The student created an opening sequence for a thriller film called Firewall. They researched techniques used in similar films to build tension and draw in audiences. These included ominous music, reaction shots, and an initial mystery. Feedback on their opening was positive and said it effectively built tension and had a good storyline. The student believes their project successfully created an intriguing opening that answered the brief.

1. Alasdair Gibson 9159
Claremont Fan Court School 64680
OCR Media Studies J526
B324 Production Portfolio in Media Studies

2. Video Brief 7: opening sequence from a new thriller with
storyboard: Firewall
• I worked in a group with Marcus Allan & James
Peters.
• We made a thriller film opening entitled Firewall.
• The genre of our film is Thriller/Crime/Mystery.
• I helped devise the treatment.
• I took specific responsibility for the titles in the
editing, editing sounds, directing indoor/some
outdoor scenes (including self directing), and acting
as the main character Arthur. I

3. Research into similar films
• I researched deeply into both films in the thriller genre, and
television drama.
• I watched The Dark Knight for research into thriller films.
There is also a kidnap/hostage scene which is very
suspenseful and the film is effective at creating tension and
drawing the audience in.
• I noticed that the music was always very ominous, and in
action scenes it was fast paced yet still ominous. Drums
helped to create tension and signify action or an
intense/significant event. I utilized this by choosing the right
moment for the percussion in our backing music to come in
at a time that picked up the pace of our opening scene and
created tension.
• Close up shots to show actions and reactions, for example in
the hostage scenes to see the fear and dismay on the
hostages faces, and the anger on Batman’s face when he is
interrogating The Joker. The close ups help to make the
scene more believable and make it hit harder and draw the
audience in.
• The crime element also creates a clear sense of good and evil
forces, so that the audience knows who they want to win.

4. Research into similar films openings
• I watched The Dark Knight, The Hangover and Top Gun. I watched how they created suspense
and drew in the audience in the opening scenes, so that I could use similar techniques for our
production. I noted that there tended to be action or an event/ occurrence which was not fully
explained so that the reader would be drawn in to discover more, hence the mystery.
• In Top Gun, suspense was made by fast , tense orchestral music, and the sense of a threat of an
Russian fighter plane flying in United States airspace, and not responding to Tom Cruise’s
attempts to communicate. This draws in the audience as they will wonder if the Russian plane
will be deterred and fly away or attack, or something else entirely. Close up shots of Tom Cruises
reactions help make it more believable, and I utilized this in our production by capturing a
number of reaction shots to be used.
• In The Hangover, although it is seen as a comedy, the opening scene is not comedic and is purely
to draw the audience in. This is done very effectively, as one of the main characters calls his best
friends wife-to-be to tell her that the friend has gone missing, and they are getting married
tomorrow. There is no music, but the scene is bleak, as it is in the desert, very dry looking and
bleak. Coupled by the fact that the main character making the call looks very roughed up with
cuts, bruises, blood and unkempt appearance, makes the audience assume that something has
gone wrong. This further draws the audience in as they want to know how this happened, the
enigma, how it will be resolved, and if they will make it to the wedding giving the film a happy
ending. Close up shots of reactions help to intensify this.
• In The Dark Knight, suspense is built with the help of ominous, slow, deep orchestral and
percussion music. We see multiple unknown men wearing clown masks, with high tech gadgets
and weapons, preparing for something. This makes the audience wonder what is going on and
what will happen (the enigma or mystery), and the music sets the mood that it will be something
bad with threatening and ominous music.. When it is shown that these men are robbing a bank,
that explains upfront, but then the men talk about a man called The Joker who employed them.
This is association for fans as The Joker is a long standing character in the Batman films. Then the
men kill each other and the one left turns out to be The Joker, and he escapes with the money.

