Analysis Student Thriller Openings.

Here are the 3 student thrillers I chose to analyse, they are called; Inner Evil, Redemption and Insignia. 

 

Inner Evil-



Close-up

The student made opening was effective as it included the right camera angles, editing, sound and mise-en-scene, that builds tension. The scene is a girl, waking up and getting ready for the day, then she seems to be walking somewhere, but we are unaware where she is going. A few examples of a good use of camera work that I noticed was; right at the beginning there is a close-up of the girl lying on the ground with a gun shot in her head. This builds tension because we are unaware of what happened to the girl, and why she is lying on the floor. There is also a long shot of the girl walking down the street and someone is following her, we are unaware of who this person is, they are wearing all black, which we would associate with someone who is a criminal, suggesting that the girl is in danger of being hurt. Finally there is a shot that fades into focus of the face of the person who is following her, and it turns out that the 2 people are the same person, hence the title 'Inner Evil'. 
When looking at the editing there is a technique used to make the audience feel like their eyes are playing tricks on them, the shots overlay each other, this is a good technique that the students used because it made the audience wonder what was actually going on, and whether or not they could trust what they've been told. As well as this, there is a use of dream sequences that shows the girls 'inner evil' making us wonder which one of these characters is the real one. 
There is a piano playing fast tempo music that get louder, it adds tension to the scene and without it, I don't think the scene would have the same effect that it does. It was a good choice by the students. It was set in pretty normal places, her house, along the street and in park, these places aren't what we would consider you're average thriller film settings which is why I think that it is effective as it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. There are little props, which is good because if there was too much going on it would take away from the main story line, however the one that is used is a key. the key causes her to have a thought of how she could use the key as a weapon, showing her inner evil. 
The main character is wearing normal, every day clothes as it is set during the day with high key lighting, showing the normality of the world she lives in, contrasting her abnormal thoughts and feelings.Overall I think the scene is good as it involves a lot of the conventions that a thriller opening should, suspenseful moments, good use of camerawork ect... it also leaves you on the edge of your seat, as you wonder where the girl is going on her walk, or what has cause her 'inner evil'. However to improve, I would've given a little more away in the opening with the use of dialogue or storytelling. I would've done this to insure that the audience stay interested in the film.

Redemption-

This is the over the shoulder shot

This student made opening has a solid story line, with the motive that has caused the situation to occur unknown keeps the audience watching so they could find out more about it. It is set in London, with a lookout point and a car park as the main places where the action takes place. The story seems to be about the protagonist 'Jason' needing to buy a briefcase that could contain something important from the antagonist and his group. The camerawork helps to show this as it starts with an establishing shot of London, to show where it is set. This could've been used to go with the convention that thriller films are sometimes set in cities as the most damage can be done here, with the high population density. There was also the use of a close up of the antagonist- to give the audience a definite idea on who to trust and who not to trust. There is also an over the shoulder shot used to show us how the protagonist, Jason sees the situation. A final piece of camerawork used that I thought was effective was the pull focus from Jason's face, to the briefcase. This shows the motive of the whole situation clearly and makes you wonder what he is after/ trying to protect people from. It gives the whole situation perspective. 

This is the establishing shot.

The opening fades in at the beginning. This gives you a sense of equilibrium that is soon to be broken. The editing shows fast cuts as the fight scene breaks out, this was used so the audience wouldn't miss out on any of the action. A match on action was also used to show the same action seen from different points of view without breaking the continuity. It also fills the scene without jeopardizing the the reality time aspect of the action you see. 
In regards to the sound, the music is calming in the beginning, again giving you this idea of an equilibrium. However it gets louder and more prominent as the scene goes on, adding and building the tension as the fight scene breaks out. The protagonist  Jason, has little dialogue throughout the scene, maybe only one line. This adds suspense as we don't really know whats going on. 
The protagonist, Jason, is wearing all black, this could indicate he is trying to hide or not be seen. The antagonist is wearing a full suit, this could represent his high paid job, especially if it is set in a city. The only props that are used are, guns- a convention of thriller film and the briefcase, which is the object for the whole opening. The lighting was high ket as it is set mainly outside, which goes against the convention of a thriller film because usually it has darker lighting. 
Overall I think the scene was well produced and it looked very professional, to improve I think that their could've been more dialogue, maybe giving the audience a little information about what was going on, it could make them more interested. 

