3 Credit Sequences

   This post has to do with analyzing the opening credit sequences of three psycological thrillers of my choosing. The three that I chose were Hannibal, What Lies Beneath, Gone Girl.

  Hannibal: Hannibal was released February 9th, 2001, and is directed by Ridley Scott. It follows and FBI agent as she tries to understand a cannibalistic serial killer before his first victim captures him. The credits have a creepy starting by using unsettling music to create a sense of dread. Visually, there is use of distorted images and silhouettes to represent a chilling nature. The use of the color red in the cinematography illustrates the violence throughout the film. This credit scene helps me to know how to establish the tone of the film from the very beginning. Using visuals, and certain sounds helps to create the unsettling mood which the audience feels throughout the film. The slow pace of the credits builds tension, which is progressively built upon throughout the film. 

  What Lies Beneath: What Lies Beneath was released July 21, 2000, and is directed by Robert Zemickis. It is about a woman who experiences weird activity in her home. This leads for her to find out secrets about her husbands past and a ghost who wants revenge. It starts off with words floating in and out of the screen and a high pitch sound screeching. This gives off unsettling vibes and puts the audience in an awkard and uncomfortable feeling. The pace of the credits is slow, which allows the audience to have a moment to sit in the awkwardness and soak it in. This credit scene helps me to know how to introduce the mood of the story without giving away too much of the plot. The simplicity of the credits proves that being able to draw in the audiences is just easy without using fancy pictures and editing. 

  Gone Girl: Gone Girl was released on October 3, 2014, and is directed by David Fincher. It is about Nick and Amy, a happy couple whos marriage goes to dust when Amy goes missing and Nick becomes the prime suspect. The emptiness feeling of the credits creates an uneasing feeling. The writing on the scrren fades in and out at a quick pace adds to the uneasy feeling that the audience begins to feel in the beginning. The sound as a sense of underlying tension mixed with the voice over of a man we can only assume is Nick. It gives the idea that there could be some hidden truths he has yet to tell the viewers. This can be useful for me to use in my project to hint to the audience that something is "off" from the very start. The bland background with just words, music, and a voiceover hints at an undisturbed emotion. The way he speaks is just so calm, which gives the audience the calming feeling while also feeling suspense. This credit scene teaches me how to engage the audience while lightly hinting clues that secrets might be hidden behind the surface.