1) The document analyzes how the opening sequence of a student film project uses and develops conventions of real thriller film genres. It establishes the location, includes natural dialogue to provide context without revealing too much, and changes to a more realistic chase setting. 2) Costumes and props like a cell phone are everyday items that emphasize realism while advancing the story. Basic camerawork and editing establish the characters as normal at first. 3) Titles and fonts for the production company and film title fit thriller genre conventions and hint at secrets being revealed without giving everything away, intriguing the audience. The storyline follows this pattern as well to interest viewers in learning more.

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

2. Setting/Location
We used a long shot to establish the
location; most opening sequences
usually use an establishing/extreme
long shot to show the location. The
location is a normal public
place, which in realistic films is usually
the case, which is why we filmed in a
park; to give our opening sequence
more realism.
This is where the first few scenes of
The dialogue in the film opening could
the film take place, and not much
possibly give away a little about the
information about the female is
actual life of the characters and could
given, which fits with conventions of
come a bit later, however our film
thriller films as often we aren’t given
opening would be more boring and drag
much information on them for a lot of
on if there was no dialogue at all.
the film.

3. Setting/Location (cont.)
Originally the scene where the main female
was followed was going to be set in a
wooded location, however we thought this
wasn’t appropriate and unrealistic as the
main male was very visible and it looked as
if the main female kept seeing him.
We decided to change this to in a town area as it
would be easier for the main male to hide and
not be spotted therefore more realistic. This fits
with the conventions of some thriller films, for
example in The Bourne Ultimatum, the main
character is chased through a street of ordinary
people. I could have improved it by having less
people as the street looks too full and busy. We
could also have tried to have the actors have
more of a reaction to the chase scene as they
don’t seem to be bothered by it.

4. Costumes and Props
We chose to have normal, everyday costumes so that it
emphasised the realism of the opening sequence. This is what
some film openings have their characters wear at the beginning
to show how normal they are before events happen to them. We
used a mobile phone to move the story along which is typical of
some film scenes.

5. Camerawork and Editing
In most film openings, they start with simple
editing techniques which allow the audience to
learn a bit more about the character and won’t
confuse them as the film is continuous. This is
what we did with our film. The camerawork
reflects this as basic shots are used which can
help portray the character as being quite
normal.

6. Titles
The titles fit with opening sequence conventions as they show the production company and the
film title. The production company title fits in with the film genre as it is a silhouette. The
silhouette tells you it’s a person but you can’t see their features, giving it a mysterious effect. To
fit the genre of the film, we could have inverted the production company titles, so the silhouette
is more like a shadow. We chose to have ‘An’ and ‘Production’ in a different, curly font to show
that they aren’t part of the actual logo. We also chose the name ‘Out of the Unknown’ for our
production company as it fits with the mystery/thriller genre of the film.
The film title, when played, has been created to give a typing effect, possibly showing that the
secrets will be revealed throughout the film. The font of the film title is also like the font from a
typewriter, and looks like the stereotypical font seen for important documents in spy films. We
could have added the sound effect of a typewriter typing to fit with the font, to make them more
effective.

7. Story
The storyline is set up through a small
amount of dialogue, but mainly through
the onscreen footage like other films e.g.
The Tourist. We also moved the storyline
along through a recurring device: the
mobile phone, which also kept the
character in contact with others.
The opening sequence doesn’t give
everything away, but hopefully
We could have made this fit the conventions of a
interests the audience as they
thriller film more if we reduced the clues about
want to find out who the male
the main characters so the audience doesn’t know
is, and what the two phone
that they’re planning something, but showing the
documents contain. This is a
screen of the phone does give some clues. Not
convention of opening
showing a lot of information is good as if the plot
sequences, especially thriller films
of a thriller film is easily guessed, it usually isn’t
as you want to make the audience
very good and the audience would not be as
interested enough that they’ll keep
interested to find out what happens as they can
watching the film until the end.
guess really easily.

8. Genre - Thriller
The genre is set up through various methods, one
of which is the story. Little bits of information are
given away, but not everything which creates
interest and makes the male mysterious as no clues
are really given away about who his, except that he
wants to help the female. Many thrillers start with
unanswered questions, so the audience will want to
watch so they can find out the answers, which is
what we did by the phone prop and creating
untitled documents on it.

9. Characters
The main character is shown to be the main one
as she is the one the camera follows, and also
has a shot from her point of view. This is typical
of an opening sequence. The male is implied to
be the one who sent her the second text as he
says that he knows about her.