Opening Credits

An important aspect for any film is the opening credits, In a thriller film it is extra important to have good credits, so they don't distract from the tension building and draw the audiences attention away from the action taking place on screen. The crew members that are featured in the opening credits are members such as the director and others that have a massive contribution to the production of the film.

General chronological order of Opening Credits:

• NAME OF THE STUDIO)
• (NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)
• (PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)
• STARRING
• (FILM'S TITLE)
• FEATURING
• CASTING or CASTING BY
• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY
• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Opening Credits of the Film Se7en

Looking at the opening credits from this film opening there are a number of conventions and characteristics that meet the eye. The  credits jump in a shaky eerie way with non diegetic sound playing in the background. This is to build suspense and let the audience focus on the screen and see the narrative unfolding. This is conventional to a thriller film, as-well as the camera being-zoomed in to a key focus point to show an enigma of mystery within the scene.

The colours used are high contrasting with white words on a black background, this gives the audience a sense of foreboding and has connotations with death and dark terror. There are also hints of blood red which have connotations of murder and death, again fitting in with the conventions of a thriller film. the font looks like scribbled hand writing which also shows the characters persona. The credits have low opacity levels so the audience can focus on the plot of the scene and show the events occurring on screen.

Conventions of a thriller film show the credits to fit in with the narrative of the film when a pen is being used on screen the non diegetic sound makes the credits feel as if they are being scribbled. The credits are edgy and unpredictable, much like the plot of the thriller film. This is conventional to all thriller films as the opening scene has to fit in with whats going on a build tension in order to captivate the audience.

The order of appearance is as follows:

• production company
• director
• actor
• title of film
• actors continued
• casting
• music costumes
• editors
• production
• camera operator
• co-production
• producer
• writing
• director

The order of the film credits goes in oder of the mist important, The name of the director is last as it is conventional to David Flincher films, this is because he is known for making thrillers and has a good reputation.

American Psycho Opening Scene.

This opening scene also uses the key conventions of a thriller film. The colours used are dark and mysterious as the audience is shown a false sense of security. The non diegetic sound heard is a key convention of a thriller film and and is heard throughout the opening sequence. The credits shown across the screen are very bright which give the impression of eerie non suspect lights in high contrast against the light background.

the conventions of a thriller film give tell tale signs and clues as to the enigma of the film. The way the actor is screaming psychotic phrases builds tension and makes the audience sense foreboding. The credits are bold and spaced far apart this makes them significant but also not taking up too much room on screen

The non diegetic music also follows the conventions of a thriller, and the loud people in the background have annotations of anarchy and gives clues about the future narrative and what is to come.

The order of credit appearance:

• co-producers
• executive producers
• produced
• 'based on'
• screenplay
• directed by

Again this follows the conventions of a thriller film, with the most important shown last.

Our Thriller 'T o r m e n t'

As a group we looked some different types of thriller films and the credits they used. We believed that se7en as was had the best opening credits they were suspenseful and very conventional to thriller films. The use of font, style, images and sound all went well together and followed key conventions of a thriller film. The elements caused the audience to feel shocked and surprised and built tension throughout the film. As a group we were inspired to make credits for our own thriller film. The font style in the opening sequence is conventional to a thriller and we will be using a similar font and style. The sound effects used will create suspense and give the audience a thrill and build tension. Our credits and sound effects will fit in well with the conventions of a thriller film and we will use sounds to startle the audience of our own thriller.

As a group we decided on the following:

Size: small and subtle
Colour: grey white glow around the edge
Order in which they will appear: Production name, direct colours or, actor, editor, title.
Font: grey white glow, title carved on a tree. bold but also small and scribbly.

These examples of fonts from famous films five good examples of what we can use in our thriller film. These fonts are iconic and the audience associate this style of writing with the individual film.