Analysis of the thriller opening in 'The Beach'

The Beach is an adventurous and seductive thriller featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as the main protagonist called Richard.

Throughout the scenes during the opening, the scenes fade between opening credits and the opening scene, at one point the scene dissolves to show the title of the film, The Beach, and then fades into the scene which creates a good effect for a thriller opening.
In the opening sequence of the thriller, the location is based in a foreign country, the idea of the film being based in a foreign country sets the tension automatically for the audience as it is not a location, country that most people have common knowledge about or know very well, this creates an uncertain atmosphere due to a combination of continuity editing, which makes the audience feel like they're taking part and are uncertain where they are being lead at the beginning of the thriller. This meets one of the thriller conventions which is that thrillers give you this sense of uncertainty in order to build up that 'thrill' the audience is waiting to happen.

The camera shots which have been edited to create a sense of continuity editing used in the film were, shot reverse shot, which is used in conversation with the protagonist and another character, the audience feel like they're part of the scene which helps create the tension. There are reaction shots used at various times which helps the audience read the mood the character is in, how they're feeling.

Analyse of opening credits in 'The Stepfather'

The stepfather

• simple black writing
• set in the suburbs america, nice community, family homes
• everybody on the street gets a news paper and he has cancelled it
• music, quite, creepy, piano, mysterious, something bad has happened
• household things that you have connotation of danger e.g scissors, tweezers act
• also all the appliances one would use during a make over e.g hair dye
• music intensifies when the man character is shown, get more creepy indicating someone bad has happened or will happen
• hair dye
• surroundings in the bath room are clean and even to an extreme of ocd
• changing appearance
• cut himself with a razor.. blood
• change in appearance contact lenses, one changes appearance when running from something or someone or to discieve someone 
• house is bare
• suitcase indicates your running from something
• phone of the hock normally associated with something bad happened
• kitchen is untidy in comparison to the rest of the house
• all the colours are bright and room are spacious, maybe too clean?
• christmas music

The initial scene thats starts The stepfather cuts to a medium shot of a truck in a suburban street, with a man inside delivering copies of the ‘Salt Lake City Gazette’, throwing them out of the window onto the driveways of the houses. The truck then stops outside one of the houses, looking down a clipboard to see that the house’s subscription to the gazette has been cancelled, and drives on. In the top left of the screen, the names of the other production and distribution companies are shown in a black, bold font. In the background, quiet, sinister music plays, creating feelings of tension and suspense, even though the film has just begun.

The film then cuts to a slow tracking shot, moving from right to left focusing on a shaving kit, presumably inside the house seen in the last shot. A man then appears in the mirror, while the name of the film, The Stepfather, appears in the bottom left.
He continues with a normal morning routine, including shaving, and showering, but then, when he changes his contact lenses to alter the appearance of his eyes, we realise that he is deliberately trying to change his appearance. Throughout this routine, the names of the main actors fade in and out in different corners of the screen, appearing for a few seconds and then disappearing.  A close up shot of the man is seen after, this shows that he is going to change his appearance. He changes his appearance which consists of: dying hair, shaving beard, changing contacts, no glasses. He looks like a completely different person after he has gone through the stages of changing himself.  This indicates that something has happened or is going to happen in which he has to run away from something.

The credits all appear in simple black capital letter and fade away. Black indicates danger and something bad has happened. Throughout the opening the music is slow and creepy, although when it arrives to the main characters face the music intensifies and begins to get faster increasing the mystery and excitement of the makeover.

He come down with packed bags which indicates that he is either leaving his home for a while or leaving town. Before he leaves he continues like its a normal day, he goes to the kitchen to make breakfast and walks past a dead body of a child like it is normal and nothing is wrong. 

