Thriller openings (unfin)

1) Se7en

Codes & Conventions

• Background is rather dark, foreboding, suggests a sinister setting
• The camerawork is done so that we never actually see the character's face, adds an element of intrigue
• Sharp metal tools are shown, character seems to be trimming skin from his own finger, adds to the film's sinister feeling
• Music is slow-paced, with a sinister feel to it, conveying one of the themes of the film.

Suspense & enigma
These are conveyed through the activities performed by the character throughout the opening titles.
The character's face is never actually seen, which builds curiosity amongst the audience as they struggle to understand the character's role in the plot.
The audience's intrigue is further aroused when the mysterious person is seen carrying out various strange, even macabre tasks.
These include looking over strange sketches of body parts and people, writing and cutting out pieces of film and pictures, stitching pages together with a needle doused in his own blood and other such activities.
The audience are kept in suspense by the gruesome and disturbing activities, and enigma is conveyed by the elusive nature of the man, surely an antagonist.

Titles
The opening credits detail the director, the company, the producer and the main cast.
The titles are mixed into the opening scene, and appear on black or darkly-coloured blanks in between shots.
The font for the titles seems hand-written, scratchy and uneven, almost threatening in the way it is presented.
The titles seem to flicker, almost like a badly-rendered film, this could be to add to the suspense.

Narrative construction and the plot
Not much about the plot is given away, save the sinister nature of the man in the opening shots.
The book that the man writes in adds some mystery to the shots, maybe it is a plot device that will appear later in the film.
Certainly, the book has some relevance, as the gruesome pictures within would not be portrayed unless they had some relevance to the film itself.

Music/Soundtrack
The soundtrack, like most of the shots in the first few minutes, has a decidedly sinister feeling to it.
the music is slow-paced, with a heavy rhythm and several high-pitched sound effects reminiscent of metal grinding against metal.

Camerawork
The opening scene is portrayed mostly through close-up shots of the book and various photographs and pieces of film, mixed with shots of metal tools and the mysterious man seemingly inflicting self-harm.
Snaps of photos and sketches are taken with overhead shots, whereas shots of the book are taken from various angles and the more gruesome shots taken at eye level with the used implements.

Editing techniques and Pace
A lot of fast cutting is used in the opening scene, with some shots taking less than half a second, appearing as brief flashes on the screen, most of these particular shots are sketches or photos.
Fading techniques are also used, with one shot fading into another; this technique is seen more rarely, though it still helps to keep the film's pace.
The film's pace is difficult to decide; the soundtrack has a slow, heavy beat that complements some of the longer shots and favors a more sinister feel, where as the flickering title screens and fast cuts suggest a slightly faster, more racy pace to the film.
Ultimately, though, the film's pace can be seen as slow, deliberate, and macabre.

Setting
The setting remains unidentified, though the background appears to be mottled dark and light, suggesting a dimly-lit/dark room with at least one window.
Some shots also suggest a red room, where photos from old cameras are left to develop.
Apart from these few clues as to the setting, it remains unidentified, adding to the already-established intrigue of the film.

Characters
Only one character is suggested throughout the opening scene, but his identity is never revealed, only his personality is hinted at through the disturbing tasks performed throughout the scene.

2) Memento

Codes & conventions

• Background is initially beige and uninteresting until later in the scene when the camera is panned out.
• The first shot portrays the development of a photo played backwards, starting with a fully developed photo and reverting back to an undeveloped photo, which then proceeds to slide back up into a camera. This adds an element of confusion to the scene.

Suspense & enigma
The opening shot of the photo developing backwards is initially the only curiosity of the film, as it contains a dead body, which adds initial suspense to the scene.
The fact that the scene is shown backwards also adds a sense of enigma, as the audience can't piece together what is happening in the scene until the very end.

Titles
The titles are shown throughout the initial sequence of the photo developing backwards, portraying the main cast and the director, as well as others such as the musical director and costume designer.
The titles are portrayed in a rather bland, ordinary font, blue in colour, which betrays the film as uninteresting and boring, whereas it is anything but.

Narrative construction and storyline/plot
The initial storyline is hard to grasp with the scene being shown backwards.
Not much is revealed to the audience, save that the man in the opening sequence has killed someone.
The fact that he photographs the killing suggests a somewhat disturbed nature.

Music/soundtrack


Camerawork
The scene opens in an initial close-up shot that lasts for the duration of the titles.
We are then presented with a close-up shot that tracks upwards over the main character as the photo fades and jumps upwards, back into the camera.
The shot tracks up to the man's face, before switching through a montage of various things happening in reverse, eg; blood flowing back into the body, the bullet shooting back into the gun.