Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

The group and I decided to use the Kuleshov effect when the antagonist stabs the victim, however the audience do not see this thus giving it the effect. This will show the victims facial expression which will be scared, frightened and worried which is conventional and shows the audience the power that the antagonist has. The audience will be able to build a relationship with the female victim as they will sympathies for her because he has been wrongfully murdered. This is conventional as it shocks the audience as they don't expect the antagonist to actually kill the victim so early on in the film, thus engaging the audience and making them feel mixed emotions towards the female victim. We decided to use this effect because it creates an enigma and leaves the audience questioning whether the female victim died.           

We then decided to use a fade out to fade in effect. The audience will see this when the camera fades out to black and fades back into the victims POV. This shows that she is unconscious and that the antagonist has inflicted pain upon her. This allows the audience to instantly feel sorry for the female victim. This shows the audience that he doesn't care about what he will do to her and what the consequences might be. This shows the audience that he is reckless and unforgiving, which is conventional to the thriller genre because the antagonist is hated amongst the audience. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the victim as they are scared for the female victims safety. This is conventional as it builds up tension as the audience do not know what might happen next, ultimately engaging them. The reason we decided to use this is because it also incorporates continuity editing, this is because the fade in and out makes the audience feel as if they are actually the female victim.

We then chose to use a reaction shot, this is evident when the audience watch the antagonist scrape the knife along the wall then the camera looks at the female victim crying. This will show the audience that the female victim is frightened and doesn't know what will happen next, helping the audience relate to her as they feel the same. This then creates an enigma because the audience do not know what might happen to the victim, which makes the audience worry for her. This is conventional as it builds up suspense because no one knows what will happen, this also engages the audience because it keeps them hooked onto the film. The group and I decided to use this shot because we thought the shot would be conventional as it shows the female victim being weak and vulnerable because she is scared and it shows that she is inferior to the antagonist.

The group and I have chosen to use timing of shots because it is conventional and the slow editing creates many different possibilities, which could happen to the female victim. This is evident when the audience see the victim walking through the alley looking at the photos of herself. The audience will see slow editing at this point as they see the female victim walking slowly to create tension. Then when the antagonist grabs the female victim, the scene will speed up and the audience will be introduced to a montage editing of the female victim struggling to escape from the antagonist. This shows the audience that something bad will happen because they can forebode death to come due to the timing of shots. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the victim as they sympathise for her as she is being hurt and injured. This is conventional as it builds up suspense by the tone of the scene suddenly being dangerous.

To conclude, planing this has helped us to create a conventional opening sequence because it has helped us to realise what editing styles will suit the scene. This planning was useful because it helps us to visualise if the editing style will suit the scene, this also saves us a lot of time when filming because we already know what we want to do and we know that it is conventional and suitable. It also saves us a lot of time because we already know what we want to include in our opening sequence before we start editing the footage.

Research into target audience - Miss Miller

We had carried out the research to find out what the audience that we are targeting wants. This was useful because due to the questionnaire we found out what our audience expect to see from thriller films, which then gave us ideas to incorporate it into our own opening sequence to make it as conventional as possible while also appealing to our audience. We asked 40 people in total because we wanted a wide range of opinions so that when we create our opening sequence it will appeal to a wider range of people.

From the first pie chart the group and I can tell that there are an equal amount of males as there are females whom took our questionnaire. This tells us that we should appeal to both the genders by having a lot of gruesome scenes for the males and have a female antagonist for the female audience. This will hopefully then appeal to both the genders and make a balanced film engaging our target audience.

From this pie chart the group and I can note that our main audiences lay in between the ages of 15-17 years of age. This means that we can't include sexual content as only people of the age 18+ are allowed to view it. However we are allowed to show violence, thus the group and I will try to include as much gruesome violence as possible for our male audience. We will incorporate this into our film by having our main antagonist kill gruesomely, thus engaging our 15-17 audiences.

From this pie chart the group and I can see that most of our audiences watch thriller films, thus meaning that we can rely on the following results as the audience know what they want to see from a thriller film. This also means that we should create an opening sequence of the thriller genre as most of our audience watch it. For our audiences that do not watch thriller films, we will try and integrate something different that will appeal to them. We will do this by having our main antagonist dress as a clown, this will appeal to them because it is something different and the phobia for clowns is very common, thus they are able to relate to the characters.

From this pie chart the group and I can confirm that most of our audiences prefer to watch films other than the listed few. This means that the group and I should aspire to create an opening sequence which is different and unique and not like the listed few, however also making it conventional to the thriller genre. On the other hand some of our audiences liked the other listed few which means that the group and I will include elements of the other films, for example, we will attempt to make our opening sequence as gruesome as Saw's opening sequence to appeal to the audiences whom like the Saw franchise. This will then appeal to our audiences because it will be similar to other thriller films, however with our little twist to it.



