Thriller opening Mood Board

What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

In the openings of Thrillers, important aspects of the film are often established such as character, themes, location, tone/mood, plot and genre. Different directors will have their personal preference in terms of what they feel be should primarily focused upon and this is based on their style of film making as well as what they think will benefit the film overall. Above is a diagram that highlights how strongly a selection of films we have looked at establishes the previously mentioned aspects within their openings. This diagram is particularly useful in determining similarities and themes across a range of thriller openings and from the diagram patterns are immediately obvious. Character and themes are clearly two important aspects of the thriller genre and two which many films strongly establish from the beginning. An example of film which does this is Se7en.

Character

 The director of 'Se7en' is David Fincher, an experienced and highly skilled director who has worked on other thrillers such as 'Fight Club' and 'Panic Room'. Whilst each of the openings of his thrillers establish different aspects, in 'Se7en' the character of  detective Sommerset is established effectively to allow the audience to better understand him.

For example, in this shot prominent features of Sommerset's life are portrayed through a set of neatly arranged items. The gold homicide badge shows the audience that the character they have been introduced to is a police officer who has specialised in one kind of field. Furthermore this implies intelligence and a level of skill in what he does. The colour of the badge-gold- also strengthens the power that the badge connotes; the audience understand he is a somewhat important man. Next to the badge is a flip knife. This weapon allows the audience to understand that he is in some way connected to violence or danger as a character and this in turn links with his police officer status. The pen that lies next to the knife is a symbol of intelligence and and helps construct him as a character more. The audience understand that he is not a careless or reckless

police officer as the weapon he chooses is refined and delicate and he also carries a pen connoting that he likes to write things down and be organised. The portrayal of him as an intelligent character is strengthened through the leather glasses case next to his pen. This infers to the reader that he enjoys literature and reading. All of the items so far have implied to the audience that Detective Sommerset is a secluded and organised man who is devoted to his job. The last item however suggests something entirely different. The paper rose at the beginning of the line infers to the reader that there is more to his character than just being a police officer who deals with violence. It implies that he is holding on to some kind of hope and furthermore this means that he isn't happy with his life at the moment. Finally the very precise and neat lay out of the items implies that he is a careful man who likes organisation and structure. This shot excellently introduces many aspects of Detective Sommerset's character and allows the audience to obtain a greater understanding of him.
Fincher also uses compositional techniques to help portray to the reader deeper aspects of

Sommerset's character. For example in this shot Sommerset is positioned in between two lamps of differing sizes. This symbolic shot construction implies that he as a character is trapped. Further more this construction implies that he feels as if he cant escape the violence and darkness of the city in which he lives. As well as this the inequality in the size of the lamps imply an imbalance between his work- which consumes him- and his social life- which is virtually non existent. By focusing on establishing character in the opening of 'Se7en' Fincher allows the audience to gain an in depth understanding of the main character. By doing this in the opening the audience better engages with the film as a whole as they connect to Detective Sommerset from the beginning. The reason many thrillers focus on establishing character in their openings is because many Thrillers' plots revolve around interaction between a set of characters (for example 'Taken') and by establishing these character early on the audience engage with the plot at a higher level.

Location

Establishing location in a Thriller can be used effectively to give the audience an idea as to what kind of film it is they are about to watch as well the tone of that film. For example a film set in a dark mysterious city is likely to be a film noir film,where as a thriller set in grimy urban location is likely to be a British gangster.  A film that establishes location effectively in it's opening is 'Essex Boys'. As the title suggests one of the main themes that runs throughout the film is the location of Essex and how it is a metpahor for the dark events that happen within it.An excellent example of how 'Essex Boys' uses techniques to establish location is in this shot. The use of a saturated colour palate in which greys and blacks are predominant gives the shot a bleak tone and portrays to the reader that the location itself is sapping the colour and therefore the hope and happiness out of the film. As well as this the use of an onscreen vanishing point adds to the bleakness of the shot by inferring to the audience that the darkness and hopelessness never ends. These techniques are repeated throughout the opening of 'Essex Boys' to put the focus on the establishment of Location. A common theme in thriller openings is that the plot isn't as heavily established and 'Essex Boys' meets this expectation. Very little information about what the main plot of the film is given away, instead almost every shot is helping to establish the location to the audience.

