Preferred film genre (the lower the total, the better response it received)
Horror/Thriller: 54
Comedy: 61
Action: 63
Drama: 68
Romance: 73
Sci-fi: 86 Average monthly cinema visits
< 1: 2
1-3: 13
4-6: 2
7-9: 3
Preferred film endings
Happy: 1
Sad: 3
Bit of both: 4
Cliffhanger:6
No preference:6
Encouragement to watch a film
Friends/family: 3
Film trailers: 14
Posters/advertisement: 2
Boredom: 1
Preferred film length (hours)
1-2: 11
2-3: 7
No preference: 2
Preferred film openings
In medias res: 2
Build up to action: 4
Suspense: 6
Twisted: 4
No preference: 4
Preference on how credits should be shown:
With sound: 10
During the scene: 9
No preference: 1
Preference on look of credits:
Animated, black and white: 6
Inanimated, black and white: 2
Animated and coloured: 10
Inanimated and coloured: 2
Our chosen target audience will be teenagers as we can relate to them and so we can incorporate conventions of thrillers which we like into our opening.
The result of the questionnaire came out as thrillers being the preferred genre, which is good as that is our genre.
Most recipients preferred cliffhanger for a good ending or did not mind how it ended. However, this does not pretain to us as we are creating an opening.
The most preferred opening is a suspenseful one. This tells us that our opening needs to use great techniques to grip our viewers into the film.
A sound/soundtrack being played whilst the credits are shown was the best preferred, closely followed by whilst the scene is being acted. Our group will need to decide wisely about which is best to create the desired atmosphere.
Finally, the preferred look of the credits is animation with colour, so we may utilise this information in our opening credits. Although, we have to keep in mind what will create the desired emotion in our viewers.
Prom Night
Seeing as the main character was going to be obsessed about her ex-boyfriend we wanted to do market research on films with an obsessed theme, but also has the codes and conventions of a thriller.
Prom Night, a 2008 horror film directed by Nelson McCormick, is about a teacher who is obsessed with his student and goes on a killing spree with the intent to find her and murder her. It is rated 15, directed by Nelson McCormick, and distributed by Screen Gems, Alliance Films, and Sony Pictures.It is certified for those above 15, but I think that it is particularly aimed at teenagers instead of adults as teenagers have school and college proms so the concept of a film being about a ‘prom night’ would be appealing to them.
Trailer
It is mainly horror, but by watching the trailer I can see codes and conventions of the thriller genre, for example:
> tense music and screaming at approximately 0:50 - this creates an intense atmosphere and builds suspense in the viewer;
> rapid cut-aways into darkness - gives a psychological response of the viewer being shocked;
> the teenager conforms to a stereotypical representation of females in thrillers as she is represented as being weak and alone at 1:15, like a 'damsel in distress'. The different point of view shots at various angles show that she is being watched, this also builds suspense.
Opening
Sound
Music Overlay (non- diagetic) an eerie, up tempo sound with an uncomfortable scratchy background is played as the credits are shown. Opening sound lasts for 2mins 33secs. Dialogue is exchanged, gets straight into the action, the conversation held talks about “prom night” which is the title of the film. A continue shot reverse shot is shown during the conversation. Eerie music overlay restarts, which changes to a rapid, heart pounding tempo at 3:29 till 6:08 as she first discovers the murder of her brother.
Mise-en-scene
White writing credits and black background is shown before going into the scene. Starts off from the ocean to set a calm/relaxed mood. The writing is standard and average size which is legible to the audience. As the scene continues to play, following the car over the bridge, the opening credits still show until 02:29 where the music overlay stops too so we can begin to focus on the scene.
Within the first five minutes we are hooked as an audience into the film opening. Although we find out it is a dream, it has drawn the audience in, which allows us to conclude on what a great impact the opening sequence has onto the rest of the film which we await to watch.
Obsessed
Obsessed is a 2009 thriller directed by Steve Shill. We chose to research the opening of this because of the name. It is about a psychotic temp who stalks a successful businessman, and only the man’s equally psychotic wife can stop her. It is rated 15, was directed by Steve Shill, it was released by Screen Gems Pictures, which is owned by Sony Pictures.I think this film is aimed at adults as they can relate to the characters who are of this age.
Sound
It opens with a soundtrack with a beat that makes you feel optimistic, this subverts to a usual thriller opening. The soft vocals create a romantic atmosphere which links in to the couple we see, who we presume are in love. There is no dialogue and the music is played throughout until 2:34, this maintains the romantic atmosphere throughout the opening as dialogue would have interrupted this.
Mise-en-scene
The setting of a sunny day also subverts to a usual thriller. The credits appear whilst the scene is being played and there is a simple transition of a slow sliding motion to the left or right.
