Thriller Conventions

In order for our opening sequence to fit the thriller genre the best, we will have to follow certain thriller conventions. We want to follow a psychological thriller genre, so to do so, we have been looking at a wide range of thriller openings and the following are various conventions which we have chosen to follow:

• One convention we want to use will be a complex narrative structure which deals with false paths, clues and resolutions. This will be useful as the audience will not be able to guess what will happen straight away, therefore allowing them to engage more with the opening, then leaving them to want more. The film Inception deals with this convention as it has many false leads and personally I couldn't make a solid guess onto what would happen next which made me sit on the edge of my seat. This is what I would like our opening sequence to do. Below is the end scene of Inception which portrays the complex narrative structure: 

• Another Thriller convention we will use will be that there is a crime at the core of the narrative. The crime will be the cult murdering young females which the detective is investigating. This will give our opening and if we were to film the entire film a main story to work with. Shutter Island deals with this convention as it has a patient who is supposedly murdered, however it allows other stories and leads to progress along side it, therefore fitting with the first convention of a complex narrative structure. 

• The Thriller convention where the protagonist has a fatal flaw will also be used in our opening sequence. In this case, the fatal flaw of our protagonist will be the death of the detective; his inability to cope with his daughters death and how he keeps having visions of her so he can't tell what's real. This is his flaw. Then if we were to film the entire film this flaw will be exploited by the antagonist later on. The film Black Swan uses this convention as the female protagonist develops a split personality which ends up with tragic consequences. 

• The last convention we decided to use was our opening dealing with themes of mirroring and symbols.This convention would be used by the use of the daughter's teddy bear and the cult (the people involved with the murdering of young girls) symbol they draw on their victims. The teddy bear will be carried by the daughter in the opening clip in the forest scene and then in the car of the detective as he carries it on him at all times as he is desperately clinging onto that small part of his daughter which he has left. Then the symbols would be used throughout if the film were to be filmed completely, these symbols would also be the anti-Christ symbol (as shown below) which carry connotation of sins and death which the cult deal with.

• Below is the trailer of The Da Vinci Code which deals with this convention of using themes of mirroring and symbols very well and influenced us to use it in our own opening. 

Lighting

The way we use lighting in our opening scene will have significant effects on the atmosphere in which we wish to create. Generally, the entire opening scene will be filmed outside therefore we will be using naturalistic lighting. However we still need to take into account: hard, soft, spot, back lighting as well as what time of day we wish to film at.

Soft lighting will be important in our opening scene as it allows the characters facial expressions to be clearly seen. This will important when filming either the detective and his reactions and feelings to have these visions of his daughter or showing his emotions when he is at her grave. Soft lighting could also be used when filming the detectives daughter in the forest, the soft lighthing will allow us to clearly portray to the audience how scared, sad and frightened she is.


Hard lighting in our opening scene will be important, especially in the forest scene because (as demonstrated in the image to the left) it doesn't show to audience clearly what is going on in the shot as they are unable to visibly see specific details; this depicts an unknowing and mysterious atmosphere. Therefore in the forest scene when the daughter seems to be running away, the combination of hard lighting and an unfocused camera shot will make the audience feel confused and slightly on edge therefore building up suspense and tension.


Naturalistic lighting, as shown in the forest image, requires no editing and therefore it, as the name suggests, its natural. It will also give our opening a more believable atmosphere which the audience can relate to. However we will have decided on the time of day, either in the morning, afternoon or night as each will give a different atmosphere. If we film the forest scene while the sun is starting to set it will create a eerie tone to the play which would match the action of the daughter running.

Props

Even though they are not the most significant part to our opening, the props we use will help add to the atmosphere of the opening as well as, if used well, to show to the audience different characteristics the character may have or used to identify the type of personality the character has.

During the opening scene, the detective will be carrying a bouquet of white flowers to be placed on his daughters grave. The reason for using white flowers is because they have connotations (like the daughters dress) of purity and cleanliness. Also, the white flowers could be linked to the daughter white dress to continue to emphasise her purity which, as the audience find out, was taken away from her. Therefore this will create a strong empathy for the daughter.





