Shooting schedule

Shooting Schedule

Planned as a group but written up by Freya Money

Narrative in our opening sequence

Narrative in Our Opening Sequence

Tzvetlan Todorov- We will be challenging his narrative structure theory as we will be starting with a disruption. In our opening sequence we will show the wife locked up in the cellar looking very much helpless which is how we are challenging his theory because by starting with this disruption instead of an equilibrium, it will instantaneously grip the audience and make them feel involved which will inevitably encourage them to carry on watching. However the rest of the movie will follow this narrative structure as it will help to communicate our genre (psychological thriller) and will help the audience to understand the storyline.

Roland Barthes- In our opening sequence we will be incorporating an enigma code by not revealing the identity of the husband in the opening sequence. This will add to the sense of mystery in the plot and get the audience questioning and on the edge of their seats as they’ll want to know the identity of this man. This is a genre signifier for a psychological thriller as in many opening sequences of this genre, it is extremely common for the directors to involve enigma codes as they want to get the audience gripped and encourage the audience to watch on and find out the answers to their questions.

The fact the husband (the antagonist) is wearing all black is a significant semantic code, this may convey to the audience what type of roll he will play in the rest of the movie, as black indicates; evil, mystery and death.

Vladimir Propp- In our opening sequence we will clearly display a villain not only by showing the fact he has his wife locked away, defenceless, in the cellar but also the use of the husband’s costume. This character will be wearing all black which immediately connotes to the audience; death, evil and mystery. This also may indicate to the audience right from the start, that he may be the antagonist. This is very effective and conventional for a psychological thriller as mystery is a key theme in many films of this genre.

Back-story- the history behind the situation right at the start of our film (wife stuck in cellar). This deepens the psychological aspect of the story since the audience is able to more fully understand the husband; more specifically, what the husband’s motivations are and how the current situation has shaped his current cognitive and emotional perceptions. We are showing this through the use of a flashback by presenting his thoughts with him talking in the background but not actually to the camera. This will help the audience to further understand the husband’s mind-sets and why he has his wife locked up away in the cellar.

Claude Levi Strauss- states a good story revolves around conflict between binary opposites. This is being displayed in our opening sequence because the two main characters, one being the husband (the antagonist) and the other being the wife (the victim). These two characters are binary opposites, even though they may be married, one is obviously a woman and one is a man. The wife is somewhat vulnerable and helpless and the husband is stronger, more independent and obviously very controlling.

Planned as a group but written by Robbie Butt

Communicating the genre of our text

Communicating the Genre of Our Text

In our film opening sequence we will communicate the genre of our text through many ways. For example;

• Editing on the title
• Dull colours/lighting
• Enigma code
• Location
• Dialogue
• Camera shots 

The editing on the title will be somewhat conventional as there will be mainly red, black and white colours which will convey the genre as these are common in psychological thrillers. Red connoting danger, death and love, black connoting death, mystery and evil and white connoting innocence and purity which not only will contrast with the black but will represent the woman in our opening sequence.

Similarly, the colours and lighting will be just as effective. The main colours in the opening sequence will be conventional of a psychological thriller as dull colours are very common in this genre as they can signify a sense of mystery. The dull colours will work in conjunction with the low-key lighting which again is very frequent in a psychological thriller as it can transmit the mystery to our film. There may be some more hopeful colours such as natural daylight colours when the missing posters are being put up as there is still a sense of hope for the sister of the missing wife as she will only know one side to the story. But as soon as the cellar is involved, the main colours will be dark and dull to show the contrast and how locked away the wife is.

In terms of Roland Barthes Code Theory, we will be incorporating an enigma code by not revealing the identity of the husband in the opening sequence. This will add to the sense of mystery in the plot and get the audience questioning and on the edge of their seats as they’ll want to know the identity of this man. This is a genre signifier for a psychological thriller as in many opening sequences of this genre, it is extremely common for the directors to involve enigma codes as they want to get the audience gripped and encourage the audience to watch on and find out the answers to their questions.

Furthermore, the location of our opening sequence will be conventional for a psychological thriller. Our main location is a cellar which will immediately illustrate mystery to the audience and it is very commonplace for this genre, as the most used locations for psychological thrillers are usually abandoned as they add a sense of uneasiness and mystery within the audience.

The amount of dialogue will be very minimal to add to the mystery. But we are going to have a voiceover when the husband is cooking dinner to illustrate his thoughts about what has happened and maybe hint or even tell the audience what has happened in the past to help the audience understand the storyline better and will help them understand why the wife is in the cellar.

