For our setting we will be using an isolated forest as the audience will know that it is unlikely someone else will come to help. Havering-Atte-Bower and Epping are potential filming location as they are secluded locations. It will be seen throughout the whole opening sequence as we only have one setting for our opening sequence. Dark, eerie forests are often featured in thriller films as the lack of vision combined with scary noises make the audience worry for the victim as they know she is far from help and wonder what could be in the hiding shadows. The audience can also relate to times when they've been in a similar situation at night and they remember how they were scared . People usually feel closer to characters whose emotions they understand.
The first iconography element in our film is the victim's phone. She will start using it after leaving her friends and she will be seen texting, happy and unaware. The phone is used to emphasize how happy and oblivious the girl is at first and how this slowly changes until her happiness has been fully replaced by fear. At first we see the texts on the girls phone, then as she ventures further into the forest her phone loses signal, this is when she realises how isolated she is and starts hearing strange noises. This conventional to thrillers as the victim is usually happy and oblivious to the danger they are in until they slowly become more and more scared.
Another iconography element is the torch the protagonist is equipped with. Throughout the scene it is shown to be hanging on the antagonists belt. This is used to make him more fearful as it is implied that the antagonist has come researched and could already have a plan for what he's going to do to the victim. The audience are left to worrying about what the torch is planned to be used for and why it would be so dark a torch was needed. He is also shown to be equipped with a knife which glistens when the light shines on it. Knives are commonly associated with stabbing and murder. The sight of this should make the audience feel sympathy towards the girl as they know what will most likely happen to her. Knives are commonly featured in thriller films as the antagonist has to get close to the victim to use it and having the antagonist use it to kill looks brutal and makes the audience flinch.
Lighting & Colour
Our sequence is set at night so the lighting will mostly be low key and visibility will be low. We are going to try and use the limited lighting to take advantage of all the shadows and emphasize these in order to create an eerie atmosphere. Most people have fears of both the dark, and the unknown, it is conventionally for thriller films to take advantage of this by having characters go to dark, eerie locations like forests or old houses at night. The lack of both brightness and visibility unsettles the audience and is used to create a tense atmosphere.
Costume
Our antagonist will be wearing dark clothing which makes him blend in with the darkness as well as obscuring his face and hides his identity. We are keeping his identity hidden as our research showed that our target audience prefers this. His clothing will be black simply because it's the colour mostly associated with evil.
The victim will be wearing white/light coloured clothing. This is because white is associated with innocence and goodness and this is what our victim is portrayed to be. This contrasts with the antagonist and creates a sense of good vs evil which is conventional as it makes the audience side with and care for the soon-to-be victim as they don't want their side to lose.
Facial Expressions & Body Language
At the start of the scene when all the girls are together they are all smiling and laughing, this emphasizes the state of equilibrium they are in and shows the audience that everything is fine. After the victim loses her phone signal and start noticing sounds is when her expression finally changes and she is seen to be worried and increasingly more scared. Eventually she is seen running to escape the forest faster but she stops dead in her tracks when she sees someone blocking the path ahead and we see pure fear on her face. The antagonist is what disrupts the state of equilibrium and why our story matches Todorov's narrative theory. We then cut to the girls friends who stop smiling and laughing when one of them comments on the fact that their friend stopped replying to her messages. We see that they are trying their hardest not to start worrying but they also start to get scared. Anytime the antagonist is in the shot he seen to be perfectly still. This makes him look cold, focused and more intimidating. This is conventionally as antagonists re often portrayed as psychotic and mentally unstable.
Positioning of Characters
After the girl leaves her friends we will have a high angle shot of her walking down the path. She will be in the middle of the frame and she will appear to be completely surrounded by the forest which emphasizes the fact that there is no escape. She will look small and vulnerable compared to the large dark forest. When the antagonist is in the shot he will be partly obscured and hidden which emphasizes how he his hiding and lurking in the shadows.We want this to be suspenseful with the audience on edge, scared of the antagonist.
