Evaluation of our Thriller

1.       In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our thriller opening sequence uses the generic conventions of a psychological thriller. However the protagonist/ antagonist role can be questioned. For the first half of the opening sequence, the antagonist would be the attacker. He is victimising the girl (protagonist). This poses questions for the viewers as to why he is victimising her. As ours is a psychological thriller, there are many enigmas throughout. Enigmas such as the scene of the group walking into the pub and the boy antagonist grabs the girl protagonist and so would question the audience into asking questions in their minds such as why is he doing that, what will happen next?

2.       How does your product represent particular social groups?

Our Thriller represents a stereotypical representation of a teenage social group as they are out socialising and drinking on a night out. In the scene of the group of friends walking into the pub, and the male character grabs the female character with force, the female strongly loosens the grasp which shows a switch in representation between male and female. The female representation is also stereotypical at first as she is vulnerable and being targeted by a devious male character. However at the very end we intended for the female to be thought of as the protagonist as we want the audience to speculate whether she is the victim or if she is the attacker. As they are aged between 15-18, audiences are intrigued as we aimed for the BBFC to be a 15+ and therefore our target audience can relate to the situation and behaviour of the group of friends.

3.       What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We believe that our Thriller would be an independent film as it hasn’t got a strong enough story line to be a Holly Wood blockbuster.  To be a Holly Wood blockbuster we would need to ensure that the story line, camera effects, sound and lighting will keep the viewers constantly gripped. Our thriller would not have much of an ability to produce merchandise other than the necklace which could produce replicas but other than that the film does not have much of an opportunity to create such things as merchandise. It could have opportunities to have a sequel made which could show the story line from the antagonist’s point of view.  

 4.       Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our thriller product would be those of the age of 15 and above, although the opening sequence doesn’t seem like there much in the way of, sex, drugs or violence, the story line of the movie means that it would need to be rated as a 15. The film would be aimed at more along the lines of teenagers and young adults as its classed as a teen psychological thriller as the main cast are all between the ages of 18-20 and it’s based on the usual teenage life, teenage hangouts with an obvious psychological twist. The films that our thriller is similar too are films such as taken as they both have the suspense element and both have the woman actor as the vulnerable character. It is also similar to the film shutter island as it has the element of not knowing who is the antagonist and who is the protagonist and we are not completely sure whether the main character is the victim or not.

5.       How did you attract/ address your audience?

The age and gender of our audience for our thriller are both boys and girls aged 15 and above. This is because it is suited BBFC rating and also due to the character types within our thriller opening sequence. There are some random uses of point of view shots mainly from the protagonist’s point of view. Seeing through the eyes of the protagonist gets the audiences to relate to the characters feelings. Especially in the car scene where the protagonist feels uneasy with the antagonist starring at her intently. Ways in which we attracted the audience was through the PowerPoint on the story line in which we showed in class, by this we made the group curious as to what the film would actually look like when it was the finished product. We also did questionnaires to see what this age group preferred in thrillers and we looked at the highest rated psychological thrillers and what sort of conventions and what aspect were included within these films. We made sure that the group of friends was in a familiar place that you’d see teenagers hang out.

6.       What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Filming our opening sequence we used a cannon xm2 pal. We also used a tripod to make the filming smoother. During filming we sometimes struggled with getting the camera on and off the tripod. Throughout the editing of our thriller opening sequence we had to familiarise ourselves with editing software ‘Final Cut Pro’ and music software ‘Garageband’. As we wanted it to be evening time, we were aware of the risks of poor lighting and so we used lights such as car headlights and lamps from the outside of the pub. Editing for the flashback moments in our thriller, we found it quite a challenge but felt it worked well. We had to time the music along with the moments for the flashbacks so it would be clear when they started and finished and would also add to the drama. Final Cut Pro gradually became familiar to us as it became easier nearer the end, even though there were a few difficult areas. Also for Garageband, the sound effects that were already there in Garageband helped us really well as it provided the ideal sound effects we needed to create an overall soundtrack which involved particular flashback noises.

