Preliminary Task - Miss Miller

In this task, we had to get into our groups and produce a short clip of two people having a conversation. Due to one of my members not being in this task (Ella), we had another member of our class from a different group (Jess) to help with the creation of this small clip. The conversation consisted between me and Jess and Rishika was the person recording it. The purpose of the preliminary task was to get used to the equipment that we will be using when making our own thriller opening sequence. Also to try out a variety of different camera shots and start learning how to create the different shots. The shots that we made in the clip were : panning, close up, shot reverse shot and a long shot. Firstly we took different clips on the camera and once I had all the clips I needed, I edited and put the sequence together on the software, Final Cut Pro. During the editing , what I did was trim the parts of the clips that i didn't want and then put them along side another clip so it could flow. To make sure that the video flowed I repeatedly watched over the sequence to make sure it made sense, after I got my teacher to watch it through as well and give it an approval. 

The equipment we had was a tripod and a camera. The tripod was very helpful when creating this clip as it made the camera more steady so we didn't have any jerky videos which would have been awful to watch. The tripods were quite easy to work with as they have three legs and the screws were easy to learn so adjusting the tripod to our perfect height was not a problem at all. 

Long shot

Jess walking towards music room

A long shot is when the camera shows the entire human body, from head to toe. Whilst focusing on the characters, there is plenty of background detail that still emerges. In my short clip, Rishika recorded a long shot when Jess whilst she was walking towards the piano room. In order to perform this shot, she fixed the camera on the tripod and made it stand still so that she can capture the long shot to show Jess's full body. As this was an easy shot to shoot, Rishika had no difficulties with creating this shot, the only reason why we did it quite a few times was because Jess couldn't hear or see when we were indicating when she could walk in.This showed the audience the background she was in: we can tell she's in the music block as you can see posters of instruments and pegs that convey she's in a school environment. When creating my own thriller opening scene, I will use a long shot to show the audience the setting that character is in which is a forest and to also give them a more of an understanding of why the character is in that place. 

Over shoulder shot

Jess telling me how to improve

Me playing on the piano

A over shoulder shot is when the camera is placed over the shoulder of the character to establish the position of each person, and get a feel of looking at one person  from the others point of view. Commonly between these shots there is a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers. Rishika placed the camera on the tripod and adjusted it to become More higher so it could reach mine and Jess's shoulder height. Even though we were in a restricted room, she found it quite easy to quickly adjust the cameras height and even place it over our shoulders to achieve this shot. We used this shot when me and Jess were talking about how my piano lessons were going and how she can help me improve on a piece i was playing. This shot helped show the audience what was going and give them a more understanding on both of our positions (Jess the teacher, I was the student). When creating my opening thriller, I will consider to use this technique as it will allow the audience to put themselves in the characters position and make them feel the same way as they do. Also it will allow to clearly show the conversation between the characters and help understanding how they're feeling through their facial expressions.

Close up

Jess playing the piano

In a close up, a certain feature or part of a subject takes up most of the frame. To achieve this shot Rishika placed the camera on the tripod and pressed the zoom in button so that the camera could zoom in closer to the action happening in front of it. As we were in a restricted room, it took some time for her to perfectly record this short close up, as she had to place the tripod in between me and Jess slightly to make sure it looked like I was being taught by Jess to play the piano. In my clip the close up we used was when Jess was playing the piano, this helped emphasise the purpose of why both characters were there and gave the piano a significant purpose in the shot. As the piano was being only shown, this made the audience draw more attention to it making them understand the purpose of the instrument in this clip. When creating my own thriller I will most definitely use a close up on the characters faces to emphasise their emotional state, this is because a close up exaggerates facial expression and conveys emotions. This will make the viewer drawn into the subject's personal space and share their feelings, creating a relationship with the character or subject shown.

Panning

Me walking

Walking outside the door

 A panning shot is where the camera movement moves horizontally left and right about a central axis e.g follows a moving object. This is usually mounted in a fixed location on a tripod or shoulder, rather than a dolly-like movement in which the whole entire system moves. When making this shot, we placed the tripod in a fixed position in the middle and focused it to the frame, then used the handle to help move the camera side to side to create the panning effect. What Rishika did well with this task, was make the clip run smoothly without the camera moving slightly upwards or rapidly. To achieve this, obviously she had a few problems and we did have to shoot this a few times because of the camera not being on the tripod properly or students interrupting whilst filming by accident. As we are making a thriller and ours is not in a school building, obviously when we are shooting properly for our scene, there will be more space and the setting will be isolated so hopefully we wouldn't have difficulties performing this shot like we did on this task. But at the end we did make a successful panning shot for our preliminary task. I used panning when I was walking out of the music room to go outside, this helped to show the environment I was in and it made the audience draw attention of what I was doing because the camera was also following me the whole way. When I make my opening thriller, I will consider using panning shots to show where my characters are moving to and how their body language looks giving the audience a more of an understanding of what is going on in the scene e.g when the protagonist is running away from the antagonist in the woods.