Shots
There is a one take where the camera tracks the characters movements until 1:06. There are a lot of two-shots so both of them are in the frame. High angle wide shot at 1:11. The slow tracking and eyeline shots of them looking at each other at about 1:35 suggests they are in love. Over-the-shoulder shot at 1:52. Low angle shot at 2:21.
Vertigo
It is directed by Alfred Hitchcock and distributed by Paramount Pictures. A detective investigates the strange activities of a woman, becoming increasingly obsessed with her.
Sound
The opening to Vertigo starts with an eerie, non-diagetic sound which creates immediate suspense and atmosphere. The sound is exaggerated for when the credits are shown. As the music's tempo turns up slightly, a spiralling effect is shown to elaborate the effect this has onto its audience. The title sequence continues throughout the first 3 minutes into the opening. The music then changes to a suspensefel, peculiar and rapid sound and sets us into the scene as we witness a man being chased on the roof top. A gunshot is heard, followed closely by another one which hooks the audience and has successfully grabbed our attention which is what all films should do in their opening scene.
Credits
The first credit is shown 9 seconds into the film opening, with an exaggerated sound every time that a new name appears. The writing is in big, bold capitals with a white border around each letter which unique and stands out to the viewer.
Shots
A lot of close ups and extreme ups are used from the beginning. An extreme close up of the face/mouth/eye conveys a deeper meaning as we can clearly see any expressions made. This shows emotion and the audience can interact with what is going on. We could use this in our own film opening.
Seven
I chose to analyse ‘Seven’, directed by David Fincher, because it is a very effective and popular thriller opening which grips the viewer. Unlike 'Obsessed' this opening immediately makes the viewer know that it is a thriller. Personally, I would say it is one of my favourite openings as it is so well put together and different creative elements are combined really well so there are many techniques that could be used to improve our opening such as the distortion and methods used to create a threatening atmosphere.
The plot consists of two police detectives investigating murders, presumably by a serial killer, which are related to the seven deadly sins - gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy, wrath.It is distributed by New Line Cinema which is owned by Time Warner.The intended audience is adults as the rating is 18, most likely because there are grotesque murdering methods unsuitable for ages below.
Sound
From the beginning, the sound is very scratchy and distorted and there are wierd unrecognisable noises which all create a sense of mystery and bizarreness. A mixture of robotic and what sounds like squeaking is heard along with cranking. Eerie haunting noises are then heard. The beat increases in tempo at 1:12 and again at 1:34. As the song is finishing, the first and only lyrics we hear is "you got me closer to God".
Mise-en-scene
This opening begins with someone who is collecting information and cuttings and pictures of people. Pages of a book are being flipped. The rapid shifting of the position of the credits create a scratching effect which matches the same effect of the music playing, and the credits also sometimes brighten in colour then fade again. Credits appear both when the scene is playing and when there is just a black background, and they are not on a straight line to add to the disorientation. At 0:15 the character takes a razorblade and scrapes up skin off his finger, this immediately shocks and disgusts the viewer who wonders why they are doing that. Their fingers look cracked, blistered, dirty, and they are later bandaged which seems threatening. At 0:32 an effect is used to blurred the hand writing with a pen, so there is an illusion of too, this seems dizzying. Large scissors being used adds more threat. A pen is used to cross out a man's eyes in a picture and then completely scribble out his face, this seems demented and can be considered the actions of a wierdo. The word 'God' being cut out is connected with the lyrics "you got me closer to God" that is heard.
Shots
0:08 high angle shot of two hands. 0:10 onwards are extreme close ups of the person's hand doing various things but we hardly see what is happening, and point of view shots occur. 0:49 the silhouette of the hand and the pen emerging from behind the paper is rather ominous. There are cutaways from the action so the audience is unaware of what the character is actually doing. Thus mystery and threat is felt by us. The cutaways seem to get more rapid as the tempo speeds up.
The Number 23
This openly mainly consists of a lot of lists of the number '23' being shown, but the spattered blood also shown adds threat and is a convention of a thriller. This slow opening contrasts with the rapid-pace of the opening of 'Seven'. It is directed by Joel Schumacher and distributed by New Line Cinema.The plot is about an obsession with the number 23 by the main character.It is rated 15 as there is not much violence so teens and adults can be aimed at.
Music Video - Bow Wow ft. Chris Brown
We used the beginning of this music video as inspiration into what our film opening may look like, e.g:
- extreme close up of eyes to show emotion;
- black and white effect to represent the past and coloured for the present;
- he voice over of someone talking to symbolise a memory;
- scrunching or ripping of a note/photo to empasise emotion.
Conventions of a thriller:
Dark lighting/setting - Thriller films are usually set in mysterious settings that are usually unpredictable and enigmatic for example the motel where Marion stays the night in Psycho. She is not familiar with the location.
Eerie music - creates an intense atmosphere, gives us a sense of what the genre is, and builds up tension.