When analysing this pie chart, the group and I were able to confirm that most of our audiences prefer the antagonist to use a knife as the weapon of choice. We will then incorporate this into our opening sequence as the antagonist will be chasing the female victim down the street with a knife. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the antagonist uses a weapon, which inflicts slow but excruciating pain. However some of our audience also want the other weapons to be used by the antagonist so the group and I thought we could have the antagonist use the other weapons too, however not as much as the knife.


From this, the group and I can confirm that our audience prefer to have the antagonists identity hidden from them, this may be because they enjoy the build up of tension and suspense. The group and I have then decided to have our antagonist wear a clown mask to cover his face keeping him unknown to the audience. This creates an enigma which is conventional. This also keeps the audience questioning  who is under the clown mask, this will then keep them engaged.

Our audience prefer to see a female victim, this may be because they are stereotypically portrayed as being weak and vulnerable. Thus, we will attempt to have our victim a female, as the antagonist has pictures of females on his wall while he obsesses over one in particular, Making it his goal to see her. As the female victim had the overall vote, we will make the antagonist target many females, in order to satisfy the audience because it is conventional to the thriller genre to have a damsel in distress/victim.

From this, the group and I can infer that our audience would prefer the location to be set in an abandoned house as it is isolated and favours the antagonist. We will incorporate this into our opening sequence by having the antagonist chase the female victim into an alleyway and knocking her out, leaving her in an abandoned dark room, which is completely isolated leaving the victim cornered and vulnerable. This will be conventional to the thriller genre because it leaves the audience feeling sympathy towards the female victim, which also makes her character more relatable. We will try and film our sequence in an abandoned house, however if this is not possible we will try and create an isolated dark room.

Most of our audience want to see an enigma in our opening sequence, which can be seen in the pie chart. The group and I will attempt to do this by having the antagonist wear a clown mask to hide his identity. Hopefully this will keep the audience questioning who the person behind the mask really is and if they have met them yet. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it keeps the audience questioning whom the antagonist is for the whole film, this makes the audience want to watch the film to the end as they badly want to find out who the antagonist is.

From this pie chart the audience equally want to see all four of the elements, surprise, suspense,shock and tension. The group and I have decided we will integrate all four elements into the opening sequence, for example we will have a build up of suspense through the suspenseful music which is being played over the female victim trying to escape from the antagonist. All four of these elements make the thriller genre because they are there to engage and excite the audience.

The purpose of my vox pops were to allow the audience to answer the questionnaire orally this meant that they gave their opinions fluently which meant that whatever they said was the first thing that came to their  minds. Also another reason i did these vox pops were to allow the audience to answer the open questions fully and in more detail, this is because when people answer questionnaires they tend to shorten down their answers, however by doing the vox pops they answered them in detail. This is also very helpful for the group and I because it means that we were able to receive more complex and in detail answers which gives us more opinions that could help us to improve our opening sequence.

To conclude, I found the Vox Pops very useful and helpful for my group as it allowed us to get an insight of what our audiences think in a lot of detail, this is useful because it lets us know what we need to change and what the audience thought was good about our questionnaire which then let us make vital changes to make our opening sequence as entertaining and conventional as possible. The group and I will try and incorporate every point that was being made by our audience, we will do this by re evaluating our opening sequence and including the elements which the audience would like to see. Ultimately this will make our opening sequence appeal to our 15-17 year old target audience. If i had to re do the task again i would make our open questions more complex so that when our audience answers them by doing a Vox Pop they can answer the question in detail which overall helps both the group and I, and the audience. 

Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is important within films because it makes the audience feel different types of emotions due to the different types of cinematography. Also, without cinematography the film is unable to portray hidden messages and convey the characters emotions towards the audience. Planning is required to produce excellent scenes because it helps the director to visualise the scene before filming it. This is helpful because it helps directors to see if scenes are good enough to film.

An over the shoulder shot/Shallow focus will be used in our opening sequence when the audience see the antagonist getting ready in the mirror. This shows the audience that he wants to be hidden from the world as the shallow focus is blurring out his face keeping his identity hidden. This is conventional to the thriller genre because there is a creation of an enigma, which is common to the thriller genre as it leaves the audience questioning what might happen next. This helps the audience build a negative relationship with the antagonist because they can foreshadow something sinister and bad will happen in the future. The audience will also dislike the antagonist because they are unsure of who is under the mask, which only makes them want to know more.

A close up will be used in our opening sequence, this is evidential when the audience watch the victim running and looking back at the antagonist. This shot will be used to show the facial expression of fear and vulnerability on the females face allowing the audience to infer that something bad will happen to her. This is conventional as it builds up suspense and tension as the audience question whether the female victim will survive or not, which then allows the audience to feel scared for her. This helps the audience build a relationship with the female victim because they sympathise for her as they know she may be on the verge of death. She is also a female and of a young teen age, thus the young female audiences will be able to relate to her. 