7.       Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since the preliminary task, as a group we have developed really well through our production skills and presentation skills. We have learnt that all four micro areas are compulsory when it comes to the overall film. In our preliminary tasks we failed to carry out a successful 180 degree rule. Although this was a simple mistake, it was useful for us as we learnt to take extra precaution and care when it comes to filming and editing altogether. Most importantly, it helped us with continuity and making sure everything dialogue and action flows. Overall, since making our preliminary task to making our final thriller opening sequence, we have developed as a group and learnt how to work productively as a team and also to make a creative sequence. The preliminary task helped us to prepare for all our planning, including storyboarding and most importantly preparing us with all the media equipment such as cameras, tripods, Final Cut Pro and Garageband. We as a group, fit the criteria for the psychological thriller genres as the storyline is intended to create enigmas and to confuse the audience to the extent where they are comparing with other viewers what they think has happened or will happen next in the thriller sequence. We think as a group that our thriller creates these enigmas, especially the way we have edited the thriller so that the two time difference in both scenes entwine with one another. The flashbacks of the night before are intended to show insights and small pockets of information of that time without giving away too much information.

Who? - Final Evaluation

Who? - Group 4 Final Opening Sequence

Rough Cut Feedback

1) How well have the technical areas been produced? (Camera, Mise en Scene, Sound and Editing)
- Use of long shots and blur worked well, and created enigmas.
- Long transitions with the overlap give the audience something to focus on all the time.
- Costume is realistic and makes the audience relates to the character.
- Natural lighting shows the use of the flashbacks
- Sound track is parallel to the narrative and genre of the clip.
- The clothing and make up on the girl creates enigma as we wonder why she is hurt and in this state.
- Sound track is parallel to the visual, engaging the audience.
- Used a variety of shots, costume and makeup fit the story line.
- Really good jump cuts and blends between the scenes.
- Camera techniques and positioning are good.

2) How well has the genre characteristics been used? Can you identify the sub genre?
- We identified the sub genre as crime, but can clearly state that it looks like a thriller convention as it has common thriller traits.
- Hard to identify the sub genre of this thriller, by the shot types and editing I could tell this is a thriller.
- The soundtrack and sound effects create an eerie feel; it creates a distorted effect which contributes to the enigmas. The blood on the costume is scary - crime? The added sound effects add to the thriller genre.

3) What do you like about the rough cut?
- Realistic costume, lighting, location. Really effective soundtrack and sound effects. Clear use of flashbacks which create questions, the variation between the clear and blurred shots mirror the blurred memory.
- In rough cut I like the background music as it fits well to the genre and there are different sounds blending together. Also I like that some of the sounds were louder and could only be heard for a few seconds, when scenes from the previous night were shown. Another thing I liked about this rough cut were the transitions which were added because it makes it more interesting than only using cuts.
- I liked the constant blur at the beginning of the rough cut. Excellent editing which gives it a mysterious feel.
- The flashbacks continuity really good, sound track creates a sense of ambiguity regarding the narrative.

4) How can they improve the rough cut and what constructive criticism can you give the group?
- Establishing shot of the pub could have been clearer. The shot of the necklace could have focused on what she was holding so it is clearer. Pub scene could have slightly higher key lighting to make the narrative clearer.
- Editing is good but too many dissolves, could use a different transition.
- Costume needs to be a little more extreme, (i.e. torn a bit, more cuts to show where the blood is coming from and emphasise the necklace a bit more.)

Practice Soundtrack

This is our practice soundtrack for our Thriller. We were mainly getting a feel for Garage Band and figuring out what sounds are available to use. We also wanted to figure out what kind of sound we were aiming to use and how we wanted the track to flow. By doing this we have realized that we would like to use a slow mellow track with bold flash back noises to fit in with the different scenes.

Final Production Logo

WHO

Practice Production Logo For Our Thriller

This is our practice idea for our Production Logo. As we have called it "Clockwork Productions" and used cogs to show this. We feel like more editing for this logo is greatly needed and we need to rethink the font choice for "Clockwork Productions" as we feel like it doesn't match what we expected it to look like. However, after making this practice logo, we now have a clear understanding of what we want to create, and how we want it to look. We want the font to be simple because we think it will get the message across and simplicity is sometimes better. We would also like to make the cogs more creative and maybe involve them in with the words. To create this we used Photoshop.

Thriller Moodboard

Animatic

Rough Cut Of Thriller Opening Sequence

This is our rough cut of our Thriller movie opening sequence.

We used Final Cut Pro to edit this sequence and Garage Band to create the sound track. We overlapped the clips of the girl walking down the alley to emphasise her possible 'damaged' or 'detached' mental state. The lapping over parallels her confusion/distress as it gives a dazed feel. 

