Planning Mise-en-Scene

Introduction

All the 5 elements of miss-en-scene are important to include within a thriller film because they help create shock, surprise and suspense which are all conventional to the thriller genre as they keep the audience engaged. They also help the audience build a relationship with the characters because the connotations of the 5 elements make the audience feel sorry for the victim or scared of the antagonist.

The first element of mise-en-scene is the setting and iconography. This is important in a thriller as it usually shows where a murder will take place and what the main objects in the scene are.The setting will start off in the antagonists house where he is getting ready. As it's in his house, it shows the audience that he isn't getting the victim yet. The iconography here will be photos of women on a mirror, make up all around and the radio. The photos of females show that he has an obsession for them and that perhaps by them being placed around his mirror, he might want to secretly be a woman. This creates an enigma for the audience because they don't know exactly what he is thinking and who he really is. It also could tell the audience that these women are on his hit list and they are going to be killed one by one. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it helps the audience get an insight to the antagonists mind and who he is going after next. The make up also gives this idea of the antagonist wanting to be a woman and confuses the audience as they believe the antagonist is a female when it's actually a male. The second setting is in the school which is where the victim finds a note whom she thinks is from a secret admirer telling her to meet her down an alleyway. By her being in a school, it shows that she is only young and vulnerable creating tension as the audience become worried about her. This also makes them feel like something bad is going to happen to her as it usually would in any other thriller film. The school is conventional to the thriller genre because it
shows the audience that it is where the victim is safest. This builds up tension as the audience know something is going to happen. The next setting is down the alleyway where she finds pictures of her hung up along the fence. This foreshadows that something bad is going to happen and she will get hurt. It also builds up suspense as the the audience question what is going to happen next. The alley way is a creepy location as it is usually dark and empty making it a popular choice for an antagonist to take his victim. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it creates tension as the audience know that she isn't safe and no one will be able to save her. The final setting is in a dark room where the antagonist takes her after putting her unconscious. This creates an enigma as no one knows where this room is which is conventional to the thriller genre because it builds up tension keeping the audience engaged in the thriller film. By it being dark, the audience can sense that something bad is going to happen to the victim as the darkness symbolises death and danger. It also helps the audience build up a negative relationship with the antagonist as they know that he is out to kill the young girl and no one will ever find her as it's in a hidden location.

The second element of mise-en-scene is lighting and colour. This is important as it can create tension for the audience and can also create shadows causing enigmas. In the bedroom there is high key lighting as this shows that it isn't a dangerous place and the antagonist isn't going to kill anyone yet. We thought this would be good lighting to use in this scene because it shows that it is a safe place and it doesn't scare the audience. In the school, there will also be high key lighting to show that the school is a safe place and nothing bad can happen there. This is important as the audience know that the victim won't be hurt so can feel happy for her. The use of high key lighting means that the audience and the victim can see everything around them whereas if it was dark, things are easier to hide. When they are in the alley way, the lighting will be natural as we will be filming around 4pm when it starts
getting dark outside. This is conventional as the victim won't expect something bad to happen as it is still light outside. By using this lighting, it will create shock for the audience as they don't expect anything to happen and this is conventional to the thriller genre. The use of natural lighting also creates shadows which is conventional to the thriller genre as the audience can see that the antagonist is behind the victim whilst she can't. This also creates an enigma for the audience as when they can only see shadows, they don't know whose they are so they want to find out and keep engaged in the rest of the film. This helps the audience build up a relationship with the female victim because they know she is going to get hurt and she won't be able to do anything about it. This also helps them build up a negative relationship with the antagonist as they know he is going to hurt her. Finally, in the final scenes, they will be in a dark room so the lighting will be low key. This lighting brings sharp contrasts of light and dark areas which is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense for the audience. In most of the sequence, the colours will be dark as this is conventional to the thriller genre because it builds up tension for the audience as it makes them believe something bad will happen. The darkness is conventional to the thriller genre because it symbolises death and danger which scare the audience. It also symbolises mystery which is used throughout our sequence as the antagonist is hidden behind a mask so it creates an enigma for the audience.

