Jake's five thriller openings

Law Abiding Citizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBdzxIN2hwM

Duration: from 00.30-03.00 minuets

The opening of Law Abiding Citizen is very dark yet gripping, the opening introduces a family and also the main character played by 'Gerard Butler' who has his family killed by some thugs. this opening was very gripping, it raised a lot of questions about the plot and the characters i think this is key to any good thriller movie, to make the audience want answers, if we can include this it our opening/plot then I think we would get abetter mark i also think that to make a good opening we need a good overall plot and instead of making a simple opening on its own we need to think of a story it can lead onto as well, even though we wont be showing the story.

Camerawork:

• i liked the gentle tracking/panning movement sets the pace the audience are at and helps set them up for the later events in the opening. I think that we should try to do something like this and gradually take the pace higher as it progresses
• Later in the opening the something happens that sets up the entire movie's plot the volume of cuts used and the pace of the shots increases to match the action of the scene, we need to ensure we do this when the action or event of our thriller increases or starts.   

Mise En Scene:

• At the start the farther/ main character (Gerard Butler) and his daughter are sitting at a table she's making a necklace he is working, they exchange dialogue, you can tell they are a typical American happy family nice home, clothes, lifestyle. we can see this by their costume's they wear, and these are directly contrasted by the thugs costumes,we need to ensure that throughout filming our costumes match the mood and plot.
• I liked the thugs costume in this opening, it definitely matched the character, another thing I liked was the blood used to emphasis the knife on Gerard Butler's character, we need to ensure the costumes are different from each other so the audience can determine the 'victim' from the 'thug' just by looking at them. 

Editing:

• The fade in at the start of the opening is really good to give the audience a false sense of security and it makes way for the slow start to calm them before the event of the plot. I think the fade in is a good way to start off a thriller
• One thing I noticed was the fade to black after Gerard butler's character had been stabbed I liked how it really emphasised the wound, pain and pace of the opening, I’m sure that this is what we will do if our plot involves similar circumstances. 

Sound:

• The sound at the beginning of the opening is diagetic sound, it is also contrapuntal, and it matches the mood and atmosphere of the scene. This was really good to lull the audience into a fake false sense of security; it helps give the impression of a normal happy evening before the plot begins. 
• The sound changes as soon as Gerard Butler's character gets hit by the bat, it becomes non-diagetic sound and also becomes darker and faster, there is also emphasis on certain sounds, for example the wife screaming or breathing.  I think the use of the emphasis of certain sound's is a really good way to get the audience more involved with the scene and has a bigger impact on them so is useful to use in a thriller opening. 

The Transporter 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qcMQ7Db5ag

Duration: whole clip

This is not the entire opening, but I could not find another clip.

The opening to 'The Transporter' is a very mysterious opening, the audience are almost immediately asking questions as to what he is doing, who is he doing it for and why is he doing it the opening does answer these questions and it also gives us an impression of what kind of character he is.

Camerawork:

• I liked the slow tracking shots at the start, they worked as good establishing shots so immediately the audience could tell he was in a car park, and it also fit the slow, calm mood of the first bit of the opening. in some circumstances this would work better then if it was a fade in like 'Law Abiding Citizen'.
• I liked the use of close up's and big close up's during the car scene when the thugs first get into the car, the difference between the them and Jason Statham’s character showed the experience and emotion between the thugs and himself, you could tell he's professional and he sticks to the rules. 

Mise En Scene:

• I liked the whole concept of the smart car, smart character contrasted with the thugs simple, plain, tatty clothing, I also like the difference in behaviour, Jason Statham's character was completely calm compared to the thugs who's body language and tone of voice was the exact opposite which made Jason's character appeal to the audience because he knows what he's doing,
• I also liked the props used the balaclava was good to fit a stereotypical thug, and the guns also were a nice touch I also noticed that the thugs had bags with them probably filled with money, we will have to come up with a way to show there is weapons present without having an literal gun there. 

Editing:

•     the green tint at the start of the clip was a nice touch, it spoke to the genra of the film and kept in conjunction with the mood.
• there was a few 'wipes' at the start of the sequence to show passing time so the opening credits would match the sequence.

Sound:

• the music at the very beginning was mysterious, it doesn’t amount to much at the start although, it does make the audience fairly suspicious of what he is doing. The pace of the music increases when the car begins to move, this now starts building a little bit of tension within the audience, I think this is a good way to start a thriller and if we find a suitable soundtrack for it then it would work nicely.
• when they are in the chase scenes the music intensifies to fit the mood of the action, all the music in the opening is parallel sound, it all fits in with the mood of the scene, in this case contrapuntal sound could also be used, for example, he could be listening to classical music in his car while being chased aggressively by the police.    

Green Zone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsUjrZtDmA8

Duration: 00.00-02.34

The opening to 'Green Zone' is much more action packed then the last two, it dives the audience head first into the action. the clip focuses on one particular guy, named 'General Al Rawi' this action approach to the thriller works well because it doesn’t give the audience time to think straight from the get go, they want to know who this ‘Al Rawi’ is and why is he  so important?

