1. Thriller Opening Sequence Evaluation Charmaine Christie – Group S2-60

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My thriller opening sequence ‘Development’ is based on well known thriller films, such as ‘Se7en’, and uses many stereotypical thriller conventions, such as capturing suspense. Originally my group was going to focus on abstract filming, as seen in the film opening sequence of ‘Se7en’. We liked the fact that there are only close-up shots of the killer’s hands and nothing else of him in ‘Se7en’ which helped us decide to include only close-up’s of the killers hands in ‘Development’ to create suspense. The mise-en-scene of ‘Se7en’ has an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere that we wanted to produce in our own thriller sequence, we did this by copying the use of dim-lighting and using only close-up’s of the killers hands in ‘Development’, as used in ‘Se7en’ to create suspense.

3. Thriller conventions that ‘Development’ incorporates: In our opening title sequence of ‘Development’ we create an enigma around the killer which creates suspense as he is shown as an unknown character, focusing only on his hands as he both takes the photo and as he develops it later on. These close-ups on his hands create suspense in themselves by hiding the killer’s identity. By keeping his identity a secret, questions are raised for the audience; 'Who is this character?' ‘Why does he have the photo?' ‘What happened to the teenagers?’ This mystery then intern creates suspense for the viewer. Suspense is built through the plot and storyline of the narrative as the viewer worries about the teenagers safety as they are out at night, drinking alcohol which makes them vulnerable to attack. The plot also includes a twist within the narrative which is usually seen in thriller films, where the photograph taken of the teenagers with one of the teen boy’s camera, ends up being developed by the man who takes the photo and who is the supposed killer. The music within our opening sequence creates tension using both a digetic and non-digetic soundtrack. The town scene within ‘Development’ uses mostly non – digetic soundtrack using deep, heavy base sounds mixed with classical strings, (as used in thriller examples we studied including ‘Negative’), to create a scary and mysterious mise-en-scene. However, the non-digetic soundtrack is lowered so the viewer can hear one of the teenagers ask someone to take a photo of the teenagers. Whereas in the photography scene, I cut a section of the digetic soundtrack, reversed it and copied it throughout that scene, also adding slow synthesisers from ‘Garageband’, to create a continuous looping track that creates an eerie atmosphere that sounds uncomfortable to listen to in order to provoke tension.

4. The music also helps reflect the minds of the characters. The non-digetic soundtrack in the town scene implies that something bad is going to happen, yet remains upbeat to reflect the intoxicated minds of the teenagers who are having a good time. However this then fades out and becomes deeper in tone as the photo is taken, reflecting the metaphorically dark mind of the killer who is taking the photograph. The photography scene’s soundtrack that I created remains eerie as it continues to reflect the disturbed mind and mental state of the killer. The music soundtrack and editing of the opening sequence are fast paced and broken up, to rise tension and create panic. A good guy / bad guy structure could be found within our opening sequence. The teenagers being the ‘good guys’ as they appear vulnerable as they are intoxicated and young and the man taking the photo essentially being the ‘bad guy’ as his identity is questioned resulting in him being seen as the killer. In most thriller films the equilibrium is quickly broken, resulting in a journey to figure something out throughout the rest of the storyline. We included this in our opening sequence by showing the town scene of the teenagers having a good time, before showing the killer developing the photography which breaks the equilibrium. In most thriller films the equilibrium is then restored at the end of the film. My group decided to choose a one word title for our opening sequence, ‘Development’. This is conventionally done in thriller movies to raise questions, provoke suspense, to indicate a character’s fatal flaw or is simply something to do with the storyline of the film. This gives the audience an idea of what it is about. ‘Development’ works as a title for our sequence as our thriller sequence is based on photography so we wanted our title to be a photographic term. As well as this it also signifies the movement or ‘development’ of the narrative throughout the sequence.

5. How ‘Development’ develops or challenges conventions: Originally in our opening sequence we were going to use three girls who were each in turn going to get attacked by the killer. However, after receiving feedback about our narrative giving to much away, we decided to change our storyline to become more abstract. We decided to look at how the theme of ‘gender’ is represented within a thriller movie, particularly within the social group of teenagers. Stereotypically within thriller films, females are portrayed to be more vulnerable, and therefore more likely to be attacked, than the male characters. We took this convention and challenged it by creating a situation in our opening sequence where instead of three girls, it is assumed that two teenage boys have been attacked, but not the girl. This changes the stereotypical convention of the female being the easiest to attack, yet develops as the opening sequence ends resulting in the female being the only one left and having no one to protect her, therefore still portraying female vulnerability.

6. Do the thriller conventions you have used indicate a sub-genre? I do not think that our opening sequence connotes a specific thriller sub-genre and we did not set out to create one, simply to use generic conventions found in most thriller films. This is because there includes no chase to make it an action-thriller and no weapons or scenes of violence to make the sequence a slasher. My group also stayed away from using fake blood or gore so the sequence could not be taken as a horror rather than a thriller opening. We decided to use strict thriller conventions to make sure that we did not confuse the genre with either an action or horror opening, thus making it easier for us to create a strictly thriller narrative.

