Thursday, 11 March 2010

Film Openings - Genre Research: Psychological Thriller

Das Leben Der Anderen ( The Lives of Others) 2006

A film based on the attempts of The Eastern German Government to know about those who apose the socialist regeime and their mission to know everything about and control the Protaliterat. set in the 1980's during the cold war.

  • Production company logo
  • First scene 2 shot of guard and man
  • Setting in prison - establishing shot 
  • Subtitles for setting, German Temporary detention centre 
  • Subtitles in English because the Language used is German
  • Long shot on Guard and man walking down the Hallway
  • Audio bridge
  • Goes into the cell and is sat down in an interview situation - Claustrophobic space


The Jacket (2005)
A man returns from the army to be falsely accused of murder he is then declared insane and sent to a mental institution, where he is put under a new psychoactive drug treatment, where he is placed in a straight jacket and put in a locker for hours on end, in the locker he begins to see into the future and needs to unravel the mystery of his own death.


  • The Locker and Jacket - Claustrophobic space 
  • Visions in to the future - Premonitions. Links in to our initial idea.



Taking Lives (2004)
Set in Canada it details the Killings of a young man, beginning in his later teens he runs away from home, in Quebec the police desperately try to solve a group of murders. Unbeknown to them they have already met the murderer.





Vertigo (2004)
A Hitchcock classic in which a private detective is sent to find a young attractive woman, finding her on the brink of suicide, he stops her. After this he develops a strange Obsession with her.



The Butterfly Effect (2004)  
A young man blocks out harmful memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life. [IMDB]



  • Production and Distribution logos flash up, black background
  • A brief quotation from the Chaos theory is shown on the screen " flap of a butterfly wing can cause a typhoon on the other side of the world" - This gives us some idea where the working title as come from.
  • establishing shot of a small office (claustrophobic place)
  • shot of door opening,  Ashton Kutcher comes through the door, there is match on action to show this.
  • He is wearing a patients outfit from a hospital, this gives us some brief exposition to the setting of the film.
  • Torch lights shine through the tinted windows of the office, gives the audience a sense of tension.
  • The protagonist begins to write on a piece of paper, reading it aloud in his mind, this non-diegetic sound aswell as the music aids the tense aura of the scene
  • There is a flash and it goes back to Ashton Kutcher's character's childhood, this is a non-linear narrative very similiar to the one that we shall use within in our opening scene. 





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