Evaluation of Thriller Opening Sequence

1. Evaluation of Thriller Opening Sequence Joanne Hooton Candidate 4415 Coopers Company and Coborn School Centre 12845

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Our thriller opening sequence ‘Captured’ was inspired by the thriller film ‘Se7en’. Here is the link to the opening sequence of ‘Se7en’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY A convention both the films share is fast editing with visual and sound. It uses many thriller conventions seen in typical thriller films. Our film used the thriller convention of a crime at the core of the narrative, the kidnap of the protagonist, played by Annabelle Miles, by the antagonist, played by Aaron Clapham. It also uses the convention of a complex narrative structure, as when Annabelle looks at the photos of herself, she has flashbacks of the memories she sees in the photos. We have developed this convention by using the still images she is looking at, and by changing the lighting and using audio footage to represent the memory. No enigmas are established as such, as this is the first few minutes of a thriller, and giving anything away to the viewer at this stage in the film wouldn’t make for a very thrilling narrative. However, some questions could be provoked in the viewers mind such as why are there faces scribbled out in the photos? Why is the protagonists face left in the pictures? What has the protagonist done to be kidnapped? How did she get blood on her face, and is it her own blood? Who is the man who has taken the protagonist? (as we don’t see his face). There are themes of identity in our Thriller opening, as the protagonists life and friends around her in the pictures have been scribbled out. Also, the idea of there being something ‘special’ about the protagonist to the antagonist, and why has he chosen to kidnap particularly her?

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Cont. Mirroring is used in our film when we see firstly the antagonist looking through the photos at the desk, and then the antagonist looking through them as he did, but with confusion and fear. Suspense is created in our own film by only using close-up shots of the antagonists hands and over the shoulder shots, avoiding his face to beg questions such as, ‘Who is this person? Why aren’t we shown his face? What is he doing and why?’ This is similar to the way shots are framed in ‘Se7en.’ The mise en scene of ‘Se7en’ has an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere that we wanted to produce in our own thriller sequence, we did this by copying the use of dim-lighting We challenge the typical thriller convention in our film of the protagonist screaming for help, as we felt it would give our film a more realistic atmosphere. It could also be an indication of the girls character herself, as often in thrillers the protagonist in the opening minutes isn’t the main character of the whole film. They are often an example of what the antagonist is capable of, and therefore not a very deep character, being killed off in the first few minutes. We decided to depict our female character as a sensible and intelligent person, not a screaming bimbo.

4. Conventions - Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound Diegetic – We used the diegetic sound recorded by the camera alongside the video, as they were clearly recorded and were evidently perfectly matched to the action on screen. We did however use sound from different clips in some cases in the film, as there were distracting noises from outside. Where we used different chunks of audio, we cross-faded them as to not get a clicking noise where they started, as this would be distracting to the audience. This helped to keep the continuity. Non-diegetic – We used various added sounds typical to a psychological thriller to create a suspenseful atmosphere. The first of our non-diegetic sounds is a sweeping sound as the titles come in. The sound is synchronized to the motion in which the text appears. We used a clicking sound, which I repeated very quickly, matching up to the letters of the titles disappearing one by one at a very fast pace. I panned both these sounds from extreme left to extreme right, to give an effect of surrounding the audience.

5. This is how I panned the sound using the movie editing software Audio Panning

6. Do the thriller conventions you have used indicate a sub-genre? The thriller conventions we have used suggest that our film is a psychological thriller, showing similarities to films such as ‘Se7en’ and ‘One Hour Photo’. Both these films show obsession with people through photographs, which is very similar to our own thriller. We analysed both these films so we could create a similar sub genre feel and successfully create a psychological thriller with the theme of a stalker using photos. Emphasis is on the characters just as much as the narrative in our thriller, another element of a psychological thriller. The protagonist is exposed to danger as a result of the antagonists disturbing behavior as a result of a mental obsession.

7. Sub genre - Psycho Thriller Analysis The snapshot on the left shows how the titles of ‘One Hour Photo’ are introduced, with a flash of light to represent a camera, linking this logo to the film itself. In our own thriller, Daniel used Adobe Aftereffects to introduce the titles with a lens flare, which gave the effect of immediately introducing the main theme of the psychological narrative. In the sub genre on psycho thriller, the running themes in the narrative are represented in all the elements of the film.