7. Link to ‘Se7en’ opening sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY&eurl=http://thrillerproject.blogspot.com/search/label/Thriller%20Opening&feature=pl ayer_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY&eurl=http://thrillerproject.blogspot.com/search/label/Thriller%20Opening&feature=pl ayer_embedded Link to ‘Negative’ opening sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Ppf- HHsWY&eurl=http://thrillerproject.blogspot.com/search/label/Student%20Thriller%20Opening&feature=player_embedded How we analysed ‘Se7en’ and ‘Negative’ to influence our opening sequence: We looked at the images within the opening sequence of ‘Se7en’ which gave us the idea of using photography within our own group work, to base our narrative around, linking the killer to his victims. We then looked at past pupils opening sequences for further inspiration and found ‘Negative’ which was a helpful example that used photography as we wanted to. Like ‘Negative’ we also decided to include a structured narrative town scene, alongside our more abstract ‘photography scene’.

8. How does your media product represent particular social groups? In my group we decided to use the social group of teenagers to be the ones who are attacked by the killer. This is because teenagers would appear to be more vulnerable than adults, making the viewer worry more for their safety, intern building tension. To make the teenagers seem more vulnerable they are drinking alcohol, this also makes them believable characters as stereotypically, teenagers are widely viewed to all be underage drinkers. To create the effect of underage drinking, so the viewer would know that the teenagers are intoxicated, we used empty vodka bottles filled half with water as props, thus giving the impression that they have been drinking heavily. We decided that the killer should be male, following general thriller convention, as by having a male killer he would stereotypically appear more dominant, powerful and threatening over the now passive, young teenagers, especially the female as she would stereotypically appear weaker.

9. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? ‘Development’ was created to appear as an opening sequence of a film that could have been created in Hollywood using a star cast of actors. This was to make the opening sequence appear as a real thriller, which is why we based it on a photography theme from existing products. However, ‘Development’ could only be viewed in cinemas if it was developed into a full length film. If this were to happen, ‘Development’ would have more chance of having sequel films, therefore increasing the potential for merchandise to be realised such as DVD’s, posters, novelty T-Shirts, etc. Whereas if it were to be kept as an opening sequence it could be shown as a one-off feature production often viewed between programmes on television. Also on the internet as short productions can often be viewed for free. The opening sequence of ‘Development’ could also be used by people studying media studies to show how stereotypical conventions (such as gender in ‘Development’) can be challenged within their tasks. This way it could be sold as internet files, DVD’s or mobile and MP3 files. Posters would make good merchandise for ‘Development’ as they are popular amongst youths and it uses teenage characters that could be shown. The mise-en-scene of the sequence is frightening and dark so interesting designs of the title or props used (such as the camera or rubber gloves), or prints from scenes such as the photography room, could be created to be used on the poster.

10. Who would be the audience for your media product? By using the social group of teenagers we help ‘Development’ appeal to our target audience of young adults plus (between 15 – 25 years of age). This is because the audience can relate to and empathise with the teenage characters and even at 25 can appreciate the stereotypical representation of them. As well as watching for pleasure, the audience can also use escapism to put themselves into the shoes of the characters as they are of the same age, but still be left to wonder about the mind set of the killer which creates suspense. Because ‘Development’ was originally based on ‘Se7en’ we could also guess what type of audience would want to watch it based on the type of people who watch ‘Se7en’, therefore ‘Development’ would most likely be favoured by fans of psychological thrillers. If created, ‘Development’ could be a popular film choice as the general rating for ‘Se7en’ is 8.6/10 on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/ and it was also nominated for an Oscar and obtained 18 other awards and 17 nominations, showing that psychological thrillers are popular. Like ‘Se7en’, ‘Development’ is a one word title that tells the audience something about the film. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/

11. How did you attract/address your audience? Usually within thrillers, point of view shots help an audience empathise with the character, however, in ‘Development’ the point of view shot is done from the point of the killer as he takes a photo of the teenagers. This does not help an audience empathise, but is done to make the killer believable and the teenagers appear vulnerable. It also makes the audience feel involved in the narrative making it more realistic to them. An establishing shot was used to show the vulnerability of the teenagers as they are drunk in town at night, this was followed by a long-shot and a tracking shot so the audience could follow the journey of the teenagers through town. A mid-shot of the three teenagers was then used to show the teenagers identity clearly, making them vulnerable. This turns into a close-up shot of the killer’s fingers to hide his identity.

12. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? The camera equipment that we used was basic, (a camera and a tripod), yet we did not need anything extra. Although, when filming the tracking shot of the teenagers walking along the path in the town scene, rather than turning the camera, we could have used a tracking platform to create a less amateur feel. Programmes I have used: All of the programmes that I have leant to use for this project I had not used before. Final Cut Express – this is where I edited ‘Development’ footage. It was used to cut and rearrange the footage, add soundtracks, change the speed of footage and add titles. I found this fairly easy to use when I edited the whole of the photography scene. Garageband – this is where the soundtracks were created for ‘Development’. I found this quite confusing to set up, but easy to put tunes together. Day For Night Plug-in – The day for night plug-in was used to create the illusion of night, so we could film in the day time allowing us to get clearer footage.

13. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? We planned to film in daylight to get good quality footage and then add a night for day plug-in to create the illusion of night. However, the conditions we filmed the town scene in were too bright for the plug-in filters to give a strong impression of night outside, therefore we resulted in creating a dusk atmosphere instead where we were still fairly pleased with the interesting effect. To achieve the look of night, we would have to of filmed in already dusk conditions. Looking back, I think our group should have been more organised and, in examples such as the plug-in, thought out the consequences of our decisions before following them through. For the amount of time given, we should have planned a simpler storyline to film and edit. The project was hectic and we should have thought our idea through more, however I enjoyed the experience and feel I have learnt a lot from it.