During the detectives flashbacks of his daughter in the opening scene, she will be carrying either by her side or in front of her a small teddy bear. The teddy bear carries connotations of child or young which the daughter was therefore making the audience feel sympathy towards her because due to the teddy bear they realise that she was only young when she was murdered. It also symbolises a personally belonging to the daughter, something which she kept close to her. The detective will also have the teddy bear in his car during the credit sequence which the audience should realise and therefore notice that, in a way, the detective is trying to cling onto the memories which he has of his daughter.


My character would also carry a new generation touch-screen smart phone. This carries the connotation of wealth, therefore implies that the character is a well paid detective. Also, as the phone itself is of the latest technology it implies that his work encourages him to able to access the internet, take pictures and be contacted easily. The camera or video recorder on the phone could also be used as an alternative way of filming to give a more personal approach.

Costumes

The use of costumes within our thriller opening will be very important as they will help individualise certain characters from others as well as carrying connotations into the characteristics of a specific character.

The character I am playing is a detective who has recently lost his daughter. Therefore I decided that a suit would be a suitable item of clothing to wear as it carries connotations of both sophistication and a higher status as well as being rather traditional detective clothing. However I would not wear a tie and have the top button undone to imply that my character, due to the death of his daughter, is now not as concerned about his perception from others.  Then either accompanying the blazer and shirt with jeans to portray a more casual look to continue the uncaring appearance and to  further show the affects of losing his daughter is having on him. I could also wear a long raincoat over the top which would fit the stereotypical detective trope, therefore this would allow the audience to immeadiatly recognise that my character is a detective without having to say any dialogue.


My character could also wear glasses as it also carries the sophisticated as well as the educated connotation. He could also interact with them, for example throw them down if he is angry or clean them to show a variation of actions. They could also be used for a different type of film shot, for example if my character takes them off the camera shot becomes blurry to show the characters impaired vision.


The detective suffers from visions of his daughter, a sign to the audience of his inability to deal with the death of her. If the daughter wears a white dress it carries the connotations of purity and cleanliness. As the daughter has died, she will be very pale, therefore the white dress would emphasises the paleness of her. Stains such as mud or blood will also show up more clearly as well, so the audience will be able to notice them straight away





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If the detectives daughter wears red shoes, it would provide a strong contrast between the white dress. Red is symbolic of, firstly, love which she had for her dad (the detective) and vis versa. Secondly, it also symbolises death which the daughter has suffered from.

Title Sequence Analysis

The opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important people involved in the production of the film. They are usually shown on a blank screen or static pictures or sometimes on top of action in the beginning of the film.

Common opening credits order:

1. Name of the studio
2. Name of the production company
3. (Producer name) Production and/or (director only) A Film by (Director name)
4. Starring (Principle actors)
5. Film's title
6. Featuring
7. Casting by (Casting directors name)
8. Music or Music composed by (Music composers name)
9. Production designer - set design, costumes, hair dresser, make up artist, sound recording, visual effects
10. Editor
11. Director of photography
12. Producer
13. Based on the book by
14. Based on the characters by/created by
15. Story by (person who wrote the story)
16. Writer(s) or Written by
17. Director or Directed by

Fonts Research

The type of font we need to use for our opening credits and title of our thriller film must be eye catching and different to the plain, standard fonts used for everyday documents.
To get some ideas of what type of font we could use, I found a website - http://www.madtuts.com/2010/02/85-famous-tv-movie-fonts/ that shows many different fonts that have been used for famous films.
I have selected a few examples from this website that are suitable for a thriller film and that we could think about using for our own film.

This is an effective font as it is original and looks like its being used for a thriller or horror film as it is in bold capitals and has a slight authentic look to it.

This font looks fairly modern and mysterious yet I think it's slightly too plain and boring for a thriller film.

This font looks as if it has been painted by hand yet still looks scary as it is bold and not every letter is perfectly in line.





This font looks more suitable for a horror film as it looks like the letters have been drawn using blood which gives a scary effect to it.

This font, in my opinion is the most suitable font for a thriller film as it is clear and can still be mysterious.

This font is simple yet effective as it isn't neat and isn't written with capitals. This makes the film seem like it's a thriller or horror as it has a scary element to it.

25 word pitch for our thriller film

'A fractured cop suffering from his recently deceased daughter becomes fixated on a cryptic investigation into the gruesome deaths of young females. Where's the truth?'