The document summarizes and analyzes the opening sequences of four thriller films: Se7en, The Sixth Sense, and 28 Days Later. For each film, it describes elements like the production credits, title sequences, imagery used, and shots that aim to build tension and suspense without revealing full details of the plot. These formal elements establish a dark, unsettling tone typical of the thriller genre.

1. Real Media Research

2. SE7EN

3. The film then shows the production company credits. The style of font used is a typical for a thriller film. The
font is bold but also rough and written as though its been written by someone with shaky hands, this also
helps to build tension as people with shaky hands in thriller movies are usually very unstable.
Details such as who made/funded the movie and the production company are also shown.

4. A montage of images are shown, the context of these images are perfect for a thriller film, firstly
because you don’t know what these images mean and so help build tension, secondly the images
themselves are weird and suggest a dark feel the movie, common in most thrillers.

5. The title of the film is shown very boldly so that the audience knows straight away. The contrast of
the white on black causes the title to pop out of the screen at you, furthermore the use of font for
the title is very shaky and so could indicate that this films deals with characters that could be
unstable.

6. The opening sequence continues to show a montage of images, the general theme of these
images tend to be with someone either inflicting or receiving pain, general themes in a thriller.
The images in the opening sequence are only shown for a couple of seconds, which isn’t
enough time for the audience to understand them, therefore this creates tension, possibly
curiosity and unease at what the movie is about, as the only thing that can really be gathered
from the images is pain.

7. THE SIXTH SENSE

8. The film opens with titles that list the production company credits.
The between each credit, the fade out is significantly long, this helps built tension and the pace
has been set slow but inviting.

9. The title of the movie is shown, and within seconds the title itself begins to ripple. This could also
been seen as a pulsate, much like a heart beat pulsing. This could be interpreted to show someone’s
heart beat while watching said thriller.

10. The first shot we see
is of a light bulb
slowly starting up.
The slow start up of
the bulb again helps
to build tension at the
start of the film. The
slow start up could
also suggest that
slowly throughout the
movie all will become
clear, and generally in
thrillers the plot is
revealed at the end.

11. A wide angled shot is shown of a woman walking down the stairs and over to a cabinet in which
the camera is behind.
The lighting in the room is dark, ad the cameras shot in obscured by a few objects. This could
suggest that something horrible could happen down there, or has happened down there.
Furthermore the darkness of the room will also give the audience an uneasy feel as they cannot
see the whole picture.
The fact that the woman’s skin is very fare, in comparison to the darkness in the room and that she
is a pretty woman in a dress that completely contrasts with the room could suggest that she is
going to be a victim and she doesn’t belong down there.

12. 28 Days Later

13. The opening sequence
shows a montage of
different images or scenes
with numbers shown from
1 – 28.
The images are perfect for a
thriller film, as the images all
have a general dark theme
to them.
The use of building up from
1 t 28 will build tension and
could possibly be slyly
telling the story but keeping
the plot hidden as the
images are hard to
understand as a group.

14. The opening sequence then shows the title of the movie with a persons face behind it.
The title is in a deep red colour, which is perfect for a thriller as it could suggest blood, and therefore
killing, which would bring suspense to the film.

15. The close up shot of the face behind the title could be the main character, I ca infer this as the face
doesn’t disappear when the title does, therefore the main character could be being introduced to the
movie.
The fact that the shot is a close up and not the whole face, but suspension as the audience would be
wanting to find out who the person is.