Examples of Thriller Openings

'MEMENTO' By Christopher Nolan

In this scene you see the close ups of various objects such as a photograph, a pair of glasses and a bullet. These shots could be symbolise the character taking mental pictures as the shot is a still close-up of the objects.

Also this thriller opening is effective because it plays with the narrative order. The photograph fades away which could symbolise the characters memory fading away.

Furthermore this scene gives a sense of suspense and anticipation as there is no dialogue. Thjis allows us as an audience to concentrate more on the visuals.

In addition the scene is set in a dark dingy room to give a sense of mystery. Also there are shadows on the man's face which sets the tone ofthe film as being dark and sinister.

Bradley x

Target Audiences

What is a Target Audience?

The specific group of people towards whom the film is directed.

Niche Audience- The separation of the film audience into segments each of which have different tastes and concerns.

When creating our opening it is very important that we can identify our target audience and gear our opening towards them and their interests. By researching into our target audience we will be able to learn what sort of things they like in Thriller films and what things they do not like as much. It is important to understand you’re your target audience are, what they like and why they like it in order for your film to communicate to them. If we can successfully do this it will allow us to create something that has all the elements of a successful Thriller opening that the audience will enjoy. I looked into the typical audience for thrillers and found that they are usually popular with under 30’s. Target audiences are usually defined by gender and age, however sometimes socioeconomic status, race and interests are also used to define them. Typical age ranges are:
5-11
11-15
16-18
18-25
25-54
54+
Age range is important to understand as it is unlikely that a film that entertains a 50year old will also entertain an 8year old. Another thing to think about is why your target audience will enjoy the film and why others don’t. What elements do Thrillers have that these people enjoy. These could be the excitement, suspense, tension, mystery, thrill, anticipation, action, all oh which are associated to the Thriller genre. Also from my research I learnt that Thrillers are less popular with females. I think a reason for this could be that most lead roles in thrillers tend to be males and most of the time the women can just be used as the beauty or the scene filler.


THRILLERS DO NOT USUALLY APPEAL TO:

• 
  Elderly
• 
  Children
• 
  People who do not like violence in films
• 
  People who have phobias of certain situations ie being tied up or drowning

Other ways to research more into our target audience is to outgo demographic research. This includes segmenting initial groups into sub groups ie professional status, geographical location. Also another way is to use psychographics which is a system for measuring the audience’s beliefs, opinions and interests in deeper context. Both of these give more insight into the audience all of which helping you come up with something that will really appeal.

Shanice
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Checklist of Considerations whilst preparing to film our opening!

Location – Does the Location suit the script? Does it portray the right message? Does it allow us to shoot everything we want effectively?

Props- What props do we need to compliment the story? How can we make the props more authentic and realistic? Do we want the props to be realistic? Are the props needs within reach or are they unattainable?

Costume- How are the actors going to be dressed? Will the way the costumes are presented affect the opening in any way? What costumes will suit the script? How do we want the costumes to look and what do we want them to portray ie will they say something about the characters or will they show what has just happened (blood on them etc)?

Transitions between shots- Do we want the transitions to be fluid to create suspence or jumpy to add tension?

Time of day- At what time of day do we want to film? Will the time of day affect the piece? At what times will the location chosen be busy therefore hindering us from filming effectively?

Shanice

Box Office Figures and Statistics

What the creators and directors of thriller films hope for is the reaction of the audience to be a great success. I'm going to talk about box office figures and statistics that are involved with thriller films.

For example, Jaws (Directed by Steven Spielberg) was the first film in motion picture history to cross the $100 million mark. On June 20th 1975 when Jaws was released, it opened at 409 theaters. Then on July 25th, the release was expanded to a total of 675 theaters. Jaws then grossed more than $7 million on its first weekend, and was the top grosser for the following five weeks.
Jaws then went on to win 3 Oscars, another 9 wins and 13 nominations. These additional awards include Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films USA(Best advertising & Outstanding film of 1975), and Golden Globes USA(Best Origional Score- Motion Picture). This film was based on the novel by Peter Benchley.

These early thriller films such as Jaws and Star Wars set the standards of Thriller films today when it comes to box office performances and awards. Hopefuly, this has given you a brief idea of the statistics and how much money is involved in the film industry.

Ashley

Our Preliminary Excercise

By doing the preliminary excercise we were able to gain valuable experiance in filming which will help us when filming and preparing for our Thriller opening. We decided as a group that it was important that we all had a chance to film and edit something from the exercise. Therefore each of us would be given the chance to gain our own individual experience and knowledge.

Overall filming went very well and according to plan. We found a good space for filming that suited our story and what we were trying to portray. The filming process was fluid and we worked well together as a group, making decisions and working together as a team. We decided to film the shots in the same sequence as they would be in the finished product and each member in the group filmed and directed one shot. We stuck to our original plan of what shots we were going to use and how we were going to film certain things ie angles. However, during filming we came up with other ideas to incorporate in the exercise, this included the shot of the hourglass running out which was not in our original storyboard. We thought that touches like this add something extra to a basic piece of film. One other thing that we changed during filming was some of the angles we had hoped to use for certain shots. This was because the space we were filming in did not allow us to do certain things. This gave us something to consider when choosing our own location for our Thriller opening.

If we were to do the exercise again we would probably try to think about everything we wanted to include and put it in our storyboard rather that adding things as we went along. I feel if we had done this it would have been more professional. I also would try to think about finding the right location before the day of filming. After watching the finished product I think that we could have made the transitions between some of the shots more fluid. I learnt a lot from doing this exercise what things we have to consider whilst planning our thriller opening. I also learnt how to use the cameras and all the other equipment including the editing suite. In addition to this it gave me a chance to try out and build upon my new knowledge of camera shots, angles and rules of filming and editing including match on action, continuity editing and 180degree Rule.

Shanice
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Preliminary Excercise

Storyboard for Preliminary Exercise

Brad