The document discusses how a student group created a thriller opening sequence that both used and challenged conventions of the thriller genre. They conducted research on thriller conventions and developed an idea about a wealthy Russian family whose daughter is kidnapped. Their sequence starts with tension-building music and shots that make the female nanny seem suspicious. It leaves the audience wondering whether she is involved in the kidnapping or being set up. The sequence aims to hook the audience and leave them wanting to know what happens next, in line with thriller conventions.

2. I think our thriller opening sequence mostly uses but also
challenges conventions of Thrillers. Our group carried out a lot
of research into conventions of many different thrillers and we
each came up with different ideas and plots for our
thriller,infact I for example, came up with the initial idea of
having a Wealthy and corrupt Russian family and wrote a
full/story plot .The daughter of a rich ex-mafia man getting
kidnapped, this is a very typical thriller idea, so i thought it
would be more interesting and original to make it someone
who was very close to the little girl ,and for this person to be in
on the kidnapping and make it very unexpected that the main
antagonist (kidnapper) Dimitri, is infact Ilya`s brother! Our
group then developed different ideas for what we were going
to and wanted film.

3. • I would say that my key link to our thriller would be Along Came A spider and Taken.
My initial idea of the nanny Patricia , came from the character Jezzie Flannigan in
Along came A spider.

4. • In Along Came a Spider the audience believes this
character is good, this is challenging the stereotype that a
female character must be good.We aren't suspicious of
her at all throughout the film. ( go to 1.04 secs and
watch) this is a technique used to help create an
unsuspected character who is involve in the kidnapping)

5. If i was going to make Snatched into full ,what
are some how could I challenge conventions of a
real thriller and what have i researched to help
us do this?
First of all, I thought it would be a good idea to use a similar character to Jezze in
Along Came A Spider, but I thought it would be a good idea in our thriller to take
more advantage of this stereotype that girls cant possibly be evil or the antagonist.
Our group decided that if we were to make "Snatched" into a full film, we would
challenge this stereotype, we intend to sometimes make the audience feel slightly
suspicious of the female character and at other times make the audience feel like she
is really helping the little girl and that she couldnt possibly be evil , when infact in our
thriller the nannys main task would be to fool the little girl and even when she is
getting kidnapped to make the little girl feel as if she is scared but also in the comfort
of the nanny who in her eyes is still good and that she has rapport with. Adding
enigma,confusion and mystery to the thriller which is a convention and code of real
Thrillers.

6. Our opening sequence generally conforms
to conventions of real thrillers and we
decided this because these conventions
our useful in keeping the audience hooked
to the film, its more commercial and keeps
the audience hooked due to conventions,
we aimed to create tension for the
audience and we wanted the audience to
constantly be asking questions and wanted
them to be curious about what is going to
happen next.

7. The Music/sound
• We added a soundtrack to the begining of the clip,this non-diagetic sound heightens
the tension and enigma and makes the audience feel alert and interested.I think our
chosen soundtrack goes well at the start of our opening sequence because i like the way
the speed of the soundtrack matches the slow panning shot of Ilya and his slow paced
walking goes perfectly with the mysterious and quite slow paced music.
• The music also helps introduce the Father,Ilya and that he is quite a serious man.
• I love how it makes us feel slightly suspicious about the gift on the table and the
note,the music has done its job in adding enigma and tension and stops as the dialogue
begins and the little girl Sophia is introduced . This leaves the audience wanting to know
what the parcel and note was but they purposely get slightly distracted which was our
intension so that the phonecall then adds more tension and is more unexpected.
• We added in the sound effect of a phone ringing ,it is diagetic as it seems realistic and as
if it is actually happening,it is important in triggering the tension and to make Ilya pick
up the phone.

