Final Sound Choices

These are our final song choices for our opening sequence:

In our opening sequence, we will use this piece of music when the protagonist is walking around the house. The piece has a very slow pace and low pitch score which creates a sombre and depressing atmosphere towards the audience. This allows the audience to emphasis with the character. The score is repeated over and over which demonstrates that is seems as if the protagonist is just living his life with no real meaning or purpose. This will make the audience feel sorry for him as he seems to have no real meaning to his life.





We will use the score in this piece of music during the cross cutting nightmare sequence at the very beginning of the opening. The use of a choir adds a surreal and unrealistic atmosphere towards the audience which allows them to realize what is going on isn't real life. This can also suggest that the protagonist may only be happy when he is dreaming about his partner and spending time with him in his dreams.
 

Sound Planning

I have found 3 pieces of music that my group could us when creating our opening.

Sound Clip 1:

The score in the sound clip creates a serious and tense atmosphere towards the audience, this would be used in the part of the sequence where the protagonist first see's the shadow in the TV screen and goes to defend himself. This will catch the audiences attention and excite the audience as it reflects the action that is being shown. Also the use of the drum bet symbioses danger and make the audience afraid for the protagonist.

Song Hours

Sound Clip 2:

The slow and even pace of the sound clip create a calm yet sympathetic atmosphere towards the audience. This piece of music would be played whe we see the action match between the tap and the whiskey bottle. This will make the audience sympathsies with the protagonist as he is depressed, alone and had turned to alcohol for comfort.



Sound Clip 3:

The use of incidental music and the soft string instruments creates a somber atmosphere towards the audience. This piece of music could be used when the protagonist first wakes up, right at the beginning of the sequence. This could make the audience ask question such as why is he alone and will make the feel sympathy towards the protagonist.

ADD SONGS ON AT HOME!!!

Film Synopsis

Plot Synopsis:

Key Frames

I have drawn out some key frames from my opening sequence. I have picked and drawn out these key frames as thy are impotent shots in our opening.

Picture 1:

Frames one is the sketch on the left. This shot is a birds eye long shot, of the protagonist in his bed. This is in the beginning of our opening and is one of the first shots the audience see. This shows the protagonist is lone in his bed with clothes scattered our the room (e.g on his floor and on the end of his bed). This can show that the protagonist might be lazy due to his sloppiness of his room or the fact that he may be depressed and lonely. This can create a sympathetic atmosphere towards the audience as they might feel sorry for him as something may have happened causing him to lose his partner or be alone. 

Picture 2&3:

                              

Frames 2 and 3 are action matches of water running out of a tap and the it will cut to whiskey pouring out of a whiskey bottle. This will be near the beginning/middle of the sequence and will give the audience a first look at what the protagonist is really like. This will create a sense of confusion and an upsetting atmosphere towards the audience as they will unsure why he is drinking whiskey as part as his daily routine but are worried as they don't know what made him like this and what will happen to him. 

                                        

Harry's Picture 1:

Harry has drawn a low angle shot of the protagonist as he is walking past where the camera is placed. As the protagonist walks past the camera really closely, the audience notices all the protagonist awards that he has gained and this will give hints about his past. This also will withhold information as the shallow focus will make it hard to see what the awards are actually for. This will create an integrating atmosphere towards the audience as the audience will want to find more about what the awards are for and more information about the protagonist.  

Harry's Picture 2:

Harry has drawn a long/master shot of the protagonist sitting in an arm chair next to an empty one. The fact that the other arm chair is empty suggest that someone has been lost or is missing. This will create a very sad atmosphere towards the audience as they feel sorry for the protagonist has he is upset and drained by the loss of someone.

James Picture 1:

                                 

James has drawn a Mid Shot of the protagonist in bed, being woken up by his alarm clock. This is the first time the audience see the protagonists facial features and expressions. The shot emphasizes his upset about his nightmare and what has happened in reality. This will create a sombre and upsetting atmosphere towards the audience as they are confused about what has happened but feel sorry for the protagonist as he seems upset and almost lifeless. 

James Picture 2:

James has drawn an extreme long shot of the protagonist in his bathroom, doing his morning routine whist the camera slowly tracks along the floor. This demonstrates how the protagonists life has just been crafted into a boring routine that is done all day everyday and nothing more.This creates a a mundane tone towards the audience as the feel symphony towards him as his life has become lifeless as he just completes his routine everyday.



