AS Evaluation Question 3

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Target Audience Feedback - Miss Georgiou

Audience feedback is important to a production as it enables the producers of the opening sequence to get an insight into what the audience thinks of it and are able to get both positive and negative feedback in order to improve it in a way that appeals to the audience.

Our group got this feedback by showing about 15 people, between the ages of 15 to 18 which is our target audience due to our age certification being a 15. We then asked them a short questionnaire, these consisted of questions such as:

• 'What was your first impression of our thriller sequence?'
• 'How did it make you feel?'
• 'Do you feel it was conventional to the thriller genre? If so how?'
• 'Is there anything you would change to make our thriller better?'

The feedback we got from the group would benefit our production of the thriller as we are now able to go back and improve certain elements to make it even better, potentially allowing us to get a better mark.

 

Some positive feedback my group received was:

1. We included a wide variety of cinematography which made the sequence interesting and effective. - I agree with this comment as this was something we tried to do. We wanted to show a range of shots but made sure they were consistently conventional. For example, we always used a high angled shot looking down at the little girl to portray her as the victim.

2. The idea and use of the underwater scene was unique and made it stand out compared to other thriller opening sequences. - This comment also sums up another one of our aims as we had this underwater scene idea right from the start. We wanted our thriller film to be different but by still being conventional. Also we noticed that there wasn't a lot of other thriller films who have an underwater scene and so thought if carried out correctly this would make our narrative really successful.

 

3. We were also told that our opening sequence was very conventional to the thriller genre, such as the use of low key lighting, the characters of the protagonist and unknown antagonist, as well as the choice of tension building music. - We wanted to try and make our opening sequence very conventional and so did this through the examples listed above as well as many more. We also made the music match the images and edits on the screen, so that it would build suspense and be even more effective.

 

Some negative feedback my group received was:

1. The narrative was very confusing and some of my audience didn't understand it. - I think that by planning, researching and re-editing the film so many times, we understood the narrative and so assumed that our audience would too.
2. They said that whilst our credits were good, they could be improved by making them look more conventional and more suited to the narrative of the little girl.
3. The idea of the flashbacks was good, but we needed to make this clearer and easier to understand.

To improve these points my group did the following:

• Whilst our narrative was confusing to viewers, my group and I were not too worried about this as this is what we were trying to do. By confusing your audience you make them vulnerable to feeling many different sorts of emotions, such as them feeling nervous or anxious to what is to happen next. This will allow the climax and ending of the opening sequence to have a bigger effect on the audience, and this is what we were trying to do. However, saying this, we did re-watch our thriller and got a second opinion and decided to take out a few of the shots in an attempt to make the narrative easier to understand.

Finished Thriller Opening Sequence

http://youtu.be/xDWOiPs_KOM

Planning Sounds - Miss Miller

In thriller films, sound is used to build tension and suspense in order to engage the audience in the scene and make them feel on edge. My group needed to plan the sound we wanted to use to enable us to complete our thriller opening within the deadline set. Sound is what makes a thriller film scary or 'jumpy' and so will play an important part in the making of our thriller opening.We needed to make sure that we matched the sounds used with the images on screen, and as we had already planned the cinematography my group wanted to use, it was a little bit easier to plan the sound.

Silence
Silence is often used in thrillers as it helps to build tension which is conventional. I thought it would be good to incorporate silence into our thriller clip to build the suspense. Therefore decided to have periods of silence after the underwater fight scene which includes a lot of noise so the transaction is noticeable. This is effective, as it contrasts from the loud tension building sounds played in the fight scene, into the immediate silence that would show the girls shock having remembered this flashback. By having this silence for a period of time, it may overwhelm the audience as they begin to reflect on what has just happened, which should make them feel nervous and create a tense atmosphere for the rest of the clip. Not only is this atmosphere created conventional, but it also allows the viewers to connect with the girl as they begin to worry about her well-being.

Non-diegetic Sound
Non diegetic sound is any music or sound that is added on after, such as in the editing stage. We needed to explain to our viewers how the little girl got in the water during the underwater scene. Therefore we decided on a blackout, which we joined with a crescendo of sound effects. Firstly, you hear the sound of running footsteps, followed by the sound of heavy breathing playing over the top. This would end with the sound of a girl screaming, ending with the splash of water, ready for the underwater scene. This helped manipulate the audiences senses as they can only imagine what is happening through the sounds, due to not being able to see anything making them feel on edge and possibly nervous.  This is conventional as it will mean the audience experience the full effect of the thriller, and will be more shocked at how it ends. The reason for adding the crescendo before the fight scene, was to create an enigma as to what is going to happen to the little girl.

Parallel Sound/ On-screen soundWhen the sound and the images on a screen complement eachother it is parallel/on-screen sound. My group decided that we will use parallel sound at the beginning of our thriller opening; this is when the little girl is walking through the forest and you hear the sound of leaves crunching beneath her feet. We will use this sound as it allows the scene to start straight away, as it allows the audience to have pure focus on the girl walking. This is conventional to the thriller genre as everything the audience hears that matches with what they see, which will make them feel nervous and on edge. This will help them to connect with the little girl by drawing the audiences attention on the girl who is portrayed as being innocent, which may make them feel nervous for her as they are scared something will happen to her, this is enforced and emphasised through the parrallel sound they hear.

To conclude,  our group now have a good idea as to how the cinematography and sound will match, giving us more time to focus on the editing of the clip. By having planned the sound we are going to get our sounds from the website freesound.org. The sounds we chose to use are conventional as when in sync with the images, the sound will be the main aspect that will build up suspence and tension which would make the audience feel on edge throughout. 

