Opening Sequence

Shutter Island

The scene starts with the ship coming out of the fog heading towards Shutter Island, this creates an enigmatic atmosphere around the Island with out actually showing any of the island. Once on the island clues are left for the audience to take notice, some are very subtle for only the keenest fanatic will notice, where as others are shown to the audience either by the use of the camera directing the audience with close ups of objects/settings or by Teddy mentioning things, such as the barbed wire on the wall of the building.

In the opening sequence we are introduce to the main character Teddy Daniels on board the ship, the important feature about the ship is that it's a prison ship, and Teddy is willingly staying in the prison courtiers. The audience will be questioning why he is in this section of the ship. We see that the suit Teddy is wearing is slightly scruffy and ruffled, suggesting that he is not use to what he is wearing or is uncomfortable in the environment he is in.The lighting on Teddy's face has a chiaroscuro effect suggesting that the character has a split personality, or a hidden maybe darker side to his personality.
The establishing shots of the boat through the fog creates an enigma to the narrative and who is on the boat. This is continued with the close up shots of Teddy talking to himself in the mirror. 
Editing of the opening scene is relatively slow paced, as the film is just establishing the narrative and locations.

Reservoir Dogs

The opening scene of Reservoir Dogs is unconventional in comparison to what is expected of thriller films. The Film starts with A group of men in an American dinner, just finishing and about to leave. The costume of the men ranges from suits to casual wear, this suggests a variety of personalities with in the group, but nothing overly enigmatic or tension building. 
The as the men are walking down the street ,the fairly upbeat song Little Green Bag by George Baker begins to play and the credits begin. This music is again not connvetional for music used within a thriller, as it does not build tension and make the atmosphere eerie instead it makes the group seem cool and friendly to the audience. 
The the screen goes to black as the rest of the credits shown over the song. Yet as the credits are finishing, we hear in the background a person in pain screaming out. You can just about make out "I'm going to die". Suddenly the film has taken a dramatic turn, and created a confusing narrative. This will keep the audience interested as they will want to find out what happened to the man. 

Psycho 
The opening of this film relies heavily on the use of music of the opening credits which instantly creates tension with its high notes. The lines that go across the screen symbolises  prison bars and highlight at this early stage of the film the sense of entrapment, warning the audience someone will be in danger. 
When the film starts the camera goes through the window of the building and connotes the the idea of voyeurism  the audience feel as if they are looking in on someone, this can suggest that the people in the room may be doing something they shouldn't, as it feels as though the audience is spying in on them. 
As we are introduced to the character no real information about them is told to the audience and it make the characters more mysterious. The audience will be wondering who these people are and why they are there. Building tension around the couple. 

From analysing these films I have notices four key conventions of thriller openings.

Titles -
The opening titles are very important to set the tone of the film.

Storyline -
This is important with an film opening, however with thrillers the directior has to capture the attention of the audience with action and suspense, with out giving to much of the narrative away.So they still build tension.

Camera angles/shots -
How the camera is used is important in the opening of a thriller as it can tell the audience a lot about a location or character quickly. And when used effectively can build tension.

Music/Sound-
What music or sound scape is played at the start of the thriller can tell the audience a lot about the mood and tone of the film and can also build tension, like in Psycho. Or the film can challenge building tension and tell the audience that its going to be different, like in Reservoir Dogs.