Final AS Opening Sequence

Opening Sequence on Youtube.com
This is out final Opening Sequences Uploaded to YouTube

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The chosen audience for our media product would be an audience that fits in the age range of 15+, this is because it is a dark thriller that wouldn’t be suitable for a younger audience, and if we were to carry on from the first two minutes of the film it would have been pretty complex which young minds wouldn’t understand. Most 15+ girls would be interested in our media product because it includes two female best friends and not only is it terrifying it is also sad and most girls love a sad story (tear jerker). In the first two minutes of our film we tried to show many flashbacks so that the audience would be intrigued so find out more, and to find out why there was two girls swinging happily on a swing and now there’s one all alone. If our media product was continued it would also have shown lots more of flashbacks of the girl’s memories and happy times, then it would fade back into the sad reality of how life is like now.

We are aiming for a mass audience as the thriller genre is very popular and has a huge audience of boys and girls. People who are excited by physiological thrillers and films that build up fear would be most suitable for our media product.

Our media product is especially aimed at an audience who likes thrillers and likes films that keep them guessing and wondering. A thriller which almost relates to our theme and age range is “when a stranger calls”. This thriller is about a stalker and a victim almost like ours; the tension increasingly builds up, and leaves the audience wanting more because of its intense terror.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

After choosing the genre, physiological thriller, due to the fact that it incorporates all the traditional traits of a thriller and additionally incorporates the mystery and drama that we wanted to portray. Due to this we stuck to traditional stereotypes as this then helped the audience to understand the dangers of the man and the vulnerability of the girls.

When you ask a group of people about vulnerability issues generally they will first think about white, young females. We decided that we would uphold this traditional stereotype and portray the young girls are weak and vulnerable. This enabled the audience to feel the fear, and unhappiness that the girls experience, by understanding the fact that they are innocent and therefore defenseless.

The stalker was a white male, again upholding the stereotype that men are stronger and have more control, especially over woman. However we chose a white male rather than a black male to contrast to the negative stereotype about them, as this then shows that both have the same controlling powers over woman. This is also an everyday stereotype shown in many different aspects of history we decided to include this as it helps the piece to immediately connect with the audience and for them to understand the dangers and the main narrative of the piece.

Both these stereotypes showed in our piece show the negative representations of people, due to his they help our genre as in a thriller you need to show fear, we did this by including images of the man, in dark clothes as this effect with the hoodie (a item of clothing that has seen many bans due to the fact that the identity is concealed within the hood, as this picture shows.)

This clothing choice helps to cast a shadow onto the man’s face and thus hides the man’s features creating a mysterious effect to the audience, and enables them to wonder who he is and what is going to happen, this again relates back to our genre it also helps to identify with everyday stereotypes that our targeted audience would be aware about and see in their daily lives. The use of all his dark clothing again emphasises the danger he is to the two girls.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

After watching a few different films of different genres, romantic comedy, horror and thriller, we decided that the physiological thriller would be one of the best genres for us, as we had ideas of what shots to include and the locations that would match. These locations include abandoned houses, hotels and parks. Similarly we chose to use the location to be a park as it helps to enhance the vulnerability of the girls. By doing this we foreshadow the events that will follow. While filming at the park we made sure that the scenery behind gave the idea of death and mistreatment, the trees that seem barren and bare helps to add to this concept. Along with other films of the thriller genre we have used dark and gloomy shots as this adds to the atmosphere a thriller needs for example in “The Shining” dark gloomy shots are used to emphasise the danger and fear of the woman and boy. Also within “The Shining” there are close ups similar to the one shown above that helps to create fear in the audience as the fact that the character is wearing black suggests gloom and the idea of a killer/criminal. We also have a close up similar to this that helps to show the danger of the ‘stalker’ character within our piece.


After looking at different films we liked the idea of pictures and memories in a box to create the idea of danger and different hints at what has happened to the girls friend. We got this idea from the poster from the film “Memento.” The pictures on the front caught our eye and helped us with the idea of creating the box to show old photos and meaningful objects that show the connection between the two main characters. This is unusual and therefore creates an original aspect in our pieces rather than in any other film.

The idea for our piece was created after we mind mapped what the typical thriller has in it. The main idea we came up with was the idea of a venerable person being stalked, again emphasised by the park location.

While editing we decided that we wanted a quick cut rate that leaded to people wanting more information about the situation that was happening within the film. They also help to draw in the audience, as they don’t know what shot will come next, this adds to the audience wanting to keep watching the film to find out what happens. This is similar to most thriller films openings as they draw the audience in quickly and effectively.

Locations

Park- We chose this location, as when the two are together it gives an idea of an everyday event, the idea that they regularly go here. The swings enabled us to show the before and after effects of the separation of the two girls, helping the audience to understand the effect that no longer being with her friend has given to the other girl. We hoped that this creates sympathy and helps to engage the audience.

For when the ‘stalker’ appears we chose to still be in the park as it was a unusual place and it highlighted the fact that he was following the two girls. The park proved a isolated place which helped add an extra emphasis of danger.

Box- this emphasized the idea that her friend is no longer with her. It gives the idea that she is taking all the things that mean something to the two of them and putting them away. We filmed this in a house as in reality this would be where she would be if making a memory box.

Shot List

-Close up memory box

-Close up of items in memory box

-Extreme close up of photo frame with photo in

-Close up of best friends necklace

-Shot of sky to show gloomy atmosphere

-Close up of faces to show emotions

-Medium long shot, sad on swings

-Medium long shot of happy on swing

-Close up of Joe’s feet

-Medium shot of the two girls talking

-Close up side of Joe’s face

-Long shot of the girls walking on bridge together

-Medium shot of back of the girls on swings

-Medium shot of girls talking on bench

-Extreme close up of Joe’s face

Our opening of a film is based on two best friends, who live a carefree and joyful life. Throughout the piece the audience see the girls no longer together, yet do not find out why. It shows how upset the girl is without her best friend. There are flash backs to when they were together and a memory box that helps to tie the flashbacks and the present together. There are hints that a third party may be involved in the separation of two friends yet the audience is not sure.

The opening sequence we drew influence from was the one from Scream and aspects of seven. We felt it was similar to the ideas for our main task, and in Scream the opening 2 minutes were packed with suspense and frightening scenes, but didn't reveal too much of the plot and none of it was rushed, seven includes lots of pictures which we thought was a good idea to include in our piece.