8. • When Ilya answers the phone, we hear Dimitri threaten him.We used adobe audition to warp the sound to make Dimitri
seem mysterious and creepy. We wanted the audience to realise that Dimitri would have purposely warped the sound so
that Ilya could not recognise his own brothers voice and it also makes the antagonist Dimitri seem as if he has been
plotting this call for ages and that he has thought about it carefully.
• We got this idea of warping the phonecall from the film Along Came A Spider.
• Throughout the film the character Alex Cross gets calls from the kidnappe r,below is an insight into how it is done in Along
Came A spider(could not find many scenes of Along Came A Spider on youtube so you can see this use of the phonecall
voice change on the trailer at 59-1.02 seconds into the trailer and 1min .37 seconds to 1min .45 )

9. • The music which creates mystery at the begining of our opening sequence turns on
again when there is a close up of Ilya sweatting, we did this to create tension and to
show how Ilya is feeling,we decided to use it at the begining with Ilya and when he is
worrying/sweatting in deep thoughts to portray to the viewers that whenever that
music plays,that they should associate the music with tension and that something bad
is going to happen/happening.
• There is ambient sound which makes it seem realistic thus more scary,sounds of
wind,cars etc.
• I enhanced some of the actual sounds by increasing/decreasing their level in Adobe
premiere Pro.Such as the door slamming which makes it more dramatic, and the sound
of the car.This makes it more dramatic and thus conforms to conventions of thriller
films.
• In the scene where you can see Sophia banging on the window the sound of her
banging on the glass is effective and creates tension and a dramatic effect.We added in
a recorded sound of Sophia screaming "Daddy" to make the audience feel like
something really bad is happening and it definitely makes it more dramatic and adds
tension.

10. • In the scene of the car the music starts again which tells the audience that Sophia is not necessarily
safe, even with the nanny saying "I`ll take care of everything Darling" it makes us suspicious of the
nanny,then we see that she messages Dimitri who is bad but we still arent quite sure if the nanny is
being set up by Dimiri and that she is still good or that she is bad and has bad intensions.
• As the nanny does an evil smile a change in tone of music occurs subtly, two notes signify the end
and it cuts to the title sequence "Snatched" and the music playing with the titles is the same music
which we used in our opening sequence to create tension but we used the part of the music without
any high pitched notes to give the thriller opening sequence a more dramatic /suspicious ending and
slighty different to signify it is the end of the clip.

11. I was mostly involved in editing the sound but i did a bit of everything
and enjoyed it all. We tried out everything so we could decide who was
best suited to doing what and we did on the whole work well as a team.
I was extemely happy from the audience feedback from the online
audience feeback questionnaire which I made because people liked the
"music” as it “..created tension.." and someone said "I absolutely LOVED
this thriller! The music made it really suspense and the dialogue was
really exciting! I particularly liked the 'warped' voice of the kidnapper - it
made the kidnapper seem really frightening and put me on the edge of
my seat!! I could tell it was a thriller right from the beginning because of
the suspense of the music“
This person and many more agree that it seemed like a thriller due to
conforming to many conventions of a thriller genre. I am extremely
happy with our overall feedback and most of the people who watched
it wanted to know what was going to happen next and thought it
seemed like a real thriller!

12. Camera angles,props and Mise-en-scene
I was extremely happy with our mise-en-scene,the setting was all very realistic and looked as if it was a
wealthy Russians home. It does not look fake but looks like it really is Ilya`s office. For example in this
medium/long shot it shows the setting of a wealthy business mans office and this was what we intended.
The bar in the background shows wealth and contributes into creating the stereotype of Russians and
that they love to drink and that they are flashy.We can see Ilya opening a note with a gift but he looks
confused ,the combination of this and the sound adds mystery to the scene as we want to know what
the note says yet it doesnt give away too much, conforming to conventions of real thrillers.

13. Also an important part of making this scene look like a thriller was also using over the shoulder, shot reverse
shots between Sophia and Patricia (the nanny) and the father Ilya.At first Sophia comes across as a sterotypical
teenager being demanding and spoilt and this is contrasted with the father and nanny being authoritive
, making Sophia the little girl seem vulnerable which is a stereotypical convention of Thrillers that girls are
vulnerable in general.
For example:
^ Coming across a sterotypical teenager and juxtaposed with
a shot below of her Father ,low angle to emphasise Sophias
anger and fustration.

14. ^ This over the shoulder shot makes Sophia seem vulnerable because she is between Patricia and
her father who are both in charge of her. We purposely did this to meet a convention of Thrillers in
general that normally the little girls need protecting and are in more danger than anyone else.The
father says "no i told you before,we cant just go to the shops like everyone else..there are people
who are not our friends Sophia" Telling the audience that perhaps the daughter is in danger or that
the family is infact corrupt. This is conforming to conventions of a thriller. Patricia then makes
Sophia seem even more young and vulnerable by combing back her hair, conforming to stereotypes
in many thrillers of Women having an expressive,mother type role as seen below in the still of the
clip.

