Evaluation - Question 6

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Evaluation - Question 5

Primary and secondary research assisted me with planning my thriller as it allowed me to explore different types of thrillers and how they were all equally successful. Researching allowed me to experiment and see which thrillers I found the most interesting and most effective in my opinion. By involving my interests, makes the whole thriller that little bit more personal towards me as a person and which I find most engaging. My primary research involved questionnaires of asking particular ages groups of their types of thrillers. This type of feedback allowed me to understand what the audience prefer more and what they would most likely want more to see. An example of secondary research was researching analysis of thriller films and film certificates. This allowed me understand on a deeper level with more knowledge upon what makes what more effective for a certain film. For example; using lots of blood and violence in a movie would then not be appropriate for younger audiences. You have to start to think about which would be more appropriate for certain ages which would help to make them feel comfortable and enjoy the film. This also helped when planning my opening sequence as I was more aware from my research upon certain aspects which would attract or disinterest the audience.

Evaluation - Question 4

Evaluation - Question 3

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Evaluation - Question 7

The preliminary was extremely helpful as it allowed me and my group to become more familar with the camera before shooting scenes for our opening sequence. This allowed me, Cara and Harry to become more effective when we was shooting and also allowed us to become more effective with our groups timing as we already had practise of how to work the camera. For this task, we was required to make a few scenes of a conversation using the camera methods of panning and close up. This task was helpful as for our thriller sequence as I had the roll of the camera woman, and did frequently use these two types of cinematography throughout the sequence. For example; using panning to allow the audience to watch Brittany walk past the camera as she is walking home from school and using close up before Brittany is about to commit suicide and using the close up method to show the fear in her facial expressions.

The progression since this task to the present day has increased effectively as the particular task was to learn a few basic skills of the camera and learning how to do two camera shots: panning and close up. To this day, I now understand how to do all of the camera shots professionally. The preliminary task helped me to the full extent as my one of my responsibilities was how to work the camera which was in fact my main production role. Caras main role was the acting aspect throughout he sequence whilst Harry's main role was editing. As a group, we would all take part in every production role to show a team effort and would equally come up with a narrative of the product and the sound track. We would all have a say before changing something as the groups members would all get to hear everyone's ideas and pick the most effective. This shows that we worked well as a group and had effective listening skills if it benefitted our opening sequence.

If I could do anything differently; I would've suggested to learn more techniques of cinematography to help gain my knowledge. This would have then helped me when shooting the actual footage of the opening sequence to already be professional upon more camera techniques rather than learning on the spot without it not enabling to be at its most potential. Within this preliminary task, what we did differently was the communication aspect of our group. We were put into an unfamiliar scenario, where we would act and use some techniques of cinematography, which we have all never took part in. We had to work as a group to listen to each others opinions upon the situation the characters were about to be in whilst showing evidence of both panning and close up.

Evaluation - Question 2

2) The opening sequence 'Female Obsession,' includes the main character 'Brittany,' who is a student at the age of 16 with her only goal at the present time of doing well in her exams. However, she is constantly being distracted. 'Steve,' is the character who is stalking Brittany to the point of death (the antagonist.) Brittany is a pretty, naive, teenager girl, feeling vulnerable with little experience into what the world and people living in it are like. Showing she has a lot to learn from this stalking experience. She is dressed in school girl clothes,which allows the audience to understand the young age she is due to her still being educated but having to deal with this terrible situation at the same time. 'Steve' is an older, mentally unstable man who is always in dark colours, covered head to toe to represent the hidden identity and the mystery about him. This makes it seem more scary for the audience and Brittany. Another character, 'Carol,' is seen as the hero throughout this opening sequence. She is in her early 20's, which makes her seem more like a role model to Brittany and someone for her to look up to and trust. She is firstly a stranger but quickly creates a strong bond with the teenage girl Brittany which the audience are happy to witness. Carol is dressed in very sweet clothing, wearing knitwear and comfy clothes which are very nudely coloured, which help to assure the audience in her sweet and pure presence. The audience would be interested in these characters as they are all different with different personalities, so putting them all together would cause conflict, making the audience want to watch further to see who is in danger or some sort of trouble.

Gender within my opening sequence was formed in a stereotypical way to make this product more effective. Both characters of Brittany and Carol are both intimidated by the dominant male in this product.

By using a younger, teenage girl shows vulnerability as she does not fully understand what is going on and why it is all happening. By using females who are young shows weakness and the fact they cannot stand up for themselves, due to the stereotypical opinion of women not being as strong as men. By having weaker characters, enphasises the antagonists strengths.

