thriller openings

VERTIGO - 1958

CAMERA ANGLES & MOVEMENT:

• Extreme close up on ladder, hands come in to frame, very intense.
• Zoom out to see people coming up ladder, men come up one after the other.
• Establishing shot panning to see characters running, shows surroundings and people running, gives perspective.
• Close up on face, intense, he is in a difficult situation.
• Point of view down to ground, shows the danger, cuts to and from this shot and the terror on characters face.
• Point of view showing police man, show there is hope.

LIGHTING & SOUND:

• Night time but light enough to see surroundings, v early morning, probably just before dawn.
• Silhouettes of people running across rooftops creates mysterious effect.
• Top lighting on faces with filler.
• Fast paced music throughout is parallel with events.
• Louder, sharp music at point of view shots down to ground to make it more dramatic.
• Little dialogue - not much needed.
• Loud sound of scream as man falls to his death.

thriller openings

THE MALTESE FALCON - 1941

LIGHTING & COMPOSITION:

• Mr Bogart's shadow on the door as he knocks to enter creates a mysterious effect and makes his character seem more mysterious too.
• The cigar smoke in front of both men's faces adds to their cynical characters.

CAMERA SHOTS & ANGLES:

• At 0:07 as door is opened Mr Gutman is framed by the door showing him as the centre of focus and pointing him out as the man Mr Bogart has come to see.
• The long shot showing the hand shake means the viewer can see the characters' expressions and the tension between them.
• The low angles show both the men to fill the room.
• The low angle on Mr Gutman at 1:12 shows his enormous frame so he literally fills the camera shot.
• Reverse angle shots show both the men and their reactions while they are seated.
• 3:23 shows Mr Gutman as a much smaller character still sitting as Mr Bogart looms over him while he shouts.
• Extreme Long Shot as Mr Bogart leaves, as he walks towards the camera you can make out his disturbed smile.

strangers on a train

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

Strangers on a Train is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s latest black & white movies made in 1951. It is a film about two strangers who meet on a train and decide to swap murders, as the story unravels from there it uses some exceptional camera work and editing to make the film such a great one. However as well as these two there are also other factors that make this film so effective and enjoyable to watch.

EDITING:

The opening sequence uses almost all straight cuts to move between the shots, this keeps the fast pace and the suspense especially in the first minute where there are only shots of the two characters’ feet. The straight cuts keep the fast pace because there is no time between shots so the suspense naturally builds up coinciding with the music. The only different edit between the shots is one fade which fades from the train station scene to the point of view of the train on its journey. This fade works because it is showing a total change of scene and so shows that time has passed between the characters arriving at the station and the train embarking on its journey.

MISE EN SCENE:

Because we don’t see the characters faces in the first minute and a half, mise en scene becomes very important, for example the character’s shoes. From the moment we see Robert Walker’s shoes we know that there is something different about him. The bright white of his shoes works in contrast with the grey background and black of everyone else’s shoes and marks him out. Farley Granger’s shoes however are similar to everyone else’s in that they are plain black and so show him as a more normal character who has nothing that extravagant about himself. The setting itself is a perfect backdrop to what happens in the story since it signifies the beginning of a journey, and later on the train tracks are the ideal way to mark out the “criss-cross” between the characters and their lives.

USE OF CAMERA:

So that no characters’ faces are seen in the opening all the camera angles are very low, this creates a lot of mystery and tension in the opening because it is impossible to see the faces and reactions of any character. The camera tracks along following the characters’ feet which creates the effect that both men are on a journey to somewhere and they both have a purpose. The most interesting camera angle is the point of view of the train. It is a very interesting and effective way of emphasizing and showing the train tracks criss-crossing.

LIGHTING & COLOUR:

The opening shows very natural lighting, this includes shadows cast on the ground. However lighting is not a key part of this opening since the opening is supposed to be purely coincidental and therefore could happen on any day, changing the lighting to be very low-key would over-emphasize the events that are about to take place.

