When my group began this task we started by evaluating thriller openings. We noticed that throught the genre the thrillers started in similar ways. This was that they started with the films titles over usually a blank background. We found that music is also used to great effect in these openings which helps to create a sense of suspense and allows the audience to identify the type of film they are watching (see 0:00 - 2:08 in Signs video below). We then decided to do a similar opening to these (see 0:00 - 0:34). We use white text on a black background and use fades to create an almost ghostly effect of the text fading in and out. This coupled with the use of main character singing as non diegetic sound creates a suspensefull effect and helps to create a feeling of unease in the audience.
When we researched the work of M. Night Shyamalan we noticed that most of his films started with a zoom or a long shot in order to both establish the setting and to create suspense this is shown in the opening of the film Signs (see 2:07 - 2:21 in video below). We also decided to use this (see 0:34 - 0:45).
Our use of mise en scene throught our opening is similar to other thrillers such as The Blair Witch Project. This is as both our thriller opening and The Blair Witch Project use the situation of being lost in a wood to show a characters isolation and fear. We also used setting in our opening to create a sense of unease in the audience. This is as the image of a teenager playing with children's toys is not a normal one and this helps to establish the characters status as abnormal (see 0:46 - 0:50). This was supposed to be empahasised by the characters adult dress however this confused the audience as due to the presence of children's toys they assumed that the character was meant to be a child rather than a teenager.
Similarites in the setting of our thriller and The Blair Witch Project
In our opening men are shown as being stereotypically domininant over woman. This is emphasised by the use of high and low angles to show dominance and submissiveness. During our opening the male is centralised and has more screen time than the female which futher reinforces the idea of male dominance. The male character is also shown as being a stereotypical drunken and abusing father. This is shown by his costume and dialogue towards the female. This portayal helps to create a feeling of sympathy towards the female character. The original establishing shot of the house (see 0:34 - 0:45) shows that the characters are middle class. However the appearance of the male character can suggest that he is more working class.
I feel that the production company Touchstone Pictures would be a likely candidate for distributing our media product. This is as they have previously distributed thrillers such as Dark Water and Signs. These films focus on a main characters journey of discovery and have elements of horror both of the psychological and physical kind. This is similar to our opening. Our thirller also uses other themes similar to these films and others that Touchstone Pictures produce. Such as the presence of an unseen antagonist and the use of a handi cam to simulate the pov of this antagonist (see 1:54 - 1:58). Also as most of the films of M. Night Shyamalan have been distributed by this company it is likely that they are interested in psychological thrilles such as ours.
I feel that the audience for our thriller would be for teenagers and adults in their 20s to 30s. This is as the scenes of abuse would be upsetting for a younger audience. Also the portrayal of teenagers as mistunderstood would appeal to the teenage audience as would the portrayal of a drunken and abusinve father figure. This is as stereotypically teenagers are rebellious towards authority and the presentation of a dominant male figure as being imperfect would appeal to them. It is also more likely that the audience would be mostly male as the elements of horror in our thriller would appeal to them more than women.
During this task I have learnt a large amount about constructing a media product. This has been in the form of both learning how to effectively use editing, camera, mise en scene and sound and also in the plot line of our opening.
Originally our thriller opening was very different. This is as we had planned to use flashbacks to show the main characters past and to end the opening with the main character waking up from a dream. However we learnt that this was far to cliche and confusing. So we changed this into the main character being abused and then running away. We also foudn that in our rough draft there was far too much running. This caused the audience to lose interest in what was happening on screen. We then cut this down using editing and by cutting out pieces of setting that didnt really make sense. This helped the narrative to flow much easier and helped the audience to become more enaged in what they were watching.
I also learnt how to use the editing software premier pro. While i was not particularily literate with this program i improved and was able to start editing effectively. This was in the form of using fades and using editing to create effect and continuity. I also learnt how to use music to create meaning however in our end product we ended up using too much music and subtracting from the action on screen.
In comparison to our continuity task our thriller opening has improved by a large amount. This is due to the massive improvement in our editing and camera work. For instance in our continuity task several shots are far too long and therefore detracted from the action on screen. The camera work was also shaky and not always in focus. Our use of music in this task also left alot to be desired.
