Evaluation - Harry McHale

Evaluation
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Prezi Here

2)How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our thriller film 'Gone' represents many social groups in the same way as the conventions of most modern thriller films. In our research on social groups and thriller openings, we learned the conventions used to do this and applied them in our own thriller film.

As this film is set in the modern day, gender is portrayed more equally than of that of traditional thriller films. Our thriller film represents gender very similarly to most 21st century modern thriller films. There is more equality between males and females in thriller films, which goes against the conventions of traditional stereotypes. For example, in our thriller film we have a female as our main protagonist. By doing this we have created more equality in the representation of genders which is good as this targets a modern audience for a modern film.

In the 20th century, thriller films were more male oriented and dominated the advertisements of these thriller films, however the advertisements and actual thriller films are more equal and show female protagonist(s) for example in the film Lucy where we see a female face on the poster and the movie's lead character is 'Lucy'.

Thrillers, as well as other genres of film stereotyped females as these 'damsel in distress; characters. This cliché is less common as time has moved on and modern films represents females more realistically and use less sexism. In the production of 'Gone' we made sure we stayed away from this old cliché and use more modern conventions in order to appeal to a modern audience.

In 'Gone' we used a female protagonist in the opening of the film. We used various close-ups mixed with multiple low-angles. This creates a sense of power within our protagonist as the audience are positioned below her as they have to look up to her. Her dialogue shows a strong woman who isn't afraid to speak her opinion - the complete opposite of the 'damsel in distress' stereotype.


3)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Prezi Here

4)Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film 'Gone' is designed to attract females and males by using equal amount of gender in the cast. The film is also designed to attract an audience of 16 - 28. The film contains scenes which simulate murder and other forms of violence throughout which some viewers may find disturbing; this limits our audience to a certain age. The age group we are targeting tend to view movies through streaming services such as Netflix therefore if we were a bigger producer company. We could release our movie on Netflix as it targets the audience we produce the movie for.

5)How did you attract/address your audience?
From the very beginning, we decided that 'Gone' would aim to attract 16 - 28 year old males and females. The genre of the movie could be consider as a action-thriller; most action thriller films attract males therefore it was important to maximize the potential audience therefore our protagonist starts as a strong female character as we feel the audience would be able to connect more and empathise better with the character. Female protagonists not only attract females to watch the film, but they also attract males to watch the film for example, films such as Ex-Machina have a female protagonist but the audience is equally divided in terms of gender according to wikipedia.



6)What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

• I have learnt more about technologies from the process of constructing this product. Although we learnt the basics on how to use a digital camera for the preliminary task, I felt I could have learnt much more on it considering my experience with filming wasn't a lot, therefore operating sound equipment and cameras was a new experience. Making the preliminary thriller has boosted my confidence with using theses tools.

• I have learnt that when using a digital camera to film, in order for the film to be successful and easier to edit; it was important to 'make a sandwich'. This means that you leave excess footage on the beginning and end of your recording in order to edit and trim them at the end. It is also important to take multiple takes as this gives you more footage to play around with: also making editing easier.

• I have also learnt to set the white balance before every shot. I learned this before the preliminary task however we only incorporated properly in our filming for the main thriller task. It's important to set the white balance otherwise the video gets a yellow orange like tint which can ruin continuity if other shots do have white balance set; it's also a undesired effect when filming any genre unless you're a fan of low budget home-made movies with low quality cameras.

• Due to some shots in our preliminary task being hand-held, resulting in the camera wobbling slightly, we used a tripod through-out the sequence which looked more professional, especially when filming a tracking shot, or attempting pan movement. With the drone shots, we used a stabiliser which does a similar job except it's operated by the drone.

• In the preliminary, some of the audio clips towards the end weren't separated. This made editing a nightmare as we had to trim 10 minute audio clips and match them with separate scenes whereas in the main thriller task, all sound was recorded separately and we also recorded the sandwich so we can match the audio with the clips more easily.

