Glossary

Hey,

Here are some key words that I will find useful in my media course:

Overall thriller opening experience

Hey, 

Overall the filming process was really fun and a huge learning curve for myself and the group. We had to overcome many challenges including lighting difficulty, dialogue issues and shots where we accidentally chopped out something important from the frame. We all participated equally in the group and we all brought something to the group project.  

We grew largely since our preliminary task back in November and we have learnt a lot that will help us out in the second part of this course next year.

We all enjoyed working together, we had some disagreements about the thriller regarding certain choices but we were all able to sort it out and come to an agreement. 

We managed to upload the thriller and we got feedback and many people enjoyed it so it was nice to know that our hard work was noticed and appreciated. We are all looking forward to the next part of the cource now we know what to expect and now we are comfortable with our knowledge and understanding of media.

Scenes from our thriller that I filmed

Hey,

When filming I was able to have the privilege to film many scenes as I enjoy filming and the whole process of filming and directing. Here are some shot that I was proud of and why I think they are significant and how they help create suspense. 

In the filming process I made sure that we filmed each shot at least 3 times so when it came to editing we had more than enough shots to choose from if one of them had gone wrong or not looked as we wanted. 

Here is a quote that I knew nd pitched to the group. The black background shows the darkness of the scene and the upcoming story whereas the white writing shows light and presents hope. I suggested this quote for the beginning of the movie to add suspense to the scene and give the audience a preview on what the movie is about. I knew about this quote and pitched it to the group and we all agreed that we liked it, therefore we added it to our thriller opening. The quote is accompanied by heartbeats. This adds tension and builds suspense. The heartbeats can represent how the family and the kidnapped are feeling.

The first scene that I shot was actually the first scene. I decided to change the shot at the last minute and try something new. I discussed my idea with the group and they were all on board on at least trying it out. I filmed the shot in this new way and decided to keep it. I decided to change the scene because If we had shot the scene from across the road we would not have been able to see her emotions which helps portray the story and the mood and atmosphere. 

The second shot that I filmed and directed was a over the shoulder shot of Amy's character walking towards the door. This shot is significant because we can see she is going home and from the previous shot we know she has just been somewhere stressful because of her body language and emotions.  Here you can hear the diegetic sounds of her feet, no other music. This creates an eerie atmosphere and develops her characters portrayal. 

The next shot I filmed was a low angle shot. We decided to have the scene dark so it could foreshadow the events and story that is yet to com. It creates an uncertnty with the audience and hopefully makes them think and question what is going on. I choose a low angle shot to also foreshadow the mood of the character. She is stressed and feeling low, therefore the use of a dark low angle shot was a perfect fit. The shot is important because it helps add to the atmosphere of the scene this then helps the audience when watching to know 

This shot wasn't exactly filmed by me but it was my idea to create. I had an idea that putting the camera in the fridge to see Amy's character reach for the beer would give the audience a different perspective other than looking over her shoulder all the time. It was also something different and I believe it made this scene better as we needed some ranges of shot and I believe that this shot did just that. The miss-en-scene in this scene helps show a family environment, for example the family table and flowers, all suggesting a family environment. 

Evaluation question 7

Hey,

Question 7;
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task I can see a huge improvement not only on our project but also our group atmosphere and our ethics.

To start, we grew as a group, some of us did not know each other at the beginning of the course and of course this made it hard to communicate with each other at the beginning and we found it hard to get our point across and make sure we all ha a say in what was going on. I am guilty for this as I took the responsibility of the filming and a predominate amount of the editing as I was familiar with it. After speaking with my teachers I made the decision to let the rest of the group help out as well and not take all of the work on my shoulders. This worked out when we started our real task as we where all able to work on the project and excel in what we do best. 

We have also improved in our editing skills. In the prelim the some of the shots were too quick and interfered with the continuity of the piece. We also used a phone camera to film our prelim instead of a camera which of course effected the quality of our footage.  This was a good lesson to learn that we used my canon camera from home to record the real thing. The quality was much better than before and I believe that this would be the first big difference anyone would see when comparing the two.

