This front cover of the film ‘Taken’ shows straight away that it is going to be some sort of thriller with the colours that has been used on it. The dark black colours connote that something bad is going to happen in the film and also the red colours connote with danger and love so there could be some sort of love in the film as well, but the light in the distance displays that something good will happen – light at the end of the tunnel. The gun held in his hand looks as if he is trying to hide it so there is secretive stuff happening, but the gun presents that the film is going to have action in it. The title ‘Taken’ is put down as if it has been stamped, then it is stamped on him. The camera angle is facing slightly higher facing him to display that he is the hero but then also a bad person as well where he is hidden in the shadows and showing on half his identity. This front cover for the film ‘Case 39’ shows from the colours and facial expressions that it is going to be some sort of thriller. The way that the lady and child is cuddled up together hidden in a corner in the darkness presents that they have a close relationship and that they are in some sort of danger. The light that is coming in towards them looks like a light you would get underneath a door when it is opening – so the door could be opening to get them - but the fog makes it seem that it could be supernatural. This cover for ‘Mirrors’ also shows that it is going to be a thriller because of the picture, colours and the message ‘from the director of The Hills Have Eyes’. The picture shows a face with lots of shadowing to hide the identity of maybe some sort of demon, in the picture the eye also looks like it has blood coming down it which gives the idea of blood having an impact in the film. The title ‘Mirrors’ gives the impression of looking into something bad because of the colour red being the font colour as it connotes with danger and blood. Also knowing that the director of the film also made ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ it also portrays the genre of it being a thriller. This cover is for the film ‘Sixth Sense’ and is a supernatural thriller film. The black theme connotes danger and suspicion which suggests to the audience that the film will be a type of thriller. The man closest to the front – ‘Bruce Willis’ – has shadowing on his face which shows some sort of hiding but he has the same colour as the ‘6’ in the background on his face aswell, which gives the impression to the audience that he could have a connection to the meaning behind the number 6. The shadowed boy that is either coming out of or walking into the number 6 portrays there is also another connection with the boy and the 6 but a different connection to the man because it is a different colour to the 6. The main concept of an opening sequence for a Thriller is to not give any of the story away. Most sequences will only include the actors and actresses' names with a highly tense music, flowing throughout to give the audience a feel of apprehension. An example of this is The Sixth Sense as we have previously analysed in the 8 openings. However, the structure of an opening sequence can vary depending on the sub genre. Directors of a horror thriller want the opening to be 'quiet' as the film will be bursting with excitement and terror. Codes and Conventions included: -Suspense -Intense Excitement -Anticipation -Extreme heighten expectation -Uncertainty - Thrillers can include a theme such as racism or political conflict. For all different kinds of Thrillers, the audience directors would be aiming at is those in groups B to E. Furthermore, focusing on group E, the audience would have to start from the age 12 and older as most thrillers are certificated '12' such as 'The Others' featuring Nicole Kidman. Thrillers can be certificated from 12 to 15 to 18. An example of a 15 certificated thriller is 'Insidiuous' which is a horror as it contains aspects of anxiousness with a hint of brutality. In some cases, Thrillers can be extremely morbid which changes the whole aim of an audience. For example, 'Face/Off' is an action thriller which is specifically for those who are aged 18 and above as the film contains violent and disturbing scences which could scare the young teenagers in group E. 1) At 0:02 we see the film production 'Warner Brothers' however, the logo is not included.
