Research into target audience - Miss Miller

Questionnaire

1.How old are you?

2.what gender are you?

3.Do you enjoy thrillers?

4.What is your favourite element of a thriller?

For instance death, suspense, tension, shock, surprise, chase scenes, weapons and why?

5. What type of thriller do you like?

Action, murder, stalking, psychological and why?

6. What type of setting do you like/ prefer?

7.Do you prefer thrillers which are relatable to your age group?

8. Do you think background music makes a thriller film more effective?

9. What type of weapons do you prefer?

E.g knife, gun, strength of the antagonist, or other.

10. Do you like the effects of having a hidden identity within a thriller film?


I created a questionnaire so to find out the overall opinion on the thriller genre as I shall be creating one myself. I wanted to discover the common likes and dislikes of the genre so I had some indication of where to go with my own. For instance it is rather common for thrillers to have a female victim, now if I was to ask people about what they thought of this in my questionnaire and many people said that they didn't like it maybe they thought that it was over done, then it would be something I would refrain from adding within my own film. The sole purpose of me taking out this questionnaire is so for me to gain research and therefore further knowledge on the genre so to make my film as best as it can be. I asked forty people to take out my questionnaire as it would provide me with a fairly large number of responses therefore gaining me some variety of answers so that I can see from a range what people really think of the genre. Naturally I didn't want to ask too little amount of people as that would mean that I would be lacking in results and therefore wouldn't have much information or much to go on when creating my own thriller film. This would be a problem as it could mean that I wouldn't a good enough understanding of what should belong in my thriller film hence it wouldn't be very successful. However I also didn't want to ask too many people as it would mean that I would have loads of responses to go through, having too many could become a waste of time considering as after you've asked a certain amount you've pretty much got the same information only repeating itself, spending too much time on over viewing responses could mean that I would be wasting precious time which I could be using to be actually working on the production of my film hence as you could see forty was a good fair amount.

We wanted to ask the ages of our participants for various different reasons first of all we wanted to back up our previous knowledge that thriller watchers generally fit into the age category of young adults. We also wanted to gain knowledge of what different age groups had a tendency to enjoy watching within the genre, even which particular format to a thriller they would often chose to watch. This will help us when deciding which age category to aim our sequence towards as well as what would be appropriate to put in our film baring in mind who would be watching. As this pie chart shows that the most of the people who enjoy watching thrillers are sixteen and over it means that we can add elements to our thriller such as strong language which would be to risky to be put in place if we were aiming the film at a younger audience. This also means that we should be aiming our opening sequence for a age certificate of a 15 as although most our views will in fact be older than fifteen the next rating up from a 15 is a 18 this would be alienating some potential viewers of thrillers from watching our film as they wouldn't be redeemed old enough to view it.

I investigated what members of the different genders like to see within thrillers, I wanted to see whether there were any major differences between what the two sexes like to view within the thriller genre. I also wanted to see if there was a major leap between the number of females and the number of males who enjoyed watching thrillers if so then I would see how this would help me aim my film to the majority of my audience. If there were any preferences I noticed that males tended to have over females then I would go for them as it would appear from my results that I will be having more male viewers for my thriller film than females.

This was just a basic question we wanted to ask to see generally how many people actually like thrillers this was done in an attempt to see how big our audience could potentially be.It also meant that we would listen more so to views on what is good to have in a thriller from people who were actually interested in the genre as they would have a better understanding of what is an entertaining convention of a thriller and it would be coming from someone with more of a passion for the genre hence they would be much more likely to care for my questions and want to do the genre justice. Where as if I was to ask someone who sort of watched thrillers and found a bit entertaining but wasn't overly into them then there views wouldn't be as well educated on the subject. 

