Thriller openings we have seen:

We've started watching thriller openings carefully to look for different conventions and to hopefully find some techniques that work well that we can incorporate into our own opening.
We've watched student work from previous years and different schools. In addition to this, we have been watching (in class and in our own time), real thriller opening sequences in attempt to trigger ideas for our sequence.
We watched The Butterfly Effect and noted how the opening didn't include any titles other than the film title. The opening sequence was a fast paced scene whereby the audience doesn't understand what is going on. It consists of one actor, dull lighting, diegetic sounds (shouting-in the background), carefully chosen costume, and very fitting music. In conjunction, the aforementioned techniques build suspense and intriege. Maybe we will use these techniques in our sequence! -Lauren
We liked Casino Royal because the titles are visually very detailed and just amazing in general!
All of the titles are linked to the casino theme. It shows animated 'clubs' and 'spades' from a deck of cards and includes real images of the actor playing James Bond. This immediently shows the audience who the central character is.
We evaluated the different aspects and images in the animation and interpreted their significance. For example, the 'vines' represent James Bond's growth in status and position. There is an image of The Queen Of Hearts, and at onepoint her face is shown to be the face of James Bond's love interest. Gun shots are shown repeatedly and in place of bullets, the animated guns shoot red and black 'spades'. The red and black are representative of blood and death, and are a good indication of the genre of film and the occupation of James Bond and what his job entails.
There is a close up of an individual card, seven of hearts, and Bond makes two bullet holes in front of the 'seven' so that it says '007'. -Erin & Lauren