Thriller Analysis - Vengeance

Vengeance Opening Sequence Thriller:

The main thing the opening sequence "Vengeance" was about was that an assassin, who is portrayed as the antagonist in this opening sequence, intruded in the house of the person who we believe to be the protagonist. We also believe that the protagonist figured something out that she wasn’t supposed know about. This can be realised because when the antagonist enters the house without permission, holding a gun, and the protagonist jumps up and hides information as soon as she heard the door knob turn. We also assume that the antagonist is an assassin as he seems to be skilled in what he is doing and how calm he is when intruding in the house. The protagonist, however, also seemed to be prepared as she was able to knock the antagonist out in the end. 

The opening sequence builds tension in several ways, such as strategically introducing the tension building music when the audience thinks something is about to happen. They also used a soundtrack that becomes more intense as the sequence goes on. Something else that builds tension within the opening sequence is that the protagonist is able to build tension with her quick actions and body-language, signalling to the audience that something is going on that wasn’t supposed to happen, such as the antagonist inviting himself in – the fact that the antagonist is inviting himself in is a tension builder in itself, as there is one clip where the door knob is being turned, showing that someone is trying to open a door that they usually shouldn't be able to open. 

Tension is created within the first 23 seconds of the opening sequence when the actress seems to have a realisation of something she was not supposed to know - around the 18 second mark is also when the tension building soundtrack begins. This completely engulfs the audience in the thriller opening and leaves them with a bad feeling in their gut. The actress' facial expressions help the viewer to understand that there is something wrong and that there is more to come.

A large tension building factor within the 28th second of the opening sequence is when the door knob is being rattled, and the antagonist enters the building. This especially builds tension when a gun is being pulled out of his pocket at the 30th second; this lets the audience know that something isn't right about the person entering the house - it especially lets the audience know that the visitor is uninvited when the protagonist (the woman) turns around in shock of hearing the door open and close at the 35th second of the video. Knowing that there is an intruder in the house, and that he has been heard, leaves the audience feeling unsettled and anxious for the protagonist.

When the antagonist begins to quietly and slowly make his way up the stairs around 1:13, the audience is put on edge as they can see that the antagonist is no rush to make his move on the protagonist. In the meantime, the audience also has a very little idea of what the protagonist is going to do to prevent whatever is about to happen.

When the protagonist runs and hides at 1:23-1:24, the audience is put a little at ease as it looks like she was able to escape the antagonist; however when the protagonist escapes down the stairs, the antagonist notices and followers her down, which puts the audience on edge yet again. 

In the last few seconds of the opening sequence, starting around 1:41, the tension is about to reach it's climax as the antagonist seems to almost shoot the protagonist. The climax is reached when the protagonist fights back against the antagonist and it is completed when she throws a bottle at his head, knocking her opponent out in the process. The soundtrack reached it's maximum point as well, making the tension unbearable for the audience in the very end.

As in most opening sequences, one or more main characters are introduced. In this opening sequence, the protagonist and the antagonist are introduced. The woman shown in the video is believed to be the protagonist, whereas the male in the video is believed to be the antagonist. The woman is believed to be the protagonist as her character is very lively, which is reflected in her body-language and her facial expressions. Next to this, the woman in the video has elements of white in her costume (her shoes), the colour which stereotypically represents the good character. In comparison to the male, the woman had much lighter actions and wasn't as stern – the male, who is believed to be the antagonist, had a harsh expression on his face throughout the entire opening sequence, and his actions were very stiff and seemed to have a heavy weight. Next to this, the male's costume was completely black, and he was holding a gun – usually this makes the audience believe that the male is definitely the antagonist.

The woman is spotted wearing a white pair of heels around the 47th second. Next to her acting, her costume helps the audience understand who the protagonist and who the antagonist in the opening sequence is. The denotation of her white pair of heels is that she made the choice to wear a white pair of heels on said day, however the connotation of that most likely is that she is a good character, or possibly even the hero, as the colour white stereotypically represents the good side; amongst other things such as faith, or innocence.

The male, who has already invited himself into the house, giving the audience a bad feeling about him, is dressed in a peculiar way, as properly seen at 1:03. The character is dressed completely in black, which is either usually the colour for mourning, death, or evil. Most antagonists wear black, and as this character is dressed completely in black, it gives the audience the connotation that he is the antagonist in the thriller.

 
The protagonist in this video is able to be identified by her actions/body language. In comparison to the antagonist, the protagonist has wider range of facial expressions and her body language seems to have a lighter weight than the body language of the antagonist does.


The antagonist in this video seems to be very stiff, his facial expression almost never changing from the straight face he keeps throughout the entire video. In comparison to the protagonist, the antagonist doesn't seem to have any type of feelings, and is therefore easily able to kill the protagonist.

After the opening sequence, I believe the thriller wouldn't continue at where the opening sequence ended. I think that the thriller would go back to beginning, even before an investigation of someone started (as seen in the video at the very beginning, the protagonist seems to have investigated something, and found out something she wasn't actually supposed to know - hence the assassin/antagonist intruding into her home). Judging from the pictures that were used in the opening sequence, an investigation of a person who seems to be incognito. Perhaps it was a theif, or part of the mafia; whoever it was, he was trying not to be found out, and seemed to fail. I suppose that sometime towards the end, the scene that was shown in the opening sequence will be portrayed again, and then will lead to fighting between the people who sent the assassin/antagonist, and the heroes/investigators/protagonists. In the end, the protagonists win and figure out the rest of what they were supposed to investigate.