Thriller Opening 3 -Hostage - Florent Siri, 2005 (Crime Thriller)

Camera
The opening title sequence of Hostage includes Long Shots of the titles and an establishing shot of a city. These Long Shots of the beginning of the sequence titles are used so that the audience can see the titles clearly. The establish shot of the city is used to help to set the scene and the location for the film. It helps the audience to establish the setting and helps them engage with what is going on. This is also done to validate the location of which the movie will be set in. 
The camera pans and tilts around the city at various angles of buildings using still shots, tilting down at Mid Shots of buildings. This reinforces the location of where the film is set and continues to set the scene. 
As the main title appears on screen the camera is at a Birds Eye View shot of the city, it then moves onto a Low Angle of the city, consequently giving it a sense of power and dominance. Finally the camera zooms in and out of the city guiding the audience around it. The camera tilts, pans and zooms out of still frame shots. This allows the audience to engage with what is going on in the frame.


Editing
Fades, wipes and cuts are used in the editing of this title sequence. The sequence mostly uses cuts which help create continuity. Wipes are sometimes used in this sequence in order to juxtapose scenes and the fades in the editing are used to open the sequence and introduce the audience to the setting, location and atmosphere of the movie.


Sound
The non-diegetic sound used is eerie, spooky and dramatic this is done to create a suspicious atmosphere and builds up tension throughout the audience. It starts off quite slow and steady at the beginning before gradually getting faster and louder before what sounds like symbols are used to make a clashing sound. After that it continues for a bit before it comes to a halt and dialogue of a man shouting starts with just a continuous high pitch sound playing throughout and the end progresses. This creates tension and appears to make the title sequence more dramatic and manic. The title sequence is heavily dependant on the background music to help create tension and a certain atmosphere for the film. There are some ambient sounds used through out the title sequence such as; guns clicking, a helicopter flying and dialogue of a man shouting.


Mise-en-scene (props, costume, setting, lighting, colour)
Red, white and black are the predominant colours used in this title sequence. The red connotes danger blood and impulse. The white signifies innocence and purity, which is opposed by the red and the black connotes evil, death mystery and fear. These are similar colours used to Sin City. The black in the title sequence creates a low lighting hence imposing the idea of mystery. Props such as guns, police and people with guns
etc are used to reinforce that the thriller is a crime thriller. The main focus on the mise-en-scene is guns; this highlights the themes of death and danger.


Special Effects
CGI animations of the city have been used during this title sequence. The cityscape has been created via CGI in order to give the film a more graphical and game like appearance. Also there is a montage used, which appears to be of still images.


Titles
Titles have been superimposed upon the buildings within the city and on various other objects. The reason behind the idea of having the superimposed titles placed on buildings etc could be to show the characters professions and to establish where they are located in the city, showing how each of them links in some way.

Thriller Opening 2 - Sin City- Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez 2005 (Romantic Thriller)

Camera
The director uses mainly mid-shots and close ups in the opening of Sin City in order to help the audience relate to the characters. The camera zooms in on characters faces when they are talking to each other also, showing that they are becoming closer. A typical convention of a romantic thriller, is having a relationship that is confusing and complex and having one of the people within the relationship being murdered. The close-up camera shots helped to show this by making it clear that there is a connection between the male and female character in this title sequence. The director also made it imperceptible that he was going to kill her, as he used a close up of the two of them smiling at each other to portray that they have a good relationship and are happy with each other and then all the audience hears is a gunshot which completely contradicts what has just been shown. This keeps the audience engaged and gripped as they want to find out more about what is going to happen.


Editing
The speed of editing is slow in the opening sequence, which creates a relaxed atmosphere and represents a sensual atmosphere between the man and woman, it shows that they are linked in some way and are having a relationship as their movements appear calm and leisurely. This is a juxtaposition to the incident that later takes place in the scene -where the woman is shot by her supposed lover. This effect is used in order to build up tension and create suspense to keep the audience engaged and interested by keeping them unsuspecting and in the dark about what is about to happen in the upcoming scene. By having a relaxed and calm atmosphere it makes the audience unsuspecting and unaware that anything bad is about to take place. This creates more of a sudden shock when the man shoots the woman, adding mystery to this thriller. The slow pace editing helps with the typical romantic thriller as it builds tension between the two characters and the atmosphere around them. They are in a tranquil, silent and secluded area, which looks onto a view of the city. This makes the opening more mysterious and unsuspicious.

Also in the editing the director cleverly uses a combination of colour such as; red, white and black throughout the opening extract. The setting is mainly in monotones, such black and white, with a hint of grey, therefore allowing the red to be used in order to show importance. Another example of using colour to highlight and signify importance is when the woman’s eyes light up in green when the man is talking about them and looking into them. The red is symbolic of passion and love, whereas the green is symbolic of envy and evil.