• In regards to editing, I expanded my knowledge and expertise in it by advancing from basic cut transitions to more ambitious transitions including using fades and dissolves with a graphic match which would of previously not have been attempted in our preliminary thriller. I found that editing was very time consuming as I didn't realise the full extent of the time that goes into it in order make sure it is better than satisfactory. What's more difficult is to get the film and sound to synchronise together but we did a much better job at this compared to the preliminary thriller. 

7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Our main task product, in comparison to the preliminary task product has had many minor improvements but more importantly a few major improvements which have helped the full product prosper in areas such as continuity.

Firstly, in terms of continuity; one of the more important changes to our full product is setting the white balance for every shot unlike our preliminary task where some of the scenes haven't had any white balance. It's important to set white balance otherwise the colours are tinted which makes it look grainy and poor quality. It also ruins continuity as two shots in the same setting would have different colours.

These two shots from our full product are both set in the same setting and they both sustain continuity.
The shots from the preliminary however break continuity.

The title helps foreshadow the plot

In our film for the main task, we incorporated titles and credits into our product, whilst it wasn't required for the preliminary, the option was still available to us. The titles for the main task help give our product a identity and the titles also give the film more meaning and help foreshadow the plot of the film. The preliminary without a real introduction makes it slightly confusing. Titles can also help create enigma which is very important when making a thriller film as it one the most used and effective conventions in thriller film production.

Fades out - Emphasise disappearance

The sound has improved from the preliminary to the main task in terms of use of sound, and in terms of ambiance. What we found in our preliminary is that recording ambient sound in the beginning scene was difficult to record as there were various background noises that disrupted the filming including a vacuum going off every so often. Despite editing the audio clips to remove the sound, you can still hear white noise from the trial of sound removal of the vacuum;  this has also distorted some of the dialogue slightly which also ruins continuity as some of the dialogue isn't distorted. In the main task, the dialogue is much more clearer and more developed than that of our preliminary. We used much more foleys in our main task than our preliminary, and the foleys we used in the main fitted more well in the main task and wasn't too overpowering when being play with the other sounds in our main such as the ambient sound and dialogue. On the preliminary, the foleys are quite generic and overused which could ruin immersion for the viewer.

Our preliminary compared to the main task, was lacking in editing techniques. The editing techniques used were much more basic than that of our main. In our main we used more advanced editing techniques such as cross-cutting, sound-bridges and we used green screens plus other advanced edits in programs such as Adobe After Effects. The use of these techniques aren't overpowering and make the main task incredibly better. The preliminary is much more basic in terms of editing include only using cuts whereas the main uses fading in + outs and graphic match we creates more variation, making the film stand out more. The preliminary does contain what was required for it to be satisfactory including continuity techniques such as match on action, shot/reverse shot, eye-line match etc.

Also, in our preliminary task the camera work was quite basic and in many scenes, the camera isn't steady as they were hand-held shots. This massively reduces the quality of the sequence as when you're watching, the camera shakes, resulting in the spectator losing concentration (and being slightly disorientated). However, in our main task the camera is very still (due to the majority of the scenes being filmed using a tripod or a stabiliser in the drone shots) therefore the shots flow together very well enticing the viewer. In the main task there is a lot more variety of shot sizes and angles to create a more successful and interesting thriller whereas in the preliminary task there were only a couple of close-ups, the other majority of shots were medium shots. Different angles were used but only once or twice, most angles were medium. As well as shot sizes, we expanded our use of camera movements such as panning shots and added more camera angles.  

Example of variety of camera angles in main task

   
 
 


   

Antagonist (Left)

Protagonist

When planning for the preliminary task, we were very prepared in terms of costume, location and lighting. When filming the preliminary, we were unorganised therefore we wore our normal, everyday clothes and didn't think about how other costumes would help construct the story line, or conventions of a thriller. However, in our main task we though more deeply about the characters role and purpose in each sequence, therefore we chose appropriate clothes which we thought would suit an antagonist/protagonist(s). For example, the antagonist was wearing dark clothing and a hoodie to disguise themselves, creating enigma (important for thrillers) and foreshadowing the plot. The protagonist's clothing also lets the audience make assumptions about the character's occupation, social class, etc.

