Evaluation of Questionnaire

 We asked 10 people to fill out our questionnaires. Here is our results:

1) What gender are you?

We wanted to make sure we asked the same amount of boys and girls, in order to gain a representative lot of feedback.

2)What age group do you fall into?

We mainly aged these age groups because they were the large proportion of our target audience. It was also hard to find people it the older age groups that were actually prepared to complete the questionnaire because they were very busy. They would either agree to do it at another time and never get round to it, or they would refuse straight away.

3)What did you think about our idea for the opening sequence of 'Concealed'?(General Feedback)

• They thought it sounded interesting and engaging.
• After seeing the storyboard they thought that we included a good variety of shots and editing techniques.
• They thought the story fits in well  with the genre of Psychological Thriller.

4) What music piece do you feel fits well with our opening sequence?

The majority of the participants felt that the woodman fits in the best. They felt that it had an eerie feel to it and it created more of an atmosphere than the other ones.

5) Do you feel the choice of an attic as the location is a good choice?

Only one of the participants thought that we shouldn't use the attic as the location. They felt that using a basement would fit better because they felt they are more dark and grungy.

6)What do you like about our idea? (General feedback)

• They liked the idea of the antagonist being obsessed over Anastasia, even though they have no relationship with one another.
• They thought that the idea of the flash forward is a really interesting way to begin the film. They thought it would grab onto their attention instantly.
• The younger age group liked the fact it is based on teenagers, they think they will find it easier to connect with the characters.

We have taken our feedback on board. We feel that our target audience is pleased with our idea and would watch it. Despite the participants saying that they liked the music piece called 'The Woodman', we have decided to go with a different soundtrack called: 'Creepy Ominous Ambience'

Concealed

As a group we decided to discuss our idea as a group, however we completed the task ourselves.

Title: Concealed

Genre: Psychological Thriller

• The antagonist has serious psychological problems, which lead him to be incredibly violent and dangerous towards other characters. 
• His actions also lead to the protagonist's and the 'princess's' deteriorating emotional state. 

Age Rating: 15

• Our film is an 15 because some scenes of a sexual nature and strong violence, which comes with a small amount of blood will be featured in the film. 
• There will also be strong language.

Characters:

• Name: Anastasia Castrilli
• Age: 17 years old  
• Personality: friendly, caring, modest and sensitive 
• She is very popular in school and out. Girls see her as a role model and boys will do anything to be with her, they are incredibly jealous of her boyfriend.   
• Role in the story: Anastasia is the main character, however she is not the protagonist. She is more of the princess/prize. When looking at Propp's character theory she would classify as this role because she is what the protagonist is fighting for, but he cannot be with her because the antagonist has her trapped. She also desired by the antagonist.  

• Name: Dylan Kratos ('Kratos' in Greek mythology is the God of strength and power.)
• Age: 18 years old
• Personality: active, confident, passionate, loyal, brave and determined.
• Dylan is also very popular in school. He is known by everyone as a arrogant jock. However he is not what he seems like as when he is with his friends he is very caring and  down to earth. When he is with Anastasia this side to him comes out even more and he is very protective and passionate towards her. It is no secret how deeply in love he is.
• Role in the story: He is the protagonist. It is him that finds Anastasia.

• Name: Damien Santana
• Age: 19 years old
• Personality: quiet, observant, mysterious and creepy
• Damien is a very excluded student and people tend to be intimidated by him, which makes them steer well clear of him. He has been held back a year, so should of left school by now if he wasn't held back. He has a very strange obsession with Anastasia, he just wishes she would so much as acknowledge him. Damien seems to be very possessive of her even though he has never even spoke to her, so whenever he sees Anastasia and Dylan together he gets overly jealous and seems to get angry. He suffers with Schizophrenia. This is a result of his troubled childhood. His parents left him when he was just 2 years old. He has been in care his whole life moving around from family to family. Now past the age of 18 he has left to his devices and lives by himself.
• Role in the story: He is the antagonist as he is the character that keeps Anastasia locked up, so that no one else can have her. He is also the character that is not mentally stable and can get very aggressive and possessive.  

