Jennifer Adams created a video opening for a thriller film about the ivory trade with her group. They researched techniques from films like Don't Look Now and Delicatessen to incorporate suspense through camera angles and editing. Their opening establishes a female character, sets up an enigma with a letter, and uses locations like an airport and alleyway to further the mystery. Audience feedback suggested the project successfully set up intrigue to continue the story and answered the brief of creating a realistic thriller around the topic of ivory.

1. Jennifer Adams 1100
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
I worked in a group of three with Amber Saville and Charlie
Atkinson
I took specific responsibility for filming most scenes. I did a
large amount of editing for each scene. My group split up
everything quite equally so that we could do each job at some
point in the process; this helped us work efficiently together
as a team. I took specific responsibility for directing and
researching.
We made a thriller film opening entitled Blood Ivory
The genre of our film is thriller mystery
We used software such as iMovie an After Effects.

3. Research into similar films openings
 We looked at the opening of Don’t Look Now which was helpful in
the perspective of showing a range of camera angles and shots. It
creates tension which we planned to accomplish in our own film
opening.
 In Les Bleus de Ramville it is clearly shown that the film is about
some type of hockey team and is linked to sport. By watching this,
we saw many cutaway shots which gave use the inspiration to use
them in our own sequence.
 I looked at the opening on Delicatessen. It is a thriller about a
butcher. The audience almost feel as though they are being moved
around with the panning of the filming. The panning shot covers
different areas of the table in different directions and camera
movements. The camera focuses on lots of different objects and
does close up on some areas. The editing has produced a sepia tone
which suggests that it is set in a older time period. We watched
this as we wanted to use a panning shot of ivory newspaper articles
and this gave us more inspiration.
 My group also looked at Love Actually because it was filmed in an
airport similarly to ours. It also used a voice over which we ended
up doing as well. We see lots of different people in the airport the
voice of famous Hugh Grant is used for the voice over. The
effectiveness of the voice over in this, is what helped us decide we
definitely wanted to use one.

4. Our Target Audience
 Audience profile: our target audience is likely to
be both genders aged 20 and over. We have used
a topic which would only appeal to an older
audience. The issue of Ivory is unlikely to appeal
to a younger audience. We have still ensured that
is a thriller however it is more factual and relates
the recent news.
 They are likely to have seen these films recently:
Skyfall (2012), Taken 2012), Looper(2012) and
Inception (2010). These films all include action
scenes as well as thriller story lines.
 They are likely to go to the cinema once or twice
a month as well as see films on DVD and
downloads on their computers. They would go
to see films of the thriller and action genre.
 Audience figures show how popular the
thriller /horror /action genre is. Box office
returns for films similar to mine show the
following figures (source Box Office Mojo):
Shutter Island ($294,803,014); Taken 2 ($139,
854, 287) and Zero Dark Thirty ($95, 440, 195)

5. The forms and conventions used in our
film
 Opening Titles
We did not want to overcrowd our film sequence with writing and so we used three titles. However we did also use
two to explain who the characters are played by.
 Mise-en-scene (locations)
We used a variety of mise-en scene during our film opening. The first scene was set in a dressing room. There is a
panning shot across the dressing table as we see several ivory objects and the woman writing a letter.
The second scene is in Heathrow Airport. We used this location to portray the woman’s job. It creates an authentic
and realistic atmosphere.
The third scene is in an alley way in Molsey. This created a suspicious atmosphere.
The next mise-en scene is set in a kitchen. It depicts the idea of the woman being at home in a calm atmosphere.
During this scene suspense is created as the radio message is played.
The last scene is set in the dressing room again. The difference is, the woman is not there and the man (Matthew)
seen previously is now there.
 Costumes
We had to buy several new clothing items to create realistic characters. We purchased a luminous jacket and security
sticker. This helped make the woman look much more like security. She also had to wear a white shirt with black
trousers.
The man in the opening sequence had to wear a smart suit and shirt. It was important that he looked like a business
man but also looked casual.

6. Forms and conventions (continued)
 Sound
The majority of our soundtrack is just music. However we have also included a voiceover which is supposed to be a
news report on the radio talking about the negative impact on buying ivory. Whilst this is being played, you see
the shocked look on the security woman’s face as she realizes what she has done.
 Music
The music that we chose uses percussion and string instruments. To begin the use of violins creates a mournful sound,
which lets the audience know that it is a sad film. The music creates a sense of innocence. The music gets stronger
and louder as the sequence continues letting the audience know that the woman is not as innocent as she first
appeared.
 Atmosphere
A tense atmosphere is created with the use of music. It works well with the filming and gets faster and stronger in
areas which creates tension.
 SUSPENSE
Suspense is shown during the scene in the alley way. The audience may not be clear on what is happening however
they will know it is something suspicious. Suspense is created as it is not clear what is going to happen to the
woman, when she is in trouble.
 ENIGMA
The enigma is portrayed at the beginning as the audience are unaware of what the letter is about and who it is for. The
audience will link the rest of the sequence back to the letter to try and find out what it’s relevance is.

7. Audience feedback

8. How successful our project is as a film
opening
 Blood Ivory is successful as a film opening. The whole story line is
not given away and therefore the audience are left wanting to
know how it ends. The titles are displayed clearly in an effective
font.
 We have used a variety of camera angles and shots which add
texture to the filming. Suspense is created by showing scenes from
different views.
 The acting was clear enough to show the film storyline. With the
use of costumes the characters appeared much more realistic.
 We used effective editing. We used effects which showed the
woman having a flash back and out the past events in black and
white. The rest of the film uses warmer colours. There are no
really bright colours as it is important to keep the colours more
neutral to add to the mournful music.

9. How successfully the whole project
answered the brief
I feel that our film opening did answer the brief successfully.
We were able to create a thriller with suspense and mystery
using the topic of ivory which is not usual in a thriller film.
Our film portrays the idea of realism. We have covered an
important matter which is popular in the news through a
thriller story. We used effective filming, lighting, costumes
and mise-en scene to create a realistic atmosphere.
We created a suspenseful atmosphere with the use of
different camera views. The change of pitch in the music
created enigma and added to the suspense.