Analysis of thriller and horror opening sequences

Scream (horror), 1995

In the opening credits of the title 'Scream' the choice of colour for the background, in black, is a symbolism of death and impurity which reflects heavily on the type of pattern that this horror film follows throughout; with characters dying at certain points through the progression of the film. The capital letters of the title bring out the boldness and advises the viewers that the film is being taken seriously. As soon as the title rolls into play, a phone rings in the background immediately to give a precursor to the opening scene of the film that is about to follow. The font of the title changes from white to red in a fading effect to echo the effect of blood soaking through clothing. The representation in the symbolism of the colour red often links to danger and with the girl screaming in the background, an ominous feeling is created from the audience with the danger that awaits the girl (who is screaming). This is imminently approaching and that we fear that she may be exposed to it in devastating consequences. As the title changes to red the scream reaches its peak by becoming increasingly louder. This shows the possible extent to how painful the girl's impending death is and the wielding of a knife, as the title changes to red, gives us the impression that her death is related to a stabbing. The echoes of the scream stretch on into the introduction of the opening scene then quickly disappears, which beckons the inevitability of her death. This gives the viewers the feeling that the girl may be the one who screams in the end. The girl puts down the phone for the first time, after an initially brief conversation with the mysterious caller. A medium shot is shown to reveal her surprising reaction to the phone being rung again straight after the previous call ended through her body movement and facial expression. The camera shortly tracks her movement on a horizontal axis then zooms in for the medium shot and there is no motion in the camera. Before she ends the first call, she says 'take it easy' which is ironic due to the fact that she is almost deceiving herself by believing that the man would do so but we immediately suspect that he will not. A medium long shot is used to show the branches of a tree that lies outside her house, which is the actual location of her death.
The part when the girl makes some popcorn becomes vital to how the scene develops later on. As soon as the girl puts the pan of popcorn on the grill, it makes the viewers question whether she will be alive by the time the popcorn is done. As the popcorn bag grows larger, the tension heightens further; this is helped with non-diegetic sounds in the orchestral music that elevates the level of panic to which the girl is feeling in this frighteningly tense experience she is going through. The moment where the orchestral music is played shows the turning point to how the girl is feeling when she enters a phase where she was once calm and composed, but now she begins to panic and becomes vulnerable to the threat. A medium long shot is presented where the girl is positioned to the right-hand side of the screen with the glass door, which is unguarded despite it being locked, is located to the left of the screen. The unguarded glass door is prone to being broken by the killer on the phone and also the girl has her back turned towards the door so she can be exposed from behind without knowing it.


Jackie Brown (Crime thriller), 1995

The choice of colour in the film title evokes positive themes which oppose to the representation of the codes and conventions displayed in a crime thriller genre. With the title being yellow, the colour symbolises happiness and liveliness that helps to elevate the mood of an atmosphere; whilst the genre reflects on the darker side of one character's actions and personality through psychological and social aspects. The director/producer's decision for the font of the film title is a deliberate attempt to mislead the audience away from their expectations of a crime thriller genre. In addition to the title, the letters all have a curvature to them which act as a distraction to deceive the audience into the approach that is taken into presenting the title. The font adds depth to the level of creativity in the presentation and the amount of charm and liveliness, from the air hostess, is matched to the uplifting tone of the song.


The choice of song for the introductory scene is uplifting but only affects the audience and not the character because the song is a non-diegetic feature and the character may be feeling different to how we should feel at that moment. Momentum builds from the start with the thrive of the optimism in the song and the woman who walks along whilst the camera is tracking her movements on a horizontal axis. The woman is clearly is an air hostess from the appearance of her smartly-dressed uniform. She has a large suitcase which is unusual as it is not necessary take aboard onto her flight. This creates suspicion about the items that lie inside the suitcase and ensures we question the innocence of the woman and whether she appears to be the person we think she is meant to be, but viewers do not suspect this. From her charisma she does not seem to be the type of person to commit any unlawful acts of violence or corruption. This distributes the message to the audience that one's charisma can be deceiving and that you should not judge anyone's personality from the naked eye. Her occupation gives her a certain level of authority and respect therefore guards do not necessarily have to inspect air hosts/hostesses as they are part of the flight crew. When the song reaches its climax the tone of the singer's voice reaches his highest note and peak which helps to lift the tension of the scene up the point where it can no longer be surpassed. When she runs, momentum is built steadily to which the song is striding towards as the scene is becoming at its most active.