This document analyzes the film genre and techniques used in the opening sequence of a psychological thriller film. It discusses how the main character Lucy is portrayed as emotionally unstable through events at home to fit the psychological thriller genre. It then examines the use of mise-en-scene, props, and sound to further develop the characters and imply plot details without fully revealing them. Specifically, it notes how the characters' clothing, use of a cup/papers, knife, beer bottle, and mirror advance the drama and mystery of the story through visuals and implied meanings. Sound design with calm music, voiceovers, and effects of breathing/heartbeats also build tension and suspense without providing full context.

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

2. WHAT GENRE IS OUR FILM & WHAT
MAKES IT THIS GENRE?
 The film we decided to make the opening sequence to is a
Psychological thriller. A Psychological Thriller a thriller story which
emphasises the psychology of its characters and their unstable
emotional states.
 We achieved this by making our main character Lucy emotionally
unstable through a series of events that have happened at home.
 A Psychological thriller is made of a number of different elements
including; mystery, drama, action and horror. These were included in our
film as at the start it is left ambiguous as to why Lucy is in meeting with a
therapist and there is drama because of Lucy killing her father.
2

3. MISE-EN-SCENE
 Sophia was dressed in a blouse and leggings, this was to
present her as a professional woman and also to portray her
as a slightly older character.
 Lucy was dressed in causal cloths, from conducting our
research we learnt that in most psychological thrillers most
characters wore normal clothes.

4. PROPS
 During our therapy scene we used a cup and paper. This was to imply
that there was case files on the desk, as Sophia shuffles through them to
gain more information on the case and also of her parents, We also did
this to give the room a more professional appearance.
 In the flash backs we used two key props a beer bottle and a knife. The
bottle is scene next to David just after Lucy has murdered him, this was
used to make the plot line make sense as David is a alcoholic.
 Our main prop was a knife. It is first seen as Lucy rifles through the
kitchen draws. The next time it is seen it is covered in blood, this was
done to imply what had happened without showing the viewer exactly
what happened, as this would be shown later in the film.
 The final prop that we used was a mirror, this is stereotypical of the
genre. We used the mirror to show Lucy looking very distressed and
reflecting on her previous actions.

5. SOUND
 Through the therapy session we used calm contrapuntal music, this was to keep
the scene light hearted even though they were speaking about a tough subject for
Lucy.
 During the scene of Lucy on the stairs we used a voice over of David shouting and
then a scream, this was to imply to the viewers what could be happening without
giving the rest of the film away.
 We used the diegetic sound of Lucy rifling through the cutlery draw, we teamed this
with a point of view shot that added franticness to the scene.
 As Lucy walks towards the door with the knife in hand we used a sound effect of
deep breathing to add suspense and tension to the film. We then teamed this with
a sound effect of a heart beat which added further tension to the scene.
 The final piece of non-diegetic music we used built up to the title being shown on
screen, we used this to add drama to the scene. We teamed this with jump cuts
which added more suspense to the scene.