2) At 0:05 we see another film production company who is association with Warner Brothers. 3) At 0:08 another production firm is included. 4) At 0:13 we start to see the actors names with a sort of item which symbolises a casino and gambling. 5) At 0:28 we see a couple more of the actors' names with a gambling association. 6) At 0:44 we see again more actors and associations. 7) At 1:00 we finally see the film title - Ocean's Eleven. 8) From 1:05 to 1:32, we see those who were involved in the productions such as the executive producers, music writers etc. 9) At the end which is 1:33, we see the name of the director. Hammer productions is a film production company who are best known for their Gothic ‘Hammer Horror’ films. Hammer also produced science fictions, thrillers, film noir and comedies. The black background of the logo portrays the horror of the films and the red text connotes danger, blood and love. The lighter coloured letters at the end shows some sort of hand reaching out, this displays horror as it is shadowed so it is hiding and it is grabbing something or someone. Amicus Productions is another horror film production company based at Shepperton Studios. Their films focus mainly on the thriller genre. The logo for this production company shows that it is an old company as the graphics could be more effective and realistic like ‘Hammer Productions’ although the colours do represent a thriller genre film as the red text connotes with blood and the black background connotes with danger as it is usually represented with villains. Inception Inception is an American Science Fiction film based on an event - 'a dream within a dream'. The opening for this film starts off with loud, rhythmic string music with clashes of symbols to perhaps surprise the audience as most title sequences start of quiet and then gradually develop with music. To represent the 'dream within a dream', the editing zooms into one of the credits of the actor's name and into another. For example, the editing was originally fixed on Leonardo DiCaprio and zoomed extremely into the red writing and the appeared 'Ellen Page'. The opening only has two colours - red and black. The red is used to portray to the audience that film could include love which is actually shown in the film between Cobb and his deceased wife. However, it could also present blood and violence which links with the colour black as black conveys mystery. Towards the end of the credits, it 'rewinds' out of the 'dream within a dream' representation and shows the title - Inception. The upbeat, tense music eventually fades into the sound and image of the calm sea which leads to the first scene and also contrasts with each other - excited vs. calm. The Butterfly Effect The Butterfly Effect is a Psychological Thriller based on a young man blocks out harmful memories of significant events of his life. The opening is short and sweet. It begins with a quote associated with butterflies - ''It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon half around the world'' - on a black background for a few seconds until the screen bursts with black, slightly faded butterflies against a white background. The music throughout the opening is soft, delicate and ever so slightly high pitched like a chime which represents the flutters of the butterflies. When the first actor's name is shown - Aston Cutcher - an out focused, black silhouette of a male reaching out shows the audience that Aston Cutcher could possibly play the man reaching out. The camera then switches to the hand reaching out to a silhouette of a woman and as the hand gets closer to the woman, the woman explodes into a swarm of butterflies. Linking back to what the story is about - blocking memories- the butterfly could represent the 'memories' which explains why the woman bursts out into butterflies. At 0:39, the title of the film finally appears, causing the sound to become lighter and softer. Linking back to what the story is about - blocking memories- the butterfly could represent the 'memories'. I Am Legend I Am Legend is a Science Fiction Horror which is a about a plague that kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters. A sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure. The opening title sequence begins with an audio of an interview and no image. The interview is about a female finding the cure to cancer which suggests to the audience that this particular film is set in the future. A quote suddenly appears alongside with a 'boom' of music for a split second - "The world is quieter now. We just have to listen. If we listen, we can hear God's plan". Once the audience has had the time to read it, an image of the lifeless city is presented, accompanied by soft, mourning music. It also features the film production company, Warner Brothers. It then switches to another image of the destruction of the bridge in New York with the credit of 'Will Smith' below it. As soon as this image is shown, Will Smith starts to talk as the survivor - Robert Neville. While he is talking, a few images are shown. To be precise, when Smith says 'I am a survivor living in New York City, it portrays a section of New York's shopping area. The illustration of congestion is shown which then quickly shows the empty streets of the city while ''if anybody out there'' is said which links in well with the speech. 'Please, you are not alone' causes the camera to pan round and focus onto a mannequin which suggests that what people in the city are now like. The audience is one again greeted by the 'boom' of music which finally shows the title - I Am Legend. Taken
