AOB2; analysis of six thriller openings

Analyse 6 openings by Thursday 20th December. Bullet point:

• Codes and conventions
• How suspense and enigma are conveyed
• Titles?
• Narrative construction and storyline/plot
• Music/soundtrack
• Camerawork
• Editing techniques and pace
• Setting
• Characters

The Dark Knight 
The film starts with the maker of the film logo 'warner bros picture' and then runs through a few pages of a comic book. Mise en scene is established immediately as the camera pans over the rooftops of a busy American city, possibly New York. The camera then zooms in towards the windows of a building where we see a man inside wearing a mask who smashes one of the windows. This sound is loud and impacts on the audience, grabbing their attention. He proceeds to shoot a zip wire across to another building. This immediately grabs the attention of the viewers. Then the camera shoots to do a zoom in of an identical mask that someone is holding who is waiting for someone. Quietly a vehicle pick him up and just as he is getting in, the camera shoots back to the man getting ready on the zip wire. The camera does an overhead shot of the two men going across. Then the camera shoots back to the car with guys wearing the same style mask and you become aware they must be part of the same group. They talk about shares they are going to take when they rob a bank, believing they will all get a share. While this is going on, there is tense thrilling music goes on in the background. The music gets quieter as they run into the bank and start shooting and scaring people. You can hear their foot steps as they run in and the sound of people screaming as bullets go off. Then the camera shoots back to the other man who is messing around with the security wires. The music starts to get louder as the man sorting the wires is shot. You hear voices in the background to the tense music. 

Se7en
The film starts with the opening credits over a moving image. It is very spooky and makes the audience freak out at the sight of edgy, actors names in white writing on a black background. The spooky music then gets louder. No plot is given away at this point but there are lots of quick, dark images of razor blades, photo negatives and paper cuttings to increase the suspense. In one room, there is a close up of someone sewing both edges of a page together and crossing off names and faces with a black felt tip pen. At the end of the theme tune you hear something like 'you get me closer to die'. 

Skyfall
The credits start when Bond has just been shot and is drowning, music at the very start is very hard hitting then the softer Adele music starts. Black and white imagery contrasts and other colours contrast, there is a mix of sea stuff, and shots of a grave yard adds to the tension and dramatic atmosphere. There is a link between visual and music as the glass shatters.

Inception
The film opens with tense music and subtitles. Everything feels very uneasy and you know something is wrong. It is dark but the outline of objects are lit up to keep you guessing what is going on. We hear voices talking about how the brain works when dreaming. Then things start shaking and you know something is going to happen. There is a clock ticking and then the setting jumps as a bomb goes off, as if the ticking clock was a countdown to the bomb going off. 

The Fast and the Furious 
The film starts with an establishing shot of the cars getting ready to drag race at night and then cuts to the back of the revving cars with flames streaming out of the exhausts. At this point we can really see how much the cars are fast and furious. The camera moves through each of the cars as the drivers line up ready to race. There is a large crowd of people cheering. The camera then cuts to an inside view of the car engine working. The camera moves through the engine very quickly to pull you right into the action as the cars suddenly start racing. There is no music at this point, just the loud roar of the car engines. 

Triple X
The film starts with the film title xXx, then the camera goes to a night scene with light coming through the building, then to a foot shot of a man walking towards a corner of an important looking building. The camera does an over head view of the man walking and then a face shot of him walking down a corridor as if he is looking for someone. Two people are hiding from him who then jump on him and beat him up. They rob an object from him and we realise that this is of some importance. One of the robbers tries a door and can get though, the other tries another door and can't get in. The camera then follows the man that went through the door as he comes into a room where a rock band is performing to a huge crowd. He seems to be looking for someone. After 2 1/2 minutes of the opening, the music goes quiet but there is still some sound it wants you to focus on as the camera shot pinpoints someone. There is some spooky horror heavy metal music playing which makes the audience feel uneasy.