RESEARCH: Opening scene that use conventions

I chose to look at a film by Quentin Tarantino, it uses a lot of conventions that would be seen in a lot of film openings.

'Death Proof' uses a narrative opening. It first shows the production and distribution company logo's before showing the first scene into the movie, which is a title over a blank screen, showing distribution and production companies again.

 This is the first scene we see, and it shows the directors name, suggesting that he is important as his name appears first. This is shown for 2 seconds before moving on to another name.

 The title of the movie is shown on a black background with a different font to the rest of the credits. This is for the title to be recognizable.

 Then actresses are named each for about 3 seconds.

 We then changed from one scene to another showing more credits. This scene then becomes relevant when the credits stop.

This scene comes in between, credits are given to the crew etc. Editing and casting.

This follows the main conventions of an opening scene. The font and music are used to create an effect of a different period of time. Also the filming is made to look like a 1970's Grindhouse theatre movie.

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: Re-editing A Film Opening

This is our re-edited version of Arlington Road. We used Final Cut and Soundtrack Pro to generate a realistic version of the original film. As the whole class was doing the same, each shot of the original film were on Final Cut, we then had to reconstruct it, as we didn't know what shot went where. We used our knowledge of thriller openings to decide in what order we should put the footage in, so we chose an order that would make sense when we played it back to ourselves without dialogue, sound effects or music. 

This our stages of production where we began putting in the text. We used about 2 seconds between and for important names we left them on screen for about 3-4 seconds. We superimposed the text into the footage, we put the names in corners instead of the middle because we thought it might distract the audience from the action.

These are screen shots of Soundtrack Pro, the software used to add non-diegetic sound to the footage to create a realistic effect. We added a track all the way throughout the footage to add tension.

This is a screen shot of when we had also added in our Foley sound, heavy breathing and footsteps were required to make it effective.

Once we had added in our Foley sound on Soundtrack Pro, we had to retransfer it onto Final Cut, we had to make sure that the sounds were in correct sync with the footage.

These were the final stages, we had to render it to make sure it could fit our blog, and to finalise everything we had done.

Overall we as a group think our Foley sound exercise resulted in a high quality piece, we made sure everything was in place and took great care to add titles in as they would be in a real film.

RESEARCH: Genre and Subgenre

Genre and Sub-genre

Genre: A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Sub-genre: Subcategory with a particular genre.

In media terms, genre is basically the category in which a film may fall under, for example, a thriller - following all the conventions of a stereotypical thriller. 

But there can be a sub-genre - To lure in the target audience, a sub-genre may be used to allow the film to be targeted at a more specific audience, for example an action thriller would be targeted at the people that like action movies along with thriller movies combined.

Shutter Island is a phsycological thriller that my group are interested in. We want to base our thriller opening within this sub-genre because they are designed to make the audience think. It will also interest the generation that the film opening will be shown to.  


The opening of shutter Island starts of as if everything is normal, and then progressing more into the film it shows the darkness behind what is happening. As a group we would have to try and come up with a way of showing that there may be something more to the story than just what you see on screen to show that it is a phsycological thriller.

Some phsycological thrillers I have researched use a discreet opening, usually showing miscellaneous objects that may be important during the film. Or just close ups of objects that may connote something. 

Intertexuality in Thrillers

In media, Intertexuality is basically the influence of the style of a media product on other media products.

In film this would mean that the mise-en-scene, camera and editing of a film can influence other films in that genre.

Intertextuality is often shown in thrillers and the following are some examples.

- the 'White Bathroom' scene has been used in many thrillers. It was first shown in the 1960's film Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

In this scene a white, young blonde haired woman is murdered in a completely white bathroom. The fact that the bathroom is completely white is effective as a clear contrast is shown between the colour of the white tiles and her red blood.
This has been incorporated in many other films such as:

 - What Lies Beneath 
- Fatal Attraction 
- The Stepfather 
- Full Metal Jacket










(watch from 1:31:30 to 1:32:25)

Obviously the scenes can differ, the victim could be male or female, they may not have blonde hair and the murder might not take place in a bathroom. But the point is it makes the audience reminiscent of the original scene from Psycho. 

- Another scene borrowed in many thrillers is one with someone falling and shattering glass. 

The aftermath of a fight is someone falling potentially to their death due to standing on a weak floor board in an attic thus breaking the glass of a table or some other furniture. The fall is meant to be so drastic that the character is believed to be dead, but it is revealed later they are still alive. 

This scene is used in the film 'Obsessed' and also the film 'The stepfather'. 

 (watch from 3:00)

(watch from 1:32:57 to 1:35:04)

Film Audiences

An audience is a group of spectators gathered to view something.

When a product is made, it is designed to be suitable for a specific audience.
For example: A TV programme aimed at young children, may contain many bright colours to attract children and will be absent of any violence or adult humour. Or a movie aimed at teens may be set in a secondary school so that the audience can relate to the characters in the film, and they will most likely discuss topics commonly discussed among teens, such as school and relationships.

