Music is key in this opening. It has an almost static feel to it with assorted noises in the background that we could associate with horror such as a heartbeat. The style of the music is somewhat similar to the introduction of 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep' which also has the same sinister feel to it. The music in the opening has a beat to it which is used to sync the titles. This also happened in the 'Sin City' opening. The speed and the sound level increases towards the end making the audience feel as if something is gaining on them. It then ends with a bang once it reaches the climax to scare the audience. The use of music is evoke emotions in the audience and to set the scene for the rest of the movie.
The opening is composed of short close up shots of props or the hands of the character. By using close ups you cannot see the character adding an element of mystery and suspense. It makes the audience wonder who the character is and what is he doing. The clips have a yellow but dark tone creating the illusion of an old rusted setting. It is a good example of the use of colour in a scene. As the scene goes on it seems to get darker and the colour red starts to become more prominent as we start to learn what the character is doing and we know that something evil is at play.
The titles are rough and look handwritten matching the theme of the clips. They are not still and flutter in its place. It looks like they were placed there with a projector giving it a handmade feel to it to match what the character is doing it the clips - making something. The font looks almost scratched on which goes with the several clips where they show the character's mangled fingernails.
At 0:04 the company that made the film are credited. After watching several other openings of films I learned that most film name the company first.
Like most other films the main cast are credited before the crew. In this case they were credited from 0:15. By naming the actors first people who like these actors are more likely to stick around if they know their favourite actor is in it.
Again like most films the title is announced early on in the film. In this movie it is a 0:25. And at 0:31 the main cast are announced. These two things are almost always at the beginning of the opening
scene.
The crew usually are credited nearer the end. The music directors are usually first and in this case they are announced at 1:17. Next was costume design at 1:22 then the editors at 1:25. The director is usually the last person introduced and in this opening it was at 2:04. Putting them at the end makes its more easy for the audience to remember their name and it also puts and emphasis on their name and role.
The first opening I watched was 'Sin City'. The style of the clip resembles a graphic novel, with a monochrome film The first thing you notice in the scene is the music. It first starts with city night ambience before the bass kicks in at 0:06. At 0:10 there is the use of a saxophone which is rather uncommon in thriller but reminds me of jazz music for film noir. The music is more action than suspense but that link with film noir does suggest mystery which often features in thrillers. At 1:18 the music reaches a crescendo when it shows that the movie is based on Frank Miller's graphic novels. This rise in music can be used to show important people in the production of film. The music returns to normal once they introduced the music creators which is a clever way of using their own music to show they are also important. Cello is added to the part where it introduces two of the most important members of the cast - the directors. After they have been credited the music fades out with the screen that fades to black.
Before the credits roll in there is a quick glance at the scenery. The scene fades in from black to a long shot of a woman and a man on the roof of a high-riser. Using this type of shot allows us to see the monochrome city night settings but the red of the women's dress draws the audience's eyes to the middle of the shot where the action is taking place. The red is clever way of showing blood and the death of the woman as well as making it the focus of the scene.
Between 0:02 and 0:06 it zooms out to an establishing shot. The red is barely visible and the focus is gone. We now focus on the settings. We have an aerial view of the city. Though this city is CGI, this type of scene would normally be filmed by helicopter so you can get the flexibility of movement. This type of shot is commonly used at the start of a film so that the audience can get an idea of where the film is placed and if you carefully look at the mise en scene you can also get an idea of what type of movie it will be. At 0:16 it goes from aerial shot to a bird's-eye-view of the city. This is where the title of the movie comes in. Its is cleverly incorporated into the city, using buildings clumped together to mark out the letters. At 0:21 you can see the title fully. Most films tend to credit some of the crew or cast before introducing the title, however in this movie they put it first so they can make it look more interesting with the buildings.
