5 Thriller Openings - Rasmus Klingstroem

Goodfella's

Camera-Work
This movie opening starts off differently to a lot of movies - it does not really give much in the way of an establishing shot, as shown at 0:42 - 0:51. After which it does give a little more information to help the viewer figure out where they are and what is going on, although it is very limited information.
The start of the film does not give any indication to what is going on, or who these people are until 2:00, which is fairly late to start giving information to the viewer, although it works very well to create suspense and confusion for the viewer - even though the viewers had figured out these people were not the protagonists by 1:45 which is when one of the men kills their captive.

Sounds
I believe that diegetic sound was used for realism during the first 2 minutes of the film, which was mostly silent, and the only input the audience recieved was some back-talk between the characters.
Although this changed after 2:00 which is when the internal monologue started for, what the audience must presume to be, the main character of this movie, which continues throughout the opening sequences of this film.

Editing
Was used very well throughout the opening sequence of this film - it even matches the internal monologue to the moment where the audience was taken back in time to his childhood, which helps the audience make sense of what just happened, and what was going to happen (the internal monologue of the character's past).


MES
The lighting of the first 2 minutes of the movie partly help to show the sinister actions these characters are making, although it is not fully revealed until the very end of the scene.
The props of this movie, such as the handgun used at the start of the film (1:45) helps to emerce the audience within the time period of the movie. Not only this, the state of the main character's parent's house shows the misfortune of the character's childhood, yet contradicts with the monologue which tells us he was "the luckiest kid" in the neighbourhood.

No Country for Old Men

 Camera-Work
There really isn't much to be said about the Camera-Work, other than it sets the mood and the setting for the movie. This opening is very general, unlike the previous movie which didnt really have an initial establishing shot, this one has plenty - some might even argue it has far too much of it, but I personally quite like it as it sets the tone of the movie, and what we believe to be the main protagonist, even though we dont see him quite yet.
These shots from 0:35 to 2:40 show the slow progression of the day, from dawn right the way through to midday (or clear sunlight) - and i would consider these shots to be more observational, to give the audience a chance to take in the scenery and to absorb the dialogue from an unseen character.

MES
These is an incredible amount of external settings used within the starting scene of this movie, the vast majority of this is outdoors, which can give the audience the impression that the rest of the movie might also be outside. The props, such as the antagonist's long hair, and pale skin helps to portray his evilness to the audience and helps us to accurately dislike this figure from a fairly early point in the film.
There really isn't that much low key lighting, or desaturated colour throughout the starting scene of this movie, because of the setting - which is in Texas, one of the hottest places in the U.S.A - and by using either of these, it could demotivate the audience from viewing it.

Sound
Non diegetic sound is used from the very start of the film, which would be the dialogue from an unknown character - whom the audience know to be the protagonist through the descriptions he gave, and the values this character seems to posess.
Other than that, the rest of the starting scenes of this movie relied on diegetic sounds to help create realism for the audience, as well as to contruct the mood of the movie - being an 'old western'.

Editing
Continuity was used to create a good sense of flow throughout the starting dialogue, although the audience may not have realised it at the time, the sun rose far far quicker than it otherwise would've but through the use of editting, this became less obvious and flowed very nicely into the movie.
Although this movie did not use any parallel editing, or cross cutting, it still had a lot of suspense due to the antagonist's actions after only a few minutes into the film - being the murder of a police officer.

The Dark Knight

 Camerawork
From 0:55 to 1:15 you see the generic establishing shot, which doesnt give too much information away other than the fact that the movie is based in the city, and that something bad is happening from the window which is broken at 1:15.
There is a really good example of shallow depth of field, which is at 1:20 to 1:30. The camera slowly zooms and focuses on one object, which is a clown mask, which gives us, as the audience, the impression that that mask is very important to the plot we are about to watch unfold.
Most of the scene is done via tripod, but certain elements of it are done with a hand held camera, to show the urgency of the matter, or to give us a subjective view of what is going on, rather than giving us a clear picture of everything that is happening all at once.

MES
Most of the scene is done internally, but the establishing shots of the characters involved is both internal and external.
The use of interior settings does reflect the threat which is about to be posed at the very start of the film, at 1:12. The generalised use of props such as the masks for each of the antagonists shows how they are unimportant, which is again strengthened by the actions of these characters after tasks have been completed (the death of one clown to lower the split in profits).
Desaturation is used at the start of the opening title sequence, I believe this is done to keep the audience entertained even though the movie has not started yet - however after the establishing shot has been shown there appears to be no desaturation of the colours, nor is there any low key lighting used.
Due to the fact that the antagonists are wearing clown masks, we are automatically suppose to dislike them, and us, as the audience are suppose to want a swift resolution to the conflict which occurs.