The panning shot will be used in our opening sequence, this is evident when the audience see the chase scene with the antagonist chasing after the female victim. The panning shot shows how much effort she is putting in, in order to escape from the antagonist, the audience can infer from this that she is feeling petrified and very vulnerable as she could be seconds away from death. This creates suspense as they are unsure about if the antagonist will murder the victim or not, this also creates escapism for the audience as they escape their real life problems as they worry about the female victim's. This helps the audience build a relationship with the female victim because they feel apologetic towards her because she has been a target of an unfair murder. It is also very conventional to the thriller genre because it shows the differentiating power between the two, the female being the weaker. 

The high angle/point of view shot can seen by the audience when the female victim falls on the floor and the antagonist is looking and standing over her. This shot was used to show the positioning of the characters, the audience can see that the victim is on the floor and the antagonist is standing over her, they can infer from this that the antagonist is overpowering the victim making her look weak and inferior. This creates tension as they patiently wait to see if the antagonist will do anything to the female victim this also helps build suspense because the audience are worried for the victim. This helps the audience build a relationship with the female victim because they fear for her as they forebode something bad to happen later on in the film.

Lastly, deep focus will be seen by the audience when the antagonist is watching the female victim from a distance and she is unaware of it. This shows the audience that the victim is weak and very vulnerable because the audience can infer that the antagonist is targeting an easy target. The shot also shows the foreground background and middle ground clearly which exaggerates the fact that the female is vulnerable because she is lonely. This creates tension as they wait to see if the antagonist will try to do something or if he will leave her. This also creates suspense because the audience can see from the deep focus all the areas where the victim is vulnerable. This causes the audience to become scared for the victim's safety, which is conventional because it leaves the audience questioning what will happen next. 

To conclude, I think that by having these camera shots will help engage and entertain the audience because it makes them feel an array of emotions which ultimately keeps them hooked onto the film trying to guess what might happen next. Planning this has helped the group and I a lot as now we know how to use a different variety of camera shots to make the audience feel different emotions. Also it saves us a lot of time figuring out whether it will be conventional or not as from this task we have visualised how the scene will look and know that it will be conventional and appealing to the audience.

Planning individual narrative - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of a narrative in a film is to allow the audience to figure out what the rest of the film is about. This should include death, an unknown killer, music to set the scene, a common location,  low key lighting, a sense of shock, suspense and surprise, silence and finally an enigma. This engages the audience because there are many different elements which causes the audience to feel many different emotions.

My opening sequence idea is about, a psychopath who dresses as a clown. He does this because he has a split personality which shows the audience how unstable he is as he hides his personality behind  the mask and costume which he wears. This also creates an enigma as the audience do not know who is behind the mask. His idea for fun is inflicting pain among the citizens, however when he targets a former marine's daughter, a huge conflict arises. 

Mine-En-Scene can be seen in my opening sequence though the element, Positioning of Characters. This is evident when the audience see the antagonist standing over the female victim, overpowering her. This will show the audience who out of the two is more dominant. Lighting and colour will be seen by the audience through natural lighting. This will be done to give the sequence a natural, normal feel which will hopefully keep the audience engaged and excited. Colour will be seen by the audience when the antagonist stabs the vicim causing her to bleed. The audience can infer that the colour red symbolises pain and gives the sequence the sense of death. Setting and iconography will be seen by the audience, firstly, the scene will be set in the antagonists warehouse which is isolated. This is done to favour the antagonist and hopefully anger the audience while also engaging them. The iconography which will be used by the antagonist is the knife which he stabs the female victim with. I have chosen to have a knife as the main weapon as it is conventional and common. The silence will be evident when the audience see the female victim get stabbed by the antagonist. This is done to show the audience that the silence mirrors her life, as when the music ends so does her life. Costume, hair and make-up will be evidential when the audience see the antagonist wearing a clown costume and wearing clown-like make-up. This is done to show the audience that the antagonist has two very different split personalities to him, these consist of a happy, funny clown-like personality and the twisted evil murderous personality.

The characters which will be included in my opening sequence are the male antagonist whom is dressed as a clown and the weak female victim. I have chosen to use a male antagonist who dresses like a clown because I think the idea of having a clown with two split personalities will engage the audience because it is unique and uncommon to the thriller genre, thus the audience will not expect it. I have decided to choose a female victim because they are conventional to the thriller genre as women are stereotypically portrayed as being weak, vulnerable and the damsel in distress. Thus the audience will be entertained as they expect to see a female victim. My opening sequence is conventional because the opening sequence includes, an enigma, death, an unknown killer, music to set the scene, a conventional location such as a house, low key lighting, shock, suspense and surprise and lastly silence. My narrative is conventional because it is common to have a chase scene between a vulnerable female victim and a powerful antagonist.

