Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

Inspirations

Before we can create something, we need inspiration to give us the drive and motivation to complete it and make the finished product the best that it can be. Through researching and analysing different thriller films we have been inspired by the way different elements are used within the sequence, and the way suspense and tension are created in different ways. Shutter Island, for example, used dark colours and an isolated location to build tension within the narrative. In relation to our thriller, we have taken inspiration from many of the films that we have looked at in the build up to finalising our opening sequence.


Inspirational thriller films

One of the most inspirational thriller films of all time was Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock who was the creator of some of the most well know and influential thriller films. We were inspired by the main characters, Marion Crane and Norman Bates. Marion portrays the typical thriller film victim; female, young and blonde. In our group narrative both of the victims in the sequence will be female and will portray the innocent, unknowing victim similar to Marion. Also, Norman killed Marion using a knife during the shower sequence, and as a group we were inspired by the way the film editors were able to emphasise the sound that the knife made when it was stabbing her skin. The mother in our sequence will be killed with a knife, and then during the editing stage our group will add in sound effects to make the scene more brutal and shocking. However, we were especially inspired by Norman Bates, the antagonist in Psycho who on occasions pretended to be his dead mother. In our sequence, our antagonist has a split personality, a decision that was inspired by the way Norman Bates was portrayed as sane until they very end when the audience find out that he was the one killing people while pretending to be his own mother. The character of Norman Bates was interesting to watch from the audiences point of view as his characteristics made him appear to be an unlikely antagonist, which emphasised the audiences shock when they found out that it was him.

Another film that has inspired the planning for our final group narrative is Shutter Island. Similarly to Psycho, the main character in film, Teddy, portrays both the protagonist and antagonist. He was sent to an island to find a missing prisoner who had recently escaped from one of the centres, however by the end of the film the audience find out that the prisoner that Teddy was trying to find was actually himself. The idea of the main character having a split personality inspired our group to portray our antagonist as mentally unstable due to his split personality. We believe this will make the narrative more interesting and will help the audience to build a sympathetic relationship with the character. Also, Shutter Island is set in an isolated and dark location, that together help to build tension within the sequence and provide better jump scares within the narrative. For example, when Teddy is walking through the prison cells after the inmates have escaped, the audience are led to believe that he is alone. However, as he walks further into the building, some of the inmates who did not escape jump out at him and start shouting as he walks past. This is unexpected and therefore scares the audience as well as the character in the scene.

The film The Silence of the Lambs was an inspiration when it came to creating our own opening sequence as it showed us another way to build tension through the use of close ups. During the scene where Hannibal Lector is alone in his cell, the camera shows a close up of his face to give the audience a better view of what he is doing. This creates tension as the audience can only see his face, and not what is happening in the background. In our opening sequence we are going to use a close up during the suicide scene to show the audience Cameron's face before he hangs himself. The audience will not be able to see the rope around his neck and therefore they will be shocked by the events that follow.

Another film that was inspirational to my group in the build up to the creation of our opening sequence was Insidious, due to its use of a contrapuntal sound which comes across as creepy and unnerving. The song that our group has chosen to play alongside our film title "Disturbia" when it appears on screen is "tiptoe through the tulips", a joyful, cheery song that we believe will make the audience feel on edge due to it following the brutal death of our first victim, the antagonists mother. The use of this contrapuntal song will imply that the character is mentally unstable, which he is, and

The Woman in Black was an inspirational film in the build up to creating our opening sequence due to the way that it continuously builds up suspense and shock, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats from the beginning to the end.
 The film begins with the audience watching as three young girls sit playing with their dolls in the middle of the room. They then abruptly stop playing, stand up and walk towards the window, out of which they jump. The camera then zooms away from the window allowing the audience to see the silhouette of a woman standing, hidden in the corner of the room. This creates an enigma as the audience will want to know why the three girls jumped and the story being the woman. This was an inspiration to our group due to the idea that we had come up with to begin our opening sequence with the suicide of our antagonist, as we saw an enigma as the best way to hook the audience. Another way in which The Woman in Black has inspired the creation of our opening sequence is through the use of low key lighting to create dark colours and shadows, particularly in the scenes where the woman in black is present. 
low key lighting - suspense
lead to jump scares
her face screaming at the window
rocking chair

