3 Analysed Thriller Openings

Kill Bill

Kill Bill is an interesting action thriller because its opening uses a lack of soundtrack, special effects and camera shots. Without these it is still a good opening sequence because it uses a lot of diegetic sounds, movement, and its simple use of editing.

To start with the camera is looking down on an injured woman with blood all over her face, which creates interest for the audience because they would be wondering what happened to her. It also introduces both of the main characters in the film within the opening as well. This is done by the fact that the woman calls “Bill” by his name and he calls her by her name. We also know that the film will be based around revenge, as the main character also says “Bill, it’s your grave”, this simple line tells us that the theme of the film is revenge.

Also suspense is made by the use of diegetic sound. The audience starts to become even more interested as you cannot see “Bills” face and you can hear him in the background, talking to the woman. The audience could also feel suspense because of the way that they used the noise from the shoes and the way he moved. This would affect the viewer because he moves at a slow pace and the tapping starts to get to the viewer making you think “who is he, and what has he done?”

Dead Man’s Shoes

This psychological thriller keeps the audience intrigued by a number of things. One of these being that the film jumps between the current time and past events which being taped by someone. This being achieved by special effects over the clips, so that they look like an old video camera. This also helps lay down part of the story in the film as the way it swaps makes you wonder if they are going back to a hometown or place in their memories.

It is also interesting as an psychological thriller because it does not use a thriller style song for the introduction, it uses the song “Vessel in Pain” as the opening which is not a thriller type of song. But it is used highly effectively for the way in which you can see the memories of the two main characters.

The film also uses a number of camera shots for the opening. The main shots used are extreme long shots, so that it can set the scene. For example there are two or three shots in which you can see a large field and road. It also uses panning shots, in which you can see the surrounding environment. Most of the old clips are close ups, which is usually done by people videoing their children, which can allow the viewer to relate to such a thing. It only occasionally uses medium shots for when you see the characters walking down a hill and through a forest.

Saw III

This thriller uses soundtrack, diegetic sound, camera shots and lighting to an amazing length during the opening. First of all the audience becomes engaged in the film because it starts off with a torch lighting up small parts of the room, leaving the rest of the screen black. This makes the audience wonder why it has been left there, or why it is pointing towards a gun.

This film uses a good soundtrack to add to the suspense in the opening. For example it uses very eerie and dramatic noises that give the feeling of fear and something dramatic is going on. For example when panning onto a dead body on the floor a more dramatic and louder sound happens compared to the rest of the opening.

The film also uses diegetic sound effectively. The way in which they use a soundtrack and diegetic sound at the same time gives it that edge over other thrillers in the sub-genre. For example the way in which you can hear the noises of the torch, rocks, taps and saw, give it the additional edge to it, as it makes it more eerie than it already is.

Camera shots are also used effectively. It uses a number of panning shots to give an idea of the small entrapped area in which the man is being help, and how dark the room is. It is also used to show dead bodies around him. A number of close ups are also used on the man to show how he is scared and worried that he will never get out. But they also use a high angle view most of the time to show that he is in a small and weak position. You get the theme of someone being in danger and that he is trapped because he is locked away.