Opening sequences

As we are just focusing on the visuals we need to look at ways in which some openings use there credits effectively.back in the earlier years of film the credits were a very important part of the movie. they would do all of the credits at the beginning of the film which would take a very long while for the actual scenes and action to start. then as decades moved on the credits would include the producers, directors, main actors and production companies that were included in the film as well as the name. now though it seems that the audience would rather go straight into the film without fussing over minutes worth of credits. which is why you see the credits only including the production companies and the name of the film.

SECRET WINDOW - uses white font and then turns it to red. this is interesting as it could connotate and imply certain meanings to the audience.the opening consists of the esatblishing shot being a close up of a man in a car staring into camera meaning he is looking at us (us being the audience).This is effective because it puts the audience on edge right from the begging of the film as they feel too close to character that they know nothing about who also looks very suspiciuos.it is not clear wether it is dawn or dusk and looks like there is some type of grey atmosphere meaning again the audience are confused and constantly trying to awnser questions of which they do not know the awnser to.(This particular grey effect engeadged me as , its something that could be achived in my groups opening with the right materials like using light filters on the camera.) After some driving aroung by this unknown charcter we fade to a river/lake that is infront of a large wood that seems to contain one single house in the middle of it. This creates suspense as the audience would want to know what tpe of person would live there.

PELHAM 123-   For the opening the credits flash onto screen like a train would move. they are white against everyday scenery. some of them are white against a black background but all of them have the same effective way of coming in. I particularly like this way of introducing the film credits as its striking and gets the audiences attention and they are gripped right form the start.then we go to the establishing shot which is a birds eye view of the busy city we are set in.This lets us know that it is a crime/action thriller right away. (This is something we will have to take into consideration as we have to make sure that right from the beggingn of our film it is clear to the audience that they are watching a thriller.)

SHUTTER ISLAND- The opening credits start against a black screen with bold white writing all in capital letters.the name of the film fades in from bottom to top as if it is revealing itself again connotating meanings within the rest of the film.we then have an establishing shot of the sea and one single boat in the ocean. this seems to be a recuuring image in thrillers(an object that is much bigger then we can imagine that we place ourselves in for inastance the forrests or woods or the ocean.) this is effective as we as the audience want to know where the destination of the boat is. And the we see a frame of a distorted looking island that craetes tension and suspense for the audience as we want to know why exactly two siuted men looking very prim and proper are goignt o this scary looking dark island.

DISTURBIA- For the majority of the opening there are no credits which can be a good thing as it allows the audience to really focus on the beginning.then the name of the films slowly fades in and has a shadow effect against black screen. that is all that you see.i know that they say less is more but personally i think that there needed to be more credits. maybe a mention of the director and actors.as for the eastablishing shot we see two men( man and child) fishing in the sunset. this draws the audience in to a bonded relatioship making them feel at ease and making them feel safe as if they already know evrything about these two charcters.But then when we see the two endure a tragic car accident and the dad die we as the audience not only feel sad but feel un easy as we then know that this film is going to be full of unpleasent suprises. this particular opening interested me because it was very unique and different from the other openings discussed as it started on a good atmosphere and then shocked the audience almost as if they were tricking them.

so from the examples that Ive seen it seems that the credits are very short in terms of length but stand out in design and effects. i think for my thriller the font would be all in capitals as the bolder the letters are the more important they seem. i think i Will use deep dark colours as well to give a misty sinister atmosphere. the credits will run throughout the whole opening and then at the end of the opening the name will appear on screen.Also researching openings has allowed me and the group to now think about how we want our audience to feel and how we are going to entertain them as well as keeping the conventions of a thriller continuously in the short screening time we have.