background fits the thriller perfectly with the bass sounds and deathly voice at the end of the scene. Even the font of the film title shows how sinister the film is going to be which is such a simple element but for this film is very effective. Even though this opening doesn't show much information about the story line, is does show disturbing images which allows the audience to be aware the this is a thriller. Furthermore the simplicity this scene is so effective, because even without any actors or anybody speaking, the power of images and music is all it relies on, which for many films doesn't work as well as it has for this film.

The music is one of the most important parts of a good thriller opening. The music tells the story without needing any words, for example if the music is similar to a nursery rhyme with high pitched sounds, it is clear that this film I going to be sinister and creepy. So in Se7en the music is one of the main focuses and actually creates the feeling of the film, because of the sound is so intense and makes the tension. The opening sounds informs us that the film is a thriller with its deep and base tone and how loud the actual music is, because its loud right from the start. It also gradually brings in sharp and higher sounds that could resemble the sound of screaming and appears to be very screechy which brings the feeling of pain to the thriller, so without anyone speaking or any visual people we can just hear that this film is a thriller.  

Another very effective thriller opening is The silence of the lambs shown below...

This opening is a very unique opening of a thriller as its not the stereotypical scary beginning, but instead its very normal and the actual scene itself doesn't give off any idea that the film is a thriller, but the effects behind the scenes is what makes it most effective. As we see a woman just running through what appears to be an assault course which in most film, so it tells us that this woman is very strong and ready to fight. Possibly foreshadowing an up and coming situation where she may need to fight for something.
The opening also tells us a part of the story with the FBI title being shown on what some of the people are wearing. This is a good feature of the opening because we are given some information on the storyline, but not too much so that we know what's going to happen.
Another effective feature is the font and titles the titles are extremely large and bold with the plain black colour, especially up against the light scene, the darkness of the titles really changes the genre of the film to a thriller.
The camera angles are mainly long and wide shots this could be to show how in full form so that we can see clearly what she is capable of doing. It also shows the landscape which is a forest that in many other openings would be shown as scary but the alternative view of this location may be suggesting that this thriller isn't going to be like any other thrillers. The music for this is quite simple and sounds very classical with its high pitched tones which is very common in thrillers as its seen to be very eerie and creates uneasiness.







Preliminary Task

Preliminary task

 

Our preliminary task is sued to show the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action. the 180 degree rule is where you show that the two people are in line with each other and directly in front or next to, we shows this in the shot after we see Balinder walk through the door, the single shot of them standing opposite each other shows this. Shot reverse shot is where one character is talking to another, but we see this often over the shoulder of one of the speakers, we used this technique when Balinder started a conversation with Aimee to which we switched the camera from the different angles. This meant that whenever Balinder spoke we would have to move round to Aimee's side and the opposite when Aimee spoke. This is so that its clear the two are conversing with each other. the match on action is where you edit two or more different shots that need to link but are from different angles or positions and we shows this when blinder came through the door. She is shown walking up to the door, opening it and then coming out the other side, which needs to look seamless so the editing of the two shots needed to be done very precisely. This was possibly the most difficult part of the task because we had to make sure that the timing was realistic of her opening the door therm coming through it, but we definitely tried to get it as realistic and precise as possible.