What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

 The opening of a thriller film definitely plays a massive role if not the most important one, as the opening of thrillers needs to establish either the character, genre, plot, theme , tone/ mood or the location to the audience in order to catch their attention, interest  and to give them the urge of pursuing further. Different directors choose how they want to open their thriller and what they want to establish when making an opening. As we can see from the cobweb some may want to establish one or several parts more than the other depending on the film. However directors tend to establish the genre, character and theme more often.

 For example, David Fincher, the director of the film "Se7en" establishes character very well in his opening scene. The director uses mise en scene perfectly well to establish Detective William R. Somerset's character in the pre title sequence. Firstly, the scene of Mr Somerset in his own quite minimalistic kitchen , there is a chess board which indicates that the character is intelligent and is engaged in games which involves concentration and deep thinking.

Figure 2: Kitchen

The next shot shows Somerset adjusting his tie with his spotless white shirt on, which gives us an opinion of him being a working man. Then the director shows us five items which are perfectly aligned with each other, each of the items tell us something about his character.
 The first item is a paper rose which (we can assume) he carries with him at all time. This could be a reminder of someone of importance to him for example his wife, which may no longer be by his side, presumed dead, therefore the rose emphasizes his deep love for his wife. The next object is a golden badge which shows his superiority and his high status of authority. Next to the badge there is a very nice looking pocket knife which acts as a 'Chekhov's gun' and gives a sense of violence to the character which may be accumulating inside him or, maybe just adds a sense of the anger within him. However we learn that this isn't a tool for violence , but  a key. In fact Somerset is the key holder to something big.

Figure 3: Personal Items

Then the next two items are an expensive looking pen which further emphasizes an intellectual individual and his gun which emphasizes that he's also a deadly enforcer, but the gun is in its holster, which could signify his caution to use violence. (In contrast , if this was detective Mills' gun it would probably be shown tossed carelessly on the bed free of its holster.). This variety of objects show that he is a complex character and also gives an indication to the enigma within him. The fact that they are perfectly aligned with each other ,connotes that he maybe a perfectionist who manages his things in a tidy manner. This almost obsession is supported by his fastidiousness shown his removal of a minute dust speck from his coat. 

The metronome symbolises time running out which is very significant as the film's plot is focused on a seven day deadline. It also shows that he is ''mentally disturbed' as he needs the metronome to fall asleep . Additionally the metronome is a method of blocking out the disturbing sounds - sirens and rain -  which can be seen as the city's 'sins' which relate to the film's theme "The seven deadly sins".

Figure 4: Metronome

Furthermore, through the dialogue the director gives the audience a greater insight into his character. At the time of the investigation of the murder scence he asks his colleague "Did the kids see it" which shows sympathy towards children which might be his 'soft spot' whereas his colleague does not care and replies with the happy thought of Somerset's retirement which gives some back round information that he is soon to retire.

Figure 5: "Did the kids see it"

This shot is an example of how the main character thinks and differs from his collegues Mr Fisher does this by blurring the colleague whilst the main character is largely in focus in the foreground.

Location

Terry Winson the director of 'Essex boys' establishes location very well as it is gives a feeling to the audience of the theme and tone of the film through its location, "Essex". Essex being a gloomy urban and industrial location is a perfect set for a British gangster film. Whereas dark and mysterious location would be a perfect fit for a film noir , such as "The Third Man".

The first shot to the film is a man opening his garage with an fairly old car in it. The shot simply gives an idea that this film is going to be pretty dark and not very positive spirited. The vague spotlight can be a metaphor for the small amount of hope and happiness in the city, and the silhouette of the character also emphasizes his dark and possibly depressing life.

 The use of saturated colours on the palate with grey and black colours being the dominating ones emphases the emptyness and hopelessness of the location, this gives a bleak tone to the audience as the film is being devoured by the negative and dark colours.

The use of vanishing points also shows the never ending hopelessness. Even in this shot, even thought its much brighter it still has the effect of bleak colours. This way Terry is engaging the audience in the location and by doing so, is also perfectly establishing the tone and theme of the film. The audience now have an idea of what to expect throughout the movie. Without establishing the plot. This just shows us that, you can establish one factor but also giving a slight sense of other factors without actually doing so, which gives the audience a sense of mystery and curiosity.

However you may also establish every single element in the film character , genre, themes, location, tone/mood , plot and genre. If done effectively this could instantly attract the audience if its their sort of movie. The opening to "Disappearance of Alice Creed" has it all. The character is being established throughout the opening, we get the idea that one is more dominant and serious than the other, the director does this by small detail in action for example in the van when one of the mans hands start to rattle the other man just through his facial expression tells him to stop. The director also establishes important's of the characters by constantly blurring one of the characters out in the backround while the other is focus in the centre of attention.

 The director directly establishes the genre and the plot of the film through the title "Disappearance of Alice Creed" and also gives us hits in the opening of them carefully preparing as they planned for the abduction of Alice. The theme and the tone is established through their choice of objects 

 We can clearly see that its going to be a dark and a bit psychotic film. The Knife, gun and handcuffs being a key objects to a thriller film acting as a McGuffin and being a plot device.

Ironically location is also being established in this film by showing that they are in a discrete place and that this could actually be happening anywhere. The only things we know is that there is a forest, supermarket and an old car dump.

This will influence and help my choice of what I would like to put in the opening of my thriller film. I will now have example of  from different films and I may choose to use some of the techniques from them to establish my character, genre, theme, location, plot and tone/mood. I have also learned that most directors tent to establish character , theme and genre as appose to tone/mood , location and plot. So therefore I might choose to do the same, and I will want to establish the character very well as I think it is a key element to an opening of a thriller film, and less on the plot because it is very hard to fit the plot in just two minutes.