My sequence will appeal to my target audience because it has a balance of gruesome events which will appeal to the male audience because they enjoy seeing blood and death and it will appeal to the female audience because there will be a female victim. This allows the female audiences to build a relationship with the female victim as they sympathise over her. I will show my group my idea and ask for feedback so that I can improve my narrative and make it more conventional so that when we put all our ideas together the narrative will be as conventional and engaging as possible.

  

Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

My group consists of Myself, Layla Boudaboussa and Samara Stevenson.

Group member 1 (Layla): My idea for my opening two minute thriller sequence is to have a mentally disturbed man sitting on his computer obsessing over a young pretty girl. Over time his obsession increases and he starts to follow her around taking pictures of her. The audience do not know the antagonists true motive for the girl, which then causes an enigma for the audience keeping them engaged as they want to find out more. 

In my opinion I think that her strengths are that she has thought about incorporating an enigma into her opening sequence which is very conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience question what might happen next, ultimately hooking them onto the film. Another strength is that her opening sequence contains the theme of obsession, which is common throughout thrillers, thus making the idea conventional towards the audience allowing them to enjoy the film. Her last strength comes form having a female victim as the antagonists target, this makes the opening sequence conventional because it allows the female audiences to build a relationship towards the female as they sympathise over her. However, she also has weaknesses throughout her narrative, these are that she hasn't stated where her location will be set which is vital for the audiences perspective. Another weakness is that she has not told the audience wether her antagonist will be hidden to the audience or not. This is important because they both follow different conventions in which we can incorporate. Lastly, she hasn't stated whether the theme of shock, surprise, suspense and tension will be portrayed within the sequence, which is vital as it helps the audience feel an array of emotions.

Group member 2 (Samara): My idea for a two minute opening sequence will be about obsession. There will be a male that has an obsession with a young female. She lives her own and he goes into her house and watches her sleep, takes her possessions, cuts off some hair and smells her perfume. He has this obsession because he thinks she is beautiful and he knows that he is a freak so will never have a chance with her.

In my opinion I think that her strengths are that she has incorporated an enigma into her narrative which is conventional to the thriller genre as it makes the audience question what might happen next, keeping them engaged into the film. The enigma in which she has decided to create it the fact that the antagonist's identity is hidden due to the fact that they're wearing a mask over their head. She has also mentioned the location which is in an isolated house, this is effective because it follows the convention of thriller films, thus allowing the audience to become engaged. Lastly, she has include a female victim which in my opinion is very effective towards the audience because it is conventional that a female plays the victims as they're stereotypically the weaker gender. This is also very effective because it allows the female audiences to build a relationship with the female character as they sympathise for her. However she does have weaknesses in her narrative, this being that the narrative is too vague which makes it harder for the group and I to pick out elements of her narrative to include in the main narrative. Also the only theme that she has included is the theme of obsession, this is a weakness because there should be a variety of different types of thrillers in order to engage and entertain the audience. Lastly, in her narrative she has not mentioned there to be any pain or fear to be inflicted upon the female victim, thus it doesn't follow the conventions of the thriller genre and the audience are then not engaged and satisfied.

Group member 3 (Leo): My opening sequence idea is about, a psychopath who dresses as a clown. He does this because he has a split personality which shows the audience how unstable he is as he hides his personality behind  the mask and costume which he wears. This also creates an enigma as the audience do not know who is behind the mask. His idea for fun is inflicting pain among the citizens, however when he targets a former marine's daughter, a huge conflict arises. 

In my opinion I think that my strengths are that I have kept the identity of the antagonist hidden to the audience, this is effective because it allows the creation of an enigma which leaves the audience wondering who the killer is. This is also conventional to the thriller genre, thus the audience is entertained while watching the opening sequence. Another strength of mine is that I have based my opening sequence on the psychological theme, which is very effective towards the audience as it keep them thinking, thus making them hooked onto the film as they want to know what will happen next. Lastly, I have decided to have the main antagonist to be wearing a clown mask and have a bubbly but twisted personality, this is effective and one of my strengths because it is conventional to thrillers to portray the antagonist to be mentally unstable and ill as it makes the audience uncomfortable which is oddly satisfying. However I also have weaknesses in my narrative, which includes the fact that I have not stated where shock, surprise and suspense are in my opening sequence which is vital as they are the main elements in the thriller genre which engage the audience. Another weakness is that I have not stated the weapon that the antagonist uses, this is important because the weapon of choice will decide whether my antagonist is conventional or not; for example, the antagonist will be more conventional if they were to be using a knife rather than a gun to inflict fear upon the victim. Lastly, one of my biggest weaknesses is that my opening sequence favours the male audience because the sequence includes many gruesome scenes which the male audience preferably enjoy rather than the female audiences. This is a big weakness because the group and I have decided that the film should appeal equally to both genders.

