Opening Sequence Idea - Rockstar

Our final and most successful idea is influenced by the killing of John Lennon and the motives behind Mark Chapman, his killer and crazed fan. Completely filmed backstage, the rock star will walk off stage after his performance and muscle through the onslaughts of fans and hassling interviewers. When a fan comes and asks for his autograph, he is shot and the sudden incident will create a shock for the audience. A reporter before the shooting will walk along with him and ask him the probing question, ‘apparently you are thinking of retiring’ this is met with a dismissal but gives the audience a two different perspectives of the murder. The murder could well have been a harrowing surprise to the rock star, or he may have set it up to get him away from the hectic lifestyle of a musician. This would make the audience question the meaning behind the sequence, long after it has been watched. Although the idea is simple, it is also effective when you question what the rest of the movie would be about.    

Movies like our idea 'lift' - Suspence Based.

Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock, 1960 - Gus Van Sant, 1999
Norman Bates, his mother, the Bates motel, Bernard Hermann's chilling score, the shower scene? Alfred Hitchcock's thriller is a master class in creating suspense. It horrified audiences when it was released and while Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake may seem like an exercise in pointlessness, it proves that the film still has the power to shock today.

Shadow of a Doubt
Hitchcock - 1958
Described by David Mamet as 's finest film, "Shadow of a Doubt" describes the tale of a young American woman's struggle with her murderous Uncle. Featuring a cameo from Hitchcock himself (as a Bridge-playing man 15 minutes in), the film was remade in 1958 as "Step down to terror".


The Sixth Sense
M. Night Shyamalan - 1999
Child psychologist Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) is attacked by an enraged ex-patient who shoots him before killing himself. Crowe later takes on the case of 9-year old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) whose loneliness and fear of ghosts resemble Crowe's attacker. Producing the inimitable "I see dead people," line, Sear tells Crowe that the ghosts he sees do not know they are dead.


Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
A photographer recuperating from a broken leg is wheelchair bound in his New York apartment. To pass the time he begins spying through a camera lens on his neighbours from the rear window of his apartment. Eventually he becomes convinced he has witnessed a murder. Featuring the memorable pairing of Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.


Vertigo
Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
A classic psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock with more haunting music by Bernard Hermann. Jimmy Stewart is John ?Scottie' Ferguson, a San Francisco detective who leaves the police force and begins suffering from acrophobia after witnessing a fellow policeman fall to his death while the two are chasing a criminal across rooftops. He then becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman whom he has been hired to follow by an old friend.



A Touch of Evil
Orson Welles, 1958
"The strangest vengeance ever planned!" declared the film's publicity poster in 1958. Beginning with Orson Welles' typically ambitious three and a half minute continuous tracking shot, this classic film noir starring Charlton Heston is a dark tale of murder, kidnap and corruption in a Mexican border town.

Opening Sequence - Shutter Island

The opening sequence of Shutter island gives an insight to what the rest of the film is about and gives us an idea of the character’s roles. Starting with Leonardo Di Caprio forgetting where here cigarettes are on the boat, it shows his venerability and there is perhaps something wrong with him at the moment. Perhaps he is ill or there may be something more. The establishing shot of the island in the stormy weather shows the destination and mysteriousness of it. It also shows how there could be danger on it, awaiting them. After meeting the first set of guards, they pass through countless wire fences and high brick walls, which are particularly ugly. This subverts from the stereotypical island which should be paradise. Upon entry into the mental institute, there guns are taken leaving them weak and Di Caprio’s partner struggles with taking his gun out of his holder. This shows his inability to perform daily activities that people in his field do, therefore showing he is inexperienced. As they walk through the courtyard, the chained, mental inmates highlight the genre of a thriller. The close up silence on the crazed woman putting her finger to her lips is an inclination of what the movie is about and tells the audience that there is more of this to come. This as an opening sequence works well as although it is short, it satisfies the thriller criteria, shows what the film is about and creates queries about our two main characters. These queries become a huge rhetorical question as the film goes on.
 

Thriller Idea PP - Lift 5

Level 5’

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Denotation and Connotation

 

     

Image	Denotation	Connotation
Still from Scream	Person in mask in black sorroundings	The masked person  is mysterious and scary. potentially dangerous.
Still from Psycho	Woman in shower looking worried or unhappy. Blue tint.	Something has scared her and the blue tint shows that she is sad and not alright.
Still from Gothika	Woman looking at writing on a wall saying ‘not alone’	The writing in the wall is in red showing danger, something is out to get the woman.
Still from  Friday 13th	Women far away from masked man in a lake	woman is scared of the masked man who looks dangerous and asif he wants to hurt her.

Miners’

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