Plot

A model named Lola Gray is kidnapped by a man who is obsessed with her. She escapes from the house that her kidnapped took her to.

After the kidnapping Lola tries to get back to normal but finds it difficult. She suffers from depression and becomes a heavy drinker. She takes a lot of medication to handle her depressions. Since the kidnapping, everywhere she goes she see’s the same man, however she does not know it was him who kidnapped her and neither does the audience. She blames her drinking and depression for these constant sightings.

In time, the man approaches, he seems normal, they get to know each other, he becomes a shoulder to cry on. She feels she’s beginning to heal. Eventually she goes back to his house with him - from this moment on he keeps drugging her, making her weak and fall in and out of consciousness. One night she awakes after being left for a long time, she struggles but manages to remember where she is. She runs as before.

Audience Research

Audience

The typical age of the audience who we’re aiming our film opening at is roughly14-18. Our film plot would most likely fit an age 15 category, therefore the most likely people to watch it would be this age. This means there are certain factors like language and violence which we need to consider that would be appropriate and not offensive for our audience. This age range is similar to our own age, we can benefit from as we will personally be able to understand what they think makes a good thriller film. 

            Our questionnaire will be completed by local people from the area who will all share similar backgrounds and possibly similar incomes. Because of this, we have a good idea of what makes a believable plot and setting for our film. With people earning similar incomes means that their interests will be generally similar, for our case locals from Whittlesey area aren’t over critical, more-than-average-wage earners giving us an idea of the quality that the filming of our film requires.

            Linking this is the possible location for our film; it will be local therefore realistic for our audience. The more realistic and familiar the setting is, the more believable the overall plot will feel to our audience. Whittlesey is a rural town which will probably reflect in our film, taking in to consideration that there are limited places we could film it is likely that we will involve some rural aspects. To keep our plot realistic and connected to our audience we will keep the plot to our time period, this will stop anyone from being confused too.

            The demographics for our film opening isn’t specific, it needs to be appreciated equally by both genders

Audience Research

Question 1.  Are you:       Male       Female

We intentionally asked 10 females and 10 males to ensure we get a fair result. Opinions and preferences can be determined by the gender of the person because of the different ways in which males and females are treated; males are brought up to be very masculine and females are brought up to be very feminine. Men tend to have bravado; they have to appear brave for the approval of people. Females tend to be more vulnerable and sometimes like to appear slightly weaker than males. These aspects influence opinions.

Question 2.

What age range do you fit into? 13 and under  14-18  19-24  25-30  31+

As previously stated, everyone we asked was between the age of 14 and 18. Our film will be aimed at this age range so we thought it would be best to receive our audience research from the relevant people.

Question 3.

What do you think makes a good film?

Peoples opinions: 

Strong story

Good actors

Believable

Good directing

Must look high-quality even if it’s low budget

Action

Element of humour

Violence

Good vs. bad

Epic parts

Horror

Unpredictability

Good acting

Realism

Imaginative

Interesting

Engaging

Follows conventions of the genre

Something which captivates the audience

Suspense

Questions to be answered

This gives us a lot of elements to consider with our film:

We must have a strong plot and this must show in our opening, the opening initially captivates the audience and depicts whether they keep watching or not. The point of the film is to tell the story, if there is not a good plot, the film will not meet it’s purpose. Every media text is created with an intention. The thriller genre is a broad genre which allows us to be imaginative (which has proven to be another important feature) therefore we can make a strong storyline.

The actors play a big part in attracting the audience. This is through the two-step flow - people see an actor they like, they then recommend the actor’s films to friends or family. However, for our task we obviously cannot use ‘good’ actors, but we can do our best to improve the acting from out preliminary task. Instead of improvising, we have a volunteer from the performing arts group therefore the acting should be of the best we can access.

The plot needs to be believable and have a sense of realism. If the plot is too unrealistic it tends to irritate people and it won’t keep them interested. It can be imaginative and it is fictional so it doesn’t have to be an exact representation of reality, but the interpretation must be believable on some level.

Good directing is key. As a group we have to be in control of the whole production. We have to direct the actor, manage the setting, manage the costumes and manage the camera work. The piece has to reflect confidence, if a film is not well-directed, it shows.

It must look high-quality. We must use what we have to the best of our ability. We are incredibly low budget in that we have to improvise with the setting, the actors and the costumes. We also have to make do with amateur lighting and camera work, but it is possible, with editing, to make the film look higher quality than it is. This will require rehearsing before filming and practising of the camera shots.

Question 4.

What is your favourite thriller?