Camerawork:

• this is the first opening that I have seen a 'Blocking or Slit frame' used, when the opening starts you see a man struggling to open a safe for a book, this is a good indication that the book holds some importance to the story and that we may see it later, another thing I liked about the camera work was the shaking of the camera, to give the feel of panic, hurry and I also felt an element of excitement. I think during action scenes we will have to do a similar technique when doing an action scene that involves fast paced movement.
• I think the fast tilting throughout the opening really keeps the pace of the opening going, and it also keeps the audience in tune with what’s going on, I also like the amount of zoom used in the opening it really adds that extra feel of panic and keeps the audience interested by keeping the pace. I think that all of this is a really good for this opening

Mise En Scene:

• I thought lighting was clearly effective here, purely because there was no lighting, the only light that the audience got was from the explosions outside, this really makes the audience focus on the situation at hand. I think that we should use a similar approach however it would be hard to pull off.
• I liked the costumes and setting of the opening, it was obvious from the start that this was an undeveloped country(3rd world country) due to the bombs and explosion, but you could tell they were fairly wealthy and held some importance. this could be used with our thriller opening but it depends on the plot that we come up with and when we do confirm our plot we need to make sure the setting is suitable with the mood and pace of the opening,

Editing:

• I didn’t see many special effects other then explosions towards the end when you see the General drive away and the camera zooms out, apart from that I did not see much Editing in the opening.
• I liked how the camera gave a similar amount of time for each shot, it keeps them tuned in as to not confuse them to a point where they cant tell what’s going on, I think that if we have a action scene in our opening, we need to be carful not to over do it with shot lengths and camerawork

Sound:

• The non-diagetic sound through out the opening is parallel sound it matches the mood/atmosphere of the moment and it keeps at a steady pace through out I think that we should make sure we pick a good soundtrack for our opening, it is vital it matches the pace of the scene.
• I liked how the sound was constantly focusing on the extras rushing around to get out, it was good because it really got the audience immersed into the panic and stress of the situation,

 Valkyeri

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6n3hRZmgxU

Duration: whole clip

valkyeri in a whole is a very plot driven film, however the opening is crucial to the overall story, the opening sees Tom cruise's character writing about his view of Hitler and the Nazi Rich he complains about his leadership and goals, we can tell from this opening that Cruise wants him gone. also in the opening we see the German military division that Cruise is in charge of get's attacked, tom's character is wounded this also raises questions about the plot, will he live, how does this effect him, what will happen this keeps the audience interested. With out the opening sequence the beginning of the story would be hard for the audience to digest.

Camerawork:

• I liked the very slow paced tracking shot at the beginning after the oath, it gently introduces the audience into Tom Cruises character I also liked the slow tilts and I noticed a very slight zoom. All of this just paces the film more so again the audience can focus entirely on what he is saying.
• towards the end of the opening, we see that the German military division is getting attacked, this completely changes the pace of the sequence because instead of slow tracking and dissolves like in the first few shots of the opening, we now get brisk, fast paced cut's this change sudden of pace. I think a sudden change of pace is a good way to evolve the story like in valkyeri.

Mise En Scene:

• I think the costume at the beginning when he is writing works well with the mood, we know he's an officer because of the setting, he has a tent to himself, and in the dialogue he mentions the 'Officer corps' but his uniform suggests otherwise, its unbuttoned, tatty, he does not look like an officer. This is an area we will have to look at carefully with our opening.
• at the very end we see that Tom Cruises character is badly wounded, this is again due to the costume and we can easily determine this from his character in general, his make up is dusty, pale as are his clothes, his costume is shredded and we can see from his facial expression that he is near death. we will have to address these actions with make up and costume changes, this is key for realism in the sequence.

Editing:

• I could notice one bit of Editing but it was used frequently, the opening used dissolves at the start and another at the end of the sequence this was again used to keep the pace of that scene slow and steady, and I think that we should look at more options instead of just using cuts all the time.
• I did feel a build up from start to finish the shots got gradually faster, they went in sections if you will for example at the beginning it was really slow to focus on the dialogue, the when he was talking to the General about troop movement it went to normal cutting speed, then when the attack started it went a lot faster so there was a sort of element of cross cutting there.

Sound:

• I liked the light, gentle diagetic sound at the beginning, the wind blowing, the tent being blown by the wind, the flame from the candle they all seemed delicately put there so as to not interrupt
• I noticed that after the dialogue with the General there was a moment of silence or very slight sound, then when AA gun fired the sound and volume of the gun was used to wake the audience up. 

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

I have not seen the film as a whole but after whatching the opening i want to watch more, the opening sees two shifty guy's doing suspiscious things, breaking into a van, renovating a flat room so there is no light, or way of getting out.

Camerawork:

• I liked the slow, steady, tracking tht is used at the start, it's good for the audience because we can see that they dont want to be seen and there up to somthing. 
• i think the use of cuts when they were renovating the the flat room, it really made the audience pay attention.

Mise En Scene:

• the costumes of the two shifty looking guy's were very normal, they obviously dident want much attention, they were noraml guy's but with a devalish plan.
• i think the facial exspresion between the two characters were really good, because there was no dialogue it was the only thing to go on interms of there intentions.

Editing:

• the pace of the cut's increased when they were renovating the room as to get us to wonder about it, they dont want us to know the details of what exactly they are doing/ going to do with that room.
•  

Sound:

• i liked ho the opening focused on certain sounds, so the audience would only focus on what they were told to to sort of add more menaching bcause they were sounds that suggested they were up to no good. 
• i think the use non-diagetic sound that comes in when oneof the characters does somthing is a good way to get the audience attracted to that, e.g. when one of them nail's meat to a tree there is a non-diagetic sound that really makes them focus on that bit of meat, why did they do that?