Question OneIn what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

NarrativeIn a Thriller opening you expect the film to start (following Todorov’s theory) with either a state of

equilibrium (normality) or with the disruption of the equilibrium (e.g. a crime is committed or the victim appears.) Our opening is conventional as it starts with the disruption. Sophie is immediately identified as the victim from a wide shot of her running towards the camera. The wide shot shows she is isolated and vulnerable and makes the audience question what she is running from and why she’s there.

Our Opening is unconventional in a way as after the disruption of the equilibrium most Thriller opening’s focus on establishing the character and why he or she is there. Like in the opening of James Bond, Casino Royale the camera focus’s only on him chasing a criminal across the busy streets of Madagascar. In our opening however we chose to include mostly shots of the location to establish the setting as eerie and isolated. Focusing primarily on the location keeps information hidden from the audience on what Sophie is being chased by. This would arouse questions in the audiences head, building suspense and tension as they don’t know what to expect.

CharactersVictim – Sophie has the conventional role of a weak vulnerable victim scared by someone or something,

she is seen running at the desolate location. With the use of panning, we see a mid shot of Sophie running, she turns her head looking behind her. As an audience we’d know she was checking to see if someone is there consequently we can tell she is scared and in danger. Shot’s like this run through our opening to build up suspense and arouse tension. As our target audience are 16-18 years olds (primarily female) they can relate to this character making them feel more on edge and empathetic towards her. With these techniques it also captivates the audience and lures them in as they know something bad has happened to Sophie but they don’t know what it is yet.

Friend – Unconventionally a minor character has been featured in our opening (often in thriller openings they only focus on the protagonist and antagonist or other significant characters). We’ve included a close up of Sophie’s friend where she is seen talking on the phone. The audience can tell she is worried as she says ‘I don’t know where she’s gone we need to find her’. With the sound faded out, her speech is clear and the main focus. This heightens the sense of urgency and reinforces the fact that the protagonist is missing and might be in danger.

Font and Titles Together we decided on the font Requiem from dafont.com for the credits, it looks formal but would

still appeal to our younger target audience. It’s also clear to read and the size makes it noticeable. In the rough cut evaluation it received a good response with comments like ‘looks professional’ and ‘the simplicity of them is more effective than if they were extravagant’ This inspired us to keep it as the comments came from people of the same age and style of our target audience.

When it came to editing our opening we placed the credits in the corners of each shot so the footage remained the main focus to avoid it being obstructed. The credits are in the same font as the title and we also made the credits fade in and out for continuity.

After analysing opening sequences pacifically The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Panic Room we learned the order the credits should follow. [Studio, Production company(ies), Main Stars, Film title,Co-Stars, Casting by, Costume Designer, Music by, Film Editors, Production Designer, Director of Photography, Produced by, Written by, Directed by] We stuck to this structure to make our opening accurate and consequently look more professional.

Searching for a title was hard and each of us seemed to lack imagination. Ideas included ‘abandoned’ or ‘derelict’ but as a group we agreed they sounded to cliché and predictable. Although slightly prestigious we chose ‘Requiem’ (inspired by our font name) as when we researched the meaning we were surprised that the definition sounded dark and sincere. [Requiem - A Mass for the repose of the souls of the dead]. If the audience looked into the title it hints what Sophie was possibly running from. It also provokes imagery in the audiences head of something mysterious and creepy.

LocationFor our Thriller opening we shot at an abandoned building in Longstanton. With the faded brickwork

and broken windows the building looks old and derelict. These elements emphasised the desolate atmosphere we aimed to create. We wanted the location to be deserted and eerie for the character to appear isolated and vulnerable. Consequently in our opening we chose to focus on the building more than the characters.

We included a wide shot pan of the building at the start and close ups of the broken windows. This established the setting as unwelcoming and bleak right from the beginning and reveals to the audience no person would be there out of choice.