15. Sophias costume,the dress and pinned
back bow in her hair also conforms to
the stereotype of an
innocent,vulnerable little girl.We chose
her as the role and i was paticularly
inspired by the look of the girl who got
kidnapped in Along Came A Spider. As
seen below:

16. Both the blonde hair in Along Came A Spider and in our thriller Snatched is relevant
because a stereotype of blondes is that they are desirable and little girls with blonde hair
our often stereotyped as even more vulnerable and young.This is conforming to the
conventions of a thriller because in many films, the vulnerable girls who get kidnapped
have blonde hair. A very tragic and real life,very famous example of a kidnapping case of a
little girl with blonde hair getting abducted is the Madeline Mccann case. People often
associate girls who get kidnapped with blonde hair.

17. After Ilya answers the phone we purposely shot a close up of him.This is done to show
Ilya`s worried reaction to the person on the phone saying "listen very carefully" and the
close up helps to build up tension which also conforms to a convention of a thriller.

18. After the close up shot of Ilyas worried ,suspicious reaction we cross-cut to a shot of Dimitri.
This definitely conforms to conventions of a thriller because it implies that as they are on
the phone that Dimitri can see Ilya. Dimitri`s costume is all black and it emphasises the fact
that he is bad and the antagonist.

19. We the cross-cut back to Ilya while he is being threatenned. An important shot is a long shot
of when Ilya slowly stands up and we think he is going to do something to escape but then
we cross cut back to Dimitri as he says "sit down Mr Brodski" which implies he can see Ilya
and Ilya feels as if he is being watched which adds enigma and tension to our thriller and thus
again is conformng to the thriller genre.

20. One of my favourite shots is the shot below, when Sophia and the nanny leave and the door
slams.The loud noise of the door adds a dramatic effect and because it is such a low shot it
makes Patricia the nanny seem more authorative and intimidating.We enhanced the sound
and increased the level of the sound of the door using Adobe premiere pro.
It also creates a tension
when the door slams that
they have gone and the
audience are curious
about where they are
going to and want to see
what is going to happen.
We then intercut to a
close up of Ilya sweatting.

21. Itook quite a few times to get the right shot of the sweat (eye drops) because we
had to quickly pour eye drops onto Ilya`s four head and then cut it so that we
couldnt see the person pouring the drops on his fourhead. I love this bit because it
really shows we have thought about creating tension to show how nervous Ilya is .
Tension is a very important convention in most thrillers.

22. Title :
I think it was much more effective having the
title "Snatched" at the end of the opening
sequence becuase if it was before i think it
would make no sense, firstly as no action has
taken place. It think it also gives away a lot so i
think if it is at the beginning the audience
would be too suspicious of the characters and it
would be far too obvious. I like how the title
comes up after the nanny Patricia smiles and a
fade to black transition is used, so it leaves us
thinking Is Patricia really kidnapping Sophia or
is she being tricked,what is going to happen
next,where are they going to in the car?
Red outline of “snatched”
signifys fear and danger and
this is a convention of a thriller
genre.

23. The ending ,when it fades to black
after Patricia smiles is a cliff hanger
and leaves us wanting to know what
is going to happen next, and makes
the target audience excited and want
to know what is going to happen next
.This tells me that we are successful
in matching the conventions of a
thriller.
We purposely did a medium two-shot of both Patricia and
Sophia to show the relationship between the two and that
Sophia was worried and scared and that Patricia felt perfectly
comfortable and mysteriously satisfied.

24. The texting between Patricia and Dimitri was also a "good twist" and unexpected. I think it
made it exciting because we find out she is probably dating the kidnapper and it makes us
want to know what is going to happen next.
Lastly we definitely used forms and conventions of real thrillers in our opening sequence
and i think one of the main reasons we achieved this was from knowing what makes thillers
thrillers and from research. The questionnaire which i made took me ages but it paid off
because it gave us many reasons why teenagers were attracted to thrillers and we could
adapt and use these conventions and reasons in our own thriller. Out thriller follows a clear
Todorovian linear narrative in the thriller genre closely following the conventions, quick
paced editing and angled shots add to the convention of thriller editing.