Sound
I believe some diegetic sounds were used throughout this opening scene such as the shattering glass at 1:12 or the gunshots at 2:14 or 3:32, this was intended to keep the movie as realistic as possible so the audience wouldn't be desensitised to the movie.
I do not believe any non diegetic sounds were used other than the music over the top of the entire scene to help create suspense for the audience.

Editing
There has definately been a lot altered to this movie in order to keep the audience griped, such as parallel editing, and cross cutting - throughout the 10 minutes of the opening scene, this was clearly used to increase the pace of the starting scene, speeding up as it reaches towards a conclusion.

Misery

 Camerawork
The start of the film is fairly important at understanding the character, which is why I believe the director took this opportunity to show us what type of main character we're dealing with. This is done through the use of clever, small clips from around this character's house, with the noise of a typewritter in the background.
This is done to show the audience that this character is very ordered, he already has his celebratory drink and cigarette ready for when he's finished what the audience must presume is a book he is currently writting.
Throughout this opening scene, there is no use for hand held cameras as nothing is really happening, instead the director prefered to use a tripod, to help the audience observe the character and his surroundings to better figure out what type of man we're dealing with.
 
MES
Props play a big part in the opening scene of this movie, as throughout the interior scene, you casually bypass several different props which you might otherwise not find that important, or not know the purpose of - however later in the scene, you actually find out what each of these props would be used for, and answering all the questions layed out in the first 30 seconds of the scene.
The costume and hair of the character seen within the scene is very general, not showing him off to be a wealthy person, nor showing him to be a poor person - although it does give the feeling that he is content with his life due to the order and attention which is shown given to the props, as well as  the clear bland look of the character through costume and hair.

Sound
Diegetic sounds are used within this scene, such as the typewriter, to help enhance the sense that he is working on something which he would find quite important. Other, very specific parts are also enhanced through diegetic sounds as the placing of the work inside the satchel, as well as the opening of the bottle - all these are done because of the fact we saw them earlier when we had no clue of their purpose.

Editing
The editing is fairly standard in the sense that it flows well, and the cuts are barely noticeable, in fact I believe the cuts are not noticed at all by ordinary viewers whom would want to be immersed in the story rather than critical of the piece.
Within the opening, there really is no use of parallel editing, or cross cutting as it is very liniar and we are not aware of any other characters to jump back and forth between.

The Book of Eli

 Camerawork
The establishing shot does not give the viewer very much information as to where they are, all it shows is trees and a corpse which doesn't help at all. It does however give a close-up of the dead corpse so the audience is aware that he is not alive, and it also gives a good close-up to the first living character we see in the film, whom turns out to be the protagonist. This is to give the audience good detail on the character, and the props he's wearing, which would be the nuclear hazzard suit, which both gives the audience some answers, hints at others, and raises more questions, which is a clever ploy by the director.
I believe the camera was only ever on the tripod during the initial starting scene to give the audience as much detail in the surroundings and the character as possible.

MES
There was no variety in exterior settings, the entirety of the initial starting sequence of the film is in the same palce, with no difference in location or camera angles at all, apart from the occasional close-up.
The props do help to give us a sense of the world we're trying to be immersed in, as well as the harshness of the current landscape - which is shown by the nuclear hazzard suit, and the dead corpse.

Sound
At the start of the scene, there is nothing but non-diegetic sound which would be the music - this is simply put in place to help create the mood of the first few scenes within the film. After a pan shot, it is then mixed in with some diegetic sounds such as the cat purring, and the sound of the character breathing heavily.

Editing
Throughout this scene, they try and use as few cuts as possible, which is why for the first 25-35 seconds, it is just one long panning shot across the entire scene, apart from the where character is sitting. This is to slowly force the audience to ask more and more questions as the scene progresses, rather than the majority of the questions asked at the start.
Cross cutting is used within this scene between the cat and the character, to give the audience a hint as to what is about to happen - being that the cat will be killed.

As the arrow travels through the air, time was slowed down using editing to give the audience as sense as to how fast the arrow was actually going - rather than having a 2 second clip which would be a blur to the audience.