The group narrative that we have decided on is that there is going to be a clown with a hidden identity, he will be getting ready in the mirror, where we will use shallow focus/over the shoulder shot. He will then go out to watch his victim, a young female, whom he has a secret obsession over, she will start to notice him and attempt to run away, however doing so she trips over. Once he has caught up to her the audience will see him standing over her, which shows that he is more dominant. He will then pull out his murder weapon, a knife and kill her. However, the audience will not see the antagonist kill the female victim causing a kuleshov effect to take place which will keep the audience engaged and wanting to know what might happen next.       

We have decided to base our idea on what I had said but also including elements of my other two group members. This is because we liked the idea of having an obsession from Samara's idea but thought by using the clown will bring some uniqueness to our sequence. We also decided to use Layla's idea of having a female victim as it is conventional to the thriller genre.

The theory which the group and I have decided to base our opening sequence on is Aristotle's. This is because we have an inciting incident where the clown murders the female vicim. The audience is also asking the question of who the antagonist is. Also, both the antagonist and the protagonists (Victim) are introduced to the audience as the antagonist is the clown and the victim is the young girl. The stake is that there is a sense of death and mystery about whether the female victim will survive of be murdered to death. Although our resolution will not be in our opening sequence, it will be that the antagonist will be revealed which answers the audiences question, solving the enigma. Sympathy comes from the audience as they feel apologetic towards the female for dying.

The Todorov theory does not work with our narrative because although there is a disequilibrium there is not an equilibrium in the beginning of the sequence as it starts off with a chase scene. The Propp theory also doesn't work with our narrative because it is based around fairy tales and although the character can be slightly altered for the use in the thriller genre there will not be a fatherly figure in thrillers as they are uncommon. 

Preliminary Task - Miss Miller

The other members in my film consist of, Myself, Layla Boudaboussa and Samara Stevenson. The reason we did this task was to understand how to use the equipment such as the camera and the tripod, but also to get used to using them so that when we come to do our opening sequence we already know the basics of how everything works and get started. During this task, we also got to experiment various different camera angles/shots to see which ones were more suitable and conventional to the thriller genre. The group and I were set a task which involved filming a 1 minute conversation sequence, the task required us to film various different camera shots/angles such as, an over the shoulder shot, a long shot, a mid shot, a close up and a panning shot. After we had filmed the conversation we had to quickly edit the shots and create a short scene which appealed to the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPApZziDqMU

Mid shot - 0:02

Panning - 0:12

Over the shoulder - 0:27

Long shot - 0:34

The group and I had used many different camera shots, as the sequence begins the audience can see a mid shot taken place. They know this because once the characters are through the door only the waist upwards can be seen, indicating that this is a mid shot. As the sequence continues, the audience can see a panning shot due to the camera following the movements of the characters from the door to the table. Following through, the audience can then see the over the shoulder shot of the two characters. This is evident when the audience see the male character talking whilst the camera is positioned over the female characters shoulder and vice versa. Lastly, as the sequence carries on the last camera shot which the audience are able to see is a long shot as both the characters are walking out of the room. The audience can identify that this is a long shot because they can see both characters from head to toe while also seeing the background. I think that the group and I did particularly well by including all the camera shots needed while also making the preliminary task conventional, thus appealing to the audience. We did this by having to re take shots over and over again to perfect the scene, I also think that the positioning of the camera and tripod helped perfect the shots further. I think that the group and I also did particularly well on setting up the tripod and the camera, although the shots were not perfect, it was a good attempt at our first try, thus making us feel proud of what we had produced in terms of camera shots. On the other hand I think that the group and I could work on the panning shot a little more to further understand how to correctly use it. I think this because from the preliminary task the audience are only able to see a glimpse of a panning shot as the clip lastly less than 5 seconds, also I think that the panning shot didn't move to the left enough for the audience to realise it was a panning shot. Also, the group and I struggled on keeping the tripod stationary, this is evident as the long shot of Lily and I is slightly tilted, this may be because one of the legs were not fully extended or the object we had placed the tripod on in the first place wasn't slightly tilted or not supported properly. To avoid this happening when we film our opening sequence the group and I will attempt to position the camera further away and at a tighter angle, thus making the camera rotate more when following the characters. We will also check the tripods positioning before we start filming to ensure that the camera is not tilted. What I think could help us when filming our opening sequence is by exploring and incorporating more advanced camera angles to make it easier to get the audience hooked onto the sequence. I also think that having more camera movements will help further engage our audience as they want to have a mixture of camera shots and movements to keep the opening sequence realistic, overall not boring the audience by have only still camera shots. Watching and editing the footage back over has helped the group and I understand what mistakes we had made, this was evidential as we had filmed an hours worth of footage only to use 40+ seconds of it. Also when watching it back over, as I referred to before, the group and I didn't realise that the panning shot didn't look as effective and conventional as we thought, thus by watching the footage back we were able to realise what mistakes he had made which hopefully we learnt from.