What we did well was that when filming we communicated very well and made sure that everyone in the scene was in the right place for the camera to get the shots. Also, our clip was not blurry at all but what I have learnt is whenever the camera is blurry you should put a sheet of paper in front of it which helps the camera focus more. Watching my footage back definitely helped me highlight the key problems and successes in my clip, as it allowed me to see what mistakes I had made that I was not aware of when filming.
I believe our clip flowed quite easily except from the bit of trouble where there was dialogue said by accident but we couldn't of edited it off because it would have made the shot go from a jump cut to another clip and we didn't want to have that. What I have learnt from this mistake is to make sure that the dialogue said is clear and said at the appropriate time so we wouldn't have the same problem as our preliminary task. Also as the room we were in was kind of restricted and we had a very small amount of space I think we couldn't have recorded our clip to our best ability. What we could improve on next time or when making our opening thriller, is to make sure there is enough space for the camera person to shoot the scene at its best potential. 

To conclude, this task helped me improve my ability on using the camera and creating different shots on a tripod and also start getting familiar with editing using Final Cut Pro. Furthermore, it helped me develop more ideas on what to use in my opening thriller, so that the audience can connect and relate to the characters in the shot. I have learnt that certain shots such as close ups and over shoulder shots help convey the characters emotions through their facial expressions. When I create my opening thriller I will refer back to this post as it was a practise of how to shoot an actual clip, and it will help me gain more understanding on what to use in my opening to make it a successful and engaging thriller sequence.

Research into Target Audience - Miss Miller

Researching into target audience, is where you ask the members of public what they would like or expect in something. In my case i asked 40 people using a questionnaire about what they would expect in a thriller and why, the results will help me gather ideas and inspirations on what my target audience would like and want to include in my own thriller opening sequence. In this post ill be evaluating all my results from my questionnaire and vox pops; interviews with members of the public  , then I'll consider which answers ill include in my thriller opening. 

Firstly, I asked my study group what gender they are, my results for this was that there were more boys than girls. This piece of information, informs me that boys are most likely to watch thrillers than girls. My results could be no accurate nor reliable as both kinds of genders may have a different perspectives of what they would expect in a thriller.

I then asked my study group what age they were, as thriller age certificates a either a 15 or an 18 depending on the content, i wanted to find out what age would be more suitable for my thriller. In this post i found out that the majority of people were 15-17 yrs old, this was helpful as this age group are more likely to watch thrillers than 12-14 yr old.

I asked my study group what type of thrillers they usually watch so i can get a clear idea on which sub-genre to use in my own thriller opening. In my results, 50% said that their favourite type of genre is a Horror/thriller film. This suggests that people like to be afraid when watching a film as horror/thrillers usually include chase scenes, gore and killing. In my narrative I've considered the feedback from my group and decided to follow the horror/thriller aspects to create suspense,surprise and shock within the audience e.g Antagonist killing a girl. 

After I asked what type of weapon they would expect in a thriller, and the majority of my study group said a knife. This was slightly expected as knifes are conventional to a thriller as it shows that the antagonist is in control and has every intentions and power to kill. I believe that the reason why only 5% said an Axe because the access to axe's are minimal as you would expect someone who lives in the country to have an axe as there is loads of trees there. In addition, I decided not to use a weapon in my narrative because i want the audience to think how the antagonist killed her, leaving them suspicious on who the killer is. 

Setting is very crucial in thriller films, as its what helps set the mood/atmosphere in the audience. In thrillers, the setting is usually in a isolated place so that the protagonist finds it hard to call for help. I asked what setting people would expect in a thriller, the results i came up with were that 30% said Road/street, Forest or House was the setting they would expect. Only a small percent said a warehouse, I believe this is because warehouses are quite big places but a lot of people work there so it would be conventional to a thriller as thrillers have isolated places. However, I think i would use either the three dominate answers in my own thriller as they are all places where there is less people around, so it'll be conventional to a thriller. 

This question was quite important as I asked my study group what their typical antagonist(killer) would be. Antagonist is the villain of the film, and in the results I collected most people (40%) said that the killer would have a unknown identity; someone that the characters and audience don't know. In second place with 25% people said that a relative was the typical killer in a thriller, I think if the killer was related to the protagonist it would create more effect as the person knows them making the audience question why the antagonist would kill them. In my own thriller opening I decided that the killer should have an unknown identity as this would create enigma in the audience making them want to carry on watching to find out who they are. 

In this question i asked who was their typical victim and why, the majority (63%) said that females were the typical victims. This is because females are seen as vulnerable,weak characters in films and also stuck up making them an easy target to kill as the antagonist may hate them. I think that the reason why a child to a victim was less picked because if there was something to happen to a child it could be quite disturbing and sad to watch as the victim is young. In my thriller opening I've decided to use a female as the protagonist because it is conventional to a thriller and the audience would emphasise more to women than men because they're less strong. 

Lighting is important in thriller films as it connotes what the mood/atmosphere is in the scene. I asked my study group what type of lighting they would expect in a thriller, 73% said Low-key lighting which was expected to be the highest as low-key lighting creates dark shadows, and makes enigma in the audience. If a thriller was to be in a high-key lighting, it wouldn't be as shocking because you would see who's in the scene easily and what they're about to do. Whereas in dark lighting, it creates suspense and tension because you cannot see clearly whats going to happen. I will use low-key lighting in my thriller as it will make the scene look more mysterious and scary creating suspense,shock and surprise which is conventional to a thriller. 

