Research On Thriller/Horror Films

I have decided to watch the opening sequence's of some thriller films to gain a better understanding of what i should produce to fit this genre.

• The Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Die
• Paranormal Activity 3

 

The Bourne Identity

 

This film starts of on a boat at sea. The lighting is very dark which gives a sense of the unknown to the viewer. The camera is moving as the boat is moving which not only makes it more realistic but also make the viewer uneasy. The text comes up with the location of the boat so the audience start to gain more knowledge, but I'm not sure if i should do this for my one as i want the location to remain a mystery. It then goes on to show a body floating on the water so the fishermen bring it on board to the doctor they have on the ship. They then have a lot of close up and extreme close ups as the doctor inspects the body and gets the bullets out of the person. Then as the doctor inspects the bullet you start to see that maybe the person is a spy as the bullet has a projector on it. Then he goes back and the person is then up and he start fighting thinking he is held captive. This whole start of the film make the audience gain more information on the main character and this is what i plan on doing. They also you very subtle editing techniques so that you don't really notice it happening

 

The Bourne Supremacy

 

This film starts with a lot of shots with dark lighting to create a tense environment for the audience. It has flash backs from the ending of the previous film (The Bourne Identity) in a slow-mo. This is clever as in can remind the audience about the ending of the previous film, but also makes them feel like they are inside the characters mind. Although i cant put flashbacks to a previous film i can make the audience feel like they are in the persons mind, and i am thinking of doing this by using point-of-view shots.

 

 You have to concentrate to realise who the people in the shot are as it is so dark. The editing isn't noticeable after the flashback as it flows seemingly in the darkness. It has a very airy feel about it and you can tell that some sort of plot is forming and you get clues about the rest of the film. I want to try and get this effect in my opening sequence. As it can make the audience want to watch more to figure out what is going on.

 

 

The Bourne Ultimatum

 

This films opening sequence has very dark lighting, which creates a very tense feeling for the audience and also has a very jagged camera movement which made me very unnerved and on the edge of my seat. This film also had flashbacks to the end of the previous film, which again links them all together.

 

During the opening sequence there are people speaking in a foreign language. This gives the audience a sense of confusion and puts them out of there comfort zone, as people remember when they go on holiday and feel confused as they don't understand the language the local people are speaking. This also gives the audience a sense of the location of the start of the film.

 

The main character then runs into a medical room, where you can then see that he is injured. This will give the audience a sense of sympathy as which we don when people are injured. In my opening sequence i plan on not revealing the person running or the killers identity as i am hoping this will add more suspense to me film.

 

 

Die

This film starts with suspense music and a showing the liefs of 6 people, and the audience can start to see that they are going to be key characters n the film, then in concentrates on a clip of a woman who goes to a casinos and looses all of her money, then a man comes up to her and offers her the chance to win it back on a roll of dice, she does win it back. This has codes and conventions like the dark settings the suspense music and the female needing help from a man who looks like hey have a dark side, showing something might happen to the girl in this film where as in other genres like action and adventure females don't normally die as they need saving and then get saved. They also doesn't give away names or anything like that, this mystery is something i think i would like to portray and as show here is a code and conventions of thriller/horror films.

 

 

 

Paranormal Activity 3

 

The start of this film show footage of a man going in to his basement in the dark and getting tapes and then we see the tapes of his two girls growing up. I learnt codes and conventions like settings (basement) and lighting (dark) this will help me in my final production as it i can then compare my opening sequence to others i have watched and then see if it complies with or challenges codes and conventions.

 

Also the is set out in like a documentary, which gives me ideas and helps me out as i am planning on putting point of view shots in mine which although not the same as documentaries it is still very similar. 

 

 

 

 

Overall watching these opening sequences gave me a great insight into what is required for my opening sequence, and will help me in the long run for my planning and for my post production editing.

 

I also learnt a lot of code and conventions of thriller/horror opening sequences, like settings (basements) lighting (dark) and the type of information they give away (very little).