In terms of location, we were very restricted as to where we could film on the preliminary task as it had to be on college grounds, therefore the main task was immediately better in the sense that we could venture out and choose a location to film our thriller sequence in as long as we had permission for the premises. This enabled us to be creative and experiment with locations, and in the end we chose a generic motorway for the car scenes (filmed on green screen) and a generic house setting with a snazzy hot-tub. When filming our preliminary task we were under pressure as the location we wanted to use was only available at a certain time therefore we had to do all our filming in one day which some aspects of the film would have been rushed. In our main task, we had much more time to do the filming and were able to take much more shots of various scenes in our film making the overall quality of our thriller film for the main task so much better.

With the lighting, in the preliminary task we mainly relied on the light from the ceiling in the room we filmed in, adding little additional light for effect. In our main task we experimented with lighting more and used more lighting techniques. Various examples in our main of lighting include creating shadows on the antagonist's face to make it difficult to identify him to create enigma, the lighting in the hot-tub and spotlighting the hot-tub to create more focus on hot-tub without ruining the night scene.


  

2 Editing Decisions

This is a video clip showing me and Harry discussing a few editing decisions about whether or not to add more footage into the part between Addie entering her gates at home and Addie entering her kitchen. This was important to discuss as, in result we chose to put a transition between those two shots, creating the effect of time passing. This dissolve transition worked much better than adding more footage. We could not really afford to add in another shot as we found it really difficult to keep to the 2 minute mark. 

Gone Girl Title Analysis

Gone Girl
The movie begins with distinct eerie, droning music playing over the production company titles and throughout the opening title sequence, This use of non-diegetic sound captivates the movies suspicious atmosphere, leading the audience into a state of suspense. The opening close-up shot fades in from a black screen and is of the protagonist's hair being stroked. This action's tone is manipulated to seem somewhat sinister because the shot is from the perspective of the person stroking the hair, as if they are watching the woman and stroking her without her knowing. This follows the typical thriller narrative of being watched which makes the audience uncomfortable with the situation.

The non-diegetic voice over informs us it is her husband, which makes this scene more comforting and loving than creepy. Although during the voice over the husband explains how he imagines “cracking her skull [and] spooling her brains on the floor.” Our perception of the husband is now that he is psychotic because of the nature in which he described his wife’s death so calmly, as if it was normal. A sane person wouldn't do this and so we are led to believe he is psychotic and this conforms to the genre’s conventions, as psychos are common thriller characters. The effect of this on the audience is that it adds an element of danger and excites them. This psychotic line conveys death very graphically, this conforms to the thriller genre, as death is a typical narrative, however because the husband describes it with excruciating detail it is borderline horror as it is fairly gory imagery for the audience who will be tense at this moment. For this reason it develops the typical narrative of death, but does not challenge it because the overall effect is not conforming to the horror genre. During the shot the wife turns round in shock, as if she is unaware of who is stroking her. Although we’ve already established it is her husband stroking her hair, so she must be turning around because she is scared of her husband. This suggests there is a reason for her fear, which could be her husband’s unpredictability, and so this idea of him being psychotic is brought up again. The tension rises because something could happen any moment.