Vox Pops analyses

As you can see from our groups Vox Pops, we have gathered different audience ideas about many aspects of a thirller opening sequence. From the responses in the Vox Pops clip, we are going to incorporate these ideas into our opening sequence

Question 1 - Do you expect to see fast or slow paced editing in a Thriller opening sequence?:

From the evidence in the clip, we see that 4 out of 5 people said that they expect fast paced editing. We will use this in our opening sequence to create an intense atmosphere towards the audience.

Question 2 - What props do you expect to see in a Thriller opening sequence?:

From the evidence in the clip, we see that the audience are expecting props such as weapons, most commonly knifes. We will use this in our opening sequence as this will emphasis the seriousness and tense atmosphere created towards the audience. This will also leave the audience asking question such as what is it do? what is it going to be used for, will it affect the protagonist and will the protagonist use it?. 

Question 3 - Do you expect the titles to be played over a moving image, a black screen or animated?:

From the evidence in the clip , we see that 6 out of 6 people all agreed that the titles should be played over a black screen. We will use this as it will emphasise the mood set by the props and sounds and will also add a seriousness to the opening sequence. This will also give out hints towards the audience about the genre of the film.

Question 4 - Do you expect to see low-key or high-key lighting in a Thriller opening sequence?:

From the evidence in the clip, we see that all the people interviewed agreed that they expect low-key lighting as it will emphasise the characters depression and isolation. We will use this as it will also leave the audience asking why is the protagonist depressed, what caused this and why. 

Question 5 - What plot do you expect a thriller opening film to follow?:

From the evidence in the clip, we see that from all the interviewee's, we see that they expect a clear storyline and twists in a Thriller opening sequence. We will use this evidence to defy and challenge sterotypes which will leave the audience asking questions and wanting to watch on. 

Inital Ideas

Below I have scanned in the mind-map of the different elements of my groups Thriller opening sequence. This shows all the different elements of my opening sequence which we will incorporate when filming our opening sequence.

What Titlies?

During the opening sequence of a film, there are many different titles appear on screen with the names of ll the people who have helped make the film.

Distribution Company Logo:
The distribution companies are companies that a responsible for the marketing of the film.

 'The Sixth Sense'

 'Panic Room'

Production Company:
The production company provides the basis for the film being made.

'The Sixth Sense'

    

 

Titles 'Presents':

The titles are used to introduce and show what distribution and production company made the film.

'The Sixth Sense'

'The Dark Night Rises'

Main Actor:

This title is used to show the main actor who stared in the film.



'Panic Room'





'The Dark Night Rises'

Title Of Film:

This title is used to show the name of the film.

'Back To The Future'



     'Panic Room'

 Actors/Actresses Names:

These titles are used to show other impotent actors/actress that stared in the film.

                            'Momento'

'Back To The Future'

                                                                             

Two More Actors:  

These titles are used to show more actors that have stared in the film, but these are less importent. 

  'Back To The Future'

'Spiderman'

 Cast By:
These titles are to show the people who casted the actors for the film, these titles are done wth the least importent at the top and the the most importent at the bottom.

'Spiderman 2'

 'Momento'

Costume Design:

These titles are used to show the people who designed all the costumes for the cast in the film.

'The Sixth Sence'

'Panic Room'

Music By:
These titles are used to show the people who composed the music for the film.

     'Spiderman 2'

 'Momento'

Edited by:
These titles are to show all the people that edited the movie together.

 'Panic Room'

 'The Sixth Sence'

Production Designer:

These titles are used to show all the production designers that worked on the film.

 'Spiderman'

 'Momento'

Director Of Photography:

These titles are used to show the name of the director of photography for the film.

 'The Sixth Sence'

 'Panic Room'

Executive Producer:

These titles are used to show the names of the executive producer that has worked on the film.

                          'Momento'

                        'Lord Of War'

Producer\Produced By:

These titles are used to show the name of the person who produced the film.

 'Lord Of War'

 'The Sixth Sence'

Written and Directed By:

These titles are used to show who wrote and directed the film.

 'Momento'

 'Panic Room'



                                      



Primary Research - Research into your audience analyses

After each member in my group (myself, James Thompson and Harry Devonport) completed all their individual questionnaires, we all put all our results on to tables on Excel to clearly demonstrate our findings where we can draw the information from. The free tables below show the information we collected from our questionnaires.

