Product Research: Se7en (1995)

I really enjoyed the opening for Se7en as it really gives an atmosphere to the start of the film. It shows some sort of creation, a plan is coming into action. It lets the audience think of what it maybe could be about.

The scene starts slow and a metronome starts to tick, causing a beat, almost like a heartbeat, very sinister. The shots then increase to a faster pace and the electronic sounds starts creating a weary and obscure atmosphere. This then builds up to a crescendo of sounds, screams, thick noises, zaps, production/factory sounds, weird noises. That get faster and faster, creating a beat and its very repetitive, with a loud bass behind. These come together to produce a very intense song to go with the intense shots. pages turning, production pictures, writing in black ink, cutting, sticking, shadows, pictures, photos of dead, injured, tortured. Its all very intense and holds a lot of thriller. The threading of the pages together, to bring it all together.

Throughout this is all done, with a jolted, post production effect, its very obscure and hard to see what is actually being filmed, as the editing is very fast paced and it is very distorted, unknown and murderous, but you get a sort of sense. The music brings the shots together creating a really good opening sequence as we dont know a lot about what is going on or who the person is and why they are doing this. 

Practising Editing Techniques

I filmed some short clips on my phone (the reason for poor quality and unsmooth filming!) outside my house and around my area because the horrible windy and rainy weather inspired me as it made the atmosphere a bit spooky!

I then edited it using iMovie and played around with a few effects such as slow motion and reverse.
I used some sound effects from iMovie as well to add to the unnerving atmosphere.

The music was composed by me and recorded using Garageband.

Product Research: Cape Fear (1991)

I really liked the opening titles of Cape Fear, the continuous theme of the water kept the enigmatic atmosphere and there was also a figure reflected in the water but we aren't able to see who this figure is, which added to the mystery.


The music adds suspense to the opening titles as its dark and there's disconcerting violins which makes it uncomfortable for the viewer, this is added to as imagery is used to reflect a certain theme, the eagle that is reflected in the water is to imply violence and anger in the film
because birds of prey are vicious.

The title of the film appears as the music builds up.

The music reaches a peak in suspense when beneath the water, there is a faint image of an eye.

The eye looks worried and isn't looking directly at the camera which shows that it is aware of something else perhaps implying hidden danger.

Overall, this is a good example of a opening sequence for a Thriller because I liked the darkness of it and how imagery was used. I also liked how some images were merged into the water.

I want to have a continuous image or theme in my opening because I think it is an effective device.