THRILLER RESEARCH: Meg

CABIN IN THE WOODS

The opening sequence of this film is actually very casually presented if you were to look contextually at it. 

However, it is not obvious whether or not this is a point of view (P.O.V) shot or not from the first frame. The costume of the lady standing in the window frame is a top and knickers. This gives us some context as to the fact she is getting ready for something. The mid long shot (MLS) helps us distinguish where our character is and what point in the day it is.  

We then have a straight cut. This is to make the audience aware that we are now in the house that our character is in.The mid close up shows us as an audience little details like the window frame and the setting outside of it. Also we find a little more about our character by the props in the background.





This sequence is a made up of an eye line match on a prop. This is to leave suspense and raise the enigmatic tension between our audience. ("What is she looking at?" "What is the book for?")
I like the way the camera is directed from a low angle in the first shot, this almost suggests the character has a matter of importance, or has found something that beholds importance. This shot is particularly good because it shows the prop of the book at the corner, its almost like a point of view from the book itself.

It then switches to the back of the character, and then she turns around showing us the prop she has just recently made an eye line match with.This is all captured with a Mid shot. This is effective because you can see her movement fully, as well as the setting behind her. This looks like a bedroom, and this shot type shows the audience that.

We then come across the object (prop) in a much closer proximity than when our character was looking at it. this isnt quite a point of view shot because we can see her hair in the right side of the screen. However, we are looking at what she is looking at. This is to give the consumers a real idea of what it's like to be in our characters shoes. Again its raising a lot of questions. This shot is at a slight high angle which could show importance to the drawing, but it is also showing character movement once again. Our character moves her hand over to the rings of the book, almost stroking it. This shows that our character is intrigued, but without this information, as an audience we would be completely clueless as to what she is looking at.
During this sequence, we hear diagetic sound, music. 

We are then introduced to another female character which then means there is more diagetic sound, dialogue. The new character now has the piece of paper from the book, this could suggest they have a close friendship. They are also close in the frame, the mid shot shows us more about the room they are in, we are now able to see a bookcase. Our original starting character likes books, this is evident through the shot types, letting the audience in on our characters lives.





Right at the end of our opening sequence we are again introduced to two other characters. As an audience we are now taken into a different place with our characters. The medium long shot here shows very well the setting of where they are. It seems like a friendly neighborhood. We can see they are in a street or on a main road, as we can see trees, cars, and a pavement/road. This shot type however, doesn't give a very clear imput of the emotions of these characters, which is probably not important at this point. We can take a hunch that someone is leaving as the props are shown very clearly in our male characters arms. 

The lighting in all of these frames are very naturalistic. Realistically, with horrors you tend to have dark and dingy lighting, lots of grey, but as i said at the beginning, it is a very casual opening. You wouldn't begin to watch this movie thinking it is the genre it is. But, maybe that is the directors aim, leaving the audience to have the unexpected to deal with.

The titles are all in red. Red is symbolic for a lot of things, blood, horror, gore, sex, love, danger. A very often used colour in the thriller/horror industry.

PULP FICTION

The opening of this starts with a two shot, with dialogue being the diagetic sound. The shot distance isn't particularly close to our characters, but it is however close enough to notice the context of where they are. 

The body language of our female character is very different to the males. The lady has a very good posture with a straight back and elbows off the table, and our male character is leaning back, in a very relaxed position smoking, inside. The fact he is smoking in a diner (as I suggest it is a diner), you can tell how things have changed in the present. The blinds behind them also tell the audience the time of day, in this case the daytime. There is also diagetic sound in the background as well as the dialogue, of the cars going passed the window they are sitting by and the quiet music playing in the diner.

A shot reverse shot is introduced when the characters are speaking of more important information. It's almost a way to get the audience to lean their heads in with our male character and listen closely to what they both have to say. It definitely raises the enigma in the scene as we are clueless to what they are speaking about. They know more than the audience does. This suggests so far about the two film openings I've analysed so far, that there isn't much dramatic irony in the opening sequence of a thriller.

I would say this shot is a more of an establishing shot. As it's an over the shoulder shot from our male character, we can see further onto the table as the camera is at a slight high angle, this just makes the mise en scene for the audience (props) a little easier to notify. We can also see the facial expression from our female character a lot clearer than before.
As an audience we can't quite tell by looking at these characters if they are protagonists or antagonists. There costume and hair are all very normal and average and nothing gives any signs away. But if you were to listen to the dialogue they speak of robbing a bank, but that still raises the enigmatic side of media, because as an audience we are unaware as to why they would do so.

 There was a match on action here. Our character gets his prop, which is a gun, out of his pocket and places it on the table, with some force, causing a chinking sound as it was placed. 

This was used to show the audience what he was pulling out of his pocket so quickly. 

We are then introduced to the idea that these two characters share a very close proximity which as an audience we were oblivious to at the beginning. This close up shot lets us all up close and personal to the characters giving up a wider idea of how close they actually are and the emotions they are feeling.

Most of the shot types in the beginning are the same, which suggests as an audience it is made to me enigmatic for us. 

THE WOMAN IN BLACK 

(Andrew: you could argue it is a horror and not a thriller, but it came up as a thriller on google search, so apologies if its not a thriller and is actually classed as a horror)

The first shot is a medium close up of a very antique kettle and tea cup set. The use of these old looking props is to set the time back years and to make the audience feel it is real. 

The lighting appears to be a lot dimmer, this gives a good creepy affect, along with the non-diagetic soundtrack that is three notes repeated, of a child lullaby like tone, but disorientated, which is played throughout the 2 minute opening sequence.

We are then introduced to a three person shot, at a mid shot angle. This angle is good because it enables the audience to see the setting more clearly. The props used give a very authentic olden day tea party. TThe children's costumes are very precise and well made, making them look like very good kids.
For example, when we see an extreme close up of the girl tucking in one of her toys, we notice floral pattered sleeves, a shirt is often worn to be smart.

 A mid close is then shown to show the expressions on the children's faces. They seem very happy, and enjoying themselves.
Coming back to the costume element, their hairstyles are both tied back, out of their faces, this really enables us to see their costumes very well.
 
This is a very slight high angle shot, showing the rest of the room and the composition of it that we could not see before. We can now see three windows, which really tie the feel of an old room together. The lighting also helps with showing that this is from the past. None of the props give any signs of our modern day society, right down to our characters' hairstyles, costumes, and the rug on the floor, and even the dolls.


 This sequence raises the enigma rapidly. The non-diagetic music speeds up, and we are asking questions as to what they're staring at, what is so important about those windows.

 The close up of a characters shoes and then the cup she is holding is significant because it is going into great detail about who they are personally. They don't look like particularly new shoes which could suggest their wealth if you was to look at it contextually.

 The character then actually drops the teacup and it smashes onto the group causes a match on action to occur [I'm not sure where this screen grab has gone].

 We then see two trio shots, one from the front - mid shot, and one from behind - medium long shot. This ultimately means that the audience is able to follow their every move.

 This is a continuous shot of them opening the window with the handle. The sound is all very disorientated at this point, especially with the soundtrack we heard at the start of the two minutes is building. 

The sequence then ends on this frame being panned out, and then we hear a diagetic scream (but is all off screen at this point) and then the dialogue "My babies". This works well because we can't see this motherly figure but we are already picturing what has happened and her reaction.