We then used several vinyl scratching sounds to make the 'flash backs' distinctive to the audience. The same sounds will be used throughout the opening so the audience will always have a clear idea that these are flash backs and when they start and finish. On the actual flash back filming we used a vignette filter, we will also used this effect on every flash back. This will make it seem like a blurry or hazy memory.

For out final edit, we will use a white glow/flash to indicate when the flash backs start and finish.

We are also going to re-film the 'flash back' scenes as we felt there was not enough planning and the lighting was quite dark. We also wanted to make the 'hand grab' as they walk into the pub more exaggerated; this plants enigmas in the audiences mind and sets up the film to come.

Logo Analysis

These are the two production companies that are going to be analysed by their similarities and differences in;

- Layout

- Structure

- Iconography

- Font

In Paramount pictures, the layout for the production logo is quite specific. It uses many stars to specify around the mountain top and also to phrase the main title of this production company 'Paramount'. The structure for the logo clearly expresses the type of films this production company has produced, as the production name is sitting on the mountain it could reflect the movies produced by this company are at the very top and has a high end reputation. Also, the font from the company title links in with the iconography of the mountain top picture, it shows its natural (as its in a mountain area) elegance in the sense that the films produced are like this too. The use of colour in the logo is quite subtle and natural colours of light pinks and blues for the sky.



As for Dreamworks productions, the whole the layout of the logo is in the sky surrounded by clouds with a young boy slouching on the moon, fishing. As for the structure, the first thing you notice is the picture of the boy fishing on the moon with the company title sititng below the moon. Not only does the company name give it away but linking with the colour scheme of the night blues, the logo comes across quite dreamy and almost unimaginable. Also the font has very big and bold letters for the production title to inform the viewer that the films they have created are quite loud and childish. The logo as a whole as for the iconogrpahy, this would come as across as unusual and quite playful as this production company creates family/ childrens films.

Location Reports

This is the alley way that we will be using in the filming of our media thriller. The reason that we will be using this alley way is because the other alleys in the local area were too bright and open and we found that they were quite busy throughout the hours that we would need to use it for filming. This alley way was suitable to use because it’s fairly dark and windy and it had the right atmosphere about it for the scene that would be filmed. When doing the filming it was quite sunny for a change and it our planning it was meant to be quite dull and gloomy because the time of day was meant to be early morning, but because the walls are quite high it makes the alley quite shadowy and dark so we didn’t think this would be much of a problem.
Risks of using this location are quite low, with things such as pedestrians walking by, which will interupt our filming, and if we were to have to go back and do filming again things such as litter and rubbish or angles could affect our filming, the last risk we could think of is whether, if we were to start filming and then it was to rain this would be a risk, and also if it was to be very cold whether this could reflect in the acting of our actress.

This is the car we will be using for our filming; it is a W reg Renault Clio. The reasons in which we are using this car are because it belongs to one of the girls in the media group. throughout the media filming we will have to load the car with four people the car is a good size as its not to cramped, the only down side is that it doesn’t have 4 doors, but inside the car a scene of the media the sound effects of the car locking is heard when the protagonist is on camera, this car has the ability to lock to car with a button in which it makes a loud locking sound so this makes the car suitable to use.

Risks of using the car could be also quite low risks such as the lighting in the car, although we have artificial lighting, because the filming for this scene is done in the dark, this means that the camera may not pick up alot of light and it could affect the filming.

This is the Prince Albert pub in windsor, this pub will be used as our hang out sport in the thriller, the reason we picked this pub in particular is because our filming is done on a saturday night and because alot of pubs in windsor will be busy at this time we have used this local pub as a girl in the media group works his and has access to a different entrance to use for this part of the sequence.

the risks of using this pub are a medium, as the pub is on a main road and we have the risk of lots of passers by, and people inside the pub that could be under the influence of alcohol which could lead them to do silly things and get in the way.

Story Board

Production Schedule and Risk Assessments

Shot List

Questionnaires and audience profiles.

This is our primary research. We created questionnaires to find out what people enjoy watching based on their age group, interests, where they live, and their economic status. From this we were able to get information from people aged between 16-50. This helped us find out what age range enjoys watching thriller films. We found out that the older the person is, the less they enjoy watching a thriller film. Teenagers aged between 16-20 (male and female) were more interested in them. This informed us that our thriller opening sequence would need to relate to teenagers or young adults, because that is the general age range that enjoys watching them. By doing this questionnaire, it allowed us to have a full understanding about what the audiences enjoy watching, and what specific films. Because we had a wide range of ages it made our results more reliable rather than just on one fixed age group.