Additionally we also learnt a lot amount the significance of camera angles and shots and how they can enhance, change and develop a scene. We learnt about new angles that we could use in our opening and how we can use them to represent certain emotions and scenarios. We used camera angles and shots a lot in outtalk to help portray the characters emotions and well as help tell the story.

Lastly we learnt how to use certain fonts and music that goes well with the movie. We had to improve on our audio largely since our prelim, as the voice over we used was sloppy, inaudible and all together not that great to listen to as it overpowered the rest of the scene and ruined the viewing experience. We needed to find a song that wasn't copyrighted which of course the song that we used for the prelim was in 'The Hunger Games' and therefore copyrighted.

The preliminary task was extremely important and a learning curve for us as we learnt to not make the same mistakes and it also helped us make our up to date task the best that is could be. We learnt about the importance of lighting, camera angles and miss en scene can bring to enhance a scene or shot and help develop the story.

Evaluation question 6

Hey,

Question 6;
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have always used the program we used to piece together our thriller which of course was iMovie. I have always enjoyed making videos and editing clips from home. However no one can know everything about anything. I learnt how to stabilise shaky clips which I did a lot in the editing process as at times the clip was shaky and looked unprofessional and messy. 

Secondly I learnt a lot about how to develop audio and how you can layer audio clips on top of each other to create a better quality piece. I really enjoyed using IMovie as I was familiar of the program and use it a lot at home. I believe I have a second nature with technology as I have studied ICT since year 3 and completed a GCSE and I am studying it at A level. I also had the privilege of helping out members of my group learn the devices of IMovie with certain aspects of the editing process such as fixing the quality of a clip, adding audio/video and adjusting the timing so the clips ran smoother. 

The second program we almost used was garage band. The reason we decided not to use it as we found that the music we created didn't sound the way we liked and we didn't want to spend too much time just on the music, so we continued our search and eventually found a song that was not copyrighted and that went really well with our media product. 

Lastly I introduced the group to a free legal downloading site where we downloaded the song from youtube to iMovie and used it in our product. This website was easy to use and free of charge which was a bonus as well.

The use of these technologies made us realise how much work that a company would have to do to create an entire movie. Using these mediums have given us great experience within the work and we got used to them quickly and I enjoyed using them.

Evaluation question 5

Hey,

Question 5;
How did you attract/address your audience?

We would distribute our movie to local cinemas, that are big named cinemas for example odeon and cineworld, this way we can get the most customers as these cinemas are highly visited, especially visited by our target audience (18-25 year olds). 

Secondly we will advertise our movie using the power of social media. We have decided this because our target audience is 18-25. This age group uses social media on a large scale and regularly. This way we will reach a larger audience and we can not only promote our movie for free on social media by making film accounts but we can also pay companies such as Facebook and Instagram to have adverts of our movie on the specific persons timeline (they will be targeted by age group). Users can share, like or comment on a post which will go on their timeline and ultimately spread the word about the movie for free. We could also use youtube by having the movie beginning, a clip or trailer of the movie before a video. This way the person has to watch the video and they could possibly be intrigued by the movie. I researched movies that I personally saw advertise on Facebook and from my own knowledge and research the movies did extremely well in the box office and I know in my case I wouldn't have known about half the movies I saw advertised if they haven't had been advertised on social media. This is why social media is a great way to advertise a new film release especially when targeted at young adults.

Additionally we would make our trailer as intriguing as possible, so that our target audience would be interested in watching the movie as this would be the only way to get an audience to go out and watch a movie. We would advertise on platforms that this age group typically use and place posters, billboards etc of the movie poster at places that this age group frequents at. 

