EVALUATION 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

INTRODUCTION During the research stage I looked into various codes and conventions of film openings especially those in the genre of horror and thriller. From this preliminary research I derived ideas from which I could use in my Film product such as the idea of creating a sense of Enigma and ambiguity throughout the opening. I did this by keeping narrative minimal and having mies en scene i.e. the photo on the walls act as clues into the possible plot of the film The film opening was left on a unsettled shot , creating the greatest sense of enigma possible. The placement of the last shot which showed the "killer" stalking a innocent looking young female was deliberately placed as it grabs the attention of the audience and puts questions into their minds about what happened to the to this female character.

PRE PRODUCTION Many film openings I analyzed present the audience with a sense of mystery and disorientation[Gone Girl and Goodfellas], then leave the audience a with a disorientating shot or a shock and then cut to a to much more steady scene. Cliff hangers are one of the most effective ways of keeping an audience member enticed to a film. This was the case with the opening to The “Goodfellas”. As the film starts the audience is presented with a sense of calamity, where the main characters are just driving along, till a noise appear out of nowhere from the back of the car. It is then eluded that there is someone in the boot of the car, who then is violently attacked by one of the characters as he opens the boot, but before the audience can figure out what is going on, the shot cuts to the title. This is the very same structure our opening follows as seen when the protagonist lurk the streets at night accompanied by a smooth calming soundtrack this serene ambiance is soon shattered as the protagonist is seen lurking in the background staring toward the audience. .The setting of our film consists of dark ghostly urban areas, something which is common in many films of the horror genre. In addition the film Gone Girl directed by David Fincher also leaves the audience with sense of unsettlement/shock, the audience are introduced to a scene first thought to be the portrayal of the perfect married couple is the broken up when the husband who says whilst running his fingers through his wife's hair "I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain" this is followed by an alarming look towards the camera from his wife and then a cut. The aim of our film was to create similar sort of disorientation and enigma amongst the audience and have them question and be on the edge of their about what is going to happen next.

The setting and location of the Film opening also reflects that of a typical Film in the same genre. The use of the dark urban streets as the exterior and a dark black room as the interior emphasizes elements of eeriness and abnormality as seen many in other films including the Silence of the Lambs and Gone Girl. The urban setting drives the story and helps add a an element of realness. Gone girl is a key example of how this technique is done successfully. Gone girl opens with a series of eerie shots including a vast amount of shot types from crane shots to tracking shots all of which come together to set a creepy atmosphere and portray a subliminal narrative. The use of shots to instill a narrative is very effective and audience engaging technique and was a technique I instilled the production of my films. The way in which I implemented this technique was through the use of various shots which acted as clues and driving points in the narrative examples include the shots of the photos on the wall which clearly suggest that the killer has some sought of obsession with a particular type of women. In addition the shots of the killer lurking through the streets in dark ambiguous lighting and the shot of the train all come together to portray the killer as mobile and on a journey somewhere or to someone. This is then reinforced in the last shot of the girl on a dark and empty street with the killer lurking in the shadows behind her.

SETTING

CAMERA WORK AND EDITING

A typical device used within Film openings is to build up the tension this can be done through the use of different editing speeds.

A slow peeling tension is built up throughout the opening of Audrey. Typically, a film opening will begin with slow shots that establish the story line, develop character and introduce the themes within the film. By the time you have reached the end of the film opening, there will be many quick cuts that build up the tension. We extracted this technique from the film Gone Girl. This technique is particularly effective at building up tension as the audience may not understand why certain shots have been included and this could lead to confusion, they may also feel overwhelmed by the amount of scenes and actions that are being thrown at them in such a short space of time. So instead, whilst I was editing, I incorporated about 5 or 6 slow shots that were related to the story line, each of these shots was about 5 seconds long. Coupled with the music that was reaching its crescendo, I was able to transform an originally boring scene into a scene that becomes the crucial point of tension within the film opening. Furthermore we included a very common and generic shot in our project, that being a tracking shot. A tracking shot is very generic in horror films as it sets a creepy ambience, creates motion bringing the audience closer to the protagonist.

INTRODUCING THE STORY Finally another way in which I stuck to the usual codes and conventions of my genre, was to not make clear the whole story of the film as seen in other similar films but to have a underlying narrative. I did this by implementing certain driving points which give an idea of the film without revealing too much e.g. the shot of the protagonist following the girl, along with photographs on the wall of Audrey Hepburn. although I chose to display murderer , I did not to reveal the identity of him as that would be a spoiler to the plot and by keeping this enigma alive about who unknown killer is the audience will be active in looking for clues throughout the film in order to gain leads into the true identity of who the killer introduced in the opening is. This is a remarkable technique into keeping the audience enticed and glued to the screen throughout the film. This technique was successfully implemented in the opening in the film "The Conjuring" which used news articles to introduced to the audience a back story.

COSTUME DESIGN One way I challenged generic conventions of the horror genre was to not include high value SFX and gore. I did this so the audience is not over whelmed by violence and do not come to the conclusion that the film would follow the generic recycled conventions of horror films. However this was indefinitely a horror thriller so the inclusion of dark clothing on the protagonist was necessary as costume is arguably the most important convention of any film in such a genre. This is supported by my research material as it clearly shows the costume of characters in films of all genres acting as a catalyst to the ambiance of the film, this applicable to all genres examples include James Bond series (where formal clothing is a key convention) and cape fear (where the protagonist is seen stalking the family whilst in dark clothing).Further more the use of casual clothing on the females in our opening reflects the same costume convention in the film gone girl where the protagonist i shown in causal clothing.

COSTUME DESIGN To a certain extent we have adhered to the usual criminal representation of young adults and teens to instill a relatable fear among the audience. We composed the initial costume of the murderer to reflect that of the common image brought forward by today's media on young people. Following this impression of aggressiveness and criminality, our protagonist is seen wearing dark baggy clothes and “Timberland Boots" which reflect the aggressive thug-like representation of young people in today’s society.

However this image of the Murderer is not representative of the whole film, as we have chosen to change his costume throughout the film in order to break this stereotype and also to bring forward to the audience a non-generic and non-predictable plot. To do this our killer will be seen in various non suspicious clothing from suits to a police costume.

TITLES The order in which the titles where placed followed the usual convention of most films and mirrored the order of creditees from such films as Gone Girl Paid in full and many more. During our pre production phase we analyzed the time at which certain titles appeared and recorded the observation on timelines(see the next 3 slides) we did this for various films. From this we learned the repetitive chronological order of the titles and the usual times at which each credit would appear at. Take the director name which would appear almost always towards the latter end of the opening. Furthermore my analyzing of real film openings showed a rolling convention in the placing of these titles, they all complied following the rule of thirds. Something I strongly adhered to and implemented in my own project. By adhering to this cemented rule we did not create cause for the audience to be distracted from the actual content of the opening and for the titles to overlay the footage.

STYLE OF FONT Only a few titles where included as it would have been off putting for the audience to be bombarded with titles.

The style and font of the titles used in my film product are not very conventional to the horror genre they do not stick to the stereotype of being overly animated and bloody. The font and style of the titles are stylistic and 1960s like, reflecting the plot of the film which revolves around Audrey Hepburn who was a major star of the 1960s.By including this stylistic and simple font and style with a simple transition it calms the audience and does not overwhelm the audience. Films such as SAW are guilty of this overwhelming by including gory font styles however we stayed away far away from this.