AS Evaluation Question 7

7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The purpose of the preliminary task was to show my understanding of cinematography and to get some experience with using the camera and tripod. In this short clip, I had to demonstrate several different camera angles whilst using dialogue. The cinematography my group tried to incorporate were; high angle, zooming in, over the shoulder, close up, tracking. When creating the preliminary task, I learnt how to use a camera and tripod, as well as executing the different camera angles, listed above. The preliminary task assisted me when planning and creating my own thriller film as it told me what not to do.
 Firstly, we took too long filming a short amount of footage, and so we did not have enough time to edit the footage in class. Consequently, we had to come back in our free time to edit the footage. This was helpful as it told me that we needed to ensure we plan everything carefully and in detail in order to film and edit within the deadline. We did in fact manage to complete our final product before the deadline and the footage was all filmed efficiently. It also gave us some experience as to using the camera and using the editing software and so when we made out thriller clip, it was not foreign to us and we picked up and familiarised ourselves with it quickly and easily. 
We gained an understanding of the types of cinematography that worked well and what did not; such as the tracking was good therefore we ended up including it in our thriller clip. From this task, I also learnt that we should ensure we plan what edits we want to use and why, instead of guessing and making it up at the editing stage to help base the edits around the footage so that it flows. We did this with the use of our storyboard which guided us through and assisted us when it came down to both the filming and the editing.

AS Evaluation Question 6

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AS Evaluation Question 5

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Primary research was essential to my group production as it gave me different view points of thrillers and what to expect from the public, knowledge of film certification and I was able to collect ideas and compare other thriller films to create mine at a good quality. I had many research stages that assisted me with producing our opening sequence including research into age certificates; this research gave me a deep understanding into why films are classified to protect the public from content that is unsuitable for their age group, and to stop children from seeing explicit images that may harm them. From this, my group and I decided to rate our thriller clip a 15 as the idea of the girl being taken seems quite violent, but you would not actually see this take place, and so it is simply and idea. Another source of research that was carried out to assist us was the narrative theory; here we were able to comprehend Vladimir Propp, Tzvetan Todorov and Aristotle’s Theory and relate them to our narrative. When comparing my narrative to the 3 theories, the one that I found suits it best is Aristotle’s theory that any film should be made using themes. I took inspiration from this theory by emphasizing the dramatic question raised through the use of enigma throughout. 

One of the main sources of research carried out was a questionnaire, where my group asked our target audience of around 15+, various questions as to what they thought should be included in a thriller film. We asked 40 people the questions on the questionnaire, the majority of those being from our target audience age range. We then thought the best way to present our findings would be by using pie charts as this is a clear way of showing the data we have collected. When creating the questionnaire we wanted to ask a variety of open and closed questions to make our results more reliable. An open question is one that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no answer, and so forces the person to give a more detailed answer. A closed question is simply where you answer with one word such as yes, no or maybe. By having the ‘other’ option mixed with the other available options, we created an open question, giving the audience the opportunity to say what they thought if they wished to. What I realized by the open questions not being answered was that people don’t like to decide or give their opinion as to what they want to see. I therefore concluded from this that viewers of the thriller genre like to be surprised by what they are watching; it doesn’t necessarily matter what the narrative is about, as long as the audience feel something from the suspense and tension created. Collecting this data was beneficial as it gave me and my group guidance with choosing what aspects such as conventions to use in our opening clip. It helped us with planning as it told us how important each aspect is and the amount of detail we need to go in if we wanted our clip to be effective. 

AS Evaluation Question 4

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

A target audience is important to the success or failure of a film, because if the film does not contain representations that interest the ‘targeted’ audience then the film would gain no money nor attention. Target audiences can be broken down into different groups, this is called audience segmentation. You can segment audiences by age, race, gender, social class, how much education they have, where they live, what sort of interests they have or the subculture they identify with. The target audience of my opening sequence was people aged 15+ of a mixed gender who are interested in thriller films. Thrillers are typically certificated a 15 or an 18 due to the content being unsuitable and disturbing for children or teenagers under those ages therefore we decided on a 15. My thriller film appeals to an audience as our narrative is unique, unlike cliché thriller/horror films where you know what to expect. My narrative also includes an unexpected twist and cliffhanger which would catch the attention of the audience and draw them into the film more. The audience must be able to identify with the characters and settings in a film by seeing something of themselves in them – or sometimes by wishing, perhaps subconsciously, to be like them. The relationship between the characters are siblings, most people have siblings therefore the audience are able to relate to the characters relationship in my sequence and can familiarize themselves in the situation. The soundtrack I included within the film is an intense piano, piano is a typical sound used in thrillers as the pace changes and tone can make a big impact. By using a piano soundtrack I intended to make the audience feel comfortable, by giving a promise of satisfaction, by establishing tone and style that are familiar to them. The mise-en-scene of my film is also intended for the audience to relate or connect to; the costumes are casual everyday clothing which adds a sense of realism. The facial expressions and body language of the little girl are dull, sad and lonely making the audience to build a relationship with her, connect with her and empathize for her. Also, the positioning of the little girl is done in a way to draw the audiences attention to her as when walking through the forest, the little girl is central and so is dominant in the picture, however, she looks misplaced as though she does not belong or meant to be in the forest making the audience worry for her. I also appealed to the audience through the camera shots, we used many close-ups of the little girl enabling the audience to connect to her emotionally as they are able to see the emotion on her face. POV shots we included also give the chance for the audience to put themselves inside the film and current situation allowing them to attach themselves to the film.