Evaluation question 4

Hey, 

Question 4;
Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our media product is 18-25 year olds. This is because when I conducted our Questionnaire I posted it to Facebook; 

and the main feedback that we got was from two age ranges which were 16-20 and 21-30. Therefore we decided to do the age range of 18-25 as this is the age most people are going out to the cinema and watching thrillers.  We are appealing to both genders as a thriller appeals to both male and female customers. 

We are aiming our thriller at a mass audience because of the company's that are distributing our product. They are large companies that will appeal to larger audiences, so it makes sense to  appeal to this audience. 

Here is a prezi presentation that I created to show our target audience and how and why they were targeted for our thriller;

Prezi on audience

Evaluation question 3

Hey,

Question 3;
What kind of media institution distribute your media product and why?

Here is a audio recording of myself introducing question 3:


Question 3 introduction

(As a group we conducted research on many media institutes that we would like to have distribute our product. After a couple of hours researching we found out that 20th century fox have a large amount of thriller movies under their name. These movies include; 
The Revenant, Gone Girl, Mr & Mrs Smith, Taken, etc.

Secondly we decided to choose New line cinema because it has been producing films since the 1960's. Therefore the company has a lot of experience in the industry and knows the film/media industry very well. Like 20th century fox it creates a large amount of thriller movies and has released many movies and also it widely known for their productions. Some of their most successful thrillers include;
The Butterfly effect, Seven, Rush Hour, Annabelle, etc.

These movies by each company have been hugely successful within the industry and audiences, this is why I believe that These companies will want to distribute our thriller).

----------

The company (20th Century Fox) has been producing films since 1935, therefore they have a large amount of successful blockbusters. I think that this company would be interested in distributing our movie for many reasons. Here are those reasons:

  Firstly 20th Century Fox has a large amount of successful thrillers under their name, some of their most successful and talked about movies have been thrillers. They are owned by a giant conglomerate which is 21st Century Fox. If they were able to have another successful thriller movie distributed by them not only would that mean profit for them but also good reviews and publicity. Which ultimately benefits their company. Our movie was largely influenced by some of their own works as well as other pieces by other companies, so not only does it bring originality from the influence of other movies but also a sense of sticking with the normal movies that they distribute from 20th Century Fox. 

Secondly 20th Century Fox would like to distribute our movie because our thriller contains many conventions of a stereotypical thriller. For example our opening shows the convention of violence. We don't see any violence occur but we can see the result of violence on the teenagers body. Secondly we used low key lighting , this was to show the mood and atmosphere and to create suspense and put the audience on edge. I think that because we successfully and effectively used many conventions in our opening and if we had to create the entire movie we would have defiantly gone into more depth and explore the conventions throughout the movie. We would have done this to create a thriller that was successful and intriguing to watch.

The company (New Line Cinema) has been producing films since 1967. It has produced many blockbuster thriller movies that have gone on to do extremely well in the film industry. 


Firstly we believe that this company will like to distribute our thriller because just like 20th Century Fox they have created and distributed many thriller movies since they were founded back in the 60's. This is why we believe that they would like to distribute our thriller as it contains many thriller conventions and also it is similar to many of the thrillers they have created in the past.  

----------

We have decided to do a co-production because both companies bring something different, for example 20th century fox has more experience in the business whereas New line Cinema create more thrillers. We all agreed on these companies to choose for our thriller after the research we have done.

----------

We would distribute our movie to local cinemas, that are big named cinemas for example odeon and cineworld, this way we can get the most customers as these cinemas are highly visited, especially visited by our target audience (18-25 year olds). 

Secondly we will advertise our movie using the power of social media. We have decided this because our target audience is 18-25. This age group uses social media on a large scale and regularly. This way we will reach a larger audience and we can not only promote our movie for free on social media by making film accounts but we can also pay companies such as Facebook and Instagram to have adverts of our movie on the specific persons timeline (they will be targeted by age group). Users can share, like or comment on a post which will go on their timeline and ultimately spread the word about the movie for free. We could also use youtube by having the movie beginning, a clip or trailer of the movie before a video. This way the person has to watch the video and they could possibly be intrigued by the movie. I researched movies that I personally saw advertise on Facebook and from my own knowledge and research the movies did extremely well in the box office and I know in my case I wouldn't have known about half the movies I saw advertised if they haven't had been advertised on social media. This is why social media is a great way to advertise a new film release especially when targeted at young adults.

