Opening scene narration
The opening sequence of my thriller film will begin with a long shot, clearly showing a group of 4 girls walking home from school. This will act as an establishing shot, as the audience will recognise the familiar walk home from school that they (the target audience) are all familiar with as they are close to the age of the character.
In order to link this shot to the following over the shoulder shot, I plan to use a straight cut, as the next part of the scene is from the point of view of the attacker. Filmed over his shoulder, the scene will follow on the girls as they walk home talking and laughing, focusing particularly on one of the girls more than the others. The audience will realise that, from this focus, that she may be the reason the mystery man is hiding out of sight.
This shot will be followed by a dissolve, with the way the image fades and breaks away into the new scene representing the unstable and fragmented mind of the attacker, as he watches the girl.
As the new shot becomes clear, the audience will watch as the girl says good bye to her friends and walks through a metal gate into the field on her own. This will use a mid shot so that enough detail is included in the scene to make it appear realistic. The audience will clearly be able to recognise the youthful innocence and vulnerability of the female protagonist. The shot will feature the use of natural sound, heavy breathing from the male creating a sinister atmosphere as he watches the group of girls.
The next shot will be introduced via invisible editing, as the female victim walks through the field on her own, earphones in and music blasting so that it is audible to the audience, even though it is muffled. A shallow focus will also be used in this scene, to blur out the background and keep the character in main focus. The audience will however be able to recognise a dark shadow in the background, and therefore make the connection between this figure, moving closer to the female, and the figure who was watching her as she talked with her friends. This will create a sinister atmosphere as well as dramatic irony within this scene, as the audience knows that the outcome for the victim is not looking good, yet she is still in the state of equilibrium (as proposed by Todorov's theory) before she even knows that anything is wrong.
This shot will then change to the next, again using a dissolve to highlight the unbalanced mind of the mystery attacker. The location of this shot will be different to the previous location of the empty field, with the scene now being set in a darkened room, with a man sitting at a desk, facing away from the camera, cutting up pictures. The audience will recognise the girl in the pictures to be the same girl who is walking home from school, through the field on her own.
All of the scenes so far will feature natural sound and as will this one, with the sound of female laughter seemingly echoing through the room.
The scene will then dissolve back into the previous scene, as the female looks over her shoulder, as if she is conscious that someone is there. The shallow focus will be removed, and the audience will clearly be able to see that there is no one there. This adds a sense of ambiguity to the scene as the audience wonders how the man could have disappeared so quickly. As well as the ambiguity this creates, it also makes the male appear more powerful, as the audience has no idea how he could have got out of the shot so quickly, and remain unnoticed.
Yet another dissolve will follow the mid shot in the previous part of the scene, changing the location back the same darkened room as before. This time however, the male stands up, grabbing a balaclava and baseball bat, dragging this behind him carelessly as he leaves the room.
This scene foreshadows what is about to happen to the victim, further enhancing the dramatic irony which is present throughout the opening scene.
This scene will dissolve back into the previous shot, as the female continues to look over her shoulder, before turning back to face the camera. The audience will watch as her expression changes to fear, as a man in dark clothing walks into the scene in front of her, balaclava over his head.
A jump cut will then be used to merge the next scene with this one, and the audience will watch the mid shot as she begins to back away from the attacker, frozen with fear.
Another jump cut will then feature, as the camera pans downwards and focuses on the baseball bat, swinging in the man's hand, as he holds it loosely at his side.
In order to link this shot to the following over the shoulder shot, I plan to use a straight cut, as the next part of the scene is from the point of view of the attacker. Filmed over his shoulder, the scene will follow on the girls as they walk home talking and laughing, focusing particularly on one of the girls more than the others. The audience will realise that, from this focus, that she may be the reason the mystery man is hiding out of sight.
This shot will be followed by a dissolve, with the way the image fades and breaks away into the new scene representing the unstable and fragmented mind of the attacker, as he watches the girl.
As the new shot becomes clear, the audience will watch as the girl says good bye to her friends and walks through a metal gate into the field on her own. This will use a mid shot so that enough detail is included in the scene to make it appear realistic. The audience will clearly be able to recognise the youthful innocence and vulnerability of the female protagonist. The shot will feature the use of natural sound, heavy breathing from the male creating a sinister atmosphere as he watches the group of girls.
The next shot will be introduced via invisible editing, as the female victim walks through the field on her own, earphones in and music blasting so that it is audible to the audience, even though it is muffled. A shallow focus will also be used in this scene, to blur out the background and keep the character in main focus. The audience will however be able to recognise a dark shadow in the background, and therefore make the connection between this figure, moving closer to the female, and the figure who was watching her as she talked with her friends. This will create a sinister atmosphere as well as dramatic irony within this scene, as the audience knows that the outcome for the victim is not looking good, yet she is still in the state of equilibrium (as proposed by Todorov's theory) before she even knows that anything is wrong.
This shot will then change to the next, again using a dissolve to highlight the unbalanced mind of the mystery attacker. The location of this shot will be different to the previous location of the empty field, with the scene now being set in a darkened room, with a man sitting at a desk, facing away from the camera, cutting up pictures. The audience will recognise the girl in the pictures to be the same girl who is walking home from school, through the field on her own.
All of the scenes so far will feature natural sound and as will this one, with the sound of female laughter seemingly echoing through the room.
The scene will then dissolve back into the previous scene, as the female looks over her shoulder, as if she is conscious that someone is there. The shallow focus will be removed, and the audience will clearly be able to see that there is no one there. This adds a sense of ambiguity to the scene as the audience wonders how the man could have disappeared so quickly. As well as the ambiguity this creates, it also makes the male appear more powerful, as the audience has no idea how he could have got out of the shot so quickly, and remain unnoticed.
Yet another dissolve will follow the mid shot in the previous part of the scene, changing the location back the same darkened room as before. This time however, the male stands up, grabbing a balaclava and baseball bat, dragging this behind him carelessly as he leaves the room.
This scene foreshadows what is about to happen to the victim, further enhancing the dramatic irony which is present throughout the opening scene.
This scene will dissolve back into the previous shot, as the female continues to look over her shoulder, before turning back to face the camera. The audience will watch as her expression changes to fear, as a man in dark clothing walks into the scene in front of her, balaclava over his head.
A jump cut will then be used to merge the next scene with this one, and the audience will watch the mid shot as she begins to back away from the attacker, frozen with fear.
Another jump cut will then feature, as the camera pans downwards and focuses on the baseball bat, swinging in the man's hand, as he holds it loosely at his side.
Your opening scene narration shows a good understanding of how you want your thriller film to look like. You have included the main micro elements, but you also need to explain how your points are conventional to a thriller film in more detail.
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