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.