The editing of Gone Girl’s opening sequence has used a lot of fade transitions and animations to portray the vanishing of the protagonist. To begin with all the shots fade but once the main title has been shown all the shots have a much faster pace and just cut without any animated transition between them. This is when shots of the barren town are shown to suggest an unfortunate event has happened, which is most likely the death or disappearance of the girl. Constant shots of the town keep suggesting the idea of isolation, a key theme in the thriller genre. The husband is portrayed as isolated in the final scene of the opening sequence when he stands outside his house alone, confused and as if he’s looking for something or someone. This suggests to the audience that he may be more caring than previously portrayed, as he is worried about where his wife is. The fade animations on all the text in the opening sequence have a different meaning to the fading shots. All the text fades in and out except for the main title, which does fade in but disappears differently. When the title “Gone Girl” vanishes it doesn’t just fade it appears to be covered by a mist, then reappear before being covered by the mist again? This doesn’t just suggest the girl is gone or dead, it shows she has vanished but is still alive, just like the title. When the fog covered it that didn’t mean it no longer existed, it just meant it wasn’t visible. This idea could be the husband’s state of mind and hope that drives him to find his wife. This portrays the husband as a detective (another typical thriller character) trying to solve a mystery, another typical thriller narrative but more so puts the suggestion of a red herring in the film.  Earlier on the idea that the husband could be psychotic killer was brought up, so him trying to find her could all be one big diversion to the audience as it makes them believe he’s innocent and portraying the husband as even more unlawful.

James Bond: Skyfall title analysis

Skyfall
The sequence begins with a man in a suit falling into water, as we hear a non-diegetic sound fade into a soft piano. This creates a dignified tone to suggest this character is dead, even more so when the scene fades to black, immediately creating some enigma as we recognise this man as the character James Bond. However a hand grabs him as the words "this is the end." are sung. The soft female voice over the piano backing the track creates a quiet, moody atmosphere with a lot of mystery, we don't know what is going on in the sequence for the most part, it relies heavily on connotations to suggest things that may play a role in the overall film.

The text 'Skyfall' appears on the screen as the man (Bond) falls through a gap that has appeared in the sea bed as Adele sings "feel the Earth move". We get teh impression from these first few lines of song that the song matches the film and the lyrics could suggest what will happen in the film. Mise-en-scene is used to great effect in this opening scene as various objects seem to fly across the screen as the camera follows the movement of the inactive body of Bond.

For instance, a cut-out of bond with bullet holes in him and a single bleeding wound under his right shoulder drifts across the scene and makes the audience ask questions - Why has this been place here?, What is its significance to the plot? A convention used in various thriller movies.

Other information shown in the opening title sequence include institutional information such as the production company 'Albert R.Broccoli's EON Productions LTD'. The sequence also includes the actor of the protagonist 'Daniel Craig'and the author 'Ian Fleming' in which the movie is based on his series of books. The style of the title is a serif font which is closely spaced and moves fluidly with the water, this makes it look more natural and may foreshadow what might happen in the story.

Vertigo Title Analysis

Vertigo

The use a woman close-up gradually moving upwards until we have a full screen of her eyes in which she starts to look around her which connotes that she is worried. We do not know who the woman in the opening sequence yet but that’s a good thing in order to draw the audience in more. Her lips twitch nervously, introducing anxiety and a close examination of the characters physical appearance.

The female character is clearly on edge and not comfortable with the viewer’s scrutiny. This scene introduces some more key conventions of the thriller genre: anxiety, paranoia and the notion of looking. Being watched and being seen watching someone else are also conventions of thrillers.

Her eye is zoomed in an illusion effect when the titles appear on screen. It helps to create the atmosphere and the feeling of the movie which is suspense and tension which is a positive representation of a thriller as it contains the conventions of a thriller but the representation of the woman is negative as she is being shown as helpless, in a panic and scared; they are portraying a common stereotype of women as the victim. They’re not showing her in a positive light which would be going against the stereotype and portray women as strong and independent.  It then zooms in one of her eyes which the screen goes red and the colour red represents danger which can connote a shift in the mood.

After the zoom in of the eye, a rotating, spinning, spiral appears from the centre of the eye, enlarging after every rotation keeping the same circular shape of the eye. This is clever because the animations support the title of the movie because the word vertigo refers to dizziness. The titles in Vertigo are in a serif font that is bold and white, easily contrasting with the background. The background changes colour which emphasises the movie title.