Plot

• Beginning(disruption): Our film challenges Todorov's narrative theory because it has a non-linear narrative structure. The beginning starts with the disruption rather than the equilibrium. The opening will feature Anastasia locked up and the audience can see her deteriorating state.
• Equilibrium: Anastasia and Dylan are are happy together at Dylan's house. Damien lives opposite Dylan. Dylan notices that whenever Anastasia is round, Damien is always standing at his window and stares at Dylan's house. Whenever he mentions it to Anastasia she tells him he's being ridiculous. Nothing has ever happened to her so in her mind her world is perfect and nothing can go wrong. Dylan has football training. Anastasia orders food for them both in time for when he gets back.
• Disruption: On her way to collect the food, Damien uses a rock to knock her out from behind. He then takes her back to his house and locks her in his attic. Damien takes her phone and when Dylan texts her to ask where she is he replies "home.".
• Resolution: Dylan has been slightly suspicious of Damien over the couple weeks that Anastasia has been missing, however he felt as if he was just overthinking because he was so desperate to find her.
• They're both in the library at school and when Damien leaves he doesn't realise that Anastasia's phone has fallen out of his pocket.
• Dylan sees it and takes the chance to look through it thinking that it is Damien's phone. It not until he looks at the pictures on the phone and sees one that Anastasia and Dylan recently took together, that he realises it is her phone.
• Dylan carefully observes everything that Damien does and then goes home back to his house and watches out his window until Damien goes out.
• At that moment he breaks into his house. He searches everywhere for Anastasia,when he calls for her, she hears his voice and starts screaming for him. He follows her voice and breaks into the attic. 
• Both of the characters burst into tears of happiness as they tightly embrace each other. 
• He sees the bruises and cuts on her, he becomes overwhelmed with anger. 
• They hear the front door slam. Damien has returned. 
• They can hear him go upstairs, so attempt to leave. However this small window of chance ends very quickly as he almost instantly starts to come back downstairs. So they hide. When Damien goes up to the attic and sees she's gone he becomes distraught and starts smashing up the house. He finds Anastasia first and grabs her by her hair. As she struggles, an enraged Dylan emerges from his hiding place and quietly makes his way to the kitchen. 
• He grabs a knife and threatens Damien. A fight brakes out causing Dylan to drop the knife. 
• Anastasia begins to panic as she sees Dylan struggling. She impulsively grabs the knife and stabs Damien in the back. He slowly bleeds to death. Dylan and Anastasia finally escape.
• This challenges Propp's character theory because the princess kills the antagonist, rather than the conventional ending of the protagonist killing the antagonist. Dylan is still the hero because he saved Anastasia.
• In the beginning of the film Anastasia conforms with the stereotypical woman. She is feminine and vulnerable and takes the role of the damsel in distress. However in the end she has a role reversal and challenges the stereotype because she becomes strong enough to stand up to Damien and save the protagonist.
• There is no new equilibrium because the film does not end well for any of the characters. Anastasia has committed a serious crime and things would not return to normal life if the film was reality. 

Location

• Our opening sequence will take place in a dark old attic. It will be packed of junk however, the junk will not be closely placed around Anastasia . It will emphasise how isolated she is from the rest of the world. We want it to be dark and dirty so that the audience will instantly see that she is in danger because darkness is usually associated with evil/bad things or characters. The basement will be in Damien's house.

Initial Ideas

The Main Target Audience

The main target audience for 'Concealed' will be aged 17-28. This is because the all the main characters are of young ages, the audience may therefore empathise with the characters because they are young like them and may have similar interests or personalities to the characters.

The fact that the main character is a female will create more of an attraction to young girls. Not only that, but stereotypically girls are more emotional and the film, being a psychological thriller conflicts the mind. Also there are some elements of romance again appealing to a girl target audience. Males will be the secondary audience because they will be attracted to the small element of action, as the dominant ideology of males is that they are more physical than woman and also more aggressive.

The social demographic of our primary audience will be students who fall into the 'E' group. This group will be the main target audience down to the fact that the main characters are students and they are at a similar age to the audience.

The audience will be extremely sociable, popular and like going out with their friends, just like Anastasia and Dylan because again the audience will like the main characters instantly as they can see that the characters are like them and relate to them. Not only that but it also instant creates dislike for the antagonist. The antagonist has the complete opposite personality and is very socially awkward and distant from others. Therefore the audience will find him weird before he even kidnaps Anastasia.