To conclude, this task has helped me in preparing for filming the opening sequence as it has taught me to always look back at the footage we took to see if it was effective and conventional enough, also to explore into more advanced camera shots and movements. But most importantly this task has helped the group and I to get used to the equipment and camera thus making it easier for us to get started when we start shooting the opening sequence. In my opinion I think what the group and I should do the same is produce the same effective camera shots, such as the long shot which allowed the audience to see the characters and the background. What i thought was very successful with the long shot is that we performed it correctly will little flaws. However what I think the group and I should change or do differently next time is watch through the clips that we had shot. This is because it is vital to check back on the footage you have shot to check if it is good enough to use. I will try and make sure to do this by remembering to check the footage after every 10-15 minutes thus giving the group time to shoot many different angles and perfect them afterwards. We also learnt from this task how to use the basic functions of the camera and the tripod, this is vital because when we start to film it, it will help us as we will already be familiar with the equipment, allowing us to  get started with the filming straight away.

Thriller Inspirations - Miss Geogiou

Thriller Inspirations

We need inspirations before we can start to create something because it helps us to further understand what we want to do and aspire us to make it even better by tweaking at it. Inspiration can be taken from any and everywhere, be it from a movie or from something you see elsewhere. Inspirations are usually taken from other films that people have watched so that they know what engaged them when they watched the film which they can then implement into their own opening sequence. The inspirations which I got was from the six films that I had previously analysed, I will try to incorporate them into my own opening sequence.

Sound - 2:09

My first inspiration comes from the film "Scream 2", I saw this when I watched the opening sequence of the film where the female victim is walking towards the cinema screen while also being stabbed by the unknown killer. The inspiration that I took from this was from the soundtrack. This is evident as the tempo of the music started fast paced as I saw the female victim struggle to get away from the killer, then the music gradually got slower as she slowly walked her way up to the stage, lastly as the female victim is about to die the background music suddenly stops and becomes silent as I saw her die on the stage. I think that this is effective because I knew form this that the music reflected her life, because when the music stopped so did her life. I will try to incorporate this sounds technique into my opening sequence by having suspenseful music, however instead of the music mirroring her life, the music will become more tense as she edges closer towards the antagonist. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkomafwLZM

Low key lighting - 0:08

Another inspiration that I have chosen to use is from the thriller film, "Halloween (1978)". The inspiration in which I have decided to use is the low key lighting. The audience can see this when they watch the unknown killer slowly walking into the house of the female victim while also spying on her. I have chosen to use this as I think that the low key lighting helps to set a terrifying and eerie atmosphere which makes the audience uncomfortable. Another reason I chose to use this was because the low key lighting keeps the unknown antagonist hidden from the characters which I think is very effective because it creates an enigma, thus making the audience and the characters question who the killer really is. I will try to incorporate this low key lighting into my opening sequence by making one of my tense scenes have dark low key lighting in hopes that it creates an eerie atmosphere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELF1DCf1ChA 

Reaction shot - 3:10

My other inspiration is from the gory thriller, "Saw 7". The inspiration that I took from this torture scene is through the editing technique, reaction shot. This is evidential when the audience watch the timer turn to 0 and the tyre above the female victims head begins to drop, allowing the audience to see the fear and worry on the females face. I have decided to chose this as my inspiration due to the fact that I think the reaction shot is very effective in showing the audience the characters facial expressions. In my opinion i think that this is very effective and conventional because the shot allows the audience to read her expressions which indicates to them that she is petrified. This will engage the audience because they feel an array of emotions at the very moment which hooks them onto the film, waiting to see what will happen next. I will try to incorporate this reaction shot into my opening sequence as the audience will see the reaction of the female victim after she witnesses the unknown antagonist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKa3l96nfnY 

Extreme close up - 1:16:27

The inspiration in which I have chosen is from the thriller film, "Insidious 3" The inspiration that I have decided to use is through the cinematography technique, extreme close up. This is evident when the audience watch Elise open the door handle in the other dimension only to realise after she touched the handle her hand was covered on blood. I think this shot is effective because it foreshadows danger and death to come as there is blood which symbolises pain. Also the colour of the blood is red, this is another effective technique as I know that the colour red symbolises demise, thus giving me an insight of whats to come. This allows me to try and predict the future while also leaving an enigma as I question my prediction. This engages the audience because from this one technique it allows them to foreshadow something sinister to happen which keeps them hooked as they want to see if their prediction was correct. I will try to integrate this into my opening sequence by having this shot of the antagonists weapon to show the audience how violent and unstable the antagonist is, which will hopefully trifle them.
https://xmovies8.org/watch?v=Insidious_Chapter_3_2015#video=dVzaJL4ud3qT5kw1TKyLyIutM3rdgZ-yGCfL0boNMl8

