We were inspired the thriller opening of the Stepfather and used the stereotypical aspect of the emphasis upon the villain with a shot of the villain with his back turned then he turns around.
This is A shot of the villain from the back in our thriller opening, as inspired by "The Stepfather".
This shot could represent the villain showing that the main villain has some sort of control or power.
Also the representation of a shot of the victim lying on the floor in "the Stepfather" was effective, as we decided that a leveled shot of the victim lying down unconsciously would look effective for the audience, as we (the audiences) can relate to the victim is in need for help.
A shot representing the victim, in our thriller opening.
We decided to add a shot with both the villain and victim together. with the mise-en-scene of the victim lying don on the table, and the villain just being there.
Film Openings establish the atmosphere, mood and tone for the rest of the film.
The conventions of our title Came from Memento we were inspired by it so we used a similar title to it due to the title looks noticeable behind a black background written in white font. Thereafter we introduced the film credits of who worked within the production.
At the start of our thriller opening we added our own production company to show our identity, also from this as an audience you can see if it is a big Hollywood blockbuster or just a small independent company which has just released a film.
We decided to make our own production company due to make it look more independent.
The opening also could establish the main character/s as in "The stepfather" it mainly starts off with main character first, before any other characters.
This is where we see the main character with a low angle shot to show that he is important in in the film but also not a victim.
We have used this convention of the low angle shot in our opening.
This is a low angle shot on one of the main character.
Firstly the filming went well we were able to get all out shots done today, we also stuck to our storyboard however we inserted a few extra shots through inspiration.
We set the scene by the train tracks and then we go over towards the water which indicates were the victim is then a sign of danger pops up which says danger this indicates the victim is in danger. There is a shot of the victim covered in blood and a ripped t shirt this makes the audience think what has happened and remains a secret throughout the opening.
The shot blurs out to another shot which is supposed to show a flashback of what happened earlier in the day before the incident. In this shot he is drinking alcohol with a friend and they both seem to be happy and getting along but after a while he goes to take a sip of alcohol but seems to collapse upon the table, his friend gets up and walks away.
This leaves the audience in suspense due to during the thriller apart from that scene you never see his friend ever again so it creates a suspense of what has happened to him and how he has ended up being locked up.
We made sure we got many close up shots in order to show the detail of him being tied up and the detail of his struggle we also had a close up of a sign on danger which shows a human being electrocuted these hints show that death is coming.
We decided to end the thriller opening on a cliff hanger in order to leave the audience in suspense and keep them thinking in doing so we fulfilled our task of creating a thriller opening and in the actual thriller opening we will make the shots shorter and create a soundtrack based on the atmosphere of the thriller opening.
Our media product is an independent low budget student video which will be released on the internet, which is embedded on blogger, and can be shared on facebook, and is shown to other media students on big screen. However our video may or may not find its way on youtube, and get more views, like how some media students have done.
It will also get 200 DVD copies release shared between all our peers, so it can be shared between other friends and family's.
Because of the internet, we have been able distribute our film, far more widely than we could of otherwise done and reach a bigger audience.
Promotion
Other examples media which could promote our movie is from magazines or newspapers, that is if we really wanted to push it to the mainstream.
Here is an example of another media students work, that has reached a wide amount of audiences view through youtube.
Our thriller opening was partly inspired by "The Stepfather", as the stereo type shot of the villains back, then a shot straight to the helpless victim.
This is A shot of the villain from the back in our thriller opening, as inspired by "The Stepfather".
This shot could represent the villain showing that the main villain has some sort of control or power.
Also the representation of a shot of the victim lying on the floor in "the Stepfather" was effective, as we decided that a leveled shot of the victim lying down unconsciously would look effective for the audience, as we (the audiences) can relate to the victim is in need for help.
A shot representing the victim, in our thriller opening.
We decided to add a shot with both the villan and victim together. with the mise-en-scene of the victim lying don on the table, and the villain just being there.
A few words to describe what the opening of a thriller should be.
I feel that although my thriller opener contained some stereotypes of the genre, it challenged some too. Avoidance of stereotypes completely is both difficult and unsettling for the audience as it is the conventions of a genre that make it what it is.
Looking back on the opening to 'The Stepfather', it was branded as mediocre thriller as a whole, i thought the opening was both disturbing and successful.
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As with most thrillers ours started with the production company.
We decided to make our titles mostly on a black screen, or dark parts of the shot.
we also made the text wobble, in order to create the handheld effect. although we did not use the handheld effect much in our actual shots as we didn't think it suited. But adding the earthquake effect to our text made it stand out more and seem more professional.
here is a video i made outside of the project, for one of my songs, which uses the handheld effect in a dizzying way.
One thing that the stepfather did that we also did was use the misc-en-scene of normal everyday activities, in contrast with the aspects of a thriller.
For example in our movie, the scenes where the supposed couple are drinking wine at home, contrasts with most aspects of the trapped scenes (where the victim is tied). through the shots we used, as well as the lighting and effects. The trap scenes are clearer.