Evaluation question 2

Hey,

Question 2;
How does your media product represent particular social groups?


Our thriller represents many different social groups within the opening, here are a couple of examples of social groups that are represented in our media product;

Teenagers;
Teenagers are always stereotyped in a negative light in social media, the press, movies and just in general. They are also portrayed quite venerable and weak. Therefore when we see the two teenagers at the end we stereotype them as defenceless because   they have been kidnapped and cannot do anything about the current situation that they are in. We wanted to use teenagers in our  movie because we wanted to show how this stereotype changes and is challenged later on in the movie with the children creating an escape plan and escaping. I believe it is important to challenge stereotypes as we should not be dictated by what society believes we should be like. The best way to change opinion is to do so through the media. People listen to tv, radio, celebrities, movies etc.  That is why it is important for us to continue to defy classic stereotypes within society and the media.

The second group that we decided to portray in our thriller opening  is parents and their role in society. In our thriller you can see the step dad being more caring and worried about the children that the mum. This is a challenge on stereotypes because normally step parents are seen as the antagonists. For example a classic presentation of this is the fairytale 'Cinderella'. We believe that it is important to show a step parent being the career and the protagonist, which in this case he is. We can see in the first seen that the step dad is in that he is worrying about the children by the dialogue and his body language towards the mother.

It is very easy for filmmakers to follow traditional stereotypes of social groups but we decide not to do so because we wanted to challenge these stereotype and make the thriller more original and stand out from the rest.

Evaluation Question 1

Hey,

Question 1;
In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product uses, develops and challenges different forms and conventions of real media products. Here are those examples of our inspiration and development of our media product.

Using conventions and forms of real life media

To begin with we where largely influenced by many different movies  when it came to our title and fonts.
For example the first movie that influence us was 'The Butterfly Effect'. Here you can see the beginning quote from The butterfly effect and then our quote from our thriller opening. 

We used 'The butterfly effect' as our influence for our beginning quote and our title page. We wanted something simple but effective. The black background shows the darkness of the scene and the upcoming story whereas the white writing shows light and presents hope. I suggested this quote for the beginning of the movie to add suspense to the scene and give the audience a preview on what the movie is about. I knew about this quote and pitched it to the group and we all agreed that we liked the quote, therefore we added it to our thriller opening. The quote is accompanied by heartbeats. This adds tension and builds suspense. The heartbeats can represent how the family and the kidnapped are feeling. 

We used 'The butterfly effect' as influence for our thriller to use and develop our product. We wanted something short and simple for our thriller title but something effective and something to make the audience think. I put forward a couple of suggestions on our questionnaire and the one that came up with the most votes was 24 HOURS LEFT. We wanted the audience to focus more on the story that the titles and the names popping up on the screen as you can get distracted by them. This is why we decided to just keep the names coming onto the screen plain, white and small.

Secondly we conformed to the stereotypical thriller by not having much dialogue in the the first minute or so. This is to help maximise  suspense and tension. We didn't feel we needed much dialogue in the beginning because with the help of the gestures and camera angles the story is still told and helps create a suspenseful atmosphere. Additionally we conformed to a stereotypical thriller by using suspenseful music in certain parts of the opening. This helps emphasis those shots and allows the audience to know that those shots are of importance.

----------

I also believe that we challenged conventions of a thriller by having a predominately bright atmosphere except for a couple of scenes. This shallowness the conventions of a thriller because normally the scene are dark to help portray the story, situation or the characters emotions. We wanted to make the scene as natural and normal as possible because this represents how the characters are, they are just a normal family and it helps emphasis the effect something as a kidnaping can have on a normal family and how their life is effected. 

