My group consists of me, Meghan Stone and Kerry Boyne.
Meghan's idea- " The idea I have for our narrative is to base the sequence on a chase scene in the forest. The start of the opening scene will be a zooming shot of the abandoned house in Buckhurst Hill. This will introduce the setting and highlight the fact that the house is abandoned and isolated, creating a feeling of vulnerability.
The inside of the house will then be introduced to the audience, panning around the interior and showing pictures on the wall that are marked as the psychopaths previous victims. The antagonists presence will be shown but his identity will be hidden to create a theme of enigma around the character. Instead of a clear view of the killers face, the camera will show shadows and silhouettes of him, shots that are too close up to see the man at detail and shots from the killers point of view. The audience will not know who the killer is, what they look like and therefore will question their reasons and purpose for carrying out the murderous acts.The antagonist may even be wearing a mask to hide his identity completely.
The protagonist will be locked in a room or tied up in the house. She will escape and begin to run away. The antagonist would be chasing the girl through the forest. He would be walking fairly steadily while the protagonist would be running quickly. Eerie music and various sound effects will be used to increase suspense."
The inside of the house will then be introduced to the audience, panning around the interior and showing pictures on the wall that are marked as the psychopaths previous victims. The antagonists presence will be shown but his identity will be hidden to create a theme of enigma around the character. Instead of a clear view of the killers face, the camera will show shadows and silhouettes of him, shots that are too close up to see the man at detail and shots from the killers point of view. The audience will not know who the killer is, what they look like and therefore will question their reasons and purpose for carrying out the murderous acts.The antagonist may even be wearing a mask to hide his identity completely.
The protagonist will be locked in a room or tied up in the house. She will escape and begin to run away. The antagonist would be chasing the girl through the forest. He would be walking fairly steadily while the protagonist would be running quickly. Eerie music and various sound effects will be used to increase suspense."
Kerry's idea- "A narrative i am interested in for my own opening sequence is to have an abandoned house or building that a psychopath lives in in the middle of a forest. An a girl gets split up from her group and ends up being his next victim that he has been spying on for a while. In the house there will be pictures pinned to the walls and blood splattered up the wall. The antagonist could be masked as its actually somebody she knows and the protagonist gets chased through the forest. I would like part of it to be filmed in the rain so that it gives it an eerie feel and filmed at dusk.
The details of my opening sequence are:
The representation of characters- having the protagonist as a young pretty female who will wear a white dress to show her innocence. The antagonist will be represented as a crepy character thats had a bad childhood and is psychologically messed up which causes him to take it out on other people. To help represent the characters i will use low angle shots to show the antagonist as a dominant character and high angle shots to show the protagonist."
The details of my opening sequence are:
The representation of characters- having the protagonist as a young pretty female who will wear a white dress to show her innocence. The antagonist will be represented as a crepy character thats had a bad childhood and is psychologically messed up which causes him to take it out on other people. To help represent the characters i will use low angle shots to show the antagonist as a dominant character and high angle shots to show the protagonist."
My idea- "My idea for a thriller narrative is a couple who go camping in a deserted camp-site for Halloween, get a bigger thrill then they bargained for when they spend the night running away from a masked killer.
The characters I am going to include in my opening sequence are the victims. These are the young couple, they are both going to be 18 and will have small frames so that don't look very intimidating. I have chosen these characters as my victims because they will appear very innocent and unaware of what's happening around them. Therefore it will help to add to the surprise factor of when the killers introduced to them. This leads on to my next character which is the killer. My killer is going to be masked so they have a hidden identity, this is a common feature in a thriller as it adds to the shock and surprise, which overall adds to the tension created. It has been used in very successful thrillers such as scream.
The sequence is going to be based on Halloween night in a deserted camp-site. I have chosen this as my setting as there will be no one around to help the couple when the killer is introduced into the film, therefore it will maximise the tension within the audience as they will feel hopeless for the safety of the characters.
