Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

To help us consider the best ways to make our opening credits, we have been looking and analysing different opening sequences to thrillers, which will give us some sort of inspiration for our idea of the opening sequence. By analysing different sequences we have been able to look at four main points which include:

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The colours used in an opening sequence

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The Style of Credits used

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Thriller Conventions

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Order of Appearance

I have considered these four points as they appear in every opening sequence that is used and it shows the conventions of a thriller which will help me to plan and research more into my thriller. Opening sequences are used to give the audience information, which will enable them to see how the film was created and by who. It makes the audience feel more engaged with the scenes about to happen and lets the audience know what actors are involved which can make the audience more interested about the thriller film itself.

The first film I analysed was called - Se7en. This opening scene was very dramatic and used many conventions of thrillers. The colours used were very conventional as they represented death, innocence and evil. For example the colours used were grey and white which connote the innocence and purity, the grey could suggest that life maybe coming to an end as when things aren't right you refer to everything being grey and dull. It also could show that everything is lifeless and that they have no life within them. More colours used are black which is mostly referred to as an evil dark colour. It shows that in the film there will be death and darkness and sins withheld. The colours contrast with each other as it shows the significance of good and evil, which is what most thrillers are about, when the victim (good) who is suspiciously murdered by somebody (evil).

Lastly, the colour which is only shown once is red. Red can be seen as the colour of blood, which shows us as the audience that is will be a bloody thriller which will involve murders in a gruesome way. The colour red could also suggest love, romance or lust. In a thriller films case, this would mainly be lust, involving small relationships involving small sexual scenes, which could make the murders based around jealousy. 

The style of Se7en involves a very jerky editing style. This adds effect to the thriller as the jerky movement of the writing makes us as the audience feel on edge and feel uneven about the film. We believe that something bad is going to happen as the jerky movements makes us feel like we only have a few seconds until something is going to make us scared. It creates suspense and tension as we are intrigued to see what is going to happen therefore giving us more conventions to a thriller just in the opening scene.

The conventions of this thriller film involve many different elements. One element being low key lighting. This is used constantly throughout the whole of the opening sequence. This is conventional to a thriller as it makes people believe that something is going to happen, it also is conventional as it creates suspense as the audience cannot see much happening apart from the main prospects. This creates the suspense and tension for the audience which will engage them into the opening sequence more and intrigue them to continue watching it. Another convention to the thriller is the colours used. The colours contrast with each other such as red, black, white and grey. The red and black signify the darkness and the murders happening in the film whilst also portraying the villain, as black is usually referred to as a dark and evil colour. This then contrasts with the colours grey and white. They grey is an element of time running out, like life isn't within you. Whilst the colour white signifies innocence and purity which could connote the typical victim, which is why the colours are conventional to a thriller genre. Another convention to a thriller is the sound. With it being diegetic sound it creates a more fictional yet realistic approach to the film. The sound makes everything more intensifying and makes the audience feel like they are in the thriller. This is conventional to a thriller as it makes everything more engaging for the audience whilst increasing their tension levels making them more scared and panicky. All these conventions are conventional to a thriller as they all give the element of the three S's - Suspense, Shock and Surprise.

The order of Se7en is very simple. It introduces the opening sequence to the film whilst introducing the characters and directors to producers and camera men.
The order of there opening credits goes a bit like this:

• Title and Production
• Characters - Brad Pitt & Morgan Freeman
• Title of film - Se7en
• More actors involved
• The Director
• Producers
• Company Name
• Actors (2)
• Title
• Director (Twice)
• Music Producers
• Costume Designers
• Editors
• Production Team
• Camera Operators
• Co-Producers
• Producer
• Written By
• Director

The directors name is mentioned many times in this opening sequence as they want to inflate the importance of who has made this film happen. The main actors are mentioned first to show the audience who the main characters are and inflate their importance as well as the directors. 

The film I analysed was Insidious which was made in 2010. This films opening sequence involved many different conventions to a thriller. The colours used were all very dark, such as red, black, dark blue, white and grey. All of these colours contrast with each other as they make everything more bold and it makes it stand out more so that the audience take more notice of the people in the film and the people who produced it. The colours red and back connote darkness and blood, which makes us as the audience think there is going to be a lot of spooky scenes and murders going to occur within the film. The red on the writing makes us believe that it is written in blood therefore is a connotation of a thriller as blood is always used especially when somebody has been killed. The colour white suggests the innocence of the victim, that is brutally taken away when they are murdered. The red, black and white contrast with each other as they all represent a character and the plot of the film, which is why they are a connotation of a thriller.
They have also used low key lighting. This is conventional because they always mke sure that the audience are unable to see the whole of the background, so that if something is to happen they are left with suspense and left thinking what happend.

The style of the credits in Insidious are relitavly similar to the film Se7en. It introduces the opening sequence to the film whilst introducing the characters and directors to producers and camera men.
The order of there opening credits goes a bit like this:

• Association with - Stage 6 films
• Alliance Film
• Global Presentation 
• Haunted Mones Production
• James Wan Film (Director)
• Goes on the opening scene
• Film Title
• Actors
• Casting By
• Costume Design
• Music By
• Edited By
• Production Design
• Director of Photography
• Co-producer
• Executive Producer
• Produced By
• Written By
• Directed By

As you can see the order of Insidious is different to Se7en. They have made sure that the company that they are partnered with have come up before anything is. It shows their importance in the film as they could have been sponsors towards the making of the film, and it shows who the film was created by. It then goes onto the next importance which is the directors and then the actors. Unlike Se7en, Insidious includes all the people that had input into the film, including the costume designers and directors of photography. 

In our group thriller opening sequence we are going to look at our research and use the connotations which will include the red, black and white. This is because we want to make the audience experience the danger that is about to happen and let them experience the three S's, Suspense, Shock and Surprise. We are also going to include the order in our opening sequence. This is because we want to make sure the most important people who were involved are mentioned so that the audience are able to see who made the film and who we partnered with for 'sponsers'. We will also include the low key lighting to emphasise on the darkness of the thriller which will make the audience more enagaged into the film.

Our style will go like this:

• Association with
• HCF Film
• Director
• Go onto the film
• Film Title
• Actors
• Costume Designer
• Music by
• Edited By
• Production Design
• Co-Producer
• Executive Producer
• Written By
• Directed By

By doing this, the research has helped us to come up with our own opening sequence order which is completed to a different standard compared to the others. We have made sure we have included the main elements for the opening and that way we are able to ensure everybody included gets a mention in the opening sequence of our thriller.