The next element of mise-en-scene is facial expressions. These are important in a thriller film because it clearly shows what the characters are feeling, especially the victim. The antagonist has no facial expressions throughout our opening sequence because he wears a mask showing that he wants to
keep his identity hidden. By him having no facial expressions, it makes the audience wonder who he is and why he's doing this creating an enigma. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged and wanting to know what's going to happen next. By him wearing a mask, it tells the audience that he doesn't want them to know what he's feeling and wants them to have to think about who he is. However, the victim shows lots of different emotions through her facial expressions. When she finds the note that has been written to her, she has excited and happy facial expressions because she thinks that she is meeting her secret admirer. This makes the audience feel sorry for her as they know it's actually from the antagonist and that he wants to make her his next victim. This also makes the audience feel anger towards the antagonist as they know what he wants to do to the girl although she is only innocent and young. Then, when she is in the alley way and notices the photos of her, she looks scared making the audience worry for her. This tells the audience that she knows something is wrong and that she knows something bad is about to happen. This is conventional to the thriller genre because an enigma is created as no one knows what is going to happen next keeping the audience engaged in the film. In this scene, her facial expressions are also surprised as she didn't expect something like that to happen to her because she is only young and vulnerable. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience are also surprised that the antagonist would actually want to scare a young girl the way he does. When she wakes up in the dark room, she looks frightened because she doesn't know what he's going to do to her. This creates tension as the audience don't know either. This helps the audience build a relationship with the victim because they are both thinking the same thing. In this scene, she looks very scared as she doesn't know who the antagonist is that has kidnapped her. This creates an enigma which is conventional to the thriller genre as the audience are thinking exactly the same thing as her. During this scene, she is crying which helps the audience build up a relationship with her because they feel sympathy towards her. They also build up a negative relationship towards the antagonist as they don't know why he would want to hurt an innocent girl.

Another element of mise-en-scene is the positioning of characters. The first position shown is of the antagonist, when he is getting ready looking in the mirror. We chose this position as it shows the audience that he doesn't go out as himself and he takes time to get ready. It also shows that he likes to keep a hidden identity which is conventional to the thriller genre because it creates an enigma keeping the audience engaged. By the photos of girls being placed around the mirror, it makes the audience wonder if he wants to be a girl or if this is his hit-list creating an enigma. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged and wanting to know the truth. The make-up placed next to the mirror also makes the audience question this as well. The next position used is when the female victim is walking slowly through the alley way looking at the photos put up of her. By her walking slowly, it tells the audience that she knows something is going to happen which is conventional as it creates an enigma keeping the audience engaged. Also, by her looking at the pictures, it shows that the victim knows someone has been watching her. As they are all of her, it tells the audience that he has been watching her and knows everything she has been doing. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it creates suspense for the audience. The final main position is when she wakes up in the corner of a dark room tied up. This shows that she has no way of getting out and the door is on the other side of the room so he can easily catch her if she runs. By her being on the floor, it tells the audience that the antagonist has power over her and that she is weak and vulnerable. It also shows that the antagonist is more dominant and she won't be saved. This shows that something bad is going to happen which is conventional to the thriller genre because it keeps the audience wondering what is going to happen next so they are engaged. It helps the audience create a relationship with the victim because they feel scared for her and don't want her to get hurt when they know she will be. It also helps create a negative relationship with the antagonist because they know he wants to hurt her.

The final element of mise-en-scene is the characters costumes. In our opening sequence, the antagonist will be wearing all black because this foreshadows death. It also shows darkness and danger which tells the audience that he will have the most power out of all the characters so won't be scared to hurt his victims. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience wonder what he is going to do creating an enigma which keeps the audience engaged. This also tells the audience that he is dominant and that he is just going to look down on everyone else. Black also symbolises mystery which is what the antagonist creates throughout the opening sequence by also wearing a mask hiding his identity. This clown mask shows that he doesn't want to be known and he
wants to be hidden from the world. This creates an enigma as the audience don't know who it is so don't know what he might do next. This builds up suspense keeping the audience engaged and wanting to watch the rest of the film. They also stay engaged as they want to find out who he really is and what he wants to get out of taking the young girl. This helps the audience build up a negative relationship with the antagonist because they know he wants to kill people. The female victim will be dressed in white because this shows purity and innocence. This tells the audience that she is vulnerable and isn't out to hurt anyone. It also shows that she is the one that is going to get hurt and that she is in danger. This is conventional to the thriller genre because white is a popular colour for a victim to wear as it shows their innocence and vulnerability. It also helps the audience build up a relationship with the victim because they are scared for what is going to happen to her building up tension.