According to Young and Rubicam's audience type theory, the primary audience will be 'The Mainstreamers' as they will be teenagers that like being part of a group and like to fit in. It could also attract the group The 'Aspirers'. This is because our audience like the main characters want high status and have high status. They consider themselves to be liked or known by a lot of people and care about what people think. Although the characters are not like this, their group of friends are and the stereotypical popular group in school are very materialistic and care about what everyone think.

When looking at Blumler and Katz uses and gratifications theory, 'Concealed' will provide entertainment to the audience. The audience will be entertained by all the events that take place in the film and also by the tense wait of finding out if Anastasia will escape. During the equilibrium the audience may be provided with 'escape' because of the romance between Anastasia and Dylan. They may not have any romance in their life so the relationship between the two characters will provide this sense escape for the audience because they will feel romantic.

To conclude our primary target audience will be:

• aged 17-28 years old 
• unisex, however will be more likely to attract females
• students 
• popular 
• sociable 
• 'The Mainstreamers'

Credit Sequences

• Blumhouse Productions are producers of horror films. They have worked on films such as: Sinster, Insidious, Paranormal Activity etc. The credit sequence establishes the genre of horror straight away by including conventions of the genre:
• setting, which is an old house 
• young scary girl in a white dress
• floating objects, which suggests supernatural presence
• low-key lighting 
• screeching sounds
• bold printed typeface 

• An American institution, again mainly producers of  horror. They have worked films such as the SAW movies. The credits establish the genre by:  
• barbed wire, signifies danger
• dark colours - black background
• sharp object in the middle of the logo, sharp objects connote danger and pain

• 20th Century Fox have made films such as 'Ice Age', 'Avatar' and 'The Wolverine'. The opening credits connote that this institution provide quality by:
• grand music
• gold coloured typeface, gold connotes royalty and power
• large font
• their name is on a pedestal, implying that they are at the top of the industry

• Universal studios have made films such as 'Jurassic Park', 'The Purge' and 'Jaws'. They create films that are all different genres. This particular institution's films are quite diverse. The credit sequence demonstrates that they are versatile as:
• their name is 'Universal Studios' implying that they cater for everyone. 
• The font is gold, which suggests that they are worth a lot. 
• The picture of the world again shows that they are very diverse and cater for everyone as they do not make films of a specific genre. They create a range of films.

Practice Filming and Editing

Today we had our first go at filming and using final cut express. For the first half of the lesson we did our filming. We decided to make the video about our school: Overton Grange. The video was a short tour around some of the location.

The video includes various different shots such as:

• Pan shot - to show the audience the location that we were in. 
• Long shot - to emphasise how big the location is.
• Low-angle shot - to make the subjects look powerful and big.
• Hand-held shot - to give the audience a sense of realism. It makes it feel like they were actually there, taking a real tour of the school.
• Close-up shot - it shows the subjects emotions. In the context of the video it is to show the audience how happy the subject is to be a student at Overton Grange, therefore making them want to send their child here or make a child want to come here.
• Zoom shot - it was used to put the focus on a certain object. 
• Tilt shot - to show the location to the audience.
• Tracking shot - used to focus the audience on the object of the subject in the shot.

We wanted to use a range of shots in order to get to grips with working with the camera. It also gave us a chance to see the shots that we liked and gave us ideas of the ones that we could use in our film opening. I personally liked the hand-held shots and the Low-angle shots. 

Once we had finished filming, we returned to class and began using Final Cut Express to put our pieces together. We put all the different videos that we shot together to make one video. We also made some corrections to the video. For example, in the low-angle shot of Ollie and Sam the sound was not appropriate for the video so we removed it. At the end of the video text is featured showing the names of the group and of the people that featured in our short film.

Although we only used some basic editing and filming techniques, doing this activity has allowed us to gain experience in using the camera and using the editing software. Therefore when it comes to filming and editing our final piece, we will have some experience and will be able to use skills we have already gained and also improve them. Giving us a better result when we complete our film opening.

Evaluation of Inner Evil (AS Media Opening Sequence)

Good

• Varied choice of shots
• close-ups
• medium shots
• birds-eye view
• shallow focus
• long shot
• loose shot
• over the shoulder shot
• hand held shot
• Good use of editing techniques
• jump cuts
• non-continuity editing
• visual effects
• Mis-en-Scene
• the protagonist is wearing light colours and the antagonist is wearing dark colours to signify good and bad.
• unsaturated colours in the flashbacks.