The semantic elements as a part of Rick Altman’s Genre Theory will be incorporated through the use of the location and the wife tied up in the cellar as these are visual iconography for a psychological thriller and will be easy to identify for the audience. Also we will involve syntactic elements as there are emotional themes involved such as love and also the husband getting revenge as he feels humiliated by his wife.

The point of view shots of the wife in the cellar will really help the audience to feel as though they are a part of the action and help them to understand what the wife is going through. Also to make the audience feel attached more emotionally to the character. We will also be using an over the shoulder shot which is extremely conventional for a psychological thriller as it is very effective in building tension within the audience. The use of various establishing shots will help the audience to get to know the location and maybe even establish a relationship between the location and the characters.

Planned as a group but written by Robbie Butt

Representation in our opening sequence

Representation in our opening sequence

                In our opening sequence the main representation we focus on is gender, in many ways we convey the stereotypical representation of men and women; men being more dominant. However in some ways we have challenged these ideas.

                In our opening two minutes the main character is the man in our film, we portray him as very dominant compared to the woman, and we do this by the story line being the man keeping the woman hostage and not the other way round. We also support the idea that men are the more violent and strong gender as although we don’t show any fighting or arguing in the opening sequence, we make it clear that he has forcefully trapped her in the cellar to punish her. However one way we challenge the stereotypes of gender is by the woman being the unfaithful one whereas typically the man would be suspected as being disloyal. The camera angles will support the idea that men are more powerful as we will use a low-angle shot looking up at him to over exaggerate his height and dominance also showing he has control over his wife. Another representation of males is that they’re mysterious and have something to hide and we will show this firstly in camera angles and lighting where we won’t show his whole face until the end, hinting to the audience that he has something to hide, additionally his outfit will be black which is associated with mystery. In the opening sequence the audience can see that he feels emasculated by something that the wife has done, and our opening supports the idea that when a man feels emasculated he then has to then do something to get his masculinity back and prove a point that he’s still more powerful. On the other hand another challenge we include is a more sensitive side to him as an idea we have is to include a flash back voice in his head of an argument they had about the affair which could suggest that what she’s done is on his mind and is upsetting him more than he’s trying to show. Our film suggests a patriarchal society.

                On the other hand, the woman in our opening sequence will be represented as much less dominant as she’s being trapped and isn’t strong enough to get out. She supports the idea that woman are more scared than men and therefore weaker by the sound of her heavy breathing and her makeup being smudged showing she’s been crying in the cellar. Camera angles will be used to make her seem vulnerable and weak as we will use high angled shot looking down on her. We support the idea that men aren’t allowed to disobey men as she’s been unfaithful to him and now she has to be punished in a brutal way and suggests that if she’s not with her husband then she can’t have a relationship with anyone, whereas if a man cheated she wouldn’t have the strength to punish him in this way, making it seem okay for him but not for her. She is portrayed as a submissive character as she must obey him otherwise this is what happens. This character however challenges the idea that women obey their husbands at all times and we show her promiscuity through her costume which is a red top which is associated with love.

Planned as a group, written up by Jessica Granger

Costume and prop list

Costume and Prop List

Props:

Street: A specific alleyway just for pedestrians which is very effective as people have a higher chance of seeing the missing posters, stopping, reading them and then they have an understanding of the missing girl.

•  Missing posters/blue tac
•  Lamp post/trees

Kitchen:

•  Pan
•  Hob
• Food
• Plates
• Cutlery
• Table
• Chairs
•  Laptop
• Printer
• Missing posters
• Newspaper

Cellar: A creepy/eerie/mysterious looking cellar which is conventional for our genre (psychological thriller).

• Chair
• Bucket
• Rope
• Dirty plates
• Torch
• Food

Costumes:

James Potter:

·         Black t-shirt

·         Black jeans

·         Black desert boots

The all black outfit will illustrate; death, evil and mystery. These are all key themes in psychological thrillers and will help the audience to understand the character and maybe even figure out straight away from the outfit, that he is the antagonist.

Megan Potter:

·         Red top- to connote love, death, blood and maybe her promiscuous side as red can be quite a sexual colour.

·         White skirt- indicating her purity and innocence.

·         No shoes- to emphasise how isolated, helpless and hopeless she is as she is stuck alone in a cellar with as it seems, no help.

·         Smudged make up- to show how distraught and helpless she is because as much as she cries, there may be no hope for her in the end. Maybe to also show how long she’s been stuck down there.