The weapon that I have chosen for my killer to have is a knife. I have chosen this because it is the most commonly used murder weapon within the thriller genre, therefore when the audience see that the killer has a knife it will increase the tension as they know that someone is going to be killed.
As mentioned before my killer will be wearing a mask to conceal their identity, which increase the enigma within the film. The rest of their clothing will be black to imply their evilness, which is supported by that fact the killer is trying to kill two people. In contrary to this the couple will be wearing bright clothing to imply their innocence and vulnerability. It will also help them to stand out as the sequence would be filmed at night.
There will be low key lighting to give the sequence an eery effect. Also all of the colours used will be dark apart from the victims. As this will show that they are in danger. Also the audience will not be able to see what is around the victims which will add to the shock factor. Additionally, the couple will also not be able to see what's around them. Therefore it will make the audience feel more involved."
Group narrative
As a group we have decided to use aspects of all of our narrative ideas to produce a final group narrative. Our story line is based on a psychotic serial killer who as a child was sexually abused by his mother, which has damaged him mentally. Because of this he captures and kills young innocent girls with dark hair that resemble his mother in a form of revenge.The opening sequence begins with a high angle shot of an abandoned house showing the antagonists vulnerability as a child and also the vulnerability of his victims. Panning shots show the audience the interior of the house, focusing on iconography such as old photographs of his mother, blood splattered on work surfaces, religious objects and broken glass before the antagonist is introduced. He will be wearing dark scruffy clothes such as a black hooded jumper and dirty trainers. He will also be wearing a mask to conceal his identity. The type of mask we have thought about using is a plain white one, which conveys he has no emotions and the white has connotations of his innocence as a child.A mid shot will then show him looking at many Polaroid photographs on the wall. These photographs are of previous or future victims. The previous victims photographs have a cross-marked on them in red. We will then focus in on one last photograph of his next victim. The camera will zoom into the photograph suggesting she is going to be killed next.After this the camera will suddenly change to a close up of the actual victim who at this point has her eyes closed. This will help to emphasize her emotion. Whilst the camera is slowly zooming out the victim will wake up and realise where she is by looking around and then start to panic. Following this, the camera will zoom out more rapidly so that the audience can see the situation that the girl in is (how she is tied up on the floor with old rope and where she is in the house). The victim will wear a white floaty dress to show her innocence. However it will be dirty due to the circumstances that she has been through such as being dragged through the forest and being captured and kept in an abandon house. The room will be dark and we will use low-key lighting. There will also be blood on the floor along with pieces of clothing from previous victims.The victim will then struggle to try and get free from the rope and eventually break free. Then she tiptoes towards a window or door. Meanwhile the antagonist is dragging his previous victim into a room by her feet when suddenly he hears a noise made by the victim in the other room and suddenly drops the old victims foot and a loud sound effect will happen along side a fast zoom to the door and a close up of the girls face realizing that she has been to loud and then back to the antagonist who suddenly sprints to the door. The victim frantically runs out the house and through the forest- jumping over twigs. The antagonist doesn’t run as fast but instead has a more slow powerful walk with heart beat and footstep sounds. This will make the antagonist appear confident and as though he knows he will eventually capture her. This makes the audience believe there is no chance that she will escape. Eerie music and various sound effects such as happy hunting music (contrapuntal sound) will be used to heighten the suspense. The sequence will end as the victim trips over something in the forest and she physically cant move because of her pain so screams and struggles which gives the antagonist time to catch up with her. She tries to drag herself along the floor to get up but cant. The camera will cut to a low angle shot of the antagonist as he walks slowly towards. The scene goes completely silent and an extreme close up occurs of the victims face where she is breathing heavily. From this reaction shot the timing of the shots speeds up as the victim suddenly gets dragged backwards by the antagonist which is shown by an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist. The antagonist wont be putting much effort in to drag her back whilst she starts struggling. A zoom in shot will then occur showing the antagonists face and then short flash shots of the victims past will occur. If we decide not to use this then the screen will just fade to black where the title of the thriller film appears with a sharp scream followed by silence implying the victim has been killed.