Bad

• It is unclear what is happening in the opening.
• There are some points when the sound sounds slightly fuzzy.

'The Black Swan' (2010) Opening Sequence

• The connotations of the colour black are very powerful and it is often associated with evil/bad. The connotations of white are the complete apposite as it is often associated with purity and good. Although the title of the film is simple the juxtaposition is very symbolic. It represents the two sides to the protagonist: good and evil. The actual title itself is in white to highlight that the protagonist herself is not evil, she is in fact good and pure. The background is black to represent that she is being taken over by something evil, she is becoming more and more like Odile (The Black Swan) and slowly looses herself. 



• There is a pan shot following the subject's feet. This choice of shot puts emphasis on her graceful movements. It introduces the theme of ballet to the audience and shows clearly that the protagonist is a ballet dancer, in fact a very good one. Throughout this whole scene long takes are used to demonstrate the fluent movements of ballet. It also in the beginning makes the audience feel peaceful and calm. However when the man comes in and changes Nina into a swan, the long takes make the audience feel uncomfortable because they are forced to watch her in fear and distress.

• In this shot high key lighting is used and the protagonist is shielding herself from it. It foreshadows her transition from perfect to reckless in the film but in a contrasting way as she is actually very reluctant to the transition and it drives her insane. Whereas in this shot she doesn't want the light on her which shows that she is reluctant to stay good. However her facial expression supports the idea that she wants to stay as a utopian and this change is extremely troubling for her. It makes the audience feel bad for her because they can see that she is distressed however they are passive and cannot do anything about it, they do not even know who she is and why this is happening to her.

In an over the shoulder shot, the audience can see that a man dressed in all black appears to be making his way towards Nina. It is clear straight away that the man is dystopian through his black costume which represents evil and power. This particular choice of shot makes the audience almost feel as if they are a part of the scene, perhaps a member of an audience watching the ballet dancer's performance of Swan Lake. Once the man reaches Nina, the camera changes to a medium shot of both the characters dancing with each other. This shot supports Laura Mulvey's feminist theory that, one role women are represented as is the 'virgin'. Nina is being held by the man and following his movements, showing that she is subservient to him. Supporting the dominant ideology of gender roles: men are more powerful and women live in their shadow.

• This is the first time the audience sees the protagonist. Being dressed head to toe in white makes the suggestion that she is utopian because of the connotations of white being a pure, good and graceful colour. Having nobody else in the long shot suggests that she is isolated and lonely, which you later find out in the film as she is controlled by her ballet obsessed mother. It also represents her as vulnerable because she is surrounded by darkness (evil) and she is the only bit of light (good), suggesting that the evil will take over the good, foreshadowing her transition from being pure and innocent to reckless. This first shot is very similar to the title as the colours are identical, again the white being the protagonist who later becomes the black swan and she is surrounded by the darkness that is her mind. 



'Se7en' (1995) Opening Sequence

• The chiaroscuro lighting makes it quite hard for the audience to understand what is happening and who the character in the scene is. This is to make the audience really focus because people do not like unfamiliarity, therefore they will try extremely hard to figure out what they are seeing on the screen so they will have more understanding of what happens later on in the film.

• At first it is unclear whether the clippings and pictures etc. is gathered evidence for a police report or not. However it is made very clear after an extreme close up of someone cutting their finger prints off that it is not an investigator, it is in fact a criminal. The audience will know by this shot that the character in the first scene will be the antagonist in the film. The antagonist is cutting off  their fingerprints so that they cannot be matched to fingerprints at the scene of the crime. The use of the extreme close-up forces the audience to feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable as it will feel like they are very close to a criminal and as though they are in danger. The razor connotes the danger of this mysterious character because it is a sharp object that could be used to inflict pain, again emphasising the aura of danger that surrounds the antagonist.  

• Having no dialogue gives the antagonist even more mystery. The antagonist's identity is concealed in the opening scene. The audience only see the fingers of this character, nothing else. It creates a strong sense of mystery as they know nothing about the character and have no hints to link to later on in the film. For example if there was dialogue they would have a voice to identify the antagonist with.      

