Black Swan:
Black Swan is a Drama/Thriller film revolving around a dancer. The opening credits displayed above tries to 'mislead' you into thinking it's a different type of film at first, and later revealing its true, more disturbing nature. The sequence begins with fairly calm and serene classical music, paired with images of a dancer dancing (as expected), with white being a prevalent colour featured. The music later gets significantly more dramatic, and the sequence begins to take a more disturbing turn. There is black/dark paint (or blood?) splashing on various white cloths, reversed footage, creepy imagery and torn materials. The dancing contrasts greatly with what is being seen, as the calm peaceful dancing doesn't mesh well with the frightening and creepy imagery as occurring. The sequence turns from calm to sinister very fast. The dancer spends a majority of the time out of focus, behind curtains and cloths, or just not present at all, while the splashing paint/blood gets a majority of the screentime. The purpose of this is to carry the titles, as well as set up questions for the audience. Another thing of note is the order in which the credits appear. The names of the lead actors (Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis) appear before the title of the film. This is probably because a lot of people would most likely go to see the movie based on the actors in it more than the movie itself, and that the actors sort ofact as 'advertisements' for the film in a way, so these actors are displayed first in the credits.
The Stepfather
The Stepfather is a horror thriller film, that is a remake of the 1987 film of the same title. Unlike Black Swan, this film doesn't try to 'disguise' its genre during the opening. It makes itself very clear that this film will be a horror from the opening alone. To begin with, the Screen Gems Ident from the start of the film is coloured blood red, already giving the audience horror/creepy vibes. The opening has ambient music, which also gives the film a horror feel to it. When the titular stepfather lays his shaving tools down, they are all properly, and perfectly aligned, making us think he has OCD of some kind, or that he cares a lot about how his 'tools' are displayed and used, giving vibes (sick of that word yet?) of a serial killer. The tools he uses are quite 'primitive' compared to a standard razor used today. This could imply that he uses similar tools regularly, maybe for different purposes (like murder). When shaving, he cuts himself, probably hinting at the future bloodshed that will take place in the film. After he finishes, has a drink and leaves, while his dead family are strewn all across the living room and kitchen. He acts as if nothing even happened and he was having a regular day. This indicates that he is the killer and isn't particularly disturbed by his actions, letting us know he has probably done this before. 'Silent Night' also plays during this part, providing musical dissonance (A cheery Christmas song doesn't fit too well with murder) as well as being oddly fitting, as the choir singing it does it quite slow and quietly, making it sound more creepy, and 'Silent Night' fits due to his family now being dead and silent.
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