Screen shots

Feedback

Positive:

• Voice over is engaging
• Props make clip interesting
• Sound track was good

To Improve:

• Camera shots could have had more variety
• Credits could be more visually attractive
• Logo/titles could be more animated

Art of the Title Task

Panel 1) - Shows the title of the sequence This shows use of a conventional thriller, as it uses a dark background to convey the idea of a conventional thriller.  

Panel 2)-shows a type of camera shot, being a close up, this helps the audience feel unaware of what is about to happen to the chicken. The use of saturated lighting also helps it to give a dark feel to the film.  

Panel 3)-shows the antagonist in the sequence, showing the costume which makes them look dark and intense as she is dressed in all black. It also helps introduce the character 

Panel 4)-a chicken being mysterious and creating a sense of unease (thriller convention), however it could be seen as an unconventional symbolic metaphor. 

Panel 5)-shows the prop of the antagonist (pendulum), this is a conventional thriller prop as it is used to hypnotise the protagonist's, and make them unaware of what is about to take place, the chicken is also symbolic to the protagonist. 

Panel 6)-shows the location of the antagonist, scary looking location, isolated area. 

Panel 7)-shows the high angle showing the chicken as weak, symbolic to how the protagonist will be  

Panel 8)-shows a bright background contrasting to the antagonist black clothes dark, which represents the characters personality 

panel 9)-the protagonist looking weak (thriller convention), as it is sown in a high angle also repeated, camera angle used to show the weak chicken. 

Age restrictions

What certification we thought would suit our opening sequence best 

After looking at the BBfC's enquiries and after looking at our film i think the best certification for our film is a 15. This is because our film if it were to be a real one would obtain all of the things below for a 15 film. Meaning no-on under the age of 15 would be able to see the film.   

’15′

Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

Final Cut

We found that our final cut was a success as we had enough time to correct it and when we had uploaded it, we liked the thriller conventions. One of the conventions was the sound track as it was a slow piano meaning it created a sense of mystery. The titles flickered like a candle adding to the suspense and moving the narrative along. The editing was smooth, including fades which made the storyline worryingly structured.  

Editing blog post

On the first day of editing, the group put the film sequence into final cut and took time in placing the shots in the correct place and made sure the cuts were concise. Once this was accomplished the sound track was placed into final cut and put in the right place on the film sequence. Feedback from the teacher meant that the soundtrack was changed to fit with the sequence and the improved sound track was widely acknowledged in the class feedback. We changed the saturation in the sequence as some of the clips were too dark and we tinted them grey to create an eery affect. 


On the second day of editing, we then added titles to the opening and started to add motion to them to make them more advanced. Fades in and out as well as a flicker affect were some of the editing transitions which we used in our sequence, on the titles to create a mysterious affect. Once the titles had motion, we then went through the sequence and tweaked the sequence, using the feedback, to make sure the film was as precise as possible. We experimented with the motion and instead of having conventional titles in the middle of the footage, we placed them in the corners so that the titles did not divert the viewers attention but still showing the titles and credits. We made the sound quieter after more feedback from the teacher so that the voice over dominated the narrative. 

Feedback from Roughcut

Editing:

Really nice cuts but maybe use more varied transitions like fades. The pace of the cuts is very nice and the best transition is at 1:56 as it is really smooth. 

Sound/music: 

Good use of background music, it was constant and reflected the theme of hypnosis and it was kept constant. The heart beat like sounds almost increase or create a sense of tension or unease and their was an effective voice over. The diegetic shuffling sounds of leaves and people talking were ambient. 

Camera work: 

There was an un-rendered transition but there were different zooms and distances. The camera was a little shaky at times and there was no variety between shot types. It was too close up so vary it and add some with more distance. There were no establishing shots and when being shown the clock it could be zoomed in better and more central.

Mise en scene: 

Use of props were good, the chicken and the clock helped the audience relate to the thriller. After chicken is supposedly shot, feathers scattered create a good effect, though it seems obvious that someone is throwing feathers into the shots.  

Titles:

Use of a background on title could be used, add in credits and make titles more interesting, for example add in movement. 

Thriller conventions: 

Eery music adds to the feel of the opening sequence. Dark location and the voice over adds tension. A lot of close ups but could be more fast paced, we lost the will to watch. 