The man then walks out of the kitchen and around the house, and is followed by the camera, which then tilts to the side to show a dead child leaning on the kitchen table. The original sinister music then comes back in with a sharp high-pitched stab, to make the audience jump. The camera then pans around the house to reveal more dead bodies lying around, on the floor and on the sofa. The man calmly walks around the house, collecting his things before leaving. As he reaches the door, he has a flashback, and there is a cut to a close up of a girl screaming, then back to the man. He picks up his suitcases and walks out the door, while the camera cuts to a close up of the same girl lying dead on the floor.
We then see the man in his car, adjusting the rear view mirror.

Opening scene of the Stepfather: 

Lookroom

Look room is the space that you leave in front of someones face on the screen. This space gives the person room to breathe, as well as gives the impression that the person is looking at or talking to someone just off screen. If you don't leave enough look room, your subject will appear to be boxed-in and confined.
It  is a basic technique in the world of filming where by which you film a person and most of the screen, if not taken up by a character is taken up by where they are looking, unless something is going to happen behind them, much like in a thriller movie, below is a very good example of using the Look room/head room rule.
 

Analysis of opening credits in 'American Psycho'

American Psycho' opens with the credit sequence, the music begins in the ident, this is very slow, low pitched music, which makes the audience feel apprehensive, and weary and are likely to expect something bad to happen. We are then introduced to the credits which are displaced in sans-serif font on a white, blank background. what we might recognise (in this mood set by the music) as blood drops appear falling on the screen with higher-pitched noises, which we could perceive as stabs.

The credits being very simply, by the plain white background and the ordinary font style, this gives the impression of simplicity and smartness as everything looks very sleek and organised. There is a hint of themes that could be included in the movie as there are drops of 'blood' dripping down from the screen as the text appears. Further to this the blood drops also follows the codes and conventions normally associated with Thrillers.

When the main character's name appears in the credits, the importance of his name is signified by the slight change in the sound and the image of a knife on the screen. This alerts the audience because of the props used, making the audience acknowledge this part more. This part also confuses the audience as a knife usually connotes the idea of death/danger, whereas in this circumstance the knife is being used in cooking, which misleads the audience. As the knife aggressively cuts the meat on the screen the diegetic sound highlights it signifiance by making the sound exaggerated.

A pan shot is then used of a birdseye view of lots of food plate that looks very glamorous and expensive. The music changes here to a very soft, instrumental music that is very cheerful. This is a transformation that has gradually changed from the beginning of the credits. The audience are fooled into thinking the theme is fairly negative, whereas the true theme are displayed to be very positive. In addition the food on the plate is the climax of the tension that builds throughout the opening credits. 

American Psycho opening credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT9CxFuR_lY

Analysing open sequences of a Thriller movie.

The five categories I will be analysing is Technical codes(Tech. codes), things like shot sizes, and angles. Lighting, for example low/high key lighting, and colours. Mese en scene, this includes costume, posture of character, and the position of the characters. Lastly, sound.

The Thriller i have firstly chosen to analyse is Seven a thiller staring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as detectives hunting down a murderer who always seems to be one step ahead of them.
 In the opening scene, Morgan Freeman is getting ready for work, attending a crime scene. The technicle codes used in this scene varie- in general the whole scene is shot in medium shot, meaning you can both the character body posture and facial expression. Most of the shots of both of the main characters are filmed from a low angle pointing up giving both character dominance, so they look powerful, like the police officers they are. This dominance technique is also used on the metronome at the end of the initial scene.

Secondly the lighting used throught the opening scene is low key, this sets both the dark, dull disorientation and the depressing, brutal jobs the police force deal with in their day-today lives. Most of the initial scene is dull and dark colours, faded navy blues, greys, dirty browns, and off whites. Further to this the islotion of his dark room is highlighted as light seaps through the window, this arguably represents the dark, gritty genre in which seven is associated. When the metronome appears on screen, at the end of the title sequence, it is lit from behind and when this is put with the low level angle it has, it makes it look very powerful. As it begins to tick it begins to build the tension, in addition the fragmented voices outside Morgan Freeman's window adds to the indication of isolation trying to be portayed.