AS Evaluation Question 2

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my group narrative’s for my opening sequence, I included 3 main characters, but two of them could be played by the same person. One being the little sister, Annie, aged 10 who is mixed race. Annie is the little sister of the next character Ayesha. They are very close which is shown through the flashbacks in the clip. Her purpose to the narrative is the victim. She is portrayed as being innocent through her body language and facial expressions making her look sad and lonely. This character appeals to the audience because of the way she is portrayed. She looks lonely and sad which will make the audience believe she is innocent and so may be the victim. This is made clear through the use of high angled shots when portraying the little girl. They will therefore sympathize with her, which will mean they are emotionally attached to her throughout the clip. By presenting her in everyday, young clothes such as the pink dress and the pink scarf, it shows her youth, meaning anyone who is a parent or has young friends etc will be able to relate to the little girl, making our thriller seem more realistic. In thrillers, the victim is stereotypically always a female, and so by using a female in my thriller, makes it clearer to the audience that she is the victim. Females are stereotypically used as they are generally the weaker sex and come across more vulnerable than men and vulnerability in a victim leaves the audience feeling on edge and creates empathy.

Another main character in my film is the older sister Ayesha, 16 years old, female. Her purpose to the narrative is to help confuse the audience. They will begin liking her as she is close to her little sister, but as the narrative develops and the audience discovers that she may be the killer, the viewers may feel a sense of hatred or anger towards her due to the betrayal towards her sister. She is used to help create and enigma which is conventional to thrillers as it leaves the audience unsure of what has happened and so they question it and continue to watch to see what happens. Teenagers of a similar age will be able to relate to this character and how she may feel, such as if they have a younger sister then they too may have experiences of the arguments siblings share. They may also sympathize with her when we see her place the rose down as viewers will never want to lose their little sister, no matter how much they argue, and so will connect very easily with the character.

The final character included is the killer who is either unknown, or the same character, Ayesha. The age, gender and race of the killer is unknown but with the possibility of it being Ayesha. If it is not the older sister then the audience are unaware know who he/she is as their identity is kept hidden. This creates an enigma which is very conventional to the thriller genre as it makes them eager to know who the killer is which keeps them engaged with the clip. The purpose to the narrative the killer has is to make the audience feel uncomfortable and should be responsible for creating all of the bad emotions the audience feel. This creates shock and surprise when we find out that the killer could be the older sister. The views should struggle to accept this as they thought they were two different people, which creates a sense of confusion. 

The victim - Little girl - Yasmin/Annie

The killer (Hidden identity-just showing gloves or arms)

The older sister - Ayesha - Could possibly be the killer

AS Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Thriller films rely on tension, suspense, fear, excitement, danger and high levels of anticipation to captivate an audience and provide a thrilling, realistic, climaxed storyline that keeps the audience alert and anxious throughout. As a general rule, all thriller films are based around the generic conventions regarding lighting, camera angles, locations, props, characters and possibly a femme fatale.

 The lighting is usually noir (black on white) /ambient /chiaroscuro. Most dangerous scenes take place at night because the bewildered nighttime and dark areas increase the feeling of danger and suspense (i.e. in Thelma and Louise and Jackie Brown). On the other hand, some films such as Heavenly Creatures/Essex Boys, the murder or violent scenes happen in broad daylight instead. This can create shock, surprise and suspense which is typical of thrillers as in the film the attack can seem unsuspected because people usually feel safer in daylight. An example of this is in the film Jackie Brown, when a gangster unexpectedly shoots the blonde female victim in the middle of the car park in broad daylight in such a casual manner, which can leave a startling effect on the audience. 
My opening scene is mainly low-key lighting throughout to create a dark shady atmosphere. However, my flashback frames are in daylight and high-key lighting which likewise to the film ‘Jackie Brown’ makes a murder more shocking as daytime has a more positive feel therefore making it unexpected that a murder is going to take place. For example, my clip includes a flashback frame of the two sisters happily playing around a tree in bright daylight, seeing this, the audience would feel relaxed at the happy sight, however this then fades into a dark low-key frame of the little girl walking in the forest making the viewers moods instantly change as the lighting reflects how they would be feeling. (See examples below)

The cinematography used in thriller films can include longs shots to establish the environment the scene it takes place in. Sometimes the director uses certain camera angles to allow the audience to gain an understanding of the film. Close-ups are therefore used so the audience can concentrate and possibly empathise with the character. My thriller clip has a long shot in the first frame showing the little girls surroundings and her full body which shows her costume. I dressed the little girl in a pink dress to show her innocence and how young she is, allowing the audience to sympathise with her. I wanted the audience to make themselves aware of the environment so they are attentive to the little girl being completely alone in the presence of the killer. Point of view shots are also often used in thriller films as it allows the audience to be put into the characters shoes and study the scene from the characters viewpoint. which allows them to feel closer to the character. An example of a POV shot is in the film ‘Orphan’ when the audience is put into the perspective of the killer looking down at the dead body of a nun the killer had just murdered. I took this shot as an inspiration for my thriller clip and included a POV shot of the little girl looking down on her dead body in the final frame to place the audience into the characters situation making it more of a shocking sight. 


