Location

My film opening is going to be set in a town in the late evening. I have chosen this because the dark of the night will help to make it more mysterious and the street lamps will make shadows and dark areas that can be used to an advantage for concealing the identity of the male character until it is time for the audience to find out more information about him.

 

This location will help to create the atmosphere that I want for my film because the dark and night will create tension and mystery; something that is a convention of night time. It also gives a sense of the unknown and the unexpected, making the audience curious about what could happen next.

 

The location that I have decided to use is a town called Attleborough because it has all of the aspects that I need for my film opening. It will be mostly dark when I do my filming, although there will be some street lamps on at the time.

The photo to the left is of the town centre at night and so when I do my filming it should be lighter than this; if not I can just use an effect when editing my footage.

I will also get a photo of Attleborough during the day so it is easier to see what the town actaully looks like.

Script

Below is the script for my opening sequence but there isn't going to be much speech and so there will mostly only be stage movements and camera angles in the script.
The script may be edited or changed if I tweak my idea.

 

 

The scene will open with a shot of the female character walking down the street and there will be some wide/panoramic shots that will be used to establish location and to show that it is night time. A mixture of shot types will follow (close-up, mid-shot, point of view shot) to show the audience the female character.

 

The camera will then focus on the female character as she is a few metres away and then the camera will stop moving and she will carry on walking past the camera. 
The audience's attention will then suddenly be drawn to the male character as the camera will change to a close-up of his face; showing the audience clearly who he is.
 
The camera will then do some point of view and over the shoulder shots as we follow the movement of the male character as he is following the female character.
 
*female character turns into a housing estate, shortly followed by the male character*
 
As the male character follows her he pulls out his phone and to answer a call and says: Yes, I'm following her now. I'll meet you when the job is done.

*as the man presses the end call button on the phone, the screen will cut to black and the title sequence and my film company ident appear*

Prop List

What I will need for my media coursework:

 

Props for characters - the only prop that my characters will need is an iPod for the female character to listen to and maybe a bag to make it seem more realistic that she has just been out with friends and so she is now coming home.

For the day of filming I will need the following equipment:

• A camera
• A SD card
• A tripod

Character development

As I have said before, we are only going to see a maximum of two characters in the opening sequence (there may be another character but they will only have a minor role) and so below I am going to describe them in a little more detail!

 

 

The female character will be teen-aged, so about 16/17 years old and she will have long, brown hair that is in loose curls with light make-up. The clothes that she will be wearing is dark blue jeans, a knit jumper, coat and scarf, as well as some ankle boots.

Although we may not necessarily see this in the first two minutes, this character has a friendly and bubbly personality and is generally liked by anyone she meets. She lives with both of her parents and older brother in town and so this is that destination that she is seen walking to in the opening sequence. As she walks down the street and away from the train station she pulls out her iPod to listen to some music.

 

 

The male character is going to be an older teen and he will be wearing a long, dark coat to give him a mysterious vibe. He is tall and slim and will be wearing a smart but casual shirt with plain black/dark trousers and smart shoes.

 

Personality-wise he is quite a quiet and secluded character and so not much is going to be given away about him in the opening two minutes.

Target Audience

The target audience for my thriller film/opening sequence will be both male and female teenagers and young adults, like 16-28 years old. I have chosen this to be my target audience because this is the group of people that are most likely to watch a thriller film as, unlike younger children, they will be able to understand some of the meaning behind the plot and other concepts in the film.

 

A professionally made film that is similar to mine and so therefore will have the same target audience is something like the Saw films. I do not think this because of it's gore factor and sinister characters, but because the target audience for the Saw films is similar to the target audience for my film.

 

Also, because my film opening is not going to be a gory horror, but instead a thriller, this may attract a wider audience because people will not be cautious about any disturbing images or scenes.

Building on my idea

Okay, so I have two similar ideas for my film opening coursework.
The first idea is the one that I have mentioned before about a man that goes about kidnapping people off of the streets at night and then the rest of the film is about the police trying to find out who he is and what's happening with these disappearing people.