·         Ring- to emphasise that she is married to the man and that even in this horrific time, she is still wearing it.

Abigail Granger:

·        Pink blouse- smart/office style top to show the nature of her job. Pink to represent the love and care she has for her sister and make her look like an innocent, feminine character
      Black jeans - add a sense of mystery to her character as in the opening the audience are unaware of the part she will play and her role (as the protagonist)
      White shoes - show her innocence and purity

Planned as a group but written by Robbie Butt

Locations recce

Locations Recce

There will be three main locations within our opening sequence:

1. street/alleyway

2. kitchen/modern house

3. cellar

Firstly, we want to use a street or alleyway to show the sister and husband putting up missing posters of the woman. We want to present them putting them up in a public area as obviously they will want people looking out for the missing woman. This will be our second scene. 

The restrictions for using this area is that it is a public area so we will need to be careful when filming to not get any pedestrians on camera as they may not give us permission to use the footage. Another restriction is the fact that this area is a large open space and is fairly windy. Therefore it will be hard to hear any dialogue from the characters and there will also be the sound of the wind during the footage. As a result we will need to put music and the dialogue over the footage and record it separately and mute the sound on the actual footage. There is also a lack of power points so we will have to work with the natural lighting and make sure the camera is fully charged before we go out to film so we don't run out of battery half way through! As it is starting to get dark early we will film at around 2/3pm so it is still light enough to film and get good results. The health and safety issues is the road that is next to the alleyway. It isn't a very busy road but we will make sure we are on the pathway at all times and stay clear of cars. 

The second location is the kitchen and modern house. This will be where we film the first and third scene of our opening sequence. The husband will be seen printing off missing posters in the first scene and then making dinner for him in the third scene. 

The dangerous hazards will be when cooking the meal. The gas hob will be on and we will need to be careful when filming to remember to stay clear of it and be sensible. There is also a mirror on the wall opposite the kitchen so when we are filming the husband cooking we need to be careful to not get reflections of any of the equipment or people! 

 

















The third and final location is the cellar. This is where we will be filming the final scene of the opening sequence. The wife is being held hostage in here and is tied up to a chair. 

There are numerous difficulties and restrictions with this location. To begin with, there is minimal lighting and there is just one light which fills the whole room so we will need to supply ourselves with extra lighting. There is also minimal power points so for the lighting situation we may need an extension cable to be able to position the light where we want in the room. But on the other hand it is an excellent location as it is conventional of a thriller/horror film. A dirty, eerie, mysterious setting which is stranded from all civilisation. It will be effective at establishing the genre of the film and creating tension and suspense within the audience. 

The colours of the cellar are perfect as they are generally dark colours. This signifies the mind of the husband. As black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown. The dark colours are used to create fear and suspense and ultimately scare the audience.   

There was another option of a cellar but we had to rule that one out as it was cramped with too many items. The height of the ceiling was also too low so therefore it would not be suitable to film in. The fact that this cellar is very clear and empty will help to make the wife seem isolated from society and an outsider.  


Planned as a group but written by Freya Money

Our script

Our opening sequence script

INT. Desk – daytime

JAMES is at his desk on his computer printing missing posters with his wife on them. Only the back of his head is shown.

He clicks print on his computer.

A shot of the printer, JAMES reaches his hand out to take the printed poster.

INT. Dining room – daytime

A shot of the table, a newspaper is thrown by JAMES, the camera films the newspaper and the hand, not JAMES.

Panning shot of framed photos of JAMES and MEGAN as a couple.

JAMES is stood in the dining room, there’s a knock on the door. It makes him jump and he gasps suddenly

INT. The front door – daytime

JAMES opens the door, ABIGAIL is stood outside.

ABIGAIL

Should we go?

JAMES nods.

JAMES and ABIGAIL walk out the door.

INT. A street – daytime

JAMES and ABIGAIL put a poster up on a tree.

They walk away.

INT. Front door - daytime

JAMES arrives home and opens his front door and walks in

INT. Kitchen - evening

JAMES serves up two plates of dinner

INT. dining room table - evening

JAMES puts food down and sits down at the head of the table

Whilst eating he hears flashbacks of arguments that occurred between him and his wife

His facial expressions are angry and frustrated.

JAMES

You and him in my bed?

Who is he?

How long has this been going on?

