Who Am I?Evaluation

When planning the opening of our thriller we decided to take into consideration the openings of the other thrillers that we had previously analysed so that we could stick with the forms and conventions of the thriller genre.In the opening of our thriller we decided to have the main character as the killer as we had seen this used in “American Psycho” and we wanted the audience to see things from the viewpoint of the killer and be shocked at what it is that has been done. Another way that we followed the forms and conventions of the thriller genre in our opening was by creating a character profile like in “Gothika” so that the audience have a greater attachment to the character and so they will be more shocked and disturbed by what the character has done.

By having the killer as the main character and creating a character profile in our opening we stuck to the thriller forms and conventions as we see these two points featured in the thriller genre for the entertainment and pleasure of the audience.We also stuck to the codes and conventions of the thriller genre by using blood . We decided to use the blood as it was more graphically visual so that it would stand out to the audience and shock them; this is similar to the thriller “Seven” which uses blood and gore to shock the audience.

Another way that we followed the thriller codes and conventions is through music. We decided to use dark, ominous music like in “Jaws” because it sticks into peoples minds; therefore when they hear similar music later on in the thriller they will know that something bad is going to happen or has happened.

The reason that we decided on “Who Am I?” for our thriller opening was because it was the idea that stuck to the codes and conventions of the thriller genre the most. A way that it stuck to the thriller genre was through the use of blood and the low, ominous music to create tension and suspense like in the thriller “The Sixth Sense”. Another way that we stuck to the codes and conventions of a thriller was by creating a character profile like in “American Psycho”. We thought that it would be a good idea to create a character profile in the opening of our thriller as we wanted the audience to feel an overwhelming amount of shock at what the character has done as we do with Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho”.

However, the opening of our thriller deviates from other thrillers in various different ways. One way that our thriller opening deviates from others is through the soviet montage. This was done through the montage of pictures of the unknown victim which allowed the audience to come to the conclusion that Stephen Smith had killed the girl. In the thrillers that I studied we didn’t see this editing technique used. However, we thought it would be a good idea to let the audience draw conclusions for themselves about what has happened without us actually telling them.

Another way that our thriller opening deviates from the thriller codes and conventions is the age of the character. Our character is roughly eighteen years old where in thrillers such as “Gothika”, “American Psycho” and “Seven” the protagonist is a lot older; which is something you would expect from a killer. However, we wanted the audience to be able to relate to the character and feel shock when they hurt someone. Also we wanted them to think that you cant give a stereotype to a “killer” and that in fact a “killer” could be someone you walk past in the street and you wouldn't even realise.

A third way that our opening doesn’t follow the codes and conventions is by going from colour into black and white. Within the thrillers that we studied we never saw a change the colour was consistent. However, we decided that it would be a good idea to use the black and white when he wakes up after murdering the girl and for the pictures of the girl when she is dead to show the contrast between the two states. For the main character it is from boring everyday life into confusion and terror and for the girl it is the change of states from life into death.

Within our opening we decided to include and exclude various different thriller codes and conventions. A code and convention that we decided to stick with was the ominous music as we wanted it to match the images that you were seeing on the screen and set the emotions; we see this a lot in “Seven” and “American Psycho”. We wanted the music to be a signifier that something was going to happen or that something had happened to grab the attention of our audience and hook them.

Another way that we wanted to stick to the thriller codes and conventions of the thriller genre was through having a male killer. This is shown in “Seven” and “American Psycho” as males are seen predominantly as the more powerful race gender as so we wanted to show that men are also more aggressive and stronger more typically then females are.

However, within our thriller we decided to move away from showing an actual murder take place and instead used a soviet montage to allow the audience to come to a conclusion on their own. Also we wanted them to feel an element of suspicion and fear for the young girl as she is going to a secluded area in the middle of nowhere on her own. This is an indicator to the audience that something is going to happen to her.

Another way that we decided to move away from the codes and conventions of the thriller genre is by not having a clear narrative to the audience. Within all of the thrillers that we have studied like “Seven”, “Jaws” and “American Psycho” you can tell when the days have changed. However, in our thriller opening it spaced over three days however, this is not entirely clear to the audience.

The narrative of our thriller opening is not entirely clear as it nears the end. In the beginning of the thriller you see Stephen Smith waking up and getting ready for sixth form and the leaving and walking to school. Then you see the transition from day to night. After that you see Stephen Smith waking up in the middle of the forest to his phone alarm and the audience assume that it is the day after one another. However, the pictures of the unknown victim spread sporadically throughout the thriller opening are in fact the second day and not the first day as the audience assume. The weather within and light in the three different days shows this and is an indicator to the audience that the days are different.

1st Day 2nd Day 3rd Day

In our thriller we decided to film in a normal suburban area for his home so that the audience could relate to him. Within thriller such as ◘”The Sixth Sense” and “Seven” the places where the main characters live are what are classed as normal areas so that an attachment can form with the audience to the character as they feel the same.

Also we used camera angle such as birds eye big close up when the character wakes up to show the emotion on his face and his confusion at not knowing where he is and not recognising his surroundings. Another camera angle that we used was Mid long shot to show the confusion of Stephen Smith at seeing that he is covered in blood and it also allows the audience to see the full extent of the blood and why he is so scared and confused at not knowing how it got there. You see these shot used in thriller such as “American Psycho”, “Seven” and “Gothika” to show emotion, fear and also to bring understanding to the audience about what has gone on for the character to be in this predicament. It gives the audience a chance to piece together what we were shown beforehand and what we’re now being shown and male the connection between the two.

Birds EyeBig close up

Mid long shot

When we were creating the opening of our thriller we decided to take into consideration the codes and conventions that we had seen in other thrillers like “American Psycho”, “Jaws”, “Gothika” and “Seven” to make a successful thriller.

To make a successful thriller we decided that we would need a murder to have taken place but not actually let the audience see it take place; we thought that this would make a successful thriller as we saw this take place in “Seven” and it kept the audiences interest as they aren't seeing what the murderer is doing but the fruits of what they have done.

We also thought for a successful thriller that you would need to have a normal, average killer who doesn’t know that they have actually done it. We saw this done in “Gothika” and thought that it was successful because it makes the audience think that it possibly may not be the character but everything is pointing towards them and it also adds an element of tension and suspense about what they might do next and how they will find out that they have actually killed someone.

A final thing that we thought would make a successful thriller was by having the unknown victim moving away from civilisation and making it look like Stephen Smith was following her as it makes the audience scream at her wanting to know what she is doing. This creates tension and suspense as they want to know what is going to happen to her. We saw this in “Jaws” when the girl is running away from the party to the deserted beach.

Therefore because we have incorporated these points that made the other thrillers successful I think this made our thriller successful.

When we made our thriller we were influenced by the thrillers that we had watched before planning our thriller. Thrillers like “Gothika”, “Seven” and “American Psycho” influenced us as they showed the codes and conventions that we needed to follow to be able to make our thriller a success. The feedback that we got off our target audience proves that our thriller opening was a success among the group we wanted to target. This therefore shows that the key to a successful thriller is following the codes and conventions of a thriller such as music which creates tension and suspense, blood and the stereotype of the male killer.