The antagonist is played by a tall male with muscles, which represents how strong he is and also; the fact that this whole character is played with a hidden identity, interprets to the audience that it is unsure just how strong he could potentially be. This makes the opening sequence more effective due to the intimidation the audience create. By using character genders shown in a stereotypical way does make the thriller film more effective effective as it is a successful convention within this genre.





Relationships between the characters throughout the product is extremely important as it varies from different types of relationships and how different characters handle the situation of being with different types of people. Even though there are only a few characters, it still represents a wide range of different aspects. These relationships include the association between the main characters of the antagonist (Steve) and the female victim (Brittany.) This particular relationship is very uncomfortable as it shows Brittany having very little interest towards Steve and wants nothing to do with him and is very scared. Steve on the other hand, is represented as quite the opposite as he is shown to be creepily obsessed with her. From Brittany not even knowing who this person was until she came into realisation that this stranger knows every little detail about her (who her friends are, how she gets home from school etc)

The age group aimed at this opening sequence is teenagers or young adults. Aimed at around 15-25 years old. By having these particular age groups aimed to watch this product can make it more relatable, enabling the audience of the target audience to form a stronger bond with the characters rather than someone younger or older than the target audience. This is because the audience can relate due to the similar age and can understand why the characters are expressing a particular emotion or how they are behaving. This target audience are also the popular ages to watch thriller films, this lets them enjoy a genre they enjoy and form a relationship with the characters easily. This happens by the audience also being vulnerable and then able to put themselves in the characters position and be able to feel and experience how shocked or scared the characters are. This the shows how effective the opening sequence due to the audience allowing themselves to be involved within a scene, making it more realistic to them and more thrilling. 

Final Thriller Opening Sequence

West Hatch High School- 16807

Emma Allen 9303

I also worked along side:
Harry Osborn 9126
Cara Jackson 9344

Evaluation - Question 1

My brief, was to ensure of an effective thriller idea turned into an opening sequence. I worked with two other members to help create this thriller clip, who in which were Cara and Harry. My role within this sequence, was to be the en charade of the different techniques and methods which helped to make a successful and tension rising film which was conventional towards the thriller genre. We all had particular roles for each member of the group, however; we would all sometimes contribute towards a particular aspect of the thriller film if we felt we could help to make improvements, this represented the team effort which which outshines throughout the sequence.

1)

For my brief, I was to make an opening sequence in which related towards the genre of a thriller. I completed this task by using thriller conventions which made this genre effective and creative towards its theme. Generic conventions of a thriller film are all things which make the film effective and tension rising, an example of a typical convention of a thriller is the 'female victim.' This particular convention makes it easier for the audience to understand and then sympathise for this particular character as they are stereotyped to be seen as weak and unable to defend themselves. Another example of a successful convention is the character of the antagonist, which usually has a hidden identity. This makes it more of a mystery towards the motive of what he is trying to accomplish. Another example of a convention is the theme of 'low key lighting,' this editing technique allows the audience to interpret danger towards the protagonist and are safer to see what's going to happen. As these conventions help to make the audience understand more, then results to the sequence being a successful piece as the audience are able to create a bond with the characters and are able to sympathise for them more easily. 

My media product is based on a young female victim who is taunted by a character who has a hidden identity towards the extent of a suicide attempt. To help make this narrative most effective, my group and I,(Cara and Harry) decided to involve a sweet, innocent character seen to be the protagonist who was tragically murdered by the antagonist. This made the audience more fearful of the antagonist and helps the increase the sympathy made for Brittany, making the opening sequence effective as the audience can create a bond with the characters. Me, Cara and Harry also used a range of editing techniques in which made this media product more effective and emphasised. We edited the colour of particular scenes to help create more of a dramatic effect. For example; for the scenes of Brittany on the bridge ready to commit suicide, we decided to slightly change the colour to an off bluish, purple colour which allowed the audience to understand that this is a very serious and upsetting scene.

This put more attention upon the audience towards the character as they question her motives as this is the first thing you see. This also helps the audience to understand how the character is feeling more clearly and visually. Another technique we used was sound to make scenes more thrilling with more tension and suspense built. We would add different types of non-diegetic sound throughout the sequence to help the scene seem more dramatic. The scene where Brittany is walking home from school is a successful scene which sound helped to make the scene seem more effective than it orginally was. Once the twig snapped, non diegetic sound would appear and helped the audience to feel on edge and are eager to see what might happen to the innocent teenager.

