1. How Research has
informed our planning for
our final opening sequence

2. Are you using the same types of characters
that you have researched into?
For our opening sequence we needed to ensure that we use characters that
would help engage the audience thoroughly throughout the duration of the
opening sequence. This meant that we needed characters that the
audience could relate to, or sympathise with in order to create interest for
our opening sequence. We wanted our protagonist Junior to the role of a
victim of bullying, who’s suffering from psychological issues. The concept of
bullying is one that my target audience (16-25) can relate to, as most
individuals at that age have either been the victim of bullying, or a
spectator. Along with our characters being able to relate with our
protagonist, we needed our audience to be able to gain some general
interest about the character. We thought that a way of doing this, is by
having Junior linked to psychological impairment. The idea of psychological
illness links to the feeling of the unknown, which allows the audience to
gain an interest in the character.

3. Are you using the same narrative plot?
The story plot for my opening sequence follows a story of bullying. Our
protagonist, Junior has been a victim of both verbal and physical abuse, at
home and at school for a number of years. Junior realises that the endless
torment that he endures is too much for him to handle, so he turns to faith
to help maintain his problems. When Junior realises that reconciliation and
acceptance of God isn’t possible, he plots to eliminate those that have
wronged him in his life. Overall, I believe that our plot links in closely with
other movies which are focused around bullying e.g. Drillbit Taylor (2008),
Mean Girls (2004), however our storyline follows a more sinister plot twist,
with the murder of the protagonists bully. I order to successfully produce a
film of the thriller genre, we needed to add some sort of concept of
suspense, and anticipation which is why the sinister plot twist was added.
Typically, our opening sequence does follow the foundations of typical films
based around bullying, and also follows the codes and conventions of the
thriller genre.

4. Are you using the same settings
locations?
We typically find that thriller movies are based in suburban areas, such as
the city. Our opening sequence is based in London, Southbank where we use
locations such as Southbank bridge, a park, a basement area and various
others. We needed to be able to create suspense and anticipation (as part
of the thriller genre), so using these areas allowed us to explore possible
ways that we could achieve this. We mostly conformed with the locations
involved with the thriller genre, we made sure that we had a balance of a
city location, and a more creepy/suspenseful location (such as a
basement). By doing this we ensured that the codes and conventions of the
thriller genre were followed, and that our audience could relate with and
have genuine interest in the locations in our opening sequence.

5. Are you using camera angles and
techniques that you have researched?
Some of the main camera angles used in the thriller genre are:
tracking shots, shot reverse shot, match on action, 180 degree rule
and the other generic shots. In order to create a successful thriller
opening sequence, we knew that we needed to conform with the
camera angels used in the thriller genre which is why we used the
ones mentioned above. Many of the camera angles we used in our
opening sequence we learnt about from independent research.
Some basic camera angles e.g. 180 degree rule were taught from
the course itself, but others required a lot of research in order to
understand and perfect, e.g. tracking shot. By using camera angles
and techniques we’ve researched we were able to create a high
quality opening sequence which conforms with the codes and
conventions of the thriller genre.