Conclusion

This planning of mise-en-scene will help us create a conventional opening sequence to a thriller because we know how we are going to create all the elements. By doing this planning, we can now imagine more about what the character are going to look like and how they are going to behave during the scenes. We also know the reactions we are going to get back from the audience through each element o mise-en-scene. We hope that by doing this planning, we won't have to think as much about costumes and where characters are going to stand when we are actually filming our opening sequence.

Planning Editing

Introduction

Editing styles are important to include within a thriller film as they create shock, suspense and surprise. These are conventional to the thriller genre as they keep the audience engaged and also help to create enigmas. They also help the audience build a relationship with the characters as the editing styles help show the characters emotions so that the audience can relate.

The first editing style we will be using is the kuleshov shot. This will be used when the antagonist stabs the victim, however the audience don't see the murder making it a kuleshov shot. The audience will first see a shot of the victim screaming, then the antagonist holding the knife covered in blood and then back to the victim laying dead on the floor. This shows that she has been killed and it is obvious by there being blood everywhere. By using this shot, we can show the victims facial expressions which will be scared, worried and frightened. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it helps the audience build up a relationship with the victim as they feel sorry for her as she is only young and innocent. We can also show that she is peaceful once she has been killed. This tells the audience that she is in a safe place and she isn't scared anymore. This will build up tension for the audience as they don't know why the antagonist has killed her. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates an enigma keeping the audience engaged in the rest of the film. This will help the audience build up a relationship with the victim as they will feel sorry for her because they could see how much pain she went through during the stabbing. This is also conventional to the thriller genre because it shocks the audience as they don't expect the antagonist to actually kill her. The audience may have thought that he will only torture her then let her go. By having a shocked reaction from the audience, it means that they are questioning what has happened and why he actually killed her keeping them engaged in the film.

The second editing style that we will be using is the reaction shot. This will be used when the antagonist scrapes the knife along the wall then the camera turns onto the victim crying on the floor. This foreshadows that the knife is going to be the weapon used when he hurts her. This creates tension as it tells the audience that something bad is going to happen. It also shows the female victims facial expressions which are that she is frightened. This means that she doesn't know what he is going to do to her which helps the audience build up a relationship with her as they also think the same question and are worried for her safety. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds up suspense because no one knows what will happen next. The use of a reaction shot also tells the audience that he is out to hurt her and that she knows whats happening. This helps the the audience build up a relationship with the victim as they are scared for her which is conventional to the thriller genre.

Another editing style that we will be using is a fade out/fade in shot. This will be used when she gets knocked out and the camera fades out to black. Then the camera will fade back in to a black room where the antagonist has taken her and where he will end up killing her. This shows that she is unconscious and that the antagonist has hurt her. It also shows the audience that they have moved to a different location which the audience may think is abandoned as they don't expect the antagonist to take his victim somewhere obvious. This helps the audience build up a relationship with the victim as they are scared for what is going to happen to her as they know he has taken her somewhere she doesn't recognise. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the audience don't know what is going to happen next creating an enigma. By using this shot, it creates an enigma for the audience as they don't know whether she has died as soon as it fades to black. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it builds up suspense. Once they realise that she has woken up, it surprises the audience as they thought she had died. This will make the audience wonder if the antagonist actually wants to kill the victim, building up tension and keeping the audience engaged in the rest of the film which is conventional to the thriller genre.

The final editing style we will use is the timing shot. Slow editing will be used when the victim is walking through the alley looking at the photos hung up of her. By it being, it shows the audience that the victim has noticed something. This creates tension as the victim and the audience know something bad is going to happen keeping the audience engaged in the rest of the film which is conventional to the thriller genre. Then when the antagonist grabs her, it will speed up. This also shows that something bad is going to happen which helps the audience build a relationship with the victim as they sympathise for her. It also shows that it has become more intense and frightening for the audience to watch. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds up suspense by it suddenly becoming more dangerous. This means that the audience are questioning what is going to happen next which creates an enigma and keeps the audience engaged in the rest of the thriller. By it speeding up, it shows that the antagonist is there and he is about to hurt the victim which scares the audience.

Conclusion

I found this planning of editing styles useful as it helped me to understand where shock, surprise and suspense will be found in the thriller sequence. This planning of editing styles will help us create a conventional opening sequence as the editing styles we have decided to use create different responses from the audience. For example, the timing shot makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next keeping them engaged in the film.