At 0:30 the cast has started to be announced. They use black and white to go with the graphic novel theme but use red for the writing as it stands out over the rest of the shot. It makes the writing look powerful. The images that are used to represent the characters are not still but slowly move left or right, usually the opposite way to the writing. This makes the clip more lively and less boring than it would if it was just still. The use of fade outs make it seem more slow and calm.
At 1:18 it say that Sin City is based on graphic novels and who they were by. This would be useful to mention before the crew because more people are likely to stick around if they know it is based on the graphic novels because they might have read them and it would encourage them to watch the film.
After watch several film openings the casting directors tend to be the first crew members announced. In the Sin City opening they are mentioned at 1:24 before the editors at 1:29. After this there are several more different crew members, usually the producers.
Mainly the music directors are before the actual directors. In 'Sin City' they were announced at 1:33.
I found out after watching many different thriller openings that the director usually is last in the opening title and it was the same in this case.
To get an idea of how most thriller movies start I analysed the opening
to several films on the artofthetitle.com. This way I can get an idea of
how the credits are set out, when the title occurs and what sort of
shots are used to composed the opening scene. From this information, I
can get inspiration and figure out what I want to do for my opening
thriller scene.
Here is a full list of links to my opening titles analysis:
From these analyses I've learned several opening title conventions and these are:
The opening title is compiled from several short clips of either close ups of establishing shots. Humans are rarely featured in opening titles and they are usually made up of props. They are mainly used to set the scene and the tone of the film.
The titles tend to move slowly towards the left or right from the center of the screen. They usually go in opposite directions to each other or the panning shot.
Music mostly features string instruments as they can create an atmosphere of suspense. The bass is usually featured to add a 'heartbeat' effect.
The company is almost always the first thing at the beginning of a movie.
The cast are mostly announced before the title.
The title is always near the beginning of a opening scene.
Casting directors and costume designers are usually the first crew credited.
Music directors are normally one of the three main crew members announced at the beginning. They play with the music making it either come to a stop, get louder or slower when they are announced.
Producers, cinematography directors and writers are announced towards the end.
The director is usually the last person announced.
The music at the end of an opening scene either ends in a bang or fades out.
However these other actors are also good thriller actors and need credit.
Sourced from en.wikipedia.org
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE is a Welsh actor well know for the role of Hannibal Lector in 'The Silence
of the Lambs'. He is synonymous with the thriller genre. He has also starred in many other movies such as 'The Remains of the Day' (1993) and 'Shadowlands' (1993). Hopkins has also won many awards such as an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and a Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award. He was also was knighted in 1993 for services of his arts and received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2003.
Sourced from en.wikipeida.org
Hawaiian born, Nicole Kidman has worked on several thriller movies such as 'The Others' and more recently 'Before I Go To Sleep'. He start to the acting career was in the 1989 thriller 'Dead Calm'. She is know to portray cold, emotionally vacant characters. Her independent films tend to follow the theme of grief and sorrow such 'Rabbit Hole' (2010). In 2003, Nicole Kidman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Later on that year she also received an Academy Award for best actress.
In "Characteristics of a Thriller Move" I talked about a piece of music from "28 Weeks Later" which is also by John Murphy. I wrote that John Murphy is the master of suspense and action music and I think that 'Boathouse' is one of his best pieces. Towards the beginning, like most of his music, it starts quiet and hushed giving us the 'quiet before the storm' effect. It reaches a crescendo to give a sense of action and suspense. John Murphy music in general is rather inspiration when making a thriller movie as it creates a good ambience for any suspense scene or scene of action. His use of bass creates a thumping-like feel to it, almost like the sound of war drums allowing the connection to action. He also uses violins which are also synonymous with thrillers and horrors after the famous piece of music from "Psycho".
Hannibal - NBC
Hannibal is a TV spin-off from the movie "The Silence of the Lambs". The series could be classified as an action/crime/psychological/horror thriller. It does not really fit into one genre. The cinematography is smooth and interesting with different techniques making it a rather inspiring series when you look purely at camera work. However the rest of the series is inspiring. The use of haunting images such as the one below play with the audience's emotion as well as the character's making it an interesting psychological thriller.
