credits ordering, timings and style individual detailed anlysis of 3 opening credits sequences (2 must be Thriller)

Shutter Island opening credits (analysis)
the credits are a dark red, which often connotes and is associated with danger or bloodshed. the credits flicker flash when they appear, they also go in-between focus and blur as if someone is struggling to see or suffering from a physiological trauma which links in with the films plot as the main character (Leonardo Dicaprio) investigates the disappearance of a murderer who has escaped from psychiatric hospital located on an island. the dim lighting of the prison cells in the first shot make the credits difficult to read, and in the second shot in which the shot spins around a spiral staircase your attention is immersed in the film as you have to use a lot of concentration to read the credits as well as taking in the shots. Interestingly we get the creator of the film, the producers and screenplay in the credits first before any of the main actors are mentioned. the style of the credits being obscure and flashing away quiet quickly is very similar to Se7en's opening credits which indicates themes of the film i.e. mental illness (psychologically not stable) and this use of credits has a very mysterious eerie impact on the audience, they become more immersed and engaged with the film as a result of the way the credits appear. The white font implies a more neutral mood, the font doesn’t imply any danger, and it’s much safer and stable.

at 0.13 seconds the credits change; whilst they are still the same font they are white instead of red, and the shots that are playing out with them are less distracting and make these credits much easier to read, the events happening in the foreground in comparison to the spiral staircase shot are much more simple, the shot isn’t a busy. As an audience we start asking questions; who does that hand belong to and why are they lifting a tile enigma codes (questions) like this help to achieve a sense of mystery and effectively keep the audience intrigued

at 0.29 the credits of the actors start to appear, each actors credit has a separate shot i.e. Ben Kinsley’s shot appears to be a close up of a chair near a fire place, whereas after a black out Leonardo Dicaprios credits appear next to a new shot; a foot pressing down on a gun then pushing it away. Mark buffalos credit is alongside a dark night outside with snow. Arguably it could be said that each shot indicates something about the actors character and what they are associated with and significance they have later on in the film ( the gun plays an important role in Dicaprios character).

During the music credit (Robbie Robertson) the shot is black, however we start getting clearer glimpses (becomes more noticeable) of possibly a film reel or flickers of words (which has been done almost throughout the opening sequence) being played and the reel becomes less faded and becomes more concentrated.

At 0.53 there is an establishing shot of an island shortly followed by the films name in the Credits 'shutter island'. The font is the same as the previous credits but much larger (to signify importance) and has gone back to the dark red colour, which evokes a sense of danger. The shot quickly zeroes in on the words until it passes through the circle of the R which is followed by a blackout. The way it quickly zooms in on the words suggests that’s where the film is taking us and presumably the establishing shot of the island implies that this is the location which the film is based around and where key events will take place.

Music inspirations for the Pursuant

http://youtu.be/lwLy8OoaBic

we looked at a few film soundtracks including Sinister, but in the end we decided that Sinisters soundtrack was too dark and wouldnt portray the right kind of mood which w wanted to establish in the opening 2 minutes of Our thriller.
we found a Composer we realy liked named Brian Eno.





 whilst his music from his album Calcium Needles was quite eerie and strange, it had the right kind of sound that we think would effectively portray our film in the correct light. unfortunately we couldn't use the track we want 'complex heaven' due to copyright infringement which prohibited us from placing the music on the video, as it was likely that when we uploaded it to youtube, it would be taken down because of copyright.
Despite this setback, we used 'complex heaven' as our main influence and we started seraching for songs on sound cloud and incompetech were we could access and use songs because they weren't owned by a record label or copyright. we finally decided to go with a track we found on incompetech called Night of Chaos. we chose this as it had similar elements to Brian Enos 'complex heaven' which worked very well with our opening.

How is One Hour Photo established as a thriller (silent watch) - opening two minutes only.

In the opening credits of One Hour Photo the font is bright and bold with semi-continuous flashes. this is used by director Mark Romanek to show that a simple thing like photos being processed which will prove to be the main story line of how the film progresses can have physiological assets. I first watched this film opening in silence to analyse in more detail the other things in the shot. when the title 'One Hour Photo' comes onto the screen there are 3 pounding flashes which can represent the illusion the flashes cause and the quick blinking what the reader then does. it can also relate to a heartbeat and a increase in tension. in the first establishing shot we see a camera. typically with a red button to represent danger but also now the realization that along with the title the topic of cameras is likely to play a forefront in the plot. coming down in shutters to aid tension build up a man appears who we appear to be posing for a prison admittance picture. this in turn is introducing us to Robin Williams (the main antagonist) and forebodes what is going to happen once the film starts. The shot then cuts to a camera watching Robin Williams and a double sided mirror looking through to the room he is in. this therefore enforces the realization that he is under high security and he is a dangerous person to the outside world.

implications in the first 2 minutes of a thriller film

Implications in the first 2 mins of a Thriller film (Isabelle smith)

The first 2 minutes of a film has many implications on the film as a whole; a mood needs to be created, a narrative needs to be established as well as a strong opening can all be important as a hook to engage the audience. If people aren’t intrigued or gripped by the opening it can have an effect of people having a more negative opinion of the film overall, so the opening to minutes is vital as it establishes certain key themes and indicates what kind of film this is going to be (genre).