(add screenshot from film orphan)

The generic thriller locations are usually enclosed areas which add a sense of claustrophobia or isolation with an inevitable chance of escape for the victim in panic situations. A commonly used location in thriller films are car parks (Essex Boys/ Thelma and Louise). Other locations used in thriller films are usually plain, bewildered locations (In ‘Jackie Brown’ a gangster gets shot in the boot of a car situated in the middle of nowhere). In Essex Boys, for example, the beaten up character is helplessly left to rot in the mud in the middle of nowhere, adding terror as it is inevitable that anyone will be around to help him. Forests are also frequently used in thriller films as they are isolated and hard to escape in, such as in the film ‘Kiss The Girls’ where the female victim is running from her killer surrounded by nothing but trees. My thriller clip was located in a forest; I took inspiration from the film ‘Kiss the Girls’ as we found it very tense knowing there is nobody but the victim and the killer in the forest and there being nowhere for the victim to escape to or hide. By locating my thriller in a forest my young female victim appears even more vulnerable as she is alone in an isolated forest amongst a killer. My thriller is also situated underwater, which was inspired from the successful thriller film ‘Orphan’. Being underwater is also an enclosed space with neither the killer nor victim being able to breathe creating tension for the audience as they hope the killer dies instead. 

(screenshot of forest)
(screenshot kiss the girls film)

The iconography in thrillers are usually weapons. Many main characters in a thriller own a gun or knife as it signifies that someone is going to get killed or is in danger. If they do not own a typical weapon, items tend to be used which are generally associated with the character and tell the audience something about them or links it to them. For example, in the film ‘Kiss the Girls’ the killer is holding a syringe this tells the audience that he isn’t mentally stable and he is obsessive by wanting to drug the victim in order to have full control over her instead of instantly killing her.  In my thriller opening sequence, my iconography was a scarf. Typically the main item in thrillers are intended to harm someone, however the scarf in our clip is used to link the murder to the little girl allowing the audience to imply that it is the little girl who dies. Murder weapons are usually easily accessible rose knife scarf

Generically thrillers mostly focus on illegal, dangerous or “wrong” behaviour, usually involving characters that are gangsters, part of the mafia, spies, detectives or any kind of murderers. Sometimes, important key characters are complete enigmas, whom the audience doesn’t find out much information about. Some of these enigmas get cleared up at the end of the film, but sometimes the character stays mysterious and one never finds out their actual identity. This is the case in my thriller, the identity of the killer is hidden and stays that way until the end of the opening sequence but with indications to whom the killer could be (the older sister). An example of a thriller with an unknown killer is ‘Scream’ where there is a masked murderer. A hidden identity on the murderer is conventional to the thriller genre as the audience have the fear of the unknown because they don’t know what the killer is capable of and are unaware of the mindset as the character is anonymous and mysterious, all they know of is that they want to kill. My opening sequence is a physiological thriller and I added a twist, there being a possibility that the killer could be the victims sister, and that the little girl, the main character, walking through the forest is in fact dead. We took our inspiration of this from the successful physiological thriller ‘The Sixth Sense’ where the ending is Bruce Willis, the main character, finding out he is actually dead when throughout the film he appeared to be alive. Overall my opening sequence is conventional to the thriller genre as it includes the generic aspects that are typically used in thriller films. The title of my thriller is also conventional as ‘Nostalgia’ refers to longing of the past, this enables an emotional and relatable connection with the audience making them feel more on edge. Furthermore ‘Nostalgia’ is one word which is straight to the point, this is used in many thriller films such as ‘Orphan’, ‘Disturbia’ ‘Scream’ all of which are successful.

AS Evaluation Intoduction

My group included myself, Deanna Mathers and Lilian Amaning. The roles in production consist of the director, actors, directors of photography (cameramen), sound technicians, screenplay writer, MES coordinators and the editors. I was designated the role of producer, the Mise-en-scene coordinator and an actor. I was responsible for planning the costumes for myself and my sister suitable for our thriller theme and narrative. I worked alongside Lilian, the director to assist Deanna with deciding on shots we may be unsure of whilst filming. From being given these roles, I learnt how to retain the little time we had to film by cooperating with the other group members and guiding one another with the roles we found difficult to fulfill in order to complete our clip efficiently. I also learnt when editing our clip as I familiarized myself with the Final Cut Pro X software.

 I feel that I have made a successful thriller film as it includes a lot of enigma which is conventional to the thriller genre. There is great mystery throughout the clip due to the killer having a hidden identity but also the possibility of the killer being the older sister of the victim. My thriller also includes a chase scene. Chase scenes are typically between a female victim and the murderer, which is the case in my sequence. During the chase scene I included a non-diagetic sound of a heartbeat which represents the heart of the victim but also reflects the heartbeat of the audience, connecting them to her which is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds up tension and suspense leaving the audience feeling anxious or scared like the victim would be feeling. Another aspect which I felt made our thriller successful was the use of iconography. The iconography of the scarf gave the audience something to focus on as it was associated with the victim, this allowed them to connect with the victim as well as figuring out what is going to happen to her. Another use of iconography in my clip was the visual image of woods. Woods are locations often used for thrillers. They make the audience seem lost and they are isolated, which created a sense of vulnerability and it seems inevitable that the victim will ever find any help.

Opening scene analysis - Miss Georgiou

Within this post I will be analysing the opening scene of Halloween released in 1978. Setting the scene to the audience is the intention and purpose of an opening sequence in the thriller genre, this enables the audience to engage and connect with the film and ultimately, gives an indication of what is to come within the film. Furthermore, the opening sequence gives the audience gives the audience the time frame of the film and therefore sets up an enigma. The clip I will be analysing is the opening sequence from the film Halloween.