Rough Cut

Sound track

Sound track first attempt evaluation

Our creation revolved around a piano which we thought was mysterious and could carry the narrative on as it changes in style throughout the piece. This was accompanied by a deep bass and fast beat to create suspense and add a sense of fear and pace to the track as it rushes the mysterious piano part. This is a hybrid as an orchestral emotional post 1700's style of piano mixes with a 20th century bass and beat system. 

We got our inspiration for the drum beat and bass from the band disturbed as they have many songs with this style of music. It contrasts with the soft emotional piano we chose which created the effect needed for the psychological thriller genre. 

Credit Testing

We decided that because we haven't filmed anything for our project yet, that we were going to do credit tests, too see which type of movement and fonts might suit our piece of filming best. For this we decided that we would use photoshop to see which font type might suit the genre best. We then decided, after looking at several different fonts that the best suited was 'chalk duster' as it created a mysterious look for our chosen idea, this then linked best.   The image on the right shows this example. 


when we chose this final font, and added it onto photoshop we then decided that adding in a type of motion to the image would make it look more attractive, and involve the audience more. In order to do this we had to add the motion key to the text and move as well as render the image into different areas on the page, this created a mysterious look to the page, and we thought it was an original idea. 


However, although there was movement within the text on the page, we thought that it still needed another effect, so we decided that by adding another effect to the font it will make it look original. So we then decided to add an effect called blink to the text, so it flickered while moving across the page, this made the font look more effective and attractive to the audience, in comparison to the first idea. 

Music Ideas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg57C0DzDk0

We liked this piece of music because it created a sense of mystery which is what we are looking for. It also confuses the viewer of what their emotions are, a mix between sadness and vulnerable. We want empathetic sounds with a strong beat and mysterious undertone. We would like the sound effects of clocks and a gun shot.

Antagonists and Protagonists

Protagonist


Dr Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is portrayed as the protagonist in the film 'The Sixth Sense'. He is a child psychologist living in Philadelphia and is an unlikely protagonist in this psychological thriller. His weakness is shown at the very start yet the audience are unaware of this at first. He is shot by a crazy man yet we see him in the next clip perfectly fine. It is later revealed that Malcolm is in fact dead and the nine year old boy he's been talking to and working with, Cole Sear ( Haley Joel Osment) able to communicate with the dead. 



Crowe is a confident man who isn't afraid of what others may seem to be obscure, frightening or delusional. For example upon being confronted with the mad man in his room he acts calm towards the man in order to maintain himself. This backfires on Crowe and he his shot. Soon after the mad man kills himself. This is where we see his first weakness. Before this scene we have seen him looking at an award for outstanding work with children and to suddenly see our hero fall is a shock to the audience. We intend to do this in our own piece but slightly more subtle by using the chicken as our fallen hero in a metaphorical way. 


Antagonist


Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) is a thief who specializes in conning secret out of people's dreams. Cobb is the protagonist in this film, but however his subconscious wife is the antagonist. When in a dream the dreamers subconscious is shown by normal people walking around doing normal things, but when something is changed in the dream by someone else intruding, the subconscious realise this and try to remove the person infiltrating the dream. His wife, in this case, ruins plots which they set out to do by knowing what he is going to do and runining plans. 





At the start we shown Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe) hiding a secret while Dom Cobb infiltrate his dream. They nearly discover this secret although Cobbs wife, Mallorie "Mal" Cobb (Marion Cotillard) understands what he is thinking and wants to ruin their plan so they wake up. At the end she kills Robert Michael Fischer (Cillian Murphy) the heir to the business and almost ruining the mission which Cobb and his team are trying to plant a thought in his mind. 

Salt Poster

The image is a picture of Angelina Jolie, who is center of he poster taken at a close up,this makes that  audience aware she is one of the main character in the film. The dark background also gives the audience the impression that the film is going to be a dark film.  Her eyes are set to the audience, this gets them involved with tension.