I decided to ask my participants what their  favorite element of the genre was so I could see which answers were the most common and therefore focus more so on them than any less common choices. Hence meaning that I had more of a chance of impressing a larger audience as I would be displaying a wider range of elements which people liked to see within the genre. It is important to realise which aspects viewers tend to prefer so you can adapt your film to their interests therefore making it more entertaining for them hence gaining more of their interest and a better response. With a better response there is likely to be a better hype around your filming, including word of the mouth, people recommending the film to friends etc gaining the film a larger audience.  It is important to include different elements of the thriller genre within your thriller film so to make sure you have adapted your film correctly to a thriller film without these key elements you may not have fit your film accurately to a thriller and therefore would be disappointing viewers would were expecting a thriller and therefore hoping to be watching these key elements. For instance they will want to see key pieces of iconography such as weapons including guns and knifes foreshadowing the later deaths to come within the thriller as well as portraying how unstable and how unsafe it is to be around the owner who tends to be the antagonist within the genre.  

I asked this question for similar reasons to the one above, with the knowledge of what kind of thrillers the general audience prefers I am able to set my thriller to certain categories and really fit it to what most people want to watch therefore making it more successful. I will be asking these types of questions so to be able to help me make my film more conventional to a thriller, for instance I could take an aspect of a thriller which wasn't very popular or made very aware of by the general public and put it in my film although this would still be conventional to a thriller it would be better to use something that viewers are much or aware of and familiar with hence the conventions will be much more noticeable and will become more clearly suited to the correct genre. Knowing which types of thrillers are most common among my potential audience can help me to create and therefore build my entire film around it. For instance as shown above on my pie chart many thriller watchers enjoy to watch action types of thrillers hence from this I am able to build upon the idea of having an action thriller and make my film around this so to suit the idea. 

Thriller films are often based around the lives of a group of teens or one single young woman settling into life, so we wanted to discover whether people liked the general set up of the age range of thriller characters or whether or not they would rather see a different age group. As you can tell from my pie chart most thriller watchers prefer to watch thrillers which are relatable towards their age group which would mean teenagers through to young adults. This is an important thing to know as it means I know which age ranged to based my main character within as well as any other characters whom may be needed which can fit to that age category. This is a massively important thing to know about my film as it means that I can be informed of how to base the set yet again but this also informs me that most of my audience like to watch thrillers where there can relate to certain elements this enables me to make the decision to keep my film more realistic rather than using supernatural monsters and demons etc as well as the story line itself. Maybe I could talk to my group members about having a relatable message behind our narrative. 

For my narrative I am considering using a hidden identity, so I wanted to learn the opinions of the concept, if  a lot of people decided that they didn't particularly like it then I wouldn't use a hidden identity within my narrative as it wouldn't be something that a lot of audience members wanted to see. As you can see from my results the majority liked to see a hidden identity within the genre I received feedback such as "it keeps you guessing which keeps you more interested in the film" and many other things of the sort. Out of the participants who didn't say yes more said that they weren't sure rather than no it was actually a rather small percentage who said that they didn't like the concept of a hidden identity which shows me that it would be a good thing to include within my narrative this shall help me go forward with the planning of my narrative and allows me the confidence that I am following along the right lines with it. 

Weapons are very conventional to a thriller film, hence it was important for me to get it right and with such a wide range it could easily become quite a difficult decision to cast, not only do I need to select a weapon which is liked via audience members but I also need to make sure it is fitting to my film as well as the character which shall be armed with it. Often weapons are a large part of how characters are viewed hence it is important that I get it right for instance 'Ghostface' from the scream series is known for mainly using a knife when killing victims no matter who is behind the mask at which time. Often a weapon can say a lot about who is obtaining it for instance a knife is a much more hands on weapon than a gun which you can use and shot from a distance and still kill your victim for some this is seen as a much more cowardly way of killing. With a knife you have to get up right and personal with your victim you have to physically force the knife inside of them this isn't something that many people can physically see themselves being capable of.  If an antagonist was to have a different weapon one that was original to them then it could become their trademark bringing more attention to said character and therefore placing more of a hype around the film. Often this little elements to a film are what is so loved by films cult followings. 