Me and my group followed a range of conventions towards a thriller in order to ensure it is effective. For example: female victim. This convention played the biggest role within the whole of the opening sequence as we thought it would be most important. By using this particular convention allowed the audience to clearly understand who is being perceived as the weaker character and who is the stronger character (antagonist.) By linking in within the female victim convention, we also decided to use antagonist and protagonist through out sequence. By using this, allowed the audience to understand who to emphasise for and who to feel threatened by. As the audience are then aware of characters roles and positions, they can then feel more involved within the narrative and the film as a whole, which makes an effective product.

Another convention was to use low key lighting, which gave a more tension rising effect and also allowed the audience to quickly understand that a character is in a dangerous situation. This convention would also then allow the audience to recognise the full potential of the antagonists strength whilst in the situation of darkness where no one would be able to find out. We also used tension rising, non diegetic sound throughout the opening sequence to provide senses of feeling uncomfortable and unaware for the audience to experience with certain characters such as Steve. Me and my group would also use things related towards the micro element of cinematography like zooming in towards the victims expression when in thought about her crazy stalker. We also provided props such pictures of a range of girls which I used from my friends. This would then highlight the crazy obsession he has and how creepy it makes it the whole sequence then become. The props made the sequence more effective and more creative in the terms of the narrative twisted story.

A real, successful media product within this particular genre of thriller would be the film of 'Halloween,' which is distributed by Universal Pictures. This film is similar towards my product of a media sequence due to the similar conventions. This film showed a range of effective conventions in which helped to make this film effective. All conventions were demonstrated throughout the film, ranging from the categories of cinematography, the soundtrack, the characters, the narrative to then editing styles. There was a lot of use of 'low key lighting' throughout the film, usually when the antagonist is on screen, this is used to represent the danger the victim is in and makes the antagonist seem more powerful and scary. This is effective as the audience could potentially also be in a dark room, i.e: in a cinema, which allows the audience to experience the same emotion as the victim character.

This shows the film to become relatable and the characters and audience can then have a relationship, which makes it an effective product. This specific convention is also used in my opening sequence to also represent more fear for the characters as they are seen to be more vulnerable and naive due to young age and also being in a dark, isolated area where anything can happen. This convention is shown in an example of the scene where the two characters of Brittany and Carol meet and form an instant bond. Where they are walking together and the only visible light sources are the street lights. 

Successful films that I was inspired by in which contributed towards my opening sequence were encouraged by a range of thriller films. Out of the range of all thriller films taking an interest to, I took immediate inspiration from the film Pyscho. From briefly examining my opening sequence and parts of this successful film, you can see some similarities. You can recognise these with examples of similar story line, as both narratives are about female victims being stalked by a physco character.

Similar uses of cinematography is used within my sequence, during the bridge scene, we used the technique of zooming in to show the surroundings and the character to then just the facial expressions filling the whole frame. This was an effective use of cinematography as this allowed the audience to see the fear from Brittany's eyes. This allowed the audience to sympathise quickly for her and the decision of suicide as a whole. This is used in the film of 'Halloween' for a reverse effect, where it is used at the start of the scene to show the antagonists childhood and how he behaved as a child, which then shocked the audience instead if the feeling my group aimed to make the audience feel, which was scared and fearful.

6)
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Opening Sequence Analysis- Miss Georgiou

How does the opening sequence of the film 'Halloween,' inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film?

The purpose of this opening sequence is to show the audience a mild form of information towards what the thriller film is about, and to also leave suspense towards the audience, making them eager to find out what happens next. Usually there is some sort of plot twist that shock the audience, in this case; for the thriller film 'Halloween,' the plot twist is when the mask is ripped off of the boys face from the parents. The opening sequence allows the audience the give an interpretation towards what the narrative and purpose of the film is about, they get an perception from things that are going on before a victim is killed.

The use of cinematography is used to show different types of film-making angles which would add effect or tension towards a particular scene. In this scene, there is 'Zoom Out,' which is at the very start of the scene, by using this specific camera angle, shows effect of the antagonist as a child, this then creates more of a shock to the audience, making it more of an effective scene and then making the audience ambitious towards what is going to happen next. After this use of camera work, there is 'High Angle Shot' afterwards, this juxtaposes from other shots as they were mainly at eye length or at a low angle. By using this angle, represents the antagonists perspective and showing his powerful character. Another camera shot was 'Point of View,' this was used to show the viewpoint of the antagonist, what he sees when in process with the murder, this then creates a realistic view to the audience that the killing was a real murder, which adds more effect.

