This screenshot is of our film title name which occurs at the very end of our opening sequence; being the final shot that the audience see. The word “Compendium” means a compilation of events of a particular subject - in this case we see this both at the start of the opening where a short sequence of childhood footage is shown as well as later on in the opening when the audience see a collection of pictures on the characters wall. We thought that by making the title very simplistic, it reflected the conventions of a typical ‘thriller’ film, where simplicity is regularly used in title sequences to not draw attention away from the events within the film. The font which we used gives the impression of a shine and some sort of reflection, making it seem as though there is something contained within the text. This relates back to the ‘treasury’ idea which stems from film name. This also challenges the conventions of a typical thriller film because the font effect gives a slight Sci-Fi feel to the film, which also adds an enigma of what happens in the rest of the film.

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This screenshot shows the location and setting of our opening sequence which is a teenage girl’s bedroom. It creates a sense of intrusion, which involves the girls life and personal space. This enables the audience to feel apart of the film as well as giving them an insight to the girls emotions and feelings. This is in line with the typical conventions of a thriller, where a lot of the time the prime setting is in the subject family household. An example of another thriller that does this is House at the End of the Street, starring Jennifer Lawrence.

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In this screenshot we see the main characters clothing and the props she is using to create the ‘missing’ poster. She is wearing grey coloured clothing, which is of a casual nature, to reflect the mood of the atmosphere. The colour grey resembles sadness and depression, the emotions the character is feeling. The clothing’s casualness shows that the character perhaps is too engrossed with the grief of the abduction that she has taken no care in getting dressed. The pencil case we see in the screenshot, contains a number of other props which are used later on in the opening to create the poster. The pencil case contains scissors and pens which are used later on in the sequence. The iconography of the scissors resembles that of a potential weapon possibly used in the abduction of the little girl, sparking emotions among audience members.

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In order to film this shot, we placed the camera inside the drawer and propped it up on books in order to create an appropriate angle in which the audience could see the character opening the draw and the prop that the character is retrieving from the draw (the paper). Our camera work skills were demonstrated here as the momentum of the draw opening and closing failed to distort the footage, making this a really effective shot and giving the audience a closer and detailed perspective on the important props being used within the sequence. The enigma created due to the lack of identity revealed and questionability of what exactly the character is using the paper for relates to the stereotypical codes and conventions of thrillers.

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In this screenshot we can see one of the many titles we have used in our opening sequence. As you can see, the font is simplistic and concise which is what we wanted as it doesn’t draw the audience’s attention from the footage, which is a typical convention of a thriller. Additionally, the font colour is white which allows the title to be bold and stands out from the background’s colour scheme, without it being the main subject when the title is featured in different scenes.

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The storyline is that of a young girl going missing and her sister’s desperation to find her. The opening sets this up firstly by showing the character as being very longing by watching the old movies in an attempt to bring back old and good memories. The character is then seen as being frustrated through the use of jump cuts of her fetching each prop needed to make the missing poster. The rest of the opening, from here, is relatively fast paced to reinforce this frustration. The constant touching of the picture of the missing girl acts as a constant reminder of the close relationship which was previously exhibited by the two characters before the disappearance. This shot is significant in setting up the storyline because it establishes that the character is related to the missing girl and also shows her involvement in the disappearance, foreshadowing later events.

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The opening suggests the genre in many different ways. Here, we have used a screenshot of the part in the opening sequence where the main character has almost finished writing the missing poster. This is extremely significant in indicating that the genre is a thriller because it matches with the codes and conventions of thrillers; where a crime has been committed and the main character takes it upon themselves to solve it. The fact that the missing character is a family member to the main character is also a code and convention of thriller films, and this is where the emotion and drama aspects come from within thrillers. Thriller films are very broad in genre, contemplating ideas of horror, drama, fantasy etc. and therefore need to contain these components in order to be successful. This part of the opening is extremely emotive for the audience, which is slightly more dramatic than a typical thriller film, breaking this code and convention.

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The main character is primarily introduced through the shot of her hand on the remote, however we thought that it was much more significant when her face was introduced in the reflection of the childhood photo stood on her bedside table. This is because the audience is forced to make a link between the two children in the photo and the single reflection of the girl that appears in the glass. This is an indication that the girl in the reflection has an emotional link with the girls in the photo, and the fact that her facial expression shows a vague sense of longing reveals that she is perhaps separated from the other girl in the photo adding an enigma as to who this girl really is, which is a typical code and convention of a thriller. The audience later discover that the girl in the photo is her missing sister.

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This shot is taken from a match-on-action sequence within the opening, where the girl is retrieving a prop from a shelf. There are several shots included in this sequence, one being from below (see screenshot), another from the side and another from over the shoulder. This is just one example of our editing skills which we have obtained from our practice throughout the year. We chose this shot to analyse due to the light coloured surroundings which displays the muted grey, dull tone colour effect that we put on the sequence. This is a typical code and convention of a thriller because the muted colours create a dreary atmosphere, and because the storyline is quite disturbing it adds to the atmosphere.

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