SOUND:

The music that plays in the background of the opening works parallel to the event, generally it is quite jolly and upbeat, however whenever we have short edits of the two men walking towards each other a deeper, darker music plays over the top suggesting something drastic is about to happen. The sound is mostly nondiegetic as there is no dialogue, and we hear the music and the sounds of the train station like the announcements. However to keep the natural tone we do still hear things like footsteps, car sounds and train sounds.

thriller openings

LIMITLESS - 2011

LIGHTING & COMPOSTION:

• High key, bright white lighting.
• Flashing TV lights on close-up face at 0:12 keeps up fast pace and intensity.

CAMERA SHOTS & ANGLES:

• Camera moves in and out of focus reflecting characters confusion.
• A lot of short clips edited together for a fast pace.
• Close-up shot at 0:12 is intense.
• Camera jerky to show confusion and keep a fast pace.
• Variety of shots such as mid-shot, two shot and long shots confuses viewer.
• Camera moves in and out of slow and fast motion so viewer can see the fight better and to keep the fast pace up.

INCEPTION - 2010

LIGHTING & COMPOSITION:

• Natural lighting.
• Outside lighting means shadow is cast across where characters are seated.

CAMERA SHOTS & ANGLES:

• Close-up on coffee mug at 0:54 gives intensity, along with the close-up shots on the characters' faces.
• Reverse angle shot at 0:47 show expressions.
• Two shots showing both characters.
• Uses 180 degree rule.
• During explosions the camera moves in and out of slow/fast motion to emphasise dream-like effect that the characters are in.

DRIVE - 2011

AUDIENCE & SOUND:

• Upbeat music - 80s.
• Retro 80s titles, bright pink colour.
• City sets 80s time period.
• Shifty character, shown by lighting and shadows, he's out late at night and his body language.

LIGHTING & COLOUR:

• Dark, low-key lighting.
• Bright city lights in extended long shot at the beginning, contrasting with dark night.
• Shadows moving across character's face as he drives is mysterious.
• Shadow cast on wall at 1:49 is a silouette is more mysterious.
• The hallway lights at 1:28 act as spotlights to show the other character as important.

COLLATERAL - 2004

AUDIENCE & SOUND:

• Airport sound bridge.
• Lots of people out of focus showing they are irrelevant to the story, 2 characters are only ones in cameras focus so attention is drawn to them.
• Sounds made by these 2 characters are enhances so we hear everything they do.
• Constant beat builds up suspense.
• From 1:03 a lot of odd camera angles, short edit also help build suspense.
• The sound is in the point of view of the cab driver, dramatic when he's inside the cab there is no sound.

LIGHTING & COLOUR:

• Bright high-key lighting in airport.
• Natural lighting later on in cab, vibrant colour of cabs in close-ups (reds and yellows).

TAXI DRIVER - 1976

AUDIENCE & SOUND:

• Red on Black writing - dramatic.
• Car appearing through the smoke is dramatic and mysterious.
• Your don't see the driver in the first clip as he drives past, even more mysterious.
• Urban and mysterious mood.
• No religion, no family.
• Tells us all about character in a natural way, so movie still flows.

LIGHTING & COLOUR:

• Lighting colours changing on close-up.
• Different coloured blurred light, sense of nothing being definitive.

my media

MY MEDIA:

TV - Arrested Development, Friends, Will & Grace, The Office, Green Wing, Downton Abbey, Fawlty Towers, Two and a half men, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, Castle

FILMS - Inception, Despicable Me, Men in Black, The Hurt Locker, Harry Potter, The Italian Job, The Pink Panther, Fight Club, Little Miss Sunshine

MUSIC - James Vincent Mcmorrow, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Ben Howard, Lliane La Havas, The Smiths, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bob Marley, UB40, Coldplay, Of Monsters and Men, Alabama Shakes, The Shins

RADIO - Radio 5 live sports extra

WEBSITES - Youtube, Facebook

GAMES - Mario Bros, Mario Kart

PRESS - The Week, The Sunday Times, BBC News