Research: Student Film Opening Analysis

As part of our research, we had to analyse thriller openings which were created by previous students. I have chosen to analyse the opening ‘One Way 61363.’ The thriller starts with the first part of the film being shown, with the titles superimposed on the screen; this is known as a narrative opening structure.

This is the thriller opening 'One Way 61363:' 

 

A variety of camera, editing, sound & mise-en-scene techniques are used in the opening to give the audience a clue that the film is a thriller.

 The clip starts off with a close up shot of a phone, whilst there is a diegetic sound of the alarm ringing.  The angle and shot then switches to a man who is turning around to switch off the alarm, and as he is doing so non diegetic music is introduced. This music has a slow tempo, but is slowly building to a crescendo; this helps to create a tense atmosphere for the audience.

A high angle shot is used to show the audience that the main character is in power as he is on top/above the female; the use of tense music connotes that he has probably done something to the female sleeping next to him (who may be dead). This thriller opening is set in a slightly messy bedroom which connotes that the male has not yet sorted out his problems/mess.

An over the shoulder shot was used here to show that the man is looking at his reflection in the mirror. From this shot we can see that he looks nervous and therefore connotes that he may be contemplating about something which he has done. 

This clip used fade to transition between scenes, as well as a lot of cuts.

A match cut is used in this clip. This helps to show the audience what he had dropped and was picking up. It showed the man bending down to pick something up, and then cut to a closeup of the ticket which had dropped and showed him picking it up.