Location Scouting and Risk Assessment

Planning

Lighting, Colour and Composition

Lighting
Our opening is filmed at night time therefore it is important to use lighting otherwise the spectator will not know what is going on. In our film, we will use low-key lighting to add to the horror effect but to make it clear what is going on. It's important to make sure that the lighting looks natural and doesn't seem artificial. When using lighting it is important to make sure to set the white balance in every scene because if the white balance isn't set the colours will differentiate in each shot; breaking continuity.
Colour
The colouring is an important element to get right in our film. The colouring used will need to further emphasise a cold fearful feeling we are trying to get across to the audience. The colouring of the shots will have a tint of blue in them to create that cold dark environment; this will be done using editing programs such as Final Cut Pro as we are able to adjust the colours in each shot to make then match with the predecessor shot. It's important when using colours to make sure continuity isn't broken therefore will have to use realistic colours and make sure key continuity techniques are in place such as setting white balance.
Composition
Composition is where everything is placed in the shot. This is important to get right because it either reveals or hides information to the audience which is good in our film which has various examples of restricted narration and unrestricted narration. When restricting narration it's important the composition of the shot doesn't reveal too much otherwise it will spoil the suspense whereas when not restricting narration, it's important that everything is in shot clearly so the spectator knows what is going on. 

Narration

The narrative of our thriller film starts with a flashback which will be the opening of the film. This means the plot of the movie is non-chronological despite the flashback itself being chronological. After the flashback, the rest of the movie continues to be non chronological but would start with a new equilibrium due to the flashback.
The flashback starts with a character having an argument on the phone, in the car therefore the equilibrium is already disrupted or disequilibrium from the start thus this film doesn't follow the five stages of standard narratives according to theorist Tzvetan Todorov.
After the flashback the protagonist, the daughter, will try and resolve the disequilibrium by finding who murder her mother.
We have re-ordered the story in order to engage the spectator in an active relationship with the text. Having a non-chronological plot creates confusion for the spectator therefore raising questions which is important to make the spectator do as this keeps them on the edge of there seats plus keep them guessing. This is an example of a enigma code.
The opening is being made with intention to create enigma. Various techniques are used in order to create enigma; one of these techniques being restricted and unrestricted narration. The opening mostly consists of restricted narration, for example the opening scene starts with an argument on the phone but the audience do not know who's on the other side of the conversation which implies the character knows more than the audience in this situation.
However, later on in the opening, the audience see a lethal tablet being placed into the hot tub which means the spectator knows more than the character which creates dramatic irony but more importantly suspense. This is also an example of unrestricted narration in the film. 

Prop Management

This is a list of props we are using in our main thriller opening task with reasons to why we are using them.

Car
The film starts with a person driving the car to there house but we only find this out later. The type of car doesn't matter as long as it looks in place e.g. not a 1920s car in the modern era the film is being set.

Phones
There are two phones that are in the plot of the film; a conversation between two characters on phone is filmed therefore it is important that they both have modern phones otherwise it will look very silly.

Lethal Tablet
A lethal tablet will be secretly placed into the hot tub which kills the character inside the hot tub. The tablet is shown in multiple brief, close-up shots.  

Harry and Nathan Sound Research

Analysis of "Europa Report" Thriller opening by Harry McHale

        

Europa Report

The establishing shot creates a sense of emptiness.

The sci-fi thriller opens with a setting full of props but not characters giving it sense of emptiness. This emptiness could represent the loneliness of astronauts when in space since they can only communicate with earthlings through machines. The room is brightly lit; suggesting that there is nothing suspicious aboard the space craft therefore this leaves the spectator wondering where in the plot, the equilibrium will be disrupted. The diegetic sound of the character climbing the ladder is the only thing the spectator hears which gives a sense of isolation. We are left feeling emotionally attached to all the characters - even though we have only met one of them. There is a cut to the next shot where the only character we have seen has disappeared; this builds enigma because it will leave the spectator questioning what had just happened. This may foreshadow worse events to come later in the movie. The spectator is suddenly relieved when we hear a diegetic voice over of one the characters saying "hey buddy".