The first iconography element in our film is the victim's phone. She will start using it after leaving her friends and she will be seen texting, happy and unaware. The phone is used to emphasize how happy and oblivious the girl is at first and how this slowly changes until her happiness has been fully replaced by fear. At first we see the texts on the girls phone, then as she ventures further into the forest her phone loses signal, this is when she realises how isolated she is and starts hearing strange noises. This conventional to thrillers as the victim is usually happy and oblivious to the danger they are in until they slowly become more and more scared.
Another iconography element is the torch the protagonist is equipped with. Throughout the scene it is shown to be hanging on the antagonists belt. This is used to make him more fearful as it is implied that the antagonist has come researched and could already have a plan for what he's going to do to the victim. The audience are left to worrying about what the torch is planned to be used for and why it would be so dark a torch was needed. He is also shown to be equipped with a knife which glistens when the light shines on it. Knives are commonly associated with stabbing and murder. The sight of this should make the audience feel sympathy towards the girl as they know what will most likely happen to her. Knives are commonly featured in thriller films as the antagonist has to get close to the victim to use it and having the antagonist use it to kill looks brutal and makes the audience flinch.
Lighting & Colour
Our sequence is set at night so the lighting will mostly be low key and visibility will be low. We are going to try and use the limited lighting to take advantage of all the shadows and emphasize these in order to create an eerie atmosphere. Most people have fears of both the dark, and the unknown, it is conventionally for thriller films to take advantage of this by having characters go to dark, eerie locations like forests or old houses at night. The lack of both brightness and visibility unsettles the audience and is used to create a tense atmosphere.
Costume
Our antagonist will be wearing dark clothing which makes him blend in with the darkness as well as obscuring his face and hides his identity. We are keeping his identity hidden as our research showed that our target audience prefers this. His clothing will be black simply because it's the colour mostly associated with evil.
The victim will be wearing white/light coloured clothing. This is because white is associated with innocence and goodness and this is what our victim is portrayed to be. This contrasts with the antagonist and creates a sense of good vs evil which is conventional as it makes the audience side with and care for the soon-to-be victim as they don't want their side to lose.
Facial Expressions & Body Language
At the start of the scene when all the girls are together they are all smiling and laughing, this emphasizes the state of equilibrium they are in and shows the audience that everything is fine. After the victim loses her phone signal and start noticing sounds is when her expression finally changes and she is seen to be worried and increasingly more scared. Eventually she is seen running to escape the forest faster but she stops dead in her tracks when she sees someone blocking the path ahead and we see pure fear on her face. The antagonist is what disrupts the state of equilibrium and why our story matches Todorov's narrative theory. We then cut to the girls friends who stop smiling and laughing when one of them comments on the fact that their friend stopped replying to her messages. We see that they are trying their hardest not to start worrying but they also start to get scared. Anytime the antagonist is in the shot he seen to be perfectly still. This makes him look cold, focused and more intimidating. This is conventionally as antagonists re often portrayed as psychotic and mentally unstable.
Positioning of Characters
After the girl leaves her friends we will have a high angle shot of her walking down the path. She will be in the middle of the frame and she will appear to be completely surrounded by the forest which emphasizes the fact that there is no escape. She will look small and vulnerable compared to the large dark forest. When the antagonist is in the shot he will be partly obscured and hidden which emphasizes how he his hiding and lurking in the shadows.We want this to be suspenseful with the audience on edge, scared of the antagonist.
This post demonstrates proficient planning techniques. It is clear to see that you have considered your group planning to complete this post. This post also demonstrates proficient knowledge and understanding of the codes and conventions of a thriller film and the role of mise-en-scene and how you visualise your own opening sequence.
ReplyDeleteNow you need to-
1) Consider how your mise-en-scene will appeal to your target audience
2) Include images to support the points that you have made