The Village Opening Analysis

The Village 2004 - Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Mise-en-scene: The opening begins with a shot of silohetted tree branches on a dim morning sky background, itu uses binary opposition and gives the impression of evil against innocence. The tree branches are bear which shows that it is winter, this also supports the idea of the sequence giving out a cold sense. The lighting is very low key which also iconic in a thriller film, it not only creates a very sinister sense but it also creates suspense as darkness is symbolic to evil.

Titles: Titles are shown ontop of the shot, the text is a white colour which gives a very sinister and cold feeling. It also is a sanserif font which is used in most thriller film title sequences.

Sound: Non-diagetic music is used throughout the sequence, the music uses instruments such as flutes which create an eerie, and earthy which fits with the shots of the forest trees. The non-diagetic music also sounds very misterious and spooky which also fits with the shots of the dark scary looking forest.

Editting: The editting in this opening is iconic to the thriller genre, the slow paced editing creates suspense which is also iconic to the thriller genre.

Camera: The director has used slowpased panning move up the tree and tilting to look up at the trees.

Sin City opening analysis

Sin city 2005 - directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller

Mise-en-scene: The opening begins with a centralised women wearing a red dress, as she has been shot in the middle of the screen this shows the audience her importance. Her backless strappy dress shows alot of skin which can suggest that she is vunerable, her red dress is a symbolic signifer as it connotes danger which reinforces the idea of her being vunerable. The sequence uses iconic thriller methods through out the opening. One iconic effect is the use of lighting, the low key lighting not only creates a very cold sense but it also builds up suspense, as shadows are casted and parts of the faces are dark which also creates a sense of mystery.

Titles: No titles were shown during this opening, this is uncommon for a thriller openning. Perhaps this is because they want us to be entirely focused on the story line rather than who starred and directed the film.

Editting: The editting through out the sequence is also typical in a thriller genre, panning and zooming in on the characters has been used to create a very slow paced effect which is iconic to a thriller genre as it creates suspense and mystery. The editting speeds up when various straight cuts are used to show the converstation between the two characters.

Sound: Ambience sound of the city streets is also included, this makes the scene seem realistic and more engaging for the audience. Non-diagetic jazz music is played through out the sequence.

Camera: The opening begins with a centralised long shot of woman looking out at the city view. When the man walks behind her he is not centralised but is put to the left which could suggest mistery. Jump cuts and close ups are used to show the conversation between the two characters to make it more realistic.

The Birds opening analysis

The Birds 1963 - directed by Alfred hitchcock

Mise-en-scene: The opening begins with a shot of silohetted birds flying visiously across the screen, this builds a very uncomfortable feeling for the audience. This is also creates a strong sense of binary oppoision as it shows the birds in darkness which suggests evil on a white sky background which shows innocence. Moving on we are introduced to a new location and the character, the location is a busy city street of San Fransisco, The character is a young blonde woman who is introduced by establishing shots and tracking which helps show her importance.

Titles: Throughout the extract cold blue coloured titles appear on screen, the cold blue which creats a cold sinister feeling.

Sound: Diagetic sound is also included throughout the sequence, the sound of squawking birds and flapping wings reinforces the uncomfortable feeling which the audience feels throughout the sequence as the high pitched squawking from the birds is not a very nice sound to listen to.

Editting: Iconic thriller editing is used at the end of the opening where a fade cut is used to establish the shot of a women. Jump cuts are used later on in the sequence to show the conversation between the shop keeper and the woman.

Camera: The establishing shot of the blonde woman shows her importance, what also reinforces this is her postion which is in the center of the screen. Also the camera pans along as she walks across the road into the pet shop.

Thriller research

Thriller is a broad genre of film and television which includes many different types of sub-genres. Such as an action thriller, drama, horror, phychological and many more. There are varitey of sub-genre films such as. Horror/thrillers such as "Dawn of the Dead". Sci-fi/ Thriller such as "Alien" action thrillers such as "James Bond". These films are examples of different sub-genres and all include a sense of suspense and tention and follow the same codes and conventions. They use iconic signifiers which show that they all come from the same thriller genre such as guns .

Thrillers use many different codes and conventions that they must follow in order to fit into its genre, these conventions must be included to provide thrills and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. To achieve this the film must generate both suspense and tention inorder to create a successful film and also to engage with the audience. Commonly tention is built up when the main characters is in a dangerous situation.