This is another shot from 'Essex Boys' in which location is strongly established. The limited and saturated colour pallet is this time much lighter due to the change in location but has the same effect of creating a bleak, hopeless tone to the scene. By placing an on-screen vanishing point almost dead centre, the audiences eye focuses on this and the landscape rather than the man. The location throughout the opening 'Essex Boys' reflects the dark tone of the events which take place in the film and so help provide accurate expectations to the audience. By establishing location the audience gains an understanding of the genre, the tone and the time period of a film which allows them to interact and engage more effectively with the piece. Terry Winsor, the director of 'Essex Boys' expertly establishes location throughout the films opening to provide the audience with an accurate expectation of the film that follows.

Themes and Plot

'Sin City' is a neo-noir film directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez that focuses on establishing themes and plot. In this cold opening the audience already experience a kind of surprise/plot twist as what they expect to be a romantic relationship between a man and a woman turns out to a violent one as the man assassinates her. By introducing this film through a miniature story line, the audience gains an understanding as to the film may be about: how the the assassin takes out his victims. While many Thrillers begin with action to surround the audience in the plot straight away, 'Sin City' instead carefully constructs a smaller version of the main plot to allow the audience to understand the nature of the film. However even in this film where the directors purposefully wanted to establish the plot, the full plot of the film is not revealed as this would defeat the purpose of watching the film as the audience would already understand the entire story,

This is the opening shot of the film and immediately helps to establish and introduce the films

themes. The background of the shot is dark, mysterious city. As the tile suggests the 'Sin City' in which the film is set is a main theme and acts as an extended metaphor for the darkness and crime which happens within it. This shot is effective as by introducing the city in such a powerful way so early on the audience focuses on it and understands it as a main theme of the film. As well as this the whole film is shot in black and white and this helps to emphasise the chiaroscuro lighting. This lighting uses a high contrast between light and dark to create very intense shadows. This portrays to the audience the theme of darkness and criminality that runs throughout the film. The shadows deep shadows that every character seems to cast is metaphorical of the darkness within everybody.

 The themes of 'Sin City' are very much those which would be found in classic Film Noir; an all consuming,mysterious city, high contrast, chiaroscuro lighting and femme fatal characters typified by

the colour red. In the opening all three of these themes are clearly established and in particular the colour red is emphasises as it is the only colour in an otherwise black and white world. The scarlet dress and lipstick the female character wears connotes both danger and lust and signifies to the reader that these are the only two traits that can be associated with Women in this film: men are either detectives or criminals and women are either dangerous or sexual or both. In the beginning of 'Sin City' the directors decide to focus on the establishment of theme and plot. The result of this is a very stylised opening in which the audience gain an understanding as to what will happen in the film as well as to the themes and their metaphorical meanings.

Establishing Tone

The tone of a thriller is an important aspect throughout the film. By establishing the tone in the opening, the audience can better engage with the film and other important aspects of the film such as character, themes and genre are made clearer. In the opening of the film 'Alice Creed' sound and camera movement is used to both involve the audience as well as to establish tone.

 In the opening scene two smooth moving shots are cut together. The first leads up a lane in a car park showing a selection of dull coloured cars beneath an equalyl dull grey sky. The first shot immediately implies to the audience the tone of the film: bleak. The smoothness and steady pace of the moving camera engages the audience and makes them feel instantly as if they themselves are a character in this film. The second shot uses a slowly panning camera that shows a few cars before eventually pulling up to a show a van being stolen by two men. Again by using this steady moving camera the bleak tone is emphasised again as instead of a quick paced, panicked movement, a slower more hopeless one is used. Additionally this scene opens with the sound of aeroplanes flying over head. This in itself creates a tone of hopelessness through a metaphor; the people who are escaping are far way in the sky whilst on the ground, a bleak, dark event is taking place. The cutting between the two shots is rhythmic and timed and this further emphasises a tone of organisation and planning.

