Analysis of opening sequences of 3-4 films in the Thriller Genre

TASK 2
Analysis of opening sequences of 3-4 films in this genre. Use these questions to help you:

• How does this opening sequence establish the key generic codes and conventions?
• Does this sequence meet your expectations of a typical opening sequence from this genre? Explain why or why not?
• What clues are given about the narrative?
• If there are characters at this point, do they follow the typical features of characters from this genre or not?
• Write about how people and places are represented in this sequence? Do they follow or subvert genre conventions? Explain.
• How is music used? How does this reflect the genre?
• How are titles used? How does this reflect the genre?



Perfect Stranger:

At the beginning of the scene the movie starts with black screen with just the music playing. The music is eerie this makes the audience want to continue watching. After the blackout the film starts with zooming out of an extreme close up of an eye, to a close up of the eye. This shot instantly draws the viewers in. After it has zoomed out of the eye, it moves onto a close up of Rowena Price (Played by: Halle Berry). This directly causes the audience to think weather or not she is the antagonist or protagonist. Making the audience confused, and adds to this mystery of the thriller genre movies.

The sequence meets my expectations as a typical opening of a thriller film because with the opening two shots being of an eye being zoomed out from and a close up of Rowena Price (Halle Berry). Just these two scenes have already made me feel confused about weather or not she is a bad guy or the good guy. This creates mystery and inigma for the audiences, and intices them to continue watching to find out the real indentity of Rowena Price.

The clues start from the first two scenes again. With them showing the eye then to the woman, making the audience think how are the eye and person related, what inside meaning do the mean, and how the character will be protrayed during the length of the film. From the opening two scenes the audience could think that Halle Berry is playing an antagonist of the film, however the scenes after this confuse the audience because.

During the short sequence of an opening we do not see many people or locations introduced into the film. From what we have seen (Rowena Price) adds to the mystery of the film and the genre. We are not introduced to any locations except the bathroom she is standing in, this makes the audience confused and again adding to the mystery of the film.

We have only been introduced to one character at this point in the film. The character Rowena Price follows typical features of a character because the audience doesn’t know much about her, adding to the mystery of the film.

They use music at the beginning when showing the eye to entice the audience to continue watching, and to follow on the music and see where the movie is going to. The music is eerie this makes the audience want to continue watching.

Phone Booth:

In the opening sequence this film instantly establishes the key generic codes and conventions of a thriller movie. The first real shot we see is local areas around New York City. With this there is a narative talking about several phone booth scattered around the city, making the audience confused as to why the narrative is speaking of the booth, then stating “2 blocks away meet the man who will be the last user of the booth”. Making the audience confused and wonder what is going to happen, adding to the mystery of the genre. This is a key convention of a thriller genre because its keeping most of the story quiet, giving hardly anything away to the audience, this entices them to continue watching.

When talking about the phone booths the music changes to eerie, giving off the impression that something is up, making the audience want to watch and listen more to see what is going to happen to the character played by Colin Farrell.

During the short opening sequence we are not introduced to many locations, only seeing various locations around New York where phone booths are situated, adding to the eerie atmosphere given off to the audience.

The music at the beginning of the film is quite a fast pace, however when showing the phone booths the music gets slow and has a eerie effect to it, making the audience want to watch more finding out the mystery added to this introduction.