• The visual effects such as the written accounts, books and pictures give the impression that the antagonist is cunning and knows exactly what they are doing. All the information they possess highlights that they have planned out what they have done. The fact they cut of their finger prints supports this idea that they are clever as they know how to cover their tracks and avoid getting caught for whatever they have done. The fact they are writing about it and have so much gathered information suggests that what they have done has a motive behind it and was not just an impulse thing or an accident, which amplifies the sense of danger the audience gets from the antagonist because it gives the impression that they have committed a lot of crimes.

• In the title sequence it is made apparent to the audience that two of the characters in the film are played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. The Two Step Flow theory can be applied to this, as fans of  these big actors would see them as their 'opinion leaders' they will want to watch the film simply because Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are characters in it. The audience will automatically have high expectations because of these well respected and popular actors.

•  The diegetic sound in the clip is hyperbolic. The sounds of the scratching of the pen whilst the character is writing and what sounds like an out of tune radio is almost jaw-clenching. These diegetic sounds are extremely uncomfortable to listen to for the audience, which signifies events that later occur in the film as the way in which the antagonist murders his victims is incredibly twisted and the audience can empathise with how distressed the victims must of felt. The audience will also feel very distorted due to the fact that there is diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound playing at the same time. There are a lot of different sounds overlapping and some sounds are louder than others. All these different elements are very distorting and will confuse the audience as they will have no clue what they are listening to and it will be a lot to process at once.

• The opening scene contains a lot of enigma codes such as:
• Who is the antagonist?
• What are they writing about?
• What have they done?
• What is their motive?

The audience will want the answers to all these questions. The only way to find out the answers will be to watch the rest of the film. The audience will instantly be engaged and focused in order to find the answers they so desperately desire.

'Saw' (2004) Opening Sequence

• In a wide shot of the brunette male character the audience get to see clearly the location of the scene. It appears that the characters are in a bathroom, however the audience can see it is not an ordinary bathroom as the whole place is rusty, the tiles are dirty and it is quite empty. The bathroom being dirty will instantly tell the audience that the character is in danger. 

• There is some dialogue between two characters during the beginning of the scene and the camera stays on a medium shot of the brunette, male character until the high-key lighting is present. Mystery is already present as the lighting is very low. The composer chose to not show the other character to amplify the mystery and to worry the audience. They have no idea who the mysterious character is, therefore they are not sure whether he is dangerous, or safe and also a victim of the unknown antagonist. When the lighting finally brightens and and the audience see a medium shot of the blonde, male character, they gain a sense of catharsis. It is clear that he is distressed and therefore is in the same position as the character introduced from the start.

• Jump cuts are used when the brunette male is screaming and trying to pull the chain he is attached to off. Obviously from the screaming the audience can now see that the character is beginning to become distressed and the jump cuts emphasis this because it signifies that he is panicking and is not thinking straight.

• The low-key lighting makes its it hard for the audience to see the location and the characters properly, which creates a sense of mystery. It engages to audience more as they have to try to figure out who it is and where they are, for themselves. Therefore stopping the audience from being passive and loosing attention.

•  A birds-eye view shot of a dead body in a pool of blood is shown. The audience can see that the dead being has a gun in their hand, making it clear that he inflicted death on himself. This enigma code makes the audience wonder; what did he went through that was so bad he wanted to end his life? The use of a gun as the prop and the blood surrounding the body, signifies danger and pain, therefore showing the audience that the characters are in danger. Sparking a panic because they will assume the two characters are about to go through what caused this dead person to kill themselves. 

• The title sequence for 'twisted pictures' shows barbed wires wrapped around the words and slicing them. The use of a sharp object and the letters being sliced establishes the genre before the film is even started. The audience can see that the film is going to contain a lot of weapons and these weapons being used on the characters, so the audience will know straight away that 'Saw' is part of the sub-genre:slasher.   







•   When the lights turn on the POV shot shows the audience that the character is disorientated as the image or the lights is dissolved. When someone is in the dark for a long time and see light it feels uncomfortable to look at and it is hard to properly see. This editing technique captures that the character cannot see properly.   