This question will help me decide how much music I will put into my film for thriller effect it also teaches me how much the general public understand about thrillers as I know how much the music really does alter a film. However they do not seem to be so aware of this which shows how as they are simply just watching the film and focusing on the narrative that many of them are unaware of the little tricks put in place to keep their attention. This informs me that I may not have to be as careful when trying not to edit my film etc ruining it for the audience thinking that they will be likely to pick up on these things and it will ruin the experience for them as it appears that for many views these elements simply go over their head. 

From this question I will have a better idea what types of settings are most popular among the general audience therefore helping me to make a decision as to which setting/settings I should used within my own film. After all if I was to chose a place which audience members find irritating such as a circus or feel that they have seen to often within the genre such as a haunted house they will be likely to be put off from watching the film because of it. Naturally I don't want to cut off or alienate potential viewers from watching or enjoying the film so I want to keep it open and wide enough for more to enjoy so I will opt to use places of which I know sit well with the audience. 

I carried out research within my group so to find out the general public's view on thrillers, for instance what it is they like about thrillers or what they may dislike about thrillers, we wanted to find out the ages of our participants so to gain a general idea of what different age groups tend to like and dislike. 

Vox pox:

I filmed vox pox's on some of the people I took my questionnaire out on so that I am able to provide evidence of this part of my research. 

This research was most beneficial as it has displayed information to me about what most people like to see within the thriller genre. It has also taught me about the general public's understanding of the genre. From my research I have been able to set upon many things for instance I have decided that I want to display a female victim within my female for sure and I also want her to be of a relatable age for most of my viewers so I am currently considering that she should be around fifteen years old making her on her last year of secondary school. If I was to make another film I would effeminately take out this form of research again as it has help me to create new ideas as well as adding further confidence to my existing ideas and helped me to eliminate others. 

Group narrative - Miss Georgiou

Group narrative

For the production of my thriller film I am working in a group alongside fellow media students Harry osborn and Emma Allen.


My narrative post:

- hidden identity
- we see the antagonist but never their face
-stabbing
-cliff hanger
-his a psychopath
-bad childhood
-dark/deserted setting
-the killer kills those closet to her - so to strip her of friends/ family
-left on her own, we feel sympathy, clip ends, enigma

The main theme for my narrative is insanity. The idea of the antagonist being mentally unstable and this is what is coursing him to act out on such a scarily strange obsession with the victim in such a way.

Harry's narrative post:

-suicide
-flash backs
-stalking
-plot twist, decides against suicide due to kind old women
-kind old women dies, clip ends, enigma

I like the narrative ideas Harry provided during our group discussion. Straight away as he was explaining them and as we were talking through my ideas I could see ways in which our two narratives could link up together well. For instance the idea with suicide being portrayed within a film can be connected to the idea of being mentally unwell as well as the concept of either being a stalker yourself or the effects of what being stalked by someone can do to you. Harry's idea of a kind old woman dying can easily be put to a murder which fits part of my narrative of friends and family of the victim being killed off and stripped away from her. This will make her much more vulnerable and provide the audience with further reasons to feel sorrow and have empathy towards her.

Emma's narrative post: 

-Female victim - making it more sympathetic for the audience
- Murder
- Kidnapped
- Cliff hanger
- Iconography (weapons such as knifes representing danger)

I think the idea of having a female victim is definitely the right victim for us to use and this is often done within thriller films hence the creation of 'scream queens'. Like myself Emma also went with the idea of a cliff hanger I think this is very important considering we are only filming the opening sequence we cannot give too much away as the rest of the film may then becoming boring to the audience. I also think that iconography is needed as it displays just how unstable the antagonist is and really confirms their intentions to the audience.

Final narrative:

-Suicide
-main scene, about to commit, bridge
-flashbacks
-stalking, outside victims house, in schools, stalks family

Our own narrative suits the theory of Todorov, our narrative starts with disequilibrium as it begins with our victim standing on a bridge about to jump off hence committing suicide, this is conventional to a thriller as it is physiological there is a twisted reasoning behind this young girls suicide attempt which the audience is set to later discover.  The audience is made to feel sense of relief which brings in our equilibrium as a friendly citizen guides our character out of the direction of killing herself. Our story ends on and disequilibrium as this kind woman is then killed herself via the man who it appears had made this poor girl so distraught that she was planning to take her own life.