   When looking at the opening sequence, I noticed the use of cinematography presented to the audience shown through the vital parts which occur within the clip. For example, at the beginning of the film there is the use of zooming in towards the house. This  leaves the audience focusing primarily on the house, leading them to believe that the house will be the main setting used throughout the film, and may also give the feel that something bad is going to happen inside of the house. This indication is proved to be correct when the female victim is murdered in her bedroom. The use of the zooming into the house builds up tension whilst the audience are left scared of the potential people that may be lurking within the house, therefore leaving the audience feeling on edge. This is suitable for the target audience as it created the fear and suspense in which the film intends to do as these are conventional aspects to the thriller genre. When analysing this clip I noticed another cinematography element which is a POV shot used throughout the whole of the opening sequence. There is use of a POV shot from the killer, which allows the audience to be put into the killers eyes whilst being given the feeling that he is looking for someone as they are shown around the whole of the house,creating the feeling that something bad is about to happen. The point of view shot of the killer emphasises the shot of the knife the killer picks up, which leads the audience to believe that someone is potentially going to be murdered and is therefore intended for the audience to feel scared and uncomfortable to what may ne about to occur. Cinematography is conventional withing thriller films, as it enhances the fear and suspense presented to the audience, which creates emphasis on certain aspects of the film therefore allowing the audience to fully engage with the film and characters.

Another element used within the Halloween opening sequence is the use of sound. Such as when we hear the diagetic sound of the clock striking. The clock symoblizes that the girls life is coming to an end, each strike of the clock presents the girl getting closer to death, ticking down the time of her life. This makes the audience feel worried and empathise for the girl, allowing them to build an emotional relationship with her, this makes them feel rather uncomfortable and fearful of the outcome. The use of the diagetic sound is suitable for the intended audience as it builds up a tenseful atmosphere, suspense is conventional to thriller films to make the audience feel on edge. Another use of sound used within this opening sequence is the parallel sound of the piano which is inline with the killers footsteps. This is done to make the opening sequence seem more realistic and therefore connects to the audience more as they are able to put themselves in the situation. Due to the piano reflecting the killers footsteps, emphasism is created on the fact that the killer is getting closer to murdering the victim which builds up the fear the audience will be felling. Off-screen sound is another sound used within the opening sequence, this is evident when the children are chanting to what seems to be a ryhme or possible a spell. This gives the audience an indiction that the films characters could consist of children which makes it seem more creepy. Furthermore, due to the audience not being able to see where the noise is coming from, they are left feeling vulnerable to what may happen, as it could be something completely unexpected which is proved to be right when it ends in the child appearing to be the murderer. Overall, sound is conventional to the thriller genre as we are given a wide insite of what is occuring within the scene, it also creates fear and suspense to the audience, ultimately making the film scary which is a main convention of the thriller genre.

The representation of characters is seen in the opening sequence. Being introduced to the main characters of the film makes the audience aware of why the characters are important to the opening and that particular moment. In the opening sequence we see a young, in love couple who are oblivious to the fact that someone is watching them from outside the window and then inside the house. It shows a typical feature of a thriller because ultimately the victim is unaware of what is going to soon happen and therefore represents the characters at this point as vulnerable and unknowing, therefore creating a sense of enigma. Leading the audience to feel scared and on edge for the characters. At the end of the opening sequence, the masked killer gains his identity when he takes off his mask. When his mask is taken off, we are able to see that it is a young boy. This creates shock for the audience as we wouldn't expect a young boy to be holding a knife and kill somebody. This makes the audience feel nervous and uncomfortable to what happened within the opening as the represntation of the character is seen to be too innocent and vulnerable to do such thing. Both representation of characters are seen to be effective as they are suitable for the intended audience. Because the victim is teenager, the intended audience are led to feel that this could happen to them and makes the sequence more realistic. Also, the young boy is not what we expect to see therefore builds up the enigma.

The narrative used within this opening sequence is something in which is typically used within the thriller genre. For example, we can see it is set within a house in a suburban area giving the impression something bad is going to occur within the house and that it is a main feature of the film. This makes the audience feel vulnerable as it is making them believe it could happen at any time to them and therefore make them nervous to what may happen next. Also, the fact that there is a murder within the opening sequence, makes the audience more aware to what may occur within the rest of the film as a murder is a strong convention of the thriller genre. This then builds up the mystery as to what may happen next.

Throughout the opening sequence there are conventions used. For example, there is low key lighting used up until the murder takes place and then it changes into high key lighting, the change to high key lighting is used to highlight what is going on within the scene and makes the audience focus on the murder. This also builds the relationship between the audience and the characters as we are led to feel sorry for her and also feel vulnerable on her behalf. A blonde, female victim is also another convention is used within the opening. This is typical of the thriller genre as she is portrayed as innocent and oblivious to her surroudings making it seem something bad will eventually happen to her. This leads us to wonder who the killer is, is he going to kill her? This builds up the enigma within the scene and allows the audience to build a strong relationship with the girl as we feel vulnerable for her and sympathise with her. Another convention used within the opening scene is the use of shock, suspense, surprise. The use of these three elements make the audience sit on edge and feel more involved within the scene. We are able to build relationships with the main characters within the scene. The suspense makes the audience feel uncomfortable to what may happen eventually. The shock is created when the killer is revealed and it turns out to be a young, innocent looking boy in which we wouldn't expect.

Overall, when looking at the opening of Halloween I have realized that many conventions are used to build fear and tension. I now know that I can use many conventions within my opening scene to create as much fear and horror as I can.