Top 20 Psychological Thrillers (Not in Order)

Seven - David Fincher

The Silence of The Lambs - Jonathan Demme  

Jacob's Ladder - Adrian Lyne



The Black Swan - Darren Aronosky

The Machinist - Brad Anderson

Copycat - Jon Amiel

Cube  - Vincenzo Natali

Duel - Steven Spielberg

Insomnia - Christopher Nolan

Memento - Christopher Nolan

Next Door - Pal Sletaune

Paranormal Activity - Oren Peli

Pi - Darren Aronosky

Saw - James Wan

The Shining - Stanley Kubrick  

Sound of My Voice - Zal Batmanglij 

Taxi Driver - Martin Scorcese

The Cell - Tarsem Singh



The Game - David Fincher



The Ring - Gore Verbinski

Research Into Genre: Psychological Thriller

Psychological Thriller is a sub-genre of the broad genre;Thriller. It incorporates different elements from genres such as Action, Drama, Horror as well as including common conventions from the Thriller genre.

Mis-en-Scene:

• Low-key lighting and shadows are used frequently in psychological thrillers. This genre is about the mind and mental in/stability therefore the dark lighting not only signifies but also emphasises the darkness of the antagonist. Sometimes it is the protagonist that is beginning to become mentally unstable, for example Nina in 'The Black Swan'. The low-key lighting also highlights how much darkness is taking over a character's mind.
•  The location is normally set in very normal places to create a sense of realism for the audience, which makes everything more dramatic. It creates a slight worry amongst the audience because it highlights how much psychological thriller movies sometimes contain a narrative story that is not  completely unrealistic, therefore they cannot rule out the possibility of it actually happening in real life. Like in 'The Strangers' or 'Se7en' that are based on a story about human murderers.  
• Often the costume is usual clothing such as jeans and t-shirts, to again create a sense of realism for the audience, especially in films that have a far fetched storyline. 'The Exorcist' characters are dressed in the appropriate clothing for the era that it is set in because it is about a young girl who is possessed. The story line is not realistic therefore the sense of realism should be provided in a different way, costume is one of the ways the director created it. 
• The antagonist is usually in a dark costume so that they are associated with the connotations of dark colours. These connotations being: evil, dangerous and mysterious. In contrast, the antagonist is usually put in light or bright colours to show that they are good.
• In films like 'The Black Swan' props such as mirrors are often used to show the reflection of the character's inner self in contrast with who they appear as to other characters. In the 'Black Swan' in a scene when Nina is looking into a mirror she sees a different reflection to what is happening in reality, Nina sees her darker side that is slowly taking over her personality. The contrast makes the difference even more dramatic, as you can see how different that the way they are represented is to their inner and real self. 

Sound:

• Directors usually use eerie non-diegetic music to build tension slowly.
• Dialogue is not often included in psychological thriller openings. It creates more mystery because the non-diegetic music does not explain what is going on in the scene. Dialogue between characters usually helps the audience understand what events are occurring, however not having it leaves them to figure it out themselves.
•  High pitched, screechy hyperbolic sounds are often used.  'Se7en' contains a lot of these sounds during the opening sequence. They make the audience feel very uncomfortable because these sounds make them feel on edge and are very difficult to listen.  
• Sometimes there is moments of complete silence. In psychological thrillers that contain a supernatural antagonist, like 'Paranormal Activity' this is often used at the climax of an event that was previously built up. This could be when the supernatural being is about to strike, the silence makes the audience feel on edge because they are waiting for the emptiness to be filled, as it is odd for there to be complete silence in a film for no reason.

Editing:

• Slow Motion editing is used to build suspense. The audience will feel on edge because they want to know what is going to happen next, but they have to wait because the moment is pro-longed.
• Face paced editing is used to distort and confuse the audience. It does not give them enough time to fully take in what they have seen so they will become confused.
• A montage is used in 'The Bone Collector' and 'Se7en' to show the audience what has taken place before the film in a short space of time. Although it may not be completely clear what is being shown in the montage, once the action codes in the film are shown they should be able to figure it out for themselves.

