Analysis of openings of thrillers

Jagged edge

Jagged edge is a typical horror based thriller opening with an point of view attack from the killer. The storyline starts with a peaceful mood showing scenery and calm weather. The build up to the attack is emphasized by loud music which creates tension of the killer not being seen. The victim is first unaware of the attacker in the room which creates tension and anxiety for the viewer showing a stalker feeling as he watches her sleep.

The contrast shown by the attacker’s violence and the victims innocence sets up the storyline for the rest of the movie. As the attack begins the victim is very defenseless which creates the feeling of power they have over her. The scene is very viscous which again sets up the atmosphere for the rest of the movie.

The camera shots used are mostly close ups which concentrate on the knife as the main object and the victims face; this puts the audience on the victims shoes. The knife also represents the power idea and the lack of control the victim has over the situation. The camera concentrates on the knife at the end of the attack where the victim screams then the shot is cut to a view of the ocean. This highlights the contrast of innocence and violence being washed away by the sea.


No country for old men

The story starts off with a series of still pictures of deserted places giving a peaceful feeling contrasting with the murder aspect. The voice over tells a story which sets the scene. The police involvement shows the crime element highlighting the character and a possible weapon. The storyline gets straight into the key element of the thriller which is death. The murder scene of the police man shows the characters personality and the unexpected horror of his facial expressions setting the mood. The effortless murder gives a sense of a serial killer with an unusual murder weapon intriguing the viewer. The second killing also gets the viewers attention into finding out more about the character. A second character is introduced hunting which emphasizes the idea of killing. The scene is set in a dessert which shows isolation and an unknown outcome. The massacre of dead men shows the danger and gives the audience as sense of mystery of what happened. The finding of the money shows that there was obviously a drugs situation gone wrong.

The camera shots mostly involve close up’s giving a more intense setting. It shows the story through the audience perspectives by using point of view shots. The long shots used also show isolation and loneliness of the character being in the middle of nowhere. This is also highlighted through the way they have used sound. There is a lot diegetic sound used with very little environment sound creating the idea of mystery and darker side of life. The only non-diegetic sound is the voiceover in the first scene which build the significant of irrelevant murder.

The opening to the film really draws in the audience by developing two characters of which are a mystery. There are a lot of question raised which intrigue the viewer to want to find out.

Dead Calm

The story starts off with a scene at the train station, showing military men meeting their family. This is a good opening scene as it sets the film up for the next scene. The dialog used shows its Christmas giving sense of happiness. We are introduced to the first character (Sam Neil), his facial expression shows worry which contrasts with the happy atmosphere. The business of the station gives a sense of anxiety and when the police are introduced an element of fear arises as it is unknown what happened. As soon as the scene goes into the hospital the audience knows that someone is injured. The first dialog spoken explains the situation and informs the viewer. There is very little dialog which makes a good opening scene as it makes the viewer interested. There is mostly diegetic sound which builds up and get louder to create tension. There is a point where non-diegetic sound is introduced to create security before the car accident.

There are many camera shots that are used to create different effects. The station scene shows a slow circling around the character and a point of view shot scanning the room, this creates the idea of isolation in the crowd. There is slow motion used to create the sense of trouble and tension. To connect the audience with the characters a blurred shot puts the audience in their eyes indicating blurred vision. A fade out is used to show time movement this gives the audience a false sense of time as we see the results if the accident before the accident. The road sign shown gives clues to the viewer so there is no confusion in the sequence of events.

The atmosphere created is mostly connected to the weather. The weather expressed the mood of the scenes and characters and creates a contrasts with the idea of security. Another contrasts expressed is atmosphere of the scenes being happy at the start and slows becomes a tragedy.