The soundtrack is used in thriller films to create tension towards the audience and make a certain scene seem more scary and thrilling than what it would be without (for example) non-diegetic music. In this scene there is use of 'Off-Screen Sound,' the audience can hear a children's rhyme, this informs  the audience of a young killer. As children are seen as innocent and sweet, this then prepares the audience of the contrast of the children and the devil, showing something is possessing the child to not act like a normal child. Within the soundtrack, there is also silence when the antagonist is watching his own sister through the window of the house, showing a horror towards this thriller film and the protagonist has an obsession towards his particular target, that nothing is holding him back towards this murder(no one to look after him, parents are out.) There is also diegetic/parrallel sounds of sister being killed, which shows to the audience that what he is doing is a planned thing or the sound would be seen as 'Contrapuntal Sound.' There is also tension risen when the boy is walking up the stairs, the clock is ticking which is also another form of 'Diegetic Sound,' this is meant to show that her timeis running out, this creates a repsonse towards the audience that something is going to happen due to the suspense this scene gives.

The conventions of this scene is very effective as it is all things that relate to a typical thriller film, which creates tension, suspense and shock towards the audience. For example; 'Low Key Lighting,' as the antagonist is walking towards the house, this creates more attention towards the villain and show that he is a dark, negative and scary character within the sequence. Also, the colour of the scene, all dark or dark colours, this then builds suspense for the audience as they are not sure what's going to happen next as the darkness within the scene makes it difficult to see where the antagonist is going or what he is up to, as the audience does not know whats about to happen until it happens, which shows the shock aspect towards a typical thriller film. Towards the audience, they are then put under the impression that something bad is going to happen as a dark colour normally interprets to the audience a sign of danger.

The characters makes this scene a lot more effective as the antagonist has a hidden identity up until the very end of the scene, which is achieved by POV (point of view) camera shot. With this enigma the audience is now filled with, the unknown characters real identity creates shock and surprise towards the audience, which is conventional towards a thriller film. As we find out the villain on this scene is a little boy, makes the audience question why he wanted and went through with it to kill his older sister, what caused the tempation from him to not want his sister in his life anymore? This makes the audience sympathise for him in a way as it shows unhappiness within his family life to he extent of murder and a loss of a family member. Another character is the victim of the scene, which in this case is a young, blonde, pretty girl. This is typical towards a thriller film, by having the victim as young make it relatable as a high majority of the teenage population enjoy watching thriller films which makes it more real for them. By having the victim also as a girl is suppose to represent contrast of power between a young female and an older, stronger man as the antagonist.

The narrative of this film is very interesting as it was based on the annual night of Halloween, which is the one night of the year which represents evil, horror and murder. Part of her narrative was right at the end when the mask was ripped of the little boy, to the audience this creates a shock emotion, as children are seen with innocence and love, and would never expect such a horrible action they would do. This then creates suspense, what is going to happen next which make the audience want to watch the whole movie as it is the end of the scene, which makes it extremely effective. In my opinion, in this generation; this type of thriller would be rated a 15 and above as this particular scene involves nudity, blood and death. Although the film was set in 1964 but filmed in 1978 so would be rated most likely an 18 and above.

The editing of this film had a lot of effect upon the audience as it can show panic and fear which then the audience can also experience with the characters. An example of this is slow editing, which prolongs the sequence, as the antagonist is walking up the stairs, builds supsense and tension towards the audience, which would make the see the shocking end of scene even more jaw dropping, due to the slow build up which was first created. There is also reaction shot I'm this scene, after the mask was ripped off, the audience sees a young boys face, which is a sudden shock to the audience due to normally having a older man taking part in this particular action. As you see the reaction from the boys parents, creates even more of a shocking scene as you could tell the shock from their tone of voice, which shows the boy was seen as innocent and gone bad. Another example of editing in this scene is tempo increase, this was after the murder, the antagonist is trying to run away, shows he does not want the blame for this murder and wants to carry on being seen as an innocent young boy he once was. By using this type of editing skill, quickly excites amd engages he audience further to see what happens next.

Overall, his sequence informs the audience of conventions of a thriller film by havig typical things in which all thriller films would normally have, like female victim, a dark setting, the antagonist/protagonist, inconography- including dangerous weapons which inform the audience of a dangerous situation. There is also blood and generally involving a death of a character. The main factors that the audience experience is enigma, shock, suspense and tension. 

This analysis will assist me with planning my own thriller as it has in-depth detail towards a particular thriller scene, which allows me to notice thriller aspects of this professional film. This also gives me inspiration towards what should be the narrative towards my own thriller film, with the hidden identity, a murder and a slow, tension rising start to the scene, which would make the audience suspect something is going to happen, making my scene to be effective and thrilling.

