I believe I have created a successful thriller opening sequence as our group included the conventions we found in the other thriller films we had researched about. My group and I used a female victim who gets possessed after drinking water to kill herself, this follows the conventions of a thriller film as you normally find a blonde female victim in thriller films as these come across as vulnerable and weak. I also think my thriller opening sequence is successful as the conventions of shock and suspense(which is further deepened through the editing and sound added) helped create a successful thriller opening sequence, the elements of shock and suspense would help engage the audience as the audience would be left in suspense when the blonde female victim is walking from her house through the forest and they do not know what is going to happen and then we shocked the audience when the blonde female jumps in the water and kills herself.
The micro element which best shows my creativity and understanding of thriller conventions the most is by using a blonde female victim who is shown as weak and vulnerable this is commonly found in the thriller genre we also turn this on its head and shock the audience by making the girl possessed and then killing herself, generally in the thriller genre blonde female victims are killed by serial killers but we decided to challenge this by showing our creativity and making the innocent blonde female kill herself after being possessed. This makes our narrative different as we did not follow the typical thriller narrative this shows how creative we were as we have used one character to portray two characters: the victim and the killer which would engage the audience to watch the thriller. Our thriller opening scene can be compared to the successful thriller film the Exorcist. They are similar in the narrative, representation of characters, editing and sound. The narratives are both similar as both thrillers have a young girl who is possessed by an unseen villain, by using an unseen villain it builds up suspense and enigma for the audience. In both thrillers there is the use of a conventional character as there is a young female victim used who gets possessed; young females are stereotypically portrayed as weak and vulnerable and this is done in my thriller and the Exorcist as both girls get possessed showing them as weak this brings the audience closer to the victim and makes them sympathise with her, both thrillers also use the shock element, this is done when both female victims become possessed this shocks the audience as generally female victims are killed by serial killers. The Exorcist and my thriller both use a non diegetic sound track these sounds are very tense and jerky which both create an enigma and tense atmosphere for the viewers. The editing used is better in my film than the Exorcist this could be because the Exorcist was made in 1973 so we had better technology to use; the editing was vital to our thriller opening sequence as it turned a boring narrative into a fast paced, jerky and tense opening sequence which helped make our thriller successful.
Audience feedback is important as it helps you create the best thriller film you can using the feedback given as you know where to improve on to aim the thriller film at the target audience, this will help the final cut of our thriller to be as successful as it can be. The feedback was not biased as we got it from our peers in class and they gave us criticism which aided us to create our final opening sequence to the best we could. We received audience feedback for our thriller film from our media class and teachers, this was good for us as our target audience was 16 years old and this was the average age of our media class this helped us aim our thriller film at them by using their criticism to change our final product. We first showed our media class a PowerPoint presentation about our thriller product and then went on to show the class our scene. During and after the viewing the audience were asked questions about the strengths and weaknesses of our thriller opening sequence. This allowed us focus on the negatives and try to improve our thriller opening sequence based on these results.
The feedback from most of the class and teachers was they thought we had a good use of camera angles, successful low key lighting, and used conventions found in the thriller genre by using a blonde female victim and including the setting in a forest. The criticism we received was we should include more sound effects to create a larger impact on the audience and the editing used should be faster to build up the suspense. To include what the feedback said we didn't have in our thriller opening sequence we added fast paced and jerky effects; which was aided by the projector effect this made the opening sequence have a more suspenseful feel about it and we also included more sound effects like a distorted radio and devilish whispers into our opening sequence which improved our final product a lot.
This feedback helped us resolve the problems with our thriller and helped make our final opening scene better for the viewing of our target audience. We kept everything the class said was good about the rough cut and included the things the class said we should have included to hopefully make our final opening sequence successful.
As a group we created a rough copy of our thriller opening sequence and then presented it to the class and teachers, this was important as it allowed us to be able to receive feedback from the class and teachers; which would help us improve our final thriller opening sequence. We got positive and negative feedback which was all vital to know where we had to improve on to make our thriller opening sequence the best it could be. Our rough cut was very far from the final product but this helped us know what we had to do to our thriller opening sequence right from the beginning of the editing stage. The feedback helped my group and I see what we needed to improve in our opening sequence to obtain a higher grade and for it to be more successful.
