Back to the drawing board

In order to remake the storyboard for my opening and get a decent idea of what to inclde in the plot to my fake movie, I decided to traverse back to TV Tropes.com to look at their definition of a thiller:

• A thriller is a genre in visual media and literature which focuses on action, fast pacing, tension, and suspense. 
• The conflicts are usually between desperate heroes and powerful antagonists who outmatch them by a large margin. 
• Frequent location changes, time shortage, and Cliffhangers are extremely common. 
• They are more defined by their plot and devices than by their content. 
• The genre an cross into many others such as sci fi and action

There was no sign of suspense or tension in my initial film opening idea, only aspects of gore. There was no attempt at suspense, and it was anything but fast paced.

Suspense and tension needs to be built up, be it for a horror, action or thriller project.

As seen in the Dark Knight opening, there were frequent location changes and lots of different cuts to keep the action movie. The music - much like in Psycho's shower scene - was a useful tool for building up suspense. Loud gun shots and smashing glass also added to the atmosphere and kept the viewers on their seats.

What I do not want to include in my film opening is dialogue (so as to pay homage to Kubrick's minimalist approach to film making, and also because sound gathered from the camera microphone is low quality). Also, I would prefer to use as few actors as possible - and have it all filmed at night or in an inside environment where I can better control the lighting.

FOR SUSPENSE:
I (unfortunately) had a look at Mulholland Drive and the notorious diner scene. I say unfortunately because no matter how much I watch this clip, it skills scares the hell out of me - yet I know what's coming. The jump scare at the end gets to me everytime due to the fact that it comes so unexpected despite the man in the diner foreshadowing the 'monster' at the beginning. There is no music - it's just him speaking, although eery sound effects (wind?) begin to start when he regales his dreams to his partner. There are arrows telling him not to go towards the corner outside, yet he's drawn to it inexplicably. The POV shot also puts us into the man's shoes, as if we cannot escape. I will definitely use this shot in my project. Also, experiment with foley sound to get the static noise heard when the 'monster' appears.

So. Revised checklist:

• Parallel editing (more than one story happening at once)
• Quick cuts
• Suspense
• Minimal dialog
• Indoor filming
• Night
• Colourful lights (neon-ish)
• Decent sound effects (explore foley)
• Techno music (adds to 80's aesthetic e.g. Hotline Miami/Drive)

Possible Plots:

• Kidnapping (either hostage or kidnapper, silent, feeding them?)
• Heist (breaking into house?, someone opening a safe/door?)
• Cat & Mouse (ends in gunshot + 'two hours later')
• Face illuminated by static, slow zoom, switches and scene changes to looking in mirror, lights flickering, tense sound increase, then phone rings, POV moving around location to room with phone, dead line, puts down phone, behind shot, someone puts rope around protagonit's neck, screen cuts off
• Someone breaking prisoner out of somewhere, different cuts of someone being interviewed, and someone cutting the power, faceless)
• Sipping coffee in public place, then everyone looks at protagonist, tense sound, looks around then someone sitting opposite, coffee turns to syrup/blood, man lunges with knife, protagonist wakes up (david lynch-ish)
• Compilation opening: Se7en-esque
• Someone getting ready, then walking (similar to place beyond the pines; continual shot)
• Someone doing drugs, dancing in mirror, parallel editing of disturbing images. Blood. Headlights. Flickering light. This imagery builds into crescendo as focus suffers from an overdose, banging on door telling them to keep it down