For this evaluation task I will
go through the final version of my group’s thriller opening and select nine
distinct frames (the title of our thriller, the setting/location, the costumes
and props, the camerawork and editing, the title font and style, the story and
how the opening sets it up, the genre and how the opening suggests it, how our characters
are introduced and the special effects used), which will be used to write how
typical or not our opening sequence is. Furthermore, I will analyse how my
group’s thriller opening uses, develops or challenges the conventions of real
film openings.
1.
The title of our thriller
‘Known’ is in white, which challenges the conventions of a typical thriller
because the common theme colour of a thriller is usually red, as the colour red
indicates something dangerous will occur, which can potentially result into death.
On the other hand, the colour white usually portrays purity, innocence and
good, which can be linked to our characters, as our characters aren’t bad
people. Furthermore, our thriller ‘Known’ is displayed on a black background,
which can portray darkness, mystery and evilness, which are all common in
thriller films. Moreover, the different colours (black and white) we used and
the fact the title of our thriller is displayed in the middle of the screen
brings the audience’s attention/focus towards our thriller’s name ‘Known’, as it
is eye-catching.
2.
The picture on the left is
an interior (inside of Dave’s house) medium shot of Dave Stone, which keeps
within the conventions of a thriller, as thriller films are mostly set in
domestic settings, for example in films such as Narc and Fatal Attractions, in
which the location of a film doesn’t too much away to the audience. Furthermore,
the interior shot of Dave’s house is also conventional, because in thrillers
items are usually left around and not tidied up (as you can see on the kitchens
worktop). On the other hand, the picture on the right is an exterior (outside
of Alex’s house) long shot of Dave Stone, which highlights the mystery around
Dave Stone’s character, as he is looking into a house which isn’t his house.
Long shots are quite common in thrillers as thrillers don’t want to give too
much away because they are character driven, in which the establishing long
shot of the house doesn’t give much away. Moreover, the use of the interior and
exterior house shots helps create realism, as it is a setting that is easily
accessible for anyone. In addition, I think the use of the interior and
exterior of the house helped create realism, mystery, suspense and tension in
our thriller opening as the house is a small location.
3.
The main character in our
thriller opening, Dave Stone, is dressed casually for everyday life (as you can
see in the picture on the right hand side), instead of being dressed to commit
a criminal offence by breaking into someone’s house, in which he doesn’t want
to attract any attention from anyone because if he did, people would begin to
get suspicious about what he is doing. On the other hand, the props used in our
thriller opening are extremely effective, as they help the storyline (for
example, the photo of Dave Stone’s wife and her boyfriend, and the necklace)
flow with continuity. Furthermore, my group’s thriller opening is conventional
to thriller films, as the props used in my group’s thriller opening (such as
mobile phone, necklace, house phone, etc) are used in most thriller films, as
they are all realistic props that can be used by anyone, in which a phone is
used in everyday life as it is a form of communication.
4.
The camerawork and editing
in our opening are quite typical of a thriller because with the use of editing,
our thriller opening was edited to play at a faster pace with the use of jump
cuts (which fits in with thrillers). Furthermore, our camerawork included shot
types such as close-ups (of the mobile phone, necklace, letter, etc), medium
shots to show what Dave Stone was doing (for example, looking at the house
phone and photo, like he is in the picture above to the right), long shots to
show what Dave Stone was doing from a fair distance (for example, when Dave
Stone is looking into the house from the external part of the house), over the
shoulder shots (for example, when Dave Stone is listening to the voicemail and
looking at the photo of his wife and Alex White) and many more, which were
effective because they were filmed to a good standard. Moreover, our camerawork
is smooth and steady, in which we thought about the camera angles/movements we
were going film before we started filming our thriller opening. On the other
hand, our editing helped us include shot-reverse-shots and fading techniques,
which made our thriller look good and effective. In addition, our thriller
opening is conventional to thrillers because most of our shots/editing
techniques used in our thriller are used in other thrillers too.
5.
The title of our thriller
is in bold and capital letters, which draws the audience’s attention/focus
towards our title, as when you see something in bold and capital letters you
think there’s an importance to that certain thing. Furthermore, the style of
our font is a basic/block style of font, as we wanted to have a basic/bold
style of font to catch the audience’s eyes. I think the font and style of our
title is common in many other films/thrillers, as many films have their title
centralized and capitalized to attract the audience’s focus, in which I think
it is the most effective way to display the title of a film.
6.
The opening of my group’s
thriller begins with a mobile phone ringing on unknown, which creates mystery
and suspense (as you can see in the picture to the left hand side), in which
Dave Stone is informed that his wife has been having a secret affair. This
results into Dave Stone going to Alex White’s house and attempting to find
suggestions his wife is cheating on him. Furthermore, Dave Stone finds a series
of props (a photo, a necklace, a letter, etc) to suggest his wife is actually
cheating on him. In addition, Alex White comes home to find Dave Stone in the act,
which builds up tension and suspense, in which the opening ends with Alex White
seeing Dave Stone, which leaves the opening of our thriller on a cliff-hanger. I
think it sets our thriller opening up perfectly because the audience are left
wanting to know more and wanting to know what will happen next.
7.
Our opening is based on a
psychological/crime thriller genre, which is mostly shown through our main
characters actions, the music used and the props used. The crime genre element
of our thriller opening is when Dave Stone commits a criminal offence by
entering Alex White’s house without his consent. The psychological genre
element of our thriller opening is when Dave Stone receives a phone call
informing him his wife is having an affair, which affects his emotional state
of mind, resulting into him going to Alex White’s house to find
suggestions/evidence his wife is cheating on him.
8.
Our thriller opening
introduces the audience to Dave Stone speaking on the phone (which is also the
case in the film ‘Drive’), resulting into Dave Stone leaving his house and
going to Alex White’s house, where the audience sees Dave Stone find a series
of props to suggest his wife is having an affair. Moreover, the audience
watching our thriller opening are introduced to Alex White coming home and
seeing Dave Stone on the stairs. In addition, the audience don’t find out too
much about our characters, which has the audience questioning what they will do
next. I think Dave Stones and Alex White’s introduction to our thriller opening
fits the conventions of a thriller as they both occur in many different films
(for example as stated above, the opening of ‘Drive’ begins with a phone call,
as does Dave Stone’s introduction to our thriller opening).
9.
In the opening of our
thriller, we didn’t really use special effects because we thought it would make
our thriller opening unrealistic, in which we tried to make our thriller
opening as realistic as possible. The only thing that could be classified as special
effects would be the way our production company comes into shot (like you can
see in the picture above), as the production company was included in our
thriller opening with the use of the computer we edited on. In my opinion,
special effects aren’t a common thing in thrillers, as thrillers are character
driven and are mostly focused on the locations/settings used.
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