During the opening scenes black and white images of people have been used to help the audience closely identify who the main characters are and the reaction of the two characters and how the narrative will develop throughout the film. A bright light is used behind the two main characters as the man walks into the scene to talk to the woman, the director has used this to emphasize where the action is taking place and to light up the scene to show contrasts between the dark surrounds and the two people. This could represent that when they are together they “light each other up.” It has also been used to set the scene and allow the audience to identify the setting and connect to the lights that are around the location, which are the building and the city.


Sound
The only music used in the opening of Sin City is a diegetic sound of a saxophone in the background which we could say could have been used for a variety of different reasons. Firstly because it creates a calm, slow and romantic sort of atmosphere through the use of the jazz tones that is reinforced by the two people coming together; we could say that it is used to set the scene and emphasize the sensual atmosphere between the man and woman. We could also assume that it is coming from a party as both the man and woman are dressed very formal and posh so we could assume that they have just walked away from a party out onto a balcony. The sound is also used to establish the location, which is America. This is reinforced by the spoken dialogue of the American accents that both characters have. As the sound of the background music slowly fades it mirrors the narrative of what the man is feeling. When the music is loud it shows how he is close to her and as it fades away it shows the audience how he is letting go of her slowly and is pulling himself away from her and the feelings he has from her.

Non-digetic sound is also used in the form of spoken dialogue by the male protagonist. The director has used this in order to set the scene, create a certain atmosphere and so that we see the narrative from his perspective. It shows that he is in control and it is him who is telling the story. The non-diegetic sound of the male characters thoughts instantly captures the audience’s attention and helps them to relate to his character.

Diegetic sound is also used for thunder and rain which is a typical convention in thrillers to create tension and build mystery by setting the scene. Similarly diegetic sound of his footsteps is used to make it seem like he is creeping up on her. The diegetic sound of the lighter being lit and the small tick sound it makes adds the setting of the scene and reinforces the idea that they are in a peaceful and quiet place. The sounds of the thunder and rain appear before he is to shoot the women could suggest that the director is trying to show that something bad is about to happen. This creates suspense and mystery.

Sound is a huge part in this title sequence as it is used to establish that this film is a romantic thriller. It uses narration to help the audience to connect to the male character, symbolizing that he is most important.


Mise-en-scene
The women character is wearing a bright red dress and red lipstick, whilst the rest of the scene is set in black and white. The red connotes meanings of danger, love, passion and blood, which is symbolic towards the end of the extract. The fact that it is set in black and white could suggest that it is a memory, By the woman’s dress and lips being red it could represent she is the mans lover, but then later on when she is shot it could represent blood. Signifiers of her death include her shivering at the beginning of the extract to show she is weak and venerable and her black make up on her nails and eyes. Both the characters in the scene are wearing very formal, posh and sophisticated clothes which could suggest that they have come form a part or dinner etc and it seems that they are the only people that are moving in the scene and the surroundings. Therefore the director has used this to focus the attention of the scene rather than the location/setting of the film, which soon becomes clear by the uses of the characters American accents and also becomes comprehensible towards the end when a long shot when panning and tracking camera shots are used to establish the setting and location.


Special Effects
CGI and animation is used throughout the opening extract with the intention of building tension and also to develop the narrative of the story. The director has used this to freeze certain images to help the audience to connect with them.


Titles
No text appears in this opening title sequence, instead the narrative of the story starts straight away in the form of the male character expressing his thoughts and feelings to verify the type of film it is and immediately attracts the audience into relating to the characters.
By having the film start with a memory and getting straight to the narrative it immediately engages the audience as they know they have to watch it in order to understand and relate to the rest of the upcoming film. By characters all ready being introduced and a murder taking place this immediately creating confusion and suspense, this builds the narrative. This is a cleaver idea as most films start with the production teams names and the company that has produced it etc coming in and out of the opening scene, whereas this director has got straight to the story instead which straight away introduces the story and creates the suspense and mystery.

Thriller Opening 1 -Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock, 1960 (Horror Thriller)

Camera
Throughout the opening credits there is not much movement of the camera, mainly Long Shots
are used
and the camera appears to stay in one place. Similarly the camera angle does not change also. This allows the audience to clearly see all the titles. The credits are presented to the audience straight in front of them. Additionally the titles are centralized in each shot. The director could have chosen to do this in order to add emphasis to the titles by focusing them in the centre and to draw the audience’s attention to them. The meaning that can be interpreted from the extract links to the animation and graphics.


Editing
The editing is at a slow speed at the start and gradually increases throughout. The title sequence includes mostly short takes with straight cuts, but wipes are also used. The speed of editing matches the non-diegetic sound; as the music’s pitch the speed of the editing increases with it. The use of the non-diegtic sound mixed with the pace of editing effectively creates suspense and tension. This is a common convention know to be linked with Thrillers as from this the audience are able to establish the genre of the media text. This means that they will have defined their certain ideas about what to expect from a film from the thriller genre. Accordingly the director has immediately influenced the audience’s ideas and expectations from the text.