This is an audience profile for the films, Orphan, The Omen and Taken. We can see that the main age group that watched this film (Orphan) was 15-24. This tells us that this thriller appeals to teenagers and young adults mainly female. The Omen however appeals to mostly males aged 15-24. Again this shows that the main people wanting to watch these thrillers are young teenagers/adults. Taken is an action thriller. Young males aged 15-24 tend to watch this more than females. We can see from these audience profiles that we need to make sure our Opening Thriller Sequence will appeal to audiences of our age range (15-24) and we will need to stay clear of Action Thrillers if we want it to appeal to a wider range of people. We will aspire to make a psychological thriller as this will grab people's attention and make them confused and ask questions.

This is our outcome from the questionnaires we distributed. This shows our target audience and what their interests are and what Sub Genres they watch. We will aim to make our thriller opening sequence to relate to modern day teenagers as much as possible. This will be to make the overall clip realistic and relatable.

Practice Editing with our Test Shots

Here we have edited a short clip in the style of how we would like our final opening sequence to look. We experimented with our test shots to make the alley scene to make her walking process shorter and to give a more distorted and confusing effect but confusing as in giving the impression the character is confused or in distress.

This is our editing on Final Cut Pro to show how we created this mini clip.

Test Shots

This is our test shots on a similar location. We wanted to practice walking down the alley and the car scene to test if the camera angles work well, or are simply not as effective as we hoped. Overall we filmed the shots which we thought would be the hardest for example, filming the antagonist's eyes in the car mirror in a professional way. When we tested the protagonists eyes looking scared in the back seat, her face was very dark because there won't be any light in the car at night. to over come this issue we have decided to film a couple more practice shots using a variety of shots and angles at dusk/night time. This will enable us to have a better awareness of the shots that work well in the dark incorporating the car and pub scenes.

Initial Ideas Mind Map

This is our initial ideas that we have put together. We have a set narrative which is easy to follow. We have also made note of the different locations, responsibilities and props that will be needed when filming this thriller.

Initail Ideas Presentation and Feedback

This is our presentation on our ideas for our Psychological Thriller opening sequence.
When we presented our presentation we got the following feedback:

What was good:
The range of enigmas that the narrative gives the audience.
The title, as the ending makes the audience ask the question of who attacked who.

What to include in the opening sequence:
We need to make sure we portray the psychotic ways the antagonist loves the protagonist.
Include elements to show he is mentally disturbed and not just fallen out of love with his girlfriend and quickly moved on.
Make psychological side explicit.
Consider the amount of people around the locations and try to find out a way to have minimal disturbance.
Make test shots of makeup to make sure the blood looks as realistic as possible.

From getting this feedback, we can insure that our Thriller will be the best of our ability. Our teacher and fellow peers have given us constructive criticism and advice as to how to make the Thriller as best as possible. We have taken into consideration the main point of making the psychological character visibly psycho and not normal. We have been given ideas as to how to do this for example, smelling the protagonists coat as she walks away or out of sight. This will make the whole narrative easier to understand and not too complicated so that it doesn't make any sense.

Past Student Work

Mise en Scene – the opening sequence for this thriller was set at the antagonists house, you can see this is set inside a house as the scene in which the girls are is the kitchen, and when the antagonists wakes up you can see its set in some sort of bedroom. The props used in this thriller was a knife, we don’t see the victim stabbed with the knife but get the impression of this being the weapon as we see the blood covered knife wrapped in cloth in the bedroom, the costume used are quite dressy clothing so you would presume that they were ready to go out to a party of some sort, and they were ready and having pictures taken. The lighting during the handheld tracking shots would be classed as ambient lighting as it’s the natural light from outside but inside the house the lighting was all artificial.

Camerawork –medium shot was used when in the kitchen, to show that the girls were all ready to go out and taking pictures, this was to introduce the girls to the sequence. A tracking movement was used at the beginning of the sequence to show where the protagonist lives and where the scene of the crime took place. A close up was used when we see the victims face just as she’s being stabbed, we don’t see the stabbing but we see the expression in her face and the reaction before we actually see what’s happened.