We got our feedback by showing the class and teachers first the rough cut then after our PowerPoint had been presented the class had been given a form to review our rough cut. These forms gave the chance for the class to give our rough cut a mark out of 60. Also these forms gave the class a chance to say what went well and what could be improved in our rough cut. These were given to the all the groups in our class and they were collected and given to us to read over and take into account how we could improve our final opening sequence.
The suggestions and criticisms we received were very constructive and helpful. Out of 60 our average mark was 40. The feedback from most of the class and teachers was they thought we had a good use of camera angles, successful low key lighting, and used conventions found in the thriller genre by using a blonde female victim and including the setting in a forest. The criticism we received was we should include more sound effects to create a larger impact on the audience and the editing used should be faster to build up the suspense.
This feedback will help us resolve the problems with our rough cut to make our final opening scene better for the viewing of our target audience. We kept everything the class said was good about the rough cut and included the things the class said we included to hopefully make out final opening sequence successful.
The purpose of the preliminary task was to help me understand how to use a camera, to get use to the different camera angles that can be used and also how to upload our clip onto the computer and use the editing software. It allowed me to understand what I would have to do in my thriller film to put it all together using the editing software that is provided, this preliminary task was vital to me understanding the editing software because the software was alien to me and it gave me a chance to play around with the tools and get used to it which helped as when it was needed to edit my thriller opening sequence I was familiar to the software. It also allowed me to learn how to apply the different camera angles by using the camera for example my group thought a close up would work well when we left the hall but found out the mid shot was the best to show the facial expression. We learnt that we would have to have the location of our thriller film in a quiet place because we filmed ours in the hall when people were walking past you could hear them in the background, as you can hear slight sound that was unwanted in our thriller film. In the preliminary task I learnt how to use the camera and tripod which helped in our thriller clip this was vital as it helped me to get straight into filming our thriller clip as I was already use to the complicated camera and tripod. In conclusion I think that I was able to take some essential pointers from the preliminary task. By the end of the preliminary task we were familiar with the equipment that we were going to be using when filming our final thriller clip. The preliminary task also helped my group with our thriller film we learnt how long it would take to film our thriller film because it took us about 30 minutes to film a 1 minute clip, we had learnt various strengths from this task one of them being the first shot we chose to use may not always be the best and we did have difficulties when doing the preliminary task that we will did not do in the actual filming of our thriller film for example one of them being the noise in the background.
Primary research was essential for my production as it helped my group and I plan my thriller film, it allowed the group to understand what age group and what gender wanted to see in a thriller film, it also helped my group understand what age group we would want would want to target for our thriller film. I feel as if the research helped us understand what the general public wanted to see in a thriller film. To help with my thriller clip I carried out research, first I analysed thriller films. I researched into the editing, Mise-en-scene, cinematography and sound in different thriller films; I done this by watching clips from thriller films on YouTube and then analysed the different codes and conventions of each thriller film putting each separate one in blogs. This helped me gather ideas and inspirations in the different ways these thriller films used editing, sound, cinematography and Mise-en-scene to include in my thriller clip; I feel as if this research was beneficial in making my thriller clip successful as it gave me a feel to the way a thriller clip looks.
As part of my research I also learnt about the different narrative theories, this helped me plan my thriller as it gave me an idea in which theory to follow my narrative followed the theory of Aristotle because there is a sense of hidden identity within our clip which would mean that my thriller clip follows that specific proposed theory. Also it builds enigma amongst the audience as they're unknown about why and how the female girl became possessed and kills herself. As a group we created a questionnaire to research what the public wanted to see in our thriller clip we asked 40 people different questions about what codes and conventions they would most like to see in a thriller film this was vital to helping us plan our thriller as it helped us understand what the general public wanted to see in a thriller film it also helped us find out who we should aim our target audience to as we found out most people who watched thriller films was 15+.