 

Rough Cut - Miss Miller

A rough cut is important to consider because it allows you to collect feedback from people who watch it and improve on the constructive criticism they give you, this helps make the final opening scenaration better as you get the audiences opinions on the clip that resembles the final finished product. Without a rough cut, the clip may not be seen with its full potential, meaning if it was submitted it would not get as many marks as it could of had. 


Audience feedback is also very important to consider, this is because it gives you a different and fresh perspective on our opening sequence. It allows us take into consideration the audiences constructive criticism to help us improve the elements that may not be working, but also tell you what they feel the strengths of the clip are and are effective, allowing us to know which parts to enhance, or ensure we do not cut them out or shorten.

My group and I created a presentation for our class to allow them to get the understanding of our clip by telling them about our narrative and what we wanted to achieve through our opening scenario. This enabled them to give us feedback as they were able to give their opinions based on how well we pulled it off by comparing it to how we explained what we wanted to portray and achieve. Our presentation included;

• Our individual ideas for a narrative.
• Those ideas put together to make our final narrative and what that was.
• What we wanted to create and how we think we have created it.
• How is it conventional to the thriller genre.

After the presentation, we then showed our class our rough cut of our thriller sequence, which we had exported to youtube previously, which allowed their feedback to be given through comments on the video. 

When receiving feedback, we were told that we had many strengths and weaknesses. Our strengths included;

• Good use of low key lighting - conventional
• Good variety of shots used - high angles, low angles, eye levelled shot, handheld, etc
• Good variety of shot distances - Close up, Extreme close up, long shot, aerial shot, etc
• Good use of sound - builds tension/suspense.

Our weaknesses included; 

• An unclear confusing plot.
• Not enough credits.
• Transitions between frames was 'messy'.

We took the weaknesses given to us into consideration and decided to act on them by changing them or deleting parts. Starting with the making the plot clearer, for this, we are going to add in some footage which shows the older sister in our narrative placing the gloves used to kill the little girl into a bag and throwing this into the forest. This would hint to viewers that perhaps the older sister was involved in the killing, and so would leave them wondering what her motives were. Although this was a weakness, it was also good because we wanted to leave the audience feeling confused, which we did, but having gained the feedback, now know that we should be leaving the audience questioning what happened, instead of them not knowing what they have just watched. 

The weakness of there not being enough credits is a fair comment, simply because we had not finished all of the credits yet. It was good to show the few credits we had made as there were no comments as to the fading and blurring on/off of these credits, and so I have assumed these were effective, although it is hard to tell without them all being completed. 

The tranisitions between the frames needs polishing, as it was commented that they looked messy. This probally occured whilst cutting down the clip to under 2 minutes, as the sounds that originally matched the images, no longer do. To improve this, it will mean slowly going through the entire clip, and making sure that all the edits and sounds etc match the images.

The feedback given to us will help us finalise our thriller opening sequence as it has given us ideas and a different perspective of ways in which we should improve our clip. This has now given us the understanding of the audiences reactions and opinions meaning we can adjust and alter certain elements to help bring out the full potential our thriller could possibly have.

Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

Within our opening sequence, our narrative was adjusted only once. This was when we put all of our individual ideas together and altered it into one group idea. This final idea consisted of a little girl walking through a forest alone, and whilst she is walking, she experiences several flashbacks. These flashbacks show the audience the happy memories the little girl is reminiscing on, including her and her older sister playing in the forest she is currently in. The story develops through these flashbacks as the audience begin to get a better understanding of the characters and their relationships with one another. In one of the flashbacks, there is an underwater fight scene between the little girl and the killer, this is triggered by the little girl looking into the river she is killed in. Once this flashback has taken place, the little girl comes to the realisation that she is in fact dead, this is portrayed through the iconography of the white rose. There is some confusion and an enigma created as to who the killer is, this is because we wanted our killer to have a hidden identity but at the same time give hints that the killer could be the little girls older sister. We wanted to end our opening sequence on this cliff hanger as the audience are left in shock and are left wondering what the motive could of been and how twisted the killer must have been to commit this murder. We thought by ending the scene on confusion the audience would want to see more and watch the rest of the film to obtain answers which is the main purpose of the opening scene of films, to draw the audience into the film.

