Textual Analysis Of Thrillers.

First Thriller I am going to watch the opening to is : Se7en (David Fincher - 1995)
Seven:
The opening to this movie is very strange and is an unconventional opening to a movie. It starts with a man laying in bed while you can hear the asynchronous sound of the people out on the street outside. He throws a book he is reading down on the floor and then the camera switches to a close up of him putting his glasses on his bedside table. It stays in this shot as the man moves his hand up and starts a metronome. His room is a fairly normal bedroom with some lamps a bookcase and a set of drawers. After this it goes back to a mid shot of the man laying in bed. The camera slowly zooms in on the man and then goes back to the metronome before cutting back to the man in bed. He then looks over to the metronome and the camera cuts back to it even closer now as it carries on ticking. The sound starts to echo and the asynchronous sound of the street outside becomes harder to hear. Suddenly the sound of thunder is heard and the screen goes black for a second before switching to a shot of a book with all its pages being turned. Now we have non-diegetic sound which is actually the background music for the opening credits. After the book the screen goes black and we have our first name of the credits come up. After that there is a sequence of shots all entertwined by straightcuts they are hard to recognise what the thing is that is being shown. Another title on a black screen comes up after that and then we go back to another sequence of shots, following the pattern of the last part. This time it is of someone holding something. Morgan Freemans credit comes up once again infront of the same black screen in the same white font and then after that we get a quick sequence of shots someone putting something somewhere, the phrase D-35 on a black screen and then another unrecognisable thing happening. The title of the movie comes up in the same font as the titles however the pattern is broken as this title comes up over the footage rather then a black screen, the footage is of someone picking up a book. Next shot is of a book being opened while the next credit , Gwyneth Paltrow, starts on that footage before that fades out and it is infront of the black screen all the other actors have had. Next we get a sequence of different shots with the credits continuing over them, it starts with another extreme close up, this time of somebody writing on paper, then switches to a birds eye view of some paper with writing on it before the whole screen flashes red then black and another credit is introduced. After that it follows the same pattern the majority of the credits has, we get another quick sequence of extreme close ups that make it very difficult for the viewer to recognise what is being shown in such a quick space of time. It looks to be something like a roll of film , then a somebody holding a photo over some documents. The following sequence sticking to the pattern once again is even more difficult to make out then the earlier ones. It is about 3 different shots or so changing very quick with straight cuts, all I can say is they are still following the on going theme of this hand moving over paper and holding some individual bits of paper too. Two more credits come up infront of a black screen in time with the music, everytime a credit pops up the music makes a small change. The music is hard to explain it isn't really a specific genre of music but sounds a little techno and is modern is about all I can say however it does create an effect on the viewer as it builds tension very well. After this we follow the pattern and its another hand holding something however its such an extreme close up that only one fingertip is viewable , the picture on the table is some kind of photograph that when paused actually looks like a seel. Shot reverse shot is then used, for a tiny amount of time we see a page full of writing then back to the exact same shot of this photo before we go back to the page full of writing being turned over then as it falls back to a black screen with credits. These credits are a bit different to the usual ones for a split second the screen flashes to a white screen which when I paused actuallly didnt have anything on apart from straight lines of different shades varying from black to white. Credits pop up after as they grow increasingly strange and random various numbers and letters flash over the last few credits at this point for hardly even a second. After the last set of credits at this point we go back to another extreme close up of this time the finger tip highlighting words on a page with black ink. Then a pen highlighting words, then back to a previously seen shot of a books pages being turned rapidly. Then a whole sentence pops up on screen but its unreadable. The music at this point has progressed alot since I last mentioned it. It is building an atmosphere very well and this opening really does leave an impression on the viewer. For the next few shots and credits it's of the pen highlighting before we come to our next credit which has the credit in the bottom left then in the top right the footage carries on as we see the highlighter go across a picture of a boys eyes. The picture is drawn with a pencil. This is one of the few shots that are not extreme close up's in the introduction and you can finally make something out as the viewer all be it its quite a strange and odd thing to make out as this is surrounded by black and is almost under a spotlight effect. Then after that part the music changes suddenly and the face goes from having one line through the eyes to having the whole face covered in straight lines made by the pen. At this point the music has increased rapidly in pace and is a massive contrast to the fairly calm opening which followed a pattern and had a basic beat. For the next 5 or so seconds all the shots are of writing, books and pens etc the common theme throught this opening. There is then a strange image of somebody with some hair missing and something in their head I think and as soon as that shot is finished the music once again makes a step up in speed. Some of the shots in this phase have already been seen, others have not including some shots of the finger tips now holding a needle. As usual everything is in an extreme close up shot and the only way most these things can be made out is by pausing the video, this has a big effect on the viewer as watching in real time makes it very hard to figure out what you have just seen and therefore you are still thinking about it as the next thing comes up. The final sequence of shots all are made up by the books pages again and the finger tips I think sewing.. at the end of the credits the music actually has a lyric which is very unconventional in a thriller opening music, and with the title sequence finish the movie opens with a different man to the one in the beginning waking up in bed with a woman. This opening is a very effective opening, it is strange and makes the viewer quite nervous about what is to come as some of the images are rather distraughting , the part with the person with hair missing and when the picture of a person gets highlighted. It achieves its target of creating suspense well and also is very effective in making the viewer confused and wonder whats going on because of how quickly the images on screen change.

