Analysis of 3 opening sequences

Analysis of three thriller title sequences

 

Shutter Island

I began by looking at the opening to the film 'Shutter Island'. 
The title sequence begins with a fade in from black to a shot of an abandoned looking corridor which denotes a prison. The first credit  - "A film by Martin Scorsese" - flickers onto the screen in a bright red gothic-style font. This font style and colour is a typical thriller convention and immediately conveys the genre through the connotations that the unsettling font style gives.  By using a flickering effect on the text rather than just having it fade in then fade out - being the conventions of text featured in comedy or romance films - the audience is already unsettled and suspense has immediately been created. The first credit is positioned in the bottom right side of the screen in a dead space. Due to the dark lighting of this particular shot and using lineation, the text is the first thing on the screen which the audience's eyes are drawn to.


The previous shot fades into a shot of an empty corridor with water dripping from the ceiling. The dripping water gives the audience the impression that the setting is unkemt and disused, whilst the emptiness of the corridor could represent the themes of the film as well as building tension as characters are yet to appear on screen.
The following two credits are in an identical style with the same 'flickering' animations. They follow suit by being placed in an empty space on the screen. Like the first credit, the text is placed in a darkly-lit area of the shot and so the credit is very prominent.




 The third credit, however, is in white instead of red. This could be to convey the themes of the film (good vs. bad) with the contrast of connotations from the colours red and white (with white giving the impression of purity and innocence whilst red connotes ideas of violence, danger). The text is placed in a more central part of the screen than the previous three credits which suggests this particular credit could be more important. However it lasts the same amount of time - 4 seconds - and continues with the same flickering animation as the previous credits.
The shot shows a hand attempting to uncover a tile. By using a close up shot the audience isn't revealed any clues as to the story - building tension. 

The credits continue in the same style and same white font as the previous, until the music begins to build to an intense climax and the screen fades to black. The screen then fades back in with the text 'Shutter Island' in the same red as was used initially. The text doesn't use the same animation as before, this time instead it zooms in until the screen is fully covered with the words. This demonstrates the importance of the title compared to the previous credits as the font is much larger and the amount of time it's shown on screen for is longer.

BLACK SWAN


The screen fades in from black as non-diegetic slow piano music begins; these elements already beginning to establish the genre. The first credit 'FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES PRESENTS' establishes that this will be a high-budget film as Fox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1994, is an American film distribution company within the Fox Entertainment Group, a sister company of the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox, specialising in US distribution of independent and British films.

This shot then fades to a CU of what appears to be a piece of charcoal being artistically dragged over a piece of paper while the next credit fades into the shot: "A Darren Aronofsky film". The font used for the credits is bold, gothic and dated-looking and so this draws attention to the text while creating connotations of potential themes of the film for the audience. The scene continues displaying same-font (and font size, displaying no varying hierarchy of credits) credits and continues with the CU of the piece of character which we can now denote is being used to draw a picture.

Eventually, the pace of the piano music begins to quicken and the tone of the music intensifies, conveying that of a typical piece of tension-building music. From this we can infer that this is using Barthe's engima code as the title sequence is slow paced and uneventful in order to create suspense and build tension and an almost 'calm before the storm'-like feel when contrasted to the rest of the film.
As this change in music occurs, a ECU of what appears to be a woman's hand (inferred through the french manicured nail) is revealed to be the drawer and the pace of drawing intensifiers, giving a hurried feel to the sequence.

A panning shot reveals the drawing however is too close up for an image to be able to be made out. This then fades into a darker part of the drawing and the title 'BLACK SWAN' appears on screen in the same gothic font as before however in white rather than black; perhaps for emphasis or perhaps to convey the battle of good vs. bad in this film (demonstrated through the contrasting connotations of black and white).


THE ORPHAN

The film starts with the opening title ‘Orphan’, the title first fades in bold grey text, it then flickers and changes into a disturbing child’s painting of the same title splattered similarly to blood. This effect hints to the audience that the film may be daunting and suggests that the orphan may not be the stereotypical orphan that you would expect. This creates suspense and links the movie to the thriller genre

The sharp props and fake blood adds suspense and tension to the scene, this is because sharp objects can injure people are usually used for cutting things, putting the two together could mean that a person has been cut thus creating a gruesome image in the audience's mind. The nurse's white costumes make the hospital setting seem more realistic whilst making the scene more intense. The blood stained white clothing makes the scene seem more chilling and matches the hospital theme. Blood stained clothes are usually associated with crime, pain and death therefore confirming that the film is a thriller.

A rumbling thunderstorm sound effect plays in the background during the opening credits. This shows that the film may be dark just like a thunderstorm or perhaps that there is danger approaching. When the title flickers to reveal the alarming painting electrical buzzing sounds are used; this emphasizes the transformation and suggests to the audience that the film may be chilling and have some unexpected surprises relating it to the thriller genre. The sound effects essentially determine the fact that the film is categorized under the thriller genre.

The movie begins with bright white lighting suggesting that we may be entering a dream or flashback, this creates suspension and awe as it makes the audience eager to find out what is happening. The bright light matches the bright clinical look of a hospital in which the first scene is set., while the back light emphasizes the characters facial expression to show that she is in pain, this hints to the audience that something dramatic is about to occur.

Lighting techniques including opening bright white light and back lighting emphasizing facial expressions establish the genre of this film in the first 10 minutes.
Camera Techniques such as birds eye view are used to emphasize the length of the walk to the operation room in the wheel chair. This suggests that the character is being put through pain for a long time as the camera shot shows that the nurse is moving slowly. This is effective as the audience may begin to feel sympathetic towards the character and may expect for the worst to happen. 

In the first scene a variety of close ups are used, these shots are at eye level and capture facial expressions which is the main focus. This adds to the thriller genre as the audience can get a broader insight of the pain the charcter is experiencing just by veiwing her facial expressions up close.
There are many different camera angles used throughout the opening sequence, these are effective because they can make the movie seem thrilling by evoking different emotions from the audience.