Secondly we challenged traditional conventions of thrillers by not having anything to intense in the opening. For example there is no deaths, no jump outs, explosions etc. We challenge the stereotypical forms of thrillers by allowing the audience to just watch the opening and just take in the story and what is going on. This way the audience can really get stuck into what they are watching and be able to enjoy it more. We believe this is a better way to watch and enjoy a thriller movies.

Conventions of a thriller movie

Hey,

Here is a link to a Prezi presentation where I show the conventions of thriller movies.

Here is the link;

Media conventions

Analysis of other students work 2

Hey,

Here I looked up past A level students work on youtube to see how they created their thriller and what each grade 'looked like' in terms of editing, camera angles and the way the entire opening is created. Here is one of the openings that I enjoyed and here is my analysis of one of them. 

The second one is called;
Inner Evil By Kristine Gulden.

The first shot we see with a person in, shows someones legs lying on the ground. Stereotypically we can assume that this person is dead as they are not responding, therefore this shot makes the audience continue to watch and see what happens and if the person is ok. The music is slow and steady.  

The way her hand is placed is as if she if reaching for help or struggling in some sort of way. We can also establish that the victim is a woman. This shot is a close up. 

The shot is important in creating suspense because we can clearly see a wound on her head. As a person watching this it makes us wonder how she got like this, why she got like this and by who. This thriller opening is a great example of showing us how to keep an audience in suspense to know whats going on.  The music gets more dramatic as soon as we see the girls face, this adds mystery and drama. Another way we can look at it is how is she still conscious and what is going to happen to her. A great thriller opening is meant to make you question it and what you know so you stay intrigued and focused on watching.

Here is a long distance shot, here we can see the setting as well as the mood of the character. The shot helps the audience see her body language which obviously shows her distress and her worries, again making us as the audience question why she feels like this. The scene is bright whereas she in herself is obviously in a dark place, this is a good example of a contrast between setting and atmosphere of her mood.

This shot shows her covered in blood. We can also see someone else hand, this could be an attack on her. 
This is a flash bag scene we can tell this by the dreamy aspect of the clip, we also know it is a flashback because of the way she is reminded by the key of her attack, this is a significant scene because it tells us something about her and her past life.

The next scenes are filmed very shaky, this could portray her emotions about the event that she went through. It can also show her mental state. She keeps having flashbacks when she sees something and that triggers her memories, her memory could either be flawed or it could be overloaded with too many sad memories.



This is an over the shoulder shot where we can clearly see someone following our main character. This shot helps us see that she is clearly being stalked and we can infer that this is the person who attacked her although we cannot know this for sure. This is what makes us want to watch on and find out. The fact that it is filmed outside in a public space shows her venerability to her stalker. The scene is bright whereas the stalkers clothing is dark, this portrays his/her character and what they represent. This is important because we need to see this, it helps build suspense in the clip.

Analysis of other students work 1

Hey,

Here I looked up past A level students work on youtube to see how they created their thriller and what each grade 'looked like' in terms of editing, camera angles and the way the entire opening is created. Here is one of the openings that I enjoyed and here is my analysis of one of them. 

The first one is called; 
Exemption By Brendon Hargreaves.

The first shot we see is an extreme close up of someones eye. As he blinks for the first time we can see a clock. The hands on the clock are speeding round the clock. This could show us the lack of time that the victim/s have left. This is a great shot to add because it really makes us think why is their time running out and how long have they got left? We have to think why they chose to show us the clock this early on and what does it represent?

The next shot of importance is this extreme close up. It is also a side profile. It is important because we can see the sweat on his face, this shows his emotions and nerves. We still do not know why the boys are in this situation but this shot makes us sit on the edge of our seat and continue to watch on. The shot shows his increasing nerve and therefore increases ours as the viewer.