Top 10 Filming Tips

1. Keep camera steady because it will look unprofessional and the shots will appear unclear. This will mean the narrative does not come across clearly.   
2. Keep the camera in focus because if it is out of focus it will look blurred and cannot be seen properly by the audience. 
3. Have a variety of shots because it makes the footage more exciting and fits in with the thriller conventions. 
4. Good timekeeping because there is not much time to fit everything in so it must be managed well or else certain criteria will not be covered. 
5. Don't cut too late or early because it will cut out part of the narrative and mean that valuable footage will be wasted. 
6. Keep shots appropriate to theme because if the shots are not mysterious and bright and colorful,  matching a children's film criteria then the task is a fail. 
7. Work as a team because this results in less work for everyone and so it means the individual tasks can be done to the best of the teams ability. 
8. Don't make sequences too long because if they are too long then they do not carry the narrative smoothly and would ruin the suspense. 
9. Keep equipment safe because if equipment breaks then certain tasks cannot be carried out and part of the thriller criteria would be missing. 
10. Be safe in general because if the filming endangers other people then it may mean that the marking criteria is not matched. 

This image contains a dull blue background which creates a sense of mystery and it relates to the film, being dull and mysterious. The rain relates to a sense of misery within the thriller. It also shows a sense of helpfulness and rush because the rain represents urgency by being fast paced and loud. The woman's eyes on the poster shows that she is helpless and scared, they are wide open and the pupils are big showing that she is worried about something and/or scared.
The title of the film, "Gothika" is in an eerie text which attracts the audience. The woman has scars on her arms which say "Not alone", which could give the audience the impression that there might be something after her. The woman's face is presented in a horrific manner.  She is also pressed up against a glass window which form the audiences perspective appears to be the camera. 

Target Audience

Our target audience is 15+ as this audience is large but appropriate for a thriller viewing. Men may like it more than women as it includes weapons, however our opening is much more intellectual than conventional thriller openings. Due to our intellectual opening and the voice over to accompany it we find that the film may possibly attract an elderly audience as well, as they might be more interested in the more formal thriller than an action thriller. Having said this the plot may be slightly complicated for people to follow, as the themes expressed create a vast aery of emotions.

Test Footage

Pre-Meditated Film Opening Sequences

Strengths and improvements

My strengths: 

• Sound is a strength of mine as I know which type of sound to fit with which image, ie: sometimes silence is the most effective way to get across a message. 
• Time management is another strength as for the children's film, the group managed to keep everything going at once and not slipping behind because we planned our time well. 
• Blogging is a strength as I managed to blog in detail and I feature in most of the blog tags. 

To improve: 

• My editing knowledge is weaker than some other members in the group so for the next project I need to concentrate more on editing so my knowledge will improve. 
• My cinematography needs improving as for the last project we used animation so there were not many opportunities to shift the camera. 
• My communication needs improving as sometimes because of a lack of communication, some things in the group were done twice or not at all. 

Skills and Improvment

Skills I'm good at...

• Cinematography - I feel I'm good at finding the best shots within a location to portray the micro and macro elements of our product.
• Time Management - In our children's film opening, I was able to organise our time efficiently in order to get the time consuming animation done to a good standard and in good time.
• Creating the story - I find that I can be good at coming up with ideas to inspire the group as to what our product should be about.

Skills I could improve on...

• Editing - Using Final Cut has always been a weak point. I find handling the basics an easy task, however using effects and using various other aspects of the program can prove difficult for me.
• Detail - I feel I don't think in much detail towards the background to our ideas. Mostly concerning the target audience.
• Clear thinking - I think I could find better ways of expressing my views and ideas to the group whilst making myself clear.

Overall all what we could have improved on our children's film

Top two things we liked 

• Use of animation  
• Use of music  

Two things we will improve on next time round 

• Clearer storyline 
• Make it appropriate to the target audience  

Positives and things to improve

Positives:
1. Great use of animation.
2. Sound track was relevant to what was happening in the film.
3. Good use of titles.


Things to improve:
1. Could have made the story clearer.
2. Could have experimented more with the use of shot transitions.
3. Some of the elements used may have been scary for the target audience. 

Dates Of Filming

• We are filming in town (Cambridge), and in a small village on A saturday and Sunday. The dates will be on the, 12th and 13 of February.
• We think that we will be using a tripod and a HD camera.   

Location

In our group with location we have come across many issues, one of the main issues being that we all live too far away from eachother, so we came up with the idea of all of us meeting in town to do most of the filming in about two weeks, and too find counrty side space there, and then for the other two group members, (Connor and Adam) to do the last section at Connors house the following day because they live nearest to eachother.
As well as this we chose to locate our film in the country side becuase although it doesn't meet a Thriller convention, it would work rather well in our opinion because it plays on peoples fears of isolation.