The second film is ; Panic Room. (David Fincher - 2002)
Panic Room:
Panic Room starts with the columbia icon with a loud thunder sound at the start similiar to Fincher's choice in Se7en when the opening sequence of a man in bed ends with thunder. Then the film opens with an establishing shot of a built up city as columbia pictures presents comes up over the footage, the music in the background is vastly different to Se7en but still creates a suspense giving feel to it. The establishing shot is actually a still shot which surprises the viewer because they would expect it to pan down or slowly zoom in but instead it straight cuts to another still shot. This time it is not as much as a high angle shot it is about a mid height shot of some buildings and some roads. Another straight cut to a still shot of the city also the music starts to increase in volume at this point. The music is of a very serious note and sounds quite dark, sad and gloomy. The next straight cut takes us to a shot of the buildings as the camera moves to the right at quite a quick pace Jodie Foster's name is infront of these buildings, so like Se7en Fincher is following a pattern in the opening of his film. The next four shots all follow the same pattern a straight cut to a different picture of the city with a credit on , however on the fourth the camera pans to the right and introduces the name of the film. All the credits are in the same font and colour a silver coloured block capital font that looks quite modern. On the last credit of that sequence of four the music increases to a new high in volume before switching to the next font and now bringing in a ticking sound and increasing greatly in pace. The rest of the opening just follows the pattern, the credits appear and disapear faster but really it's all pretty much the same. The ticking makes the opening feel fast and hectic which may of been an effect Fitcher was aiming for but all the credits follow the same pattern infront of a picture of the city straight cut to the next one. On our last credit we are introduced to a voice that comes over the music. It is a womans voice saying about a place that she has found and how she wrote it down. It pans down to the pavement and we see two women walking towards the camera. The opening ends. This opening doesnt create much fear or nervousness like Se7en but that is because this is a completely different type of thriller. Taking that into account you can't say that it is a poor opening because it isn't made to make the viewer scared or nervous it establishes where the movie is and thats about it.

The final film is Terminator 2 (James Cameron - 1991) I have tried to look at a varying amount of movies that have more then one genre, Se7en being a more fear inducing thriller , Panic Room being a phycological thriller and now Terminator 2 a sci-fi action thriller.
Terminator 2:
The establishing shot opens with lots of traffic moving down a busy road. It is a nice bright day. The titles come straight over the footage in a plain white colour. The opening two shots show how busy the city is with lots of pedestrians and cars. We then see a childrens play area with a girl on a swing we hear diegetic sound come over the non diegetic opening music which is a heavy hard hitting sound which doesnt have much more to add. The sound we hear that is diegetic is of children playing and laughing as James Cameron's credit pops up the footage slows down into and the sound starts to have an echo as the non diegetic opening music gets louder despite not changing from what it was to begin with. As the girl on the swing gets slower and slower she starts to come forward on the swing, the music stops and becomes a sound that builds in volume as she gets forward, the screen starts to change colour to a murky blue and as she gets to the top of the other side the screen flashes from the blue that has built up and what we see changes to a close up of a skull at what looks to be night time. The non-diegetic music has stopped and now we hear sounds of wind blowing and part of a car moving in the wind. As the camera pans up from this one car we see a whole line of destroyed cars infront of a destroyed building and the date comes accross screen still in the same font. A crossfade is the first change from shots that isn't a straight cut we now see more demolition in this murky blue coloured place. It turns out to be the play area that was just seen but now destroyed and covered in skulls. A voice over then comes in, it is a female person speaking and she informs the audience of how many people died in august 1997. She informs the audience of the plot as the camera pans to the right showing all the demolition it starts to slow focusing on one skull. As the voiceover talks about the war against the machines a sudden robotic foot smashes down on the skull taking the audience by surprise. The sound is diegetic but still has an effect on the audience in the same way that non-diegetic sound can be used to scare the viewer. The camera pans up and we have a high angle shot of a robot standing there with a gun as lazers fly overhead, the camera points up at the robot to demonstrate its power. Non diegetic music starts to fade in again as this next sequence occurs of men raging war against the machines. The mis-en-scen is mainly made up of destroyed things and human remains which tank wheels roll over. As the war rages on the music slowly increases in speed and other sounds start to join in the soundtrack. All cuts are straight cuts and the mis-en-scene follows what it has been during this whole scene. The music dies down but carries on as the voiceover comes back in to explain more plot. We see humans walking through a tunnel and soldiers saluting, they are dressed as regular soldiers as opposed to the robots which are not stereotypical robots they are skinny and human like and also have glowing red eyes to connote their evilness. As the plot unfolds there is a close up of a man looking out at the battlefield as a fade out slowly occurs and a fade in equally as slow occurs of flames. The voice over finishes and the title of the movie pops up, the terminator sound motif occurs and the famous soundtrack starts to play. As the titles pop up the camera constantly moves to the right showing the devastation to the peaceful and happy play area we saw at the beginning of the movie. When all the devastation is finished there is a slow zoom in on a robot standing in the flames, the music increases in volume and the soundtrack comes to an end with an extreme close up of the robots red eyes. After this there is a sound bridge as the movie begins with a vehicle moving.
This opening's purpose is different to the last two. Se7en was to create tension and fear, Panic Room was to establish where the film was set and Terminator 2 was to explain plot and give backstory. None of these openings are very conventional to the thriller genre but maybe that is because I picked three movies that all have sub genres and because of that they are going to try to appeal to the viewers of these genres as well as thrillers, my example being in Terminator 2 the use of flames and explosions a lot is a commonly used convention in action movies.