Sourced from adventure-naturalist.blogspot.com
It mostly focuses on Will Graham's recurring nightmares and how he snaps from real life to these images of the 'Ravenstag' - which is now known to represent Hannibal Lector.
Sourced from thedailyfandom.com
The rest of the series is seen as a crime thriller as it follows Will Graham as he works for the FBI to solve the cases of the Chesapeake Ripper. The images you get from the crime scenes are horrifying but interesting to the audience.
The mise en scene fits the series perfectly with mostly dark scenes with pops of colour coming from Hannibal's 'meals'. It also includes props that would make us turn away in horror such as the cello through the victim's neck.
This quote is from elucipher.tumblr.com and talks about the use of colour and props:
"Well, Hannibal isn’t the only TV show to have a distinct
aesthetic or to use dense visual symbolism. Many past & present
“prestige dramas”—Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Lost, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Rectify—are
constructed and shot with the same attention to visual symbols and
allusions, framing, lighting, palette, saturation, etc. These seem like
proving grounds for television to perhaps develop its own aesthetic.
But there are many shows that don’t prioritise visual style:
they’re more interested in telling a story, and making the fiction as
natural as possible. Many TV dramas are slick, sleek, gorgeous surface
without much depth; and crime/murder procedurals are particularly guilty
of this; and it’s that’s an approach Hannibal really rejects.
Sourced from zuts.wordpress.com
What’s unusual about Hannibal is that it’s highly stylised
in a way we’d ordinarily associate with cinema. Every frame is
hypersaturated and lush and heightened. There are explicit visual
symbols which shift and develop over the season, e.g. the antlers in the
crime-scene become a stag, then a ravenstag, and finally the wendigo.
It uses a distinct palette of colours: muted browns & blue-greys
punctuated with lurid crimson, purple & yellow. Each shot is
carefully framed; it makes significant use of negative space, light
& shadow; and many of the scenes contain static, vivid, narrow-focus
tableaux vivants (particularly crimes scenes / Hannibal’s feasts).
As Bryan Fuller says, it’s very elegant horror. Hannibal
doesn’t want the act of looking to become unconscious or naturalised,
because that would make the violence too palatable. But it also
reflects the aesthetic of a murderer with a keen and operatic sense of
artistry. So it repeatedly estranges the viewer with this jarring but
beautiful cinematography that foregrounds imagery and symbolism and
visual structures. It has a very dreamy, mythological sensibility. "
This quote is from tillary.wordpress.com and it explains a small bit of how the cinematography is used to the producer's advantage: "This cinematographic illustration of “Will’s Gaze” extends even to scenes where Will is absent.
We can’t really see much of Hannibal’s patient. The strong lighting
is warm and beautiful, like late afternoon, but also creepy and
horror-esque: strong light and shadows, blurred background, peaking
whites. Alluring but sinister. Hard to see. Just like it’s hard to
really see Hannibal, who is the center of the story but also the center
of all the plot and mystery. And of course, no one can really see him
for what he is or the show would be over."
From the series I would take the colour scheme of simple muted colours but exaggerated colours on the main elements of the scene.
"I am a Crisis" - First Aid Advert
In 2012 the British Red Cross released an advert to shock and inspire Britons to learn first aid in order to save someone's life. This is weird place to be getting inspiration from but it is a very haunting advert that does invoke fear into the audience.
The use of a typical night scene in a town with dark shadows but the warmth of street lamps implies normality but the voice over implies quite the opposite. It shows a clip of a family at the end which gives a homely feel but then the women says "I am a crisis, and I don't care who you are". It is a shocking thought and plays with the audience's emotions.
From this I would take the use of the street lamps as it creates the perfect tone for a thriller. I would also take the rough hand-held camera feel to it as it creates a POV effect on tracking shots making the audience feel as if they were the person following.
