Evaluation, Forms & Conventions

Conventions of a thriller title sequence

Suspenseful

Every thriller opening should be able to create suspense from the very start, to create an uneasy atmosphere to make the audience feel more interested in what is going to happen.

Jaws opening scene is a great example of a scene which created suspense by using false plateau. THIS IS VERY EFFECTIVE !

Suspenseful or scary music

Our thriller opening sequence used SUSPENSEFUL & SCARY MUSIC to help build tension for the beginning. This was created on sound track pro and used a repetitive but airy sounds to help make the atmosphere uneasy and not happy and normal

Production company

Idents are used as the first shot of a thriller opening as it allows the  audience to know who made the film and how big of a budget was used to film it. Being as we were using college facilities we thought it would be right to use Candi Studies as isn't a high and expensive production company. Such as Screen Gems who made The Step Father.

Titles (in a specific order)

Our thriller opening didn't have all the people a normal film would have in the titles. This was mainly because our footage wasnt long enough to stretch to include everyone. However, if given the chance to re-do this i would make sure we have enough shots to be used to enable all titles are added

 

This opening from the step father shows how a title sequence should look

Establishing main characters

Close up shot establishing the main character in the step father

At the start of a thriller opening the main characters might be established so later on the audience to recognise them. The Step Father does this by using a lot of close up shots and full body shots of the main character in the opening. However, we as a group chose not to use any close up shots as we wanted our characters identity to not be clear and almost secretive. We did this by filming dull light shots and editing them to make them grey.

Establishing the location

Thriller openings might establish the location that the film would be set at. This is done by using establishing shots which allow the audience to view the entire location at one time. The step father used this to show the show where the film began

For our thriller we used this to show the road where the film would be set before showing  a mid shot of the front door

Age certificates

Normally an age certificate would be placed before the ident and opening of the film. We felt our film would be rated a 15 however, we didn't put one at the start of our film after having many discussion abouts whether to do it. We had thoughts like 'Doesnt the cinema make it, not the actually film maker?'