Group Narrative

My narrative post:

-Female victim- making it more sympathiable for audience

-Murder

-Kidnapped

-Cliff hanger

-Iconography( weapons like knives, representing danger) 

Harry's narrative post:

-suicide

-flash backs

-stalking

-plot twist, decides against suicide due to kind old women

-kind old women dies, clip ends, enigma

Caras's narrative post: 

- hidden indentity

- we see the antagonist but never their face

-stabbing

-cliff hanger

-his a psychopath

-bad childhood

-dark/deserted setting

-the killer kills those closet to her - so to strip her of friends/ family

-left on her own, we feel sympathy, clip ends, enigma

Final narrative:

-Suicide attempts 

-main scene, about to commit, bridge

-flashbacks towards why she is in this position (stalking, outside victims house, in schools, stalks family)

-kind old women saves her life

-the antagonist kills the old women, giving it a plot twist

The chosen theory I think is most relatable towards our own narrative is Tzvetan Todorov's theory as at the start of the story a disequibirim as the main character is about to commit suicide. This makes the start of the opening sequence effective as there is a sudden shock for the audience and then the audience can feel sympathy to the character as she is so upset with the way of her life that she feels the need to end her life by jumping of a bridge. During the middle of the sequence, there is another term in which Todorov uses called 'equilibrium,' which means everything is normal and back to as it should be. This is the part of our scene when someone who is seen as the saviour of the scene, convincing the girl not to kill herself. This makes the audience feel relieved as everything is good again. Then by the end of this opening sequence, there is another 'disequibrium,' as the saviour who helped the main character to not commit suicide, then suddenly dies by the antagonist. The antagonist is the person who led the main character almost to her death, as he extremely worried her by the stalking. By having an disequibrium at the end, creates enigma and suspense towards the towards the audience and creates tension. This also draws the attention towards whats going to happen next, intriguing the audience to watch the rest of the film. By having shock, tension and surprise within this opening sequence makes it an effective scene and by the audience eager to watch more, shows that the narrative was interesting and valid within the genre of a thriller. 

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

The purpose of characters in our opening sequence is to make scenes more effective, allowing the audience to build a relationship and then sympathise for when the victim is in danger. It is important to plan characters before filming because as a group, you can get an insight towards how conventional the characters will be within the opening sequence. 

Brittany

This character is the main character and plays a big role upon the opening sequence as she is in every scene. This character is conventional towards a thriller film as she is the typical female victim, to represent her weakness and vulnerability. She is 15 years old, as she is extremely doing, this is suppose to represent the innocence of her charateristics and her lack of knowledge with the world. By lack of knowledge, this is meant by Brittany not really understanding what is wrong or right. Her appearance is young, beautiful and blonde, making tha udience sympathise towards this character easily when she is in danger. As she is a Likeable character, the audience feel sorry for her as she isn't fully award towards how much danger she is actually in. During this degas ting situation she is in, this student was before dedicated towards studying for her school work of GCSE's. In the sequence, as she never has any school work with her, interprets towards the audience that with this stalker situation she is experiencing, has really affected her and she cannot think of anything else but that. 

Carol

This character is the protagonist of the sequence, the hero that saves a random teenagers life from attempted suicide. Towards the audience, this character comes across very comforting and caring, which makes it more devastating when she is murdered. She is a female character and quite young but not as young as Brittany so it is acknowledged towards Brittany and the audience that she has a sort of role model in her life and for Brittany to know what she's experiencing is not ok. She is around 20 years old and wears neutral knitwear colour to represent her caring personality. Before she was involved in this situation, she volunteered at a dog shelter, helping the employees walk the many dogs, this is where she sees Brittany, when she is walking some of the dogs. This is the character that Brittany is trust worthy to, the only one she connects to, which a,kes it even more heart breaking towards the death of Carol.

Steve

This character is the antagonist of the opening sequence, the one in which has made Brittany's life miserable. This character was suppose to be kept towards the convention of a thriller of hidden identity, so the audience do not get to bond towards this character and more towards Brittany. No other characters has ever seen this stalker before except Brittany. Even though the death of carol of framed up on Steve, the audience do not know for certain if it was actually this character, or it was jut an assumption, leading more towards the mystery of the opening sequence. The personal appearance of this character is tall, masculine and strong build which makes this particular character more intimidating towards the audience and sympathising and empathising more towards the danger of Brittany. As you never we his face, as the audience constantly see him in a black hoodie, shows hidden identity and little relationship is build upon the audience and this character, which then enphasises and expands on the bond with Brittany as the audience turn against this character as he is a troublesome character. I think this is an interesting character as this could be a made up character, and Brittany could be the mentally unstable character from the stress of her school work. This could be interpreted as she is a very paranoid character and she only ever seems to be ale when seeing this antagonist. 