"Counting Bodies Like Sheep" - A Perfect Circle
From the album eMotive released in 2004, 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep' has a rather sinister but mechanical feel to it and uses different noises to create a rich overlay of sound.
The drums sound almost like approaching footsteps whilst the clicking noises can resemble anything such as a switch being turned on or a lighter being ignited.
The use of human screams and echos add a sinister feel to it. It would create a tense and scary atmosphere for the scene which would be perfect for a thriller movie.
For my opening title I would like to replicate something similar to this with the use of assorted noises overlapping to create the same sort of feel.
'No Church In the Wild' - Filmed by Romain Gavras
In 2012 the song 'No Church In the Wild" by Kanye West and Jay - Z was released. The video is of particular interest as it contain several things I would like to include in my thriller.
The colours are muted and dull showing the settings are not pleasant. The whole video is slow motion creating a calm feel to the chaos in the video. Both of these are something I would like to replicate.
Like in 'Hannibal', the important props are more colourful than the rest of the surroundings. In the video the molotov bomb is a vibrant yellow and red making it stand out compared to the man's clothes and surroundings. It is useful to identify key props in the scene.
Like 'I am a Crisis', it is filmed using a handheld camera creating a rough feel to the scene and shows the chaos. I would like to feature that in my own thriller.
Alfred Hitchcock is seen as the grandfather of thriller and often nicknamed “The Master of Suspense”. He has directed many films including the iconic ‘Psycho’. During his successful career he has produced many silent films and talkies such as ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Rear Window’. But what makes him so successful? He framed his shots to maximise the amount of fear and suspense in his film and a new style of editing. The Daily Telegraph says, "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."
Sourced levonbliss.com
Quentin Tarantino stared filmmaking in his twenties and has produced many of this generation’s best films. He is heavily inspired by music and he writes his scenes to fit particular songs he likes. Music creates emotion which is useful in filmmaking. Two of his top twelve films are ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Apocalypse Now’. These films have inspired his own screenplays and have produced thrillers such as ‘Kill Bill’, ‘Death Proof’, ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Inglorious Bastards’ which are all memorable action thrillers. Film maker Peter Bogdanovich has named him “the single most influential director of his generation.”
Christopher Nolan started amateur filming making when he was seven and released his first film in 1998 – ‘The Following’. Nolan’s worked is based around sociology and explores human morality, memory and personal identity. His most critically acclaimed movies are ’Memento’, ‘The
Sourced from dcmovies.wikia.com
Dark Knight’ and ‘Inception’. According to Wikipedia, “Nolan uses narrative and stylistic techniques to stimulate the viewer to ask themselves why his films are put together in such ways and why the films provoke particular responses. He often uses editing as a way to represent the characters' psychological states, merging their subjectivity with that of the audience.” This technique is used often in films to get the audience to engage and feel emotionally invested in the movie, making them feel the ‘thrill’ the character is feeling. David Croneburg is known for focusing on the psychological horrors of our mind and uses it to direction outstanding psychological thrillers. He has directed films such as ‘Dead Ringers’, ‘Crash’ and ‘Eastern Promises’. According to J. Hoberman, Croneburg is "the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world."
Over the years there have been many thriller movies that have been considered outstanding and ‘the best film’. But which are the best of all time? When this question was taken to the public these were the results.
1.Redirected (2004) – 9.0 stars
2.Dark Knight (2008) -9.0 stars
3.Waar (2013) – 9.0 stars
4.Pulp Fiction (1994) – 9.0 stars
5.Inception (2010) – 8.8 stars
6.1 (2014) – 8.8 stars
7.Eskiya (1996) – 8.7
8.Usual Suspects (1995) – 8.7
9.Se7en (1995) – 8.7 stars
10.The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011) – 8.7
This list is taken from IMBd. To see the full list of the top 50 thriller films click here.