My Results:



From the results I have gathered, It shows I and gathered clear results. I have found that 100% of people wanted and expected a male protagonist, 70% of people expected ominous music in a Thriller opening sequence and 60% of people did enjoy Thriller films. From this evidence and results, We can use these three results when making our opening sequence to make it ideal for the majority of the audience. 

James' Results:

From the results James has gathered, it shows he has gathered precise information. James found that 100% of people expected the protagonist to be male, 70% of people expected a Thriller opening sequence to be set in the evening and 80% of people watch 1-2 films a week, We can use this when making our opening sequence as eye catching and that it will make the audience watch on as much as possible.

Harry's Results:

From the results in the tables above, you can see many different people have different opinions about different questions. Harry found that 70% of people expected the protagonist to be male, 50% of people expected a hriller film the be set at night and that his questionnaire were anwsered by a number of different aged people, therefore we will try to involve am many things we can to draw audience from all different ages to watch our sequence.

As you can see, we as a group have found many different things the audience would want and expect to see in a Thriller opening sequence. Due to this we will try and incorporate as much as we can to attract the audience. We Study the results more carefully and ten further decide on how we are going to use all our findings to make our opening sequence.

 

Primary Research - Research into your audience questionaire

With the others in my group, we together compiled a questionaire with question about Thriller films and what the audience would expect to find in a Thriller opening sequence. The three of us in our group got 30 people (10 each) to anwser our questionnaire to find out what the audience would expect and want in a Thriller film opening sequence.

Below are three of the questionnaires that I got two people to complete.

Through the completion of the questionnaires, my group has gathered various information that we will be able to use in the making of our Thriller opening sequence to make it the most intresting and audience pleasing as possible.  

Conventions of the genre Thriller

In A thriller film or TV drama, there are many different conventions for the film to fit in to the 'Thriller' category. There are many different conventions that make the film a certain genre and in this I will explain the specifics for thriller.

Withholding a lot of information:
This is one of the most key conventions associated with the genre Thriller. This means that a large amount of information is hidden/withheld from the audience. This makes the audience want to watch on and find out the hidden information. This would also create a mysterious atmosphere towards the audience as they are unaware of all the information associated with the characters and storyline.

Clues:
As well as the opening sequence withholding information, it will also give clues and hints about the characters who the characters are or what has happened in the scene. This can help the audience understand the characters and give would foreshadow what will happen next.

Serious Tone:
Another key convention to the genre is having a serious tone. This will craft a tense atmosphere towards the audience and this will set the tone for the rest of the film and give to audience clue to what genre it is and what may happen. 

Possible viewing of the Protagonist:
One common convention is the audience getting their first look at the protagonist. This gives the audience thier first impression of the protagonist for their appearance, personality and motives. This will give the audience clues to what may happen during the film.

Possible viewing of the Antagonist:
One uncommon convention is the audience getting their first look at the antagonist. This gives the audience thier first impressions of the antagonist for their appearance, personality ans motives. This can give the audience and insight into what the antagonist is doing, why is he doing it and why is he like that. This may give the audience hints as to what may happen later in the film.

Equilibrium broken early on:
Another common convention is the Equilibrium being broken early on in the sequence/film. This will disrupted the normality of the setting and create a tense and mysterious tone towards the audience as they are unaware of what it happening and will make the audience want to watch more to find out what happens and this will also make them ask questions.

Makes the audience ask questions:
One other convention is that the opening sequence will make the audience ask questions. The audience will ask questions such as what is happening, who are the main characters, what is going to happen and why. This will also keep the audience interested as they want to watch more so they can find out.

Low key lighting:
A general convention that many thriller films have in common is low key lighting. This creates a mysterious and intense atmosphere towards the audience and makes them ask questions. This will also give the audience a hint as to what may happen and what genre the film is.

Slow paced score:
The convention of a slow paced score is used to slow down the action on scene and to re-enforce the atmosphere create. This will make the audience want to watch on and ask questions.

Titles:  
This is probably the most common convention, not only for the genre thriller but all genre's. This will introduce all the people who helped make the film and this can also emphasis the tone set though the opening.

Costume:
The convention of Costume is used to emphasis and create character personality and attitude. This can also help the audience from an opinion on them and help fit the character into a certain stereotype. From example: Black costume could show a representation of a bad guy whereas pink could show the innocents of a little girl.

Props:
Another convention, the use of props, it done to re-enforce a certain situation or to make the audience stop and think about what may happen or what has already happened. This can also help the audience form an opinion on the characters depending on the props they use or have on them.