Runner

This runner is only used in one scene to highlight the paranoia Brittany is experiencing within the situation. This character does not have a name as he is irrelevant towards the rest of the sequence, but used as an almost prop to show bbe trust issues Bruttany has gained from this experience. He will be in the sequence during one of the flashbacks when a brittany is walking home from seeing friends in an alley way when she has a feeling someone is coming after her, representing her panic, when she believes it is the antagonist and he gets his closest to her, she notices it is just a friendly runner on his daily run. This character is going to be wearing running clothes, bright luminous colour, which juxtaposes Steve's dark and mysterious outfit to show he is a friendly character which mean no harm.

Opening Scene Narration - Miss Miller

The description of the 2 minutes sequence starts with quickly opening with the main character, Brittany on a bridge wanting to commit suicide. This fraction of the scene is very quickly, used to give the audience an insight towards this characters life and her emotional well-being. The camera starts from a long shot which then leads to a close up to see the facial expression of anxiousness upon Brittany's face.

 The scene then quickly changes to the flashbacks, allowing the audience to create an emotional bond with this character as she is opening up and showing why she feels this way. Within these flashbacks, include 3 different scenarios, starting with being in the comfort in her own home and realising someone is watching her while she is watching the end of a happy film of 'Finding Nemo.' This scene quickly changes its mood as it goes from happy and safe to in danger and being frightened. This scene was used to represent why she feels constantly paranoid and why she has to always be cautious, and highlights the main point towards this narrative, making it effective. This scene includes low key lighting, with the main source of light coming from the film of the television, this will be used to show her emotions where she goes from a good mood from seeing the father and son finally re-unite in the film to then the panic in her facial expressions. The background sound will firstly show the sounds from the movie playing to then non-diegetic music to represent more of a panic and make the fraction of the scene where she runs into the kitchen to grab a knife more scary and realistic. The type of camera angles that will be used will be handheld, without the tripod to make the scene more of a realistic matter and Brittany is having to handle it by herself. This character will be wearing comfy clothes to allow the audience to know that she is feeling comfortable and secure.

The second flashback is when she is walking home from school, as she is a highly motivated student and wishes to get home as soon as possible to complete her nights homework schedule. She suddenly gets distracted as she feels like something is watching her as she hears a leaf crunch, assuming its from a heavy foot. This then highlights the innocence of this particular character and how she has been victimised form this antagonist, as he is slowly taking her away from her education and he is a constant thought in her mind, misleading her away towards what she believes is important. Within this scene, Brittany is wearing school clothes to make sure the audience is certain within her age range to represent vulnerability. The path she will be walking on will be clear to ensure that her paranoia increases after she hears the crunch of a twig.

The last flashback is when she thinks she has completely forgotten about the scenario of the stalker and believes it was just paranoia. She decides to see some friends for a night out and this scene shows  her way back form the event. She is walking home in an alley-way and her paranoia suddenly rushes back to her as she hears running steps not far behind her. The panic she then feels becomes very intense and makes the audience on edge towards whats going to happen next. Once this mysterious character has finally gone past her, she then finds a sense of relief when she realises that it was just a friendly runner passing by. This flashback, I believe is most effective as it gives a representation of the pain of paranoia she always going to have and gives an interpretation towards the audience that this could all be down to her anxiety troubles as there was really no antagonist as this character was left very mysterious with a hidden identity. In this scene, Brittany will be wearing very dressy clothes to show that she has been somewhere and to show that she is not letting this situation affect her in a constant matter. The runner will be wearing very neon coloured running clothes, this will then highlight the extreme paranoia she is experiencing. The sound during this scene will be very intense, to make it more over exaggerated when the mysterious character is getting closer and close towards the vulnerable character of Brittany. Once she has realised she was not in danger, there is a sudden silence in the scene only hearing her heavily breathing with a sense of relief.

After the flashbacks, the scene then changes to the present time of her on the bridge about to commit suicide. After a few moments, Carol is introduced to the opening sequence starting of as a completely random passer by. As Carol passes by, she realises something is not right with the teenager whom she has no recollection of knowing her at all. This then enphasises on the caring personality that Carol has. She quickly goes over to make sure if everything is alright and comfortably ensures Brittany that she can tell her anything that she feels un sure about. As they are talking, an instant bond forms between the two characters and become friends within a second. This scene will be situated next to the bridge, to allow the audience to know that she was about to kill herself, but an almost guardian angel rescued her. (this then fore shadows the tragedy of Carols death) The character of Carol will be wearing very neutral, light colours of knitwear to convey happiness and comfort. This is to also show that Carol is not asking Brittany if she is ok for gossip, but because she genuinely cares for this teenager who is knows nothing about. Some of the camera angles that will be used in this shot are panning when Carol is firstly introduced and two shot to show both of the characters in a certain frame. We will also use a handheld action behind leaves to interpret to the audience that they are being watched without knowing.

