The most prominent figure involved in the
thriller genre was Alfred Hitchcock, he didn’t start of making thriller films
and in those days the term thriller hadn’t been used, however the first of his
films we consider a thriller is “The lodger” a jack the ripper type story with
suspense, this film was released in 1926. The next one he did in 1929 was a
film called “Blackmail” this was notable for being his and Britains first sound
film. From then on Hitchock focused mainly on producing thrillers and had
several hits including “Psycho
In the 1950’s Hitchcock still continued to produce adding “Technicolour”
to his collection. He produced more
classic films like “Strangers on a Train”
in 1951 which was about two train passangers who both staged a battle of wits
and traded murders with each other. Slowly there came about non-Hitchcock
thrillers such as “Niagara” in 1953 by Henry Hathaway, this movie starred the
famous Marilyn Monroe who played a wife trying to kill her husband.
In the 1960 more and more thrillers where being created, one
by Roman Polanski released in 1965 called “Repulsion” was about a young woman
who was getting progressively crazy. A violent wave of thrillers came during
the 1970-1980 era, notably Hitchcocks “Frenzy”, “Dressed to Kill” and “Blow Out”
Over the course of film history more creative techniques (e.g vertigo shot by Alfred Hitchcock), cinematography and editing has created the movies of our day, which unlike the movies from 70 years ago spend colossal amounts of money to set up, direct and produce some now a day blockbusters. Thriller films are ever more planned and prepared to give the most thrilling experience possible, as hacking into the psychology of emotions while viewing films, has enabled now a day movies to be more enthralling.
Recently more animation films have been created due to advances in graphic technology, along with insane special effects that we now have the technology for. This has added greatly to the possibilities that thriller films can have now in the present.
The opening sequence that i have analysed is from an early
silent movie called ‘The Bat’ which is a very early silent film based on a
broadway play, produced by Roland west in 1926.
The opening sequence at first starts of with a black and
white screen with the film title and producers name displayed over a grey
background, the typography is rather standard but a little bit spooky. There
are no idents, funding titles or tableaus, this conveys what films where like
in the 1920s era. Next there is a large list of important figures in the
production of the film with some common titles like ‘photographer’ and ‘score
director’ but also some uncommon ones that i'm not familiar with like
‘continuity’ and ‘settings.’ There is score however, which I suspect would be
played live when the footage was rolling-it is tense and vibrant, starting of
calm and progressing to violins and church organs which give it a very distinct
feel of early horror. The next screen we see is of the ‘players'-actors I
assume, which shows a lengthy list of about 15 different names and their
characters. There is then something I have never seen before in a film, a slide
which say's “Can you keep a secret? Don't reveal the identity of “The Bat”.
Future audiences will fully enjoy this mystery play if left to find out for
themselves.” Thats effectively saying don't spoil the film for anyone who hasn't
seen it, which is very unique and useful.
The first image we get is of two shining lights and a black
background, which creates suspense already, as the screen brightens the two lights
form a bats eyes and the rest of its body, the bat is rather scary, this fades
to a scenic view of possibly New York which has connotations of a large, policed, economic city, with a full moon out which also adds to
the suspense in making it scary as it has connotations of darkness, uncertainty and fright. The next shot is another written slide, which
sets the story and possible enigma’s. The man sitting down is very bland, and
creepy as seen by his acting of his eyes rolling around, the audience would be
looking trying to understand what is about to happen and what to expect, so a
level of anticipation is produced. All the actors are dressed in the clothes of
that time, the police uniform seems very militaristic. The camera shots and
angles are very basic, there are many medium shots and little edits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc8JsaCwn4I
I have also analysed (Collateral 2004) with Tom cruise.
There are two shots happening at the same time showing where the two characters are and them on their way to meet each other, this is very effective for the story. There are simple swipe transitions to show the lapse of time which stops the shots from getting dull. Typography is also very different and unique with a gold colour and thin font. The score isn't to fast paced, but not to relaxed, its relatively upbeat and pleasant, could definately entrance the viewer ready for the main events of the film. Simple but effective and to the point,
How this might influence my movie?
I most of all have learnt the importance of score during the title sequence, i am considering wether to make the whole project just a stand alone title sequence, with both titles and action sequences that don't reveal to much but are also tense.
Opening Sequence conventions
Right at the beginning of a title sequence you will usually get the idents, funding titles, production companies and then a list of the most important roles in creating the film usually including the director, producer, executive producer, top billing actors. Sometimes in some films as seen in one of the early James Bond's the whole list of people involved in the production is displayed including not so prioritised camera men, lighting, make up, and other less profound roles. Sometimes the title sequence will also tell a story and set the mood.
The purpose of an opening sequence is to put people in the zone of the movie, play with their emotions and introduce them to the characters, its also a good place for red herrings to be popped up. Essentially, the intro is designed to draw all attention onto the screen in an immersion of the films world; titles have the exact same effect, however there is a limit on what exactly you should do for a title sequence, however they do also serve the role to generate focus of the audience onto the screen, done through careful selection of score, typography and iconography. Mise en scene, cinematography are less common but are still used in mini stand alone sequences. The score in particular is important as it is the most influential in setting the mood, it can be played through out idents, funding titles and tableau's which means that the audiences mood can be altered with out any actual visual material.
Each opening sequence is significantly different and can create a different type of mood depending on how it is structured and how the score is used.