This chart shows the most favoured films of 20 people aged 14-18. There a 4 obvious favourites, ‘The Strangers’, ‘District 9’, ‘Panic Room’ and ‘Saw’. We can now use this information and investigate these films to find out the elements that make our intended audience like these films. The information obtained isn’t as useful as hoped as the largest number of people that like a film is only 3, which is 15% however it will give us a better idea than we had before. 

Question 5.

 Why is this your favourite thriller?

The most occurring answer for this question was that the film held the viewer in suspense. This made us consider that if we wanted to make a successful thriller opening, we would need to add suspense for it to appeal to a majority of the audience. 

Other elements people considered to make a good thriller film:

·        Good plot

·        Keeps you guessing

·        Mysterious

·        Because it is based on a true story

·        Lots of action

·        Strong cast

·        Believable plot

·        Emotional connection to the characters

·        Contains interesting characters

·        Intense and scary

·        Unusual plot

·        Interesting storyline

Question 6.

 What do you think is needed to fulfil the criteria of the thriller genre?

For this question many of the respondents answered with suspense and tension. Again, this made us realise that to make a good thriller we must add these components for it to appeal to a wide audience.

  Other  factors considered by respondents:

· Character point of view

· Shocking moments

· Realism

· Unexpected scenes

· Scared victim

· A twist in the plot

· Action

· Death or separation

· Scary scenes

Question 7.

 Do you prefer a realistic plot or a more imaginative plot?

75% of the respondents answered that they preferred a realistic plot over a imaginative one. By them saying this, we decided it was best to base our opening around a realistic story line so it appealed to a wider demographic.

Question 8.

 What is your preferred sub-genre of the thriller genre?



10% of respondents enjoyed the crime thriller sub-genre, 15% enjoyed mystery thriller and the remaining 75% preferred psychological thrillers to the other sub-genres. As psychological is the most significantly popular sub-genre, we decided it would make sense for us to base our opening around a psychological thriller.

Question 9.

What perspective would you prefer a Thriller film to from?

Over half of the respondents would prefer the film to be from the victim’s perspective along with the extra 5% saying they’d watch any. It is then followed by 25% preferring it from the villain’s; there is a wide difference between the two answers therefore we can confirm that the majority of our demographic would like our film more if it was from a victim’s perspective. This is helpful for us to know as it will make our film more popular and therefore successful.

Question 10.

 What sort of atmosphere do you think needs to be created in a Thriller?

There were numerous answers to this question though they all related to each other. The most common answers were suspense, tense and dark, typical features of a Thriller genre. Other answers included:

·        Isolated

·        Shocking

·        Inquisitive

·        Scary

·        Panic

·        On edge

·        Uncertainty

These are all similar answers and therefore give us a clear indication to what our audience consider important to make a Thriller atmosphere. We can now apply our results and consider possible ways to produce the appropriate atmosphere, including the film plot, sound and lighting effects.

Question 11.

What do you think would be a good location for a Thriller?

Bearing in mind we have limited access to an appropriate location some of the answers won’t be possible.

The results varied somewhat however there were some which were repeated quite often.

It is clear that there are three dominant answers, an old house, an abandoned place/building or a forest. In a way these three can be linked given that an old house could be an abandoned building and a forest could be an abandoned place too. These locations are also suitable for us to consider as they are all accessible to us.

Now that we’ve gathered the results and studied each of the question’s responses I feel that we are able to produce a film appropriate for our demographic. The use of the questionnaires has allowed us to see what certain media conventions should be used to make a ‘Thriller’ film.  We are now aware of what our audience favour and expect from a thriller film, therefore we can make a successful opening. There are media elements we are now aware of that should be used to make a ‘Thriller’ film. 

Psychological Thriller

These are the definitions according to Wikipedia:

Psychological – Elements that are related to the mind or processes of the mind; they are mental rather than physical in nature. Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflicts with their own minds. Usually, this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them. These conflicts are made more vivid with physical expressions of the conflict in the means of either physical manifestations, or physical torsions of the characters at play.

Thriller – Generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot.

Psychological thriller – Characters are no longer reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies (which is often the case in typical action-thrillers), but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.

Psychological Thrillers are much more intense and deep which makes them more serious. This could actually contradict the fact that people want an element of humour according to our questionnaire results; however it is clear that psychological thriller is the preferred sub-genre. Personally, our favourite is psycho-thriller so we have more knowledge of it.


Psychological Thrillers are very much focussed on the characters and their minds. They often just focus on one or two characters as to comply with the psychological element the audience must have an incite into the main character's mind. The plot has less focus, unlike average Thriller films.


