Treatment of ideas for an Opening Sequence of a Thriller

I have had many ideas with my group about our Opening sequence.

Here is a brief outline of our ideas so far...

Our opening sequence is about two girls walking down a path, talking to each other. One of the girls looks at their watch and decides that she needs to go. Therefore she walks down another path to go home and the other girl carries on walking down the path. The path is going to be dark, with trees either side. We have shots of her walking down the path, she walks around a bend in the path and goes out of sight. Then we have a shot where we see her back and we see a man, hiding in the trees looking at her. After the build up of these scenes we will cut to a black and blank screen, and we will have a sound effect of someone screaming( in this case the girl who was walking down the path). After this we will have the title come up on the screen.

During our opening sequence we will use diegetic sound mostly, but we will use some non-diegetic sound to create tension. We will use many different camera shots, for example we will use over the shoulder shots, close up, mid and long shots. We will also use point of view shots. For the first part of the opening sequence we will use a tracking shot to follow the girls talking.

For the pint of view shots the camera will be hand held, instead of being on a tri-pod. this should give the audience a sense of realism.

For one of the shots we will tilt the camera, to show that the place that she is walking is a bit odd and spooky. Also it gives the audience a sense of confusion.

We shall be using low-key lighting. To create a dim and dark effect. To give a sense of urgency by the girls getting home in the light.

We will use transitions of fades, dissolves and Jump cuts to make some of the opening sequence keep the audience on the edge of their seat.

Research 5 Directors of Thriller Films

David Fincher

He is well known for directing brilliant thriller films. For example he has directed Se7en and Fight Club.

He has many 'trade marks' that make his thriller films so good.

• In his films you often see many single frames that flash up on the screen during a scene.
• He often uses silhouettes, and frequently has characters in the shadows where you can't make out their face. (Kevin Spacey in Se7en)
• His films usually end in suicide or attempted suicide.
• He often uses low-key lighting with blue and green colour temperature.
• The films frequently shows wide shots.
• David frequently casts Brad Pitt.
• The films almost always end with downbeat endings.

Bryan Singer

He is Known for directing The Usual Suspects. He also has some 'trade marks' that have made the usual suspects such a good thriller film.

• He often uses music from John Ottman, they have worked with each other for a long time and therefore they help each other out.
• He also works with cinematographer Tom Siegal.
• A recurring theme of alienation is used in his films.

He works with many other people in the industry a lot when directing his films, and this seems to help as he has made some brilliant thriller films.

Alfred Hitchcock

He has directed many of the top thriller films, including Psycho. He also has many many trade marks.

• He uses a recurring motif of a mistaken identity and the feeling of being lost. Also the motif of assumed identity is used in Psycho.
• To create suspense in his films he would alternate between different shots to extend cinematic time. (like the shower scene in Psycho)
• Also to create tension in his early films he created more shadows on walls etc.
• Again to create tension his driving scenes were always filmed in a particular way. They would alternate between the character's point of view while driving and a close-up shot of the inside of the car from opposite directions. This technique kept the viewer 'inside' the car and made any danger encountered more realistic.

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis is famously known for making the all time best thriller, The Godfather. He again has many trade marks that make his films very good.

• He often casted his own real life extended family members in the films. Which was successful as he got over real emotions to the audience in his films.
• He also includes the authors name in the title of his film e.g Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Which made people know what the film was, and knew what it was roughly about.
• He also Works with cinematographers and many different producers. This shows that him and Bryan Singer, know how to direct the best thrillers by using many different people in the industry.

Luc Besson

He is well known for directing the film Leon. He also has many trade marks for making a great thriller film.

• He often casts Jean Reno.
• The music is always done by Eric Serra.
• During the opening titles, the camera moves up to something important in the movie. Then it looks down until the important credits are shown. Then it swings up showing a certain place or character.
• his films often include fully enclosed sets with no lighting.
• Car chases often very low shots and close up to the front bumper.
• Films usually have a scene that is edited into real time.

Analysis of the Conventions of the Thriller genre

According to Saul Bass a thriller should 'settle them down and create a sense of anticipation.. hit the ground running'

A thriller should follow a set of rules/conventions that are needed to make a good thriller film. There are many conventions that the thriller genre should have. Using an example I shall see how it conforms to the set conventions.

