For my media unit 23 coursework I have
created the opening scene towards a thriller film. Overall I feel that opening
has been created rather well, I feel the time spent on the opening was
sufficient enough for it to be realistic and entertaining. The opening scene
begins with a slow tracking shot which transforms into a medium long shot of a
character sat down upon a wall, the reasoning of this shot was for the audience
to take note of the character, where he is sat and the location around him. The
range of shots I used throughout the film opening were varied but they fitted
into the genre of thriller, I wanted to ensure the audience knew what time of
film they were watching, and it helped them to feel more involved. I used
various medium shots to show two characters at once, and also to show the
setting around them, and also long shots were used so that it allowed the
audience to view a character from afar, making them more curious as to what he
properly looks like, who he is, and what part he has to play. I used close ups
various times throughout to emphasize the characters emotions and facial
expressions and this helped the audience understand the narrative and what’s
going on during that scene. I gained
focus group feedback, and within that feedback I received a couple of comments
which said that I should have included more camera angles within the film
opening, this would therefore shown off the genre more and kept the typical
conventions of a thriller in sight. Throughout the opening scene my main aim
was to keep the audience involved and to include lots of use of suspense. To
achieve this I ensured that dialogue was kept to a minimum so that the audience
would try and guess things for themselves, but for them to be in for a shock or
two as the film then progressed. The inclusion of no dialogue also remained in
the typical conventions of a thriller and this was one of the contributing
factors as to why I decided to do so.
When working as a group I found it hard to agree upon certain things
with other group members, one example of this was the choice of sound overlaid
on top of the video. One group member disagreed with me that the chosen sound
suitable for the video, when in fact I felt that a faster paced track should have
been included, which would of helped portray the videos genre to the audience
much more clearly.
Overall I feel that my thriller opening was
as good as I could have made it, and had the group members not being a little
too relaxed and laid back about it, I feel it could have been made slightly
more professionally. However, I didn’t have as much time as the professional filmmakers
do, nor the expensive budget they do either, had I of had the same time and
money, I feel I could have easily created a much more exciting thriller
opening. As location manager, along with group mate Alexander Dean, I feel the
settings we chose within the film were well suited for the genre and enhanced
the feeling of the film. We chose the co-operative car park as we felt the audience
could relate to a supermarket, as its something many of us visit on a daily
basis. Although I contributed with ideas towards the editing, colleague Thomas Wood
did an extremely good job of editing the video and ensuring that it still made
the film exciting and fast paced, and well within the genre.
