Group Narrative

My group members are Layla Boudaboussa and Leo Ly.

Group member 1 - Samara Stevenson

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 on 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.

One strength of this idea is that an enigma is created which is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged. The enigma is when there is an unknown antagonist making the audience question who he is. Another strength of this idea is that the location has been given that it is in an isolated house where only the young girl lives. This is conventional as it means no one else is around to stop the antagonist from hurting his victim. A final strength is that there is a female victim. This is conventional because it shows she is more vulnerable and also, by her being young, it means that she is weaker and the antagonist is more dominant.

A weakness of this idea is that the narrative is too vague. This means there isn't much detail about who the characters are and what will happen to the victim. Another weakness is that it only includes one theme which is obsession. If there were more films then the audience might be more engaged in the film. A final weakness is that there is no murder and there is usually meant to be a murder in the opening sequence of a thriller film. This means that the audience probably won't be engaged or want to watch the rest of the thriller film.

Group member 2 - Layla Boudaboussa

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.

A strength of this idea is that she has thought about how to create an enigma which is conventional to the thriller genre as it makes the audience question what is going to happen keeping them engaged in the film. Another strength is that she is using the theme of obsession which is common throughtout thriller films and is also conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience questioning what is going to happen next. A final strength is that she uses a female victim which is conventional to the thriller genre as they are weak and vulnerable. It also helps the audience build a relationship with the victim as they feel scared for them.

A weaknesses of this idea is that she hasn't thought about where the opening will be set which is something that the audience need to know. A second weakness is that she hasn't said is the antagonist is going to have a hidden identity or not. This should be told so that we know whether this will create an enigma for the audience which is also conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged. The final weakness is that she hasn't identified if shock, surprise and suspense are going to be shown within the sequence or not. These are all conventional to the thriller genre as they keep the audience engaged and questioning what is going to happen next.

Group member 3 - Leo Ly

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.

A strength of this idea is that he is using a hidden antagonist. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it keeps the audience engaged and questioning who he really is and why he wants to hurt his victim. Another strength is that they are using a psychological thriller which makes the audience think more about what is happening keeping them engaged in the film. A final strength of this idea is that he is using a clown which is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged. Also, many people have a phobia of clowns these days so by having one in the thriller, it makes it a lot more frightening for the audience.

A weakness of this idea is that he hasn't stated whether or not shock, surprise and suspense will be used in his opening sequence. All of these are conventional to the thriller genre as they keep the audience engaged. Another weakness is that he has favoured more of the male audience rather then the female. This could be because there are more gruesome scenes which males usually prefer. a final weakness is that he hasn't stated the weapon used. The weapon is important to the thriller genre as it shows that the antagonist is more powerful then the victim. Usually, a knife is used in thrillers as this is a popular weapon used by antagonists.

The group narrative 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 watching his victim, a young female, whom he has a secret obsession over. She will notice him and will run and trip. Once he has caught up with her the audience will see him standing over her, which shows that he is dominant. He will then pull out his murder weapon, a knife and kill her. However, the audience will not see the murder take place causing a kuleshov effect, which will keep the audience engaged and wanting to know what will happen next.

We have decided to base our idea on what Leo had thought of but have included elements from both mine and Laylas ideas as well. This is because we liked the idea of having an obsession from my idea but thought using the clown would bring a unique theme to our sequence. We also thought having a female victim like the one in Layla's idea would be good as it is conventional to the thriller genre.

The theory we have followed for our narrative is Aristotle. This is because we have a inciting incident where the clown kills the young female. The audience are also always asking the question of who is the antagonist. Also, both the antagonist and protagonist are introduced to the audience as the antagonist is the clown and the protagonist (victim) is the female. The stake is that there is a sense of death as he kills her. Although our resolution won't be in our opening sequence, it will be that the antagonist is found and identified which answers the audiences question, solving the enigma. Sympathy comes from the audience as they feel bad for the female dying. 

The Todorov theory does not work with our narrative because there is no equilibrium used as from the beginning there is clown which isn't usually normal. There is only a disequilibrium in our opening sequence because the female dies. The Propp theory also does not work with our narrative as it is based around fairy tales as for example, there are heroes which we don't have in our sequence.