In the openings of thrillers, the director can
aim to target different aspects: above shows which aspects the movies, which I
have studied, have invested heavily in, which include either; character, theme,
location, tone/mood, plot and genre. The amount a movie focuses on these
different aspects depends on the director primarily, what they believe would
best suit the cast/tone of the movie being created. This graph gives clear
indication as to which films use the aspects to the best ability, allowing me to
compare differences and similarities- to ultimately see which movies I can take
'inspiration' from, for my thriller opening.
Location
Location in a thriller opening is a key factor
for the director to establish the direction the movie is going in; especially
creates a foreshadowing of the tone it will undertake. Looking deeper into the
location used can also reveal hidden metaphors that the director is trying to
envisage, for example in Essex Boys (directed by Terry Winsor) this character
is shown to be roughened up by the main character and thrown down to the
ground, but overall it is a metaphor for how isolated he is from society and
that no one can help. The road shown in the image here resembles that the
character has a long way to walk before he is resumed back to normality. The
Director has used this 'vanishing point' to great effect as it creates
connotations that this is the long road ahead for the character. The colour
pallet of this shot compared to the other shots in 'Essex Boys', which I will
examine further on in this post, varies in that it is very bland with nothing
going on as far as the eye can see, adding to the tension that the director has
set out to accomplish with this shot of isolation.
This shot of 'Essex Boys' uses location to create
an idea that the car has gone through a change of setting/area. With the light
coming through the centre of the shot it could be a metaphor for this location
being heaven like, but with further knowledge of Essex this would be a
juxtaposition on the director’s behalf: adding to the assumed danger in the
area- increasing the tension in the opening. The colour pallet also adds to
this foreshadowing of bleakness, by using greys and blacks which is evident
throughout the opening of this thriller. The colour pallet used also does not
give away the plot, only that there is danger and trouble ahead, but in a
hopeful way that maybe there is a hopeful light at the end for the ex-convict.
This way of only establishing one aspect of a thriller is of great use for the
audience, as it keeps them guessing on what the further detail could be-
ultimately keeping them more interested in the piece for longer.
Tone
In the movie 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed'
(directed by J Blakeson) the tone was established from the start with the
characters on the lookout for witnesses to them stealing a van, and preparing a
flat for what looks like a kidnapping. This assumption can be made in
correlation to the title as well, but for the director to establish tone from
the start means that they can focus on other aspects of the film straight away.
As shown in 'Alice Creed' when the sound and actions of the characters connotes
that this is a well thought out procedure, in that the crime they're committing
doesn't faze them, nor should it to the audience. The camerawork and the
production of this opening effectively creates tension, as the audience are
thrown in the deep end with the menace and acts of crime taking place. The
colour pallet also adds to the focused madness- with the director only using
simple and calm colours to not attract attention to them criminals.
In addition, in this shot it is more evidence
that 'Tone' is what the director set out to establish in the opening. With
obvious connotations of violence and kidnapping it allows the audience to
understand the intentions of the characters on display. The order of the
'instruments' also is an insight into the mindset of these characters,
resembling a set way in which they want their things in- an extreme power
hungry monster that is set in their ways.
Ultimately, for a director to establish tone from
the opening of a movie there must be an extreme that is taking place, for
example in 'Alice Creed' the plot is a kidnapping which isn't an everyday
occurrence, for another thriller that follows suit of a predominantly used plot
like 'Third Man' it wouldn't be to the same effect.
Character
In 'Se7en' (directed by David Fincher) the
director has used many ways for us to understand the characters and their
relationship with each other, these include the position of where the main character’s
clothes and necessities for the day are ordered and placed. This creates a
persona for the character as one of their traits is that they are very neat and
organised. Also, to note, the director has created an enigma with the piece of
'flower wall paper' - the director has purposefully placed this here to give
purpose to what this characters aspirations are, something to strive towards.
For a director to concentrate on establishing character from the opening of a
thriller it allows the audience to connect with the characters, whether that be
idolising them or a fear of their capability.
In addition, the director of 'Se7en' made a great
job of getting across a lot of information to the audience in a very short
space of time. 4 minutes in fact. In this space of time we had learnt the character’s
names, background and relationship with each other. This gave the movie great
depth from an early point as it allowed the two characters to establish a
hierarchy in which their statuses placed them in. The director has created an
imbalance of power from the start with these two characters, as they both start
the inquest from different points in their carer. To effectively represent
character in an opening a lot of CLEAR information should be exchanged between
characters or writings that are clearly visible, otherwise the audience could
fall back and not understand the background if the characters.
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