2. This screenshot is of our film title name which occurs at the very end
of our opening sequence; being the final shot that the audience see.
The word “Compendium” means a compilation of events of a
particular subject - in this case we see this both at the start of the
opening where a short sequence of childhood footage is shown as well
as later on in the opening when the audience see a collection of
pictures on the characters wall. We thought that by making the title
very simplistic, it reflected the conventions of a typical ‘thriller’ film,
where simplicity is regularly used in title sequences to not draw
attention away from the events within the film. The font which we
used gives the impression of a shine and some sort of reflection,
making it seem as though there is something contained within the
text. This relates back to the ‘treasury’ idea which stems from film
name. This also challenges the conventions of a typical thriller film
because the font effect gives a slight Sci-Fi feel to the film, which also
adds an enigma of what happens in the rest of the film.
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3. This screenshot shows the location and setting of
our opening sequence which is a teenage girl’s
bedroom. It creates a sense of intrusion, which
involves the girls life and personal space. This
enables the audience to feel apart of the film as
well as giving them an insight to the girls emotions
and feelings. This is in line with the typical
conventions of a thriller, where a lot of the time the
prime setting is in the subject family household. An
example of another thriller that does this is House
at the End of the Street, starring Jennifer Lawrence.
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4. In this screenshot we see the main characters clothing and the props
she is using to create the ‘missing’ poster. She is wearing grey coloured
clothing, which is of a casual nature, to reflect the mood of the
atmosphere. The colour grey resembles sadness and depression, the
emotions the character is feeling. The clothing’s casualness shows that
the character perhaps is too engrossed with the grief of the abduction
that she has taken no care in getting dressed. The pencil case we see in
the screenshot, contains a number of other props which are used later
on in the opening to create the poster. The pencil case contains
scissors and pens which are used later on in the sequence. The
iconography of the scissors resembles that of a potential weapon
possibly used in the abduction of the little girl, sparking emotions
among audience members.
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5. In order to film this shot, we placed the camera inside the
drawer and propped it up on books in order to create an
appropriate angle in which the audience could see the
character opening the draw and the prop that the character is
retrieving from the draw (the paper). Our camera work skills
were demonstrated here as the momentum of the draw
opening and closing failed to distort the footage, making this a
really effective shot and giving the audience a closer and
detailed perspective on the important props being used
within the sequence. The enigma created due to the lack of
identity revealed and questionability of what exactly the
character is using the paper for relates to the stereotypical
codes and conventions of thrillers.
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6. In this screenshot we can see one of the many titles
we have used in our opening sequence. As you can
see, the font is simplistic and concise which is what
we wanted as it doesn’t draw the audience’s
attention from the footage, which is a typical
convention of a thriller. Additionally, the font colour
is white which allows the title to be bold and stands
out from the background’s colour scheme, without
it being the main subject when the title is featured
in different scenes.
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7. The storyline is that of a young girl going missing and her sister’s
desperation to find her. The opening sets this up firstly by showing the
character as being very longing by watching the old movies in an
attempt to bring back old and good memories. The character is then
seen as being frustrated through the use of jump cuts of her fetching
each prop needed to make the missing poster. The rest of the opening,
from here, is relatively fast paced to reinforce this frustration. The
constant touching of the picture of the missing girl acts as a constant
reminder of the close relationship which was previously exhibited by
the two characters before the disappearance. This shot is significant in
setting up the storyline because it establishes that the character is
related to the missing girl and also shows her involvement in the
disappearance, foreshadowing later events.
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8. The opening suggests the genre in many different ways. Here, we have
used a screenshot of the part in the opening sequence where the main
character has almost finished writing the missing poster. This is
extremely significant in indicating that the genre is a thriller because it
matches with the codes and conventions of thrillers; where a crime
has been committed and the main character takes it upon themselves
to solve it. The fact that the missing character is a family member to
the main character is also a code and convention of thriller films, and
this is where the emotion and drama aspects come from within
thrillers. Thriller films are very broad in genre, contemplating ideas of
horror, drama, fantasy etc. and therefore need to contain these
components in order to be successful. This part of the opening is
extremely emotive for the audience, which is slightly more dramatic
than a typical thriller film, breaking this code and convention.
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9. The main character is primarily introduced through the shot of
her hand on the remote, however we thought that it was
much more significant when her face was introduced in the
reflection of the childhood photo stood on her bedside table.
This is because the audience is forced to make a link between
the two children in the photo and the single reflection of the
girl that appears in the glass. This is an indication that the girl
in the reflection has an emotional link with the girls in the
photo, and the fact that her facial expression shows a vague
sense of longing reveals that she is perhaps separated from
the other girl in the photo adding an enigma as to who this
girl really is, which is a typical code and convention of a
thriller. The audience later discover that the girl in the photo is
her missing sister.
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10. This shot is taken from a match-on-action sequence within the
opening, where the girl is retrieving a prop from a shelf. There
are several shots included in this sequence, one being from
below (see screenshot), another from the side and another
from over the shoulder. This is just one example of our editing
skills which we have obtained from our practice throughout
the year. We chose this shot to analyse due to the light
coloured surroundings which displays the muted grey, dull
tone colour effect that we put on the sequence. This is a
typical code and convention of a thriller because the muted
colours create a dreary atmosphere, and because the
storyline is quite disturbing it adds to the atmosphere.
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