This document discusses plans for an opening sequence for a thriller film. It will involve a woman running in terror down a flight of stairs from a psychopathic killer. Conventionally, the victim will be a teenage girl. The antagonist's identity and face will remain hidden. The protagonist, a father of one of the victims, will help the woman. The sequence will include cross-cutting between the woman escaping and the antagonist cleaning up a crime scene. The target audience will be ages 15-20 and the sequence must be appropriate for them. Ideas are discussed for locations, representations of characters, and an ident sequence involving an elevator.

1. Initial Ideas
Adam Richards, Robyn Collier, Joe Bowman & Tristan Hale

2. Basic Plot
The film is about a crazed psychopath who is
involved with a string of murders of young girls.
Our protagonist, a father of one of the young
girls, is out to discover who this mad man is and
why he is doing this. However, we soon discover
that the man man is in fact, the protagonist in a
plot twist.

3. Narrative
Our opening sequence will take place
towards the end of the film. We have
chosen to do this because this is
conventional within a thriller film and
creates the initial suspense to keep the
audience interested in the rest of the film.

4. Target Audience
Our initial idea for a target audience consists of both
genders aged between 15-20.
We have chosen this because the victim, as a
teenager, allows the audience to relate to our target
age range.
In addition, our target audience will be interested in
thrillers as we will be aiming to use conventional
techniques included within modern and more
historical thriller films.
Our sequence must also be appropriate for our target
age range.

5. Plot Line
1. The ident.
2. The woman running down a flight of stairs in terror.
3. Non-simultaneous crosscutting shots of the antagonist
cleaning up a crime scene this is also an ellipsis as the
cleaning shots are based in the future but interlink later in
the narrative.
4. The woman running away escapes outside.
5. Cross-cut back to the antagonist cleaning up (finds ripped
sleeve).
6. Assumed protagonist approaches her to help.
7. Cross-cut back to the antagonist cleaning (picks up
blooded weapon).
8. Flashback of attack on woman.
9. Title sequence.

6. Sub genre/Hybrid
We have chosen not to create a hybrid for our
thriller genre opening sequence. This is because
it is risky and we could lead towards a different
genre rather than a thriller film itself. Also, we
have more knowledge on pure thrillers rather
than hybrid thriller films.
We have also chosen at this moment not to use
a subgenre because, although we are including
themes embedded within our pure thriller idea,
our personal research has been focused upon
pure thriller conventions and history.

7. Location
Ideally we would like to have part of our
sequence take place indoors however the
availability is key to whether this will be possible.
If not, we have some ideas of local outdoor areas
which we also think will fit our opening sequence
just as well.
Part of the sequence we wish to be outdoors
anyway and so it will not be difficult to adapt if
the indoor shots are not possible to make.

8. Representations
Conventionally, pure thrillers often have a teenage girl as the
victim, as their young age and gender are stereotypically
represented as weak and powerless.
The antagonist will be wearing a dark costume because
stereotypically in thriller films and other genres, dark clothing
connotes a malevolence within a characters persona and are
often antagonists.
Also the antagonists’ face will remain hidden throughout the
opening sequence as conventionally, the antagonist’s identity
is not revealed until the climax of the film. This creates
suspense and mystery for the audience within the opening
sequence to keep them gripped.
The protagonist will be wearing a lighter coloured costume to
connote his benevolence and allow the audience to recognize
that he is a protagonist.

9. Ident
Our ident starts off in pitch black, with no other visuals.
Suddenly, there is a surge of power as the lift starts to
move. Light shines through the door spaces as the lift
passes through each level. The lift “dings” as each level
is reached. The generator sounds as the lift stops. The lift
doors open and the ident name is revealed. We have
chosen to do this theme because it matches the
conventions of thriller idents. An example of this is with
our colour scheme, which uses very bright white on a
deep dark. The ident also has a small area of mystery
surrounding the elevator as people wonder in suspense
what is happening and why, much like a Thriller, so our
ident represents Thrillers
(Ident name will be decided at a later date)