 The first shot that we used in our opening sequence was an eye-levelled shot/from the ground shot. This shot was not originally planned to go into our clip but we decided it would be a good way to introduce and place the first of the credits into.The credits used in this shot show the name of the company name 'Dark Productions' in white, the effect for these used is called tracking which we used for the majority of our credits except our title 'Nostalgia'. We used low key lighting in this shot. For the music, a paceful intense piano harmony is played to begin with. A sound also included in this shot is the crunching of leaves beneath her feet. The scenery is in a forest.
(Use screenshot of shot from youtube)
The next shot is a long shot of the little girl walking away from the camera. Here, we again used low key lighting but with some light coming through the trees to make it visible. The credits in this shot display 'A film starring' again in white to make it stand out, with the same 'tracking' effect. The music is the same as in the first shot; the intense piano which is used in most of the parts where the little girl is walking through the forest with the crunching sound of the leaves as well. The little girl is wearing a pink dress as she is throughout the rest of the opening scene.
(Screenshot)
A mid shot and panning of the little girl is then used with dim lighting and the same music as used previously. The credits displayed here show the name of a main actor 'Yasmin Bhatti'. This then goes on to a point of view shot of the little girl looking at a tree, whilst zooming into the tree the music gets more intense and deeper, around the tree are dark shadows to emphasise its significance. The lighting therefore appears darker than the previous shots. 
(Screenshot)
A shot of the same tree is then shown but this time the lighting is alot brighter and the image is blurry to show that it is a flashback. The characters in this shot are both the little girl and her older sister playing around the tree in a happy memory. here, the main sound is the diagetic sound of laughter, whilst the main piano sound has been turned down for this particular shot. They are both in casual clothing and here the little girl is wearing a pink scarf which is going to go on to be the main iconography in the clip. The credits here display my name, one of the main actors, 'Ayesha Bhatti', we put my name here as this is when I first appear in the clip, this again is in the effect 'tracking' and in bold white.
(Screenshot) 
Another longshot is then faded into the clip showing the little girl walking in her pink dress with dim lighting, with the main music of the piano turned back up, but also still hearing the crunching of the leaves beneath her feet.This then goes into a side panning midshot of the little girl walking past the pink scarf on the tree with the same music which then changes for the next shot when the music gets sharper and the beat gets deeper. The music changes as there is an over the shoulder shot whilst zooming into the scarf. Around the scarf there are dark shadows, the same used when zooming into the tree in a previous shot and the lighting has also been darkened here to reflect the dark music. The credits here display 'Director of photography by'.
(Screenshot)
After this, it then goes into a flashback the little girl is experiencing of the older sister putting the scarf of the little girl. Here, the lighting is bright due to it being a flashback and the sides are blurred out to enhance the change from reality to the flashback. The little girl and her sister shown are in casual clothing with the use of the scarf as iconography. The scenery again is in a forest. The music used is of the main track played throughout most of the clip - the intense dramatic piano, however, due to it being a flashback the volume is lowered to focus on the deeper sound added in. There are no credits displayed in this particular shot.
(Screenshot)

The next shot is of the little girl walking up to the camera with the main sound being the crunching leaves but also the continuous piano subtly playing in the background. The lighting has been dimmed and she is wearing her pink dress. Here, the credits shown display 'Deanna Mathers' following the previous credit saying 'Director of photography by' this is in white with the tracking effect. After this, the little girl then stops, and it zooms into a close-up of her emotionless face with the same music and dim lighting.
(Screenshot)
This then fades into a quick high shot of the back of the little girl kneeling by the river. The lighting is dim and the music is the same piano. However, this soon changes when the sound turns into heavy breathing and running and the lighting is completely black due to it being a blackout, after these sounds are played through for a few seconds we then introduced a sound of a little girl screaming leading to the sound of a splash. As this shot was completely black we thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce our film title 'Nostalgia' as this would bring more attention and focus to it. Unlike the rest of our credits in our clip being all white and in the 'tracking' effect, the title is white with a red glow and is in the effect 'glow'.
(Screenshot)
Following the last sound heard which was the splash, the next shot was underwater. Here, we see the little girl in her pink dress getting strangled and drowned by her killer wearing a long sleeve black top. The sound of the piano is turned back on to pick up the pace and intensity. The lighting is dim and we changed the coloring of the swimming pool to more brown-green to make it appear more like a river. Due to it being underwater, we decided to put the credits saying 'Director of Underwater Photography', back to the same effect of 'tracking' in white.
(Screenshot)

Production Roles - Miss Miller

When filming our opening scene, people need to be allocated specific roles in order to get everything done and completed efficiently. By doing this everyone is secured with their own jobs to get on with and can contribute their small part to the making of the film. The possible roles within creating a film is the director, producer, the actors, directors of photography (cameramen), sound technicians, screenplay writer, MES co-coordinators and the editors.

When planning our opening credits our group had to make up some names so that there wasn't the same names being repeated throughout, this would make the film opening appear unprofessional. However, we still had to divide the names between the three people in our group, me Deanna and Lilian in allocated roles.

During the planning of our narrative for our opening scene, we decided to include 3 characters, a little sister, an older sister and the killer. We decided on me playing the role of the older sister as the little girl playing my younger sister is my actual little sister so we thought this would be appropriate in looking more realistic and truthful. An actors/actresses role within the film is to be prepared to follow the directors instructions to ensure their carrying out their role appropriately with the right emotions, they also need to learn the lines of the character they are playing if dialogue is included. In our opening scene there is no dialogue as we discovered that silence is conventional to the thriller genre in creating a more tense atmosphere. Our filming is made up out of two days that the actors would have acted out in each frame of our group storyboard, the first footage filmed in the forest, and the second in a swimming pool for the underwater scene, where the actors are required to have a reasonable amount of patience and also swimming ability.

I was designated the role of the producer and also the Mise-en-scene coordinator. We decided on this because I decided on the location of the filming in the forest. Also, me and my sister were the actors so it was easiest for me to figure out the costs etc. I was also able to plan the costumes due to us being the actors, as i could decide on what would be most suitable for our narrative whilst at home for the both of us. My role as producer included working alongside Lilian, the director to assist Deanna with deciding on shots we may be unsure of whilst filming. I felt that I carried out my role at a good standard as my chosen location of the forest looked good and fitted well with our clip, also my idea to use the school swimming pool worked out well as once the underwater scene was edited you could not tell the little girl was not in a river. I found it easy choosing costumes as I only had to dress myself and Yasmin in clothes we already owned. I also provided the iconography which we also had possession of, this meant that our group did not have to pay for anything apart from the underwater camera which we did not have to begin with.