After their long chat, they decide to get out of the winter cold air and find a more comfortable place where they can get to know each other. After they walk a bit of the bridge, Carol quickly realises she dropped her bag from where she panickly went over to Brittany at the start to make sure everyone was alright. As Carol said she'd be back within two minutes, but Brittany feels as if she waited a lot longer. As she walks inform the curve, she notices Carol on the ground not making any movements. She quickly sprints over in a crying like state. She soon discovers she was stabbed. The last frame will be a close up of Brittany crying and will quickly end to make the audience want to watch the whole of the film to find out what happens next. This was purposely used at the end to show that even the nicest of people are not safe within Brittany's situation and his then fore shadows the danger Brittany will be out in after this scene, but will have to watch the full movie to find out. By making the audience want to watch what happens next, makes this and effective and tension rising opening sequence. 

Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound within films is extremely important as it highlights the effect of the emotion that the character is feeling or experiencing. Planning is required in order to produce excellent sequences as the whole group can input their ideas and then, with organisation; be put into one good idea, making a scene effective and creative. Planning links with the images used as it is evidence where me and my group have put all of our ideas into one. The image used above show some examples of which sound techniques we will be using to make our opening sequence conventional of a thriller.

Parallel

This sound is used to make an effective thriller when you can hear sound from within a film in which the audience would expect, for example; a scene with children playing on a beach, the parallel sounds would include laughter, talking and the sound of the sea. This sound technique will be used within the sound of a knife, to emphasise on the injury that Carol(protagonist) has just experienced. Making the sound o the noise louder, will elaborate upon the sharpness of the particular knife and how much terror it has caused. This is conventional towards a thriller film as using a knife is part of iconography, a use of a weapon. This is going to be used specifically to represent the power of the antagonist (Steve) and then foreshadows the danger the victim (Brittany) is going to be put in. The audience immediately sympathise for the safety of Brittany as there is an instinct to show the audience that the stalker uses Carol as bait to play with Brittanys emotions.

Contrapuntal

This sound is used within a film to juxtapose what is happening within a scene, when the sound and image do not compliment each other, for example:happy music played over something sad happening on the screen.) In my opening sequence, this sound technique is going to be used during the first flashback, when Brittany is watching t.v, a happy child's film will be played, this then foreshadows what the victim is about to witness as everything seems too happy during that particular scene. The part of the film she is watching when everything at the end is happy with no problems, making the character believe that she could too be in that perfect moment. This creates more comfort for Brittany, making herself feel more safe, and then creates much more of a shock when she. Touches the strange stalker watching her, unaware how long the antagonist has been watching her through the window. This then dramatically changes the mood of the scene making it more effective.

Diegetic/On-Screen

Diegetic sound is when the music or sound that belongs within the frame can be considered to be a natural apart of the narrative, not always visible on screen, for example: a car radio being played within a scene. On screen sound is when you can see and hear where the sound is coming from within a film.  An on screen sound technique is going to be used in the opening sequence by the noise of the t.v during the first flashback, this is going to be used to show props within he sequence and to also help to create a stronger bond between the character and audience and at this point, the character, Brittany is feeling vulnerable and emotionally and physically scared. Dialogue is going to be used throughout the whole sequence, to get more of an insight towards certain characters personalities, for example: when Carol persuades Brittany not to commit suicide by talking to her. A use of heavy breathing from the victim will be used throughout most scenes to show how frightened she is feeling, an example of a scene of this is when she feels like the stalker is running after her in the alley way, representing her paranoia this antagonist has left her with when she finds out it is just a friendly neighbourhood runner.

Non diegetic/Off screen 

Non diegetic sound is when the sound or music is added in after, such as in the editing scene, to create more tension, shock or surprise. Off screen sound is when you can hear the sound but cannot see the source, yet it still makes sense the film dynamic. As a group, we are using this to create more tension with the characters to the audience, used throughout all scenes to represent a happy or scared mood. For example: when a hero, Carol stops the victim, Brittany not to kill herself, a peaceful sound will be played in the background to show a sense of relief. Off screen sound will also be used during one of the flashbacks, the steps of the runner will be exaggerated and louder, this technique will be used before you see the face to make the audience question whether it is the stalker or not, this will then turn to tension building non diegetic sound to create more fright within the scene

Planning sound is important as it helps us as a group to be more effective and organised with our group. We can plan what type of sound we are looking for and what genre, for example; tension rising. We can become more familar with what type of sound we are looking for in order to make our opening sequence the most effective it can be. By also using other sounds to over lap the actual sound to make it seem more dramatic, for example; finding a louder crunch of a twig for one of the scenes where she is walking home from school can make it seem to the audience that it was on purpose that he crunched the twig and to allow the audience that the girl was not hallucinating and was an actual experience.