We can then see a shot of a sleeve covered in blood. This reinforces the danger that the victims are in. The blood shows us that some violence toward the victim has happened. The film maker decided to show us this shot because they believe it is important to show the danger that they are in. The red blood represents danger. 


This shot is a close up, we can see the boy's emotions and now we start to put together what is going on. We have just seen a shot with a blood covered top and an eye with a clock inside of it. We can establish that they are being held against their will and are in extreme danger and are running out of time. Here there is diegetic sounds of him breathing, this adds suspense and shows that he is scared and in a bad situation. 


This next shot shows us a better image of the other character as we have not seen him before this. We see a clear image of the boy in front and then it fades to the boy behind. This shot was well executed and looks as if a professional filmmaker created it. The camera work here is excellent and defiantly high grade and quality.

The next shot of importance is this one where we can see the boys have managed to escape and are running away from their captor. As the boys are running the music kicks in and becomes more extreme. It becomes more tense and more dramatic which compliments whats going on in the scene. The filming becomes more shaky and unstable which could represent what they are going through and represent the situation.

Here is a over the shoulder shot as well as a three person shot. This is an effective and suspenseful shot because it shows the emotion of the boy ahead but also shows the danger that the other boy is in. The music continues to climax but at this point it stops abruptly to allow the audience to appreciate the character and his feelings in the moment.

This is an extreme close up of the boys eyes, here we can see the boys reaction to what is going on in his head and the decision he is going to have to make.  All we can hear is the natural (diegetic) sounds of the surrounding areas. This is a way of showing that everything is happening is very real for the characters and the filmmaker whats us to know this.  

Changes made to our opening from our original plan

Hey,

We made many changes to the opening as we filmed and edited. The reason we changed some scenes, shots, dialogue and angles was because when we filmed them they either didn't look right or didn't fit in well with the previous or upcoming scenes. We knew that some changes would happen during the filming process as we would come up with ideas as we went along. 

One of the changes we made that was dramatically different to our storyboard was the first shot. Instead of filming from across the street we decided to film head on just because we want the audience to see her emotions and see that she has had a stressful day and this foreshadows that the day will inevitably get worse.

The second change that we made was in the editing. I remember learning that in the first 24 hours of a child abduction the child has a decreasing chance of survival. So Catherine searched up official quotes and we decided to put the quote at the beginning of the opening. This was a really effective start to the opening and gives the audience an insight into what our thriller is about. 

The third change that was made was the shot of Amy shouting up to the kids at the staircase. We decided to change this shot from an over the shoulder shot to a high angle shot looking down at Amy from the top of the staircase. We decided to change the shot because looking down on Amy shows not only her emotions but also her lack of power in the situation she is going to be in. 

Research of famous actors and Actress'

Hey,

About a month ago we began to look at famous actors and actresses that we wanted to use in our titles and in the movie itself. 

Here are some of the actors that we decided to choose and why: 


Idris Elba
Born 6 December 1972, Idris an English Actor, Musician and DJ. He is best known for playing Russell Bell on 'The Wire' and Detective Luther on the BBC series 'Luther'. He has been nominated four times for a Golden Globe award and five times for a Emmy award. 






Jamie Campbell Bower
Born 22 November 1988, Jamie Bower is an English actor, singer and model. He is best known for his roles as Anthony Hope in 'Sweeney Todd' and also appearing in the twilight series. We choose to have this actor appear in our movie because he is an experienced actor in many different genres of film and television.

Emma Stone
Born 6th November 1988, Emma Stone is an American actress and was one of the highest paid actresses in 2015. She has received accolades such as a Golden Globe award, Bafta award and an Academy award.






Lily Collins
Born 18 March 1989 and is a British Actor and model. She is best known for her role in 'The mortal instruments' and the thriller film 'Abduction'. She is an experienced actress and has experience in thriller films.

