Thriller Opening Sequence

Resentment

Dwayne Rapley

Audience Questionnaires

What kind of impact did my thriller film deliver?

Was the action in my thriller plausible? Give 2 reasons why.

Was the use of non diegetic sound suitable for my thriller.

Were the thriller conventions used in my film opening effective? Give 2 reasons why.

Did you enjoy watching my thriller opening?

Did my thriller film appeal to you? Give two reasons why.

Is the setting appropriate for my thriller film?

How do you think the female character represents you? Give two reasons why.

Were there any points in the film that made you feel doubtful and unsettled? If yes give two reasons why.

Where the rest of the characters suitable for my thriller opening sequence?

Audience Questionnaires

The audience questionnaire, given to my target audience was used in the hope of coming to a conclusion to my thriller opening in the audience’s opinion. When asked: “ How do you think the female character represents you? Give two reasons why.” The majority of the responses revealed that the audience felt the female was portrayed as ‘vulnerable’. An appearance intended to be created through the mise-en-scene, non-diegetic sound and camera shots. Through the answers given, it was also highlighted that the use of the films main character appealed to our audience as she appears to be in her late teens.

The film opening incorporates a number of different generic conventions that make it a thriller film.

A major convention was the delay of showing a characters facial features, by doing this there was an enigma raised and the implication that the character maybe a villain. We attempted to enhance this particular convention by almost teasing the audience; we shot our villain so that the frame was close to revealing the face but then changing to the next shot before a face is shown. In the scene pictured above we developed the convention of delaying the face by creating a silhouette, the use of this would mean the facial features would still be hard to see even if the character was to turn towards the camera.

This delay of showing the face of a significant character also creates the feeling of doubt, confusion and unsettling to the audience, which is another convention of a thriller.

Developing/challenging forms and conventions of a thriller opening

Developing/challenging forms and conventions of a thriller opening

The use of flashbacks was a convention used with the intention of creating a plot and contrasting between the scenes in the bathroom. On review of other films in the thriller genre , for ‘Resentment’ the biggest aim in relation to using flashbacks was to make sure that they were easily distinguishable from the other shots. This development was made by the use of an effect which made the intended shots look grainy and also gave them a stronger contrast, highlighting the brown and black colours, however this effect only worked when the visual shot was already dark. Flashbacks were also used with different characters in the use of setting up multiple plots in the story, therefore the film would have more questions raised as to who is involved and why.

Developing/challenging forms and conventions of a thriller opening

A convention used in the first shot helped to set the themes in the thriller opening. The use of a realistic setting to create the sense of realism is a simple and effective way of bringing in an audience. The use of a bathroom was the way to instantly promote the feeling of realism/normality. The use of incorporating an initial feeling of normality was a way of making the thriller opening less predictable; because of this convention, the sub-genre of the film was harder to capture at the beginning.

This feeling was broken as the main character is going through distress, shown by the heroine abusing herself; so the sense of the ‘unusual’ is now occurring within the normal setting. The continuation of the lack of realism was highlighted not only through the action, but through the visual effects as in the later shots of the thriller opening, the bathroom frames are more colourless in contrast.

The lack of realism shown also ties in with the convention of the heroine in a situation of struggle. The enhancing of this convention came about with the attempt to show the heroine on the edge of death but suddenly she reveals a subtle sign of hope towards the end of the opening.

Developing/challenging forms and conventions of a thriller opening

Another convention applied was the use of an unexpected turn at the end of the opening. This was used as another way of unsettling the audience and keeping them guessing. Using an eye-line match shot the audience were able to witness the action through the characters eye and therefore could see it from a active point of view. The twist was placed at the end of the thriller opening to act as the main part of the plot that would need to be concluded.

Representation of social groups

Women are predominantly represented in ‘Resentment’. This was done by the use of the main character being female. Representation was refined by the character as well as being female, being: white, and shown to be between the age of 18-20 years old therefore, as the main character she is representing a more select social group the most. The thriller opening captures the female in a state of vulnerability and distress which may tie-in with the stereotype of women in the media being the more fragile gender.

Our heroine being the focus in our film should alert audiences to the fact that a male will not be the one who will overcome the challenges faced.

However this stereotype is challenged as ‘resentment’ shows a male character being physically dominated, suggesting that not only females can be restrained by force.

Conventionally the film presents the villain as male which would suggest a more evil, fierce incentive in regards to defeating the heroine than a female villain could alone provide.

Media institutions that might distribute ‘Resentment’

Paranormal activity was a huge phenomenon that aroused through the internet, after building a massive fan base it was converted into a mainstream film able to view at cinemas. Although this film was of the horror genre, ‘Resentment’ has some of the same features such as heightened sense of anticipation which would look good on a personal computer where the audience is alone and cannot be distracted. The film carries values that, if continued, could act a lesson to people watching it, Resentment deals with the breaching of privacy and suicide so it is imaginable that there may be a use of showing this film to an audience where a constructive breakdown can be made. Because of this impact provided, the thriller film could be a TV movie.

