Media question 1

1. Use of narrative
Explanation Evidence in our thriller Evidence from existing
thrillers
Throughout our thriller film opening, we
took inspiration from many different
sources. We were very much inspired by
the film, ‘Double jeopardy’ in terms of the
‘staged’ death that was featured in our
piece. Setting the death to occur in this
way leads the audience to think ‘what if?’,
therefore building the tension for the
audience, a feature that is very typical of
the thriller genre. Adding the pills, glasses
and phone to these shots helped to set the
scene for this ‘staged’ death, causing the
viewers to wonder what did truly happen
to jasmine’s character.
In our piece, we very much followed
Todorov’s narrative theory. The photo
montage featured at the beginning of the
piece represented the equilibrium. The
sequence was then followed by the
disequilibrium which is shown when
jasmine’s dead body is revealed. With
close reference to our original storyline,
the re-establishment of the equilibrium is
not shown throughout our opening
sequence however, the issues and chaos
will reach a solution at the end, therefore
restoring the initial equilibrium that is
seen.

2. Use of Mise-en-scene
Explanation Evidence in our thriller Evidence from existing
thrillers
We decided to set our thriller in two main
contrasting locations. We filmed a range of
shots in a garage with very low lighting to
create dark and eerie shots; very typical of
a thriller film. However, we also filmed
inside of a very strongly lit house, which
entirely goes against the conventions of
thriller films. We felt as though using this
juxtaposition of lighting between the shots
in our piece would help create a false
sense of security within the audience.
The use of mirrors strongly featured
throughout our thriller opening. The use
of mirrors is very often used within thriller
films as they are used to highlight the true
representation of a person and can serve
to show the darkness within characters.
We thought that the use of mirrors within
our piece was very effective as it served to
show both mine and josh’s characters in a
different light.

3. Editing
techniques
Explanation Evidence in our thriller Evidence from existing
thrillers
We decided to include a 360˚ shot of Jazz
in the piece. When it came to editing the
opening together, we decided to speed
this shot up X100. We chose to do this as
we wished to reveal Jazz’s thoughts and
state of mind by making the shot seem
chaotic and busy. It helped to pin point
Jasmine as being the character who has
truly been caught directly in the center of
the chaos.
We used lots of quick-cut editing
throughout our piece whilst editing
together the shots in the garage. We did
this as the speed of the shots helps to
build the tension within the audience,
intensifying the initial enigma codes that
have been set up surrounding jazz’s death.
Quick-cut editing is often used in thrillers
for this purpose and is very strongly
featured through Alfred Hitchcock’s
famous, ‘Psycho.’

4. Use of camera
Explanation Evidence in our thriller Evidence from existing
thrillers
We used a large variety of shots
throughout our thriller opening.
The panning shots used really helped us to
draw the storyline together by displaying
the complete juxtaposition of shots
between life and death. The shot’s
progress from a bright and cheery pan of a
photo montage of the good times spent
together with a fade to black in the
middle, transitioning then to a dark, eerie
pan of Jazz’s dead body lying on the floor.
We used entirely contrasting shots
between the shots filmed in the garage
and the shots filmed inside of the house.
We used lots of close up and extreme
close up shots whilst filming in the garage.
This is because the use of close up shots
serves to show characters as seeming
isolated and con their own. The use of
these close up shots also helped to
indicate fear and to build tension within
out audience. We used medium and high
angle shots when in the house as these
shots help to show the bigger picture,
revealing more of the scene to the viewer.

5. Use of Special effects
Explanation Evidence in our thriller Evidence from existing
thrillers
The placement of our titles was greatly
inspired by the BBC series, ‘The missing.’
The series greatly influenced our decision
to place the titles and credits within the
opening montage as this montage allows
the audience to be able to gain a small
insight into what the film is due to be
about.
The positioning of the titles on the screen
is also very much based on the titles from
the same series. In the titles for ‘The
Missing’, the text is often placed in the
bottom corners of the screen, very
similarly to the placement of the titles in
our opening sequence. We also chose to
add a red shadow behind the text as the
colour red hints at anger and danger,
themes that are very much present
throughout our piece. We thought that
adding this colour would intensify the
insight into the narrative of the piece that
is already being displayed throughout the
photo montage.

6. Use of
sound
Explanation Evidence in our thriller Evidence from existing
thrillers
We spent a lot of time discussing what
sound we wanted to include in our piece.
For the beginning of the sequence, we
decided we wanted to choose a song that
would link in with the initial photo
montage. We wanted to choose a song
that would help to give the audience a
slight interest into what the film was to be
about.
We used one more sound item throughout
our opening which contrasted entirely
with the song we had used previously. We
decided that we wanted to use a track
that was very typical of a thriller film as
we felt that this would be the best way to
build tension within the audience.
We decided to use the song ‘Jealousy’ by
Frankie Miller. As suggested by the title,
the song helps to set narrative of envy and
conflict for the audience which is what we
wanted to achieve throughout the photo
montage. The style of the song also very
much challenges the codes and
conventions of thriller films as it is quite
haunting however, it is not sinister or dark.
The item that we chose was called, ‘G321-
Thriller opening music choice 3.’ This piece
of music uses the contrast between high
and low pitched synth sounds to create a
tense and eerie atmosphere.
Throughout the opening sequence of, 'The
Missing’, the background music is quite
eerie and dark which very much conforms
to the codes and conventions of thriller
films. This is very much he opposite of the
sound in the titles of our opening
sequence.
High pitched, non-diegetic sounds are
often used in thriller films to make the
viewer feel uncomfortable and on edge,
thus assisting in creating and building
tension throughout the sequence.