 

My second idea will still feature the same characters in the opening sequence as the above idea, apart from the fact that the male character isn't some psychopathic murderer/kidnapper, but he is in fact an older teenage boy who is infatuated with his ex (the female character that we will see in the opening sequence) and can't get over the fact that their relationship is over, and so he results in following her to feed his obsession for her. 

As this idea is only an adaptation of the opening sequence where the roles of the characters have changed, I haven't created a full storyline for an entire film yet.

Audience research

To understand what makes a good film I have conducted some audience research. For this research I asked some people a set of questions about film openings and their opinions on what should be in them to make them interesting. The people that I have asked are of the same age as my target audience; so I can understand what my target audience want from a film.

The questions I asked are as follow:

1. What do you expect to see in a film opening?
2. What openings have particularly stood out in films that you have seen?
3. What are the conventions of the thriller genre?
4. What would you expect to see in the opening 2 minutes of a film in then thriller genre?
5. What do you think of my idea?
6. Would that opening sequence make you want to watch the rest of the film?

And here are some of the responses that I have got so far:

 

Dylan Webdale -

1. In a good film opening sequence we should be introduced to at least one character that may have either a minor or major role in the film; we should also be shown or told about the location of the film as well as being given hints, using conventions, to what genre the film is.
2. I particularly like the opening to the film 'No Country For Old Men' because it is very interesting and although it is misleading it draws you in, making you want to watch the rest of the film
3. In a thriller film I would expect to hear screams and creepy music, as well as seeing the typical creepy and isolate house or building
4. In a thriller opening sequence I would expect to see at least two characters and to be introduced to a part of the plot so we can start to understand what the film is going to be about
5. I think that your idea is very good and will be interesting to watch because it is what I would expect of the genre
6. I would watch the rest of your film after seeing the opening sequence

 

Gemma Holdback -

1. In the opening sequence of a film I would expect to be introduced to some characters and the location of the film. It would also be good if there was something interesting that happened because then it would make me want to watch the rest of the film
2. I like the opening to the film 'Juno' because it clearly states the storyline behind the film and what the film is going to be about
3. In a thriller film I would expect there to be a little action, something that will draw the audience in and maybe a plot twist, something that the audience wouldn't be expecting to happen
4. I think that a thriller opening sequence should be interesting and mysterious, something that makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film
5. I like your idea because it is interesting and so it will make people want to carry on watching it to find out how the plot evolves
6. I would definitely watch the whole film because the idea sounds interesting and so I think that it would make a good film

 

Poppy Howard -

1. In the opening sequence of a film I would expect to be introduced to at least one or more of the characters and get some information about the location so we can begin to understand what the film is about and what could happen.
2. I like the opening to the film 'The Fault In Our Stars' because it's different in the fact that content wise it isn't very busy but we are still drawn in by the information that we are being told by the character of Hazel
3. I would expect a thriller film to have a mysterious feeling to it with creepy people and shadowy and scary scenery. I would also expect for there to be something sudden that will make the audience jump.
4. In a thriller opening sequence I would expect to be introduced to some of the main characters and be given hints as to what the plot of the film is and to wonder what could happen next
5. I like your film opening idea and I think that it sounds interesting ad exciting
6. I would definitely watch the rest of the film

Developing my Idea

Location

I have decided to film my opening sequence in a town called Attleborough because after filming there for previous media projects I decided that it would be the perfect location to film this project.

I am hoping to film it in the evening when it is relatively dark and the street lamps in the area will help to create shadowy areas that can be used in my film to create suspense.

Characters

In the opening sequence we are going to see two characters, a male and a female, but I have not yet finalised their roles and how they are linked because I am currently thinking of adapting my idea a tiny bit.

However, I still plan on using these two people as actors in my opening sequence:

This is my friend Emily and she will be playing the role of the teenaged girl that we see walking down the street.

And this is Warwick, a drama student who has kindly agreed to act in my film. He will obviously play the male character in the opening sequence but I am not quite sure what the role is yet.

New ident!

So I decided to have another go at creating an ident for my coursework...

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to keep the company name 'Matrix Productions' but I am still testing it with different photos and movement.

So here is my most recent ident: