Thriller title sequence

SPLIT

The movie 'split' directed by M Shya Malan released in 2016 is categorized as a thriller and I agree to a large extent it is. The beginning of the narrative starts out as any relaxed discussion between a dad, daughter and friends. They go into the car and are waiting for the dad character to join them. This ends up not happening and the scene goes from a relaxed walk to the car to the girls being trapped with an unfamiliar man played by James McAvoywho then uses a spray to make them unconscious. This is hugely gripping and massively captures the audiences attention. As an audience we are then gripped in to finding out what happened to these girls who we got used to within the first 3 minutes. We are left with this cliffhanger and multiple questions to who this man is, why he is here and what he is doing. The man that has entered the car had zero dialogue between him and girls. This portrays a level of dominance and power that he has, as with non verbal communication this man knows what he's doing. Out of the 3 girls which are introduced to the audience 2 of them take a lot longer to realize what is happening while the other girl noticed immediately. It connotes to the audience that 1 of the girls is socially aware and could be described as 'smarter' than the others.

The opening scene takes place in 3 locations. Inside a cafe/party event, the car park and inside the car. The first 2 locations is relaxed and calm and do not follow the key conventions of a thriller. While in the car we notice a change in atmosphere and as an audience gain a realization that someone has entered that is unfamiliar to the girls. The opening scene as mentioned ends with the girls unconscious. A possible future narrative could be that the girls get taken and the story that lies with it. The girls get taken, and could be the story and us finding out more about this weird man. I felt that this scene was successful in portraying a thriller and followed an exciting narrative that communicated the key conventions of the thriller genre. 

For example the costumes are all used to symbolize the characteristics and age of each character. The daughter and friends are dressed in brighter colors. in specifics the 2 girls who can be described at 'ditzy' or 'socially unaware' are dressed in brighter colors such as blues, purses and pinks. This connotes a sense of immaturity which is then shown when the unusual man enters the car. While the young girl in the front who is socially aware and 'smarter' is dressed in darker colors, which can communicate her maturity as a character to the audience. When paired with the diegetic dialogue of the 2 girls in the back seat. Them laughing and looking at their phones reinforces the idea of their immaturity. The shot duration of the girl in the front seat is a lot longer than the girls in the bag, this is a mild indicator to the audience that she could be an important character (places an emphasis on her).

And lastly another way that they have successfully targeted their audience of the thriller genre is by their use of camera. For example when the 4 characters are heading back to the car, the use of tracking connotes a sense of following with the combination of a POV hand held camera movement, creates an emphasis about what is looking at them. Element of surprise and creepiness.