Planning Characters

Introduction

The purpose of having characters is that it helps the audience relate to the narrative otherwise they wouldn't be engaged in the film so won't want to finish watching it. Another reason is because if there were no characters then the narrative of the film wouldn't make sense and the audience wouldn't understand so wouldn't want to watch the film. Planning for characters is important as it helps us understand how the character should look and act. It also means that we can work out how they will speak and their body language as we have looked at there past so we know what has happened to them over the years.

Our first character is the victim. She is a female called Jenny and is 17 years old. She will be wearing a white dress as it is cute and looks smart as she is clever. By wearing white, it shows her purity and her innocence as she is a good girl. This will tell the audience that she is the victim and will be the one who dies. This outfit also shows how she is loved by everyone and liked by all her fellow students. Jenny is a sixth form student whom gets all the top grades and loved by all the teachers. As the victim is small, it emphasises that the antagonist is much stronger than her so she won't be able to fight back. We will ensure that she is a stereotypical character of the thriller genre as she is young, innocent, weak and vulnerable which makes her an obvious target for the antagonist. It also means that she is an obvious female victim which the antagonist always goes for. This helps the audience build a relationship with the victim as they feel sorry for her knowing that someone is after her and that she will die. As the target audience are aged between 15-18 years, they can relate to the victim because she is around a similar age so it feels more realistic to the audience.

The other character is the antagonist. He is a male and is 32 years old making him much older than his young adult victims. He will be wearing a black tracksuit with his hood up which can be intimidating, which scares both the audience and the victim. By wearing all black, it symbolises danger, death and misery which are all shown in our thriller sequence. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the audience build up a negative relationship with the antagonist. He will also be wearing a clown mask which is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps his identity hidden which creates an enigma. The antagonist wears a clown mask because it's scary and he knows that many people have a fear of clowns so he will frighten many. We thought this would be a good idea to give him a clown mask because we know that it will build suspense for the audience as they don't know who he is or what he is going to do next. This keeps the audience engaged in the rest of the film which makes it conventional to the thriller genre. This character is mentally unstable because he didn't have a very good upbringing due to him not having a father figure to look up to from a young child. This means he's always been around women and looking at women which is why his victims are always females and why he collects photos of women. We will ensure that he is a stereotypical character of the thriller genre because his weapon is a knife which is a popular weapon choice for antagonists to use. Another way that we will ensure he is a stereotypical character is the way in which he doesn't hesitate to kill people. This is like many antagonists as they aren't afraid to hurt their victims.

Conclusion

I think these characters are conventional to the thriller genre because they are obvious to the audience as they are the type of characters they would expect in a thriller film. Also, the elements that make up these characters are conventional because, for example, the victim is small and vulnerable making her an easy target for the antagonist and the antagonist uses a knife which is a popular weapon choice to use in a thriller film. The antagonist is conventional to the thriller genre because he uses a mask to hide his identity telling the audience that he doesn't want anyone to know who he really is. It is important for the characters to be conventional as it creates suspense for the audience and also, it means the audience know who each character is so don't get confused. I hope these emphasise the genre of the sequence because they create main conventions of a thriller genre which are shock, surprise and suspense. This means that the audience will stay engaged within the thriller. I found the planning helpful in preparing for filming as it helped me to understand the characters in more detail. It also helped me imagine what the characters will actually be like once the sequence has finished being filmed.

Research into target audience

Introduction

Research was carried out so that we can find out what people like about thriller films and what they expect to see what is in them.  We asked 40 people so the results are more accurate and we have a wider range of them. We will use our results to create our sequence as we will only include things in it that will keep the audience engaged and it is what the audience want to see. Questionnaires are important to do as they tell you what the audience want to see within the film. Without using questionnaires, you would struggle to create a conventional sequence as you won't know what the audience want.

1. As the result of this question is 50:50, it shows that both males and females are answering the questions. This means that we have to keep in mind that males are more likely to enjoy watching violence in the thriller films whereas woman will more likely want to see a female victim as this will help them relate to the characters more. This means that if we use more violence then the film will most likely be preferred by males. By having an equal amount of both genders, it means we can look at what both like to see in thrillers which we also need to be careful of as well.







