Thriller opening scenes

In order to ensure that we have utilized the best possible techniques for our thriller opening I decided to analyse a few thriller openings so as to gain inspiration for our own product:

This is the opening for David Fincher's American psychological thriller film Seven:

In this particular opening, Fincher uses a very stylized and eerie theme to convey different thoughts and emotions throughout the opening. For example, he uses quick, jolting cuts which speed up as the titles go on creating tension and suspense for the rest of the film.

Also, Fincher uses the lighting in this opening to convey a sense of danger and seriousness, this is as most of the shots are shot indoors using low key lighting, setting a dull and suspicious feel which is emulated throughout the rest of the movie.

Fincher also uses sound in the opening to create tension. At the beginning of the clip, the beat and rhythm of the soundtrack is slow and ominous at the start, however, as the sequence goes on it speeds up and intensifies creating a tense and chilling atmosphere for the audience preparing them for the rest of the movie and setting the tone of Fincher's film early on. In our product, we tried to emulate Fincher and uses a slow soundtrack at the beginning of our opening and as we progressed the music we used was a higher paced beat which continually builds up tension for the rest of the opening.

Another technique we attempted to emulate from Fincher was the use of text in the opening. As the opening is itself, the text used in Seven's title sequence is very stylized and is useful in setting the tone and atmosphere for the movie. For example, the text is shown in the sequence as very erratic and nerving creating a strong sense of unease and tension. In our own opening, at the beginning of the sequence, to match the soundtrack, we had our text slowly fade into shot as we didn't want a fast paced and tense start at the beginning as we were aiming for the tension to be slowly built up over the opening.

This is the opening to Christopher Nolan's superhero action thriller the Dark Knight Rises:

This opening is effective because Nolan thrusts his audience straight into the action, instantly generating suspense for the audience. One particular technique Nolan uses like Fincher is the soundtrack. However, unlike Fincher, Nolan starts straight off with a fast paced tense soundtrack which constantly builds as the scene goes on only slowing when Bane's character is unveiled, showing that this is a dramatic and important moment in the movie. When the scene climaxes and the plane the interrogators are on is instantly and brutally attacked the music climaxes and becomes much louder. This satisfies the audience's built up tension and suspense and provides an effective and powerful moment when the situation of the scene completely changes and the interrogators who are initially shown as the powerful figures of the scene are overturned by Bane's henchmen. 

Also, while the soundtrack throughout the vast majority of the scene is fast paced and intense, in the closing stage of the scene while Bane is hooking himself and his captive to the larger plane the music is building up to when Bane activates the explosives on the plane and two characters are left suspended in mid air high above the ground. At this point, the music stops completely and only the diegetic sound of the wind and the plane falling can be heard. This intensifies the danger the captive of Bane is and creates further suspense for the audience. We attempted to use this technique in our thriller opening when the chaser in the scene, slowly turns round the corner while the soundtrack in the back-similar to the soundtrack in Nolan's opening- is fast paced and building up to a climax, and when the chaser turns the corner the soundtrack stops alleviating the suspense and tension built up in the scene.

This is the soundtrack used in the opening to the Dark Knight Rises, as it is fast paced and steadily builds as it goes on it creates tension and suspense for the events that come later in the scene. We have tried to use a similar method with our soundtrack.

As well as the soundtrack in the scene, Nolan uses camera work to make the audience feel like they are right in the action, this is important in creating suspense in the audience as they feel like they are in amongst the danger. Nolan does this by using a hand held camera to give the scene a more chaotic look, a technique we used in our opening to ensure the audience felt as if they are close to the action.