Isaac - Thriller opening sequence research (all of my titles for each film such as 'Inception' etc. are hyperlinked so click on them to find out more about the films).

Inception

The film 'Inception' starts with a fade in from black. It starts to convey a feeling of enigma from the first shot, which is a slow-motion pan over waves crashing into rocks

this feeling of mystery is then carried on when we are introduced to a character, not knowing whether he is a protagonist or antagonist. This is achieved by casting low key lighting on the characters face. there is no music playing at this point, only the diegetic sound effect of the sea (this could either be a foley or synchronous sound).

What we hear next:

• Children playing and laughing - which is contrapuntal due to the fact that it juxtaposes the mood which portrays an eerie, uncomfortable mood.
• A slow, melancholic soundtrack made up of string instruments.
• Less of the waves.

These mysterious children, however, give us a preliminary sense of a goal in the movie for the character we have previously met.  

Then suddenly we know it is a thriller through iconography.

The gun puts forward a thriller stereotype.

The camera angle also shows that the man holding the gun is in control of the situation and it keeps the enigma going by not revealing the gun holder's identity straight away.

The contrasting images of the children making sandcastles and the guard holding a gun creates a binary opposition which happen continuously through any thriller narrative 

Also the camera shot types make it a thriller, for instance having an enigma filled shot such as this:

would only work with this kind of close up.

Pulp Fiction

In this opening sequence we are hinted at, through diegetic dialogue, that this film is a thriller

we hear words such as:

        "dangerous"                      "rob a bank"
                             "risk"

                                                                        "KILL HER"
"pistol"

These all connote the iconography and stereotype of a thriller movie.

however this opening sequence has been refreshed from copying thrillers to the exact specifications by designing these two characters. they are not archetypes. In fact, they contrast the conventional couple in a very humorous way. They start a part of the scene kissing

And end in robbing the restaurant they are in

The plot structure (narrative) of this film is also what makes it interesting as a thriller because the first scene is also the last scene. This means that it was not put in chronological order, by doing this the directer creates enigma because the whole film you are waiting to see what ends up happening in the end. The audience is then left on the edge of their seats for the duration of the film.

Bourne Supremacy

The opening title shot shows mysterious lights flashing from the words "Bourne Supremacy" which look like this:

This shows the audience that it may be a film to do with police/army due to the light, this causes enigma.

This film also relates to, and has the same elements as 'Inception' due to the scene taking place on a beach which shows that thrillers contain similar locations and aspects.

The first few shots of his flashback/dream/end of film (we don't know) also create enigma. We learn that he is or was a soldier through narration of his sergeant speaking. by doing this it creates an ellipses because we don't see him as a soldier, but hear it instead.

This film also relates to all the previous films i have talked about due to the close up shot of a gun

The music at the beginning allows us to know where he is, india, which we later find out through written text which shows up on the screen.

LIGHTING

1. Low key lighting the whole way throughout the duration of the clip
2. This creates enigma because we can only see a silhouette due to only having back lighting; there is only a small amount of key lighting and secondary lighting
3. this also means it contrasts with when the main charter switches on the bathroom light
4. this also relates to inception because the main character's identity is not shown until later on in the scene

SPECTATOR POSITIONING

• We know he's been traumatised by whatever has happened in his past whilst being a soldier
• because of this we feel sorry for him, although we may feel as if he did something wrong

Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy

Again, this film starts by giving us a sense of enigma. 

• We don't know either of the characters
• We don't know the situation
• We don't know why they've come together to talk and be so secretive about it.

This is also contributed towards by the low key lighting which seems to apply in almost all the films i have talked about previously.

We then learn about the storyline in which there is a mole. this storyline in itself is an enigma and sucks the audience in.

Although we don't know much about these characters we assume they are the protagonists and the people in Budapest are the antagonists which creates a binary opposition on which the film can base it's events on.

There is also a scene in this where what we see juxtaposes the narrative. This is when we see the silhouettes of the children laughing sand playing in the clock tower.

This also relates to inception because it is the same contrast, showing that it may be a regular occurrence in thriller films.

We also see an ellipses in this opening sequence as the character 'Jim' walks out of the train station. There is a sign which says "Budapest" on which shows the audience that the character is in Budapest without us having to see him fly over.

what is strange about this however, is that throughout the scene there is a sound bridge and a type of parallel editing but these two scenes in separate locations are not happening at the same time at all. Due to all the techniques they use however, we understand this.