A huge amount of people said that they would like the actors to be around the same age as them. The reason why most people said yes was because they felt that they could relate to the characters and build a relationship with them making them pay more attention on the film. Furthermore, if the actors were similar age than the audience it would be make the audience put themselves in their shoes making them react to the actions they do. I will make sure my characters a roughly the same age as my age certificate which is a 15 so that the audience can relate to them and engage more with the film. 

Without any sounds in a thriller it wouldn't be as effective. Sound is often used to provoke the shock elements of thrillers, so this is why sound is very important. When i asked what types of sounds my study group would here i got a range of different answers. To be honest i think the sounds that are included depends on what type of thriller you are making e.g sounds of footsteps could be in either crime or horror thrillers as they include the most chase scenes. The results i collected were not far apart from each other but in the lead with 19% was noises of people ' screaming ', i believe that is is conventional to a thriller as the protagonist usually do scream to call out for help. However in second place with the highest was silence with a percentage of 17% , I believe silence creates a huge impact for the audience as it makes them nervous as they would expect to hear or see something happen but they don't. When creating my own thriller, I will definitely consider using these top 2 answers because they both have a huge impact on the audience and make the thriller more interesting and understandable to carry on watching. 

After the questionnaires I filmed three Vox Pops as proof for my questionnaire results. Vox Pox is simply the act of filming an interview with members of the public through a media device. I think this was helpful as it gave me an insight of what people were really thinking when answering my questions face to face, also because this was a source of primary data the participants could elaborate more on their answers making my research more valid and reliable to refer to.Furthermore, the Vox Pops I created allowed me to gain more of an insight of what I would like to include in my opening sequence, as the answers were similar e.g low-key lighting was said by all three participants, so I'm going to make sure I have low-key lighting to create a dark eerie atmosphere. Also all three participants in my Vox Pops were aged 15-17 which made me decide what age certificate to use, which is a 15 as the majority who were aged this were likely to watch thriller films. In my questionnaire i had a range of open questions (where the participant can elaborate more) and closed questions (Set answers usually yes or no, or they're are options to choose from).

In summary, I believe that this post helped me with collecting ideas on what to include in my thriller as i asked the members of public their opinions on what they would expect in a thriller and what they would enjoy. This post was very useful as it helped me create my own individual narrative as it gave me guidelines on what elements I should include to make my thriller opening conventional and successful. Moreover, it gave me a clear insight on what the public like and also gave me an idea on what age certificate i should make my thriller as some things may be unsuitable for the audience. With this analysis I have evaluated all the research I have made and have chosen my target audience to be teenagers upwards(15+), this is because I think children under the age of 15 would find some themes quite frightening and disturbing which would not be appropriate for them.Overall I am happy with the results I gathered with my questionnaires as the participants were honest and helpful helping me develop on my narrative. 

Inspirations - Miss Georgiou ( on going )

In this post I will be evaluating all my inspirations that I have gathered from my research into thrillers. You can take inspirations from anywhere that has to do with what you would like to make, in my case I'll be making a thriller opening scene. So my inspirations will come from watching thriller films, posters, music that help create suspense,surprise and tension as those are conventional to a thriller. To be able to create my own thriller opening sequence I will need to refer on all my research to give me ideas of conventions and techniques to motivate me on what to include in my own piece. 

In my first post I researched into the BBFC: British Board of Film Classification, which is an independent, non-governmental body which classifies films in the UK.This research has helped me learn about the different types of age classifications from the BBFC.This inspired me to have an age rating of 15 because my target audience will be allowed to watch it and the themes included in my film could be too graphic for any age that is younger than a 15, so that's why I decided to go with 15. Also I would like to create suspense for them to carry on watching the film. Unlike horrors in a 18 they often have disturbing themes and their opening sequences usually start extremely gory. However in my opening it'll start with a small amount of gore as the antagonist does kill someone but the audience wouldn't see this take place which creates suspense, tension and shock when the audience figure it out which is conventional to a thriller. 

In my second post I did a time line of the different thrillers from 1940s to the present day to see how thriller films have evolved. First of all i learnt what the thriller genre is;Thriller is a genre of literature,film and television programming that uses its main elements suspense, tension and excitement. This gave me a more understanding of the genre so i can include the elements of a thriller in my opening sequence. In this research it did not give me any inspirations but instead it gave me information on what I should include to make my film more modern and scarier as the technology nowadays has improved than the 1940s. But what has inspired me from this post is the evolution of thrillers and how sound and editing has a huge impact on a thriller, this has inspired me to use as many sound effects and editing that I believe will make my thriller conventional.

Mise-en-scene is the french term of everything the audience sees within the frame, there are five elements setting & iconography ,costume (hair and makeup), colour & lighting and body language & facial expressions.
In this post i analysed the elements of mise-en-scene of the opening scene of The Woman In Black which is a film about A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. I've learnt that all the five elements of mise-en-scene are essential to a thriller, as it helps convey the story,help set the mood,environment and create relationships with the characters.  It also makes the audience have more understanding and interest for the film so they will continue to watch. Mise-en-scene clarifies every ones position in the film for example, the girls are the protagonists and the black figure is the antagonist in this film.