Taken is an action thriller which is about a retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris. Overall, opening sequence has the colour theme of black and red, just like Inception, which signifies love, death and mystery. The red could represent the love between the father and daughter as well as death of enemies. The black could represent the unpredictable events that could occur. It first starts off the film production company - 20th Century Fox - which then rapidly evolves into the title film and a wide shot of the setting which is slowing moving on. As soon as 'Taken' is shown, an airplane flies off up into the sky - removing the letters as it go- which suggests that someone will be 'taken' which in this case, is the daughter of the CIA. The opening sequence is mainly the movement of the silhouettes of the American buildings such as the Empire State. Furthermore, it gives the idea of where the story is set and originated in. What causes the opening to be so powerful is the bass guitar. To make the audience more excited, is the random splatters of bloody in the sequence which causes the beat to drop to emphasis the point that the film is full of action. Opening Sequence of Se7en The opening of this film demonstrates a clear view of what the film will portray. Featured in the film are razors which have connotations of fear, death and blood. In addition to this we see a man writing an encrypted letter in a book filled with newspaper cuttings and marker pens which connote a ransom letter which then further implies the film will be about a murder or murdrum. Opening sequence of The Shining In the opening sequence the harsh intense music is contrasting with the calm setting and the blue credits which connotes tranquility and zen. The genre of the film is a horror thriller which we understand when the music demonstrates a disturbing nature within the film. The Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense is about a young boy who has an extra 'sense' to see deceased people. the opening titles has no hint of what the storyline is, however the music gives us a sense of tension and apprehensive atmosphere which gives the audience and idea of what they are expecting and what kind of genre the film is. Opening sequence of Funny Games The opening sequence to Funny Games gives the audience a false analysis of the film as it conveys a stereotypical happy family going on a vacation. We then do not expect what happens next within the film as there are no hints or codes and conventions which display it being a horror genre. Therefore the viewer finds it confusing which is an effective way of deceiving an audience. Opening sequence of Reservoir Dogs Reservoir Dogs is about a group of criminals and one of them is an undercover cop that gets shot. Each of the criminals is referred to as a colour, for example Mr Blonde who tortures another cop. However we cannot tell the storyline from the opening titles as you just see the gang themselves. Opening sequence of Shutter Island At the start of the sequence we observed red text swiping across the screen which symbolises blood and danger which then leads us to an entering of an asylum which denotes madness and psychotic behaviour. There is intense music throughout this sequence, gun representing death distraction and danger a cell connoting prison/murder. Opening sequence of Casino Royale In the opening sequence, it starts off with the iconic gun barrel sequence that represents James Bond. The title sequence displays lots of red illustrations which connotes blood and vulnerability. We also see many guns and casino references such as shooting bullets and playing cards which symbolises death, murder and gambling. Opening sequence of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
In the opening sequence, it is mainly black which connotes death and destruction. Throughout the sequence, we see a keyboard which displays that the film will be technology base, as there are also lots of wires and equipment used. The red fire also features with the titles contrasting with the black but also connoting danger and despair in the film. The music creates distress and anxiety which pushes the viewer into guessing the storyline. The storyline controls the opening sequence therefore it differs within most films. Horror Thriller, Psychological Thriller and Romance Thriller are just some of the sub-genres which influence the opening sequence as they vary from each other.
Horror Thriller Horror Thrillers connote darkness, tension and a lot of silent juxtaposed with screaming or creaking. For example in Insidious, at the beginning of the opening sequence there features a silent entry followed with a heightened intensity of music becoming louder until the start of the film. Psychological Thriller An example of a psychological thriller is Se7en, within the beginning of this film, the audience expect to understand the storyline behind this film however no clues are conveyed in any sort of way. These types of thrillers create a atmosphere which makes the audience feel extremely tense, sensitive and fearful. In most openings of Thrillers, they tend to start within an unknown location with a morbid setting for example Argo which is set in a country which is facing political downfall, this portrays danger and inquisitiveness throughout the film. Romance Thriller 'The Tourist' film conveys a couple going through everything just be together, opening with an investigation team trying to discover where the man is and tracking the woman. Romance Thriller tend to be more realistic and exciting for the viewer than a traditional rom-com. |
AuthorFelicity 2008 Archives
April 2014
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