Positioning of characters - 0:15

The next inspiration I have chosen is from the thriller film, "Orphan". The inspiration in which i have chosen is through the mise-en-scene element, positioning of characters. This is evident when the audience watch Esther sitting on top of the mother with a knife in her hand trying to stab her. I think that this is very effective towards the audience because it shows them that Esther is more dominant than the mother who is inferior as she is overpowering her by sitting on top threatening to end her life. Also I can infer that from Esther's body language she is portraying herself as being very angered which tells me that she wants to kill the mother in all her will. On the other hand the mother's expressions are of her pleading for help as she lays on the icy floor completely defenceless. This will engage the audience because they can differentiate between the superior and the inferior. I will try to integrate this into my opening sequence by having my antagonist overpowering the victim in a similar isolated environment, however without the icy lake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDWTQajOiuw

Contrapuntal - 1:06

Lastly, the inspiration in which I have chosen to include is from the film, "American Psyco". The inspiration that I have chosen is through the sound technique, contrapuntal. This is evidential when the audience watch Patrick put on the radio to, happy up beat music, "Hip to be square" then he attempts to kill Paul. In my opinion i think that this is very effective towards the audience as the music which is playing in the background is happy and up beat, whereas what he plans to do is completely different. This is effective because it shows the audience the two split personalties of Patrick which exaggerates the fact that he needs the medicine to keep him sane. This engages the audience because it allows them to see the two completely different sides of him which the characters in the film can't see. I will attempt to integrate this into my opening sequence by having the antagonist slowly and painfully torture the victim while have up beat music playing to show the antagonist enjoying it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruw9fsh3PNY 

To conclude, I found my research very useful in term of getting ideas for my opening sequence as it has shown me many different various techniques in which engage and excite the audience. The research has helped me to further understand what techniques are useful in making my opening sequence conventional, allowing the audience to be engaged. Overall the research in a whole has helped me to gain more knowledge about how to correctly use techniques and to also use them in a way which is conventional for the audience to become engaged. 

Opening sequence analysis of Halloween - Miss Georgiou

Opening sequence analysis of Halloween (1978)

The purpose of an opening sequence is to introduce the antagonist and victims, introduce the plot and to attract an audience to engage them into being hooked onto the film. The opening sequence must also contain, death, an unknown killer, music to set the scene, a conventional location such as a house, low key lighting, shock, suspense and surprise, silence and lastly, an enigma (mystery). The film that i will be going to analyse is Halloween (1978).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELF1DCf1ChA 

POV - 0:13

Cinematography can be seen through the technique, POV (Point Of View) the audience witness this when they watch the unknown killer slowly walk to the window and spy on the couple. This shot was used to show the audience the killers point of view. Thus this shows the audience what being a killer would feel like. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it keeps the killer unknown from the audience as they can't see the face of the killer. This also keeps the audience in suspense and keeps them questioning who the killer really is. This helps the audience build a relationship with the characters because as well as the victim, the audience too do not know who the killer is, thus sympathising for the victims.

Zoom out to High angle - 3:59

Another technique that was used can be seen by the audience through Zoom out to high angle. This is evidential when the audience watch the clown mask being pulled off of Michael's head. The first technique, zoom out, was used to show the audience who the killer is as the technique allows the audience to see the whole body of the killer. Secondly, the second technique was used to show the families house and the location of the murder. This was used to show the audience how vulnerable the house and location is due to the high angle making the house look small and in threat. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience can see the setting and location of where the murders will take place. The audience can then build a relationship with the characters as they question if Michael is really the killer or if it was someone else.

Slow editing - 1:18

Editing can be seen in the film Halloween through the technique, Slow editing. This is evidential when the audience watch the killer walking around the house slowly so that the victim can't hear the killer. This was done so that the scene will build up suspense as the audience do not know when and who the killer will attempt to murder next. This engages the audience because the killer can strike when the audience least expect it, which creates thrill. This is conventional to the thriller genre because there is a sense of enigma as the audience do not know who the murderer will target next. The audience can then build a relationship with the audience because they feel sympathetic towards the female victim inside the house as they know she is seconds away from dying, however not knowing so.

Reaction shot - 3:08

Another editing technique can be seen through a reaction shot. The audience can see this when they watch the killer sneak up on the female victim and proceeds to stab her, they then see the female victims reaction which is of her screaming whilst trying to defend herself. This shot was done to show the audience the reaction of the victim and the fact that it was completely unexpected, the audience know this because she is getting ready for bed despite there being an unknown killer in her household. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it shows the audience how powerful the antagonist is as the reaction shot usually shows the victim being scared thus making the antagonist look superior over the defenceless victim. This helps the audience build a relationship with the characters because angered towards the unknown killer as the killer has just killed a victim.