Individual narrative ideas - Miss Georgiou

Why is a narrative important? 

A narrative is an important factor to have within a thriller film for a variety of different reasons. The narrative is the art of telling a story, story telling is an important part of our lives and is something which we value highly as we are involved in it everyday, taking into consideration how much time we spend retelling story's to friends family etc, watching television and film, reading, etc.

Without a narrative there would be no story, we need our narrative to have our film revolve around, without a narrative there would be no structure to the story's behind our films nor would there be an outcome.

My narrative
- hidden identity
- we see the antagonist but never their face
-stabbing
-cliff hanger
-his a psychopath
-bad childhood
-dark/deserted setting
-the killer kills those closet to her - so to strip her of friends/ family
-left on her own, we feel sympathy, clip ends, enigma

Mise en scene:

Suicide
Flash backs
Deserted area - bridge in the middle of no where etc
Knife
Mask
Hood
Daylight - to contrast

Conventions
Death/ murder
Antagonist
Protagonist
Surprise, shock and suspense
Enigma

Characters
Victim - typical attractive young girl
Antagonist - old man
A friendly bystander who attempts to resolve the situation

Overall I wanted my narrative to be a rather dark one, I wanted it to be a noticeably psychological thriller in order for this to happen I want the film to really have the audience thinking, not just about what is on screen but the connotations of what they are being shown could mean. I also want audience members to be considering what may happen next,  I wanted them thinking about the well being of Brittany's mentality, trying to work out what could be ruining through Steve's mind considering why he is so mentally unstable.

I decided that a hidden identity would be good to use for our antagonist as this brings added fear to the character, this may also hint towards our antagonists unstable mind as often these characters are mentally ill, this would also be a good effect to use as it is a convention towards a thriller. It is important to add conventions of the genre within our film so that the audience can identity if with actually being a thriller and would feel disappointed, making sure we add conventions can also help us to determine whether our thriller really fits the genre and is living up to it's potential for the thriller audience. The idea of a hidden identity has been used many times before both for the different effects that it can bring to the narrative and the different elements you can develop from it. For instance often characters with a hidden identity such as in the Scream series appear to have a split personality. In their everyday life they appear rather normal, much like everyone else, not someone you would associate with the mad killings of the series however once they prep themselves to become this serial killer they suddenly become this completely different person capable of all kinds of evil things. Hence the hidden identity would be a good way to display our mentally unstable protagonist as it both suggests/hints towards him being unwell.

As we are only filming the opening sequence to our film it is important that we don't give too much away within the opening of our film. If the audience is provided with too much to soon the rest of the film can become boring as most of the important/interesting information would have already been given away and the rest of the film would become rather boring and appear to be dragging. So to save this from happening I think that we best finish our opening sequence on a cliff hanger.

Both myself and the other members of my group shall all share our own narrative ideas with each other and then put them all together so to create a narrative of our own as a group. We shall share our ideas in one of our group meetings by simply talking everyone through our own ideas and seeing who's ideas we would like to work with best and how we could better any potential ideas.

Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

Inspirations

Since joining the media course, I have been analyzing many thriller films, in doing so I have been watching them differently as to the way I would be if doing so purely for entertainment. We need to collect inspiration from other thriller films before we can create our own so we can see what makes a thriller e.g. investigate the conventions of a thriller so we can add them into our own work hence we will then be clearly creating it to fit the thriller genre. Without disappointing those fans of the genre purely watching the film as they are expecting a true thriller.