Feedback after pitch

How do you show the killing of a chicken?


Answer: We would buy some raw meat /a frozen chicken and using close ups and high angles, to make it look like the real chicken but dead. To kill it we would have the camera on the chicken, then drifting upwards towards the sky, then the camera would shudder and go back to dead chicken lying on the floor.


The storyline is confusing?


Answer: The narrative would explain the story mysteriously, maybe misleading the audience into a false sense of hope.

Mood board for thriller opening

Pitch blog

The inspiration for our idea comes from the  psychological thriller, the Prestige. In the opening to this film,  a pile of top hats is occupied by a black cat. A symbolic reference to magic and magicians. Our piece is slightly different, in the sense that its revolves around hypnosis. We figured we should create something similar, yet replace the cat with a chicken and the top hats with ticking clocks. These are symbolic references to the underlying theme of the opening.

The opening to 'The Prestige' 

The sub genre for our opening would be psychological thriller, because it revolves around the theme of hypnosis which is related to psychology. The font we would use would be block typed writing because it symbolizes the neutral element of the film. When hypnotized, your thoughts are dismantled and we feel the font expresses this neutral feeling. The title of the film is 'Premeditated' as it is all happening in the mind and joins well with the theme of hypnotism. 

There will not be an exact antagonist or protagonist as our opening will be more symbolic than conventional thriller openings. We figure that this will highlight the element and mood of mystery we plan to incorporate into the film. We plan to also have a voice over with the opening, so that the narrative isn't always unclear. 

We plan to film in a country location, where one of our group members keeps chickens we can use in our film. The countryside location also highlights the isolation theme of the psychological thriller. We want the sound to be eerie, so it un-nerves the audience and influences them to ask questions towards the film. We also think the digetic sound of ticking clocks fills the viewer with anticipation.

Ideas for thriller opening

Idea 1
The theme of the thriller would revolve around hypnosis
Chicken in a forest
floor covered in clocks
chicken pecks at the clocks
camera moves up towards the sky
dying chicken noise
look back down to see dead chicken
in between this, there would be a pendulum
slowly zoom out on the pendulum


Idea 2
Circling peoples faces to show kill off
The protagonist walking, close up on feet
People talking, camera taking pictures of them
transition into grave yard
explosion
sounds of people crying


Idea 3
Montage of pictures
Flashy editing
nothing clear
smoke effects
lit fire, slowly dying out

Panic room opening credits font

The font in the opening credits is typography which is used as a silver bold writing, embedded in the scene and buildings of the city being shown through establishing shots. 

Thriller Logo - Lionsgate

We looked at two versions of the Lionsgate logo and compared each.

This logo represents children's films or family firms such as Alpha and Omega.

This version of the logo on the other hand, represents more graphic thrillers and films such as the Saw franchise. The logo is dark and uses complimentary colours to represent the dark themes portrayed in the majority of their films. In the Saw films, there is a lot of darkness and blood which shows the obscenitys of the production corporation which can be seen in the logo of Lionsgate with the bold writing and dark colours. 


Making our own logo 

 

We chose to do our logo this way because it was original, We also liked the idea of have a tornado at the  back round as it suits the genre of our film; thriller. The use of the tornado image also symbolizes the thriller having a non-linear narrative, in addition to this, we liked the contrast of the destructive tornado and the image that it has created, the love heart, this mean this image if edited can be made into different specific genre's. 

If we were to animate this image, we would have the sound of a tornado, and the two tornadoes coming together to form the heart image, and then have M.A.C productions and have it twist into the image, in opposite directions until it got to the center of the image, and then have it slowly fade out into the opening sequence. 

Sound Research - The Descent

Watching the film trailer without sound firstly, created a sense of disturbance through the images shown. At the start of the trailer we are shown a group photo of young girls. The photo is shown to us in black and white emulating a typical psychological thriller convention, memory. The use of the black and white effect on the photo imply the torture of the group of girls by a traumatic memory. We are shown various shots of the girls lowering themselves into a cave and climbing through holes and crevasses in rock climbing gear. While these play we are shown certain phobia's and dark elements of pot-holing and abseiling. These include claustrophobia, disorientation and hallucination. A final word is highlighted with a shuddering motion, 'Fear'. The 'shudder' motion on the title mimics the viewers reaction to it. All the words are written in scrawny and scratchy writing creating a sense of unease in the viewer. Part of the film is then filmed in a handheld/night vision style questioning the audience's perception on reality. A view from the handheld camera makes the events in the film seem more realistic, particularly when a disturbing figure is highlighted behind one girl. These images make us feel fear for the protagonist and creates mystery as to what the antagonist could be.

