The document provides information for an assignment on researching film opening sequences. It discusses inspiration from real film openings including Se7en, Zombieland, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Genres and conventions for psychological thrillers are outlined. Potential locations, characters, actors, costumes, titles, music, and production details are proposed for consideration in developing an original opening sequence.

1. Assignment 15: Research
Chelsea Fashole-Luke
Laura Cuk
Rosie Zein

2. Chelsea Fashole-Luke – 7357
Laura Cuk – 7341
Rosie Zein – 7479

3. Inspiration from real film opening
sequences
Se7en
Montage style
opening sequence.
Enigmas are
Cast names flickering on a black presented to the
screen, emphasises the sinister audience, as to who
atmosphere of the sequence. this character is.

4. Inspiration from real film opening sequences
Zombieland
Starts with a
close up of an
American flag
and a narrators
voice can be
heard.
Cinema Verite –
handheld
camera style and
direct address
towards the
camera.

5. Zombieland
Enigmas created – the
audience wants to know the
country got into the state of
being known as ‘Zombieland’.
The titles are interactive with
the images of the opening
sequence. For example, the
letters in the names are
affected by the movement of
the characters.

6. Inspiration from real film opening sequences
To Kill A Mocking Bird
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/to-
kill-a-mockingbird/
Close up shot of
a box – the
audience does
not yet know
what the
contents are.

7. Creates an enigma because the
audience doesn’t know what
the film is about, and the
childlike imagery of crayons
and the lullaby-like music in
The title of the film is
the background contrasts with
displayed as part of the
the harsh title of ‘To Kill A
diegesis of the film. The
Mocking Bird’.
child prints in the words
onto the paper.
Montage style opening sequence,
with names and credits displayed
over the images.
Each shot fades into the
next.

8. Inspiration from real film opening
sequences

9. Inspiration from real film opening
sequences
Sucker Punch : My thoughts on the opening scene..
 I liked it because it was very dark and sinister.
 It introduces the main character and creates enigmas like
what happens to the girl after she is taken away?
 I liked how the sound combined with the video created an
intense atmosphere and the volume control was used really
well.

10. Inspiration from real films
Hard Candy
Story/plot/theme:
- Online social interaction
- Control over another character
- Emotional manipulation

11. Inspiration from real films
Misery
Story/plot/theme:
- Obsessiveness
- Captivity
- Stalking of a person

12. Inspiration from real films
The Social Network
Story/plot/theme:
- The making of a social network
- Life changing invention
- Online interaction

13. Inspiration from real films

14. Inspiration from real films
 Phone Booth:
This film is very intense and suspenseful as the villain is unknown. In the film the man
has to stay on the phone with the villain, or the villain will kill his loved one however,
ultimately the man knows he will die.
 When a stranger calls:
This is a thriller film which also has a villain who’s identity is unknown and this relates
to our opening sequence. In this film a teenaged girl goes over to babysit at some
peoples house and while there she starts getting calls from an unknown number.
There turns out to be a masked man in the house, and the girl has to save herself
And the children she is babysitting.

15. Genre and conventions
Psychological Thriller
Convention Explanation Example from real film
1. Perception of reality The main character is unaware or has Shutter Island
no sense of true events that occur in
the reality outside their mind.
2. Death of a loved one The death of a loved one causes or Memento
spurs the main character to go through
several actions or events, such as the
need for revenge.
3. Mystery/enigmas The opening sequence shows an Se7en
unknown person going through various
unconventional actions, eg. Cutting the
skin off their fingers.
4. Mental danger – to do with the mind The main character has hallucinations Black Swan
or sees things that happened,
differently causing them to think certain
things have happened, when in fact
they have not.
5. Identity The main character is seen to have Identity
multiple personalities, struggling to
make sense of their true identity. This
makes it unclear to the audience,
presenting enigmas such as what their
true personality is.

16. Genre and conventions
Convention Explanation Example from real film
1.
2.
3.
4.

17. Genre and conventions
Convention Explanation Example from real film
1. Incorporates elements of Mystery to keep the film Seven
mystery and drama suspenseful and drama to
connect with the
characters emotions
2. Deep focus on the to be able to understand Phone booth
characters state of mind the character
3. The film is usually Usually first person Momento
narrated. narration to get an idea of
what is going through the
characters mind.
4. The music used within To set the atmosphere of a A woman in black
the film is usually high typical thriller film.
pitched and eerie

18. Themes/topic mindmap

19. Research on topic/themes
The dangers of social media
Dangers include:
- Fraud
- Identity theft
- Stolen information
- Exposure of personal information (twitter, Facebook etc.)

20. Research on topic/themes
Online relationships
Many people in online
relationships (romantic and These people are
platonic) lie about their real known as ‘Catfish’ –
identity. the term used to
describe someone
who creates fake
profiles using other
peoples information
The TV show ‘Catfish’ which sets out and/or pictures
to discover if people in online
relationships are genuine or not. Source: wikipedia.org

21. Research on topic/themes
Online communities
More and more people Some online can However, some online
now have access t the be beneficial to communities can be quite
internet, which means people, harming to people - mostly
online communities can becoming a mentally. E.g.. Online
grow quicker than in the place of support communities for people with
past. and friendship. eating disorders looking for
‘thinsporation’ and ‘support’
from other who share the
same disorders.
Source: wikipedia.org

22. Research on topic/themes
Cyber stalking
Source: wikipedia.org

23. Research on topic/themes

24. Research on topic/themes

25. Research on topic/themes

26. Research on topic/themes

27. Research on topic/themes
Reality/ Real life situations:
 Our Opening sequence is based around social
networking and the ‘bad side’ to it.
 An example of this in a film is the film ‘Hard Candy’.
 The reality within these films makes them
all the more scary, as it means that the things
in the film can happen to people in real life.