Panic room: the first 2 minutes is solely the opening credits in the background of New York City, while this could be considered as not particularly gripping, it is done in a way which sets the mood and tone predominately through sound and the films score. In the opening indents there is a sound of thunder as if a storm is brewing, as well as this sound unnerving the audience it could be argued foreshadows later events in the film. The score (by Howard Shore) is important as most of the pieces follows a similar sort of pattern to the overture in the opening credits; it begins with a double bass playing a very minor, deep base tune, so the audience begin to feel more unsettled and are made more aware of the tone of the film and an implication that something unpleasant or bad is on the brink of occurring. This is reiterated by the sound of police sirens suggesting that crime is one of the key themes. The music gets noticeably more in the minor key as it slowly pans across Jodie Foster’s name (which is in white bold text and appears to be a part of the one of the cities buildings signs)which signifies her importance, and may also suggest that she is in danger. Not long after this we see the film title which appears to be floating in the city among the buildings as soon as it cuts to Kristen Stewarts name the music’s pace increases dramatically it has a much more staccato pace it is much shorter and faster which successfully keeps you on edge and arguably it could be foreshadowing the theme claustrophobia, the fear of being trapped. The music reflects this theme by the increasing intensity of the music, it becomes more jerky and a tapping begins and gets faster (possibly mimicking the increasing heartbeat). The implications of the opening are effective in foreshadowing like feeling uncomfortable (e.g. when Kristen and Jodie are hiding in the panic room from the criminals) later events and keeping the audience intrigued by the unnerving sounds and music  and the new York city setting and therefore would have a more positive opinion of the film as a whole as openings are often crucial in setting up ideas, key themes and symbolism in the film so when done effectively has the implication of making the rest of the film more engaging as it relates to the start of the film.

Inception: the opening of the film has lots of implications on the rest of the film as we don’t really understand at this point why certain things or people are there as we are not aware of what significance they carry yet. This leads us to asking a lot of questions in our head, the mystery arguably helps us to pay attention to what’s going on in the opening 2 minutes as we are trying to engage ourselves to understand what it all means. The film begins with brass music, its very deep and increases in pitch and intensity throughout the company idents. The opening shot is an extreme close-up of some strong waves smashing up against rocks, the music previous to this reflects the wave’s strength and power, the fact that the music has stopped when the waves are shown could imply that a harsh sea storm has just passed. The next shot leaves us asking questions in our head;  an extreme close-up of Leonardo Dicaprio swept up from the sea, we are intrigued as we want to know how he got there. It then cuts to two young children playing and laughing on the beach, the shot is slowed down and the shouts and cries sound echoic almost as if they are not there, this is also reiterated when Dicaprio tries to reach out his hand to them whist still on the ground which suggests that he cannot reach them in the sense that they are fictional and that they are significant to Dicaprios character. When he closes his eyes this is foreshadowing later events ‘ the dream within a dream’ theme. Significant objects are shown in the opening 2 minutes which implies that they will be important to the narrative later on. The spinning top for example; the man who has taken Dicaprio to his house is intrigued by it, “I've seen one of these before” which connotes that is more than just a regular spinning top and speaks about it as if it is of great rarity. The opening in Inception whilst unclear is very intriguing as it helps us identify narrative and has the implication of gripping us and helping us understand later events as they are foreshadowed in the opening.

How is Breaking Bad established as a thriller

Breaking Bad was written by Vince Gilligan who was already know for his writing of gritty thrillers such as the 'lone gunman'. Breaking Bad however is not a film, yet there are significant elements taken from thriller films that Vince Gilligan has incorporated into a 50 minute per episode TV series. At the start of every Breaking Bad episode regardless of importance there is two minutes that distinguish the mood in which the episode is to revolve around. for example there is an episode that starts with a teddy bear floating in a swimming pool, foreboding the final moments of the episode in which a plane crashes and the bear falls from the plane and into the main protagonists swimming pool. In this particular scene there is High pitched screaming noise which further forebodes the latter events but also is painful to listen to and therefore further illustrate Breaking Bad as gritty thriller. The music in Breaking Bad offers a key convention that are found in all thriller films as it is erratic and immediately puts you on edge. The main story is about a chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and cooks crystal meth in order to provide for his family. Another thriller convention apparent in Breaking Bad is the idea that the main protagonist 'Walter White' is visible within the first two minutes of the first episode. Gilligan also uses periodic table elements to fit into the cast members names. The idea of science and symbols also contribute to a psychological aspect of thriller films and this method is used in many thriller films including 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Se7en'.