Insignia-

This is the extreme-long shot

This opening, is about a boy who wakes up in the middle of nowhere and he doesn't know how he got there. He goes home and finds his family gone and all his furniture, yet he doesn't understand what has happened. The camera shows an extreme close-up of the boy's eyes as he opens them, this could be used to establish where the character is and how he doesn't understand where he is. This is closely followed by an extreme long-shot of his location, to further in force his is unaware of where he is, and also that he is completely isolated from the rest of humanity. He rides his skateboard towards the camera in order to get home and the camera zooms out as if to explain how he has a long way to go. When he gets home, the camera pans the empty room, which is abnormal as he lives there. They used a high angle shot to show all the 'research' on the floor, this was done to show us that the character must be onto something if he lost his memory because of it. The final shot of the scene is a mid-shot of him as the doorbell goes off to again show his confusion with this situation.

This is the extreme close-up

The soundtrack used, is tension building, it gets more intense as the scene moves on before completely stopping when the doorbell goes up. This could show how the whole scene was building up to that moment. The dialogue is relative to the conventions of the scene, he calls his mum saying he's scared, and he's lost. This shows that he still has this child-like innocence within him, making the audience feel more sympathy for him. 

The editing shows fast cuts as he runs around the house looking for someone, and trying to remember what happened to him. This was used to show the audience the panic he feels as he wants to remember. There is a match on action, showing the normality of the setting hes in. Finally right at the end, it fades to black, this leaves you on the edge of your seat wanting more. 

The mise-en-scene shows that this is a thriller film as, he is wearing all black and it is set in a remote location at first, slowly followed by his house that is empty. This all doesn't make sense to the audience or the main character- bring the feeling of suspense to the scene. The lighting is high key as is set in the early morning and the only props he uses are his skateboard, that he promptly discards and the paper research, as he scrambles to get his memory back, but ultimately in the opening fails. 
Overall, I think that this opening was the best one that I looked at, showing all of the key ideas your meant to include clearly, it makes you wish there was more to it in order to find out what happens to him and what had already happened. 

Our Pitch Idea

This is our opening pitch.




This is the Prezi presentation we put together in order to give our presentation. It outlines our key ideas and plot, a few locations we have decided we may want to use, the props, costumes and make-up we have considered. As well as this there is a little information on our 3 main characters. Despite the presentation, we are free to change and alter our final idea as we please.

We received some feedback from the other people in our class. They said things like; they think the plot is nicely structured, and well thought-out. As well as this they liked our key moment of suspense, along with the choice of camera angles, the close- up of the hand in particular and they thought that our idea for music and sound effects was good. Finally they thought the idea of us going against the stereotype of women being the more dominant sex was good as it contradicts many of the current films that show them as being submissive in comparison to the males. 

However our constructive criticism brought up some ideas, that maybe we hadn't thought of- like how the main idea has a lot to fit in, within the 2 minute cap and it comes across as a little confusing. I understand this, but it was only some initial ideas we had, obviously we will not be able to fit everything in, we will condense it down so it isn't as confusing for the audience as well as that there will be a use of short takes and the dialogue will be minimal. Another point was that it seems to be cliche (man cheating on woman idea) and we thought we'd include some twists that make it less cliche, like the dominant women idea. Some people had some concerns about our locations. The office, we can make as you won't see much of it, only the computer- most of it is implied with the sounds. Another location was an old factory but this was only an example of where we could film, its more likely that we'll use an attic or cellar in one of our homes, or Brooke may have a stable that we can use. A final piece was the fact our woman was dominant and why we were doing that and I think we chose it to show woman in the 21st century and how they shouldn't still be seen as the submissive in a relationship, as they are more equal now than ever before.