Structure:

• Usually Todorov's narrative structure is followed:
• equilibrium
• distruption
• resolution
• new equilibrium

Conventional Directors:

•   David Fincher
• 'Se7en'
• 'The Game'
• 'Panic Room'
• 'Zodiac'
• Sir Alfred Hitchcock ('Master of Suspense')
• Psycho
• Martin Scorcese
• 'Shutter Island'
• 'Cape Fear'
• 'The Taxi Driver'
• Christopher Nolan
• 'Insomnia'
• 'Momento'
• 'Following'

Conventional Actors/Actresses:

• 

  Antony Hopkins
  

  • 'Hannibal'
  • 'Silence Of The Lambs'

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  • Leonardo Di Caprio
  • 'Shutter Island'
  • 'Inception'
  • 'The Departed'

Themes Commonly Tackled In The Genre:

• Guilt
• Characters usually feel guilt for something that they had done in the past. In 'Shutter Island' the protagonist killed his wife and she drowned their two children. He felt so guilty for his actions that he created a story in his mind that gave him a new identity, allowing him to forget about the events that took place.
•   Identity
• A character is on their journey searching for self-actualisation.
• Death
• The death of another character deeply troubles the protagonist and they blame themselves for mistakes they made.
• Obsession
• The character constantly has one thing on their mind and it drives them crazy. Nina in 'The Black Swan' becomes so obsessed with becoming Odile that slowly she literally becomes her.
• Mind
• The way the characters mind works. This challenges events that happen in the films, as the audience will question whether it actually happened or just happened in the character's mind.

The Audience

• The repetition of all these elements when looking at Steve Neale 's genre theory creates enjoyment for the audience because they have some familiarity with the films of the genre. They do not like feeling stupid and therefore the repertoire of elements allows them to have better understanding of things and avoids making them feel un intelligent.
• Blumer and Katz suggested that audiences use media for different reasons, in this case it would be for entertainment. The film provides the audience with something to engage with.

Conventions of Film Openings

All opening sequences show the logo of the production company that produced the film to show who was involved in the making of the film and to give them some recognition. If the institution is well known ,and the audience are enjoy other films also produced by them, then expectations will automatically be high. The audience will be engaged from this moment onwards as they would be looking forward to, what they expect to be, a good film.

Narrative enigma is frequently an element in opening sequences. It is included to engage the audience and stop them from being passive. They will constantly want to know the answers to these enigma codes, therefore ensuring that they will watch the whole film. According to Barthes the enigma codes will be followed by action codes in the rest of the film, which will allow them to figure out what is going to happen next and possibly figure out the enigma codes for themselves. The audience will feel happy if they crack the codes themselves as it will make them feel intelligent because they figured out what is going on and why.

Vladimir Propp suggested that the main character in films is the protagonist. Usually it is the protagonist that is first to be introduced to the audience. If they are familiar with the character instantly then they are more likely to empathise with everything that happens to the protagonist. There for creating instant dislike for the antagonist maybe even before they are introduced to them. Rick Altman suggested that these emotional elements are called syntactic elements. Not only will it make it easier for the audience to identify the genre of the film but it will also make all events that take place more dramatic. Simply because they will feel much stronger emotions if they feel connected with the protagonist.

Credits sometimes are featured in the opening sequence, showing all the names of the actors that are in the film. If the actors are well known then the audience will recognise their name and start to build up their own expectations, depending on how they feel about the actors. For example in 'Se7en' Brad Pitt is the first name to appear in the credits, women aged 25-40 will instantly be attracted to the film purely because he is in it and they find him unbelievably attractive. It widens up the target audience, as it gives people that may not be the main target audience of a film a reason to want to watch it. The typeface and colour of the typeface that the composer uses for the credits contribute to the establishing of the genre. If soft, fluent and neat font that is pink or white is used the audience will associate it with happiness and will feel easygoing, which will be associated with genres such as romance or romantic comedies. However if the font is scraggly, messy and red, then it  makes the audience feel on edge. Red connotes danger and blood, things often associated with the genre horror or thrillers.

Some directors choose not to include any of these common conventions in the opening sequence to their film. There may not be any credits, it might not introduce any characters or there may not be any clear narrative taking place. According to Steve Neale's Genre theory, audiences either enjoy repetition of elements or they enjoy films because it goes completely against the repertoire of elements. This could be applied to opening sequences as well. The audience could enjoy opening sequences that do not feature any of the elements because it completely overthrows them and they have no idea what to expect, leaving a sense of mystery. It is quite common for directors of thrillers to miss out all the common conventions because it slightly distorts the audience, and leaves the sense of mystery and makes the audience feel on edge. 'The Bone Collector' and 'Se7en' are both examples of thrillers that do not include the introduction to characters or give away too much of what is going on.