Opening Thriller Sequence Research - The Untouchables

The way the text is represented in this sequence is interesting as it engages the audience in a very simple way, by making the shadows of the title move therefore the audience is intrigue from the beginning of the sequence.

What's interesting in this title sequence is that there is no shots unfolding the storyline of this particular film, but instead what they do is that when they show the names of the actors is that they tell the audience who is who, for example Robert De Niro is Al Capone and this lets the audience understand what this film will be about as Al Capone is a very famous American gangster.

The font that they are using is very easy to read and also the contrast with the colour of the text and the background makes it, again, easier for the audience to read.

Considering the fact that this film was made in 1987, not many effects could of been used in order to present the title of this film but they zoom out the whole title sequence to show the title to the audience.

The reason why they decided to zoom out the whole title sequence is to show that something big is going to happen and what's big is The Untouchables and it gives this sense of suspense to audience which is what this targeted audience is looking for in a thriller. To reinforce the idea of the importance of this title is that when the title appears, there is a long pause for more text to appear so that the viewer's attention is on the title of the film, but then the text is placed underneath the title and in post-production they carry on this zooming out effect to show that something big is about to happen giving this nerve-racking feeling to the audience.

when the text disappears there's a sudden fade to black which gives the viewer a sense of wander where and where the story is going to start.

And then we have a straight cut to the first shot of the whole film which is very confusing for the audience as most thrillers would start with a chase scene for example but there it is just some man getting a shave.



The soundtrack during this title sequence is very stressful which again with the title adds to this nerve-racking feeling and it makes this title sequence effective as it makes the audience believe that something big is about to happen.

But when it cuts to the first shot, it kills the climax that was built when the text was showing as it makes the audience believe that the opening scene would be full of action and therefore it makes the audience interested in watching the rest of the movie as this film seems to be full of surprises.