2. This question shows that we questioned mostly 15-17 year olds. This is the age group we will be targeting our audience at. This helps us because it means that most of the answers come from this age group so we know what they like to see in thriller films. However, as we also questioned other age groups, we still have to think about what they like as they may also want to watch our     sequence not just 15-17 year olds. We have to keep in mind that more of the 15-17 year olds are likely to enjoy violence whereas 12-14 year olds don't like it as much. Also, 18+ are more likely to want a psychological aspect to the thriller film. As we have targeted our audience at 15-17 year olds, it means that we have an age certificate of 15 and we have to be careful as to what we put in this. For example, we are only allowed a certain extent of violence and a certain amount of language to be used. This gives us restrictions on what we want to include in the thriller as it has to be appropriate for that age category.

3. As only 10% of the people interviewed don't watch thriller films, it tells us that most of the people interviewed know about what they like to see in thriller films and what are the best parts of thriller films. By most of the people being interviewed knowing about thriller films, it is useful as it means that we know what most people want from a thriller film as they have watched them whereas, the results received from the 10% of people that don't, won't be very useful as they are either guessing or making it up. Also, it shows that 90% of people watch thriller films and there is only a small handful of people that don't showing that although we're only targeting our film at 15-17 year olds, it means that other age categories will watch it as well so we have to think about what they want and not only our target audience. As a result, we have to make the film appropriate for other audiences and make it stand out to them as well.

4. This pie chart shows that 20% of people like Scream which means that elements in Scream are things that people enjoy watching in thriller films. This will help us as we can look at Scream and get some inspirations from watching it. By watching this film, we can include some of the elements they use as it is a very popular thriller chosen by people interviewed. As only 7% of people chose Insidious as there favourite film, it means that it isn't a very good thriller film which we should get inspirations from. We will therefore not watch this film as we will not find as many good elements as we will in Scream. As most of the people we interviewed said that they prefer another thriller film as their favourite, it tells us that there may be better thriller films out there that we should look at for ideas.

5. These results show that most people like the antagonist to use a knife as a weapon which shows that the audience are more frightened by the use of a knife as this can cause more damage to the skin then a gun or a saw. Not as many people chose a saw and a gun because these are rarely seen in thrillers so the people interviewed won't have seen them used as much as a knife is. This is because they are more likely to kill within the first touch of a human whereas a knife can cut someone without killing them straight away which builds up suspense. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it keeps the audience waiting and questioning what the antagonist is going to do next. Therefore, from these results, we will use a knife as the antagonists weapon because we know this is what the audience want to see within the film. By using the knife, we think that it will build up more suspense as the audience know what is going to happen but won't be ready for it.

6. This tells us that most people like the antagonist to be hidden from the audience which is because it creates an enigma which is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged in the film. It also creates suspense as the audience don't know who they are so don't know what they will do next. This also helps the audience build a negative relationship with the antagonist as they feel scared of them. People said no because a thriller is meant to create surprise so by having a hidden identity means it does this.  The people interviewed said no because they don't like surprises and being kept in suspense so prefer the antagonist to be known by the victims and themselves. From this, we will give the antagonist a hidden identity by making him wear a mask so that neither the audience or the victim know who he is creating suspense. This will be good to use as it will create an enigma for the audience keeping them engaged.

7. These results show that most people prefer seeing a female victim. This is useful as we will use a female victim in our sequence instead of a male as this is what we know our target audience want and it is something that will keep the audience engaged. People chose a female victim instead of a male victim because they are weaker and more vulnerable. This means that they won't be able to fight back as much as a male would because the antagonist would usually a lot stronger than the victim as well. They also chose this because it helps the audience build up a relationship with the female victim as they feel sorry for her and worried about what the antagonist might do to her. By the male victim having a much lower percentage, it shows us that they aren't an easy target compared to females and they are more likely to put up a fight with the antagonist so the audience wouldn't be as shocked by the film.

8. From these results, we can see that an abandoned house was the most popular choice. People chose this as they know it's empty and there won't be anyone around to save the victim. This also helps the audience relate to the characters as they feel scared for the victim and are worried about what the antagonist will do as there is no one around to stop them. Also, an abandoned house is very creepy as there are usually spiders and spider webs around which many people have fears of. The graveyard got the least amount of votes as although they are usually empty, there is still life there because people are always putting flowers down showing that people still go there. From this pie chart, I think that we could use an abandoned house as we know that it will keep the audience engaged as they think anything could happen there as the antagonist can't be stopped by anyone. Also, as it is supposed to be abandoned, no one would expect people to be in there so won't come to help the victim.

