Film Openings Research - Thriller

Film 1 - Skyfall (2012)

Skyfall is an action thriller and is the 23rd film in the James Bond franchise. The film is about Bond investigating an attack on MI6.

Thrillers use suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements to draw in the viewer. There are also some sub-genres of thriller which are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers. Thrillers have features such as plot twists or cliffhangers and they have atmospheres such as anticipation, adrenaline rush, anxiety or terror. Characters of thrillers include Criminals, Stalkers, Assassins, Victims on the run, Characters with dark pasts, Psychotic individuals, Terrorists, Cops, Escaped convicts etc. Thrillers usually take place in ordinary cities or suburbs although there can be an exception to this.
The thriller genre often captures an audiences attention with a question or dilemma to solve that the audience can relate to. Thriller directors can also use sub-genres to suit the taste of the target audience intended such as Horror thriller, psychological thriller and comedy thriller etc.
Sound & editing plays a big part in thriller films. The sound & editing styles are what makes an audience want to watch films from the thriller genre again and again. Incidental sound is where the sound fits with the action. The use of silence is also a powerful tool in thriller films.Styles used include quick cuts, variation of shot sizes & camera angles. Shot types that are effective are close ups to show how someone is feeling or show action in the film, Extreme close ups show a closer view of emotion, high angle shots can be used to show the power of someone and low angle shots can be used to show the weakness of someone. A wide shot can show how alone someone is and an establishing shot shows the audience where it is set. The music of the film such as the soundtrack is also important. Mirrors & stairs are often used in thrillers and lighting should be carefully chosen as lighting and shadow have a big impact in the thriller genre. Often in thrillers we are made to have sympathy for the protagonist (lead character) through the use of flashbacks & elliptical editing. Other effects include diegetic sound of breathing, black and white shots and montage of shots.

This is the first shot from the opening of Skyfall and the music in this shot is dramatic, and from the shot we can see that from the very beginning of the opening to Skyfall the audience is engaged in action straight away. The lighting in the opening scene is good and as the Skyfall soundtrack starts to play in the opening the scene gets darker before fading out.

Titles then appear, a shot showing the the production comes up. A hand is then shown pulling a mini James Bond down, which automatically adds mystery to the scene and brings in the title showing the actor's name who plays James Bond. The titles are dark and blue and follow the conventions of the thriller genre.

The Skyfall opening is very visual and leaves a lot of questions to the audience. Titles are used in an effective way, they are white and the audience can see them, but they are done in a way that it doesn't distract the viewer from what's happening in the opening.




The opening shows a gun shot wound to Bond's chest and leaves a lot to the imagination, without giving too much away. 
I think this is a great opening to a film with non diegetic sound, and the titles work well with what is going on in the opening.


                     Film 2 - Sucker Punch (2011)

Sucker Punch is a fantasy thriller with a 12a rating in the UK. The film is about a girl institutionalized by her step-father and as a coping strategy she turns to an alternate reality. 

The opening of sucker punch is very good. The first part of the opening shows the Warner Bros. logo which is the production company and this is done well as the production logo is in the scene of the actual opening, rather than being separate.

The opening also has non diegetic sound of a girl speaking. The opening then pans and zooms to a young girl sitting on a bed, and the music changes to Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) which is the soundtrack of the film. The opening follows conventions of a thriller as by this point in the film the atmosphere is portrayed as dark and eerie. In the opening when the girl (Baby Doll) sees her abusive stepfather, the mood of the music (non diegetic sound) fits this.

There is use of Mise-En-Scene in the opening, there are different levels of lighting which creates a mysterious atmosphere. The colours link to the emotions of 'Baby Doll'. E.g - Black and white, blues and greys represent dark emotions well. Settings and props used for Mise-En-Scene are the setting of the house in the opening, it appears like a haunted house, and is very dark and old. 

The opening features effects such as lightening, darkness (barely any colour) which are common features of a thriller/horror. 




The titles of the film are done in an effective way. As the girl is getting driven in a car to the asylum after being sedated, the titles appear of the side window of the car.

Throughout the film opening, with the abusive step father and the journey to the girl ending up in an asylum the whole thing is quite dark and grey, after she has been taken to the asylum everything changes more colourful, this represents the abuse from her step-father and the bad journey ahead of her.


                   Film 3 - House of Wax (2005)
House of Wax is a Horror Thriller. The age certificate of this film in the UK is a 15. The film is about a group of teens stranded near a wax museum, with a fight for survival to not end up as a wax exhibit.

The film opening starts off with the production company spinning until it comes into view. The production company is Warner Bros Pictures.

The opening then cuts to 'Village Roadshow Pictures' and then Dark Castle Entertainment. Dark Castle Entertainment are a division of Silver Pictures which are a production house affiliated with Warner Bros and Universal Pictures. 

The opening to House of Wax starts off showing a waxy substance which automatically relates to the title of the film. It shows a caption of 1974 and the captions are in a horror style font. 

The opening follows thriller conventions of being creepy. It uses non diegetic sound with suspense showing from a high-angled shot what the character is doing. 

There is a lot of tension in the opening scene with kicking, screaming, shouting, objects being thrown around and falling off surfaces and throughout the scene no faces of characters are shown which leads to mystery. The screaming child is bucked in to a high chair and then an adult proceeds to use tape around his ankles and wrists to secure him there. Whilst this is happening non diegetic is used alongside the diegetic sound of the tape.

There are no other titles in the opening which I think lets it down. In my opinion the opening is quite tedious, compared to other thriller openings which are much better such as Skyfalls and Suckerpunch. Although Skyfall had a budget of $200 Million, Suckerpunch has a budget of $82 million and House of Wax had a budget of $30 million, so House of Wax had the lowest budget out of all three of them.