Influences

The Descent

One of our first influences shown to us in class, as an example of an opening sequence, was The Descent. This is a film which targets the woman as taking the male role which links to our view of going against the female stereotype. The opening sequence of this film shows the female canoeing and taking part in predominantly male activities, whilst her husband watches and looks after the child. We see the first murder within the first two minutes; this immediately captures the audience’s attention as it is completely unexpected. This gave us the realisation into how important it was to hook the audience in the opening sequence in order to set the mood for the rest of the film. In addition to this the opening sequence ensures that the audience will want to continue watching and gives them an insight into what the film is going to roughly be about.

Creep

The main thing which caught my group’s was the way in which the lights merged alongside the fast jump-cuts which made it unclear to know what was happening yet still portrayed the theme and kept a tense atmosphere of a thriller. The character being chased was a female, this fits our intentions but we will then twist it around at the very end of our opening sequence keeping the viewers in suspense. The titles are creative the way in which the torch shone over each word which linked to the theme of their film being in an underground train station. As the opening sequence comes to an end the title of the film is presented with bold letters and a black background with the tube symbol, this is a great way to show the film is officially starting and gives an insight to the storyline without giving much away.

Monster

Although my group and I were unable to upload a video of the opening sequence due to my own knowledge this film links extremely well to our idea. This biographical thriller is about a serial killer who was a former prostitute until she was raped by a former client. Rather than her being the stereotypical victim of rape she then goes on to murder him and this ultimately turns her mentally ill. A few months after, she carries on killing up to six more men which in essence is similar to the concept of our own film. When thinking of how to cast our actors and direct them in the film I feel that the main actress within Monster is the kind of role in which we are trying to portray.