Themes of a psycho-thriller:

Reality – This is where psycho-thrillers can become confusing -  the characters usually have uncertainty on what is real and what is not - characters are taken out of their normality and the comfort of their minds. The audience experiences this with them.

Perception – As we focus on main characters, particularly if it is in first person narrative, we see their perception of the world. This links to the idea of an unreliable narrator. How does the audience know they can trust the narrator

Mind – The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception.

Existence/Purpose - The object for which something exists; an aim or a goal humans strive towards to understand their reason for existence. Characters often try to discover what their purpose is in their lives and the narrative's conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose.

Identity - The definition of one's self. Characters often are confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover their true identity.

Death - The cessation of life. Characters either fear or have a fascination with death.

Literary devices and techniques

• Stream of consciousness - a literary technique which seeks to describe an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes. In psychological thrillers, the narrative tries to manifest the character's psyche through word usage, descriptions, or visuals.
• First-person narrative - a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one or more of the characters, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, "I". This direct involvement that the characters have with the story in turn makes the reader more involved with the characters themselves, and thus able to understand the mechanics of the characters' minds. This technique is often paired with the concept of the unreliable narrator.
• Back-story - the history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. This deepens the psychological aspect of the story since the reader is able to more fully understand the character; more specifically, what the character's motivations are and how his past has shaped his current cognitive perceptions.

Thriller

Thriller: a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.


Thriller is a very wide genre, there a many sub-genres which means there is a lot of room to add individuality and a unique twist. It is also very intense which allows creativity and strong ideas.


Primary Sub-genres: mystery, crime, psychological, revenge and  super-natural.


"Thrillers are mostly characterised by an atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder by showing society as dark, corrupt and dangerous, though they often feature a happy ending in which the villains are killed or arrested. Thrillers heavily promote on literary devices such as plot twists, red herrings and cliffhangers. They also promote on moods, such as a high level of anticipation, adrenaline rush, arousal, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and sometimes even terror. The tones in thrillers are usually gritty, slick and lurid."

The idea of a thriller is to keep the audience on the edge of their seat, they must be kept captivated and interested.

The mis-en-sen for the opening of a thriller generally includes; dark, de-saturated colouring; slow, calm movements (calm before storm); close-ups of important features; non-diegetic calming music; a tense atmosphere.

Directors of thriller films include: Phillip Noyce, Stephen Hopkins, Roman Polanski, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino.

 De-saturated colour

 Close-up shot


 Negative feel

 Fear

Intensity

Contrasting Genres

Zombieland (2009) Genre :Adventure/Comedy/Horror

This combination of genres is generally seen as a spoof of a horror film. It's packed with action, as the light-hearted comedy view but then the strong element of gore. In contrast to thriller, the opening scene has bright, saturated colour. The bright colour reflects the light-hearted, not too intense theme, thrillers typically create an intense atmosphere using de-saturated colouring. Straight away there is action which shows the action element of the genre; tension is not built but questions are still evoked. There is also gore in the opening, reflecting the horror element, but it is from a comedic angle - the lighting and saturated colouring helps this.

There are titles over the opening sequence which is common of high budget films with recognisable actors, this helps entice the viewer by showing actors that may appeal to them - people may be more inclined to carry on wtaching if they see an actors' that they like. This is also true of thriller films but is not a necessity.

The opening is in slow motion which adds to the comedic effect, that clearly spoofs the typical use of slow moption to highlight action scenes. After the frames shown, there is narration from the main character who also adds humour instead of the typical fear you'd see from a serious angle of this situation. During the frames shown there is non-diegetic sound. Metallic plays which adds to the action element but it also compliments the comedic element. Non-diegetic sound can be used in thrillers but it would be more tense, less energetic music. Slow motion is unlikely to be used in the opening of a thriller.

Wide shots are used in all of the frames to show the full scene. The purpose of the opening of this film is to show the whole picture and give the audience the full background information.



Scary Movie is another example of the horror/comedy genre. It is a spoof of horror films.

It begins with an establishing shot which shows the location before it goes into the scene. It is very dark but the colour of the grass is saturated which reflects the comedy element. The darkness adds a sense of mystery and suspence.

It then shoots to a close-up of an important feature but to add the humour, it is popcorn being cooked.

It then introduces a character. She looks very happy which shows how its light-hearted. The dialogue used is also humorous, however it includes bad language so I cannot embed it.
Unlike thriller films, comedy films tend to go straight in with the scene, there is no build up or atmosphere made.

