The Edge Opening Analysis

The opening sequence ‘The Edge’ is a student film which starts with an establishing shot of outside a car park with a teenage boy wearing casual clothes and roller skates. This sets the scene for the film. It shows the audience the location and surrounds the characters will be in which gives them a hint as to what events may take place in the next couple of minutes. The first titles we see are edited so it looks like they are on top of the building, they have been made to blend in with the main image/action. Non-diegetic music is played straight away from the beginning and at first sounds quite eerie and dark but however doesn’t fit the scene being shown as it’s bright and doesn’t fit the horror expectations. So the music and what is being shown doesn’t contrast well to begin with and may confuse the audience.

The pace of the music starts to pick up when the boy is in an elevator which is a confined space so it creates the idea of panic and tension rising. There is a close up of a hand holding what looks to be a bomb. This is obviously an object of significance in the film which suggests the genre may be action and a dramatic event is about to happen. This then changes to a side shot of two men in suits walking towards a door. As the audience has already worked out this is most likely to be an action film, the fact that the men are dressed smart in dark sunglasses is very cliché. The main titles now appear over the shot of the two men walking towards the door, however, the font makes it quite hard to read and it doesn’t match with the rest of the titles. The sequence would look better if the font of the titles matched. The music then quickens and becomes more obvious as the two new characters are introduced which highlights their importance later in the film.

For the titles used in this opening sequence the editor has tried to use colours that match the rest of the scene which fits the genre and looks slick, this mostly works and looks good throughout however sometimes it doesn’t work and looks unprofessional. For example at 2.32 minutes in the colours of the titles don’t match the environment in the shot so it makes them look out of place compared to the rest of the sequence.  The music is very intense and again fits with the theme of the film as it immediately quickens as the chase starts. Even though it’s a chase scene the shots aren’t very fast paced which is what you expect to build the tension, if this was thought about more then the sequence would be more intense.

Overall the low budget is obvious. This needn't be the case, to improve the titles, I suggest they faded in and out instead of just appearing.

Finding A Location

At the weekend Millie and I went out and found a car park we felt was suitable for our opening sequence. We went up and down the lifts trying to find a floor that was dark enough and empty enough and finally decided on the top level.

Thriller Clichés

1. Main character has an intense relationship with alcohol – Include main character that doesn’t like alcohol or drugs (She, Non-stop)
2. Uptight female character – Uptight male character, Female character who doesn’t show personality (Closer, Devil wears Prada)
3. Sherlock-type figure – Don’t involve police or investigators (Taken)
4. Face of villain isn’t uncovered until the end – Have the villain look like a normal person (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone)
5. Authorities are useless and a random citizen saves the day – Have authorities knowing all along, working with the villain (The Purge)

Chosen Genre: Thriller

Thriller: A broad genre of literature, film and television, usually having numerous overlapping subgenres. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of suspense, excitement, anxiety and hopefulness. It needs to hook the audience and keep them on edge, building tension and suspense. It needs to hide identities or information from the audience to include constant shocks and unexpected events, like in the film Now You See Me.

The most popular films of the thriller genre:

·         No Escape (2015)

-Director: John Erick Dowdle

-Budget: $5,000,000

·         Casino Royale (2006)

-Director: Martin Campbell

-Budget: $150,000,000

·         Memento (2000)

-Director: Christopher Nolan

-Budget: $9,000,000

·         Reservoir Dogs (1992)

-Director: Quentin Tarantino

-Budget: $1,200,000

·         Zodiac (2007)

-Director: David Fincher

-Budget: $65,000,000

Over the past 30 years the thriller genre has changed dramatically, this may be because of the technological advances and special effects that have been made apparent. The older thriller movies were based on people’s actual fears which made them realistic and connected the audience to the films. Thrillers now have many sub-genres and consist of more than one genre put together.