Analysis of Thriller Openings

Trailer 1: The Purge

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0lcdgDCytA

The purge is a classed as a horror thriller set in the future where by a wealthy family is held hostage in their own home for holding the target of murderous group of people during the annual purge where all crime is legal for a period of 12 hours.

The opening scenes of this movie is focused on creating anxiety as well as confusion within the audience as the contrapuntal sound implies. While clips of unsuspecting victims as presented on screen a palliative and calming soundtrack play in the background as non-diegetic sound. At first this creates a state of confusion as it suggests that the fact that people are innocently dying in nothing to worry about. However as the scenes continue the audience is left to wonder why people were being killed and therefore get the impression that these crimes were a thing of the past due to the nonchalant soundtrack.

The fact that the videos are surveillance video suggests that this is official footage of what happened during purges in the past .This then make the audience anxious to know whether the movie about the upcoming purge will be any different from the last and if so, how. This is again implied through the soundtrack and the washed out lack of colour of the clips that are being shown as they resemble that of a flashback or a look back in event that happened in the past. The only time we see colour is when there is absolute chaos and terror such as the burning building in the middle of the clip. This could be don’t to emphasise the chaos during the situation.

Trailer 2: Now You See Me
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_diRgwPCS8

Now your see me is a crime and mystery thriller as it is about the quest of an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who attempt to track down illusionists who pull a bank heist during one of their performances and then use the money to reward the audience.

As soon as the opening starts instead of seeing credits like a typical movie we are introduced to one of the four other main characters of the film. The scene starts with a close up in a tight frame of the actor breaking the fourth wall by asking the audience to participate in the film ‘I want you to see one card’. This introduces the audience to him on a more personal level than just someone inside the world of the movie. Therefore allowing the audience to build a new friendly relationship with the character as it appears that he is addressing them directly. 

We are then introduced to the next character who has a different personality than the first but he has the same job, along with a sound bridge that reveals the third illusionist. When we are introduced to the second character, as he counts the alphabet the speed of the jump cuts dramatically increase to replicate the speed at which he says each letter and also how quickly the man that he is talking to reacts as each letter is said. Therefore this intensifies the action as we see the man begins to panic under the stress of the situation and each shot of him gets closer and closer to his facial features in extreme close ups. The third character is a more normal citizen as he is a young man who conducts illusions in hope of getting public attention. However he follows a different stereotype when he steals the man wallet as he is then portrayed as a criminalistics young man.

When introduced to the last character we see that she follows the stereotypes of an illusionist as she is a beautiful young woman who is about to put herself in danger for the entertainment of others. The high angle shot of the woman as she is released into the tank in a sparkling swimsuit represents her to be an unstereotypical character for this movie genre as the main characters are typically male or not accustomed to being put in danger.

As we come the end of the opening the audience is now able to understand that each of the main characters have a completely different personality that the next but they all illusionists. This is due to some of the props that they use such as cards, a bent spoon and a tank of dangerous fish along with hypnosis. Therefore we get the impression that they are illusionists as theses props are typical for them to be using.