This would make the audience question why Sophie is there; it reveals how desperate she is to escape from the thing she is running from. Immediately this builds the suspense and tension in the scene as the audience know Sophie is isolated and has no where to hide except inside the building.

This idea was inspired by the film The Woman in Black. Although it is primarily a horror it has the sub genre of a psychological thriller. The protagonist enters Eel Marsh house, a grave building which is represented as remote and rundown through the use of wide and close up shots. As an audience we expect something bad to happen to the character because through the setting he is being presented as vulnerable as he’s on his own and cut of from the rest of world.

Sub-genreOur film has a sub- genre of a psychological thriller. In this subgenre a lot of the conflict is mental, rather

than physical. The protagonist has become involved in a dangerous situation which threatens their sanity. They must use their mental ability to overcome their opponent.

Our opening is conventional of this sub genre as the protagonist is immediately identified as the victim. With shots of her running, and the fact she is isolated in an eerie location it reveals to the audience that she’s in a dangerous situation and her safety could be at risk.

In psychological thrillers it is conventional for the protagonist to appear trapped. With the location and mise-en-scene (being represented as remote and desolate) our opening/film follows this convention as the character is made to look isolated, with the secluded location she also has no where to go.

Our location however is slightly unconventional as in Psychological thrillers the setting is often in a claustrophobic space (like in the psychological thriller, ‘The hole’ where a group of teens our trapped in a dark enclosed space underground). Our psychological thriller however is based outdoors. Using an outdoor location gave us more to work with, in terms of getting shots of the building to establish the sense of seclusion for the character to build tension. With wide pans of the empty scenery surrounding the derelict building it also helped to develop the idea that the protagonist has no where to go and is trapped. I feel this is more effective than only using a small space as our location builds more suspense and tension between the audience and the character as we could include longer establishing shots in our opening.

Techniques UsedIn our opening we used mostly wide pans of the location to reveal to the audience that the place is in the middle of no where and cut of

from the rest of the community. This makes the protagonist appear isolated and vulnerable increasing tension (conventional of the thriller genre) as the audience expects that something bad has happened to her.

In a Psychological figure quick edits & changes in camera angle are common to increase the feeling of fear and shock. When it came to editing we followed this convention particularly between 0.20 – 0.26 of quick establishing shots of the building. This quickened the pace and created a frantic effect, making the audience feel more on edge and anxious for the rest of the opening.

At the end of the opening is matt has filmed from a low angle looking at the protagonist climbing into the building. The silhouette of her emphasizes the dark atmosphere and the fact that the she is alone and trapped.

Between 0.37 – 0.47 seconds we held the camera to include the point of view of our protagonist, Sophie. The shaky view of the ground and of her footsteps shows she is increasing her pace. This suggests to the audience that she is becoming more desperate to escape from the antagonist. The shaky view is unclear and emphasises the sense of the unknown. The audience can relate to this as they don’t know what she running from or what is going on either. This technique increases tension between the character and the audience as the audience know Sophie is in trouble. The fast pace of the hand held also makes the audience feel on edge as they’ll anticipate that something bad is going to happen soon as Sophie is quickening her pace and becoming more desperate.

As soon as we heard the track ‘Ghost return’ by Moby we knew it’d be perfect for our opening. For the genre it is conventional to have music that creates high tension and an eerie atmosphere. ‘Ghost return’ fits with this convention as with the low drone and steady beat it emphasises the bleak atmosphere our footage has created but at the same time develop it as the track slowly builds up tension. The slow hum of music has a distant/dream like tone to it. This contrasts well with the quick paced editing as the music leads the audience into false pretences to feel relaxed when in fact they should feel on edge with the shot types and expect something bad to happen to the protagonist. The effect of this is that the audience is made to feel more anxious when the music is cut away when the main characters friend is speaking. Overall the music adds to the sense of isolation with its distant tone making the audience anticipate that something bad will happen to Sophie as she is vulnerable. This gradually builds up suspense until the end of the opening when it is faded out.