  
We decided to choose these actors and actresses because 3 out of the 4 are English and as it is an english production it will have a cast of Brits. These actors all have experience in thriller movies making them perfect for the roles that they will play.

Jamie Bower character - One of The kidnappers
Lily Collins character - One of The kidnappers
Emma Stones character - A family friend
Idris Elba's character - The detective on the case

Analysis of thriller opening : Taken

Hey,

Introduction to 'Taken';
Bryan Mills is a former government operative who is trying to reconnect with his daughter. His worst nightmare comes to life when herself and a friend are kidnapped shortly after arriving in Paris for a holiday. He has just four days until she is auctioned off. He must work on his skills to try and save her.

Here is a link to the movie opening:

Opening to Taken

 The opening to 'Taken':

The first thing we see is the opening titles telling us what production company supported the movie. As we can see the company was, Twentieth Century Fox. The titles are white on a black background, this could suggest danger and death or the use of white could suggest innocence of the person in danger. 

The opening officially begins with home movies of a young girl, (The main characters daughter) here we can see a shot of the little girl. We know that theses images were taken in the past because of the quality of the image. The lighting of the video represents the peoples emotions in the video at that time. With the help of the title we can come to a conclusion that the young girl in the movies is the girl who will be taken later on. The importance of these images at the beginning thriller show her innocence and how anything can happen to anyone. At this point the background music is quiet but sharp and louder and points, this helps create a suspenseful atmosphere. At points we can hear diegetic laughs from the little girl and the mother, this is important as one again it shows her innocence.

It is then cut to our main character; Bryan Mills. Who appears to be asleep, the sequence we just witnesses could have been his dream so this makes us wonder why it was his dream and who that little girl was or is to him. (We later find out this is his daughter). We then see him sitting in a chair in the dark, the lack of light could represent the way he feels and it also portrays his emotional state at this point. Dark, alone and miserable. 

We then cut to him turning the light on and reaching fora picture frame. As the audience we do not know who the picture is off at the moment, but we can infer that it is someone of importance to him because of the way he is holding it. This long shot shows us the Mise-en-scene of the setting. Set in the living room - where family normally gather, this helps us see his loneliness and wishing for a family. It is dark, they're takeaway boxes on the table and there is a lack of personal items. This shows us he possibly lives alone and/or has no family members living with him. The way he is slouching into the chair show us his emotional state.

He then picks up a newspaper and begins to read it, in a previous shot we see that he is looking at a page that says; Karaoke singalong. We are unsure why he is looking at this page in the newspaper but it could be significant in the scenes to follow, as the film makers would not have shown this for no reason. We could infer that this links to the daughter as she had always wanted to be a singer, this could be his way of reconnecting to her. The light is still on but there is still a presence of darkness, suggesting the mood of the main character.

We then see the man stand up and as he passes the photo, the title of the movie appears. The shot of a photo frame that he was just admiring and the title of the movie appears which of course it is 'Taken'. This leads me to believe that the person in the photograph was either taken or will be taken. (Obviously as the movie we learn that this is his daughter but as a first time watcher we would not know this at this point). The white writing links back to the beginning of the opening where it suggested danger and death so the significance of this could suggest that the danger and/or death links to this girl. 


We then cut to a long shot of a car and the title remains, this is just to reinforce us that it is the same time and same characters etc. We then see our main character step out of the car and enter a shop. Here he chats with the shop owner and buys someone a present. He is then seen wrapping the present. At this point we as an audience have no idea who the present is for, because he appears to be a lonely man based on what we have seen in previous scenes. Therefore this is a complete contrast to his nature and his character.

 We then see him arriving to a pary, whose party it is, is still unclear. We see a long shot of the event and this helps us see the setting, which is a very wealthy characters home. He then has an altercation with a security guard who mistakes him for a stranger and not the girls father. He then has a conversation with the mother, where he blatantly ignores what she is saying and does not acknowledge her. He is obviously just their for the daughter which he states. His body language shows us how he feels towards the mother which is obvious resentment. 