As a group we have decided to use aspects of all of our narrative ideas to produce a final group narrative. Our story line is based on a psychotic serial killer who as a child was sexually abused by his mother, which has damaged him mentally. Because of this he captures and kills young innocent girls with dark hair that resemble his mother in a form of revenge.The opening sequence begins with a high angle shot of an abandoned house showing the antagonists vulnerability as a child and also the vulnerability of his victims. Panning shots show the audience the interior of the house, focusing on iconography such as old photographs of his mother, blood splattered on work surfaces, religious objects and broken glass before the antagonist is introduced. He will be wearing dark scruffy clothes such as a black hooded jumper and dirty trainers. He will also be wearing a mask to conceal his identity. The type of mask we have thought about using is a plain white one, which conveys he has no emotions and the white has connotations of his innocence as a child.A mid shot will then show him looking at many Polaroid photographs on the wall. These photographs are of previous or future victims. The previous victims photographs have a cross-marked on them in red. We will then focus in on one last photograph of his next victim. The camera will zoom into the photograph suggesting she is going to be killed next.After this the camera will suddenly change to a close up of the actual victim who at this point has her eyes closed. This will help to emphasize her emotion. Whilst the camera is slowly zooming out the victim will wake up and realise where she is by looking around and then start to panic. Following this, the camera will zoom out more rapidly so that the audience can see the situation that the girl in is (how she is tied up on the floor with old rope and where she is in the house). The victim will wear a white floaty dress to show her innocence. However it will be dirty due to the circumstances that she has been through such as being dragged through the forest and being captured and kept in an abandon house. The room will be dark and we will use low-key lighting. There will also be blood on the floor along with pieces of clothing from previous victims.The victim will then struggle to try and get free from the rope and eventually break free. Then she tiptoes towards a window or door. Meanwhile the antagonist is dragging his previous victim into a room by her feet when suddenly he hears a noise made by the victim in the other room and suddenly drops the old victims foot and a loud sound effect will happen along side a fast zoom to the door and a close up of the girls face realizing that she has been to loud and then back to the antagonist who suddenly sprints to the door. The victim frantically runs out the house and through the forest- jumping over twigs. The antagonist doesn’t run as fast but instead has a more slow powerful walk with heart beat and footstep sounds. This will make the antagonist appear confident and as though he knows he will eventually capture her. This makes the audience believe there is no chance that she will escape. Eerie music and various sound effects such as happy hunting music (contrapuntal sound) will be used to heighten the suspense. The sequence will end as the victim trips over something in the forest and she physically cant move because of her pain so screams and struggles which gives the antagonist time to catch up with her. She tries to drag herself along the floor to get up but cant. The camera will cut to a low angle shot of the antagonist as he walks slowly towards. The scene goes completely silent and an extreme close up occurs of the victims face where she is breathing heavily. From this reaction shot the timing of the shots speeds up as the victim suddenly gets dragged backwards by the antagonist which is shown by an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist. The antagonist wont be putting much effort in to drag her back whilst she starts struggling. A zoom in shot will then occur showing the antagonists face and then short flash shots of the victims past will occur. If we decide not to use this then the screen will just fade to black where the title of the thriller film appears with a sharp scream followed by silence implying the victim has been killed.
This post demonstrates some group planning and discussions, which is evident through the advantages and disadvantages that you have included. It is clear to see that you and your group have considered the conventions of a thriller and the type of sequence that you would like to create. However, you still need to elaborate further on the advantages and disadvantages for each group member's idea.
ReplyDeleteThe points that you have included on Aristotle's theory, also helps to demonstrate your understanding of your sequence and the various themes that can be seen in the opening.