Sound
The sound is predominantly high pitched throughout the title sequence and there is no diegetic sound present at all. The non-diegetic music used is high-pitched string instruments, mostly violins that help to establish the setting, worrying atmosphere and the time period from which the thriller is from, as it is common of older thrillers to have instrumental music as non-diegetic sound. The string instruments in the title sequence help to create a dramatic, apprehensive mood, consequently causing anticipation and tension for the audience. In conclusion the he sound successfully creates suspense and again links back to editing to create pace.


Mise-en-scene (props, costume, setting, lighting, colour)
The colours used are mainly black white and grey, which could relate back to the time period in which the film was made. The white could be a connotation of purity and the black could represent darkness. The title sequence consists of straight black and grey lines appearing on the screen from the right going across to the left with white titles. The links interlink smoothly however the titles themselves do not align with the actual lines.


Special Effects
The special effects included in this title sequence are the grey and black animated lines and the animated titles that move in and out of the lines in order to help create confusion and ambiguity. The director uses symbolic images in order to create mystery and keep the text slightly ambiguous so that the audience can interpret meanings of it themselves which helps to keep the engaged with the text, rather than use iconic images which would suggest what the text is about and give more detail about the film. The director wants to keep the audience thinking for themselves.


Titles
The colours chosen for the titles is white titles on black background and the text is in an informal font. The positioning of them appears to be centralized in the all of the shots, this is done in order to show their importance. However the text is sometimes not slanted and not straight and comes into shot from all angles. The colour white has connotations of purity and innocence and the colour black of evil, darkness and bad things. The text of the title “Psycho” in the opening title sequence is distorted and misshaped. The movement of the text and skewed placement has been done to reinforce confusion.

What is a Thriller?

Genre is a form of categorization in which media texts fall into. These are decided by the common conventions and narrative in which a certain type of text entails. We can use the idea of genre to gain information on the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller. This genre is incredibly large and due to this has a large number of sub genres, and so thrillers often overlap with pieces of work produced in other genres; mysteries, for example, are often thrillers. As a result of this it is rare to find a text singularly categorized as just a Thriller. This is often because of disagreements over the classification as a genre.

Thrillers often fit into one or more categories of genre. These are often know as sub-genres or hybrids - there are suspense-thrillers, action- or adventure- thrillers, sci-fi and supernatural thrillers (such as Alien (1979)), crime-caper thrillers (such as The French Connection (1971)), western-thrillers (such as High Noon (1952)), film-noir thrillers (such as Double Indemnity (1944)), even romantic comedy-thrillers (such as Safety Last (1923)). One long-established thriller genre is the spy thriller, featuring an often heroic and dashing spy who must confront whichever enemy happens to be popular at the moment.


A Thriller is a type of film known to endorse intense excitement and suspense. It has a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation and uncertainty. The anxiety and the idea of the unknown create a nerve-wracking tension throughout the film. Conventions of a thriller genre include the: narrative, characters, locations, use of technical codes and semiotics. The main convention and aim across all types of thriller is to give the audience ‘thrills’ and excitement. The director does this by creating suspense and tension to increase adrenaline levels and hence as a result the audience is left cliff-hanging, ‘on the edge of their seats’ leaving them wanting more and to continue watching.


If the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills. Thrillers typically involve sudden plot twists that create suspense and tension and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax by keeping people unsure about what is going to happen. The tension usually arises when the main character(s) is positioned in a dangerous situation or an escape from something threatening.

Life itself is threatened in some thriller films, usually because the protagonist is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers often involve characters which are in conflict with each other, and the menace “villain / bad person ”is often dark, mysterious and shadowy and is often not seen until the climax.

Practice Animatic

On Thursday 23rd October we did our practice animatic. I think that overall this exercise went fairly well. 

The things that worked well in out practice animatic were firstly the planning and the storyboarding as i think we worked well as a group to produce this. I also think that the diegetic sound fitted in very well with the all of the images on the screen and were typical sounds used for the thriller genre, therefore reinforcing it. The pace of editing went very well and worked well with the sound and images in the shot because the editing was quite fast paced and mirrored what was happening on the screen, for that reason it once again reinforced the genre. In addition the way in which we recreated the camera in order to add a more realistic effect worked very well and looked very real and believable also, particularly in the panning shots. 

However our animatic was not perfect and in order to improve our animatic we could do the following things; firstly we could improve our quality of images as they were not drawn to a very high standard and therefore some became quite unclear in meaning. To improve them we could draw neater and in more detail. In addition to this we could research key storyboard techniques and notations such as directional arrows so that it is easier and clearer for the audience to understand what is going on in the shot. As well as this we could also improve the quality of  photographing the images a bit more because they were very blurry, slightly off colour and overall to a fairly low quality. To improve this we could have used a scanner to scan the pictures onto the laptop instead of using a digital camera to photograph them, as this will make our pictures much clearer. By doing this it will also make it much easier to crop the photos to size and will remove any writing and notes around the frame.

To improve our animatic even further we could have included some parallel non-diegetic sound, also known as  background music as this would have added to the suspense and tension in order to engage and involve the audience. Non-diegetic sound is a common convention of the thriller genre and so thus tied in perfectly with both the genre and the editing.