Target audience for thriller opening

The primary target audience for ‘Resentment’ will be females aged 18-25, this is because the film follows the sub-genre of horror which is more appealing to women. The film also presents the theme of relationships which would also predominantly attract females. The decision to direct the film towards the age group of 18-25 was because the people who spend the most time in the cinema are aged 16-25 so there would be a larger audience to appeal to. By raising the potential target age by 2 years the values in the film could be made more vivid with less restraint in regards to what is being shown.

The idea of girls having ‘movie nights’ and having them stereotypically hanging on to their partners in the cinema were particular impacts the creation of the resentment was intended to deliver. A bonus of having the target audience towards 18-25 females is that it’s easier to get into contact as they are around the same age as me.

Attracting/addressing the audience

The feeling of being watched and even being “stalked” is a situation many women have experienced; Resentment tried to exploit this and make the circumstance even more hyped with the intention of relating the experience back onto females so they would be even more terrified.

Using a female as the main character was another way of attracting the target audience, in the hope that viewers could relate to her struggle in a way that wouldn’t be possible if the main character was a male.

The shots used to present the main character were planned so that audiences could see her up close and personal instead of using long shots and effects that would disguise the facial expressions. The intended effect of using many close-ups and extreme close-ups was to show the struggle of the character in more clarity.

Through the use of flashbacks the audience are given clues to as what is going wrong with the character in the present day. In the flashbacks, two more characters are briefly introduced, this has been done so that the audience has to try and piece together who is involved in the break down of the main character. The success of this idea would come when the feeling of confusion and apprehension is dealt to the audience, filling a thriller convention.

Understanding of technology from the construction of ‘Resentment’

The initial filming process of the film was quite successful however problems did arise: The chosen locations sometimes weren't practical to shoot certain shots in such as the bathroom where long shots were not possible due to the confined space, this space factor potentially ruined the planning of the thriller opening. To overcome this issue the storyboard was modified so the shots taken could be more medium shots than long shots. There were also problems with camera stillness as the initial filming hours were filmed when a tripod was unavailable; to combat this another hour of filming was taken to film when a tripod was available.

There was already an understanding of lighting before filming so when it came to recording footage the light in every location was used to raise the impressions of the thriller opening such as, the use of soft lighting in the bathroom and the silhouette effect in the bedroom.

Understanding of technology from the construction of ‘Resentment’

The camera was simple to use and basic tips such as remembering to charge the battery before use and making sure the camera was close enough to capture quality sound as well as, capturing extra minutes of footage and repeating scenes, were implemented towards the construction of the thriller opening. For work experience in year 10 I was lucky enough to be involved in filming editing footage for a charity, so coming into the media project I had previous knowledge and confidence with creating film. This experience contrasted as the editing used for the media project was less resourceful. Using ‘Imovie’ on the Apple Macs was ok as an aid to start of filming however there were certain elements that wouldn’t allow full control of editing and the effects were limited. Although limited, there were some effects that helped give feeling of being uneasy and uncomfortable which were effective in delivering a convention in the thriller opening.

The planning stage was enjoyable as the class was able to watch films in the thriller genre and review them, picking apart details such as verisimilitude, characterisation. The research gave me valuable insight to what needs to be included in my film. A huge contribution to the making of the thriller film was the gained knowledge of the conventions; from the planning and reviewing of films seen we were able to understand what made them a thriller. This made making a concept/story and marketable elements easier to come up with.

Storyboarding was straight forward as it was already established what was going to happen in Resentment, however contrasting views in the later stage with my partner meant that the storyboard was adapted and changed to add in new elements such as slow motion. If I was to do this task again, I would have chosen to work alone in order to make my own decisions. However, in the final product we came into it knowing there were certain shots we definitely had to shoot and knew how to go about them; unlike in the preliminary where the stress on camera shot was less strict.

Progression from preliminary task to full product

Progression from preliminary task to full product

With knowledge of editing from the preliminary task it gave more piece of mind when editing the final piece and as more time was spent completing the production, the easier it was to stop and pick up in the following session because confidence grew. We took onboard different conventions not only in the thriller genre but in film processing and tried to adapt them; an example of this was the use of switching around the conventional “main actor followed by supporting actor” credits, in which we made it so that the credits would anchor the character on screen.

Using the camera for the second time was easier as I was used to the controls were more familiar and I found a setup that I preferred making shooting much more comfortable than in the preliminary stages. Noticing certain shots were effective in the preliminary and other thriller productions we adapted them to go into our storyboard and shooting such as they eye line match shot .I think the final production is effective in fulfilling the task as it looks and feels like a genuine thriller. This was done through the successful planning and research which gave insight to how a thriller film should work.