Crime Thriller Research: Titles

Thriller Titles

Most thriller films have the colour black for their backgrounds behind their titles with some non-diegetic music playing in the back ground to create the mood of a thriller film. Another convention about titles in thriller films is that the most important companies and actors are shown in the first credits. It’s also conventional for thriller films to have a particular event in the opening sequence before the title shots are shown which reveals what the film will be about. An example of a thriller film with a particular event which happens before the title shots are shown would be ‘Terminator 2’ (Dir, James Cameron, 1991). Another example of a thriller film with an event before the title shots

would be 'Casino Royale' (Dir. Daniel Kleinman, 2006). 

 

'Black Swan' (Dir. Darren Aronofski, 2011).

'Flicker' (Dir.Tony Conrad, 1996).

 'The Godfather' (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1972).

'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' (Dir. David Fincher, 2011).

'The Sixth Sense' (Dir. M. Night Shyamalan, 1999).

 

'The Purge' (Dir. James DeMonaco, 2013).

It is also common for some films to start with a particular event before titles start to show which usually shows the audeince a clip of what probably the film will be about. For example, 'The Dark Knight', directed by Christopher Nolan, shows a clip of a robery by a group of criminals, and the joker is revealed as he is the main antagonist in the film.

Another convention of titles is that usually the most important film companies or actors in the film are shown first in the credits. For example, in the opening of 'Gone Girl', directed by David Fincher, the audience are shown the conglomerate film company 'Twentieth Century Fox', which produced the film and then are followed by numerous actors which star in the film, such as 'Ben Affleck' and 'Roseamund Pike'.

It's conventional for the titles in thriller films to have red writing. The colour red connotes death, passion, danger and blood which are themes which typically associate with the thriller genre. An example of red writing in the titles of a thriller film would be 'Incidious' (Dir. James Wan, 2011). The titles for 'Insidious' are very conventional of the thriller genre, with thin, gothic typography that is red, connoting death, danger and blood, all typical of the thriller genre and are similar to the whole aesthetic of the film.