Analysis of thriller openings
Many thriller films aim to produce an opening sequence that allows the audience an insight into the film whilst establishing tension and suspense introducing the audience to the mood of the film. These openings are made effective using the conventions as explored in my last post, these conventions use camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene to create openings that are visually arresting and create intrigue for the audience. This is seen in the following opening scenes from various thriller films :Se7en David Fincher - 1995
Se7en is an American psychological thriller that was directed by David Fincher in 1995 and is seen as one of the best thriller films ever produced. The film features Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, two detectives who live in New York and follows them on their investigation of a series of elaborate murders committed by a serial killer who uses victims to represent the 7 deadly sins.
The opening sequence of Se7en begins with the protagonist Detective Somerset, the establishing shot illustrates Somerset laying out his clothing in an organised manner suggesting to the audience that his character is incredibly fastidious,complex yet intelligent. The shot includes ambient sounds that illustrate the busy life in New York, the aural mix is placed at the front of all audio illustrating everyday life in New York and the invasive grim lifestyles experienced in the city. There is a long shot presenting Somerset and his bedroom as he is laying in his bed, the room is well organised and obviously belongs to one resident, there is little use of colour in the room's interior.
This suggests that Somerset lives a comfortable, independent, structured lifestyle and allows the audience to become familiar with Somerset and his personality.The lighting is low-key suggesting to the audience the scene is during the late hours, the lighting is gritty mirroring the atmosphere of Somerset's neighbourhood that can be heard during the scene. Ambient sound is used at the front of the scene, the sound includes sirens, dogs barking and voices of people outside Somerset's home,however, the dialogue is inaudible.
Rain can also be heard outside emphasising the dreary city and empty bland lifestyle of the protagonist. Straight cuts are used during the scene with a close up of Somerset who prepares for bed by removing his glasses and turning on a metronome found at his bedside. Whilst the metronome is heard, emphasising the use of ambient sounds, a tracking zoom and shot-reverse-shot of the metronome is used to illustrate Somerset and depict his mysterious, self-contained personality thus creating intrigue and tension. The scene then cuts to black and the metronome stops before the titles begin.
The titles then begin with a series of shots that illustrate various objects, they illustrate psychological criminals and are extremely grotesque. The titles utilise the semantic field to suggest that extreme crime and psychotic actions could be a strong theme found in the film. All of the clips and images are jarring and are edited at a fast pace using straight cuts, superimposed edits, inserts and cross cuts. The clips are interrupted by cuts to black screens which have titles appear over the top creating a reverse block effect, the white sans-serif font appears to look like messy handwriting and is sometimes inserted over the clips of horrific items relating to the crimes in the film. The shots of the objects are mainly close-ups which also introduce the hands of the antagonist suggesting they are preparing their series of crimes, the tension created in these clips allows the audience to question the importance of the antagonist and their plans of crime in the narrative.
Over the top of the clips, non-diegetic music is utilised consisting of low pitch percussion which has little rhythmic quality, this mirrors the lack of rhythm in the placement of the titles suggesting to the audience that the narrative will include unexpected twists and could mirror a lack of mental stability of the antagonist. The entire presentation of the credits is disorientated and somewhat surreal, the incidental music emphasises this and an increase in tempo and pitch creates a scream-like sound which creates an unnerving atmosphere and supplies the audience with questions regarding the significance of fear in the narrative.
During the sequence,low-key lighting is used throughout, one shot where this is evident is one of the antagonist sewing pieces of paper together, the low-key lighting is a typical convention found in thriller films and is utilised well in the shot. This shot leads into a close-up of a book which features images of the deceased and pages of notes suggesting the antagonist is infatuated with monitoring certain people, this shot along with a tracking shot of various folders suggests that the narrative consists of the antagonist studying victims and makes the audience question the significance of the antagonists files and planning.
Disturbing images are carried on as the titles continue over the sequence, one of these consists of a close-up illustrating the antagonist cutting themselves with a razor blade. The abnormal images emphasise the obvious lack of mental stability found within the character which increases the anxiety of the audience and the suspense regarding the unknown. The close-ups of the strange objects reflect the lack of an ordinary lifestyle of the antagonist as the workspace and objects are all dirty, rusting and unhygienic.
This reinforces the psychotic undertones of the narrative and sets up expectations for the audience regarding the antagonist's approach to crime and their personality. Along with the non-continuous editing and music that fluctuates in pitch, the shots of the character creating their abnormal resources increases the suspense in the scene and intrigue of the audience regarding the narrative of the film. This is unique to most opening sequences as there are no clear indications or explinations of the film's plot but allows for interperetation and assumptions regarding the plot.
All factors explored create the abnormal, psychotic atmosphere of the opening sequence, the fast pace of the cuts reinforces the unclear suggestions of narrative as the shots are not long enough for the audience to work out what part each object plays in the narrative. The tension is consistently high throughout the entire opening sequence allowing the audience to grasp the mood of the film and various aspects of narrative that influence their expectations and assumptions of the plot that follows.
The titles read :
Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Roundtree, R. Lee Ermey, John C. McGinley, Julie Araskog, Mark Boone Junior, John Cassini, Reginald E. Cathey, Peter Crombie, Hawthorne Jones, Michael Moussee, Leland Orser, Richard Partnow, Richard Schiff, Pamala Tyson
Casting by- Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Borden
Music by- Howard Shore
Costume designer- Michael Kaplan
Editor- Richard Francis-Bruce
Production designer- Arthur Max
Director of photography- Darius Khondji
Co-producers- Stephen Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panitch
Co-executive producers- Lynn Harris, Richard Saperstein
Executive producers- Gianni Nunnari, Dan Kolsurd, Anne Kapelsun
Written by- Andrew Kevin Walker
Producers- Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle
Director- David Fincher
Clip used :
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