For my project the brief was to film an opening sequence to a thriller which will last around 3 minutes and will include film titles and an ident at the beginning. This will be done in a small group of 3 people and the thriller will be specified to a sub-genre of our choice. As part of my pre-production task, I chose a sub-genre of crime thriller and carried out some primary and secondary research to establish the conventions of this sub-genre and what kind of audience this sub-genre will appeal to.
In class we carried out various exercises into looking at
thrillers and thriller subgenres before starting our project. At first we made
a list of all of the characteristics of a thriller which included suspense,
mystery, film noir, tension and a hero with a flaw or secret past. We also
looked at the iconography used in thrillers and created a short storyboard for
a thriller opening sequence to help us practice for our project. As a class we
watched L.A confidential as this is a well-known thriller which includes many
typical thriller conventions as well as the use of film noir including femme
fatale within the main female character.
As part of my secondary research, I watched the opening
sequences of two crime thrillers to see how they meet or contrast the expected
conventions of this sub-genre. I chose to look at The Godfather as it was a
highly successful film in its time, winning a great amount of awards such as 3
Academy awards and 5 Golden Globe awards such as Best Motion Picture and Best
Director. I also used Heat as an example as it is another classic crime
thriller which was released 20 years later than the Godfather so I thought it
would be interesting to look at two opening sequences from different eras to
see how they compared and contrasted. I carried out this secondary research to
look at the uses of crime thriller conventions to see how well they represented
the genre and to help me decide what elements I should use in my product which
will represent my sub-genre well.
For my primary research, I asked 5 people from my target
market which aspects of crime thrillers they most enjoy. I carried out this to
gain some understanding of what kind of features appeal to my target market in
a crime thriller as well as what they will hope for in my product and which
elements I should use to ensure that my product is as successful as possible. I
decided that my target audience should be people aged 15 years and above as this
allows my group to use more thrilling elements in our product which will enable
our product to excite the audience as it will not be restricted to the themes
only suitable for young children, however it will still be suitable for most
teenagers.
Section 2
I think that watching L.A confidential was very useful
for my research as it allowed me to discover popular conventions used in a
highly successful thriller, which I can consider using when creating ideas for
my project. Finding out what aspects of crime thrillers my target audience enjoy
the most was also very useful in informing the pre-production process of my
thriller opening. This is because it allowed me to work out which elements I
will need to include in my final product in order for it to be as successful as
possible and in order for it to appeal to my target audience. Also, looking at
all of the different features and conventions used in the opening sequences of
two different successful crime thrillers was useful as it helped me to have an
understanding of what kind of conventions I will need to include for my product
to represent my sub-genre well.
I received useful feedback from my market testing as my
target audience identified specific features of crime thrillers in which they
enjoy the most and so this allowed me to discover what interests and excites my
target audience and what attracts their attention the most. From this research
I learned that my target market enjoy interesting storylines with a surprising
twist, the build-up of tension, the amount of action which is used in the film,
a hidden story between characters and they also enjoy the way the scenes excite
them and draw their attention. From this research I gathered a variety of
responses and so this gives me a range of elements which I should consider when
creating ideas for my product. I can use this reliable evidence to make a
successful opening scene which will intrigue my target audience and it will
draw them in and so they will want to know what will happen next.The research which I carried out influenced the development to my ideas by allowing me to create ideas of an opening scene involving a victim of a young girl which follows the conventions of a lot of thrillers of involving a young, vulnerable victim. When thinking of ideas to use for my product, I followed the feedback which I received from my market testing and decided that my opening sequence should involve the disappearance of this victim as this will create suspense and should draw the attention of my audience into wanting to find out where and how she disappeared. I decided that I should also use the typical convention specifically used in Heat and The Godfather of dark lighting to create an uneasy atmosphere and this should represent a crime thriller well. My ideas also involve using flashbacks to the scenes of the events which led to the disappearance of the young girl and also flashbacks of her getting ready to leave her house in a happy lighting, with tense music, to show that something bad is going to happen to her. Much like the opening sequence of Heat, there could be quiet, mysterious music playing in the background to add to the suspense.
Gemma Barham
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