This opening scene concludes with the afore mentioned stolen van being driven past the original moving shot. This shot perfectly establishes the tone of the film. The desaturated colour palette of the shot combined with the soundtrack and car and plane engine sounds creates a tone of hopelessness and bleakness. As well as this the movement of the camera engages the audience in a way that makes them feel completely enveloped in the film; they feel as if they are actually in the film itself. Finally this whole opening scene takes place in an incredible common place that almost everyone in Britain has experienced: a depressing, grey car park. This emphasies the  cold, hard tone of the scene whilst at the same time engaging the audience further.

In this shot, the sound and camera movements combine to establish tone once more. The camera is

again moving steadily and smoothly as it focuses on a wobbly wheel of a shopping trolly which is making a high pitched squeaking sound. This shot portrays a common scenario which the majority of people have experienced and by doing this the audience is engaged fully as if they are a character in the film. The moving camera strengthens this as the audience feels as if they are moving along with the characters. By connecting the audience this strongly to the action and charters of the film the tones portrayed are better interpreted.

Up until this shot the soundtrack of the opening had been dark and tension building helping to maintain the theme of bleakness and darkness throughout. But the soundtrack alters slightly when this shot is introduced. It becomes less intense and softer instruments such as a piano part can be heard.

The camera in this shot moves slowly around, mimicking the movement of the human eye as if it were looking around the room. Whilst a hopeless tone is maintained through the desaturation of the colours and the overall dark soundtrack, there is a slight change in the tone during this scene. It is implied via the freedom of the camera to move around the room that a small amount of hope remains. This change in tone coincides the lack of the two main characters which allows the reader to infer that they are morally corrupt characters. Furthermore the tone of the scene changes back to the originally hopeless one when the charters enter the room.

By primarily using camera movement and sound to establish the dark, bleak tone of their film, the directors of Alice Creed completely engage and envelop the audience making them feel s if they themselves are part of the film. The audiences interpretation of the tone is heightened through this as they feel completely surrounded by the bleakness and hopelessness of the opening.

My Own Thriller

By analysing how a selection of directors establish different aspects of their thriller films in their openings I have gained an insight in to what I should emphasise in the opening to my thriller. While Sin City uses a kind of mini-plot in it's opening to engage the reader, I feel focusing on the establishment of plot would not work in my thriller. By revealing small aspects as to what could happen later on in the film, an element of enigma is retained and makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film. However something I can take from Sin City is it's clear portrayal of it's themes and genre. I feel establishing what kind of thriller my opening is for is key as there are so many different kinds. The expectation the audience has for the events in a film noir thriller for instance will be very different to those of a British gangster film. By making the genre clear through the establishment of themes in the opening, the audience has more accurate expectations for the film and allows them to engage with it more effectively.

Ideally establishing character in the opening of a thriller is an excellent  way to connect with the audience and make the plot of the film more exciting and engaging. However because the acting ability of the actors that will be used will be limited, trying to primarily establish character will be difficult and could result in the audience not connecting with the charters and so not engaging with the opening as a whole. Therefore primarily I will be focusing on the establishment of location and tone in the opening of my thriller. By carefully planning camera movement, composition and lighting techniques, location can be effectively portrayed. By doing this the genre and tone of my piece can be better interpreted by the audience. Additionally the plot of the opening can be enhanced as the audience can better understand the context of the thriller. As well as this making sure the tone of piece is accurately portrayed will be vital in connecting with the audience as if they understand and interpret the tone in the correct way everything else that follows will make more sense and be enhanced. While maintaining a balance in the establish of all aspects in my opening is key, I will be focusing primarily on the establishment of location and tone..

EDITED: How is location portrayed and used in Essex Boys to create and meanings and metaphors?

What could you learn from this thriller opening to use in your own film opening?

The location in Essex boys is used expertly to create meanings and metaphors which engage with the audience and portray themes and tones effectively. The locations used are not rare nor especially hard to get to and from this I can conclude that using common, bleak and uncared for locations in my opening can be an excellent way to make the themes and portrayals of meanings and metaphors more effective. By using typical, common British locations, themes of bleakness and darkness can be created as the audience recognise the scenario or location and therefore interpret the depression of those locations more effectively. Films such as Essex Boys and Alice Creed do this very effectively in their openings, using typical British locations to portray a grimy, British-gangsta tone to their films. By thinking carefully about the locations used, the opening of my thriller can be made very effective.