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.