28. Research on topic/themes
Identity:
 Our opening sequence also includes the theme of unknown
identity.
 An example of this is in the films Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
and Friday the 13th.
 This theme is used regularly in thriller films as it creates a lot of
suspense as the audience doesn’t know who the villain is and
creates an enigma

29. Research on topic/themes
Mind:
 Our opening sequence is based on the psychological thriller
genre and will include a character who is fixated on another
character.
 The mind plays an important role in psychological thrillers as it
is mainly about the villain being mentally unstable and this
leads them to become villains and be evil.
 Some examples of these characters are, Jigsaw (Saw),
Scarecrow (Batman), Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)

30. Research on topic/themes
Death:
Characters either fear or are fascinated by
death.
This can also link to the theme of the mind as
being fascinated by death links to the idea of a
psychopathic villain.
Some examples of these characters are
Jigsaw(Saw)

31. Locations
First Location (FLASHBACK):
On a bus going towards/ past an area with business buildings.
Second Location (FLASHBACK):
A busy café, probably in a shopping area like Whiteleys. The character would be sitting in the area
outside the café.

32. Locations
Third Location (FLASHBACK):
Outside an office building – the character will be coming out of the building in work clothes.
Forth Location (FLASHBACK):
On a busy normal street where the characters will be crossing the street on opposite sides.

33. Inspirational characters
Catwoman
- She is strong and
independent.
- Her identity is an
enigma
- She goes against the
stereotype that women
are weak
- She emphasises that
women can be just a
strong as men

34. Inspirational characters

35. Inspirational characters
Lisbeth Salander (The girl with the dragon tattoo)
Lisbeth is an inspirational character because:
 She overcomes her fears
 She is a strong character
 She saves the second main character from the
Villain

36. Inspirational Characters
Sarah Connor ( terminator 2: Judgement day)
Sarah is an inspirational character because:
 She is a strong character
 She tries to help protect others
 She is selfless
 She fights against evil

37. Actors
The people acting in our opening sequence will be Rosie and Laura. They are
available often and good for the role because they are both hardworking.
Strengths Weaknesses
Hard working and reliable. May fall behind in work
Strengths Weaknesses
Hard working and sensible Find it difficult to meet deadlines

38. Costume and props
For Laura’s Character we wanted her to look as normal as possible to make more of an
impression on the audience.

39. Titles and credits
Paranorman: The title of the film
stays within the genre of spooky, yet
mild comic horror and gore.
The creepy hand and
the ‘N’s being bigger
than the other letters
emphasises this.
The fall: The tile appears within
the smoke in the movie.
It the disappears as it is fanned
away by the character, along with
the smoke.

40. Titles and credits
Twin Peaks: Very basic, but
allows the audience to at least
understand that the title is also
the name of the setting of the
film.
Red Lights: also simple, yet
affective teamed with the
sinister music.
The title on a black background creates
emphasis on the flickers of red light that
momentarily surround the title.
The name of the main character is
also the name of the film.
The presentation of the title fits in with
the high school theme of the film, by
showing the audience the title on a
student ID card.

41. Music/sounds
‘Disembark’ – under category of dark/brooding –
freeplaymusic.com
- Creates mysterious and enigmatic atmosphere
- You don’t know where the music is going at first, leads
the audience to question what I going to happen next
‘City Cranes/ - under category of ‘eerie/ethereal’ –
freeplaymusic.com
- Sounds very eerie
- Not knowing what to expect
- Creates a chill in the atmosphere

42. Mainstream or independent
• Mainstream films are big budget films whereas independent films have a
smaller budget.
• Our film would be a mainstream film as it is not a hard hitting film which
considers issues within society, it would be a film which appeals to a wider
audience and so would need to have a bigger budget to be able to
distribute to many places.
Some examples of mainstream films are:
Avatar
Titanic
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Some examples of independent films are:
A separation
Train spotting

43. Target audience
Our target audience would be a mass audience
as it would be a mainstream film we would it
expect it to attract many viewers.
Also, our chosen genre (psychological thriller)
usually attracts a large audience.

44. BBFC and film rating
• To understand what BBFC and film ratings were we researched it and found the official site.
• We found the different types of ratings which are U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18.

45. Production companies
Before choosing our production company we researched our genre to see which
production companies were most commonly used.
BLACK SWAN: Black Swan is a thriller mystery film which used the Fox Searchlight
Pictures as their production company and also as it is a
conglomerate they used it for their distribution company.

46. Production Companies
SE7EN:
Se7en is a crime/mystery/thriller film which only has two
production companies which are Cecchi Gori Pictures and
New Line Cinema.

47. Production Companies
MEMENTO:
Memento is a mystery thriller film that had four production
companies and only the Newmarket company was used as a
distributor out of the four.

48. Production Companies
• After doing some research we decided that the would have two production
companies which would be Cross Creek Pictures and New Line Cinema.
• We decided to use these production companies as they are very successful and
well known.
Click here to watch the New Line Cinema logo
Click here to watch the Cross Creek Pictures logo

49. Distribution companies
• As New Line Cinema is part of the Warner bros. Corporation it also
distributes its own films.
• For example, New Line Cinema was both the producers and distributers of
Se7en.
• So for our distribution company we decided to use New Line Cinema as it
would mean we would pay less.
• Another distribution company we could use would be Paramount Pictures
which produced and distributed the film Shutter Island starring Leonardo
DiCaprio.
• This would be a good distributer as it is well known and has a good
reputation.
Click here to watch the Paramount Pictures logo

50. Fin.