Quentin Jerome Tarantino, born in March 1963 is a well known director and his most well known for the thriller films that he has directed. As part of creating my own thriller title sequence, I will be looking at some of his work as inspiration to see what makes a appealing thriller opening title sequence. I will be looking at 4 of his most famous films Pulp fiction, Reservoir dogs, Jackie brown and Kill Bill Vol. 2 and analysing them to see what identifies them as thrillers.
The opening title sequence to pulp fiction starts off with people talking and a robbery taking place however it doesn’t reveal any characters that are involved and what their role may be within the film which leaves the audience unaware and starts them off with only a small amount of information which would get them thinking and creating a potential storyline. The music is not what is usually matched up with a thriller film and seems more comic which may add some confusion for the audience. Also the opening credits are very cartoonist and childlike which is also disoriented from the dialogue that is used and what is usually associated with a thriller opening title sequence. This opening sequence is good for a thriller because the audience have little information to start the film off with which allows them to think for themselves more.
In the opening scene of Reservoir Dog’s it starts with a conversation with a group of men that seem to be having a serious conversation however it is not clear as to what it is about, this allows for a lot to be left to the audiences imagination and to make further assumptions about who these group of men are and what they do. There is then a wide shot of the group of men which moves into close ups of all the men which then allows the audience to identify each character, however they don’t know anything about any of the characters so they can only assume their role by the expression of their face and the actions they’re doing. Once again the music seems to be disconnected from the men’s personas and is cheerful and catchy music, which gives no insight into the rest of the film. The lighting seems to be bright however it ends with a bloody man in a back of the car which would give further insight into who these men are and their roles however it gives no indication to the storyline and why the man in bloody.
The start of the opening scene of Jackie brown starts with music which is cheerful and happy and a lady on a conveyor and it follows this lady on the conveyor for a fairly long period of time which leads the audience in the unknown about who she is, what she does and what is going to happen in the film. The text is typical of the 60’s style which could suggest a time period but not anything suspicious or negative is associated. Then there is shot where we can see into people luggage and it contains suspicious objects such as a gun which adds the element of danger and this creates more curiosity about who the woman is. Throughout this the lighting is very bright which creates no element of unawareness and also there is no dialogue used until the end where she is not saying anything suspicious and it is revealed that her job is a flight attended. So throughout the opening scene not a lot of indication is given away about the film and who the main character is.
In the opening scene of Kill bill Vol.2 it seems very unlike the other works of Quentin Tarantino as it starts with a woman lying on the group who looks badly beaten up being shot, which immediately puts the theme of violence and danger into the film. However it does not show the rest of the woman’s body as it just a close up and it does not show who shot her, which leaves the audience with only a small amount of information. Then it goes into a shot of that same woman driving her car and describing her experience after that incident, however she does not describe why this happened but she does reveal the name of who did it and what she is going to do next which gives audience an idea of what will happen. When the woman is speaking she is speaking very dramatically and quietly which could create suspense for the audience. There is also suspicious and gradually building music in the background which would suggest that this character is going to do something dramatic and shocking. The whole of the opening sequence was in black and white which meant that the audience could not get a clear insight to the setting and the atmosphere which leaves them in the unknown slightly.
From looking at these four opening sequences it is clear that Quentin Tarantino uses a lot of confusion to make the audience unaware. He also doesn’t give away the storyline in the opening sequence however he can still inform with snippets of information. This way of directing allows the audience to figure things out and think for themselves which is what a thriller is meant to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment