Conventions for the Opening of a Thriller

There are multiple different conventions in the opening few minutes of every genre of film, however the opening elements of a thriller film tend to have great significance on the rest of the film, highlighting key objects and characters and asking the audience a lot of questions relating to how the story is going to unfold. From researching and watching a variety of different thriller openings I have found a variety of different conventions used very widely. These are:

·         Titles

Titles are one of the most important elements of any film but in particular a thriller film. They usually have a direct link to the storyline and the theme of the film and may give of some important clues for the audience to piece together. By styling the titles in the current way a movie producer could have the audience hooked on first site. Titles need to be interesting and appealing as they reflect on the rest of the film. Quite often titles will be places after the opening scene of a film allowing it to set the scene and therefore allowing the titles to add on to that effect, however titles can be placed different and another common method is to have the titles on one edge of the screen while the opening couple of scenes are playing.

The titles of the film Se7en are a great example of how effective they can be. The titles of this film reflect on the setting and the characters of the film showing the crime based subgenre and the dark and mysterious personalities of the characters involved. It immediately has the audience asking questions as to what the items and drawings are in the title sequence making them think that there must be some significance. Some screenshots of the titles for Se7en are shown below.

·         Storyline

The storyline within a thriller opening is just as important if not more so that the titles. It should ask a lot of questions but at the same time reveal enough to make sure that the viewer is interested. In other words the opening for a thriller needs to be exciting while building up suspense and tension and providing plenty of action but at the same time remaining mysterious and unique. The use of lighting and sounds are very important factors that go along with storyline as they can help to emphasise points and add to that action and suspense created by the storyline. The questions and mystery that is used within the opening sequence of a thriller should continue throughout the film but the storyline in the opening few minutes must be even better the this as it is the point when most people will decide whether they want to watch it or not. If no questions are asked throughout the remainder of the film then people may not turn it off providing the storyline was well set up during the opening.

·         Camerawork

Camerawork is particularly important throughout the opening of a thriller film as it can mean so many different things and can have such a variety of effects. Due to there being multiple different camera angles, shot types and heights it can show the whole setting of a place to help give a bit of background information or can be manipulated to show significant object by using extreme close up shots. Angles may also prove important as a low angle shot can help to show importance and dominance while a high angle shot may show vulnerability. The camera shots placed upon characters and objects within the opening of a thriller film can help to show a lot of information about them without any dialogue or narrative information. The variety of different shots can also add suspense within the opening as well as mystery. The use of lighting during specific shots can also help to emphasise what they are trying to show.

This high angled shot makes the person in the photo look very small and ‘vulnerable’. It makes it look as if someone is looking down on him and that the person looking down shows a lot more importance than the person in the picture.

·         Music and Sounds

A good use of music and sounds (diegetic and non-diegetic) can really help to highlight key points within the opening of a thriller. It helps to provide suspense and tension or can be used to signify the opposite – relief. By using tension building music the audience may become very interested in the film and by matching the music to the storyline and camera shots this can have great effect. Sounds can also help to emphasise points as make the audience sit on edge. Often subtlety works better and smaller sounds may work better by asking the audience “what is that sound”, especially if there is no obvious reason on screen. A great example of where sound has been used to add to the camera work is in the film No Country for Old Men where the villain is strangling the police officer. Here the camera work is showing just the feet and the sound is emphasising the camera work by providing screeching noises from the police officers shoes rubbing on the floor.

The four conventions listed above are the main ones that are used in the opening of a thriller to help get the audience gripped however there are a few more that may be used such as lighting, camera movement and character movement. Obviously the movie title will also have a lot of effect and may reveal a lot about what the film may be about and may include.