A target audience is important because then you can plan and film your thriller film aimed towards them. When planning my film and researching the genre at the start of this project I had to make sure that my storyline ideas were suitable for the audience that I wished to target. As the chosen genre was a thriller and from my questionnaire showed that the people who watch thrillers most is 15+ so I knew straight away that I was targeting the 15+ age range. This meant that the first two minutes of my thriller opening sequence needed to be suitable for a teenage/adult audience and which would also get the audience’s attention for the rest of the film. I believe my thriller film appeals to the audience because in my groups questionnaire we found out that the public wanted to see a vulnerable protagonist, eerie music, and a common familiar setting where they can relate to the fear this was done as my group and I used a blonde female victim which the audience could relate to, the audience will be able to connect with this character because the target audience is of a similar age to the victim, therefore they can relate to how the victim is responding to her situation, we also included eerie music and used a common familiar setting of filming inside the house as well as the forest this will help the audience to relate to the situation and will deepen their fear. The Mise-en-scene used is normal clothes which normal female teenagers would use this will appeal to the audience as they can relate to her even more as she comes across as a normal girl, this will make the audience feel apart of the thriller film and sympathize with the victim.
My character in my thriller film is a blonde female victim, this is a very stereotypical element used within thriller films. Females are often associated with being vulnerable and innocent which is a strong representation of our victim as she will be naive and weak but also will be portrayed as an average person waking up doing her make up to build a relationship with the audience. Making a character relatable to the audience is a key in making a good thriller, this gives the audience the chance to sympathize or empathize with the character this makes the audience feel a part of the film. By creating this relationship is also makes it tenser and make the audience mirror the same feelings as the main characters. They can be related from clothing, music or personality, by making the audience more emotionally attached to the character they will be much more scared in further events.
I want to make my character as relatable to the audience as possible to engage with the audience. The audience will be able to connect with this character because my target audience is of a similar age to the victim; which is 16 years old therefore they can relate to how the victim is responding to her situation. Representing my victim as innocent also helps create emotions for my audience as they will empathize for her this means the audience will be much more engaged within the narrative and making my opening sequence more entertaining and technically good, my thriller clips also represents the teenage gender as this will be the age of my victim making it relatable.
The villain is unseen in my thriller opening sequence which gives a ghostly feel to our opening sequence as the victim is possessed by an evil spirit this is a popular convention found in thriller films such as the 'Paranormal Activity' films, 'The Devil Inside' and the two 'Insidious' films. This means the character is not relatable to the audience but I believed using an unseen villain would create a bigger effect of suspense on the audience than a visible villain who they might be able to relate to as it makes the opening sequence more spooky.
The generic conventions of a thriller film are: Characters- killer with hidden identity, blonde female victim, innocent child, demented child, detective and a suspicious old man. Visual style- Low key lighting, shadows, close ups, low angle shots, high angle shots, medium shots and iconography such as blood, weapons which kill the victims and fire. Themes- violence, gore, suspense and paranormal Settings- Forest, abandoned house or school, village/city, car park and these settings are normally filmed at night time to add suspense. All successful thriller films use some of these listed generic conventions. One example is Saw which follows a lot of the conventions you normally find in a thriller film; Saw includes a killer with hidden identity this is where the killer is covered with a pigs mask this creates suspense which is one of the themes which are found in thriller films. Other themes Saw follows are violence and gore where the audience can see brutal murders and lots of blood in the film. Saw is a good thriller film to relate to as they use camera shots very well by using close up shots on the victims to show there scared facial expressions and also using high angle shots on the victim to make them look small and vulnerable and low angle shots on the killer to make the killer look in control and powerful. My thriller clip defines and follows the thriller genre through the conventions we have used in our opening sequence. My thriller clip follows the theme of suspense; this is done as the audience sees the blonde female victim drinking water then dropping it she then walks from her house through a forest leaving the audience in suspense as they do not know how it will end or what’s happening. The character used in the thriller clip follows the conventions of a thriller film as our character was a blonde female victim who comes across as an innocent child this makes her look vulnerable and weak to the audience, it then comes apparent she is demented and gets possessed which is another convention found in thrillers. The setting followed the conventions of a thriller film as we filmed in a forest which is spooky and normally found in thrillers.
