Thriller Opening Research - Ryan

Film 1: The Bourne Ultimatum

Scene 1:

With the first shot of the opening of Bourne Ultimatum, which is a close up of the back of the protagonist’s feet, we are immediately transported into a seemingly desperate and dangerous situation as Matt Damon’s character is limping through a city street in the snow. It’s night time and the streets aren’t as crowded as they might have been during the day. This is evident in the non-diegetic soundtrack playing over the action, the sound of heavy drums and the very fast pace which it is playing at takes over the shot, adding to the fact that this is a fast paced moment, with a lot of danger and risk. Also notice that the camera work is handheld and very shaky, adding to the feeling of the situation and the character being very unstable and uneasy. After a few second’s we hear the sound of sirens, which adds to the typical manic atmosphere surrounding the character. The camera is speedy and in the same shot spins around and focuses on the speeding police cars, police exit the vehicle and make after him on foot as he runs down into an underground train station. He’s clearly hurt and everything he sees and hears is danger to him. The editing pace is fairly fast at this point, making use of straight cutting with almost one edit every second. This also adds to the feeling of desperation, danger and perhaps even stress.

Scene 2:

We then cut to our protagonist running up the steps onto the station platform, then it cuts almost to a type of reverse shot in which we can see the police running down the steps after him. At this point the music is still running alongside the action, proving that it is parallel sound. The protagonist then jumps onto the train just before the police jump on and follow him. The non-diegetic soundtrack is still continuing at this point, and progressively getting louder. As he is moving through the train, at one point we cut to a POV shot of him looking down the carriage, to see all of the police searching for him. The train is very dimly lit, with the police almost appearing as dark shadows amongst the carriages. Matt Damon’s facial expression demonstrates just how anxious his character is in this particular situation. We then see the protagonist open the carriage door, hang outside and jump off of the train on the passing floor below. The camera is very shaky at this point, the music’s pace is also picking up and increasing in volume as the risk level grows.

Scene 3:

In the next scene, the protagonist is studying the area, from beside a very large building, police and speeding past attempting to pursue him. The editing pace begins to pick up and the police begin to close in on him.


Film 2: Inception

Scene 1:

In the very first shot of Inception, we, as an audience are (in a variety of shot sizes) focused in on ocean waves, there are foley sound effects of the waves crashing and it appears as though the footage has been slightly slowed down. The non-diegetic soundtrack is parallel with what is unfolding on screen, as it consists of slow piano music. These elements all work together in order to achieve a sad atmosphere. However, we as an audience are currently unsure of what to expect at this particular point in the opening. We then cut to the protagonist laying on a beach, with his face and body covered it the waves as they stretch up the beach. He’s clearly been in an unconscious state – just coming to. He slowly lifts his head and glances up, seeing children playing on the beach, there is a foley of children laughing, however it is slightly muffled and echoed, proving he is not entirely back with it just yet, and by his facial expression ,he looks as though he is not aware of where he currently is, and is only just making it out.  He drops his head back down, as if he has fallen back to sleep. There is then a straight cut to a high angle medium shot of a gun poking the protagonist in the back, then a reverse shot of the man holding the gun. The man is wearing what appears to be some kind of officer’s uniform. Using the end of the gun, he pulls back part of the protagonists t shirt to reveal a handgun stuffed in his belt. This adds mystery to the protagonist.

Scene 2:

In the next scene, located seemingly inside some sort of huge dojo (evident from the establishing shot) of the building on the rocks, speaking a foreign language, there is a standing man who hands a sitting man the gun, and the extra object the protagonist had. The positions of the characters in this scene demonstrate class and hierarchy, the sitting man is dressed very smart whereas the man handing him the items is simply wearing his uniform. Suddenly, the protagonist is dragged around the room, wearing his scruffy brown clothes, in comparison to the other men around he literally looks ragged and ‘washed up’, and looks somewhat like their puppet.