During our opening sequence we have planned to use low key lighting when our antagonist switches from being innocent and guilty, to becoming a brutal killer. This will help to build suspense as the audience will
see what's coming


Overall, through researching various inspirations our group has been able to improve our opening sequence by presenting our characters in a way that is more conventional to the thriller genre. For example, one of the victims in our opening sequence is going to be portrayed as young and naïve, which the audience will see as an easy target for the antagonist. This will help the audience to build a relationship with her character as they will view her as being innocent and clueless, therefore they will feel protective over her in the way that they won't want anything to happen to her. Also, the inspirational films have shown us

focus on micro elements
Mise-en-scene
Cinematography
Editing
Sound
consider the films the inspiration that you have gained in planning your production - relate back to post on group planning, group narrative, opening scene narration

Preliminary Task - Miss Miller

Preliminary Task

My media group consists of Molly Emmerson, Jake Butler and myself. For the preliminary task we were asked to create a sequence that was roughly one minute long and that showed a character entering a room, conversing with another character and then leaving the room. The purpose of the preliminary task was to explore the different camera angles and shots and experiment as a group using the media equipment that we had never used before, in particular the digital camera, tripod and memory card. We were also given some editing time to look back over the footage that we had filmed to practice merging two shots together and then working to make the transitions between shots as smooth as possible. This would help for our opening sequence as we want for our film to flow from beginning to end. After looking over the footage from the preliminary task, it is clear that our biggest struggle that we need to work on before filming our opening sequence is making sure that the tripod is stable and that all three of the legs are on the same level as sometimes the picture appeared to be tilted and slightly unstable.

The narrative behind our preliminary task was that one of the characters, portrayed by Jake, had lost his phone and was seeking help from his friend in order to find it. There were some camera shots that we had decided to purposely use in preparation of the preliminary task, including a close up, shot reverse shot, low angle and panning. A close up is used in films to show the reaction that a character has to someone or something else in the scene. We used a close up towards the end of our preliminary task in order to show the audience the reaction Jake had to finding his phone in the cupboard, enabling the audience to see the full extent of his relief and happiness. We used a shot reverse shot following Molly's entrance into the scene in order to show the conversation between her and Jake., in which he explains that he has lost his phone, and she responds by suggesting places for him to look for it. The audience are able to see both of the actor’s faces and how they react to each other and what they are saying. In our opening sequence we planned on using a shot reverse shot to show the conversation that takes place between the mother and antagonist while they are eating dinner together, therfore getting the time to practice filming this technique would help to make the shot reverse shot in our opening sequence better. Low angle shots are typically used in the thriller genre to make someone or something look strong and powerful in comparison to another character by positioning the camera so that the lens is facing upwards. A low angle was used at the beginning of our preliminary task when the camera was positioned at the bottom of the stairs with the intention of giving the a full body image of Molly as she entered the scene, we had never planned to use a low angle in order to make her look more powerful or stronger than Jake.

The panning technique is a smooth, sweeping movement of the camera which we used twice in our preliminary task, the first when Molly entered the shot in order to bring both of the actors together, and it occurs again at the end of the sequence when Jake leaves. The technique enabled us to follow the characters as they moved around the frame

It had been discussed beforehand that I would act as the cameraman while we were filming our opening sequence, therefore it made sense for me to lead the filming of our preliminary task. The biggest struggle that our group faced when filming the preliminary task was using the tripod as we felt that it restricted the movement of the camera. An example of this is when we were filming the low anlge when Molly first entered the scene. Due to the limited movement in the legs of the tripod, we found it difficult focusing on Molly's face or achieving a full body shot. We decided to use the handheld technique instead as it enabled us to move the camera as freely as we liked. In order to improve on this in our opening sequence we will either need to find a bigger loaction to film in so that the camera can be position with the tripod further away from the actors. The problem with using handheld instead of the tripod is that the images will not be as stable, and we may unintentionally create a sense of panic. Another element of the filming our group struggled with was finding the best place to position the camera in regards to the actors. For example, when it came to filming the close up shot of Jake's face the camera was sat close beside him, but it meant that his movements and the movement of the camera were restricted.

When filming the preliminary task, something that our group did well was finding alternate ways to film certain shots if we were struggling to film in the way that we had first planned. The first example of this is when we were struggling to use the tripod in the space that we had decided to film in. The tripod itself was quite tall and required a large amount of space for its legs to move around. In order to solve this problem, our group decided that instead of using the tripod, we would use the handheld technique which, as the name sounds, is when the cameraman holds the camera freely. This made it easier for us to hold the camera where we needed it to be and move it depending on where the actor needed to move to. Another example is when we decided to use the zoom in button on the camera instead of positioning the camera directly next to the actor during the close up shot. We eventually realised that there needed to be more space between the actors and camera to move around and for the footage to flow more smoothly. Another group success was that we were able to complete the preliminary task quite quickly, which gave us confidence that we would be able to do the same with our opening sequence.

The preliminary task was helpful when preparing our group for filming our opening sequence as we were given time to explore the different camera shots and angles that we had only ever talked about before as being conventional to the thriller genre. Our group had never used most of the equipment before, the tripod in particular, and so having time to work out how to use it on its own and then with the camera was beneficial to us all. The purpose of the tripod was to keep the camera steady, overall resulting in smoother shots and images. A technique that our group had identified as important for us to practice was the shot reverse shot, often used to show a conversation between two characters. We had planned to use this technique twice in our opening sequence therefore it was key that we knew how to film the shot accurately. Overall, it would make it less of a struggle on our group when filming our opening sequence having the basic knowledge of how to film that shot.

In order to create a high angle in the preliminary task we had to lower the two back legs of the tripod so that the face of the camera would be tilted upwards. Similarly, in order to create a low angle we had to lower the front leg of the tripod, tilting the face of the camera towards the ground. Before we began filming we believed that the best way to create a close up shot was to place the camera and tripod directly in front of the actor that we wanted to focus on, but while we were filming we found out that there needed to be more room between the camera and actor. Therefore, in order to create the close up shot seen in our preliminary task, we used the zoom in button on the camera which allowed us to stand further away from the actor so that both he and the camera still had room to move around. There were some camera shots that we did not manage to incorporate into our preliminary task that we had planned to use in our opening sequence, for example, the handheld technique that is typically used to create a sense of panic and instability through messy, moving images.

Group narrative - Miss Georgiou

Group Narrative

In my media group along with myself there is Molly Emmerson and Jake Butler. Individually we were asked to create narrative ideas for our opening thriller sequence, thinking about how we can incorporate elements into it that are conventional to the thriller genre, such as using a knife as the iconography or for the victim to be female.

I decided to begin my sequence with a suicide, as I believed that this enigma would hook the audience with questions such as why has the antagonist killed himself. After seeing the suicide, the sequence will flow into a flashback and the audience will begin to see the different events that have led up to his death. In order to make his character more conventional to the thriller genre, the antagonist "Cameron" will be portrayed as mentally unstable due to his multiple personality disorder. Throughout the sequence the audience will either see him wearing a white or black shirt, individually they represent the different sides to his personality. White means innocent, whereas black is his dark, violent side that will be seen when he is killing his victim. Following the suicide there will be a VoiceOver that will allow the antagonist to engage the audience by talking directly to them. The flashback following the suicide will take the audience to the antogonists house where he and his mother are eating dinner. The natural setting will make the audience feel more relaxed and at home. As the scene progresses the tension and awkwardness between the two characters will become more obvious, which will make the audience feel tense also as the idea of the mother being the first victim becomes possible. The sequence will end with another enigma and the introduction of Cameron's girlfriend, "Harmony". She will arrive at the house to find the mother dead and Cameron nowhere to be seen. She will be completely oblivious to the events that the audience have just seen. After leaving the house scared and panicked, she will call Cameron to try and find out what has happened. The girlfriend "Harmony" and the mother "Grace" both have positive, innocent names that imply to the audience that they are the victims. My idea may be difficult to fit into a two minute sequence as it is quite detailed. Having said that, the use of enigmas in my sequence will make the audience feel tense

Molly and I had very similar ideas that followed almost identical narratives. The reason for this was due to use previously discussing a possible idea for our opening sequence. She wanted the narrative to cincernyrate on a very disturbed male character named "Cameron", who is mentally unstable. His name is unisex which represents his split personality. The young boy will struggle to deal with his evil side which is the ultimate reason behind his suicide at the start of the sequence. The audience will see his death and wonder what has made him do this, the VoiceOver will then begin and take the audience back in time to start showing them the events that led to his death. The flashback shows how his troubles began, starting with the death of his mother whom he finds annoying and overprotective. He will murder her with a knife as this is the most conventional weapon in the thriller genre as it is pysical and more personal. By using Molly's idea the audience will be able to see many conventions that are typical to the thriller genre. On the other hand, her narrative is very detailed and may be difficult for the audience to follow.

Jake wanted to show the audience the backstory to the main narrative of the film, with a flowing story that hooks the audience from the beginning. He wanted our opening sequence to show the audience a male stalker that is still hung up on his ex-girlfriend. The sequence will involve a chase scene that will create tension as the audience will not know whether the guy will catch the girl or not. A disadvantage of Jakes idea is that we will need to film on the streets and they will need to be empty in order for us to create that stalker effect. Although, an advantage of his idea is that his narrative is completely different to mine and Molly's and will be interesting for the audience to watch. His idea also contains typical conventions, such as an enigma which the audience will be able to identify with.

Group Narrative

For our final group narrative, we decided to begin our opening sequence by showing the audience the antagonist "Cameron" committing suicide. This will create an enigma that will hook the audience from the word go. The final shot during this scene will be of his feet dangling to show the audience that he has now hung himself, this will be immediately followed by a VoiceOver that will talk directly to the audience in order to make them feel more involved in what they are watching. The sequence will then flow into a flashback from before his suicide that will show the audience Cameron and his mother at home. The sight of them eating dinner will relax the audience and they will view the pair as a normal family. This will help us to shock the audience later in the sequence when Cameron violently kills his own mother. During the scene, both of the characters will be talking but Cameron will be passive and uninterested. His mother will be nagging him about his therapy sessions and his behaviour at school. The audience will see Cameron gradually growing more annoyed with his mother which eventually leads to him violently killing her. The mother is later found dead at the dinner table by Cameron's girlfriend, "Harmony". After leaving the house panicked, Harmony will call Cameron in an attempt to find out what has gone on. The audience will be left with a close up of her face as she listens to what Cameron is telling her over the phone. As the sequence finishes, the audience will be left wonder what Cameron has told her and whether or not she is going to become his next victim.

Narrative Theory

The narrative theory that my group narrative follows is Aristole's, as his theory is that the narrative focuses on the themes within the film. After analysing his theory and suggested themes from within a film, we believe that our film incorporates a dramatic question and the use of sympathy and empathy. Our dramatic question of why did he kill himself will occur at the very beginning of our sequence following the suicide of our antagonist Cameron. This is also where we feel the audience will feel sympathy and empathy towards him, and then again after the mother has been killed during the dinner scene that follows. Todorov's theory states that the narrative will start with an equilibrium (everything is normal) which is closely followed by a disequilibrium (something that will disrupt the narrative and prevent it from being happy). This is quite a common theory that can be seen in romantic comadies, fairytales or even action films. Due to my group narrative beginning with a sucide which is not considered an equilibrium, we therefore do not follow Todorov's theory. Vladimir Propp's theory is that the characters in the film are there to help the narrative and bring it to life. For example, the protagonist will have a sidekick that helps them with their quest, or an evil villan who's purpose in the film is to stop the protagonist from succeeding. This theory can often be seen in fairy tales including all of the Shrek films. My group narrative does not follow this theory due to the not being a protagonist amongst the characters featured, although the characters in any narrative are arguably always important. Our group managed to agree on a basis for our group narrative which includes many conventions that are typical to the thriller genre such as the use of an enigma at the beginning and end of our clip, and also the gender of the characters within the narrative. We really wanted to focus on the characters as they are what will bring our narrative to life, but especially our antagonist and his personality disorder that arguably makes him both the killer and a victim.

 

Individual narrative ideas - Miss Georgiou

Individual narrative idea

The narrative is the plot of the film and an important aspect of any thriller film, as it can dictate the appropriate target audience for the film. The narrative is what hooks the audience into watching the film further, making the film successful.

My own idea for a new thriller film was to show the audience the sections of the different events that lead up to the main character "Cameron" committing suicide. The beginning of my thriller sequence will start with the audience seeing Cameron hanging himself, this will create an enigma and hopefully hook the audience. Cameron will have a dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality) which brings out his dark, twisted, violent side that the audience will see through him killing. There will be a voiceover after the suicide which allows the antagonist to talk directly towards the audience which will help to engage them. Following the suicide scene the audience will be shown a flashback of a dinner scene between Cameron and his mum. The scene will start out quiet, this will show the tension and awkwardness between the two characters. The mum will attempt to start a conversation but Cameron will be acting annoyed and uninterested. In the final scene, Cameron's girlfriend will arrive at the house shortly after the murder of Grace. She is completely oblivious to the events that have just happened and so walks further into the house to find the mum dead at the table. The screen will go dark, leaving the audience in suspense and wanting to watch the rest of the film. The girlfriend "Harmony" and the mum "Grace" both have positive, uplifting names that tell the audience that they are the victims/innocent. An advantage of my idea is that it will create enigma and engage to audience. However, the idea is quite detailed, and as a group we many not be able to fit it all into an opening sequence.

Research into Conventions - Miss Miller

Conventions

Conventions are elements that are specific to each genre in the film industry, they are seen as accepted ways of doing something. We began to research the conventions of the thriller genre as a class by watching clips from different thriller films and identifying which elements they each had in common. When it came to our own individual analysis, I chose to analyse a clip from the film Orphan. After watching the clip, I was able to identify conventions that had appeared in several of the films that we had analysed as a group. For example, many of the films would use the camera technique handheld in order to create a sense of panic and fear within one of the characters, usually the victim, due to the shakiness of the image produced.

The iconography in the clip is a hammer, used by the young killer to beat her victim to death. In most of the thriller films that we had looked at, the killer would use a knife to kill their victims, but nonetheless the hammer is still conventional to the thriller genre as it is a dangerous weapon that can be used to cause serious harm or, as shown in the clip, kill someone. There is a lot of force needed for a hammer to cause serious destruction, which arguably foreshadows how brutal the death of the victim is going to be. The audience will feel sympathetic towards the nun who had no idea what was going to happen to her. Suspense was created in the build up to the death of the nun as the audience did not know for sure whether the girl would go through with the killing. It was then created again after the death as they did not know whether she planned on killing anyone else. Both the little sister and audience will fear the killer as they have been given an insight to what the girl is capable of. The audience will further fear for the safety of the little sister who is now alone with the killer and they will wonder what is going to happen to her.

Another convention used in the clip is the fact that the victim is female. Men are generally seen as stronger, therefore more capable of killing another person. The audience will feel sympathetic towards the victim who is defenceless in comparison to the killer, the location emphasising that she has nowhere safe to hide or escape from her inevitable death. This is conventional to the thriller genre as
the audience may find it shocking that the young girl was able to kill another in such a violent way, but also that she put enough thought into what she was going to do to make sure that she could get away with it. In the clip, the little sister of the killer can be seen as bate, used to lure the victim in. She then had no other option to watch as her sister beat the nun to death, causing the audience to sympathise with her also, as no one should have to see something that brutal. The audience will fear for her safety as once the nun is dead, she will be alone in the forest with the killer. An enigma is then created as the audience do not know what is going to happen to the little sister, or whether she will be killed as well.

The clip takes place in an isolated setting, which is conventional to the thriller genre as it means that there is no escape for the victim. The forest can be seen as dangerous and lonely place, which is conventional to the thriller genre as suspense it created due to the audience being uncertain about what may happen and whether the killer will get caught. The isolated setting also implies that the killer is going to get away with it as the is no one else around to witness it. The audience will realise that the young girl would have planned what she was going to do beforehand in order not to get caught, therefore she is quite smart and sneaky.

The death of the victim is brutal, and as a result her clothes are covered in blood, as well as the snow surrounding her body. The use of blood is conventional to the thriller genre as it connotes the idea of death and brutality that the victim had to suffer through while she was being killed. The audience will feel sympathetic towards the victim due to the use of blood showing the pain that she would have been feeling while she was being beaten with the hammer. They will also fear for the younger sister who will be left alone with the killer with no way of protecting herself. This creates suspense as the audience do not know whether the killer is going to do anything to her little sister after the nun has died.

A high angle is used in the sequence from Orphan when the nun is crawling through the snow, away from the killer after being beaten by her with the hammer. A low angle is conventional to the thriller genre as it shows the audience the power and superiority that the killer has over their victim. This creates suspense
The audience will feel sympathetic towards the nun who appears to be defenceless in comparison to the killer.

A camera technique that is conventional to the thriller genre is handheld, used in the clip when the nun is seen crawling through the snow to get away from the killer. This is conventional due to the sense of panic and urgency that the shaky movement of the camera creates. In this clip, it is the victim who is panicking due to the knowledge that she is being followed through the forest by the young girl who is trying to kill her. The audience will sympathise with the victim who is clearly and understandably very scared, and they will hope that she will find a place to hide or that someone will appear to help her, but given the location it will seem unlikely. The audience will also view the antagonist as someone to be feared due to the brutality and determination she had for killing the nun.

In conclusion, by researching the conventions that fall into the thriller genre we achieved a better understanding of ways to differentiate the genres from each other, especially the action and horror which the thriller genre is most closest to. For example, as well as the conventions that I identified within the clip from Orphan, thriller films will usually involve a chase scene, low key lighting and a male antagonist. The conventions that we are expected to use in our opening sequence are the ones that we have spent the past weeks researching, therefore through analysing these conventions we are given a better idea of what effects they can create. An example of this is the use of the camera technique handheld, which creates panic and urgency due to the shaky movements of the camera that implies that one of the characters is either running or moving around quickly. I think it was important to be able to identify the conventions within a sequence from other thriller films as it will make it easier to identify them in other sequences that our class members will create, but also easier to identify them within our own sequence to make sure that we have used as many as we could have and most effectively.

Opening sequence analysis - Miss Georgiou

How does the opening sequence of the film Halloween, inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film?



Opening sequences to thriller films are purposely made to give the audience an idea of what to expect throughout the rest of the film. Typically, opening sequences will show the audience a tragedy or death, which introduces them to the theme of the film.







Cinematography
It is only at the end of the opening sequence that the identity of the killer is finally revealed. After his parents remove the mask from his face, the camera zooms out on Michael to show the audience that the antagonist is only a young child. This use of cinematography emphasises the audiences shock due to them not expecting the killer to be so young. This is a typical convention of a thriller film as it is used to hook the audience into wanting to know more about why the child killed his sister. Following the zoom out, a high angle is used to give the audience a clear view of Michael standing in between his parents. This high angle emphasises the fact that Michael is only a young child, someone who is usually seen as inferior when compared to an adult. The audience will usually view a young child as innocent and vulnerable, but Michael defies this stereotypical image which will shock them. Throughout the majority of the clip the camera only shows the Point Of View (POV) of the killer. This cinematography technique is used to keep the audience in constant suspense due to them not knowing who the killer is. POV is the best technique to use when keeping the identity of the killer hidden, which is a typical convention used in thriller films as it builds up anticipation and suspense. It can also leave the audience feeling shocked, similar to the clip from Halloween, if they do not expect the killer to be who is revealed. An enigma is also created at the end of the clip due to the audience wondering why such a young child has committed such a violent act.


Soundtrack
Different types of sounds are used throughout the entire opening sequence from the film Halloween. At the beginning of the scene, the audience can hear a children's nursery rhyme being chanted. This off screen sound gives the audience an idea of how old the killer is which will shock them due to the fact that children are usually seen as innocent and vulnerable, and this contrasts with the murder. Also, chants are often associated with the devil, and the idea of possession. This will create suspense due to the audience not knowing whether the killer is possessed. Before the killer begins to climb the stairs towards the victim, the audience can hear the sound of a clock chiming. This off screen sound creates tension in the clip due to it telling the audience that the victim's time is running out. Thriller films want to make the audience feel tense as it is a good way to keep them hooked and wanting to know more. When the killer is stabbing the female victim, the on screen sound of the knife piercing her skin is emphasised. This causes the audience to feel sympathetic towards the girl due to the sound also emphasising how much pain she is in. This also helps to build enigma due to the audience wanting to know what the victim did to deserve to die. The fact that the victim is female is a typical convention used in thriller films and so the audience won't be shocked by this, some could possibly expect it. The use of silence at the beginning of the clip when the killer is standing outside of the house, watching the other characters through the window helps to create tension in the clip. This is due to the audience not knowing who the killer is or why they are watching the other characters. The fact that the killer is being secretive and acting like a stalker suggests that he doesn't want the characters inside the house to see him, this relates to the typical convention of a thriller film which is keeping the identity of the killer hidden from both the characters and the audience to build suspense and tension. Without sound it would be much harder for directors to make thriller films that keep the audience interested and in suspense.

Characters

Typical conventions of a thriller film are to portray a man as the antagonist and a young, attractive woman as the victim. The audience can see from the opening sequence of the film Halloween that those conventions are kept the same. Throughout the majority of the clip the camera only shows the antagonists Point Of View (POV). This camera technique is used to create suspense due to the audience not knowing who the character is, or what the character is going to do. The antagonists identity is hidden until the very end of the clip, which is another typical convention of a thriller film. The secrecy of his identity is used to create suspense and enigma and leave the audience wondering who he is. After the killer is revealed to be a young boy, presumably the brother of the victim, the audience begin to feel a sense of shock. They do not expect a child to be capable of killing someone, let alone their own sister. This clip creates enigma, due to the audience questioning why the child killed her.

Narrative

The opening sequence of the film is set on Halloween night, which everyone knows as the time for young children to dress up in evil costumes in hopes of frightening other people. Similar to Halloween, some thriller films hope to scare their audience. The main purpose of a thriller film is to shock and surprise the audience, and also to create suspense and enigma. The film Halloween achieves all four of these purposes in the opening sequence alone. For example, at the end of the clip when the killer is revealed, the audience are left in shock to find out that the killer is only a young boy. This moment also creates enigma due to the audience questioning Michaels motives for killing his own sister. This hooks the audience and forces them to watch the rest of the film in hopes of finding out the answers. Suspense is created in the clip when the audience are sat watching the events unravel in the POV of the antagonist, they are constantly wondering about what will happen next. The opening sequence of Halloween suggests the film to be suitable for viewers over the age of 18, this is due to the moment of violence, nudity, and blood towards the end of the clip when the antagonist is stabbing the girl victim to death. The emphasised sound of the knife stabbing the girl could be considered too inappropriate for the younger audience.

Editing
When the antagonist is finally inside of the house, slow editing is used to prolong the sequence that shows him walking up the stairs to where the victim is. Slow editing could have been used to emphasise the fact that he is about to kill someone, which will create suspense as the audience are kept waiting for the inevitable to happen. Slow editing is a typical convention of a thriller film as it is often used to help build up suspense and hook the audience into watching the film further. Following the murder, the tempo of the background sound speeds up, which tells the audience that the killer is keen to get away from the crime scene. The increase in tempo is used to excite the audience and engage them further into what they are watching, this is due to them wondering if the killer is going to get caught or not. This is a typical convention of a thriller film as the tempo can be used to tell the audience that something is about to happen which will help to build suspense.

 

Codes and Conventions
At the beginning of the clip from the opening sequence to the film Halloween, Low Key Lighting is used when the killer is walking towards the house. The set around the house is a black, shadowy colour that is used to show the audience the importance of the house. The darker colours and the light being emitted from the windows cause the house to stand out, resulting in the audiences focus being directed towards the house. This effect also allows the audience to get a better view of the setting. Overall, the use of Low Key Lighting helps to create an eerie atmosphere which builds suspense due to the audience not know who the killer is or why they have targeted this specific house. The Iconography used in the clip is a large knife that the audience see the killer take out from one of the kitchen draws. A knife is a typical convention used in thriller films that often foreshadows the death of the victim. In Halloween, the knife is used by the killer to stab the female victim to death. The victim being female is another example of a convention often used in thriller films. The audience will feel sympathetic towards the girl due to them knowing that she was likely to be the first victim, even before the killer struck. Another example of a code and convention used in the clip from Halloween is Point Of View (POV), which is a camera technique used to show the audience the same thing that the character can see. For the majority of the clip the antagonist is wearing a mask which he uses to keep his identity hidden from the other characters in the clip. The use of POV helps is what keeps his identity hidden from the audience as well. This makes the audience feel more involved in the sequence and creates an enigma, due to them not knowing who the killer is. The use of POV will also make the audience feel like they are the antagonist, due to them watching the victim die as if they are the ones killing her.

The audience

The audience play a vital role that determines whether or not a film will be successful. As previously mentioned, thriller films such as Halloween have a purpose that is to shock and surprise their audience, and also create tension, suspense and enigma. But depending on the scene, the audience will also build connections with the characters and will feel emotions that are not key to thriller films. For example, in the opening sequence of Halloween the audience will feel sympathetic towards the female victim due to the brutal and unforeseen way in which she is killed. They will also feel sympathetic towards the parents who were introduced at the very end of the sequence, due to the audience knowing that one of their children was just murdered by their other child who appears to be highly unstable. As for the young boy, the audience will be left feeling confused as to why he would kill his own sister. They may also fear him and the idea that even young children are capable of committing such brutal crimes.

Summary
Overall, the opening sequence from the film Halloween informs the audience about most of the obvious conventions of a thriller film including Low Key Lighting and a female victim. After watching the opening sequence I think that one of the most important elements in film is the use of Sound. Sound is used in thriller films to create an atmosphere, to help build up tension and to make the scene more shocking for the audience to watch. For example, had the emphasise sound of the knife stabbing the girl not been incorporated into the scene the audience would not have sympathised with her, or been as fearful of the killer. Cinematography can be used to show the audience all of the key aims of a thriller film. For example, the creation of enigma and shock at the end of the sequence when the identity of the killer is revealed. And especially the use of Point Of View to create suspense and engage the audience throughout the clip. Without the different types of cinematography, thriller films would not be able to impact the audience in such a big way, therefore when I am creating my own thriller sequence I will make sure to incorporate different types of cinematography. Also, Codes and Conventions are what the audience can see in a film that will help them to identify what genre the film they are watching falls into. I will need to incorporate similar Codes and Conventions to make sure that my sequence can be easily identified as a thriller. By analysing the opening sequence from the film Halloween I was able to see how a successful thriller film uses those previously listed elements in order to meet the main aims of the thriller genre. I want my own thriller sequence to be able to surprise and shock the audience, and after analysing the opening sequence from Halloween I have seen that the best way to do this is by not always using the typical conventions that the audience expect to see in a thriller film. For example, typical thriller film antagonists are older men, but in the opening sequence from Halloween the antagonist was only a young child. In my sequence, one way to surprise the audience will be by portraying a female as the antagonist instead of a male character.