Conventions of our genre

About our genre and sub-genre

The thriller genre is a wide range genre that has many different sub-genres, these range from psychological thrillers to si-fi thrillers and crime thrillers plus many more. the thriller genre is mainly characterised by the moods that the films portray, this involves the heightened rush of feelings including suspense, excitement, anxiety and anticipation. Audiences watch thriller films for the heightened emotions and feelings that the films allow them to have because the heightened emotions make them more vulnerable, the producers of the film play on this when creating the thrillers. The genre keeps the audience guessing and on the edge of their seats as the film gets to its climax but before it reaches the climax there are a number of red herrings, plot twists and cliff-hangers along the way.


Psychological thriller is a sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller and horror genres and is the sub-genre we will be basing our opening sequence on. Psychological thrillers also have some elements of similarities that allow it to tie in with the gothic and detective sub-genres. this is because it sometimes has the effect of dissolving sense of reality and a strange twisted relationship between pathological and obsessive characters as psychological thrillers emphasises the mental state of the characters within the film. Psychological thrillers also have elements of the mystery, drama and horror genres, particularly psychological horrors. Psychological thrillers also portray a sense of reality. This is the quality of being real. Characters often try to determine what is true and what is not within the narrative. Perception is a person's own interpretation of the world around them through their senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative. Death focuses on the cessation of life. Characters either fear or have a fascination with death. Identity is the definition of one's self. Characters are often confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover their true identity.

Story boarding and planning our opening sequence

In this video, we are beginning to story board our opening sequence and we are discussing the order of the titles. We are also deciding the order of which we are going to put our ideas.

Thriller Production Companies

Location Ideas

These are the location shots Rose and I shot together.
They are a range of location shots, 1 being urban and the other being abandoned; both at which we can use in our opening sequence.

This shot can be used to show the setting at which the villain is keeping the hostage. This being an abandoned place in which no one would ever think to look. This would fit in with our genre of psychological thriller as it is somewhere out of the ordinary at which a person would keep someone hostage. This adding to the suspense, tension and wonder of the opening sequence, this leaving the audience asking questions wanting to watch the rest of the film.

This is our urban picture, this is somewhere which is very open and public for all to use. This can be used in our film as It can be somewhere where the abductor takes his victim or it can be a place where flashbacks are seen of them together, which will answer some of the audiences questions as to why she was kidnapped by him in the first place. This adding to our genre of psycho thriller as it will be somewhere where we can show that the kidnapper was normal once and had a life with his victim; showing that he could possibly have psychological issues. This being something with can give information to the audience (but not too much) to allow them to understand why a lot more.

This is our second abandoned shot. This one is also at a place where no one would ever think to look for someone. This can be used in our film to shoot the adbuctor walking through to reach the girl who is hidden away somewhere. This adding suspense and wonder again to the opening sequence. This also adding to the theme of psychological thriller as it shows his crazy creative mind in finding somewhere like this to hide the girl, showing how far he would go to get his revenge.

Location Ideas - Rose Spencer

The following locations are possible ideas of where we could film our opening sequence, each give a different look to the film and all three give a slightly different interpretation to the opening sequence. Each picture gives a different feel to the sub - genre of our opening sequence.



Grave Yard
I think this location would be a good one to use in the opening sequence as it gives a uneasy effect and makes the audience feel uneasy, I think it would be a good location in our opening sequence for when the kidnapper hides his ex girlfriend as no one would think to look in an old shed in a grave yard. I think this would link to our sub - genre as a psychological thriller as grave yards are associated with death and with death some people develop mental conditions if they can not cope with the strain of loosing a member of the family or friends. As the kidnapper has a mental condition in our opening sequence the location of a grave yard would work as it can carry a number of mental ties and emotions with it and this s what we want to show in our opening sequence. it would work with our target audience as they would be expecting a run down place and something that has mystery and an uneasy feel to it. also it is something our audience would expect to see in this type of thriller. I think it would work creatively as we could have the girl escape and hide behind the graves, we could also make the are look more spooky and film in the location at dusk.   

 

Garages
This location would be good to use in our opening sequence as it looks like a relatively normal place so no one would expect to look here for a missing girl. If this was in our opening sequence the girl could bang on the door for help to make people aware she is there. It would be a good location to use in our opening sequence as it looks like a damp lonely place. It would work creatively as we could build up the inside of the garage to look old and run down, giving the location the thriller feel to it to show our sub-genre.   

 

Abandoned Place
This location would be a good to use in our opening sequence, this is because it is an abandoned place which fits with the thriller genre in particular psychological thrillers. It would also wok for our opening sequence as it is very remote with a lot of places that the kidnapper could hide the kidnapped girl. it would also be an unlikely place for people to look for the girl. it links to our sub - genre of psychological thrillers as it a mysterious place and would make the audience feel very on edge. It would link to our target audience as it is a mysterious place and that would be what they are expecting to see in a psychological thriller. It would work creatively as we could film from different angles in the location and film through the trees. We could also put a camera up on the top bar and film down to make it look like a CCTV camera, having the kidnapper break it so it no longer records.

 

Editing Research

My Voices:

All continuity rules used.

Editing techniques:
Colour correction
Layering
Blurring
Cut away

Transitions:
Fading
Cut to black
Layering


Mara:





Continuity:
Shot reverse shot

Editing:
Black and white
Zooming
Cut to black for titles

Transitions:
Jump cuts


LSD:



Continuity:
Match on action

Editing:
Colour correction
Slow motion
Paralleling
Layering

Transitions:
Jump cuts
Cutaway


The editing techniques relevant for our opening sequence are: Colour correction, layering, slow motion, paralleling, blurring, fade in/out, cross cutting as well as cutaways.

Actual locations and why they were chosen

During the opening sequence we primarily used one location. This because we felt it was better to film the opening sequence in one location, this being a basement. This is because in this location it is very dark and gloomy, this giving an isolated feel to the opening sequence. This giving connotations of the abductor, giving across his personality traits. These being: isolation, obsession and no empathy. Even though we took away creative locations that we had planned to use at the start, we feel it was best for our opening sequence to film it all in this location.
We also used a second location, this being a graveyard. We planned to use this at the start but then scrapped this idea later down the line. We filmed at the graveyard at the very end of filming, this is so that the plot of the film makes more sense to the audience, as well as giving another location adding to the creative locations. Being in a graveyard gives the audience an idea that he has lost someone. We placed this at the start of the opening sequence so that the audience would have an idea of the plot and the abductors past from the start.