5. Our Target Audience
• Audience profile: our target audience is likely to be
male and female, although significantly more tilted
towards the male audience. They will be a fan or enjoy
action movies with suspense and mystery, and will have
seen at least one kidnap/hostage style movie before.
• They are likely to have seen these films: Taken (dir.
Morel, 2008) , Ransom (dir. Howard, 1996) Panic Room
(dir. Fincher, 2002)
• They are likely to go to the cinema once or twice a
month as well as buying DVD’s and having a collection
of DVD’s, many of the action genre.
• Audience figures show how popular the thriller /action
genre is. Box office returns for films similar to mine
show the following figures:
Taken-$226, 830, 568 (Box Office Mojo/via Wikipedia)
Panic Room-$196,442,913 (Box Office Mojo/via
Wikipedia)

6. The forms and conventions used in
• Opening- our film
• the opening draws people in with the enigma and mystery created as people wonder what is happening
and what will happen. This is especially personified in the briefcase that is made to seem important and
the boy who is being stealthily watched.
• Titles-
The main title comes in at the very end as to show that the opening scene is a prelude. Names appear
throughout to list actors, director/producer/editors. The writing is nondescript and not flashy, curly or
extravagant in any way.
• Mise-en-scene (locations)-
• Inside of the house: The home promotes a sense of security, which is contradicted by the sense of danger
posed by the unknown threat.
• front garden/driveway: with the car, gives the sense that travel has just taken place, e.g returning home
from a job.
• back garden: the garden, being open yet with foliage, gives a sense of vulnerability and also fear/danger.
• Costumes-
Arthur-Work shirt, tie, grey trousers and black leather shoes, along with buttoned smart jacket promote
the feeling of working/importance/intelligence.
Son-jeans, t-shirt, trainers/casual shoes, IPod promote informality and a sense of the person being laid
back or relaxed.
• SFX-
• no special effects such as Photoshop or green screens or pyrotechnics were used. The only special effect
was the computer program that was designed to look like an FBI Login screen and files, and the
hacking/typing program displaying random numbers.

7. Forms and conventions
• Sound-
(continued)
We used a Heartbeat sound clip at the start to help build suspense and create a
sense of danger/tension. A Wind sound clip was also used in the backing sound
and it fused well with the music.
• Music-
We used ‘Clubbed to Death’ by Rob Dougan for the backing music. It helps to
create tension and suspense with the fusion of orchestral/piano music and the
percussion/heavy drums at key moments.
• Atmosphere-
The atmosphere is tense and threatens danger, while promoting mystery.
• Suspense-
Suspense is created by the mystery of what is happening, along with the music,
and close up shots of reactions.
Enigma-
The enigma is the mystery of what is happening, why the son is being watched,
and what is in the briefcase that is never opened. This is further invoked by the
mysterious person typing messages and mysterious men kidnapping his son.

8. Audience feedback
We got some good comments from our
clip on YouTube. The feedback says
that it had a good feel and that we did a
good job of building tension and had a
good storyline.
Other Feedback-
Floris Schirmer- “I really liked the use of
the computer as part of the storyline, but
i think some parts of the filming are too
shaky.” After this feedback, I made sure
i went back over the edit and cut down
the non essential clips that looked too
shaky or unprofessional.
Aidan Marshall- “the acting was quite
good and the music went really well with
the editing.” We made sure that the
music fit well with the film as best as
possible so that tension was made.

9. How successful our project is as a film
opening
• I think that Firewall functions well as a film opening. As has been told to
us via audience feedback, it draws the viewer in and makes them want to
watch more- it has a hook.
• The acting was good enough to accurately show what we wanted from
this film opening, and the use of music and multiple reaction shots helps
to make it more realistic and convincing.
• The camera angles such as the low shots through the bushes create the
sense of spying and of being watched, and this helps to create danger and
keeps the audience guessing. Also the significance of the briefcase is
shown and further induces suspense & mystery as it is obviously
something important-and it keeps the audience guessing.
• The editing is fast paced and gets faster when the heavy beats of the
soundtrack kick in, further creating tension as the music builds to a
crescendo.

10. How successfully the whole project
answered the brief
• I think that our project answered the brief quite successfully.
All of the feedback we received was constructive and positive
and helped us to improve the film opening.
• We edited it in a similar style to other thrillers, and built
suspense in the same way and used a similar concept. The
computer effects are also reminiscent of the high tech
gadgets and computer skills seen in thriller and spy movies,
and this is what we were hoping to replicate.
• I also think that our audiences are convinced of the reality of
our production and followed and enjoyed it, and felt drawn in
by the mystery & enigma that we created with our narrative
and editing; it unfolds in a fast paced, compelling way.