The Structure of Thriller Openings
1. Proppian character types commonly found in thriller openings and their common features, and Character types you would expect to find in a thriller and the type of person who may fulfill the role.
Villains are usually psychotic, sadists or assassins and they always motives for killing the victim e.g. greed, pleasure, money etc. Actors such as Nicolas Cage in Face/Off and Kevin Space in Se7en are examples of the above. Cage plays Castor Troy who is a freelance terrorist, his motives are unclear, but he is presented as psychotic. Meanwhile Kevin Space plays John Doe is a blatant psychopath whose motives are religious and to punish people who do not obey the seven deadly sins.
Dispatchers who send the hero off on their quest, also commonly have something to gain, but usually for good. Ralph Fiennes plays Harry Waters in In Bruges, who is the boss of the two hitmen, and sends them both off so Ken (played by Brendan Gleeson) can assassinate the other hitman. Also, Sean Archer's son in Face/Off dies and so Archer tries to track down the murderer (Castor Troy) which is his quest throughout the film.
Helpers assist the hero on their quest, be it with information, physically helping them e.g. killing, driving etc. Brad Pitt is an example of this in Se7en, he assists Detective Somerset (played by Morgan Freeman) as he investigates a string of murder crimes, and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction where he is hitman on the same case as Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson).
Princess or Prize "the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain." Uma Therman in Pulp Fiction, where Vincent Vega (the helper/hero) is not allowed to do anything to her as she is his boss' wife. Wallace is presented as 'evil' throughout the film, trying to fix a boxing match and trying to kill Butch afterwards. Sean Archer’s son in Face/Off is another example, where Archer wants to avenge his Son's death, probably so he can move on with his life, however, he can never get his Son back. Finally, Clemence Poesy in In Bruges, who the hero (played by Colin Farrell) tries to woo but is stopped by her boyfriend (the unfair evil) but eventually gets her in the end.
The Donor "prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object." Harvey Keitel who plays 'The Wolf' in Pulp Fiction prepares Jules and Vincent after they have messed up their car due to accidentally shooting their hostage Marvin, Brendan Gleeson in In Bruges by killing himself, warns Farell of the danger he faces due to his boss coming to assassinate him.
A Hero e.g. Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction who after he has finished the assassination of two associates, and then stopping a robbery in a small diner, wants to better himself in his life by retiring and doing something else (although he could also be considered the villain due to the fact he kills people) Colin Farrell in In Bruges who is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, although Ken (Brendan Gleeson) could be considered the hero due to saving Farrell.
False Hero - Vincent in Pulp Fiction, who works alongside Jules but gets killed in his apartment later on in the story.
2. Using Claude Levi Strauss’s ideas of structure in terms of binary oppositions, identify & make a list of these in relation to the themes found in thrillers.
Good and Evil in Se7en where Morgan Freeman signifies good through his white shirt and home, while John Doe is the evil killer. Face/Off also signifies this opposition in the credits where black signifies evil and white signifies good.
Known and Unknown in Rear Window, where the whole film is shot through one room and one man's perspective as he tries to piece the mystery of whether a man has murdered his wife. At the start he knows very little, but uses other people to find out the unknown information.
Past and Future in Pulp Fiction as the film is sequenced achronologically in its narrative structure, allowing the audience to piece together the story, much like a detective, stereotypical of the genre.
Life and Death in Face/Off, where in the opening scene Sean Archer's Son is killed and Archer lives. Six years later, Archer is willing to risk his life to avenge his Son's death.
3. Openings of the thrillers we have watched conform to Todorov’s theory of narrative structure and what conventions commonly occurred in these openings?
Vertigo
Equilibrium- Protagonist is a detective
Disruption- Chases criminal, realises he has vertigo
Recognition of disruption- retires due to vertigo, takes on a case of a woman being ‘possessed’
Attempt to repair disruption- Falls in love with woman
Old or new equilibrium- Woman helps him conquer his vertigo, then she dies, forming a new equilibrium
Face/Off
Equilibrium- Protagonist playing with Son
Disruption- Protagonist is shot with his Son in his arms
Recognition of disruption- Protagonist realizes that Son is dead
Attempt to repair disruption- Protagonist seeks to find the killer of his Son
Se7en
Equilibrium- Protagonist is a detective
Disruption- New case is found where a string of murders is committed
Recognition of disruption- Protagonist finds the murders are connected to the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’
4. How the titles appear and work within thriller openings. How they help establish the genre and tone of the film.
Se7en Opening Credits
Se7en's opening credits use enigmas which are created through the use of jump cuts to different scenes showing what the antagonist is doing, and therefore giving clues to us about what kind of character and killer he is. The chiaroscuro lighting shows that this film is sinister and dark, coinciding with the acts on screen; cutting off his own fingerprints, cutting up images of victims, and sewing together the pages of his schemes.
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| Antagonist as he removes the skin from his finger tips. |
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| Motion overlay titles that have a typewriter-like font on "A Film By" and a handwritten font on the name. |
Motion overlay titles for the director and actors are very jumpy and are hand written, they also jump and move around, showing us that the film will be jumpy and unexpected events will occur. The antagonist is shown to be a match for Detective Somerset’s intelligence and attention to detail. As the antagonist is shown to be almost OCD in his attention to detail, cutting various bits of images and text into a large book. The credits themselves sometimes appear with a black background, and the text itself is white, connoting the struggle between good and evil. The music emphasizes the mysteriousness of the killer, and additionally punctuates the jump cuts which are used throughout.
Vertigo Opening Credits
Vertigo begins with an extreme close up of a woman, making the audience feel claustrophobic, the camera pans around a woman’s face allowing us to examine her facial expressions and non verbal codes. The credits appear as motion overlays, firstly on her mouth, then the camera pans to her shifty looking eyes where another credit flies in. Thirdly, to her eye where the music then crescendos, the scene then turns red (connoting danger) and her eye suddenly opens wide as if she has seen something; creating an enigma as to what it is that she has seen.
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| Graphic match to vortex-like animation which accompanies the opening credits. |
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| Woman's shifty looking eyes and the serif font used for the credits. |
A graphic match links the swirling vortex-like part of the credits, which is meant to make the audience feel dizzy, hence the title of the film. The music itself is a constant ostinato, again creating a dizzy sensation, slowing down and speeding up at certain points along with the vortex graphic. After many different coloured vortexes are displayed, there is then the same graphic match onto the eye, another credit and the music stops.
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