BFI Thriller opening sequence researchBY FIN MOORES

Opening sequence focus on genre and characters being introduced

In the first part of the day at the BFI, we were in the mediatheque, inspecting opening sequences from movies and comment on the techniques they used in the clips. For example; conventions, how they grabbed the audiences attention, sound, image, character, how suggestive the film is, how teases people, what questions we are left asking and how the opening sequence leaves us thinking what happened during the rest of the film.

After watching the first movie which was ‘peeping tom’, the notes I made contained; Eerie music and characters eye is displayed for identity Conventions- low-key lighting, theme music (non-diegetic) Camera introduced makes it enigmatic, point of view shot Woman’s central composition Questions I was left after watching the clip was- Does she know she is being filmed by the anonymous man at

the start. Which left me thinking that a lot of filming will happen through out the film.

Opening sequence focus on titles

Our next opening sequence of a film had different questions consisting of; how does the title give you clues about the film, comment of fonts and colour and find out the film company.

The Arbour- Arts council England and more 4 (film production) After looking at the film title I thought the film would be about a garden wooden hut, which is what an arbor

is, however the title of the film as no link to this, which left me feeling confused. Towards the end of the opening sequence clip I witnessed fire in the background whilst one of the actresses

was talking and not caring about it. After viewing this I knew it wasn’t a comedy of some sort but was most likely to be a drama or thriller.

As well as throughout the whole film the characters are lip syncing and not actually talking, this could be because they are victims of something which the film is based on, and wouldn’t like to talk about it in a film, so they hire actors to do it for them.

Public reviews & Library research Later in the day, our group and I were set a task to go and tell people of the public our concept for our

opening sequence and full movie treatment. We managed to tell eight people in total and the overall feedback was very positive as everyone we told was really interested and liked our concept.

After getting the publics opinions on our movie treatment, we were sent to the library to research in books ideas for our thrillers. I was able to find a useful book that taught me to include types of suspense, for instance keep the audience waiting till you release what the thrilling object is.

Evaluation

After going on the trip and noting down lots of information and ideas, I will use my notes to help produce my opening sequence. I found that asking people of the public our concepts on the opening sequence was the most helpful as we were able to express our good ideas to the public, but we were also able to gain good techniques and advice from people.