From analyzing thriller film  'The Crush' I have decided that I find the aspect of a young mentally insane girl very interesting, I've noticed various different ways to explore said story line all of which can be related to the thriller genre as they display conventions towards it. The film explores themes similar to 1992 film 'Obsessed' starring Shannon Doherty like Alicia Silverstone in her role as Adrian in 'The Crush' both playing young girls obsessed with a man many years their elder. This approach to thriller really shows the psychological side to the genre which can scare people in a different way to what they are use to, not only is it a scary thing to watch but to also think about, these types of films really engage into the viewers thoughts and urge them to consider what it is like to be inside the thoughts of people who think like this or even those around them. Often within thriller films there is a character who is seen to be mentally unstable compared to everybody else, these types of characters alone are able to create the three s's - surprise, shock, suspense.

As shown within the above clip from 'The Crush' the wide range of emotions that these characters go through can be shown in a variety of different ways, within the film the audience is shown many different sides to Adrian's personality within this clip we see the side she is portraying to those around her, the innocent victim, the sweet young girl she wants everyone to believe she is and who she really is, we catch a glimpse of this as she flashes a nasty smirk at Nick as he is forced into the police car, although this shows the audience a rather nasty side to Adrian getting what she has sought out we are also shown a quite intelligent side to her. Yet the audience is aware that she is not of sane mind, this lours the audience into her state of mind even more, everything about her is both interesting and unknown to the average viewer for many audience member's this can make her even more frightening. Through all of this is able to create further suspense, her actions are constantly able to shock and surprise the audience until they realize just how serious her condition is.

This has  inspired me to really consider the physiological factors when creating my own thriller sequence. I have learnt how interesting these types of characters are too watch, often they are a clear antagonist yet we audience members still manage to feel some form of sorrow for them as they have a mindset which the normal mind simply couldn't understand.

As you can see that the very begging of the clip the music used is able to alter the mood of the film as it chances to fit the situation occurring. The music begins fairly happy displaying Nick driving down the street when suddenly it becomes harsher, much more intense and therefore scarier, the change in the music indicates how sinister what is about to happen is. This is just one example of how much of an effect music can have within the thriller genre. I plan to use music within my thriller both for the effect as well as possibly to apply hints or indications to the audience as to what may be about to happen.

Nick's lack of knowledge and confusion towards whats happening around him conveys innocence. However none of the characters around him are able to pick up on this which becomes very frustrating for the audience. This technique and many of the sort has been used often before in thrillers so to make audience members feel even more on the victims side. As well as making them feel as though they have a better understanding for Nick's struggle. This is a good concept to use when wanting to make the audience to sympathise even more with the victim by contrasting the way they are to the situation they've been put in.

For a very brief moment the music stops as the audience is displayed a close up of Adrian, this enforces how all of this was her doing and establishes just how powerful she is, it also reminds the audience that she is fully aware of just how nasty what she is doing is even though she is not of sane mind. I like the concept of how much a brief moment of silence can display onto the audience. I also like how the music leading up to this moments silence builds up the tension towards it making it scarier. This is definitely a technique I will be considering for my opening sequence.

Adrian's costume would make her appear much more innocent to those around her whom she needs to fool. She is dressed in rather sweet, young, childlike clothing hence people are likely to see her much more in this way rather than how she actually is. If she was to dress in darker clothes she would be seen as a lot less innocent, older and perhaps even seen as a slightly more devious girl which she in fact is. This displays the importance of costume as it shows how much a characters clothing can say about them. The victim in many films would be dressed similarly to Adrian for the general stereotypical opinion that is viewed of girls who dressed in such manner. Within my film I plan to have my victim dressed to present similar themes to the ones Adrian is giving off to those closet to her so to demonstrate my victims innocence hence making her more likable which can aid to help the audience build a stronger relationship with the victim.

The above clip from thriller film 'valentine' is inspiring for people considering the idea of having a hidden identity within their own film set of the genre. The scene illustrates the standard effects of having a hidden identity within a thriller film as the audience becomes fearful of the concept of whom it may be behind the mask after all as demonstrated within the above scene this could be absolutely anyone. It is evident from the very beginning of this scene that the antagonist is going to have triumph over the victim yet they still remain very distant, even in the way they walk it provides no personal information about this person simply that they are not of sane mind and clearly set on this task in hand, it's as though they've got into the form of a new character away from the person they would be in their every day lives and have had to remove any remaining traits once getting into this mode of action. Which suggests that more than likely this is someone who our victim knows, someone who knew where she would be that night and sought her out, with a mission in mind. The effect of this urges audiences members to find out what the victim may have done to the antagonist in order to lead them to taking out such an act upon them. As well as trying to work out who the antagonist may be in their everyday life even looking to characters they have already been introduced to to work out if this hidden identity may belong to any of them.

