The reason we are filming a thriller film opening is because of the scenario we were given in our brief. In the brief it asked us to produce the opening to a thriller film. This film opening would be shown during the upcoming ‘film thriller season’ and  should utilize recognizable generic codes and conventions within production, either typically or by subverting them.  

 

Previously before receiving the brief we researched and investigated a range of films like Jurassic World, London to Brighton and The theory of everything. We did this so we could pick them apart and to explore their journey in pre production. We also wanted to find out if anything went wrong during pre production process so we could avoid that and so we had knowledge of the requirements and steps in the process. One of the other things we did was exploring into  the regulators involved in the media industry so we knew the rules and didn’t break laws of copyright etc.

 

When we received the brief, we then specifically explored the thriller genre and subgenres. We picked out the conventions of each sub genre with our knowledge already about genres and by watching trailers. After picking conventions for each sub genre, we watched thriller openings from the movies Psycho,The Net and Panic Room. This allowed us to unravel the meanings hidden in the openings and to study the way it is laid out both in video and sound. When studying the openings, we went and studied it second by second and created a detailed deconstruction which allowed us to see what our thriller opening would benefit from and how the openings alone represented the genre.

 

After exploring the thriller genre and subgenres it allowed us to create a checklist of codes and conventions to make our thriller film opening successful. Throughout my analysis I understand the conventions of the thriller genre to vary depending on it’s sub genre. As a class we decided that our genre would be a medical thriller and from that we were able to deeply analyse the thriller and medical conventions.

 

As a group we all chipped in idea’s for the story and we decided that it would be along the lines of this. The opening starts in the Science lab where Laila is making potions and has made a knowingly toxic solution. She uses Matty has her test subject  and injects him with the mystery liquid which causes him to have a reaction. This reaction is skin peeling,skin irritation,bruising and the sweats. We need to add in the name of the film and names of the people involved in this scene.

 

When considered locations options we wanted to think about the cheapest and easiest ideas. We needed to consider many aspects like whether we were filming in school or outside of school, if we filmed outside of school - we needed a planned day. So with all the considerations considered, we decided that our prime location would be the science block/classroom. We thought that having our location in school would be easier for everyone to meet however  we then had to make a shooting schedule outside of the media lesson and find out periods when everyone is free then also finding out when the science classroom is free and available.

 

Props and costumes were easier to access now that we had our location sorted. We knew that the science labs contained lab coats and goggles which perfectly fit our medical conventions and for costume. For props we add to draft and send an email Miss Hellier who is in charge of science supplies to ask for permission to use supplies like beakers, pipettes and other safe science equipment. 

 

When choosing who in the class was going to be the main character, we considered that female protagonists were common in the thriller genre. Despite limitations on who would play the role on casting, We choose Laila to be our main character. Laila has shown that she can be reliable and knows how her role impacts the group. We also decided that we needed a backup actor as it fitted well with our opening story so we asked raised the question in one of our meetings and Matty decided he wanted to fulfill the small role. The rest of the group were happy with the decisions made about the actors as they were both reliable, accessible people and asking them to act was free and didn’t impact the budget. Another person we needed for hire was a makeup artist to make Matty look ill from the solution Laila injected into his bloodstream. Luckily Carly started her hobby as an SFX artist beforehand therefore she had the supplies and knowledge to do the make up for the opening. Everyone agreed for Carly to do the makeup as she is reliable and accessible and doesn’t cost anything to hire as she is part of the team.  

We have decided that the minimum timing for the opening would be around 2 minutes. We made this decision based on the thriller film openings we watched.