MEGAN

I’m sorry

I still love you

Please don’t leave me

(the flash back will be distorted and the lines of dialogue will be repeated)

He takes his last spoonful of dinner

He stands up and picks up the extra plate of food he made

INT. Outside - evening

He goes out the door and walks down the stairs outside and unlocks the door

INT. cellar – evening

He enters the cellar holding a torch and the plate

MEGAN breaths heavy

JAMES walks closer towards MEGAN

JAMES
Did you miss me?

MEGAN struggles to get out of the chair

This is the script for our opening sequence; it is mainly stage directions for the actors as we didn’t want to include much dialogue in our opening sequence to add to the suspense. However as mentioned in past posts this is a factor of our opening that we will try out and decide if it works when we come to edit. I have still included them in the script.

Planned as a group, written up by Jessica Granger

Our storyboard

Our opening sequence storyboard

 

Here is the storyboard, which are the scenes we plan to shoot for our opening sequence. We’ve planned to try out the scenes with dialogue however for a number of reasons we may not include them in our final piece, these reasons include the possible poor acting skills or if they don’t work and make the film less believable. Throughout the opening there will be non-diegetic music playing which only cuts out when the screen goes blank, as written on the storyboard at times the music changes like when James enters the cellar and when the title of the film comes up. I was unable to write the real title of our film when drawing the story board because we are still undecided however obviously where it says ‘TITLE’ that’s when it will come up. Also the amount of scenes may chance if cutting from one to another look unnatural we may have to include an extra scene in the middle, these are things we will only be able to judge when we begin to film the opening sequence and/or when we begin to edit.

Planned as a group, written up by Jessica Granger

Film idea

Group Film Idea 

Film Title: The Vault 

The vault is another word for cellar and as the majority of the film is based in the cellar our group thought it would be effective if the title connected to the main theme of the film. 

Genre: Psychological thriller

Psychological thriller is a thriller story, which emphasises the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. In terms of classification, the category is a subgenera of the broader ranging thriller category, with similarities to detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality", moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of and overlap with mystery, drama, action, and horror, particularly psychological thriller. Our group narrowed down the genre to a psychological thriller due to the fact that it is a mystery film. As throughout the audience is trying to work out how and why the woman is down in the cellar. Our film also presents the unstable mentality of characters, through the use of editing, dialogue, mise en scene, body language and camera angles. 

Age Rating: 15

Our group classified our film as an age 15 rating. Within the film there will be frequent strong language and strong violence. This is not suitable for anyone under the age of 15 as it is inappropriate. Although, on the other hand, there will be minimal sexual activity due to the fact that our film is based on a bad relationship between a husband and wife and therefore neither will be encouraged to do so. An age 15 rating includes any of the following:

·         Strong violence

·         Frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***')

·         Portrayals of sexual activity

·         Strong verbal references to sex

·         Sexual nudity

·         Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

·         Discriminatory language or behavior

·         Drug taking

Characters:

In our film there will be a relatively small number of characters so it gives the audience a chance to connect and engage with them. This will help to build a strong perception of what they are like. 

Megan Potter - (played by Freya Money) Megan is a sensitive, quiet, young woman (25 years old) who has a secretive, mysterious side to her personality that the audience is striving to see. Megan is very submissive and bows down to any man as she is too afraid of getting hurt. Megan was happily married but in the film is seen as the victim and being held hostage in a cellar by her own husband, this is because she cheated but the audience are yet to find that out until further on in the film. Our group chose the name 'Megan' as it is the most promiscuous name and we want their names to reflect who they are. Her job is a personal assistant; she met her husband through her job, again this reflects how she is submissive to men as her job is being told what to do by a man. She also met the man she cheated on through her job as well. 

James Potter - (played by Robbie Butt) James is a dominant, stereotypical male character who always has to be in control, especially of women. He is a middle aged man (36 years old). He has a strong personality, he is confident and very proud to be who he has become. This makes him turn to a psycho when he finds out that he wife has cheated on him. He feels emasculated and he believes by punishing his wife  he is gaining is masculinity back. James is the manager of a forensic investigation company and therefore is very knowledgeable in covering up crimes! He is the antagonist in the film - the main character as the film follows his unstable mindset and the consequences of it. 

Abigail Taylor - (played by Jess Granger) Abigail is a concerned older sister of Megan who is always thinking of others before herself. She is very naive and involved in journalism so is very interested into discovering new things and investigating. Throughout the film she tries to discover what has happened to her sister. She is the protagonist in the film as she is eventually the one to find and save her sister from the psycho, mental husband. It is a battle between the two of them. 