The villain is unseen in my thriller opening sequence which gives a ghostly feel to our opening sequence as the victim is possessed by an evil spirit this is a popular convention found in thriller films such as the 'Paranormal Activity' films, 'The Devil Inside' and the two 'Insidious' films. I used a villain like this in my thriller opening sequence as I thought this would create more shock and suspense for the audience than a villain which the audience can see. Our thriller opening scene can be compared to the successful thriller film the Exorcist. They are similar in the narrative, representation of characters, editing and sound. The narratives are both similar as both thrillers have a young girl who is possessed by an unseen villain, by using an unseen villain it builds up suspense and enigma for the audience. In both thrillers there is the use of a conventional character as there is a young female victim used who gets possessed; young females are stereotypically portrayed as weak and vulnerable and this is done in my thriller and the Exorcist as both girls get possessed showing them as weak this brings the audience closer to the victim and makes them sympathise with her, both thrillers also use the shock element, this is done when both female victims become possessed this shocks the audience as generally female victims are killed by serial killers. The Exorcist and my thriller both use a non diegetic sound track these sounds are very tense and jerky which both create an enigma and tense atmosphere for the viewers. The editing used is better in my film than the Exorcist this could be because the Exorcist was made in 1973 so we had better technology to use; the editing was vital to our thriller opening sequence as it turned a boring narrative into a fast paced, jerky and tense opening sequence which helped make our thriller successful.
My brief was to create a thriller opening sequence; which contained the thriller conventions and camera movements typical of the thriller clips I had researched. My thriller opening sequence had to be no longer than two minutes. I was put into groups to complete the brief and my group members were Robyn Tansley and Domenico Martini. We all had different roles for the production of the thriller opening sequence. My groups' production roles were:
Producers- Domenico Martini. Domenico put himself forward to be producer as he was confident in doing this, he done a good job in producing our thriller opening sequence.
Directors- Domenico Martini and Robyn Tansley. Both these were directors as they came mainly up with the narrative so I let them take control of this area as I knew I would be more confident in other areas. They both directed well and they managed to come out with a good final thriller opening sequence.
Actors- Robyn Tansley. Robyn was the actor in our thriller opening sequence as she is blonde and we wanted to follow the conventions of a thriller by using a blonde female victim. Robyn done well in this role, she managed to come across as an innocent female victim in danger.
My production roles were:
Director of photography- I put myself forward to the director photography as I took media last year and was confident in using the tripod and camera, I also used the camera in the preliminary task which meant I had already got a feel of how to use the camera. I felt I done a good job in filming my thriller opening sequence as I used a variety of camera movements and I learnt by the end of filming how to use the camera and tripods safely and properly.
Music producer- I wanted to be the music producer as I was editor of our thriller clip and felt I would know which music would go best with my editing, I felt I done a good job as I used music which related to my editing which was fast paced and suspenseful.
Editor- I put myself forward to be editor of my thriller opening clip as I done media for GCSE and was familiar to editing a thriller clips, I felt I managed to create a good thriller opening sequence as I turned just a normal unnerving narrative into a fast paced, jerky and gloomy opening clip.
I believe my group worked well together as we overcame having to film the opening sequence twice. We felt the first opening sequence we filmed did not have enough conventions of the thriller genre, together as a group we followed our filming schedule and all completed our production roles well to finish off with a good thriller opening sequence. I think we managed to make a successful thriller opening sequence for our thriller film as we related it to the conventions we found in the other thriller films we had researched about. We used a female victim who gets possessed after drinking water to kill herself, this follows the conventions of a thriller film as you normally find a blonde female victim in thriller films as these come across as vulnerable and weak. My group and I shocked the audience as it did not become clear what was happening until the end, leaving the audience in suspense while the blonde victim is walking from her house through the forest were the audience see the victim jump in the water and kill herself, the conventions of shock and suspense(which is further deepened through the editing added) used in our opening sequence helped us create a successful thriller opening sequence.
