Modern Thriller Openings

Modern Thriller Openings

1. Memento

The use of camera in the opening sequence of the thriller Memento creates a very mysterious atmosphere. The opening sequence is filmed close up to a polaroid picture, then to a close up of blood then a bullet then glasses and nearer to the end of the opening scene the camera changes to a wide shot to show a man shooting someone in the head. This opening sequence was edited to show everything thats happening backwards, this is effective because it makes the audience question why it's going backwards and what could it mean. The sound in this opening scene is very low and monotonous non-diagetic sound (Soundtrack). At some points you can hear diagetic sound like the polaroid picture being waved around, sound of the polaroid camera flash, gun shot and the mans scream. 

The mise-en-scene in this scene is very dark, the setting is a dark room, the man two men in the sequence are waring dark clothes (Coats), the polaroid picture is very dark metaphorically as the picture is of a dead man. The whole scene in general is very dark and gloomy. 

2. Brick

The use of camera in the opening sequence of the thriller Brick creates an intense atmosphere because the shots change quickly from a girls body to the boy staring at her, also this is a very effective use of eye-line match because it shows that something happened between them. This scene is a flash-forward because the next scene is 2 days before this opening scene. The non-diagetic sound (soundtrack) is very calm which intensifies the scene. We get some diagetic sound of the phone ringing. The costumes for the two characters that we see in these two scenes are casual and teenage like just to exaggerate their age. The first scene is dark as its showing a dead body in a river, this dark lighting suits the scene because it emphasises the seriousness of the scene.

3. Zodiac 

The use of camera in the opening scene of the thriller Zodiac shows us the setting of the scene, first we get a pan of the city from above then we get a moving wide shot of houses and fireworks in the background. The opening scene is made up of short quick, over the shoulder and wide shots. The non-diagetic sound is very romantic, the audience would see that the two characters they see at the beginning are going on date. The music changes to very intense when a car drives up behind them and once the two people are dead the music is louder.