The woman in black covered with a veil 

With the woman in black the mise-en-scene used were quite simple, this will help me with my thriller as it inspired me to use less as it builds up more tension because the audience will expect more. Firstly in this film film, the antagonist is a woman who wears black hence the title. Her costume is all black which conveys death, power, mystery this can also be associated with fear and the unknowing. The use of her costume is conventional to a thriller as the colour black exaggerates how dark she is creating enigma as she likes to be not seen, this makes the audience feel tensed. This inspired me to use the colour black as my antagonists costume will almost camouflage his surroundings creating suspense and tension in the audience. The antagonists hidden identity in the woman in black is that she is wearing a black veil this inspired me to also have a hidden identity in my thriller. In my thriller the iconography I'll use is a white mask as my antagonists hidden identity to convey that he doesn't want to be seen and that he feels more powerful. You will see the boy wear the mask when he is standing in the way of the girl who has fallen over in the forest whilst she screams. The use of having his identity hidden in this part has an impact as it makes the audience question why he didn't have the mask on earlier and also why he is hiding his face creating suspense and tension. Also the use of this will have an impact on his victims as him hiding his face is quite stranger which could provoke fear for the protagonists and the viewers. Therefore the audience will feel tensed and frightened when they see the antagonist who is masked as he cannot be trusted and that he is a dangerous character within the thriller sequence. 

Long shot from the purge 

In my cinematography post I researched the different types of camera angles and shots taken from the film The Purge (2013), to see how they help create certain moods and atmosphere within the film and audience. Cinematography is also the act of capturing photographs images in space through the use of a number of controllable elements. These include the quality of the film stock, the manipulation of the am era lens, framing, scale and movement. What inspired me from this research was to use a long shot, this was used when the group of people holding weapons were walking towards the Sandin's house. This inspired me to use a long shot in my thriller when the antagonist is standing in the way of the victim who is currently on the floor injured in the forest. This shows the different status between the two characters, the antagonist looks more powerful and dominate in the scene which makes the audience and victim feel threatened as she is in a vulnerable position building a closer relationship between them. Also in The purge, it had a close up of the Polite Leaders face on a eye level, this showed his facial

Extreme Close Up 

expressions and invaded the audiences personal space making him look quite threatening which provoked fear and tension within the audience. From this , it has inspired me to use an extreme close up instead of a close up because I will use this shot when the antagonist wakes up from his flashback. This will be occupied with a sound which emphasises and provokes the shock element within the audience and the protagonist. This technique draws the audiences attention and has a dramatic effect because of its artificial aspect which will also intimidate the viewers as the frame is taken up by the characters eye which makes them feel tensed.


My sound post was based on the film The Shining - Here's Johnny scene, this particular thriller film had a various amount of sounds that help show the shock,suspense and surprise elements to effect the audience. This clip inspired me to use a non-diegetic screechy sound within my thriller to show that the antagonist is not in the right state of mind and is unstable. The use of this sound will make the audience feel tensed as the sound will be unsettling like it was in the shining. This certain sound will appear when the antagonist is walking Also in the shining clip , it had the use of silence in the film, this was used when the antagonist was closer to his victim. This inspired me to include silence when the antagonist is walking closer to the girl in the forest, this is because it'll make the audience feel awkward and tensed for the victim as they do not know what to expect to happen to her. Moreover the use of the sound being silent in my opening thriller could represent that her life is over and that theres no escape, this creates a closer relationship with the girl as she is stuck in the situation and she has no way of getting out. The use of silence is conventional to a thriller because it makes the audience feel tensed and wonder whats going to happen next because sound in thrillers have a huge impact but so does silence. 

Reaction Shot 

After sound , I researched into editing with the scene ' Olivia's death ' from scream 4. As this scene was of the antagonist killing one of the three friends, the editing in this had a huge impact on the audience. What inspired me in this scene was to use a reaction shot, as this was used to see Kirby and Jill's reactions from the window to Olivia's death. I will use the reaction shot in my thriller when the friend of the victim who was killed by the antagonist, finds her friend dead in the middle of the road where the antagonist was once placed at. Having the friend placed in the same place where the antagonist was laying at the beginning of the thriller will create tension and suspense as the audience were used to seeing him there. It could also suggest that the reason why her friend is dead was because it was his doing, because she's laying there and his no where to be seen. When I use this reaction shot it'll allow the audience to see the facial expression that she has towards her friend dead, which will mirror the audiences as they will too be as shocked as her. The use of this also helps build a connection with the girl as the audience emphasise her because of what she's seen and they can relate to her as they're roughly the same age so they wouldn't want that to happen to them. Also the timing of shots included in scream 4 inspired me to include them as well in mine. Firstly, like Olivia's friend walking up the stairs the editing here was slow, this created suspense within the audience. I tend to use the same editing style within my thriller when the girl walks towards the antagonist body which is on the road. The use of the slow editing creates tension and curiosity in the audience as she is slowly walking towards his body. This makes the audience feel on edge as they do not know what is going to happen next also this will be shot in a point of view shot which will exaggerate the shock that will happen later and also puts the audience into her shoes. 


This post was very helpful because it gathered all the inspirations that I've had from all the research posts I've done previously. All the different types of posts and films that were included had roughly the same thing as they were following the Aristotle narrative theory where theres good and evil. Also the films that I looked into help give me a more understanding and idea of the different elements within a thriller film that'll make it conventional and provoke suspense, tension and shock within the audience. Therefore, when I look back on this post later on, I will remind myself the inspirations that I was inspired by to conclude my individual or group ideas with our thriller so that we know what to include that'll make our thriller sequence successful. 

Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

In this post i will be analysing the different types of narratives that all my group members have come up with to decide which one we will be going with, or what elements of our ideas we would combine together to create our own thriller opening. My group consists of 3 girls , Jemimah (me) , Rishika and Ella and together we are going to make a 2-3min thriller opening scene. 

Group member 1 - Rishika Sohal 

The possible titles for this opening scene are: Trapped, You're not alone and He's Here.

Rishika's narrative is about a girl who is at her house alone as her parents have gone out for the evening, however she is not alone. In their home there is a trapped soul within their walls that makes creaky noises and sounds of scratching against the walls. Many things happen such as flickery lights, objects banging and eerie sounds until she enters the kitchen where she gets her neck snapped by this supposed evil spirit in her house. 

There a quite a few advantages in Rishika's idea, firstly the use of sound is dominate in her piece as it creates suspense and shock for the audience which would be conventional to a thriller. Also her protagonist is a female which is commonly used in thrillers as girls in thrillers are seen to be as weak characters and the audience can sympathise with them more creating a closer relationship with them. More over her antagonist has a hidden identity as the audience does not see him/her at all in the scene but they know they are around through the sounds used and the protagonists dialogue. The setting of her piece is a at the protagonists home which is conventional to a thriller as the antagonist often kills their victims in a isolated house, making the audience relate and connect more with the protagonist. 

The disadvantages of her narrative is that some of the things that she wants to do may be too complicated and time consuming as she wants objects to move by themselves which is impossible as we don't have the advanced technology and equipment to create this. 

Group member 2 - Ella Hutchins


Ella's narrative is about a girl who is sleeping in her bed and begins to wake up as there is a figure standing over her watching her sleep. She questions the figures presence and asks if it is her mother but its a stranger. Once the girl notices that this is a stranger she tries to get away from them and ends up going through a forest. Unfortunately the stranger gets a hold of the girl causing her to fall into a pond. Whilst the girl is in the pond 'drowning' , there are flashbacks of her past happy memories that were in the forest.

The advantages in Ella's narrative is firstly that the protagonist is a girl, this is conventional to a thriller as girls are seen as weak characters, and the audience can sympathise with whats going on with her. Also the settings that are included in the opening scene e.g forest and bedroom are isolated places which is conventional to a thriller because when the protagonist is in need of help she cannot receive it as there is no one around. This makes the audience create a closer relationship with her as they could relate to her age and empathise her situation. The use of a hidden identity is used in her thriller opening as the antagonist is masked, this is conventional to a thriller as it creates suspense and tension of who the stranger is, making the audience want to carry on watching the film to find out.

A disadvantage that I have found in Ella's narrative is the complexity of the narrative as there are two locations to shoot. I believe this would be quite hard and time-consuming to do as shooting one place to another could make the opening thriller quite long. Also I think the pond scene would be quite difficult to shoot, as we would need to buy more equipment to make it suitable for this scene and we may not even be allowed to use a pool. Secondly, I think her narrative has quite a lot of things going on which may give too much away to the audience which breaches the lack of suspense,tension and surprise expected further in the thriller movie. 

Group member 3 - Jemimah Ali (Myself)

Possible Titles : Human Switch, Switched Off, Humanity Off, Emotions Off

Narrative : My own narrative is about a very disturbed, troubled boy who is laying on the floor with a mask beside him on the road and is having flashbacks of events of his previous life.  Meanwhile two girls walk down the pavement besides him after coming back from a night out. One of the girls notice the boy on the road and checks on him to see if he's ok, but little does she know that he's a psycho. When she comes closer and stands over him, the boy finally wakes up from his flashbacks and then attacks her ( The audience wouldn't see the event). The other friend hears her friend scream and looks back to see that her friend is on the floor dead, she eventually starts to run away from the scene and goes through a forest but then the boys dark figure(wearing a mask) stands in her way to stop her. 

Characters : two protagonist's ( Girls ) , 1 antagonist ( Male )
Location : Forest, Road
Iconography : Mask
Make up & costume - Fake Blood, White pupil contact lenses , girls are wearing out-going clothes, Antagonist wears normal ragged clothes.

My advantages are, firstly I believe my thriller opening is quite easy to do as the setting is easy to find e.g forests and this is conventional to a thriller as forests are usually isolated with no one in them at night. Furthermore, the iconography needed is quick to access as masks could be found on line, in shops and even from friends or family. The narrative is conventional to a thriller as the antagonist has a hidden identity which creates enigma for the audience, also the protagonists are girls; girls are seen to be weak and an easy target for antagonists in thriller films. I believe that the narrative is quite unique as there are small elements that are unusual in a thriller e.g boy laying down on the road , change of eye colour.. but I believe that this is an advantage so that the audience wouldn't know what expect as it is not your typical thriller. 

The disadvantages of my narrative is that it could be seen as a supernatural film because when the boy wakes up from his dream he's eye colour changes to white which cannot happen in real life. This may be a slight problem as supernatural behaviour in films are usually in horrors because of their explicit gore scenes. Another disadvantage about my narrative is that they're may be too much going on, so the opening may include to much information in it which leads to a lack of enigma. 

Final Group Narrative

As a group, me and my peers came to a decision to follow my own narrative as our final thriller opening scene. We decided to go with my narrative because of the availability of the props and setting and also it conveys many of the thriller conventions making it a successful thriller creating suspense,tension and surprise. In summary, my narrative was about a disturbed boy who is laying on the road and is having flashbacks of previous events in his life. Meanwhile, two girls who are the protagonists are walking down the sidewalk besides him coming back from a night out, so they're quite drunk. One of the girls notices the boy laying on the road and goes to check on him to see if he's okay, but the boy wakes up from his flashbacks and kills the girl ( audience would not see how she was killed, creating suspense). Her friend who was left on the sidewalk, hears her friend scream and then notices that her friend has been attacked so she starts to run away as there is no one else with her. As she runs away, she goes into a forest and the scene ends with the boy standing in her way wearing a mask. 

I believe that our opening thriller scene conveys many conventions in a thriller. Firstly the use of a hidden identity for the antagonist creates enigma and suspicion on who he is and why he is hiding his identity. Moreover, I will be using a low-key lighted setting which is a forest as it is a isolated place, so the protagonist will not have people to call out for help making the audience sympathies with them as they wouldn't want to be in their position.

Narrative Theories

I think the narrative theory that suits our narrative the best is Aristotle; a narrative that includes an inciting incident, dramatic question, character goal, antagonist/protagonist, stakes, resolution and sympathy/empathy. The dramatic questions in my thriller opening are why the boy kills the girl? and why he lays down in the middle of the road? also if he kills the second friend in the forest or not? The characters goal for the antagonist is to be noticed and to be powerful because when he was child he was never noticed by his family and they only cared to when he did dangerous things to be seen. Also because he knew a lot of secrets about his mother and how she killed his biological father due to him finding out she was cheating he plots revenge to all girls that are seen to be stuck up or popular. Furthermore, the audience will feel sympathises the innocent girls that are killed by the antagonist as they're being punished for someone else wrong doing. Me and my group are following this narrative theory as the aspects that are included are conventional to a thriller film and our opening scene conveys most of the points in the theory. 

Individual Narrative Ideas - Miss Georgiou

A Narrative is a media term for spoken or written account of connected events which create a story. Narratives are very crucial to films as they have different elements to a story which are organised to make a meaningful story.

Possible Titles : Human Switch, Switched Off, Humanity Off, Emotions Off

Narrative : My own narrative is about a very disturbed, troubled boy who is laying on the floor with a mask beside him on the road and is having flashbacks of events of his previous life.  Meanwhile two girls walk down the pavement besides him after coming back from a night out. One of the girls notice the boy on the road and checks on him to see if he's ok, but little does she know that he's a psycho. When she comes closer and stands over him, the boy finally wakes up from his flashbacks and then attacks her ( The audience wouldn't see the event). The other friend hears her friend scream and looks back to see that her friend is on the floor dead, she eventually starts to run away from the scene and goes through a forest but then the boys dark figure(wearing a mask) stands in her way to stop her.

Characters : two protagonist's ( Girls ) , 1 antagonist ( Male )
Location : Forest, Road
Iconography : Mask
Make up & costume - Fake Blood, White pupil contact lenses , girls are wearing out-going clothes, Antagonist wears normal ragged clothes.



The mise-en-scene I would use firstly is costumes. The costumes which I will use for the girls is that they're in dresses and heels as they are coming from a night out, this exaggerates their vulnerability as they are not sober and not fully aware of what they're doing making them an easy target for the antagonist. In contrast, the boy will be dressed in  informal, scruffy dark clothing to represent his lack of life inside of him and that he is evil and dangerous. Also the iconography used is the boys mask, which will be a white mask to contrast his clothes which emphasises the use of hiding his identity and that he is more alive when the mask is on. 
The Facial expressions and body language used in my scene will help make the characters look more realistic so that the audience can build a relationship or relate to them. When the antagonist is laying on the floor, his facial expressions would be like he is spaced out and not engaged with what is going on around him as if he was dead. In contrast, the girls facial expressions and body language would  be that they're happy, cheerful as they've had a good night out but they wouldn't be stable as they have been drinking. 
The lighting of my scene will mostly be very low-key lighting as I would like it to be set in the evening, as it shows the fact there is no one out at this time so if anything was to happen, no one would be able to help the victims quickly. 

Also I will use different types of camera and editing techniques such as panning, zoom in, point of view and slow editing to create more impact on the audience within the scene. These will help me on the thriller conventions to create suspense, shock and tension in the audience. For example, the setting would be of a forest and the camera shot would be a handheld( POV) of someone walking. Once out of the forest, the camera will zoom in onto the boy ( antagonist ) who is laying down in the middle of the road. 

As sound is very important in thriller films, I will use a variety of sound techniques such as parallel , diegetic, non-diegetic and even silence to emphasise what is happening in the scene.

The target audience I am going to refer my thriller opening to is a 15 classification because the themes and guidelines that I would like to use are permitted in a 15 and the people that are 15+ will relate more to the characters in the scene.

When I get into my group, i will share this information by explaining my narrative and gather all of our thoughts about each others to create a final story board of our opening thriller sequence. 

Opening Sequence Analysis - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of an opening scene is to engange the audience and create enigma making them want to watch more of the film so their questions could be anwsered. The opening scene is very cruical as it may introduce the main characaters; most likely the antagonist,and provides a clear narrative of what is going to happen so the audience can understand the film. In the post I will be exploring the different types of coventions in thrillers in the opening sequence of 'Hallowen 1978'. This opening scene should include cinematography, sound, conventions and editing.

Narrative 

The narrative of this film's opening scene is about a girl who's spending a night with her boyfriend who eventually leaves her, and her little brother kills her by stabbing her with a knife which is very shocking to see. The opening scene of Halloween includes a young female who is blonde, that is alone in her house with a boy, this is a real life setting which makes the audience relate to what is happening. We know that they're alone from the dialogue said by the boy " we are alone aren't we? ". This creates suspense as the audience don't know if someone else is with there with them, making the audience build a closer relationship with the couple as they're in a isolated place which is a convention for a thriller. Antagonist tend to attack their victims in a abandoned place; which implies that something bad is going to happen, so that the protagonist can't reach out for help nor save themselves. Moreover the narrative is based around the event Halloween, which is conventional to a thriller as it is well known for its frightening aspects that provoke fear and scariness.

Cinematography 

In this opening, throughout the whole scene there is a point of view shot used forming the perspective of the antagonist. The use of this shot allows the audience to connect and get an insight of the antagonist and relate to them as if they were the person walking around. This creates suspense as the identity of the antagonist is not shown, and it makes the audience feel on edge, creating tension as they don't know what is going to be around in the surroundings of the house. This is conventional to a thriller as it does help create several elements of the main elements in thrillers; shock,suspense and surprise making the audience engage more to the film.

Isolated house

In the beginning of the scene, it starts off with a long shot of the house. This technique makes the house look smaller, highlighting the vulnerability and lack of safety of the characters who may be in there as there is low-key lighting. In addition, the long shot emphasis the important of the house and makes the audience feel paranoid and anxious on what is going to happen in this house as it is the only house you can see in the shot. This is conventional to a thriller as antagonists tend to kill in an isolated house which makes the audience feel frightened and relate to the protagonist as they may be watching the film at home and think that this could happen to them.

Editing 

Antagonist walking up the stairs, POV shot

Timing of shots change between the scene, firstly when the antagonist is walking around the house and stairs, there is the use of slow editing. The aim of this technique is to focus and emphasise on the small details around the room whereas if it was fast you wouldn't be able to notice the. The slowness creates suspense as the audience don't know where the antagonist is going and what he's going to do which is conventional to a thriller as it creates enigma. This technique makes the audience build a relationship with the person who is walking around the house because they're the only person we can see, leaving the audience no choice but to relate with them making them feel paranoid on what is going to happen to the character,who is in control of the movements around the house.

Antagonist running down the stairs, POV shot

In contrast the timing of shots change to become more faster as the antagonist runs downs the stairs after killing the protagonist who is the sister. This change suggests that the antagonist is desperate to run away from the scene urgently, and makes the audience relate to them as it is still in a point of view camera shot which makes them feel on edge and panic. Faster editing used in this particular scene is conventional to a thriller as the antagonist usually does run away from the scene quickly so they can't not be seen or go to kill someone else as well.

At the end of the scene a fade editing technique is used; fade is usually used when its the end of a scene or sequence. The purpose of this technique leaves a huge amount of suspense and enigma for the audience as they do not know what is going to happen next. In this scene the fade was used after the father revealed the antagonists identity, who is his son. The fade emphasises the shock and surprise created by this dramatic discovery of the antagonist being a young boy making the audience curious and anxious, questioning how a little boy can be capable of committing such a crime. The fade helps give the audience a breather of the film so that they can relax and reflect on what just happened as they are confused, also it keeps them engage as they would want to see what happens later in the film. This also helps the audience build a closer, sympathetic relationship with the remaining characters as they can relate to them because they're in shock too on what the antagonist has done to the protagonist. Fade is conventional to a thriller as it helps create suspense and tension in the audience because they do not know whats going to happen next as the screen has turned black,making them pay more attention to the film.

Character representation 

Antagonist is a little boy

The first character representation we witness is of the antagonist who is in a hidden identity as it is shot in a point of view camera shot and he is hidden behind a clown mask. The use of the mask is conventional to a thriller as most antagonist tend to hind behind a mask and not reveal their selves as this makes the audience and protagonist more scared of them. However he's real identity does get revealed later on at the end of the scene, when he walks out of the house and the parents remove his masks and are in shock seeing their son holding a knife covered with blood. The outcome of the scene is very unexpectedly as the killer is a young child who did just kill his own flesh and blood brutally with a knife. This makes the audience question the motive of the boy, why he was observing his older sister and why he killed her.

Secondly, the protagonist in this scene was a young female, who was shockingly known by the antagonist who killed her as she shouts out his name in a surprisingly way " Michael " when he creeps up on her holding a knife. The purpose of this was to raise enigma on how the victim knows the antagonist making the audience curious and suspicious.

Protagonist on floor after being attacked

It is very unusual as in thriller films the protagonist is often unknown to their victim however when the killer enters the room, the female is shocked and embarrassed because she is not fully clothed but this changes when the antagonist displays his knife and begins to attack her as she is in pain and shock on why "Michael" is doing this to her.The use of this character is conventional to a thriller as it  shocks the audience because the victim knew the person who was killing her. This created tension and curiosity on why the antagonist would kill someone they knew making them more engage with the film and carry on watching. 

Parents and antagonist look in shock

Lastly were then introduced to two more people in this scene. Where a man and women look at the masked little boy and whilst removing his mask they look in shock. The man says " Michael" which was said by the previous character who was the protagonist who got killed, this suggests that the the man is the father of the child and the little boy killed his sister. This plot twist excites the audience shockingly as you wouldn't expect a child to kill their own sister, this is conventional to a thriller as it makes the audience want to carry on watching and see why a child would do such a thing. 

Conventions 

One very known convention for a thriller is the use of a isolated place/house

Isolated house 

which was shown at the beginning of scene where the camera shows the outside of the home through the antagonists point of view. Isolated places/homes are used regularly in thriller films which is conventional as the protagonist do not have anyone to call for help or no one to run to. This makes the audience feel anxious and weary of themselves, as when they're alone they could think that the same things that happen to the protagonist in the film could happen to them. However this artificial setting cannot relate to the audience as in real life no one would live in a isolated house in the middle of no where by themselves, but this creates shock and surprise elements as the audience do not know what to expect in this unrealistic environment. 

Antagonist holding up knife

Another convention in a thriller is the use of iconography, in this scene it was a knife which is very stereotypical in a thriller film. We see this when the antagonist gets it out of a draw because the camera focuses on this weapon it creates an importance for it and makes the audience suspicious on what its going to be used for. As a knife is a self controlled weapon; unlike guns where the bullets are what hurts the object, the use of this shows that the antagonist is in control and is powerful in the situation and has every intention on using the knife. The reason why knifes are conventional to thrillers is because they are weapons that are easy to access and they have more of a huge impact when used because its a self controlled object. 

Sound

The scene begins with a Non-Diegetic sound of children, talking and laughing at trick or treating.This relates to the theme of the night and the actual film title exaggerating the time of year where fear is dominate and "evil spirits" come out. Non-Diegetic sound in this scene is conventional to the thriller genre as it connects with the theme of Halloween making it seem more realistic. The use of the children's voices is conventional to a thriller as it foreshadows the characters including in the scene; a little boy who is the antagonist. The use of this makes the audience relate to the characters that are going to come as they may have children of their own or younger siblings. This makes the audience feel tensed and worried, questioning whether children are included in the film, are they going to be harmed and what is going to happen to them. 

Lights are on

Furthermore, non-diegetic sound is used in this scene when the camera looks up at the top window where the couple are. Before the lights are on in the room where the window, here it is silent and nothing is going on.This builds tension as the audience do not know whats going to happen.

Lights are turned off

However it changes when the lights are switched off as a diegetic screechy sound appears when that happens making the audience jump as it is shocking as it is sudden after the silences.Also it is a loud, striking noise that could symbolises a persons scream hinting that something terrible is going to happen in that room. This suggests that this is a warning for the audience that the two characters upstairs in the room could be in danger as they are vulnerable. It even shows that they're possible victims of the antagonist creating a closer relationship with them as you sympathise them as they are unaware of what is going to happen to them. This sound is conventional to a thriller as it is a dramatic noise that makes the audience more alert of the scene, also it makes the audience feel nervous and anxious on what is going to happen.

Many would think that silence isn't a sound technique, however it is and it is used in this thriller opening. Silence is used when the is panning and zooming into the couple inside the house. The purpose of this technique is to create suspense and tension as it builds up what could possibly happen in the scene. The anxiety and curiosity is built in the audience making them on edge of their seats and weary on what is bound to happen to the characters indoor and whether they're in danger. Silence is conventional to a thriller as it helps build more suspense,tension and anxiety in the audience because there is no sound supporting the scene making the audience question what is going to happen. Also it helps create a relationship with the two characters indoors because as it makes the audience feel worried and have a gut feeling that something awful is going to approach their way. 

Overall, this particular opening sequence illustrates the conventions of a thriller genre, which make the audience engage more to the film and what to carry on watching even though it is only the first scene. It also produces different types of impacts that effect the audiences thoughts and feelings throughout the whole scene, identifying what the causes where for these emotions 

In summary, this post will assist me with planning on my own thriller opening as it has provided the many different conventions that are use in thrillers in such a limited time. I will consider to use some aspects from this opening such as : isolated places , point of view camera shots, iconography e.g knifes as these will provoke the 3 main elements of thrillers which are shock,surprise and suspense for the audience. Furthermore i have learnt the different types of ways of engaging the audience by using conventions that affect mood, emotions and feelings when creating enigma. I believe that if i reflect back on this piece of research ill make a successful thriller opening that will grab the audiences attention and make them want to carry on watching.