Research - Market Research/Analysis of Existing Products

Originally, the genre of our film opening was going to be thriller, but seeing as the main character was going to be obsessed about her ex-boyfriend we wanted to do market research on films with an obsessed theme, but also has the codes and conventions of a thriller. 

Prom Night

Prom Night, a 2008 horror film directed by Nelson McCormick, is about a teacher who is obsessed with his student and goes on a killing spree with the intent to find her and murder her. It is rated 15.

It is mainly horror, but by watching the trailer I can see codes and conventions of the thriller genre, for example:> tense music and screaming at approximately 0:50 - this creates an intense atmosphere and builds suspense in the viewer;
> rapid cut-aways into darkness - gives a psychological response of the viewer being shocked;
> the teenager conforms to a stereotypical representation of females in thrillers as she is represented as being weak and alone at 1:15, like a 'damsel in distress'.  The different point of view shots at various angles show that she is being watched, this also builds suspense.

Opening of prom night

Mise-en-scene and credits –
White writing credits and black background is shown before going into the scene. Starts off from the ocean to set a calm/relaxed mood. The writing is standard and average size which is legible to the audience. As the scene continues to play, following the car over the bridge, the opening credits still show until 02:29 where the music overlay stops too so we can begin to focus on the scene.

Sound -
Music Overlay (non- diagetic) an eerie, up tempo sound is played as the credits are shown. Opening sound lasts for 2mins 33secs. Dialogue is exchanged, gets straight into the action, the conversation held talks about “prom night” which is the title of the film. A continue shot reverse shot is shown during the conversation.  Eerie music overlay restarts, which changes to a rapid, heart pounding tempo at 3:29 till 6:08 as she first discovers the murder of her brother.

Within the first five minutes we are hooked as an audience into the film opening. Although we find out it is a dream, it has drawn the audience in, which allows us to conclude on what a great impact the opening sequence has onto the rest of the film which we await to watch.  These notes will help us when shooting our opening film sequence, and researching the trailer helps also as we could add elements from it.

Obsessed

Obsessed is a 2009 thriller directed by Steve Shill.  We chose to research the opening of this because of the name.

A psychotic temp stalks a successful businessman, and only the man’s equally psychotic wife can stop her.The film raises the issue that sexual harassment in the workplace is not only directed towards women, but that men too can be victims.

Sound

It opens with a soundtrack with a beat that makes you feel optimistic, this subverts to a usual thriller opening.  The soft vocals create a romantic atmosphere which links in to the couple we see, who we presume are in love.  There is no dialogue and the music is played throughout until 2:34, this maintains the romantic atmosphere throughout the opening as dialogue would have interrupted this.

Mise-en-scene

The setting of a sunny day also subverts to a usual thriller.  The credits appear whilst the scene is being played and there is a simple transition of a slow sliding motion to the left or right. 

Shots

There is a one take where the camera tracks the characters movements until 1:06.  There are a lot of two-shots so both of them are in the frame.  High angle wide shot at 1:11.  The slow tracking and eyeline shots of them looking at each other at about 1:35 suggests they are in love.  Over-the-shoulder shot at 1:52.  Low angle shot at 2:21.

SE7EN

Unlike 'Obsessed' this opening immediately makes the viewer know that it is a thriller.

Sound

From the beginning, the sound is very scratchy and distorted and there are wierd unrecognisable noises which all create a sense of mystery and bizarreness.  A mixture of robotic and what sounds like squeaking is heard along with cranking.  Eerie haunting noises are then heard.  The beat increases in tempo at 1:12 and again at 1:34.  As the song is finishing, the first and only lyrics we hear is "you got me closer to God".

Mise-en-scene

This opening begins with someone who is collecting information and cuttings and pictures of people.  Pages of a book are being flipped.  The rapid shifting of the position of the credits create a scratching effect which matches the same effect of the music playing, and the credits also sometimes brighten in colour then fade again.  Credits appear both when the scene is playing and when there is just a black background, and they are not on a straight line to add to the disorientation.  At 0:15 the character takes a razorblade and scrapes up skin off his finger, this immediately shocks and disgusts the viewer who wonders why they are doing that.  Their fingers look cracked, blistered, dirty, and they are later bandaged which seems threatening.  At 0:32 an effect is used to blurred the hand writing with a pen, so there is an illusion of too, this seems dizzying.  Large scissors being used adds more threat.  A pen is used to cross out a man's eyes in a picture and then completely scribble out his face, this seems demented and can be considered the actions of a wierdo.  The word 'God' being cut out is connected with the lyrics "you got me closer to God" that is heard.

Shots

0:08 high angle shot of two hands.  0:10 onwards are extreme close ups of the person's hand doing various things but we hardly see what is happening, and point of view shots occur.  0:49 the silhouette of the hand and the pen emerging from behind the paper is rather ominous.  There are cutaways from the action so the audience is unaware of what the character is actually doing.  Thus mystery and threat is felt by us.  The cutaways seem to get more rapid as the tempo speeds up.

VERTIGO

Sound

The opening to vertigo starts with an eerie, non-diagetic sound which creates an immediate suspense and atmosphere. The sound is exaggerated for when the credits are shown. As the music’s tempo turns up slightly, a spiralling effect is shown to elaborate the effect this has onto its audience.  The title sequence continues throughout the first 3 minutes into the opening.  The music then changes to a suspenseful, peculiar and rapid sound and sets us into the scene as we witness a man being chased on the roof top. A gun shot is heard, followed closely by another one which hooks the audience into thought and has successfully grabbed our attention which is what all films should do in their opening scene. 

Credits
The first credit is shown 9seconds into the film opening, with an exaggerated sound every time that a new name appears. The writing is in big, bold, white, capitals which is legible to those watching and stands out. Similarly, this had the same visual effect in Prom Night which shows that these films with the same genres are thought through thoroughly to have such an effect on the audience 

Shots
A lot of close ups are and extreme close ups are used from the very beginning.  An extreme close up of the face/mouth/eye conveys a deeper meaning as we can clearly see any expressions made. This shows emotion and the audience can interact with what is going on. We can use this as a great inspiration and attempt to use various close up shots where needed.

Codes and Conventions of a thriller:

Eerie Music- Music creates an intense atmosphere and gives us a sense of what the genre is and builds up tension.

 Here we found a simple eerie sound which supports these conventions mentioned.

Dark lighting/setting - Thriller films are usually set in mysterious settings that are usually unpredictable and enigmatic for example the motel where Marion stays the night in Psycho. She is not familiar with the location and this creates an intense atmosphere.

Musis Video: we used the beginning of this music video as inspiration onto how our product should look like or should end up following some of these conventions. For example, we will try and use the black and white effect to represent the past and coloured for the present.