After watching the trailer again with sound, I find that the trailer doesn't contain any form of a soundtrack. This brings the viewer out of their comfort zone as all they have for sound are strange, reversed noises. These sounds link in with the black and white photo and the concept of memory. The rest of the trailer is filled with echo-like noises to reflect the atmosphere of the cave in which they are trapped. This creates an element of isolation not just for our protagonists but also for the viewer. Towards the end of the trailer the pace of editing speeds up, thus the tension in the sound rises. The use of volume within the sound effects the viewer's anticipation as the rising sound makes the viewer feel almost threatened by the amount of information being thrown at them. Thus making us feel the character's fear within the scene.

After watching this I feel the main aim of sound within a thriller opening is suspense and surprise. It needs to reflect the pace of the editing and make the viewer feel what the protagonist feels to signify their weakness in the film. This creates a sense of fear within the audience as it means the characters and events in the film are real and believable. This forces a viewer to be involved and play a part in the story.

Sound research

We watched the clip 'The descent - theatrical trailer' without any sound, to see how the images in the clip made us feel. The images made us feel distressed as they are sudden and the pace of editing is slow which makes the images discouragingly long. The brightness messes with the audience as one minute it is dark, the next minute it is bright. The effect it had on us was, that we fear for the protagonist and want to know what/who the antagonist is as it is unclear because of the confined location of the caves. It also made me ask a lot of questions of the thriller as the story-line was shown but the antagonist was not and the escape from the cave appears impossible.
One can relate to the characters as they go through a lot of stages of fear, like claustrophobia and hallucination which the audience know of but it is put into an extreme concept where most people would not be able to cope, but the protagonists, in this case a bunch of girls try to cope. 

Then we watched the clip again, but this time it was with sound. The sound had a much bigger impact on the trailer, and is uses empathetic sound.
The trailer has a combination of both diagetic and non-diagetic sound, at the beginning of the clip there is the diagetic sound of one of the girls talking and taking the pictures, then soon after there is a sharp sound that appears when cutting to the next scene to build up the suspence of the film. This has an effect on us becuase, it makes us feel trapped almost and contorolled.  The sinister music in the back round ties in with the thriller convention, which makes it a thriller/ horror, the dark none diagetic scream  every now and then in the trailer also helps to portray the genre, of the trailer.
There is also the diagetic sound of the crawlers in the backround also makes the spectators unsure of what is around the characters in the film, even if there are glimpses of the creatures.
In addition to this, there is a scene where Sarah is trapped in the cave, the use of sound in this part of the trailer helps to portray the characters feelings, and also plays on the audiences fears of clostrophobia. The use of Sarahs voice, and her not being able to breath, and the none diagetic slow music in the backround helps to portray how she is feeling during that time. Then there is soon the diagetic sound on the rocks falling infront of her, and sharp music after that helps to portray panic within the character, and worry for the audeince.   

In conclusion, we have drawn that the sound is very important to create suspense before a new clip is shown in order to make the audience feel uneasy about watching the film. This makes the audience want to watch more as they fear for the characters, especially Sarah, as the diegetic sound shows her struggle. Another way in which sound is important is that the sound effects, ie breathing carry the pace of editing and accompany the clip to show that the characters are in trouble. We discovered therefore, that in our project, diegetic sound could be more important than non-diegetic as for the thriller conventions, the lack of music creates suspense which is what is needed. 

Analysis of past students work 2

The opening we watched was from group S1-21. The material used in the shots of the opening were highlighted clearly to symbolise power between the protagonist and antagonist. For example the girl trips and falls in the woods whilst the antagonist is in pursuit of her. A high angle is used to demonstrate that the protagonist has a weakness that is being exploited for the viewer. The theme of isolation was also highlighted in the opening. A shot of the girl sitting in the corridor alone showed her state at the moment. We are thus able to sympathise with her. 

Powerful editing is used in the form of changing the colours of the scene to create a sense of suspense and anxiety to the viewer as the audience does not know what is happening. It also shows the weak personality of the protagonist as she is falling apart. The shot transactions were short and abrupt and created a flash and showed mystery and a sense of urgency and emphasised that she was falling apart again. However, to improve the sound did not match the genre as it did not match the pace in which the narrative was moving. 

Analysis of past students work

We looked at group Q1-10's thriller project in which we analysed the use of thriller conventions. One of which we thought was successful was the use of an array of cinematography such as high angles and close ups as these showed the protagonist and antagonist differences instantly. The close up was used at the end to show the fear in the eyes of the protagonist as a gun was pointing in her face, while a high angle was used when the protagonist picked the gun out of her bag to show her weakness and having to resort to using the prop. The group shot material appropriate to the thriller genre as the audience could differentiate between the protagonist and the antagonist. This could also be seen in the use of filming the tap running as this created a sense of suspense. 


The mise-en-scene was used well as the lighting was dark throughout which made the audience wonder what the protagonist was doing. The use of the gun props reinforced the genre as guns are more associated with thrillers while other weapons such as an axe are associated with horrors. The use of the lipstick introduced the audience to the protagonists personality as she needs to look good and so this could be seen as a weakness/Achilles heel.  The sound used was incorporated by being a background sound and moved the narrative along. 


However to improve, the titles could have been more mysterious as they were at a basic level and did not fit with the atmosphere. 

Marking Criteria

Marking Criteria - Video is marked out of 60.


Level 1 - up to 23 marks


Level 2 - 24 to 35 marks - Basic


Level 3 - 36 to 47 marks - Proficient 


Level 4 - 48 to 60 marks - Excellence 

• Holding a shot steady when appropriate.
• Framing a shot including and excluding elements. 
• Using a variety of shot distances.
• Shooting material appropriate to the topic.
• Selecting Mise-en-scene
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using shot transactions and effect
• Using sound with images
• Using titles appropriately  

Crime thriller conventions

In a crime thriller, there is an immediate introduction to the crime so that the audience is interested in what is about to occur in the film. The crime then becomes more disturbing through out the film and there may even be more than one crime committed. Silence is used to keep the narrative moving by creating suspense and mystery. The setting is realistic and relatable so that the audience can feel for characters if they are in danger or envy characters if they are free riding. The setting also reflects the lifestyle of the protagonist as in a city there is a fast pace to coincide with the occurrences, while in a quiet village the pace may be slower. 


The protagonist is seeking answers as the crime committed may connect with the past of the protagonist. Also the protagonist appears normal but may have a dark secret or may appear intelligent. The stereotypes are very potent in the opening, especially women as they are seen cooking and cleaning and being eye candy for the males of the film. The settings are typical for a crime thriller as they are not typical places for thrillers to happen. The dark lighting is used in these places to create atmosphere. 

Taken - Action Thriller Opening Analysis

In the action thriller 'Taken' starring Liam Neeson, we follow the story of an over protective father allowing his daughter to travel Europe in pursuit of a rock band. One convention we found in the opening of the film that falls under the category of the sub-genre is that the linear sequence moves at a subconscious fast pace that most viewers fail to notice. The effect being that the audience gains a larger perspective on the protagonists life. 

Through this we see another convention known as the Achilles heel. We see the father figure being over protective of his daughter, whilst not realizing the significance of his mistakes he made in the past, thus having a lasting impact on his ex-wife and daughter. The protagonist is also portrayed as isolated and cut off from society. This can be seen through the limited knowledge he has on modern singers, trends and even his daughters own interests. All these factors contribute to make an effective protagonist we can all believe in. Summarising another convention that the characters have to be believable and imperfect. 

The opening also introduces us to conflicting stereotypes. We are firstly shown the protagonist with other men having a 'lads night out'. They all speak co-existtant with their stereotype, whilst the mise-en-scene influences their simple characters. The props in the scene show this with the use of beer bottles, a BBQ and cigarettes. The body language also contributes with the characters lounging around on chairs. Further into the opening we are introduced to a new stereotype, the pop star Shareeh. The glamourous life of the celebrity conflicts with the practicality of the bodyguard lifestyle. The scene where both stereotypes begin to contrast is when the pop star is greeting her manic fans, however the bodyguard protagonist insists she keep moving and get inside. Shareeh resists this and the bodyguards become more frustrated with her.