Thriller Research

As for our main coursework, we're doing an opening for thriller film, we watched a variety of thriller opening sequences from different ages of films. We annotated each part of the sequence and looked at why parts worked, and why they didn't.

The first film we looked at was 'North by Northwest', directed by Alfred Hitchcock, made in 1959. Before the footage comes in, we hear dramatic string music (directed by Bernard Herman).Then, the first thing we see with this opening is black vertical lines coming across over a green background, we decided this technique was used to make it you feel claustrophobic and uneasy, making it almost prison like. They use compass arrows in the main title which links to the 'north by northwest' as they are pointing in those directions. The music becomes a bit more upbeat, which helps show that although it's a serious film, there are funny moments. Over the increasing green lines, different titles of the film appear, showing the names of main actors, copyright, company names and then the main film title. We then see the vertical lines dissolve into windows of skyscrapers, reflecting busy cars. When annotating this opening sequence, we discussed the common use of mirrors in thrillers, as they can indicate people being two faced, maybe make us see something that the character can't see, adding suspense and involving us in the drama of the film. Finally, in this case, we thought it showed a distorted reflection of the world. The cars and windows help indicate that the film may be based around work, and is definitly in a city. The fast cars then dissolves into busy people rushing past an entrance to a building, as an establishing shot. We decided that the busy cars and busy people help give an idea of realism. The music at this point is following the movement of the people, making everything feel panicked. The last shot we looked at was a high angle of people going downstairs, which looked like they were being herded.

The next film we looked at was Vertigo, again directed by Alfred Hitchcock, made in 1958. The first shot we see is an extreme close up of an eye, looking scared, this makes us question why and what this person might be scared of.

The shot then moves to various extreme close ups exploring her face but still not showing the whole face, which keeps it in suspense again but lets us know that it's a woman. We don't know anything about the woman throughout this sequence, which again leaves us with questions. It then zooms in even more to the currently black eye, and ten changes to red, which connotes blood, anger and danger to come in the film. Various spirals then appear in the eye which links in with the title 'vertigo' as it's done to make us feel dizzy and uncomfortable. The music is again done by Bernard Herman, meaning that it is very dramatic, using strings to represent the different moods in the film.

Kiss Me Deadly- 1955 Directed by Robert Aldrich

The main thing about this opening, is that it leaves a lot of mystery in what is happening and the first character we see. The first thing we see in this film, is a woman running down a road at night time, presumably from someone or something. A main thing that you notice is that she's wearing no shoes- she left in a hurry?

We then see her stand in front of a car to stop it which shows she really must be desperate to get away fast, her breathing doesn't slow down when she's in the car and driving away, showing she's still uneasy. There is the diagetic sound of her panting and of the music thats playing on the car radio, this completely clashes with the panting as it's fairly happy and romantic. As the titles comes up backwards, they obscure the vision of the car and all we really know about the shot is that she's panting. I think this is a very succesful opening sequence, as it keeps so much mystery that you want to watch what happens next.

Blade Runner 1982- Ridley Scott

This film opening was very different to the others we'd watched so far, as it sets the scene with text instead of film.

It opens with very simple music in the background, a monophonic string line, and comes up with the titles, white on black introducing the production company and actors etc. The music adds occasional drum rolls, which makes you a little more on edge. The main film title comes up in red, showing the significance of it, and the rest of the job then follow flashing in white again. Then all the information needed for the film begins to scroll in white on black again, with the occasional red word. It's the only thing on screen, which makes you concentrate on whats being shown. The music at this point is very eery and atmospheric. The location and date then appears very big in the centre of the screen, which again shows it's important information. That then fades, and we see what we assume to be the world in the future at that date, it shows various fire explosions, and zooms in on that scene. It then cuts to this image reflected in someones eyes, making us assume that it may be the main characters eye. It then cuts back to the world scene, only this time some futuristic buildings are in focus in the background, there's then a shot of a vehicle flying over a building, probably one of the buildings in the background. All of this sets the film up in a very obvious way, and gets across a lot of information at once.

Touch of Evil- Orson Wells 1958

This is a very famous thriller opening, because it's done with no editing whatsoever, and is filmed in one.

It starts of with a close up of someone placing a bomb in a car, we then see a couple get in the car, and the camera follows the car drive through a town (using a crane shot) There is diagectic happy music going on, and it shows people crossing in and out of the shot. The camera then starts following a different couple, leaving us in suspense of whats happening to the car, the couple then coincides with the car, theres a speech, which again builds suspense. Then the woman in the car says she has a ticking noise in her head, which at that point makes her sound crazy, but involves the audience because we know she isn't. The camera then follows the other couple again and eventually we see the car blow up. I think as an opening sequence this keeps you on edge about when the bomb will go off, and it keeps you in suspense for quite a long time. I also like how there is no explanation of why the bomb has been placed there, and makes you want to know what significance the couple has, as well as the couple that the camera follows instead of the car.

We also looked at

Marnie- Alfred Hitchcock 1964

Defence of the Realm- David Drury 1985

The Third Man- Carol Reed 1949

Se7en- David Fincher 1995

abby

continuity film

below is our sequence that we made to practice  film shots, that we would include in our thriller. in this we used a wide angled establishing shot varied close ups and mid shots, pans, and long shots. i think that generally it was successful, however we would of liked to include a circular pan. the story of the sequence was very simple as it was just someone washing their hands. we also included shot reverse shot to show what the person was doing and their facial expressions.

continuity storyboard

 To practice film shots and the rules of not crossing the line, we're filming a continuity sequence. Below is the storyboard that we made for it. As the basis of this sequence, we used the sequence of film we watched and annotated earlier, and tried to replicate the different shots. 

The next step is to film that sequence and edit it so it works.