The actual mask itself can be viewed by certain audience members to be very frightening, it's the mask of an actual physical face rather than simply working on covering themselves its although they have a new face shaped for when they come into form of becoming this person, the mask itself can remind viewers of many frightening things. For instance some audience members who claim to be frightened of clowns may find this mask quite scary as they see it similar to one of a clown, other members might find that they find the face on the mask reminds them of that of a young child, children are often used within thrillers as the innocent they obtain creates a very frightening fear of anything wrong happening to them. However this could also convey to another element often used within thrillers of a mentally insane child. Which could indicate that something happened to this person as a child which lead them to behave this way.

A trait Valentine has used which I personally think is a really good concept to use when using the element of a hidden identity and would like to use in my own thriller film is that of providing the audience with clues as to who this person may be in their every day lives. For instance the audience  becomes aware that the young boy the girls tormented when they were young suffered with nose bleeds, as the scene progresses and the tension between the antagonist and the victim becomes higher the camera zooms into the close up of the antagonist were the audience views blood running from the masks nose creating a link between the two, emphasising the theory the film makers want the audience to follow of this innocent young boy growing up to become the antagonist. I think that giving the audience clues as to who is behind the mask is a really interesting factor to have within a thriller film and is certainly conventional as it highlights the hidden identity and makes this effect even scarier as well as keeping the audience guessing which is something many thriller fans claim to enjoy about the genre.

Throughout their chase scene the victim is placed within an environment in which they don't know very well hence they don't feel particularly comfortable making the experience all the more frightening for her. Not only does she not know where the antagonists next move may be or what he might do but she has no prior knowledge of any different routes out of even where the route she is on may take her. This adds power to the antagonist as it's as though she is a simply a puzzle piece playing his game following his rules and she has no way out of it. Often within thriller films power in added to the antagonist by providing them with advantages over the victim this courses the audience to be even more fearful of them and have greater sympathy for the victim as they are witnessing how difficult there situation is and how much harder it is with the antagonists added advantages. This is something I will consider doing within my own thriller as it adds emphases on everything you would want within a typical thriller, i.e it makes the antagonist appear more frightening and creates a much more victim vibe for the victim. Hence this will ensure that a film is conventional to a thriller.



Watching other films from the genre is a good way for me to make sure I have a good well rounded concept of the genre as well as being a good source to collect various different pieces of inspiration from.

Research into conventions - Miss Miller

Conventions

When someone refers to the conventions of a certain thing for example the conventions of a typical comedy film, they are talking about the way in which things are usually done, within a typical comedy, so you would have certain characters set within the film to set up certain aspects to the genre.

Hence the idea follows with the idea of a film being conventional to a thriller film, a convention of a thriller film means to be conforming or adhering to accepted standards, within a film element which are common to different film genre patterns which can be viewed or used in different films from the same category.

It is important to have conventions towards the genre within your film of it's chosen genre as without them audience members may find that they are disappointed in the film as they thought that they would be watching a film of a particular genre however they are not able to make simple connections towards it making them feel cheated. So when creating my thriller I need to add these conventions no matter how small they are important for instance adding blood is an instant reference back to the genre and makes audience members feel comfortable in what they are watching. 

