THRILLER Film Openings;

5 Films I've Watched and Analysed;

SEVEN- David Fincher

Seven (styled as Se7en) is a 1995 American crime film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective and his replacement, jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.

Techniques:

- Cuts between scenes quickly; common in thrillers
- Camera movements shaky; makes viewer feel uneasy
- Mysterious character; only see his hands/Close Up shots
- Curiosity is evoked; as to what the character is doing
- Strange font for the text and credits; raises questions
- Unsettling music; unnerves the viewer
- Colour red feautured; danger, more associated with horrors
I chose to analyse this movie because it features crime and murder which were issues we wanted to lightly touch upon in our thriller. Some ideas we took from this film are; cutting between scenes quickly; the flashbacks with the eye, shaky camera movements; when the kidnapper is first introduced, mysterious character; the kiddnappers face is always out of shot/ focus, curiosity is evoked; where did the child go? who is she? why did she take the child? are they flashbacks or flashforwards? Unsettling music; a creepy lullaby type music was played during the opening sequence. Features we chose not to include were having strange font for the text and credits; we felt this was innappropriate for our thriller genre and target audience, and we didn't feature the colour red much as we felt this was mostly in horror films, although the kidnappers red hair suggests danger.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS- Bryan Singer
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. The film tells the story of a small-time con man who is the subject of a police interrogation. He tells his interrogator a convoluted story about events leading to a massacre and massive fire that have just taken place on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro Bay. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex as he tries to explain why he and his partners-in-crime were on the boat.

Techniques:

- Establishes victim/ murderer; common feature
- Enigma; why did murderer kill victim?

-Flashbacks; creates suspense and evokes questions
- Establishes one character more powerful; low angle shots
- Location established; old building

- Purpose discovered; to blow building up

- Cuts straight to a flame; explosions similar to actions
- Sounds are eerie; puts viewer on edge
- Mystery; we never see the murderers face

I chose to analyse this movie because I knew it featured flashbacks which was a feature we wanted to include in our thriller. The flashbacks in this thriller helped us decide about how to go about making ours; it should show not tell, have a smooth, clear transition. We made sure the audience knew when a flashback began and ended by using the eye of the kidnapper opening and closing as if we were looking back in her memory.

Like 'The Usual Suspects', our thriller establishes the victim and the power character by using low angle shots such as in one flashback where the kidnapper in tucking a child into bed as seen in the picture. We chose not to have the purpose revealed as in 'The Usual Suspects' as we thought the viewer would be more captivated and want to keep watching if they didn't yet know the purpose of the kidnapper. The sounds in 'The Usual Suspects' are eerie, so we chose to include a few eerie sentences in the flashbacks that hint danger, for example, in one flashback, the child says "it hurt me a bit" and in another, the kidnapper reads a story that relates to their situation.

HOSTAGE- Florent Emilio Siri

Hostage is a 2005 action/thriller movie about a failed police negotiator turned small town cop, who must save the lives of a family held hostage, which draws him into a much more dangerous situation.
Techniques:
- Only city location is established; mystery
- Curiosity evoked; what will happen?
- Credits hidden in background; mysterious
- Weapons focused; more common with actions/horrors
- Red, Black and White used; suggestive to good/evil/danger

I chose to analyse this film because its about a hostage, similar to ours which is about a kidnapping. The opening of 'Hostage' is very different to our opening, as their opening only establishes the location and not any characters. Our credits are also different; more obvious. We used the same colours subtly though; the kidnappers hair, her black coat and white gloves suggest confusion over good, evil and danger, which forces the audience to question her motives and whether she is a character to empathise with.

Sleeping With The Enemy- Joseph Ruben

Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological thriller film about a woman who escapes from her abusive, obsessive husband. She captures the attention of a kindly gentleman.

Techniques:

-Opens on black background; suggests darkness, danger, death.
-White, thin font; symbolising the thin, fragile heroine
-Classical music; violins, harp, orchestral, flute
-Birds flying above lake; symbolising freedom
-Digetic sound (birds)
- Woman stands alone by shore, relaxed; hints she is vunerable, happier alone
- Tall man dressed in black walking towards; black signifying danger
- Woman is crouching, birds fly away; camera angles show he has the power, happiness goes
- They hug, she looks away worried; suggesting unhappiness, audience confused
- He walks away, leaving her alone on beach again; foreshadowing
I chose to analyse this movie because it is a drama thriller which is what we wanted to make. Some ideas we took from this film are; trying to make the young child look vunerable, using high angle shots to try and emphasise his height, and his blond hair symbolises his childness and innocence. We also used classical music during our opening and used digetic sound. Our font was also white, and small, suggesting the innocence of the child. We tried to suggest the unhappiness of the kidnapper by using a shaky camera to show her unstabilty and unpredictableness. We also used suggestive foreshadowing such as when the sweets are put in the kidnappers bag and then filmed later left by the bench, or when she is by the graveyard it hints death in the film ahead.

Strangers on a train- Alfred Hitchcock
A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement.

Techniques:

-Long shot of a black and white arch; arch symbolic of new gateways
- Dark lighting; suggesting danger/ uncertainty
-Orchestral violins; common in thrillers
-Large white font against black; suggests good vs evil
-Camera follows a taxi, close up of door; shows this is the main character
- Shot of only the shoes getting out taxi; hides identity of character, suspicious
- Camera follows as shoes walk away;
- New cab pulls up, follows different shoes out; hints this is other main character
- Switches between both pairs of feet; causes confusion
-Pace of music fastens; panic created
- Shoes get on train, sit opposite; characters still unidentified
I chose to analyse this film because it was directed by Hitchcock, and I was interested if I could take any ideas from him. It is also a phsycological thriller which is another genre we were interested in including. We chose to include Hitchcocks idea that the character's face shouldn't be shown in the first 2 minutes to convey mystery. We kept the kidnappers face out of camera shot, just having her from long shots or from behind with her distinctive red hair, or if she was facing the camera we made sure this was during flashbacks so her image could be blurred. We included the idea of fastening the pace by fastening the time in between each flashback.

I'm glad I watched these films because without them my thriller may not have been so sucessful; I have adapted many ideas from each film, especially those with occuring themes that must be common in thrillers, such as keeping the main character unidentified to create enigma.