Opening sequence texual analysis

An opening sequence conventionally establishes the location, time, period and characters of the movie. It shows actors names superimposed onto the top layer of the opening sequence to show you who is playing the characters usually in the order they are presented or the higher paid actors first. The opening sequence also shows what the name of the movie is and the production companies that are involved.

Shaun of the Dead
In the opening sequence of Shaun of the Dead it shows the production companies to begin with starting with Studio Canal, it then continues with Working Title.

The main character, Shaun is seen in a bar having a conversation with his girlfriend. He is seen drinking and smoking sitting opposite his girlfriend. The dialogue continues throughout and shot-reverse-shot is used to catch all parts of the dialogue on camera.

The shot is moved from over the shoulder shots of the two characters to a long shot of both characters and another character playing on a fruit machine. The use of this shot shows the location better and also introduces another character Ed who is heard to be swearing and cursing. The use of this character helps to create the time period of the movie by his dress, language and actions. The shot then returns to a shot reverse shot of the conversation and then of two other main characters. This shot lasts for a very short time and continues with the pairs conversation.

It then progresses to the opening credits in a car park with a person pushing trolleys. Superimposed onto the foreground are the titles of universal pictures, studio canal and working titles. This is then replaced by a super market till with "A WT Production" superimposed in the bottom centre. It then shows a bus stop with multiple characters standing next to it with "In association with BIG TALK PRODUCTION". The title come up with a group of teens walking towards the camera acting almost like zombies with "SHAUN OF THE DEAD" written in block capitals at the bottom of the shot.

Sherlock Holmes
In the opening sequence of Sherlock Holmes it begins with the Warner Brothers logo appearing in dark which continues with the logos of Village Road show Pictures and Silver pictures. It continues with non-diegetic music being heard as we progress with a series of carriages being shown going over a puddle. This continues with Sherlock Holmes being seen jumping from a carriage. There is now diegetic sound being heard from the crashes of the carriage and the breathing of Holmes.

This continues in a dark manner with both diegetic and non-diegetic sound being heard. The movie continues with Sherlock Holmes continuing through a large open planned building and there is a flash-forward sort of sequence in which it shows how he will attack someone before he does. It then shows him meeting up with another character and continuing to attack more members of a cult.

This continues with a low-volumed non-diegetic sound and the shouts and attacks of the people continue with diegetic sound. It carries on like this until there is the click of a camera and a photo is taken. The non-diegetic music becomes louder and continues throughout the title sequence in which various photos and articles appear on the screen and actor’s names appear on the screen superimposed over various articles. This then turns into the main title in which the words “Sherlock Holmes” appear in white block capitals on a background of green with more newspaper articles behind it.

Plot

Establishing shot of the woods showing that it is eerie and uneasy. Shot showing that the woods have a daunting and anxious atmosphere. The Male victim is approaching the woods listening to music. The Male victim enters the woods still listening to music. The Male victim walks through the woods uneasily, removing his headphones and fastening his pace as he goes. The Male victim continues through the woods psyching himself out as he moves. We see what he sees in this shot moving through the woods picking up various details that may psych him out.The Male victim notices a shadowed figure in the distance and becomes more uneasy and nervous. As the Male walks through the woods he begins to make out the shadow as a woman and begins to relax. The male victim puts his headphone back in and continues to listen to his music and carries on walking. The male victim turns as he hears a noise and is struck on the head by the female killer. The male is dragged through the woods into a large ditch only his arms and head are visible. The male victim comes to not unaware of his surroundings. He then blacks out again.

History of thriller

History of the Thriller

The thriller genre of film often contains various sub-genres, such as 'Shaun of the dead' incorporating horror, thriller and comedy.

Thrillers are often fast paced, frequently contain action and often have their main characters as a resourceful heroes, such as 'Along came a spider' .

Thrillers are movies that attempt to obtain the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers.Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many thrillers also include a central villain.

Quasimodo was the first monster to appear on film in the hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Many of the earliest feature length thrillers were created by German film makers in the early 20th century.

The thriller film fell into three main sub-genres: the horror-of-personality film, the horror-of-Armageddon film and the horror-of-the-demonic film.

Thrillers often take place in exotic locations such as foreign cities, deserts, Polar Regions, or high seas like 'Transformers'.

Thrillers have been increasingly influenced by horror or psychological-horror.Due to this influence, monstrous element have become more common such as 'king kong'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)

Some recent thrillers include:
Angels and Demons, it was directed by and produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and John Calley and was written by David Koepp, Akiva Goldsman and the book was written by Dan Brown. It stars Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Armin Mueller-Stahl. It had a budget of $151 million and had a gross income of $485,900,330.

Eagle Eye was directed by D.J. Caruso, it was produced by Steven Spielberg, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Pat Crowley and Ed McDonnell. It was written by John Glenn & Travis Adam Wright, Dan McDermott and Hillary Seitz. The movie starred Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis, Anthony Mackie, Ethan Embry, Julianne Moore and Billy Bob Thornton. It had a budget of $80 million and had a gross income of $178,066,569.

Hannibal the Rising was directed by Peter Webber and produced by Dino De Daurentiis Martha De Laurentiis and Tarak Ben Ammar and starred Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li, Dominic West and Rhys Ifans. The movie had a budget of $50 million and had a gross revenue of $82,169,884 compared to that of "Red Dragon" which grossed a substantial sum of $209,196,298. And "Hannibal" which grossed a massive $351,692,268.