Different types of thriller openings

 Intertextuality is a term used to describe films that borrow visual or audio elements from another film in the way that the audience will recognise and if they do they will understand clearly the film borrowing the elements. Films do this through either camera-work, mise-en-scene, characters and editing. In class we have identified a number of films that use intertextuality successfully.

For instance The Stepfather has successfully taken scenes and shots from Psycho the original. 

 

On the right image we can see that The Stepfather has clearly borrowed the visual elements such as the background setting: the door behind is open and is white, white walls. This is a mid shot to emphasise the killers intention of murdering their victims and for it to appear as if the audience is in the victim's position. The difference between the two is that The Stepfather antagonist's identity is exposed and the audience can see his facial expression whereas in Psycho it is hidden. In my opinion this is because of different plots and in Psycho it adds more fear because the audience cannot see the killers face.

 

 In Psycho (left) this is the scene when the women is stabbed to death and as she falls she rips the shower curtains and it falls down with her as well.The fall of the curtains emphasises her affliction as she is hunger to protect herself from the killer. The stepfather has borrowed the idea of the shower curtains breaking and the close up. 

 

The difference between the images is that in Psycho the mid shot shot shows the victim more to the right and a huge space on the left. And The stepfather shows the killer on the centre. The similarity is that both are inclined onto a white wall in agony and we can tell this because of their facial expressions.

Different types of film openings

There are various types of film openings for example, narrative, trainspotting, discrete and title over black screens.

Narrative film openings set the scene and introduces the characters and their situation by giving the background information to the audience. The reason for this is to make the plot easier to understand. Camera shots, editing and sound are used to do this. An example of a narrative film would be The Shining.

This film opens with a car journey at a rural and isolated place. The music is tense which puts more emphasis on the uneasy feeling about the film making the audience doubtful. Due to the voiceover monologue by the protagonist the audience gets a sense of his personality which makes it easier to engage because the audience is aware right from the start.

Secondly, trainspotting film opening is when there is a voiceover and multiple scenes give us the sense of the chracter's life. An example of this would be Choose life.

The voiceover introduces us to the protagonist's life as well as the other characters.

 



Thirdly,  the title over black screens opening is like a separate film. This is when the title credits are shown separately from the film and completely unrelated to it. The font is also stylised differently to make it look dramatic and on black background to have that old-fashion look.  It shows the plot of the story however it still does not answer the audience's questions. In fact, this opening sequence is the hardest to make but is great because after we have watched the film it feels as if we can place the 'pieces' into their place. Seven is an example of this.

Seven uses sound really well to go with the film, it is disturbing and rapid making the audience feel like there are many events happening in the film. The film has a old and distorted effect. It uses close-ups of the hand and photographs to highlight what the person is doing. The props are really well dominated.

The discrete film opening sets up the mood and expectations of the film, it does this through sound, setting and introduction of the character.  Donnie Darko is an example of this.

I think that all the different types of film openings would be a great influence on my film opening because then it would follow a certain structure and it would be a way to engage with the audience. I think that I prefer the title over black screen because it appeals best to me