Location/Setting - 

The main location is the cellar and in the house where James and Megan live. Our group has chosen to use my house (Freya Money), as it is modern and fairly new, as that is what we want the representation to be of the couple. There are two options for the cellar, but are both very dark and mysterious to create the perfect atmosphere for the film. In which case we will carry out a locations recce to see which cellar is most suitable to work and film in. 

Storyline - 

The film will firstly be subjective filming throughout the opening sequence and the majority of the film as the story will be told through the husbands eyes. Used to enhance a sense of realism and audience involvement in the action. It is also being used to hide the identity of the husband to create tension and suspense within the audience.

A woman has recently gone missing who is in her late twenties. She has a husband and a very loving family who are all devastated about her death. The husband is first seen printing off missing posters and is then met by his sister in law to put them around the neighborhood. The husband makes his way home. The atmosphere is quiet and empty. Extreme long shots of him to connote how alone and lonely he is. Husband makes dinner for himself but makes two plates of food. Is it just routine?... Habit? Is he just missing his wife dearly and accidently made her a plate a food thinking she is still there? Husband walks downstairs with the plates of food. Over the shoulder shot and POV shot of wife looking at a door. Everywhere looks dark. Door opens, the husband walks in. Harsh light pours through the door. Husband chucks plate of food and non-diegetic, mysterious, eerie music begins to play. Credits appear… Throughout the rest of the film, the sister of the missing woman tries to discover how her sister has gone missing. Digging down into unintentional clues left behind by the husband, she gets closer and closing to her goal of finding her. But as the tension rises so does the psychotic mentality of the husband. The sister finally gets into the cellar where her sister has been held hostage but the husband, James, catches her and locks them both up. But the sisters think of a plan to kill the husband the next time he comes in and they get away and are able to put the horrific experience behind them and move on with their lives without him.

Planned as a group but written by Freya Money

Description of target audience

Description of target audience

Age: 

15-35 years old, we chose this because within the film there will be some strong language and violence. This would be inappropriate for children under the age of 15 and although people over the age of 35 are able to watch we chose this age as we feel it is mostly to watch and enjoy this type of film.

Gender:

We feel that both males and females will enjoy this film, males may relate and enjoy it as the main character is male however the male character is also the antagonist and the male audience may not like their gender being represented in this way. Women may enjoy it as the protagonist is a female and they could sympathize more with the character of the wife as they would understand how hard her position must be.

Social demographic:

C2, D, E. This is because our target audience is younger people so therefore most will either be unemployed and in education or have part time jobs and perhaps not be earning as much as older people.

Occupation:

To link with the social demographic target audience I would say jobs such as shop workers, manual workers such as builders etc.

Hobbies and interests:

Perhaps people with in interest in thriller movies, psychology or crime. Also people that like to be gripped by a film as our film is in some ways a mystery and they would have to watch until the end to find our what happened.

Personality:

I would say someone quite curious as they would be gripped by the mystery and watch on to find out what happened and also someone sympathetic as they may feel sorry for the wife and want to watch on to make sure she makes it out of the cellar.

Uses and gratifications:

The audience will escape from their every day life and get involved with the characters lives and they will also be entertained and gripped at the plot of the film.

Initial Ideas

Here are some initial ideas for my opening sequence:

Analysis of opening sequence: Black Swan

Black Swan

The opening to black swan starts with a clear stage with a black back drop, the darkness symbolises the mystery and the darkness that is yet to come in the film. Not much lighting is used apart from one spotlight which follows the female dancer around the stage as she’s dancing. This draws the audience’s attention to her and they notice through this her importance in the film, furthermore the use of the spotlight creates shadows on the stage which adds to the mysterious side of the film. The light being projected onto the female the whole time allows us to see her facial expressions and also doesn’t allow us to see the man’s face, thus hiding his identity from the audience. In terms of camera shot, close ups are used at the beginning on her feet to allow the audience to feel more involved in what’s going on and to highlight that she’s a skilled ballet dancer as she’s on “Pointe”.  A long shot is used when the man is making his way onto stage, he comes from the direction of the camera which keeps his identity hidden from the audience and making him look like a threat to her.

The music used in this scene is classical to again highlight the dancer she is, I would say this piece of music is dramatic from the start, however then gets even more dramatic and quicker paced. She projects sounds of heavy breathing as he enters the performance and gasps to portray the fear the man has caused. The music reaches its climax when the pair are dancing together, showing this is an alarming occurrence. The use of the change in music grips the audience and makes it the comparison in the characters evident. Once the man leaves the stage the music gets slower and so does her dancing and almost goes back to how it was before he joined the dance, showing that his exit caused her to calm down.

