Our media product uses a range of conventions and techniques which show development from our research throughout the project. We used audience feedback to take our opening in certain directions to allow an understanding for our target audience as well as an understanding of the thriller genre. Our opening sequence is based on a female character whom experiences flashbacks on her daily run. The flashbacks show a disturbed atmosphere where the audience can assume she has been/was/is going to be abducted. We kept a mystery aspect in our opening to push the audiences attention towards finding out the answers and keep them intrigued which is what both classic and modern thrillers display. Creating enigmas throughout the opening was key and we researched a variety of thriller films to help guide and influence these. The enigmas and flashbacks disturb the equilibrium of the sequence early on to make the storyline more interesting to view, and ending the opening sequence with her almost returning to a state of equilibrium it is once again cut off by the following of the antagonist whom would be recognised by the audience from only his shoes, keeping his identity hidden.
From my research I was able to gain a full understanding of the thriller genre and their opening sequence, I look closely at the thriller film 'Se7en' and had the most influence from its opening sequence which was later developed into our own. Even though 'Se7en' has a different story line altogether as it is about 'Two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins' and our film is about abduction the theme of disturbance is apparent in both.
Narration is not apparent in our product because we wanted to keep identities hidden and the main character relatable. Having no narration builds tension and raises questions, this is what we wanted to accomplish. In the sequences I researched I found little to no narration in the opening sequence therefore it was not at necessity in the thriller genre.
From my research I was able to gain a full understanding of the thriller genre and their opening sequence, I look closely at the thriller film 'Se7en' and had the most influence from its opening sequence which was later developed into our own. Even though 'Se7en' has a different story line altogether as it is about 'Two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins' and our film is about abduction the theme of disturbance is apparent in both.
Narration is not apparent in our product because we wanted to keep identities hidden and the main character relatable. Having no narration builds tension and raises questions, this is what we wanted to accomplish. In the sequences I researched I found little to no narration in the opening sequence therefore it was not at necessity in the thriller genre.
In editing we mainly used cuts, cross-cuts and blurs to bring our sequence together. We used 'additive blurs' to create the off balanced distorted running shot more realistic in the eye of the protagonist, it was effective and would engage the audiences attention making it hard to lose focus on the sequence. We used this effect again when editing the flashbacks to merge the two settings together making it more exciting and visually interesting.
The antagonist was dressed in dark,black clothing in order to conceal their identity. Having the shoes as a focus point made sure the audience would link the two settings as well as the ring that is shown. The importance in a thriller film is to keep the audience guessing, making sure at least one identity is hidden but still makes an impact in the protagonists daily routine. The idea behind the costume for our main character was to be relatable and an everyday character, she reaches the target audience and has an innocent persona. We were able to create two characters that are convincing in a thriller film due to our research and mise en scene, having one identity bold and the other mysterious/anonymous works effectively.
The production of our film was a well known area to Sophie as it is close to her home along with her fathers machinery room he gave us permission to use, so we had a clear understanding of how our background and shots would look before we filmed. It was easier and quicker to use a well known area by at least one of us so that we could get to our locations effectively rather than filming in a unfamiliar setting. We had to request an extension for our filming as the time slot we had was not possible for the whole group to be present however having the extension allowed us to have a 4-5 hour time slot to completely film our sequence. It was the perfect amount of time and we were able to film back up shots in case a shot did not turn out as effective as we wanted. Our film production company logo was made up and produced on Photoshop, we used a simplistic name that has little to no meaning to make it as realistic as possible.
The production of our film was a well known area to Sophie as it is close to her home along with her fathers machinery room he gave us permission to use, so we had a clear understanding of how our background and shots would look before we filmed. It was easier and quicker to use a well known area by at least one of us so that we could get to our locations effectively rather than filming in a unfamiliar setting. We had to request an extension for our filming as the time slot we had was not possible for the whole group to be present however having the extension allowed us to have a 4-5 hour time slot to completely film our sequence. It was the perfect amount of time and we were able to film back up shots in case a shot did not turn out as effective as we wanted. Our film production company logo was made up and produced on Photoshop, we used a simplistic name that has little to no meaning to make it as realistic as possible.
Overall, this is tending to be more descriptive than analytical, meaning that it would achieve upper level 2 or low level 3 (D/C-) only. You need much more length for upper level 3 or above in all your answers. For this question, more evidence that you are familiar with the genre is needed - Seven is a thriller, but it's really stretching the point to use it as the main reference point for your thriller. Much more detail in each of the elements of conventions and codes needed, with references to thrillers researched by you or your group as evidence of your starting point for the opening. You need screen grabs from these openings to illustrate points. Also, check accuracy of terms - you use the term narration very loosely and not in the way I taught it - you are referring to voice over narration - just one aspect of narration, which will normally be done using camera - eg restricted narration. Show more knowledge and understanding for AS level.
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