Analysis of Different Thriller Opening

Sequences

Donnie DarkoDonnie Darko is a Thriller film, directed by Richard Kelly, 2001. The film’s opening sequence is a continuity sequence, which follows the main protagonist and title character; Donnie Darko as he travels by bike from a long road to his house at the early hours of the morning. The sequence features mid-shots and long shots with dark, natural lighting and cut-aways to the people in Darko’s town, which illustrates the setting of the film successfully. The acting within the opening is very simplistic, it gives little away about the characters personalities or the narrative. All we are told through the acting is that Darko is a suspicious character, as he wakes up in the middle of the road and smiles creepily. The only main iconography within the opening is Darko’s bike, cars in the streets and a man’s leaf blower which connotes a stereotypical town of regular people. In the opening Darko appears to be wearing his pyjamas which tells us its early in the morning, two joggers wear track suits and everyone else is in casual clothes. Also, at the start of the opening there is eerie music as we see the protagonist laid on an empty road at sunrise and the sound effects of birds which connote early morning, through the rest of the opening simple music is played over the top of the scene.

IdentityIdentity, directed by James Mangold, 2003 has a montage opening sequence featuring a man (presumably a police officer) listening to a recording of a mental patient on a tape and looking through files on criminals. The opening switches between the files, the tape and the man which therefore makes it a montage sequence. The sequence mainly features closes ups and has quick-pace transitions between different shots with eerie, unnatural lighting which connotes night time. There is lots of iconography used of criminal files, drawings, texts and labels about the patient which portrays the theme of crime and psychology in the film. Also, the papers which read ‘Boy Found at Motel…abused and abandoned’ suggest the patient is the young boy who has been neglected, but is now older (as it is a man’s voice). The main audio in the opening is the recording of the patient and his interviewer speaking which illustrates that the man is listening to it, there is also the sound effect of the recording rewinding, a camera and a typewriter as we see photographs and writing. There is little acting in the opening as the officer only looks through the papers curiously which gives little away about his character or the storyline of the film.

Black SwanThe film Black Swan is a psychological thriller, directed by Darren Aronosky, 2011. The opening sequence features a hand drawing with a black pastel. In the opening the camera follows the hand as it draws, with a close up tracking shot. The sequence is fast-pace and has cross-fade transitions between the movements of the hand. The only audio is of musical piece ‘Swan Lake’ by Tchaikovsky, which begins slow and traditional. However, further into the sequence the music speeds up and a crashing sound effect is added to it which connotes corruption and fear, illustrating the film’s thriller genre. In the opening sequence, also as the music speeds up so does the movement of the hand. The pastel becomes harder and more scribbly which makes the audience alarmed and possibly connotes a negative turn in the film’s narrative. The sequence has unnatural lighting which suggests the drawing is being done inside, assisted by a lamp. By the opening featuring drawing and ‘Swan Lake’ music it connotes the main beauty and ballet theme of the film.

InceptionInception, directed by Christopher Nolan, 2010 is a psychological thriller that features a CGI animated opening sequence. The opening features different CGI objects and words becoming illusions so that they either become other things or have other shapes inside of them, which tells the audience that the film is all about inception and illusion. The iconography of the CGI features lots of different forms of transport and weapons which tells us the film may have action in it. The editing means that all the objects and words are zoomed in on at quite a quick pace. Vocal-less music is also played over the top of the shots and is fast paced and exciting, which conveys tension and action within the film. However, there is no acting, dialogue or sound effects in the opening which makes it simplistic and hides a lot of the narrative well.

Similarities and DifferencesSimilarities Differences

• Identity and Inception used connotations of violence and danger

• All of them were mysterious and confusing and made the audience wonder what was happening

• None of them gave away too much about characters or the narrative of the film

• All of them used dark colours• Donnie Darko, Identity and

Black Swan were all in a dark setting (night/morning)

• They all tended to use close ups are their main shots, there wasn’t as many long shots

• Donnie Darko and Identity showed mysterious, creepy characters

• None of them were too complexed, it was clear to see what was happening.

• Inception used CGI rather than live action scenes which is unusual for the thriller genre

• The Black Swan opening had no connotations or characters, it merely used pastel to metaphorically connote the narrative

• The Identity opening introduced the theme of the film ‘psychological crime’ straight away unlike the other opening which didn’t reveal much about their themes

• Donnie Darko showed a whole live action continuity scene, where as the others were mainly montage

Thriller conventions used in these

opening sequences

Weapons Vehicle

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MusicSound Effects

Dark Colours

Crime Folders

Adults

Creepy Drawing

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Dark Lightin

gGames

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