Rough Cut - Miss Georgiou

Audience feedback is extremely important to a production as it helps team members show where they have gone wrong or made a slight error. It also introduces more opinions towards our opening sequence, so we can get more of an insight towards what could be improved in order to make our sequence more effective and tension rising. Audience feedback does not always has to be negative comments, you can also be given compliments from your production and be praised for the hard work you had put into it.

We received audience feedback from our target audience through youtube. We thought this would be an easier way to get in touch with our main target generation as our target audience is aimed at mainly teenagers, and as they are the generation to be most familiar with social networking sites, using a video site like youtube would be the most suitable and efficient option. We presented a questionnaire in which they would fill relevant towards our opening sequence on things like what went well and what we could do to improve.

This particular type of feedback benefitted our production and film industry as we could see obvious things that didn't quite make sense or was made too confusing. We probably wouldn't be able to notice this without the feedback from the our target audience. After we got our feedback from our target audience back,this then helped us to make final adjustments to our product to make it that much more effective and jaw dropping, therefore making it highly conventional towards a thriller film.

For my opening sequence, me and my group recieved a range of positive feedback in which praised our hard work and effort for our media product. Some of which were:
'Highly conventional towards a thriller film,' this was one of the comments I recieved for my opening sequence. I think this is an efficient type of feedback as it allowed me to understand the importants of having your opening sequence conventional towards the thriller genre. It is important due to the fact that conventions range from a a variety of things, for example: low key lighting, characters of a antagonist and protagonist and also having tension rising non-diegetic sound. Shock, tension and suspense are extremely important when making a thriller film, especially for an opening sequence, as you intentionally want the audience to be left wanting to know more about what happened in a certain scene to a particular character.

'Good use of lighting to highlight focal points of the sequence,' this was effective as a group, we understood the importance of lighting techniques. By using low key lighting, which is a convention of a thriller, allowed the audience to understand a tone of danger and mystery towards a certain scene, for example; one of the flashbacks when Brittany is watching a happy film, which the to being the only source of light, juxtaposing the danger of the stalker and the happy film.

'Effective plot twist engaging the audience,' this was extremely important when creating a thriller film, as you want the audience to be interested. By using a physiological narrative, was seen in our team group an opinion to be most effective as it messes with the characters mind, it can also mess with the audiences mind. (The stalker a following Brittany towards thoughts and actions of death)

The negative feedback we received allowed us to understand any minor errors and mistakes we made, and allowed us to improve on them, making our opening sequence more effective. Some of which were 'The plot is seen to be too complex and maybe too much like a trailer,' this was a very helpful comment because we we decided to cut out a whole scene of a flashback in order for there to be less scenes and make more sense towards the audience. 

'The camera work was slightly unprofessional and jagged, mayb due to the camera itself being insecure,' this comment allowed us to then try to cut out any movement of the camera in the product in which would not irritate the audience when watching. I take some responsibility for this and it was my first time having my role as the camera man, but we all took turns the film as a group.

'Could do with a sound track running throughout the sequence,' we decided to add in minor sound rough out which would help to create tension throughout every scene.

Based on the comments I have recieved; as a group, we decided to cut some scenes out, for example: having three flashbacks made it seem quite confusing towards the audience as it began to become more like a trailer, we decided as a group to cut the least effective one out, this one was the alley way scene, where the victim (Brittany) was walking home from seeing friends and becomes very suspicious towards her surroundings, as she feels as if something was watching/following her. This scene was initially made to represent the paranoia that Brittany has been left with due to her stalker (Steve.) Unfortunately, this scene did go as well as we hoped as the final view of it was not as dramatic, which hugely degraded the effectiveness of the opening sequence as a whole.

We also decided to improve on our editing techniques towards the scene, as some scenes were too faint which did not create any tension or suspense and then other scenes were seemed to be too edited, which made the sequence less effective as they would not match and would look messy. We would do this in which would require using the 'Final Cut' editing software, allowing us to create more tension building moments to make our sequence much more effective and conventional. The main scene we focused on was the very first and last fraction. We toned down the editing as it looked quite purple and the focus effect was a complete normal colour, which did not improve the opening sequence in the slightest.

We also cut parts of scenes out as they seemed too long and we thought that the audience could get bored of a scene if it may have gone on for too long than they had expected, which is the opposite of trying to engage the audience into watching the whole of the opening sequence, to then watching the full product as you want to see what happens next.