When the production of the product is complete it will be targeted/aimed at the specific audience is was made for. Making that audience the 'target audience' for the product.

(Target audience's are not always based on age, they can be based on gender, class or maybe even race)


The target audience for the thriller film 'seven' is 18+
This means it most likely contains frightening images,  strong language and overall adult content. Which makes it unsuitable for young children and younger teens.






The 1960's thriller Psycho is a 15+, this means that like 'Seven' (the 18+ film) it is unsuitable for young children, but it still not has been rated an 18+ film suggesting that the adult content in the film may not be as strong.

The day after tomorrow is a Natural Disaster- Thriller about the end of the world as we know it. The film has been rated a 12A, this is most likely because most natural disaster thrillers don't contain images that would be to frighting for young children to view and this particular film may have little to no adult content.











The 1999 sci-fi- thriller Matrix is rated a 15+, likewise to the film Psycho it is unsuitable for young children, but it still not has been rated an 18+ film suggesting that the adult content in the film may not be as strong. Also in relation to gender, sci-fi- thrillers may contain alot of action making them more popular among a male audience.











Obsessed is a thriller film which is rated a 12A. This suggests adult content is mild and the film has hardly any strong language which makes it suitable for pre teens.
The film may have also been targeted mostly towards women as the storyline addresses the topic of love.

Genre and Sub-Genre

In media 'genre' is a way of categorising media products into groups by shared characteristics.

media products that have the conventions of more than one genre are called 'sub-genres'.
There are many types of sub-genres.
Here is a list of sub-thrillers:
- Romantic-Thriller
- Action-Thriller
- Comedy-Thriller
- Psycho- Thriller
- Mystery- Thriller
- Crime- Thriller
- Religious- Thriller
- Political- Thriller
-Natural Disaster- Thriller
-Supernatural- Thriller
Techno- Thriller








A thriller sub genre that inspires me is The Stepfather, this is just a very short summary of what the film is about:
 'Michael returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her
new boyfriend. As the two men get to know each other, he becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand.'


The thriller opens with a man in the bathroom of his home. He cuts his hair and shaves his beard and leaves his bathroom looking very different. He does the basic tasks one would do in the morning such as getting dressed and preparing breakfast. Initially he seems like a a reasonably normal man but as the opening proceeds we see that there is something very strange about this him and his home. A very eerie version of the Christmas carol 'silent night' plays as the audience explores the setting. It is revealed to the audience just before the end of the opening that this man that appears to be normal is keeping the bodies of dead children in his living room. 


This film stood out to me because I am very fond of the idea of the protagonist in a film appearing to be an average civilian like the rest of society but is really very unusual and in actual fact dangerous. 


Although we are given the impression that this character is somewhat normal. We are also given clues that there may be something weird about them also. The mid shot of the utensils used to groom the man is shown in the opening of the film and at first the audience may not feel as if this is unusual in any way but if observed carefully you will see that these tools are arranged very neatly and organised almost too perfectly, also these are not even tools you would see in an average bathroom anyway. I like the way the film has hinted to the audience that this may be a strange character but has done it so subtly that they may not even notice and kept them guessing about what type of character this may be. This allows it to be a shock when they see the dead bodies in his living room. 


Another hint about the characters nature is given when he is shows installing his contacts. A close up is shown on both his eyes to make it clear to the audience that he is attempting to change his eye colour completely. This might wave a read flag to the viewer and provoke them to wonder why he is changing his image so drastically. But again the hint is so subtle it allows the viewing of the dead bodies to remain a shock. 

The viewer is then taken back to there initial feelings toward the character. That he is just a regular person, he is shown from long shots and mid shots preparing his breakfast. This allows the audience to relate to him in some way as most likely they also do this every morning. This is very effective, the film brings back the initial feelings the audience had towards the character to make the reveal of the dead children in his living room very unexpected. 

I feel that this opening of a sub-thriller will inspire my own thriller very much, as I am intrigued by the idea of a thriller about a seemingly normal person with a dangerous side. Watching the opening to the film has helped me understand how I can make the reveal of the protagonists secret shocking and unexpected by the audience.

Conventions of A Film (Bride Wars)

The opening of the film 'Bride Wars' follows the conventions of a general film opening.

The first thing it does is establish the producers and distributors of the film.





It then introduces the audience to the actors and actresses in the film and all the other people involved in making the film. (such as the costume designers, executive producers and music supervisors etc)






It also sets the tone for the rest of the film. The bright colours used in this opening communicates the film is somewhat carefree and fun. The clear introduction to the narrative in the film also reinforces this, as it is not trying to make this audience guess about the storyline of the movie.






The music used in the film is film is quite calm but also cheerful and might provoke a feeling of happiness in the audience.


It also gives an insight into the location through the film through camera and sound.


Lastly, sound is used (a voice over) to reveal the narrative to the audience at the end of the opening. This allows the audience to remain interested in the film and proceed with watching it.



(I had difficulty taking screen grabs from the film and inserting the as pictures on the blog... so pictures will be  put up shortly)