In most thriller the protagonists are notably identified within the first few minutes. The antagonist is also identified, however my thriller opening challenges this concept by not having clear identification of the protagonist, there is an assumption of the girl in the yellow dress being a victim but there is no identification of who the protagonist could be.
The opening to set up the story and the atmosphere of the entire film; when planning and filming this I wanted to set the general background of the main character. To convey this I set the opening scene in a park. In your typical thriller, an opening scene in a park is used a lot, then there is usually some stalking of some sort of one or more people. For my thriller, this was different, the opening scene with the park shows three friends dancing around and enjoying their day. For the background of the shot, I did not want to include anything that was not natural or would convey the meaning of something dark or bad about to happen, therefore it was kept simple. Another reason it was kept simple was so that the video looked like something that was not planned (a home video). For the mise en scen such as the clothing, I asked my actors to wear casual clothing that would depict their age the latter stage of the teen age. To further convey this opening was not intentional and to show someone else watching the video, in post production I blurred the image and added the sound effect of a reverb. This showed this video was either a flashback from someones mind or a memory caught on tape that was being watched. The lighting for the first scene of my opening was left to natural sunlight on the day, this was to further convey the effect of a home video. Another tool of editing I used was placing a picture on top of a video so it is clear what what character is confused about.
The music used to underscore this first scene is a playful upbeat musical piece to show the emotions of the girls who were dancing around, however, under this score there is another piece of music which is conveys more of a suspenseful atmosphere. The more suspenseful music is to show how this first opening scene could lead to much confusion. To further add to the natural affect, I could have imported in some sounds to do with a general park such as bird song, however, this would be too typical of a thriller and typical of that sort of opening.
For the titles of my thriller opening, I initially started with the titles using the font "chalkboard" the letters were white and had a black drop shadow. Although this did look pleasing, it did not reflect the atmosphere of the general video. To improve this I made use of another programme called "after affects" this then improved the titles and conveyed the storyline I wanted to show. The new titles now fade in, this represents the parts of the girls memory being fractured which becomes apparent through the second scene.
My film is called "SLICE" this is because the opening especially, shows the character as having lost a slice of her memory, which has then led her question who she is herself. When considering the rest of the thriller and how it would continue, climax then end, I imagined the plot to thicken with the main character taking a stand and seeking out the answers to her fractured memory. The story continues with having consecutive days where her memory is completely blank. Throughout these days it is where she changes her character and personality due to dissociative identity disorder. For the font of the title I made use of a font called "1974 report" this represents the atmosphere of the opening.
For the second location, the props I made use of were:
A Black Laptop
A desk
A glass
Some orange juice
A laptop charger
A chair
A journal
Pencil Case
Pen
and a calendar.
The props used here were to showcase the surrounding of the character. The pens, juice and book indicate a young person possibly completing some school work or revising for an upcoming test. The laptop and charger help to further create this scenario with the young student. The calendar is normally present in any room, especially that of a student who may have some upcoming deadlines. The glass and bottle of orange juice possibly show the student as hard working and therefore appears to the audience as a nice and innocent and hardworking person.
Considering the costume for the second location it poses as juxtaposition. This is because the actress is wearing a bright yellow dress during the scene where the problem first arises as opposed to darkened colours to fit the atmosphere and the storyline. Whereas in the first scene, all three of the characters are seen to be wearing a range of colours for general and casual outdoor wear yet the colours are not overly as bright as the yellow dress warn in the second scene. The first scene, although with less brightly coloured represents a happier time as opposed to the second scene.
The genre of my film is generally physiological, the character suffering from dissociative identity disorder has the chance to control herself through the help of medication but it is not working. This is because someone close to her has been changing around the medication, meaning the main character has simply been taking sugar instead of medication. The genre becomes apparent through the frame which shows the words "who am i?" written on a piece of paper.
In your typical thriller, the tense atmosphere is apparent within the first 10 seconds, however the tense atmosphere of my thriller is only apparent in last 5 seconds. Seeing as my thriller starts with a home video, it connects the audience on a personal level. Usually, there is not a personal connection with the characters or their background until the climax in the narrative however, with being thrown in to the personal atmosphere of a home video, the audience can continue along with the journey of the character then be thrown into the same problems the character faces.
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