8. Sub genre - Psycho Thriller Analysis The snapshot on the left, again from ‘One Hour Photo’ shows a shot from the point of view of a waitress looking down at them, it is a revealing shot but not a point of view shot. As the shot shot on the left, a shot taken from our own thriller of the antagonists hands, is not a point of view shot as well, it creates a sense of voyeurism for the viewer, as they know they are looking in on a private activity.

9. How does your media product represent particular social groups? Our media thriller doesn’t have any particular social groups included, as there is no scenes of conversing or people together, it is very much a solitary protagonist and a solitary antagonist. The representation of the protagonist in the photos is of a girl about 17, having fun and smiling, a stereotypical image of what a girl her age could get up to. It represents our protagonist as a normal, social being, in contrast with our antagonist. It is hard to place our antagonist in a particular social group, as a gender, ethnicity, and age is not apparent. The clothes worn are quite scruffy, with a hood up and worn leather gloves. The clothing could represent a lower class of person, reinforcing the stereotype of the lower the class, the more capable the person is of malicious acts. However this stereotypical representation could be helpful in creating more mystery in what the person behind the clothing is really like.

10. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Media institutions which might distribute our film could be television and film adverts. People interested in films are likely to be drawn in by the advertisement of our product. In further detail, it could be advertised alongside similar products, so the people watching are more likely to be interested in our genre of film. If the film was to be continued and developed into a full length feature film, it could have been done by an independent film company. It might do this as this is our first ever film project, and it could be a start into getting us known in the film industry. If our media product remained a short film, it could be used as an example for future AS media studies classes, or used as an analytical source for representation within media. If this was done, it would be distributed by the use of the internet, mp4 files, DVDs or mobile phones. Still adverts such as billboards and on the underground could be used, as they could be seen by the thousands of people passing them every day, providing an efficient piece of advertising that people may then go and research themselves.

11. Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for our media product would firstly be those interested in psychological thrillers. This could be people of any age, gender or ethnicity. Considering this, the main body of this audience may lean towards the age range of about 15-25, as they could relate to the characters in the film, and during our primary research this age range of people preferred psychological thrillers. I carried out a small test and asked a handful of people from different ages and genders to watch our thriller. It was evident that the elderly generation didn’t fully understand it, the female from the age of 45-54 understood but admitted they may not be interested in seeing the rest. The male from the age range 45-54 said he would be interested in seeing more if we made the rest of the film. Both males and females from the age range 15-30 were interested in seeing more from the story, indicating this was our main target audience.

12. How did you attract/address your audience? In our opening sequence, we create an element of mystery in the form of point of view, over the shoulder and no shots revealing the face of the antagonist. This and the sense of voyeurism created as he looks at the photos creates questions such as, “Who is this person? Why are they hiding? What is his relation to the girl in the pictures? Does she even know him? Why is he scribbling out the other people’s faces? Has he killed them already?” It is these questions that keep an audience intrigued and watching. We addressed as someone looking in on the action, there is a sense of dramatic irony as they first watch the antagonist on their own and then the protagonist, but still the audience are left asking questions as there is passing of time between the two scenes.

13. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? For our filming, we decided to use two DV cameras, so we could capture the same piece of action from two different angles, sometimes with one on a tripod to capture mise en scene and to frame still moments in the narrative, and one hand held to follow the action. This technique was successful, as it help to keep the continuity. We also filmed the same piece of action twice to create even more different angles. The cameras weren’t of professional quality, but we experimented with the colour, grain, lightness and darkness and contrast. This all created the effects and atmosphere we aimed for, as from a very early stage in the constructing of this product, as I have mentioned in my blog posts, I have imagined a blue effect on the footage.

14. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? Cont. In this shot, we used an effect on serif to create the impression of dusk by increasing in the darkness. We did this as it feels like a less likely time of day to be found and rescued than mid afternoon. Above is an example of where we used an effect to increase the blue to give a colder atmosphere. We also used a grainy effect, suggested by a professional movie editor, to matchup with the quality of the first close up of the piano in the garage.

15. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Since the preliminary task, we have learnt to use more sophisticated editing techniques, such as the fast snapping of different footage to replicate the feeling of many pictures being taken very fast. Also, I think its safe to say our final product is a lot more exciting to watch than our preliminary task. We have come from a simple film to introduce ourselves to basic filming and editing techniques, such as shot reverse shot and zoom in, to more advanced camera angles and editing, and also incorporating a story into all of that. We have used inspiration form other similar media products, analysing them to give ourselves a full understanding. Here is a link to our preliminary task http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veXBC5CTDrw It includes annotation to show the basic editing and filming techniques.