Editing – cuts were used a lot throughout the sequence this grabs the audience’s attention as it cuts from scene to scene so the audience can know what’s going on and where. Dissolve transitions were also used throughout this sequence this was to make it seem to the audience that it was a memory. The short shot duration was used throughout the whole scene to show a matter of urgency and suspense to keep the audience intrigued as to what’s going on and to be able to make sense as to what the thriller is trying to show.

Sound – throughout the sequence this group used both diegetic and non diegetic sound, the background diegetic music was used to build the suspense and to intrigue the audience and to catch their attention. Diegetic sound is used in all the scenes where the camera is from the point of view of the antagonist, the diegetic sound is the heavy breathing and an almost panicky effect to show his reaction to what he’s done and what’s going on.

What was good?

The use of camera techniques and transition were good throughout this sequence they went well with the genre of the thriller and fit in well throughout the scenes. The use of diegetic and non diegetic sound suited the different point of the sequence that it was added to, and they characters used were all fairly good actors.

What needs improvement?

Improvement for the thriller would have been to make sure the different locations suited each other more, for example inside the house was actually the halls of a university, where as when it showed the outside of the house it was just a normal family home. Also the continuity of the scenes would be something to improve on as in certain parts of the thriller you could tell was quite jumpy.

What makes it a Psychological thriller?

The conventions throughout this past thriller work that make it a psychological thriller are things such as the several enigmas created throughout the sequence for example, who is watching the girls? who is the person breathing in the bedroom? who stabbed the girl? why was the girl stabbed?

British Board of Film Classification

The British board of film classification is an independent, non government-body, which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912. They must consider various UK laws when classifying a film to help them conclude as to what certificate the film aught to be. They would need to take the following areas into consideration when deciding the rating of the film. These are:

- Discrimination

- Drugs
- Nudity
- Horror

- Imitable behaviour

- Language

- Theme
- Violence

- Sex

Here is the definition of each classification:

U

The 'U' stands for Universal. This means it is suitable for ages from 4 and above. It will contain very mild sexual reference and if violence is seen, it will be for a very short period of time and the situation will soon be resolved for reassurance.

PG (Parental Guidance)
A PG film should not disturb a child aged 8 or above but it might contain mild language, nudity, violence and sexual reference. It is advised that the parent/carer of the child should decide whether the film is suitable for their child to watch.

12 and 12A

A film rated 12 is considered to have mild language, some violence, and scenes that wouldn’t be suitable for ages 11 and under. However a 12A is for cinema use only and a child aged 12 can only see the film when accompanied by an adult. This is because the use of nudity, language, sex references, drugs, horror and violence would be a lot higher compared to a normal film rated 12.

15
A film that is rated 15 would have a substantial amount of violence, horror, nudity, sexual activity, drugs and overall adult theme. Most horror films are rated 15 as they contain mild disturbing contents or strong language.






18
An 18 film would contain extreme sexual activity, very strong language throughout, drugs and graphic content. It would also have very strong violence, blood and gore, discriminatory language and behaviour.







R18

These films are strictly for adults. These films would contain pornographic content and will not be accessible by postal order. These films are only allowed to be shown on licensed cinemas and licensed sex shops.







We are aiming for our film to be a 15 as we would like it to contain strong language, horror, drugs, and an overall suitable for an older audience. As most psychological thrillers are either 15 and above we would like to aim for this theme and have the similar content as them.

Past Student Work Analysis - 'No Way Out'

Past Student Work Analysis – ‘No Way Out’

The opening sequence we chose to write about is ‘No Way Out’. The narrative is about one main female character and she is walking through a town to a particular destination in a suspicious way. The audience recognises there is something important on her mind because she is walking quite slowly on top of the slow motion edit. She arrives at her destination which is a big gate next to a building and she gets a phone call, possibly from an interrogator, but an unknown person and it seems as if they are holding something against her. The audience would think this because she comes across quite distraught from the conversation.

Micro Areas

Mise en scene: Setting is very modern day as the whole time she walks through town. Costume is very sensible and smart clothing for the main character. Lighting is very low key due to the black and white edit and is also bright through natural lighting. This tells the audience that it is a working class, modern, urban life. This together could create an enigma as the audience would be wondering where the female character is going.