In addition the Mese-en-scene has a very strong influences during the opening scene, for example the props lined up on the table (a watch, a knife etc), which begin to paint a picture of both, the character in which Morgan Freeman plays, hands on police officer, and also the brutality of crime in the city. Morgan Freeman plays is depicted very well:  reading glasses and a book, to make him seem intellectual, the fact that he picks the fluff off of his jacket before putting it on. Further more all this actions he does with a slow pace, which makes you question why he is getting prepared so slowly and it always makes you assume he is a high up, well respected officer. In addition, the chess board in the kitchen signifies the "mind game" that the police will "play" with the criminal as the film goes on.

 The title sequence is very fast paced, disorientating, mysterious and difficult to follow, the titles come up in 'etched', 'harsh' writing, like they have been scratched in, giving that gritty feel once again, there is use of special effects for example 'double vision' which gives the writing an almost flickering affect, it is quite blurry, and the colours are dull aside from the blood red that is used when the music becomes more heavy. Overall it looks extremely dirty, nothing is pristine, all off white paper and dirty finger nails, also every shot in this sequence is close ups, so its quite hard to work out what is going on. Which generally makes people uneasy as they dont know whaty is happening around them. When the titles come on they have quite a disorientating flickered transition, which is quite hard to read at first, yet it really catches your attention; titles are written on a black background, in white, which is hugely contrasting, like many parts of this movie, it is all based on contrasts and binary oppositions, the white and the black, 'good and the evil'. Adding to this it also links to the idea of the chess board.

Lastly, The sounds used in this title sequence, are all emotion filled and emotion evoking, for example, heavy breathing screaming, and heavily reverbed drums, giving it a very atmospheric, mysterious feel. Futher more the music is harsh, with high pitch noices which normally make people uneasy, for example scratching a white board.

This is a very mysterious and abstract way to start the movie and I think it succeds to make the audience feel uneasy, and is also very creepy in my opinion.


Seven opening credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY

Thriller Conventions

 

As my main task for groupwork is to make the title sequence and opening for a thriller film, I decided to list a few codes and conventions of thriller films, these are as follows:

• Low key lighting is very common ( it's very mysterious and sets the dark scene)
• Protaganists normally has a weakness that the Antagonist exploits.
• Title of the film normally reflects this weakness.
• Narrative is nearly always crime or psychological problem based.
• There is usually quick cuts, ( to build up the action, it seems more tense, for example when someone is being repetitively stabbed you will see it from many different angles, it becomes more "exciting").
• Fading to black is used quite a lot, once again for this mysterious feel.
• Foot step sound effects are in many horrors as it builds tension and suspense.

Further to this Thrillers normally include similar objects/codes which they are associated with:

• Stairs (add to the tension of a chase)
• Mirrors (show reflection and things happening behind characters)
• Shadows (add to the overall darkness/mysteriousness)

The codes and conventions of an opening of a thriller

• Mysterious.
• Abstract.
• Fast paced.
• Disorientating.
• Low key.
• Dirty reflective of the killer.
• Quick cuts.

The rule of the thirds

 

The rule of the thirds is a concept in video and film production in which the frame is divided into into nine imaginary sections.Points (or lines) of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up (or across) the frame, rather than in the centre. Like many rules of framing, this is not always necessary (or desirable) but it is one of those rules you should understand well before you break it.

 In most "people shots", the main line of interest is the line going through the eyes. In this shot, the eyes are placed approximately 1/3 of the way down the frame.

The 180° rule, a reverse angle and Match on action.

The rule states that the camera should remain the same side of an imaginary line. The line is drawn perpendicular the camera’s viewpoint in the establishing shot of the scene. The rule enforces continuity of the film.When a camera crosses the axis, ('crossing the line'), a new shot is made called the reverse angle. All coverage should generally be shot from one side or the other of this imaginary line. The audience subconsciously forms a mental map of where the actors are located in the scene from the first master shot.

An example of this is below.

Match on Action:  Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This creates the impression of a sense of continuity