The role of the director, who ensures everything is going to plan and running smoothly by ensuring that all the roles have been allocated and completed by people to good standard before the deadline was to be taken on by Lilian. We came to this decision as for one Lilian wanted to do this, following by the fact I was already acting in the opening scene so would be unable to control everything and make sure things are completed. Me and Deanna also played various other roles so by giving Lilian the role of director she would be equalled out with her contribution as this is a big and important role to play and would have plenty to be getting on with. Unfortunately, Lilian was absent during the filming of both the underwater scene and in the forest, therefore leaving me and Deanna to split the role of director. This did not cause too much disruption as we compromised and made sure everything was running as planned between the both of us. Despite me and Deanna having had several other roles to be completing I felt we were able to carry out role as director sufficiently which helped us with production as we guided one another and Yasmin through their allocated roles and what we/they should be doing.

Deanna was the director of photography. We decided for her to have this role as it was the most suitable role for her due to Lilian directing and me acting she was left to operate the camera and decide on the various shots included. The role and jobs of the director of photography included looking at both our filming schedule and group storyboard to assist her in what specific shots to film and carry out, this also guides the actors in making them aware of what they need to be doing and portraying in the certain shots. Deanna will be in charge of the filming taking place in the forest and also the filming underwater in the swimming pool, this means she must decide on what shots will look best and suit our narrative most appropriately. I felt that Deanna completed this role perfectly by providing us with all the footage we needed at all the right angles and shots. She was able to operate the camera with no issues and was also patient with the actors when having to repeat shots that had gone wrong. When filming the underwater scene Deanna was able to film great shots at hard angles to capture with an underwater camera she was unfamiliar with. By Deanna carrying out this role it helped us with production massively as we got masses of good footage for us to work, edit, and perfect on.

It was also decided on that Deanna would be carrying out the role of the main editor. This leaves her in charge of all of our footage, with the assistance of me and Lilian. We thought this was suitable as Deanna has the basic understanding of the final cut c pro editing software being used as she edited and put together our preliminary task. We therefore thought Deanna would be able to familiarise herself with the software faster than me and Lilian could, leaving us to complete our opening scene by the deadline given. However, when it came down to editing I ended up taking on the role as main editor as I very quickly familiarized myself with the software with few complications. This therefore meant that we were able to edit everything at a faster pace then expected and whilst doing so Deanna and Lilian gave me their opinions on what they thought looked good and what they didn't like meaning we all contributed in this specific role which was helpful in producing our final piece.

Overall, the allocation of roles to each of us in the group helped speed up the process of both the filming and the editing and guided us in what to do without any confusion. I felt that we all worked hard on the roles given to us in making sure our opening scene turned out as planned and expected. The only thing I wish we would have done differently was make sure all our group were present during the filming as this would have equalled out our roles as some of us had too much to do at some points. Excluding that all roles were completed how we wanted them to be and turned out to be a success in our eyes.

Planning opening credits - Miss Georgiou

Credits are important in the opening sequence of a film as it makes the audience aware of who is involved in the making of the film, it also sets the scene when introducing the audience to what the film is going to be about. Credits can do this with the font for example, if the font was sharp, black white and/or red, I would assume the film is going to be a thriller, whereas if the font were pink and red I may think the film is going to be a romance. Credits may attract viewers more into the film as famous actors/directors are introduced which makes the film seem more appealing. When creating our opening sequence planning the credits we use is important as we have to ensure the credits we use are both conventional and appropriate to the thriller genre as we want to immediately make the audience feel on edge and get into the tense atmosphere of our clip, we also want to make sure they match up to the images and music within our clip.

The order of credits used are typically:

• Production company
• Director
• Actors/Famous actors
• Title of film
• Actors continued
• Casting
• Music costumes
• Editors
• Production
• Camera operator
• Co-producer
• Producer
• Writing director

When looking at the opening credits of thriller films, I analysed the film 'The Orphan' as the credits used appealed to me and came across really creepy. The clip is below.

When looking at this clip I looked at different aspects of the credits which were:

• The font and style of the credits
• The colours of the credits and background/images
• The orders in which the credits appear
• Thriller conventions of the credits

Within the opening credits of The Orphan clip, the font 

Having researched into how opening credits are presented and why they are presented in that way, we discussed in my group the credits we wanted to include for our opening thriller, which are;

• Company Name - Dark Productions
• Actors - Ayesha Bhatti & Yasmin Bhatti
• Director - Lillian Amaning
• Title - Nostalgia
• Casting By - (L) Katie Mitchell
• Music By - (A) Olivia Edwards 
• Costumes by (D) Daniel Woods
• Hair & Make up by (A) Laura Smith
• Editor - Deanna Mathers 
• Production - Ayesha Bhatti
• Director of Photography - Lillian Amaning 
• Director of Photography (underwater) - Deanna Mathers

• Used contrast between white and black to represent good and evil, victim and villain
• Ink smudges- realistic as its acessable. Could be a metaphor saying that film will not run smoothly - negative as audience will guess there will not be a simple narrative.  Also, could guess that an accident will happen., as ink spillages are accidental. 

• put eachothers ideas together.
• Used red colour for credit with a black outline to make audience think about meaning of word. 
• Used red, black and white to show the difference between good and evil, villain and victim. 
• Changed the colour of the ink to make it seem like blood which is conventional to thrillers. 

Ink idea - Deanna 

Contrast of colours - Lillian 

representation of blood - both 

• used red - conventional - blood -- foreshadows something bad will happen - death
• used lined paper - more realistic as everyone can acess paper. 
• contrast between black background + red + white colour to show difference between good and evil (victim + villain)
• Style - Sharp font + bold to emphasise the title and make audience think of its meaning. - gives them an idea of what the films going to be about.