Camera work: For camera work the audience sees a tracking usage for the majority of the beginning of the sequence. Over the shoulder shot used after the tracking, creates a sense of destination and so tells the audience that she is worriedly walking towards a certain area. As she is walking slowly you can get an idea that she is hesitant about the place she is walking to. The point of view shot gives the audience an understanding of how the character’s body language, which shows her looking down and walking slowly. This results in us believing she is ashamed of her destination in which she is walking to.

Editing: Throughout the sequence, there is slow motion and black and white colour. This would create an almost past life effect for the viewer and also because it is in slow motion it shows that the character is taken back by the place she is walking to and makes the audience notice there is tension. The group has also used many dissolve transitions from one shot to the next. This could have been done to create time going slowly and to add slow pace to the narrative.

Sound: There is non-diegetic parallel sound throughout the majority of the beginning of the opening sequence. This follows along with the motion happening with the main character and tells us time is moving slowly because theres a chance something important is on her mind. There is also diegetic dialog at the end of the opening sequence where the main character is on the phone to someone. This tells the audience that someone is bothering her as she looks at her hand and tells them to leave her alone.

What was good:

What was good was how the music really complimented the slow motion as it is in parallel with each other; it places a very dramatic sequence together and makes the audience become quite thoughtful. What was also good was the type of camera work used right at the end of the opening sequence when the gates close and how the camera zooms out. It creates a very dramatic end to the opening sequence and creates enigmas for the audience making them ask questions such as what is going to happen next, who is bothering her and why.

What needs improvement?

What needs improvement would be not to have slow motion for the majority of the sequence, it creates good effects in terms of the main characters feelings but it doesn’t give off enough enigmas throughout because it takes too long and also doesn’t really tell the audience much information. Also, how the opening sequence is all in black and white. This would make the audience think it is a very past tense theme in terms of setting but you see other characters in the sequence but they’re dressed in more everyday, urban costumes.

Sub Genre Conventions:

This opening sequence is a psychological thriller. We can tell it is a psychological thriller due to the mind games it plays on the audience. The music playing along side the sequence, we notice it follows the psychological theme as it is very calm and moving. The theme in particular is mind, and the audience knows this because at the end of the sequence the female character is on the phone with someone and in conversation she comes across quite emotional. I would give this opening thriller sequence a C. This is because it does show some forms of psychological conventions but some haven’t been seen such as the main female character doesn’t show a lot of emotion or mental torment. The audience also doesn’t know much about the story line which wouldn’t be correct in terms of psychological thriller conventions.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 9 Shot Analysis

Crime Thriller: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Total running time for opening sequence: 2 min 34 seconds

This opening sequence makes use of the following generic opening sequence conventions:

Induction to the character type: this opening sequence is in fact Lisbeth’s dream she is the main female character so it bring out her personality throughout the sequence.
Introduction to theme tune: the name of the two production companies of the film, Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.
Indication of place/ location: the sequence is a dream so there is no setting its all a black background with a metallic effect of people and actions, this creates the enigma of the film.
The films title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Details of cast and crew: throughout the credits it tells us actor’s names, directors, and other important people that had an input in creating this film.
Enigma: the main female characters dream, the audience are not yet aware of what the dream means, therefore planting questions in their minds.

Information on genre: Costume, props, location, character and title

this opening sequence makes use of the following sub genre conventions:

Mise en scene:there isn’t a lot of mise en scene, as the theme of the opening sequence is a dream so it consists of a black background with the flow of a metallic liquid and objects moulding into each other creating more things, for example the fire explosion, and the hornet, these are both used to indicate the further books and films that come after the girl in the dragon tattoo series.

Camera Techniques: the majority of this sequence is close ups and medium shots on the objects and characters the camera stays in the same place the whole time with all the movements and actions being created in front
Editing Techniques:throughout this sequence there are many short shot durations and not a lot, if any long shot durations, the editing in this sequence is extraordinarily dream like, which is the effect that was meant to come across. It’s also very unique which relates a lot to the film itself.
Sound and Music: 

The heavy metal music is parallel to the dark metallic colours used in the opening sequence.  It also gives the audience and idea of the action and mystery about to come.

Opening Sequence Timeline - The Others

Sub Genre Opening Sequence Analysis.

Psychological Thriller: The Talented Mr Ripley

Total Running Time: 2 minutes 12 seconds

Introduction to the character type: Black screen with slits through it so we only see part of the characters face (Matt Damon). His whole face is slowly revealed.