The living quarters.

We then cut to the next setting which appears to be the living quarters for the characters. There is clear use of setting and props; the character the spectator is most familiar with, is wrapped in a blanket: isolated from the other characters. This action may reveal the character's personality - he's gentle and kind plus the others respect that therefore they leave him alone. The blanket blocks our view of what he is holding (an example of restricted narration which is used in thrillers); but we can hear clearly his diegetic voice speaking into it. It is clear from the tone of his voice that he is speaking to a child which makes the spectator more emotionally attached to this character.
Furthermore on the décor of the setting, we can see photographs in a different bunk bed, making the characters relate-able for the spectator at missing their family. In a thriller this shows that the character will likely meet an unfortunate end in an attempt to play with the spectator's emotions. From the composition of the shot we can also see two more characters, whom seem to be happily involved in whatever they are doing. This gives the spectator a chance to imagine what the pair are looking at - this can be a powerful technique to use in a thriller.

The darkness emphasises how isolated the characters are.

We then transition to the outside of the spaceship where we can see a very dark setting with the sun which is very far away being the only source of light. The surroundings are completely empty which creates a feeling of isolation again. This plays with the spectator's emotion as they come to the realisation that the characters are completely alone in this deep dark space world where no-one can help them. This foreshadows that something catastrophic is going to happen - this draws the spectator in because this shot creates enigma. The voice over of the male character's voice brings light humour to the situation; "I think I sleep better up here away from her snoring." The humour adds an almost unwanted sense of safety and protection, which causes the spectator to be at ease with the situation - when the shock scenes arrive they will definitely stir the spectator's emotions.

Analysis of "Super 8" Thriller opening by Harry McHale

Super 8

The sign suggests something bad has happen

Through the opening credits we hear a joyful sounding orchestra playing, which suddenly turns to a single string playing through the rest- this signifies a happy start that turned wrong; in the opening shot we see a “days since last accident” sign which is slowly taken down and replaced. We understand that the music changed for this reason, someone has passed away in this accident.

The LS emphasises the teenager's isolation

Cutting to a new scene reveals a snow covered house with a teenager sitting on a swing chair. From the composition of the shot we can clearly see that the teenager feels isolated from the world around him; he’s been left alone when there’s clearly plenty of people inside the house- as seen from the amount of cars parked around the house. We can see, even from the Long Shot, his body language- slouched down and avoiding looking up, as if not wanting to see anyone if they try to talk to him. The single note soundtrack continues playing through this shot, emphasising on the solidarity that the teenager feels and the fear that will come later in the film.

The teenager is clearly depressed.

In this close up of the teenager’s hands we see the redness of them, this make-up effect shows the coldness that he is feeling, physically and mentally. We can tell that he is affected by a death due to the darkness of his clothes, as if he is going to a funeral. From his body language we can see him gripping tightly to a locket - this is probably a gift from the person he cares about before that person passed away. The soundtrack suggests that in his past he was happier than he is now. Panning up from the previous shot we get a close up of the character's face which unsurprisingly his facial expression looks quite depressed. The audience there hears an off-screen dialogue "I'm so worried for that boy" before cutting to a different shot with the people inside the house whilst the sound continues onto to the next shot.

The woman's facial expression implies her worry for the child.

The next shot begins with a two-shot with two characters in focus. The characters conversation is about the teenager outside, showing concern for him. From this we can deduce that the boy that the boy outside has chosen to escape the other people, not seeking their comfort. The man behind the woman lacks emotion compared to the other characters in the shot. The lady's facial expression implies she feels sympathetic for the boy. The lighting inside the house is darker than outside therefore suggesting a darker mood inside the house than the outside of the house - this could also explain why the teenager is outside because he may feel more comfortable outside.