This is the first part of the movie where we can finally know for sure that he has had a family and has a daughter from this relationship. Here in this two person shot we can see the distance between the two which can also symbolise the distance they have with each other. This is important in showing the audience the nature of their relationship and the effect it has on their daughters life. The present is still visible in the scene so we know that it is definitely his daughters birthday party as he also stated in dialogue.

 The daughter then arrives, they body language of the Dad and the daughter have a good relationship. The mother begins to interrupt and argue with everything the dad says, but he is defiant and continues to talk to his daughter. This once again shows us how the parents do not agree or even get along. The daughter opens her present and is thrilled by what her Dad has given her. She is very appreciative of the present but the Mum criticises him for getting a present that she would not find use out off. In fact he knows her better than appears because the girl admits she still wants to be a singer.

The Dads day and surprise present is then ruined by the girls StepDad buys her a horse. She imidiantly drops her new Karaoke set and goes over to her new horse. We as the audience know that there will be an immediate effect on her dad and his emotions and with the help of camera shots helps show this, for example the most important camera shot that shows his emotions are;

A close up shot of Bryan Mills. This shot clearly show his emotions with what has just happened. This is an important shot because we need to know how he feels about the sep dad, the mother and the situation he is in. The music is diegetic as the crowd sings happy birthday to the girl. This links back to the beginning of the opening where it was her birthday in the home films from when she was a little girl and everyone seemed happy. Now it is her birthday again and her dad feels over looked and is upset with the outcome of the day. 

Analysis of thriller opening : The woman in black

Hey,

Introduction to 'The Woman in black';
Arthur Kips who is a lawyers recently became a widower, he grieves the loss he has suffered. He is sent to a remote village to put a deceased eccentric's affair in order. It eventually becomes clear that the villagers are hiding an awful secret. He discovers that the house he lives in is haunted by a woman who is trying to find something/someone that she has lost.

Here is a link to the movie opening:


Opening to The woman in black

 The opening to 'The woman In black':


We start with someone pouring a cup of tea, as the scene goes on we realise that nothing comes out of the pot so we can infer that it is children playing. There is a high pitch sound (backing music) which creates suspense and drama as it isn't a nice quiet piece of music but has a more sinister feel to it. The girls begin to play with their dolls and pretend to give them a drink. Non- diegetic chimes are then present in the background music, they are stereotypically associated with thrillers and horrors to add drama and make the audience nervous, scared or uncomfortable.

We then see a three person shot of all off the little girls. They continue to play with their dolls. They're a series of close up shots of the little girls to show their emotions, which of course are happy as they are playing, this is a contrast to what we are hearing compared to what we are seeing. This will confuse an audience as we don't know why the music is like this in this situation.

Suddenly the music changes and the girls attention is brought to the corner of the room. This creates suspense as we don't know what caught their eye. This shot creates a lot of suspense as we want to know whats happening. Their focus then shifts to the window. With the help of a three person long shot we can see all of the girls reactions and that they are all the same and in sync. The music and their body language/emotions could suggest that they are all possessed. 

The girls stand up, one girl drops and breaks a cup, another breaks a dolls face by standing on it. This shows how something has gone extremely wrong as the care that the girls were taking of them has completely changed, which is completely out of their nature. They all begin to walk toward the window all simultaneously. The walking is in slow motion to add drama and suspense to the shots. It allows the audience to process and imagine what is going on. Each of the girls then reaches for their window latch's and open the windows.  

We then see the three girls standing at the window on the ledge. This shot helps add suspense because we want to know what is going to happen to them. The music continues and gets increasingly louder and more intense. They all then jump from the window ledge. As they jump the music climaxes and then stops.  We then hear screams and the camera zooms out. The opening ends here. This leaves us with the question on who was screaming and what made the girls jump. This opening may be short but is extremely effective in creating a dramatic and scary atmosphere.