Other Genres: Juno



Juno is a comedy-drama film based mainly on teenagers but also marriage and responsibilities. The opening sequence is light-hearted and jolly especially in comparison to the thriller Alien films. The animation adds a less mature approach, possibly introducing the audience to the character's behaviour; it's also very different from the majority of film openings which is a reflection of the film overall, as well as the character themself. The colour scheme isn't the usual primary, child related colours that people associate with animation and cartoons, it is more of a mixture of duller tones giving it an older, maturer approach which is quite unique.

The main title appears next to a long shot of the character 'Juno', which lets the audience establish who Juno is and who the film is focused on. This is a clever technique that could transferred to a thriller film and in our main task, bearing in mind that the film is named after the character or something specific. We have many long shots of Juno where we are able to view their casual clothing and overall appearance, including the Sunny D bottle which is seen as quite comical due to it's large size. The audience also view close ups of Juno's facial expression which is cheery and relaxed. This again reflects the character's overall perspective throughout the film.
It uses both non-diagetic sound and diagetic sound, with the 'county' style music played over the top along with diagetic sound of runners within the setting. The audience are given a animated view of the setting but still continues to use real sound to confirm that the setting is real. As the setting is animated, the producers are able to emphasise different objects which stand out within the film, for examble the guitar is shown next to the actor Michael Cera's name to make an obvious link to his character.

Overall the opening sequence emphasises the unique factors of the film and character, it combines animated drawings with the main character who is pixalised. As the character isn't animated into the setting the audience don't misjudge the film to be completely animated.

Other Genres: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium



Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a family comedy, somewhat an opposite to a thriller however thrillers sometimes involve comedy to lighten the viewing but it would this would be difficult as it risks taking the 'thrill' away. The demographics for this film is children, the use of bright colours and animated drawings instantly encourages children to watch it. The film is clearly appropirate for a child based audience therefore making it very different to a thriller.
The title of the film doesn't appear until clip four, giving a slight build up of scenes from the plot. Not until you've watched the film do you realise that these clips are animations of different scenes, nor do you realise that the film isn't animated through out. The text that the title and names are written in shows how the theme of the film is quite unusual, there isn't any sustainability and multiple fonts are used with multiple colours. The muliti colours isn't something that we could use in our thriller film as multi colours generally represent cheerful scenearios, although we could use brights colours for example if we decided to have blood we could emphasise red. The opening has many close ups of certain objects like the paper-aeroplane which lets the audience focus and pick up that this is something that might occur again in the film.
I don't think an animated opening would be suitable for a thriller film as it is important for thriller films to be realistic enough for the audience to believe that the plot is genuine. However it is a good contrast to compare a family based film as we now know certain factors that we will not use.

Genre Research

These are 9 frames from the beginning of the Thriller film Alien. It's a series of close ups of what must be important features. It very much sets the scene but without actually revealing the setting, we are shown close-ups of details of the setting, but there isn't the typical establishing shot revealing the setting it just gives the audience a slight incite into what it's about. The lack of awareness of the setting adds to the tense atmosphere. It makes the audience ask questions: who, what, when, why? The mis-en-sen reflects a very tense, cold atmosphere.

There is a bold title at the beginning and then no credits, the title is very striking.The title is used to captivate the audience rather than the use of actors names to almost bribe the audience into watching it. In this respect the bold title reflects power and confidence.

The lighting is quite dark and a little foggy. This lighting gives connotations of fear. Darker lighting builds tension and a mysterious feel as it hides things, there is the fear of the unknown. The colours are de-saturated which typically gives a negative feel and builds tension.





This is the opening sequence of Panic Room, also a thriller. It sets the scene by using a series of long shots and establishing shots which allow the viewer to assume the type of people the characters will be. This would suggest the characters will be American, possibly quite wealthy and something will happen to them which is typical of a thriller. There is non-diegetic sound of classical music playing during the scene, it's quite strong and builds a tense atmosphere. It sets quite a calm before the storm mood. During the last frame shown dialogue of two characters speaking is heard, it then cuts to the scene as if its real life that was already happening, it's very natural.

The colours are again very de-saturated, there are a lot of neutral colours so as not to draw attention to anything in particular.
In the last shot the faces of the characters who are speaking are the only ones showvn, they're in the centre, taking up a third of the shot, following the rule of thirds.



This is the opening sequence of the film Bullitt. The colours are very dark which gives a sense of mystery. There's also a lot of monochrome and blue tones which add to this effect. The titles run over the top in a contrasting white and show the important people's names. Close-ups are used to show important features.

It seems in the opening of thriller films a tense atmosphere is built and it makes the audience ask questions which presumably will be answered throughout the film. By evoking questions from the audience it draws them in and keeps them hooked as they want the answers to their questions. There is the curiosity element.