After a short conversation, the audience finds out that the teenager's mother has passed away which means the father is left on his own with him. Further into the conversation we find out that the father needs to 'step up' suggesting he isn't a decent father which could also explain why the teenager is outside as he feels secluded from his father and this also could show why the mood is darker inside than outside.

This thriller opening has a great set up to the plot. There's clearly emotional attachments being made and broken in this scene which draws the spectator in to the film even more. Playing with the spectator's emotions is a technique used in various thriller films because it's draws the viewer in.

Analysis of "Seven" Thriller opening by Harry McHale

Seven
The non-diegetic sound (music) automatically conducts a thriller mood and atmosphere because it has a spooky feel to it. The opening scene is titles of the film credits and the font is editing in a spooky way, presented in way to conduct that it is a thriller. Also, the background is black and the titles are white which conveys a thriller. 
There is a transition to a drawing of two hands, with a red line down the middle of them - the colour red signifies death which is an inevitable event to happen in thriller films. The hands presented in the drawing are very dark, veiny and knobbly designed to scare, suitable iconography for a thriller.

There is non-diegetic foley sound of floorboards creaking, and a cut of a hand holding a metal tool (ECU) with non-diegetic sound of tools turning. There are a series of cuts of different metal tools, which is also appropriate iconography for the thriller genre and is designed to scare the spectator and construct the appropriate mood.

There is a cut to an ECU of a fingers holding a metal blade, with dark lighting and shallow depth of field where the focus is on the blade. This is a good technique for a thriller as it hints to the spectator what's in store for the rest of the film. As this is presented, there is non-diegetic sound of a noise designed to scare as it is increased in sound compared to the non-diegetic sound of the music, and there is non-diegetic sound which sound likes screams.

The sequence continues in a continuous pattern, with series of cuts of spooky scenes, and then to the titles and non-diegetic sound of creaking, and spooky music. There is a cut to a scene where there is a lot of red colouring, a colour often used in many thriller, along with black and white which is also used a lot in this opening of 'Seven'.  There is no introduction of any characters, therefore there is no protagonists or antagonists displayed, however there is a BCU of hands cutting a picture of a young child. This creates enigma, building tension for the spectator as it's the first sign of a possible story or meaning to the thriller. Also, on one of the fingers shown there is a plaster wrapped round it which suggests that he is injured, however its restricted narration therefore as a spectator we cannot view how badly injured. This foreshadows that later in the film there will be violence and characters will get hurt. The hand in the series of shots is the same one through-out, implying that it could be the main character/protagonist/antagonist. 

There is a cut to  black and white shot of a CU of a picture of somebody, with only their head in the frame. This builds enigma because it leaves the spectator guessing who this person is and whether they're a victim or what their role is in the film. 
A shot of paper is shown with blood splattered on it, which is perfect iconography to convey a thriller. Blood suggests death, largely seen in thrillers therefore the film language is suitable in constructing the mood appropriate for a thriller.

There' a cut to a shot of a book turning, the shot is in black and white with highly dark lighting therefore the shadow of  hand is shown on the page to give a eerie feel, commonly used in thrillers.

A shot is shown of a black pen, crossing words out on the page of the paper so that it is not visible, where a silhouette of the pen is shown over the page to create a spooky atmosphere. This builds suspense as it leaves the spectator wondering what the meaning of doing that is and what is being hidden. 
There is a graphic match as the pen is shown drawing over a picture of a mans eyes - symbolising a blind fold. This is also good iconography used in thrillers as it builds tension for the spectator and excitement as it leaves the character more helpless than the one in power. It cuts to a shot where the man in the pictures face is completely scribbled out by the black pen, and the back ground around him is red. This could signify the death of him or hint to the spectator that death will take place throughout the film as red signifies blood. There is a crescendo as this happens and the music (non-diegetic sound) becomes louder. 
The opening sequence continues with many different shots consisting of red, black and white colours and the book. This suggests that the book presented through-out the opening is significant to the film as a whole, as are the pictures being used in it. There is a dissolve to a shot of picture of  somebody with a sharp tool going into the back of their head - this is very gruesome which is the right effect for a thriller genre.