9. This pie chart tells us that having an enigma is what the audience wants. By having enigmas, it creates suspense which is conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged in the film. Also, it means that the audience don't know what is happening so keep questioning the film which also keeps them engaged as they want to find out what happens. I think that the 10% of people that said no had said it because they don't like being on the edge and waiting to find out what happens. Thriller films are supposed to create surprises and shock the audience which an enigma does and I think that these people probably don't like surprises and shocks. In our sequence, we will use enigmas as we know that the audience like them and it will keep our target audience engaged. One enigma we will use is giving the antagonist a hidden identity which will create suspense as the audience and victim don't know who he is.

10. As the results show that all the options given have similar percentages, this could be because they are all conventional to a thriller genre so they are all wanted to be seen by the audience. Also, this means that we will use all of them in our opening sequence as the results show that they are all equally wanted by the audience. This means we will build up suspense then shock the audience with a climax. We will then create some tension and give the audience a surprise which will keep them engaged in the rest of the film. Therefore, we will use all of these conventions in our thriller as we know the audience will enjoy it more.

Vox pops are where you interview members of the public either via radio or television. In our vox pops, we will just be filming our interviews about thriller films and they are posted below. We are using vox pops as this proves that we have actually done the interviews to get our results and it also shows that people of different ages, have different opinions on thriller films. The vox pops provide qualitative data as it means the people being questioned can elaborate on their answers.

Conclusion

In this research, I found it useful to find out what each different audience likes to see in thriller films and what is expected from them. For example, I found that males are more into the gory thrillers whereas girls like to be able to build a relationship with a female victim. We will incorporate our results into our thriller sequence by using a knife as the murder weapon because this was the most popular choice from looking at the results. We will also use a female victim because this was also the most popular choice and it shows that the antagonist is a lot more stronger and powerful than her. If I was to carry out the research again, I would probably give more options for them to choose from as I feel that the people interviewed were quite restricted on being able to give their opinion.

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.

Planning Sound

Introduction

Sound is important in films as it helps the audience relate to the characters. It also keeps the audience engaged in the film as it builds up suspense. Planning is required in order to produce an excellent sequence as it means we can decide where we want sounds to go and also means we know which sounds will create shock, surprise and suspense.

The first sound we will be using is on-screen sound. This will be shown when the radio voice over is on at the start whilst the clown is getting ready. The sound will be a radio presenter talking about females going missing in the area. This shows that he is the antagonist as the camera will be on him whilst the sound is playing. It also shows that he is up to something as he puts his mask on and his hood up. The audience know that the radio presenter is talking about the clown so they fear for all the females becoming his victims. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it forebodes that something bad is going to happen and that he is about to go out and take his next victim.

The next sound we are going to use is diegetic sound. This will be used when the antagonist is scarping the knife along the wall whilst walking towards the victim lying on the ground. This shows that he is more powerful and that he can do what he wants because they are on their own and she is tied up. This makes the audience fear for the victims life as they don't know what the antagonist is going to do to her. They also question what is going to happen next because they don't know who the antagonist is so he could do anything. This keeps the audience engaged in the film as they want to find out what will happen to the victim. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it shows that the antagonist is more dominant than the victim which then shows that the victim is weak and vulnerable.

Another sound we will be using is contrapuntal sound. This will be used when the antagonist is scraping the knife along the wall before killing his victim. In the background, there will be circus music playing which contrasts with the murder that's about to take place making it contrapuntal sound. By the music being happier than the murder, it shows that he enjoys kidnapping and killing females and it also shows that he gets a thrill from doing it as he doesn't hesitate. This helps the audience build up a negative relationship towards the antagonist which is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates tension. The audience also build a relationship with the victim as they feel scared for her knowing that he is going to kill her and she won't be able to do anything about it.

The final sound we will be using is silence. This will be used when the victim is going through the alley way looking at the photos hung up of her. This shows that she is frightened as all the audience are seeing is her facial expressions with no sound in the background. It also shows she is weak, vulnerable and unable to fight back. This helps the audience build up a relationship with the victim as they feel sympathetic towards her knowing that she is in danger and her life will probably be taken from her. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds up suspense which keeps the audience engaged. It also keeps the audience questioning what is going to happen next so they want to finish watching the film to find out what happens to the female victim.

