Conventions of an opening to a thriller film: Fargo

Conventions of an opening to a thriller are;

Openings to thriller films are almost always used to build tension and create an eerie or suspense filled atmosphere, setting the ambiance for the rest of the film.
Many cinematic techniques, such as low-key lighting(a common feature in thriller films used to give a distorted or dark look to the scene) or orchestral music (often use as string instruments can be manipulated to give an eerie scratching sound) are used to emphasise certain traits of a thriller film such as high tension.



Fargo 1996

The main theme of Fargo is kidnap, but themes such as murder and revenge also appear throughout. 


 Fargo (1996) is an American crime/horror thriller film written,  produced, edited, and directed by the Coen Brothers. It stars a pregnant Minnesota police chief (Marge) who investigates a series of local homicides and a struggling car salesman (Jerry) who hires two criminals to kidnap his wife in order to gain money and pay his debts. Inevitably consequences occur and Jerry's plan becomes a nightmare.  (IMDB) 

Title sequence


The title sequence to Fargo is fairly simplistic, but extremely effective in building the atmosphere for this eerie and unnerving film. Immediately the scene opens with a quiet but sharp sound of a guitar, along side the words 'This is a true story' followed by a brief background to the story. This pulls the audience in straight away giving them a sense of insecurity, whilst also giving the plot a huge point of interest. The calm and quiet music paired with this gives a sense of the 'calm before the storm',a technique that is often used in thriller films to create a false sense of security for the audience that can later be destroyed to shock further, and again makes the audience feel on edge.A vast, bleak, snowy landscape follows, this unusual set-up creates an un-easy feeling (this unconventionality in thrillers is common and helps to add sense to the initial confusion) and gives the film a cold and dreary atmosphere, the added manipulation of the violins matches this ominous tension and gives an almost sinister tone to the film. The vacant headlights of Jerry's car follow, slicing the fog as he drives towards the camera, the lighting is kept little but enough as though it were evening, this again gives the film an early feeling of tension through the lack of bright lights and colour.As the car pulls up the hill into full view low sounding drums are played almost like a drum roll to build expectations and increase the tension. The car finally comes into the view of the audience, a full orchestra is used to present the importance of the car/person inside. It could also have been used to pull the audiences attention to fully focus on the scene cutting through the bleak and calming environment before. At the height of this exciting music is the title, this again draws the attention of the audience towards the film. The final shot of this sequence is the tow truck driving away from the camera and into the distance, this creates a sense of mystery and gives the audience questions that need to be answered, keeping them intrigued and also giving the film that important sense of confusion that thrillers rely on.


The sound from this clip, the drums especially, may have an influence on my thriller opening. They effectively build tension without having much on screen to support this- this may be helpful as creating tension through the scenes proved slightly difficult when filming our prelim task.