Non diegetic sound - 2:37

Sound can be heard in the thriller film, Halloween through the technique, Non diegetic sound. The audience can hear this when dramatic piano sounds are made when the killer gets a hold of the sharp knife and the halloween clown mask. The non diegetic sound was used to create tension and builds up suspense as the audience can foreshadow that something sinister will occur as a result of the knife and mask being picked up. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the build up of tension and suspense has the audience hooked onto the film as they question what the killer might do with the combination of the two iconography. The audience can build a relationship with the characters as they build hatred towards the unknown killer as they can foreshadow sinister things to happen in the future.

Parallel sound - 3:06 

Another sound technique which the audience can hear is through, Parallel sound. This is evident when the audience hear the unknown killer stabbing the female victim to death. This was used to show the audience how violent the antagonist is and to exaggerate the fact that the female victim is being stabbed to death. This is conventional to the thriller genre because through the parallel sound matching the knife stabs the audience can infer that the female victim is being killed and in pain as there is a sense of death in the scene. The audience builds a relationship with the characters as they convey their emotions of sadness towards the female victims as she has just been vigorously stabbed to death.

Low key lighting - 0:08

Conventions can be seen by the audience through Low key lighting. This is evident when the audience watch the unknown killer walk into the house, the audience are able to see the low key lighting inside and out of the house. The lighting was used to create an eerie atmosphere which sets a scary tone to the film, the low key lighting is also used to keep the killer hidden and unknown to the audience as he is hidden in the darkness. The audience can infer from the darkness and the predominate colour black that the colour symbolises something sinister and evil which mirrors the antagonist. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the lighting sets the scary, uncomfortable tone of the thriller film which favours the antagonist. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the characters as they give their condolences to the future victims because they can forebode more deaths to come.  

Suspenseful music - 1:05

Another convention which can be heard by the audience is through, suspenseful music. This can be heard when the audience hear a ringing noise which gradually gets louder as the killer walks further into the house. This was done to build up suspense and tension as the audience can infer from the music getting louder that the female victim is nearing her death.This is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience build up suspense and tension which keeps them on the edge of their seats waiting to see whether the female victim will die or not. Another reason for it being conventional is because the audience can forebode death to occur by the gradually loud suspenseful music. The audience can then build a relationship with the characters as they sympathetic towards the female victim because she is innocent but yet they know she will die.

Innocent female victim - 0:25

Representation of characters can be seen through the innocent female victim. The audience can see that the female victim is wearing a white coloured shirt, which they can infer from this that the colour white symbolises innocence and purity. This was done to show the audience that the symbolisation of the colours that the female victim is wearing mirrors her personality of innocence, which is evident as the audience can see during the opening sequence that she has done no wrong. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the victim is being portrayed as an innocent pure young woman who is being targeted due to her vulnerability. The audience start to build a relationship with the female victim as they feel uncomfortably saddened as they know she will be brutally murdered due to her weakness and vulnerability which women are stereotyped to portray. 

Unknown killer - 3:51

Another representation of characters can be seen by the audience when they watch the unknown killer stabbing the female victim in her room. The killer is implied to the audience to be a grown man because the audience can see that the POV shot of the killer stabbing the female victim is too high up to be a little boy. However an enigma is created when the audience see the parents pull off the mask of the killers head revealing the killer to be the little brother, Michael. This was done to create an enigma to keep the audience questioning who the killer really is, by doing so the audience experience shock and surprise as they didn't think that the killer would be the little brother. This is conventional to the thriller genre because an enigma has taken place which is a great way of engaging the audience and keeping them hooked. The audience start to build a relationship with the unknown killer as they are confused and unsure of why Michael did it or if Michael was even the one who did it.

Brutally murdered female victim - 3:15

The narrative of the opening sequence of Halloween is conventional. This is evidential as the audience watch the innocent young female  becoming a victim of murder. The audience see this when they watch the female quietly brushing her hair with her back facing the killer, then suddenly becomes brutally stabbed to death. This was done to make the audience feel lots of different types of emotions, predominately surprise. The audience are surprised as they were not expecting such a violent, brutal killing and in such little time as the killing was so sudden the audience didn't prepare themselves for it. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the narrative has the audience built up with suspense and tension as they do not know when the killer will strike. The audience build a relationship with the unknown killer as they are discombobulated to who he really is.

To conclude, the opening sequence of the thriller film Halloween informs the audience of the conventions of a thriller as they have evidently incorporated many different types of conventions into the first sequence of the film to make the audience feel many different mixed feelings towards the characters. This has worked and is very effective because the audience truly do feel an array of emotions while watching the sequence which range from hatred to sympathy all of which keep the audience engaged and hooked onto the film. 
This analysis has definitely helped me to see the wide array of different conventions to use to engage the audience and also many different ways to use them. I will try to manipulate all of these conventions into my own thriller opening sequence in order to make it successfully conventional, as did Halloween.