EXAMPLE: Flight plan

• One convention of a thriller is to build up to the action, flight plan does this very well as there is not much dialogue and the use of music and action makes the films' action build up.
• The creation of fear and uncertainty is made by the non diegetic sound as it is very loud and abrupt.
• Dark and shadowy atmosphere is used lots and it is used a lot on the people in the film, especially the girl as it shows that she is the one to watch.
• The mood and atmosphere is established very well as again there is not much dialogue, and this shows that the film is going to be very uncertain and mysterious.
• Another convention of a thriller is that there is a delay in showing the face of a significant character, or an significant piece of action. This is used in the opening sequence of flight plan and works well, the girl has a delay in being shown and when she is shown we get a sense of her being very vulnerable and scared.
• The creation of suspense using soundtrack music is used also very well in flight plan as the soundtrack music is very childlike and this reflects the girl in the film. Action and suspense is used by the soundtrack going up and down in pitch.
• In thrillers there is usually a morally ambiguous central character. There is a character in flight plan that stands out in the opening sequence and it is the male flight attendant, as he shows up every now and again in the sequence. This gives us a sense of mystery.
• There is also usually murder in a thriller and therefore a suspecting audience. In this film, the murder (or disappearance) is of the girl, and this then gives a suspecting audience.
• The realistic setting is created by the credits being on the side of a train, as if they were actually there. Also they follow the background action by, for example moving with the closing of a door.
• The opening sequence has many flashbacks, for example when there is a close up on an eye, we go spinning into a flashback that they saw.
• There are many twists and unexpected turns in the sequence, mostly from the flashbacks.
• The opening sequence keeps me on the edge of my seat and makes me tense, this is because we never know what is going to happen next, the sequence is quite fast and keeps you interested.

Analysis of Opening sequences in Thrillers

Opening sequences are used to set up a degree of curiosity and to make the audience ask questions that will be answered later on in the film. They also cut between the title (credits) and action. The opening sequence gives a sense of mystery and it usually contradicts realism.

When looking at the opening sequence of Se7en I liked the following;

• The background music created tension and anticipation. This was because it had sound effects of scratching and screaming, this is also good as it fits the typical conventions of thriller.
• I also liked how it had scenes of a man holding blades, cutting up photos and crossing out writing on newspapers etc. this created a sense of murder and makes us question what the man is doing. It also gave us an insight to what the film may be about.
• The way that the credits and film title is very well represented. The writing is very childlike and it 'etches' in and flashes. This makes you feel on the edge of your seat almost, gives you a sense of fear.
• The mise on scene is very dark and has many shadows and this again causes fear and tension. It is very good as it also gives us a sense of anticipation about what is going to happen next.

On the other hand when looking at the opening sequence I noticed that it did not have the typical convention of a heroine or hero in the situation of threat or struggle. However overall the opening sequence is very good as it creates lots of anticipation and gives a very tense atmosphere . It has nearly all of the conventions of a thriller.

When looking at the opening sequence of the film Hostage I liked the following;

• The background music was again very good, this is because it was very 'creepy' and odd. This is good as it made me very tense and gave me a sense of fear.
• There were images of guns and other weapons and this signified that the film was obviously going to involve some sort of murder, or action with weapons.
• I also liked the use of black and red, and I presume that the red signified blood. Which again is good as it is letting us know that people are going to be hurt.
• I liked the use of shadows and darkness as it gave me the sense of fear and not knowing what is going to come next.
• The credits of the film were on buildings and posters and this gives us a sense of a realistic setting, whilst making giving the setting an unusual setting.
• The title of the film was 'spun' into the screen and was 3D like the credits and this makes us feel that something unusual and out of the ordinary is going to happen, as you don't always see words in 3D.

Although the opening sequence had many good points about it, it did have some floors. These were that it was quite slow paced and this sort of steered away from the idea of a thriller as it did not give us a sense of urgency for example. Also because the credits came on slowly and kept coming on through out the opening sequence we kind of got bored watching them. We did not see a lot of action or previews on what is going to happen. Therefore I was not that interested in watching the rest of the film.

The Usual Suspects is another film that I looked at, what I liked in its opening sequence was;

• The use of diegetic sounds and non-diegetic sounds. The diegetic sounds made the setting realistic in a scary way. The non-diegetic sounds contributed to making the opening sequence give you a sense of fear.
• I liked the amount of action that has been put into the opening sequence, it gives you a sense of you know whats going on, but really you don't know who is who and what the storyline is yet.
• The use of camera angles was very good, going from a high angle shot on the suspect to a low angle shot on the villain. It was good as it gave me a sense of fear and made you feel as if the villain is important. Also the use of close up shots on the suspect create tension.
• I like the sense of confusion that you get, as you don't know where they are or why they are there.
• the use of dark colours and shadows are good as again you don't know what is coming around the corner.

I personally thought that this opening sequence was very good as it fit nearly all of the conventions of a thriller and made me want to watch the rest of the film.