Introduction to theme tune: Slow classical music playing with a close up of the main characters face. Directed by Anthony Minghella.

Indication of place or location: a dim room, sat alone. Tracking shot of the main characters face to show the scenery around him.

Film Title: the Talented Mr Ripley

Details of cast and crew: Matt Damon, Gwenyth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymor Hoffman, Jack Davenport, James Rebhorn, Sergio Rubini.

Enigma:  Why is his face hidden? What does the classical music represent? Why is he playing a piano at a wedding? What makes him so ‘talented’?

Information on genre:  At the very beginning, there is a dark dim room with little light which gives a mysterious atmosphere. The character looks as though he is in deep thought.

Sub genre conventions

Mise en scene:  The dim room creates a mysterious and questionable beginning. It makes the character look guilty of something.

Camera Techniques: The close up of the character makes the scene very personal and exposed.

Editing Techniques: The long shot duration gives us time to ask questions about the character that we are seeing. The slow revealing of the characters face adds to the curiosity and mystery of the man.

Sound and music: Non diagetic classical music adds to the atmosphere. It contrasts with the dark dim room with the shady looking man. The classical music continues as we go into the next scene, at a wedding.

Opening Title Sequence Timeline

Sub Thriller Genre Analysis - 'The Resident' and 'Safe House'

Sub Genre Analysis

Psychological Thriller – ‘The Resident’

Set in modern day New York, Dr. Juliet Bliss Devereau works in a New York hospital and has recently ended her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and is looking for an apartment for herself. She finds an old apartment building owned by Max who she thinks to be sweet and handsome and one night she misinterprets his signals and dates him. However she decides that it is too soon to have a love affair and she asks Max to leave her apartment. However she does not know that Max is a deranged man obsessed with her and he spies her from secret openings throughout the building and her apartment. Later on in the film, Max begins to drug Juliet every night and starts to sexually abuse her. Juliet has then found it hard to wake up in the morning to go to the hospital and decides to install a monitoring system in her apartment and later learns the truth about Max. As it is a psychological thriller, the resident has stereotypical psychological generic conventions.

The protagonist has a stereotypical representation as they are vulnerable and the victim throughout until the end of the film. Juliet in this film The Resident is the protagonist because she has become vulnerable as she is unaware that she is being targeted, drugged and sexually abused.

The Antagonist however is usually the character in the film that has power and control over the Protagonist at any given moment in the film. For example, Max is the Antagonist as he drugs Juliet in her sleep and then sexually abuses her without any control on her part making vulnerable.

Action Thriller – ‘Safe House’

                A young CIA agent Matt Weston is ordered to look after a most wanted CIA rogue agent Tobin Frost in a safe house to be put into questioning. Whilst Frost is being interrogated, the safe house in then attacked and they both find themselves on the run to find another safe house away from gunmen who also want the fugitive.

                The protagonist has some shifts in representations in this case. In Safe House, the protagonist is Matt because, even though he is a CIA agent, he is barely experienced in this work and finds himself in helpless situations on attack of the gunmen.

                The antagonist in the beginning of this film is Tobin as he is being chased by the CIA as he is a rogue but so the audience later on find out there were reasons for Frost to become a fugitive from the CIA. Now because of this shift again in representation, the antagonist almost also becomes the protagonist along with Matt as they are both being attacked by gunmen from other groups and even from the CIA.

Comparison of Psychological and Action Thrillers

                Psychological Thrillers and Action Thrillers have similarities and differences. In Psychological Thrillers, there is conflict between the main characters and is mental and emotional rather than physical. The Resident is an example of a Psychological Thriller because of its suspense of the two main characters (one the antagonist, the other the protagonist) as the antagonist demolishes the mind of the protagonist to question her own mental state. The main theme of this particular psychological thriller is mind because the antagonist becomes obsessed with the protagonist and quite obviously makes him show to have a mental unstability.

                In Action Thrillers, there is a lot of guns and explosives and an obvious antogonist. An example of an Action Thriller would be Safe House. This is because the are huge amount of gun use and also because the motive of the storyline of Safe House is secrets due to the fact the protagonist is exposed to CIA secrets and questions the reasons in him staying. The exposure of these secrets are because of the once antagonist, but after they were unleashed the antagonist, from the audiences point of view, becomes the protagonist against the CIA.