Here are some examples of conventions within a thriller film are:

Female victim/protagonist

Iconography

Typical antagonist/protagonist character situations

Low key lighting

Diegetic/ Non - diegetic sound

Shock, surprise, suspense

Slow editing

Enigma

Eerie music

Abandoned setting/dark/ isolated

Here is a scene from thriller film 'The Crush' of which I can use to demonstrate to you the conventions to a thriller film:

The crush is a 1993 thriller starring Alicia Silverstone (Adrian) as a fourteen year old who develops an obsession with Nick Eliot the writer lodging at the house she share's with her parents. The film has numerous different conventions to a thriller film as is shown within the clip above. For instance although Adrian isn't exactly your typical protagonist and is actually causing many problems, she is still a young attractive female who is in a great deal of pain and suffering, although what she is doing is viewed as wrong, audience members may actually feel sorrow for her after all she genuinely adore this man.

Nick does however fit the role of a typical protagonist portrayed within the genre he becomes a victim to Adrian no matter how much she may care for him he is still put in difficult  as well as frightening situations as a result of her destructive actions. As you can see in the scene above Nick's costume makes him appear like a nice, well manner, friendly, approachable man this helps the audience to recognise that he is innocent however as Adrian is also dressed as you would expect a sweet, innocent young girl to be it is set to confuse audience members at first as it does with all of the characters around Adrian who are fooled by the act she portrays herself with. 

The scene begins with very intense engaging music (non-diegetic sound), which causes suspense by allowing the audience to know that something bad is about to happen yet not telling them enough for them to know what will happen, this leaves audience members interested to find out what Adrian is going to do, creating suspense is a convention of a thriller as often it is this suspense that people find frightening or is the build up to them being scared. As she walks in the musics playing with her strides the camera zooms into a close up of her face, this is done to show her emotions to the audience as well as to encourage them to keep on guessing about her, she is a difficult character although she is infatuated by Nick that does not mean that he is safe around her, often within a thriller film there is a mentally unstable character such as Adrian again this is conventional to the thriller. 

The thriller genre is known for its screams from female characters, screams (on screen sound) can present many different things, often fear or danger, although it is not usually done in the way as it is by Adrian it is still conventional as it is something which thriller fans would expect to see/hear within films from their chosen genre. Her screams remind us that all is not safe for either of our characters, creating further suspense we want to know what the outcome of our characters time together will be, will Nick escape Adrian, will Adrian be found out for who she truly is? This is often done within the genre so to build both tension and suspense as well as keeping audience members guessing as to what will happen next hence keeping them watching more closely gaining their interest. 

Yet another convention to a thriller would be the fight scene between Nick and Adrian, there can be many different fight scenes within a thriller, there tends to be a 'big fight' scene however manly between the protagonist and antagonist. This 'classic' scene can be known to course a lot of frustration, for instance within the scene shown above it is obvious that something serious is happening between Nick and Adrian, there is a large audience as Nick a nice well respected man is standing in the crowd minding his own business then suddenly an evidently angry girl storms through and slaps him yet all anyone does is stand there and watch them in shock this may course frustration for audience members. After  they all allow Nick to leave with this woman and stand by as they hear the noise from the pairs encounter. Audience members want someone else from the crowd to come and help Nick save him from the trouble he could potentially be throwing himself into. This form of built up frustration is conventional of a thriller as often these elements are displayed within thriller films so to keep audience members watching as they feel that they need to see the happy ending for a character such as Nick, they need to see him be saved either by someone else or be saving himself. 

I will be taking inspiration from this when I come to do my own thriller film as I will be closely focusing on making sure I use crucial conventional elements to thriller within my film, what I have taken from film 'The Crush' is that I can make aspects of my film fit and be conventional to a thriller without necessarily having them fit in the exact same way as they usually would within a thriller film. For instance Adrian's screams although they weren't used as you would typically see them within a thriller they were still conventional to the genre hence filling them job and creating a affect by highlighting the danger and seriousness of the situation.  This will course me to think before adding conventions to the genre to my film 'is there another way I could be doing this?' I think this adds an interesting twist onto films of the genre. This clip has also made me consider the concept of not having a typical antagonist. Just because Adrian is a young nice enough seeming female doesn't mean that is in fact the case as the audience is able to realise without putting her in a typical antagonist costume such as a mask or dark clothing through following the plot line. This made me consider that this may be a more effective way to get the audience to view the antagonist after all when watching some films the audiences straight away recognises the villain as this is how they are set out to the audience but they have done nothing to consider this for themselves. It's as though they have been force feed information and therefore not really discovered this on there own, however had they done so they may find that they are able to connect with the film more so and have a great understanding of it as they have discovered a characters true intentions for them-self. This could also make the antagonist appear more sneaky and clever as they are able to fool everyone around them at such ease without ever having to change into a separate outfit to commit their evil deeds.  