Film 3: Lovely Bones

Film 3: Lovely Bones

Scene 1:

The first shot of Lovely Bones is a close-up of a snow globe, the camera slowly tracks backwards as, over the top, we hear the slow, eerie soundtrack of a piano playing hard but slow. Then a straight cut reveals a child playing with his toys, then a further cut introduces a man, sat on the sofa, reading book and looking after the child.

Suddenly, a voice over of a person speaking begins. ‘’I remember being small’’ obviously refers to the child in the frame. We see constant shot reverse shots of the child staring at the snow globe, with a penguin sat directly in the middle of it staring back. The slow piano music continues to play over the action unfolding on screen. ‘’There is a snow globe’’. The child faintly smiles at the penguin within the snow globe.

Scene 2:

We then cut to the man lying on a bed next to a woman. The couple begin kissing as jump cuts continuously occur throughout, the camera follows the woman’s hand as she places a book on a bedside table, and it slips off and falls onto an already existent pile of books, suggesting this happens frequently. The camera stays focused on the pile of books for a few minutes, leaving the audience to work out for themselves what’s happening. Then a sudden jump cut shows the woman turning of the lamp just before one further edit cuts to the wall above the bed, on which there are paintings hanging up.

Scene 3:

As the camera lowers from wall-level, a graphic appears on the screen saying ‘’twelve years later’’, we can see nothing has changed, the room looks the same, the lighting is the same, even the pile of books on the floor beside the bed is the same. As she places her book on the bedside table for the second time, a close up follows her arm and then tracks past the placed book towards a framed photo, obviously of the little girl from the beginning.

Scene 4:

As the next scene begins, we are introduced to the girl, now a lot older, she constantly carries a camera, and informs the audience directly (voice over) that she wanted to be a photographer. She’s clearly a very excitable girl which is evident from the way she darts round the house, pulls excitable faces and takes photos of them, runs around outside, takes photos of random people. She grew up to be overly excited and this is a very unusual type of thriller opening.

Film 4: No Country for Old Men

Scene 1:

As the opening to No Country for Old Men begins, we are greeted with a black screen, over the black screen we can hear a voice over. Suddenly a straight cut reveals a desert looking location, during sunset with the land all silhouetted. A second straight cut then reveals another area in the land, then another reveals more. The establishing shots are used to set the tone for the film, as well as the location in which it is set. For about a minute and 13 seconds these shots continue, introducing the audience to the setting of the film, a very slow edit pace goes alongside the slow voice over introducing the story.

Scene 2:

With a final establishing shot of the land, the camera begins to pan to reveal a police car, and man has been handcuffed and is being pushed towards the car. The arrested man is placed into the back of the police car. We don’t get to see the arrested man’s face as he is positioned with his back to the camera. The policeman places a canister in the front of the car, the camera focuses on it for a few second before we see a straight cut, level with the road. The camera raises from the ground, creating another establishing shot as the police car drives off into the distance.

Scene 3:

There’s a cut and we are transported to the police station, a medium shot shows one of the officers on the phone. The arrested man then stands up behind him, he slowly walks over to the officer, as he does, he comes into focus and quickly throws his cuffed hands round the throat of the police officer, the officer is thrown backwards and both men fall to the ground on their backs. The editing pace begins to increase, and the policeman’s facial expression proves that he is close to suffocation. The facial expression of the arrested man is an insidious one. We, as an audience can tell that he is purely focused on murdering the officer, this creates a very eerie and twisted atmosphere in the scene. Blood begins spurting out of the officers neck, the arrested man’s face doesn’t change. The officer finally dies, and the arrested man let’s out a sigh of relief. After a few moments there is a straight cut, a bird’s eye view of a sink.

Scene 4:

The man places his handcuffs into the sink, blood covers his wrists, proving the sheer strength and relentlessness that went into the suffocation. He turns the tap on and begins cleaning the blood from his wrists.