The costumes used create a clear contrast between the characters; firstly dressing the female in white suggests her innocence and purity, whereas the man is dressed in black which is a representation of the mystery of him and possible how evil he is. Mid dance there is a costume change, both characters are dressed in feathers, again the female is in white to show she’s the good character and the man is in black to show he’s evil. The man is also in a sort of monster costume with horns which could also link to evil as monsters aren’t normally good. The colour difference could also be linked to the representation of gender in the film, the men could be the antagonists and the women could be protagonists, this is not known by the opening sequence only suggested. Lastly the opening sequence leaves many questions for the audience and narrative enigma codes like ‘why’s he evil?’ ‘who is he?’ ‘why’s she scared of him?’. Most of these questions being based on the man as he is the more mysterious of the two and less of his identity is shown in the opening.

Analysis of opening sequence: Se7en

Se7en

The mis-en-scene of the opening sequence of se7en hints at the genre straight away, the use of colours including black and greys are dull and dark and the overall darkness of the shots show the dark feeling of the film and the persons mind that is in the opening sequence and that we predict has killed someone. The props used in the opening are also associated with the genre as they’re blades and needles which can cause pain and suffering, usually found in thrillers. And also books, images and writing which can link in with the murder and the mystery of the genre as we don’t know what they’re for and what they say.

Sound is use effectively in the opening as throughout I would say the non-diegetic sound played is uncomfortable and hard for the viewers to listen to, this suggests that for some people watching the scenes of the film will make them feel uncomfortable as they will be quite graphic and brutal. The music is also very suspenseful with quite a heavy pitch and the speed also increases slightly as the opening credits end building up the tension. There are also higher pitched sounds which relate to screams, showing the genre again as screams are associated with pain.

Camera angles are close up throughout, for the audience this would make them feel more involved and apart of the film, making them feel uncomfortable again. The close ups also show detail for example the cutting of his fingers to get his finger prints off is showed in a lot of detail and would possibly make this difficult for the audience to watch, again showing what the film will be like. There are no long shots in the opening as this would give too much away about the person; they’re not shown in the opening to add suspense and enigma codes for the audience. It’s gripping as the audience will carry on watching to find out who they are, what they’re doing and why.

In terms of editing, the shots are slow paced at the beginning which hints at what they’re doing as we get a good shot at some of it like what they’re writing however we still don’t understand adding curiosity. The more fast paced shots are suspenseful as we may miss bits of the plot or some clues. The blurriness and shaking of the credits could suggest the person’s mental state, perhaps he’s mentally unstable or has unstable thoughts, showing maybe he enjoys causing pain and this isn’t the first time it has happened.

Conventions of an opening sequence

Conventions of an opening sequence

Credits

The credits of the film introduce the actors and actresses, this could make the film more engaging for some people if an actor they particularly like is in the film. The colours and sounds used in the credits are used to show the genre of the film before it has even begun.

Title

The titles not only show the name of the film but like the credits are also used to show the genre, the font, colours, images and sounds all hint what kind of film it will be.

Logos

Not only do the logos inform the audience about which company made the film, the logos can also be used to represent the genre of the film as different effects and colours can be used. An audience recognising a well known company will make them want to carry on watching as they may know the company have produced good films in the past.

Introduction of characters

In the opening sequence of the film we get our first glimpse at the characters and how they will be represented in the film. This will either make the audience like them or they’ll know they’re be the antagonist. The way characters are portrayed in the opening may change throughout. The characters are there to engage the audience as they want to keep watching and see what happens to them.

Sounds

Sounds in the opening sequence also hint at the genre for example in the film jaws very suspenseful music is used to build up the tension before the big event happens. Silence is also an effective part of opening sequences, perhaps to emphasise the difference between the scenes with sound and make them look more frightening. Sounds such as screaming show the genre is horror and the effect of what’s going on or laughter tells us the film genre is a comedy.

Narrative enigma

Narrative enigma codes are unexplained events that happen, they are used in the opening sequence to engage the audience, they want to carry on watching to find out why that happened or what’s yet to happen. They make the audience question the situation and want to know more.

Location

Setting the scene in the opening informs the audience where the film will be set, it also shows genre as for example if the location of the opening is a scary woods its likely the genre is a horror. It could also tell us about the people in the location as it may be their home or workplace.

Mis-en-scene

The mis-en-scene of the opening sequence is the factors that tell us what’s happening and the genre, for example a person In a mask will tell us its a horror and that they are the villain.