Analysing Sound and Music in Thriller Opening Sequences!!

Panic Room Opening Sequence:
Long pause of silence (0:00-0:21)
Brass Instruments (Non Digetic)

Violins

Wind Blowing
Pen Clicking
City Sounds (Cars beeping)


The sounds above are what we could hear in the opening sequence of the Thriller movie Panic Room. At the beginning of the sequence there was a long silence up until 21 seconds in. This could have to build the tension beofre the music starts because were anticipating what we could hear next. At 21 seconds there was a fairly slow build up of non-daigetic brass instruments and violins that gradually became louder. They then faded slightly into the background and then introduced diagetic noises such as car beeping and wind blowing, there was also a constant non-diagetic sound of a pen clicking from 0:55 seconds in after the title of the movie had been shown. These sounds then continued up until the narrative dialogue of the first character.


Catch Me If You Can Opening Sequence:
Percussion Instruments
Wooden Blocks

Saxaphone

Clicking of Fingers

Flute?

Violin?

The sound/music in this opening sequence starts at 0:02 seconds, It starts with wooden blocks and percussion instruments. This makes the movie sound rather sneaky and rather like spy music which is fitting for the genre as it is a crime/drama genre. As the title of the movie came in at 0:43 seconds instruments like saxaphones, flutes and violins were gradually added. There is also the sound of people clicking there fingers in unision and also sounds of 'Hushing'/'Shhh'. The music continues for the whole opening credits until the scene begins. All of these sounds were non-diagtetic and had an upbeat vibe throughout the whole sequence.

Se7en Opening Sequence:
Static
Vinyl Scratching

Screams

Paper Cutting
Drums
Kogs Moving
Random mixes of sounds


For the opening sequence of Se7en the music starts straight away at 0:00 seconds. The clip has many different sounds. Some of them are hard to identify as they are rather random mixes of sounds and are hard to describe.The sounds start as what sounds like stacic and vinyl scratching, there is also a consistant banging of drums throughout the whole sequence. We hears sounds of "kogs" moving around and what sounds like people saying "Tsk Tsk Tsk". There are also sounds of paper cutting, screams, cars scretching and spraying. It almost sounded like there was a bunch of random sounds thrown together, but they all come from the same 'catagory' and all have the same effect on you which make you feel on edge. When the title comes in at 0:23 seconds the music amps up a bit more. At 1:12 the music really amps up into almost like music from a hard-rock song with a normal tune. All the sounds were a mix of Diagetic and Non-diagetic depending on what was in the background, for example in one clip there is a car which is when the car screetching sound comes in.


Similarities Between the Three Opening Sequences:

• All are parellel to what is happening on screen
• All built up the music rather than just staying in the same pace area.
• All included some kind of instrument soundtrack as well as having some ambient sounds, for example, Wind Blowing (Panic Room), Clicking fingers (Catch Me If You Can) and Screams (Se7en).
• For Catch Me If You Can and Se7en the music started straight away.
• Panic Room and Se7en both had a mix of Diagetic and Non-Diagetic.

Differences Between the Three Opening Sequences:

• All the music/sounds had different intentions of how they wanted the audience to feel, for example, Panic Room was a creepy/eerie atomosphere. Catch Me If You Can started unconventional to the Thriller genre as it built up the tension. Se7en's music would make the audience feel on edge and creeped out.
• Panic Room had a pro-longed silence for 21 seconds but the others did not.
• Catch Me If You Can was completely non-diagetic.
• Se7en's opening sequence had mostly ambient sounds, whereas the others had instruments also.