The first frame shown reveals the title of the film and the setting. We chose bold, red writing for the title because from our genre research we found that thrillers comonly have bold, powerful titles. We chose plain writing because it's strong and doesn't have any connotations of an older time period - it's modern. We chose red because it has connotations of anger and blood therefore it hints at the plot and creates tension and fear. Our setting is acres of fields next to a railway and a rarely used farmyard. In the background you can see a building which holds farm equipment which we thought looked frightening. We also thought that people would make the connection between that building and the location of the flashbacks. Thriller films don't have a typical setting, it's such a broad genre, it can be anything. Psychological thrillers tend to have a secluded, empty setting which reflects the mind of the character; the setting of our film follows this convention.
We dressed Alice in dark clothes to keep with the de-saturated colour scheme. We covered her in mud to show how she'd struggled. We also put ketchup on her to represent blood as well as putting a lot of hair product in her hair to make it greasy, as if she hadn't been able to wash. The clothing in thriller films isn't typically imposrtant, it just needs to fit in with the setting to keep the flow of the mis en scene.
For the first, second and fourth frames shown we used a tripod to keep the camera steady. We used the zoom on the camera to pan out and show the setting. This was difficult because the zoom on the camera did not do a slow, steady motion, it was quite jerky so we had to re-film it many times before we got it right.
For the rest of the frames we used hand-held camera work because this meant the camera shook a little, suggesting Alice was shaking, showing the fear. The use of hand-held camera work also makes the viewer feel as if they are there and experiencing the same things as the characters. This is typical of a psychilogical thriller. For the first, second and fourth frames show the setting but don't show the character in detail, this builds tension and doesn't jump in with a character the audience know nothing about. The use of showing the character from afar walking towards the camera gives the audience time to study the character and form an opinion. The third and fifth frames show flashbacks where Alice is on the floor, this contrasts with the rest of the filming with the darkness and with the positioning of Alice. It follows with rule of thirds, but horizontally.
The sixth and eighth frames shown, show Alice in more detail. The sixth frame shows Alice's continuous motion of rocking; this reflects Lola's nervous disposition. This is also typical of psychological thrillers. This frame follows the rule of thirds, so it is comfortable to look at. The eighth frame is an extreme close up of Alice's face which focusses on the emotion, it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and claustraphobic.
The tonal range of all the frames is very dark and de-saturated. This makes the scenes look dreery and morbid and it creates a depressing, tense mood.
The third and fifth frames show flash backs. The setting is completely different to the one in reality so distinction between tenses can be made. The continuous movements show she's thinking about something, it's causing her pain. There is also a contrast between the free, open setting and the dark, claustraphobic setting.
The use of the completely black frame, shows complete absence of light. This builds tension because the viewer has no idea what is happening. It leaves the viewer wondering what is happening to the character. The next frame is then the extreme close up which stays in the viewers mind.
We tried to follow the conventions of a psychological thriller in order to make the genre apparent this also meant we had a strong structure to our film. It made it easier to make decisions.
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