Group 26: Research - Structures of Thriller Film Openings

When looking at film openings, there are 3 main structures you will recognise. These are 3 the areas stated;

Narrative Openings - which have titles on screen throughout the opening of the film.

Discrete Title Sequences - these sequences are edited seperately which stand out from the film opening.

Title credits over a blank screen - which are then followed by a narrative opening generally shown on screen with a black background.

Stylized editing - These titles are often heavily edited in post production in order to give the audience an effective film opening.

Narrative Openings - PANIC ROOM (2002)

Here is the opening title sequence for Panic Room

Below is a GIF showing screenshots taken from the opening title sequence.

Judging from this GIF, we see that the titles are very set into the scene. They are often moving along with the camera in order to create flow throughout the duration of the sequence. As you can see, the setting is located in the inner city of either Brooklyn or New York City, USA. The buildings are very established and the font of the titles are very bold and masculine making them stand out and therefore suits the setting of the opening and fit into place with the placing of each building to give the audience an illusion that the title is actually set in the scene together with the setting.

Judging from these titles, the font and layout show that they have been heavily created and worked on in post production to create effective opening titles.

Here is a screenshot of the film title coming in just under a minute into the opening credits. The font is written in bold and pans across the screen as the camera does so. The style and colour incorporated into the font gives us the illusion that it is chrome/steel which reflects the storyline of the film where a mother and daughter is trapped and are almost 'prisoners' in their own home.

Discrete Title Sequences - SEVEN (1995)

Here is the opening title sequence to Seven

The above screenshots is an example heavily edited titles which are created in post production. The white font is thin and ominous which plays around with the visuals making the titles appear eerie and creepy looking. This effect gives the audience a feel of the genre and storyline which tells us that it is a crime thriller. The movement of the font is very jumpy and appears on screen for only a short period of time and then dissapears. The effect of this is to appeal more to the visuals and make the viewer want to keep an eye on what's happening on screen.

This GIF displays the film title from Seven taken from several screenshots. The font of the film title still applies from the previous opening credits. However, as you can see from the GIF shown above, the film title is shown on screen three times all in different ways. The first time it appears, we can see a noticable difference in comparison to the size and placement of the opening credits. The font is very large and has a 'sinister' look about it, the lettering fills the screen and then shrinks in size again and again. The next time it appears, the lettering has become much smaller than the first. It is still against a blank screen and blurs when transitioning into the last and final we see of the film title on screen during the opening. The last screenshot is smaller than the second and is blended in with the visuals of a hand reaching out for a notebook. We see the film title transition from three stages and it evidently creates impact for it's audience planting the title of the film firmly in their mind.

Title credits over a blank screen - DONNIE DARKO