Structure to Thriller openings

We have recently looked deeper into the structure of Thriller openings.

There are 3 basic structures which are followed that are noticeable from film openings.

1. A narrative opening with the titles running throughout.

A few examples of this type of opening are the following films:

• Stepfather
• Casino
• A Touch Of Evil
• The Taking Of Pelham 123

 

2. A discrete title sequence

An example of a discrete title sequence is from the film Seven. There are many reasons why the opening to this film is discrete. The way the text is shown on screen shows the movie is not normal. The music used is only used for the opening which means they specifically made it just for the opening. Only close-ups and extreme close-ups were used which shows that the character has got psychotic problems, this is also obvious by the actions he is doing. The shots that are used for the opening are through the characters eyes, we know this because we see close ups of someone writing and performing tasks such as cutting things. The camera angle is also from the angle of someone’s eye.

3. Titles over a blank screen, followed by the narrative opening.

An example of this type of thriller opening is from the film Donnie Darko. Once the text is shown we are faded into a dark scene, sound effects are also used also including the sound the weather.

I have also added a fourth style of a thriller opening which I’ve called ‘stylized editing’.

An example of this type of opening is from the film The Taking Of Pelham123. The shots and cuts used moves according to the beats of the song, also when the pace of the music slows down the shot goes into slow motion revealing a close up of a main character.