Conclusion

I think that by using these sound techniques, our sequence will be more effective as they will help build up suspense so that the audience are engaged in our thriller. Also, it makes the sequence more exciting as it makes the audience question what is going to happen next. These sounds are conventional to the thriller genre as they create, shock, surprise and suspense which all keep the audience engaged. I found this planning useful as we now know which sounds we need to get so we can put them in and we also know where each sound is going to come in our thriller sequence.

Planning cinematography

Introduction

Cinematography is important in films because without it, you wouldn't be able to show the characters emotions and create different reactions from the audience. Planning is required in order to produce excellent sequences because it helps to decide which angles to use in the sequence. This also means you know where the camera is going to be placed for it to be the right shot.

The first angle we are going to use is an over the shoulder shot/shallow focus. This is going to be used when the clown is looking in the mirror and puts his hood up. We will blur out his face so that he has a hidden identity. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it will create an enigma for the audience as they don't know who he is. As a result, the audience will stay engaged within the rest of the film as they will want to find out what's going to happen next. This angle also shows that by dressing up as a clown, he wants to keep his identity hidden from the world. This will help the audience build up a negative relationship with the character as they don't know who he is which makes them question the film. By using this angle we can also show the make up laid out in front of the mirror which is there so the audience question whether the antagonist is male or female. This will create another enigma for them. However, by the use of this angle, we are not showing all of the antagonist so the audience don't know much about him like how tall he is or if he looks strong enough to get his victim. This also makes the audience question the film as they don't know what he might do to his victim.

The second shot we're going to use is panning. This will be used during a chase scene when the victim is running away from the antagonist after she realises that he is following her. This shows that she is scared because she doesn't know who he is or why he is chasing her. This also shows that as she is a female victim, it makes her look weak and vulnerable. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it shows the audience that the antagonist is more dominant than the victim so she won't make it out alive. The audience can relate to how the victim is feeling as they feel sympathetic towards her. They are also worried about what might happen to her just the way she feels as she's worried about what might happen to her as well. This piece of cinematography is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense because it builds up the pace whilst they are running. This is good as it shows the audience a full picture of them running.

Another shot we will use is a close up. We will use this when the victim looks back at the antagonist whilst she is running away. This will show her facial expressions which is important in thriller films as it helps the audience understand the feelings the character is having. By showing her facial expressions, the audience can see she is really scared so will sorry for her. The audience will build up a relationship with the female victim because they will also feel scared for her so they are both thinking the same thing. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it builds up suspense as the audience don't know what is going to happen next. This also creates an enigma because as they don't know who the antagonist really is, they don't know what he will do to the victim.

The next angle we will be using is a high angle/point of view. This will be used when the victim trips and falls and he looks down at her. This shows that he is a more dominant character with more power over her. This tells the audience that she won't be able to get away even if she tried so it foreshadows that something bad is going to happen to her. As a result, the audience are worried about her safety and her life as they don't know what is going to happen to her. This helps the audience build a relationship with the female victim as they fear for her as they forebode her death which is conventional to the thriller genre because it creates tension. This angle also shows exactly what the antagonist is looking at which will be the victim. From this angle, the audience and the antagonist can see how scared and frightened the victim is. This angle helps the audience build a relationship with the antagonist because they are both seeing the same thing.

The final shot we will be using is a deep focus. We will use this when he is watching his victim whilst hiding behind a wall so that she doesn't know. This shows something bad is going to happen and that she is weak and vulnerable. This makes the audience feel scared for her safety as they know he wants to hurt her in some way. By making the audience feel like this, it tells them that the antagonist is a lot more dominant then the female victim creating tension. This angle is conventional to the thriller genre because it causes the audience to question what is going to happen next. This creates an enigma which keeps the audience engaged in the film. The use of this angle also shows that it is his victim that he is watching. This helps the audience build a relationship with the antagonist because it helps them get an idea of what he is thinking in which he wants to take her somewhere and hurt her. Therefore, the audience build up hatred towards the antagonist and become frightened for the safety of the young victim.


Conclusion

I think that by using these elements of cinematography, our thriller sequence will be more effective as enigmas are going to be made which will keep the audience engaged. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the audience are always questioning what is going to happen next. I found this planning helpful in preparation for filming as we know where we are going to need to put the camera when taking certain shots. This planning has also helped us because we now don't need to think about other shots to use as we can just go straight into setting the camera up in the right positioning.