Review of one or more short films
The number 23 Title Sequence
Analysis
Essay question: Describe how The Number 23 title sequence is a typical example of the thriller genre.
The film ‘The Number 23’ is a strong example of a film within the thriller genre. This essay I will be answering the essay question: Describe how The Number 23 title sequence is a typical example of the thriller genre. This question is interesting as it requires you to supply an answer based on your overall knowledge of film and genre through things such as Mise-en-scene etc.
The Mise-en-scene throughout the title sequence successfully anchors to the audience the film’s genre is that of thriller. There is not a strong setting throughout the sequence as the sequence is entirely looking at a white page where conventions of the form are displayed such as: directors, producers special effects and actors. This space is also quite blank apart from the writing and design in the sequence, this is done to give the feel of emptiness, relating to the film's theme of mystery and possible implying a search for clues. The colour scheme used throughout the title sequence also strongly signifies the genre of thriller. Some other examples of thrillers which use the colour scheme to represent the genre are: Se7en, Batman The Dark Knight Rises and Shutter Island. The colours used throughout ‘The Number 23’ title sequence are: black, white and red. The colour white is used for background, chosen to give the sequence a feel of emptiness and undiscovery as well as to look like paper. Black is used for the writing to stand out from the background well making the writing bold and the red is used when the blood is shown in the sequence this stands out very well on the white background so is well chosen, however is also used to resemble: blood, gore and horror etc, confirming the thriller genre. The font used in the typography is well chosen. The font is also designed to look old and as if it has been written by a typewriter instead of my human hand, adding more mystery to the sequence. The use of the typewriter styled font adds suspense and suspicion making the audience ask things like: ‘who is the writer behind the typewriter?’ and ‘what kind of person will be featuring in this is behind this?’. The colouring of the typography used in the sequence is mainly black but in come cases red. These colours are chosen as they stand out well from the white background and also because they resemble conventions of thriller such as darkness and blood.
The cinematography used is typical of a thriller in many ways. The framing in the sequence is cleverly done as it leaves a lot of empty space. There is a variety of different transitions throughout the title sequence most of them being quick flash transitions from one location of the paper to another, or a scrolling transition which scrolls across the background paper design to another convention of the form such as director etc. The speed of the sequence is steady as the only thing shown will be writing, numbers or blood flowing. However the transitions are quick and in some cases unexpected to surprise the audience at times. The blood is used for things such as fading in and out text. Overall the blood is added to make the audience feel more insecure (the blood connotations death,murder etc) and to set the feel for the film the audience are going to be viewing.
The sound used throughout the title sequence is one of the major factors that makes the sequence so effective and is much part of the thriller genre. All of the sound used is non diegetic as there is no characters speaking or actions happening throughout the clip. The Music in the background is quiet and however successfully gives the sequence elements of sinister and unease. The sound effects are usually louder than the music throughout the sequence to stand out, and are usually used when more text is entering the screen. The juxtaposition of the sound effects and the music used throughout the sequence is very effective. The quiet background music and sharp eerie sound effects contrast well to give a great overall atmosphere and succeed in keeping the audience on the edge of their seats and eager to watch the film. The sound effects are also at different volumes throughout the sequence, some are a lot louder than the music making the audience jump and setting the genre well.
To conclude, the Number 23 title sequence is a typical example of a thriller genre. This is successfully portrayed through different factors such as: Mise-en-scense, Cinematography and editing and Sound. I think all of these factors equally contribute supply the overall thriller genre and to set the scene for the film the audience is about to witness.
James Edge
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