Finally, the last genre to recreate the opening of films was thriller. We were given a choice of:
- Vertigo
- Memento
- The Shining
Our group chose Vertigo. Here is the analysis of these openings (using narrative, characters, themes, atmosphere, setting, sound and titles) and the reasons of our selection, including why we did not choose the other films.
Vertigo (1958)
The narrative for this opening is linear, open and reveals little about the plot through the enigma code. There are extreme close ups of the character's facial features though she is not fully revealed to add mystery and make the audience ask questions about them and the part they play in the film. Themes connoted through the colour red include danger and death whilst the eye may denote the actual vertigo illness. The non-diegetic music is a mixture of low and high key with slow tempo, causing suspense to be built which is commonly created in thrillers. Along with the themes, shots and editing styles, the atmosphere generated is tense still leaving the audience with lots of questions about the plot of the film. The setting is not revealed in the clip causing the audience to fixate onto the character and make them ask questions as to the location of the film. The titles appear with the spirograph in a formal style to continue the mysterious opening. The spirograph images may also reflect the title of the film vertigo as the illness included symptoms of dizziness and blurred vision, suggesting potential themes to the film.
Vertigo is not the most complicated opening in terms of camera angles and transitions and it's iconic through the use of the spirograph. It's different to the rest of the thrillers and we felt the shortest in production so it would allow us to fit all the filming of the openings into 2 hours.
Memento (2000)
The open narrative of this film is not linear as it may appear at first. The film is in fact filmed backwards and so makes it a fragmented narrative when it jumps back to present time at the start of the opening. The main character is revealed after taking a picture and shooting someone which creates questions in the audience and a mysterious, suspensive atmosphere. Themes of murder and crime are connoted through the props of guns and blood which also connote danger. The setting is unclear adding mystery to the events and the non-diegetic music creates a solemn tone prior to the shooting. This contiguous effect creates shock in the audience and emphasis on the shooting of the gun. The titles are written in reverse order to the traditional one to match the editing style and blue connotes sadness like the non-diegetic music.
Even though this is the most different opening due to the fragmented/reversed narrative, our group felt there was little to be imaginative with. We also felt that the opening credits are not unusual like Vertigo not as challenging to recreate.
The Shining (1980)
The linear, open narrative of this opening creates suspense and encourages the audience to ask questions about the setting and where the car is going. The characters aren't shown in the opening to create suspense and make the audience wonder who is in the car. Themes are hard to find in this opening in order to hide the plot from the audience and create suspense. The non-diegetic music is low and slow to emphasise this suspense and creates further tension, producing a mysterious and apprehensive atmosphere. The setting is of a rural area in the mountains though it is not known where and the titles in a formal, blue font reveal little about the plot or themes creating suspense and a curious atmosphere.
Though this would have challenged our group creatively, we felt it would be time consuming and difficult to produce the first minute in the way that we desired with the limited time we had left over from creating the other 2 openings. It is also similar to Juno in the way that it tracks a character/object, showing the setting and we wished to created a variety of openings to broaden our ideas.
