OPENING SEQUENCES

Vertigo (1958)  [Vertigo Clip]

Vertigo’s opening sequence is very unique to other thriller sequences, making it so engaging, although the codes and conventions it follow are similar, it creates suspense and anticipation in the viewer through the lack of an establishing and extreme close ups shot giving very little context to the viewer as to where the woman is, what she is doing and even what her emotion is. Then when the extreme close up pans up to her eyes, the woman's eyes begin to dart from left to right, raising the question of what she is looking at and why does she look so paranoid and or scared. The camera moves in to just one of her eyes, and every thing in the shot becomes washed with a red filter, this no only creates the feeling of mystery but also one of intrigue as to; ‘why red’? The word “VERTIGO” emerges from the centre of the pupil, But then coloured spiralling shapes come from the centre of the pupil and then the centre of each other, the spiralling images are called lissajous waves. These lissajous waves create quite a strong feeling of disorientation with the viewer which Saul Bass did very intentionally to try recreate the disorientation related to the feeling of vertigo. The other key thing that keeps thing that keeps the intro engaging apart from all the incredible imagery is the intense music, it is quite eerie which helps the reader know there is something suspect with the woman.

North by Northwest (1959) [North By Northwest Clip]

The key in this opening, which is strongly linked to the title of the film, is directionality. The opening sequences starts with a blank green which evokes its own emotions and would have been used to a particular purpose (could have been a recurring motif). This green then has lines running across it, not directly up and down but from random angles. This creates intrigue with the reader with the question; ‘what are these lines’? Then credits proceed to run from all directions and going in different directions, creating confusion. It then fades into a building and reveals that these lines aren't so random in fact, they are the window pattern crated by the C.I.T building in manhattan, which is a key building in the movie, which creates its own set of questions and sense of mystery, why is this building linked with this strong sense of directionality, with different lines going in different directions in it. It then fades into a shot of masses trying to find their way, again, going in all different directions, but now since it is significantly more on mass in creates a sense of disorientation. But the engagement in this opening is found in the mystery and initial vagueness.

Skyfall (2012) [Skyfall Clip]

This opening credits uses classical codes and conventions linked with thrillers such as low light, intense music, mystery and various other conventions such as mirrors and shadows specifically as he attempts to kill them, but the key things in this opening sequence are the symbolic imagery in it thats creates intrigue in the reader but send an intense message. First of all he gets dragged down by a big hand which is most likely symbolic of a higher authority establishment, this hand pull hims under ground this could represent hidden secrets or how he is kept away as a secret. Then there are masses of targets with him in the background, this could be just showing how he was shot but also how his job makes him a target, and is always putting him at risk and these are the first few of many different symbolic imagery but most of the different images are to do with either death, weapons or himself dying. So this concoction of symbolism and imagery and music makes for an extremely artistic and intriguing opening sequence.

Cabin in the Woods (2011) [Cabin in the Woods Clip]

(Up to 2:50) These opening  credit are different to the others chosen. Its starts similarly with running blood with different mythological and ancient messages inside the blood but as soon as that is done it goes extremely normal with the conventions of either a comedy of another light hearted genre with high light, no intense music, no action just plain conversation. This is simply trying to create the equilibrium explained in the first stage of Todorov's theory with the two character in routine and gleeful. But the audience from the premise of the movie and the opening credits (with the blood dripping) are, whether subconsciously or very eagerly looking for something out of the ordinary. This makes the title jump scare with the non-diegetic scream so frightening.