The pace of the shots are very fast to create enigma, changing with the use of dissolve and graphic matches. Many of the shots are of sharp nails and tools, which could be to construct the story of the film or just to set the mood appropriate for a thriller. 
The non-diegetic sound of the music changes and there is another crescendo. In one of the shots, the hand is seen binding the pages together, which supports my previous point that the book has relevance to the story of the film and is significant. The sequence ends with an establishing shot.

Analysis of "Zodiac" Thriller Opening By Harry McHale

Zodiac

The Male Character is probably not the protagonist

She Supports the femininity stereotype

Enigma building up for the spectator

The thriller opening begins with an establishing shot and non-dietetic sound. There is a cut to a scene where the character appears to be in a car which is driving along a street as you can see a series of houses pass by through the car window. The lightning is very dark which is suitable for a thriller opening, however at this point in the sequence it isn't clear that it's a thriller. The car stops outside a house where we are introduced to the first character. The character is male and various aspects of his clothing are dark however his costume as a whole doesn't suggest that he is a protagonist. He runs over to the car (MS) and the two characters exchange dialogue (on-screen dietetic sound). There is a shot/reverse shot between them which allows us to view the female character. She supports the femininity stereotype as she has blonde hair, is wearing makeup, attractive, and her clothing is suited for a female stereotype. Her body language could be portrayed as suggestive and sexual as she is inviting the male character into the car with her.

The car pulling into a very isolated and dark setting.

The camera pans the car as it drives away and there is a cut to the male and female characters approaching a restaurant, the non-diegetic sound is replaced by diegetic sound such as foley sounds of car horns beeping as the environment they're in becomes busier. The female character seems to become uneasy and uncomfortable through her body language and facial expression whilst driving through the restaurant car park which creates the mood appropriate for a thriller text as it builds enigma for the spectator as they wonder what is suddenly wrong with her.

The spectator and characters are both shocked.

The female character behaving in a flirty manor.

The scene cuts to the car pulling into a very isolated and dark setting. This is an appropriate setting for a thriller genre because it gives a sense of a spooky atmosphere and hints that something sinister could happen here as its very quiet with no one else around. Diegetic sound of music in the car is playing, and the characters exchange more dialogue where the male character says to the female character "You seem weird", and there is a shot/reverse shot sequence. This constructs an appropriate mood for a thriller text as the female character isn't acting normal by pulling up in a dark, isolated setting and the male characters facial expression looks confused and slightly scared. There is a cut to two other cars nearby and there's diegetic sound coming from them. The fact that there are other people create suspense and a sense that something sinister could happen which builds to the enigma and leaves the spectator waiting for something to happen.

Male character is angry as he directs abuse at the culprits

The female character is portrayed quite provocatively through her body language as she is touching the male character in a flirtatious manor. This is another stereotype of women being over sexualised. The fact that the male character is acting uncomfortable towards the female characters behavior suggests that she is not acting normally, changing the mood and atmosphere for the spectator as they can sense that there is a reason for her odd behavior, building enigma.
Suddenly, fire works appear at the car window with on-screen diegetic foley sound to go with it, making both the characters and the spectators jump. This is appropriate in thriller sequences to create the mood and to shock and surprise the spectator as they don't know it's coming. The male character's facial expression is shocked and angry and he shouts abuse at the people in the cars (on-screen diegetic sound) which leaves the spectator fearing for the male character that the group of people who set the firework off will retaliate, building suspense; however they drive off and the characters laugh together (on-screen diegetic sound).
The opening works because it includes the ingredients needed to make a thriller opening such a iconography. Suitable iconography has been used in this opening of 'Zodiac'. Also, elements of mise en scene such as dark lighting/coloring and dark, isolated settings have been used to create the atmosphere and mood for a thriller. Other elements such as facial expression, and body language with the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound have been used to build enigma for the spectator through-out the opening.