Analysis of three thriller opening sequences - Flightplan

Flightplan:

The opening sequence to flight plan does as it is supposed to very concisely and effectively. The idea of flightplan's opening sequence is to confuse the audience (slightly) and to make them ask questions about the rest of the film, questions that are not answered, such as, 'Who is the woman waiting at Alexanderplatz?' or 'Who is the man in the casket?'. 

These questions are answered later in the opening sequence or later on in the film it's self. Flightplan creates these questions by using different narrative features and aspects of miss-en-scene. 

Narrative features shown in the opening sequence, like flashbacks, really help to give a sense of confusion, but also gives connotations of the protagonist's mental stability and state. They do this by appearing to be, visually, very similar, for example in the two shots below, the lighting, setting, costume, character and shot type and angle are all very similar, this makes it hard for the viewer to distinguish between which shot is real time, and which one is the flash back/forwards.

Shot no.01 (Flashback)

Shot no.02 (real time)

In the shots above, the protagonist's facial expression is used as a visual link between real time and the flashback. The use of this and flickers between scenes help to distinguish where the flashbacks are, but do not tell us which one is which until it becomes obvious at the end of the opening sequence. There are a few little clues which allow us to guess at which one is which, for example the soundtrack and slight lightened effect on the flashbacks remind us of hindsight and how hind sight can make things seem better.

Also, in the opening sequence, the use of integrated titles helps the sequence to flow into the main body of the text. This avoids separation from the opening sequence and so allows further questions to be kept in the viewer's minds and the events of the open sequence are still relevant in the rest of the film. The titles themselves help to create tones and moods of insecurity and isolation. Each of the titles are on their own, mostly in dark places or out of the action. This signifies isolation to the audience, the manner of which the titles flash and flicker further shows the protagonists mental imbalance and mental state of insecurity.

Lastly in flightplan, the protagonist is shown to be isolated to the audience by use of the locations. The train station 'Alexanderplatz' would be expected by the audience to be a busy, crowded place. This signifies to the audience that something is wrong and she has been cut off from the world and isolated. Also, no body is seen to get on and off the train, this again, connotes loneliness and isolation. This then leads to the vulnerability of the protagonist and her mental vulnerability.

Protagonist shown to be alone (empty seats,empty train)

Just one last feature of the opening sequence of flight plan would be the continuity of the flickers and sparks in the extract give a further mood of insecurity and imbalance, but also show the split between different parts of the narrative, such as, flash backs.