Thriller Task - Research: Titling Textual Analysis

We looked into other title sequences from other thrillers in order to get an idea of what an opening to a thriller should be like. One thriller we looked at was 'Splice'. This was a medical thriller about a baby in a womb, and was shown quite early this synopsis from the title sequence itself. The titling itself got its own section, accompanied with eerie music, to set the tone of the film quite early to be quite gruesome; shown from the titles. While we aren't doing any kind of medical thriller, the way in which the text was used to set the tone of the film was very informative and useful.
Splice title sequence

Another opening sequence we looked at was 'Psycho'. This is a psychological thriller; an aspect we may plan to use in our film. It uses black and white colours to emphasize the psychological aspect as the two colours are of opposite ends of the spectrum. The lines crossing through the title show that there is some form of 'elimination' as a theme; the crossing out showing removal and potentially deaths. This was useful as we may plan to add psychological aspects into our thriller, and the connotations of a psychological film would use.

We also looked at the action/horror thriller 'Final Destination 3', a film about unique ways to die in peculiar circumstances. As our thriller is to involve a killing - possible multiple in the full version - we thought this was a good one to look into. It also had action, which is going to be prevalent in our film. It had eerie music to indicate it was a thriller, (most likely involving death), but it used bright light of a fair in contrast to this. This is peculiar as it is unique, but also could mislead some people. The film has 'unexpected' deaths - what the series is known for - and this may have be their way of luring in new viewers to the franchise. It was also an interesting use, as the screaming of people can be heard through the sequence. This may indicate the death that is prevalent in the film; covered up initially by the fair. This was an incredibly clever opening, and while we cannot use a fair in aid of our thriller, the hidden connotations within the opening is something we have begun to think about.

Overall, the title sequence can reveal much more than we first realized, and can set the tone for the film in just two minutes. Music is key in these openings, while keeping the audience interested with relevant shots that are mysterious and misleading. This could be used in our thriller to make the titles show information during the opening to show the viewer specific information such as the main cast, director and producer.