Analysing Thriller Openings: "The Butterfly Effect"

The movie "The Butterfly Effect" begins with staggered, loud music that already makes the audience feel on-edge and scared. It then echoes, which seems to further reiterate this feeling. As the echoes fade away, there is a heavy, blocked sound that creates suspense and the idea of unknowing; as we have no idea what the sound is. While this is happening, text fades onto the screen in the centre. The text is in small, white letters. While the font does not seem to be intimidating, dark or frightening, it is in the audience's focal point and stays that way for a long time. This can be considered uncomfortable as it dominates the screen and it is impossible to avoid it without looking away completely. Furthermore, the way the text appears at the same time as the music makes it all the more suspenseful: it implies that what the text says is frightening, unnatural or strange.

The screen then fades away and into a shot of a glass window. The way the glass is designed makes everything behind it look misshaped and monster-like. Since the audience are already unsure of what they're looking at, this adds to the mysteriousness and curiosity of the movie. The "figure" behind the glass then begins to move, and the camera tracks them through the glass, still, as they walk along. The music builds up as the figure gets closer, which gives the audience the idea that the figure could be evil or dangerous. The figure reaches a door and both the picture and the sound slows down significantly; this could give the audience the implication of how they would feel being in that situation, since many say when events happen time seems to slow down. The door then crashes open and the music does the same, which brings the audience back into reality and makes them jump. However, they are then able to see that the "monstrous" figure that was seen through the glass was just a person, which may cause them to relax a little. The man runs around the room, and a close-up shot is used on his hands to show him slamming closed the door. The music speeds up as the man runs, which allows the audience to feel more immersed in the fast pace that the story is currently seeming. There are voices heard in the background as the central character writes a note saying that he will most likely be dying, and that means that "the plan worked". This is suspenseful to the audience as it makes them question why and what the plan was. The shouts in the background make the general sound of the movie more frightening and unsettling as they assume that the central character is being chased or hunted. The man then writes the words "save her", which the camera films him writing and then zooms into. This creates a sense of unknowing and mystery as the audience want to find out who "her" is. The way the camera zooms into the words makes them seem more vital and necessary; almost as if the producers are making sure that the audience have read it and have it in their minds.

The central character wears blue pajamas, and his scruffy, unshaven, long-haired appearance gives the audience the idea that he is maybe in a hospital or isn't very well. It could also suggest why there are people shouting for him if he has run away. This adds to the thrilling opening as the audience could question if this is actually happening or if the character is just hallucinating or has gone mad.

The title sequence begins with what look like butterflies flying around a dark screen. The way they then morph into an X-ray scan of the human brain suggests to the audience that the film may be psychological. The name of the film comes up in small capitals inside the scan, which could imply that the so called "butterfly effect" is just a state of mind or something that causes you to think. It doesn't particularly stand out on the screen, but it is quite bold, which is somewhat more unsettling as it causes the audience to watch carefully and could imply that the butterfly effect is not so easy to see.