Opening sequence analysis - Miss Geogiou

How does the opening sequence of the film 'Halloween', inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film?  

The above clip is of the opening scene from 1978 thriller/horror 'Halloween', an opening scene has many purposes within a thriller film, for instance it sets the tone of the genre and creates the right atmosphere for it. It may also introduce the possible situations as it gives the audience an idea of whats to come, often opening sequences introduce the narrative to the audience/main character/characters possibly the antagonist. Opening sequences for thrillers are known to contain numerous different things such as four micro elements, opening credits, main characters, thriller conventions - Enigma, yet they're also known for not giving too much information away.

The film begins with the use of slow editing within is continued throughout the majority of the clip, this contrasts the later actions of our killer as it makes appear much more innocent than they actually are, it also creates suspense as the camera angle is causing viewers to look at the house much more closely and guess what may be about to happen.

Although there aren't many characters within this scene a lot of character work has still taken place, our killer is unknown to us until the very end of the scene, this is achieved through 'pov' camera shots, not only does this create suspense as we watch through the killers eyes with no idea who they may be but it also creates the surprise which later comes through realizing that the killer is in fact a small child as well as the Enigma, suspense, shock all of which relates this idea to a convention of a thriller. The audience question why Micheal decided to take his own sisters life, being that he is only a young child and it is his sister that he killed the answer is likely to be much more physiological which again is conventional to the thriller genre, so is our victim a young female typical of thriller.

Cinematography techniques are used throughout the duration of the clip, a zoom out camera shot is used as our antagonist is shown to be a child this shocks the audience as it really clarifies the situation for them, it becomes apparent that these people finding Micheal are actually the young boys parents as they are clearly standing outside their house it is obvious that it was his sister who he just killed. Pov shots are used they give the audience the perspective of the antagonist and hides his identity from the audience to lead up to the big reveal of who he actually is.

The soundtrack can have a massive impact on a thriller film, we hear the voices of young children singing a rhyme this is classed as off screen sound as although we can hear it we cannot actually see on screen where the sound is coming from, children are generally viewed as innocent this prepares the audience of contrast between the children and the devil and informs the audience of a young killer. Whilst our antagonist is watching his sister through the window there is silence this gives of the impression of a obsessed theme this would be diegetic/ parallel sound. On screen sound is used when we hear Micheal killing his sister, we also hear the sound of the clock ticking and the sound of someone walking up the stairs this demonstrates that our victims time is running out this would be diegetic sound.

The scene is conventional to that of a thriller in a variety of different ways, low key lighting is used as the antagonist  is walking towards the house which leads to shadows, that build up suspense as the audience doesn't know whats there. A young female victim is used, as is the use of a hidden identity, another typical character trait used within 'Halloween' conventional to a thriller would be that the antagonist is a male.

Many typical narrative traits are used during the scene, the film is based on Halloween night hence there is evil, costumes and murder. There is shock once the mask is taken off from the boys face, applied with suspense as the audience wonders what will happen next, Enigma - we want to know why he done it especially as it is his sister some viewers may question her earlier behavior and wonder of her treatement towards her brother after all it doesn't seem right for her to be acting so promiscuously with her little brother  at home.

Editing like in many films of the genre is used a lot, there is slow editing which prolongs the sequence, the protagonist walking up the stairs slowly builds suspense and tension. There is a reaction shot when the mask is taken off of Micheal's face, the audience is shocked as is Michael's parents as the realization of what has just happened comes to light, the temp increases after murder because the antagonist wants to get away which excites and engages the audience further.