Our group have been looking at several opening to thrillers that match our storyline criteria in order to help with our main task. The movies our group have selected which are similar to our thriller opening are;
Donnie Darko(2001), The Village(2004), Shutter Island(2010) and the Blair Witch Project(1999).
As a group we have decided to base our film on a young female with Schizophrenia, we looked at opening scenes of each film named above which can give us an idea onto what we want our outcome to be like.
We did some research on these films on Pearl and dean.
The camera shots are very quick showing the man in the opening scene is crazy and mental ill. All the angles are on the mans hands showing that they don’t want you to know who the guy is or his connection to the movie yet. When the words come up it is distorted which also shows this guy we are looking at is not right in the head.
Sound
The sound is dark tune. It is creepy with a lot of disturbing effects and sounds. This is quite unique for an opening sequence because you do not know what is going to happen in the movie. The sounds are quite hectic as well showing the man does not look like his head is in the right state of mind.
Editing
There is a lot of editing in the opening credits it jumps to each scene fast and there is a lot of overlapping in scenes to get a sense that everything is packed together and there is a lot of thought going on. When everything is overlapping it is sort of like subliminal messages because some of the scenes only pop up for a second then disappear. Most of the close ups are of his hands and what he is doing with them, such as when he is cutting his fingers with the razor and when he is writing in his book.
Mise en Scene
In the opening credits the Mise en Scene is themed around pain and obsession. We see the pain when it shows us the razor that he uses to cut his hands, also it has a lot of close ups of the pin right at the end of the opening scene. Obsession is show through the pictures that the person has and how he crosses out their eyes in the pictures, also how much he writes in his notebook. Furthermore in one scene it shows how precise the person is when he cuts out the word god.
Characters
We only get to see one person through out the whole first scene and it is supposed to be showing how the movie is going to be portrayed through out because we do see an ill person.
Locations
It is only set in one room, the persons room because it is dark and we see that he is at a table in some scenes.
Narrative/Plot
The plot I think is that this person that we saw is mentally ill and is going to go out and kill people in a gory and sinister ways. But keep them to a particular way because it seems he doesn’t like to do things differently.
Themes
The Themes are crime and death, crime because in every thriller there is crime to set the scene and try and catch the person who did the crime, this links to death because normally a murder has been committed.
Visual Style
The visual style is unique because you rarely get a lot of editing that overlaps each other and creates the effect that it is quite frantic.
Genre
The Genre is thriller we can tell this because we can tell that there is going to be a murder and in thrillers a crime is normally at the core of the story, which is normally a murder.
It uses a lot of extreme long shots and wide shots to emphasisethe settings and the surroundings of the area. Furthermore the movement is very slow panning around the buildings showing that it is smooth. Some of the angles are you looking up at the buildings to show how tall they are and to emphasise the words that are on the buildings. The words are made to look 3D so it looks like they are coming out the skyscrapers. It also uses a lot of high and low angles to show how big the buildings are and to get a bigger view of what is around them.
Sound
The sound through out the opening sequence is quite sinister at the start of the song it has long notes to create suspense but nothing is happening yet. When it starts to get into the middle of the song it speeds up and we feel tension from it.
Editing
The editing cuts to another skyscraper slowly showing that it is calm but tense because you don’t know what is going to happen yet. The editing shows a lot of the surroundings and area that this movie is going to take place. Near the end it shows a smaller building this could be the main characters house. One of the last shots that they end up with is an establishing shot of a park and buildings in the background then jumps to what we think is the main characters in the movie. It does this establishing shot to show where these characters are.
Mise en Scene
The mise en scene is mainly the buildings but when we get half way in we see cars and big posters plus a view of Time square. There isn’t much Mise en Scene in the opening credits.
Characters
We only get to see two characters at the end of the opening sequence and they are talking about a new house that they just bought. As the audience we don’t see much of the characters but we do see two women, furthermore we can tell they are the main because they are the first two characters we see and to speak.
Locations
This is set in New york we can tell this because we see time square and central park in the opening sequence. It shows us that isn’t going to be in the suburbs and that it is going to be in the city.
Narrative/Plot
The plot is not told yet because we are only shown buildings but the plot might have something to do with buildings. This links because are focus is on the skyscrapers.
Themes
The themes are suffer, thriller, mystery, murder and crime.
Visual Style
The style is typography is different because they pop out the screen like 3D but they are not. It is one of the first films to have this typography and was rare.
Genre
The genre of the film is Thriller, the audience is plot it is not clear so it creates tension and suspense for the audience.
