How did you attract/address your audience?
An opening sequence is extremely important because of the fact that it is what influences the audience to keep on watching, and gives them the first impression of the rest of the film. An opening sequence usually alludes to what the rest of the film will be about by offering the audience a brief insight into the narrative, and establishes factors such as main characters and the primary setting of the film. We had to make sure that during the production of our opening sequence we focused on ensuring that technical aspects such as camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene all reflected our chosen genre of psychological thriller, as well as working together to keep the audience interested. Because of the nature of our chosen genre, we were certain that we wanted to create suspense and mystery in order to keep the audience guessing and alert, so that they don't get bored. This was done by experimenting with what shots we used, as well as the effects and sounds.
The genre of psychological thriller hadn't initially been our targeted genre, and it was once that we had figured out the components of our storyline did we come to the conclusion that it would fall under this genre. We had to implement codes and conventions of this genre into our opening sequence to make it obvious to the audience, as well as the fact that it is a popular genre amongst our target audience, so they would therefore be expecting certain conventions in the opening sequence, such as a build up of suspense and anticipation.
The very first shot that the audience sees is the date "21st June 2001", immediately we have attempted to make our opening appeal to the target audience by confronting them with a date that has no particular significance to them. This successfully appeals to them as fans of the psychological thriller genre enjoy questioning what they are seeing, so seeing a date would challenge them into thinking why it might be important. This shot then fades into a long shot panning across the room, which is used in order to establish the setting. Within the room we used low key lighting to make it seem more sinister as well as build suspense, which attracts the target audience as they want to watch something that will build anticipation. Whilst this is ocurring, the audience can hear narration in the form of a news reporter beginning to read a story about the 9/11 attacks. Psychological thrillers often revolve around crime, which means that this theme would appeal to the target audience as well. As well as this, it also allows the audience to further question what they are seeing. Initially it may seem confusing as the news story is clearly taking place on September 11th whereas at the start, the first shot claimed that the date was in June. Here we allow the audience to make the connection between the two dates of how Cornelius' actions being shown have already happened when the attacks occur. A medium shot of Cornelius twitching in his sleep followed by an extreme close up of his eyes opening abruptly is used to startle the audience, attracting them to our film as it is something that will surprise them and keep them anxious whilst viewing the film. It also represents the character's unstable condition, which makes his actions very abrupt and unpredictable. The audience's anticipation is further built up as a high angle show of Cornelius rummaging for a note pad is shown. They are unaware of what he is about to do, and their interest is engaged in order to find out. Cornelius' behaviour seems erratic as well as frantic which is demonstrated by the various close up shots, such as the extreme close up of the pencil, following it that are moving very quickly. This also means that the audience constantly has to stay attentive to follow the narrative, making them want to continue watching the film. When it came to the vision of Cornelius in a mental asylum, we had to ensure that it was obvious it was a vision so the black and white effect made that work, as it contrasted the reality that was taking place. It also makes the audience curious as to why Cornelius is in that situation, and to find out they are encouraged to keep watching.
Successful psychological thrillers have involved numerous themes similar to those that we incorporated in Premonition. Our main themes involed mental instablity, crime, and terrorism. In Don't Say A Word, there is a significant presence of psychological problems through Brittany Murphy's character of Elisabeth. We thought that this was an interesting aspect of thrillers that could be developed in various ways due to the vast number of mental disorders, so implementing it in our own film would attract the target audience as well as fit the conventions of a psychological thriller.
The genre of psychological thriller hadn't initially been our targeted genre, and it was once that we had figured out the components of our storyline did we come to the conclusion that it would fall under this genre. We had to implement codes and conventions of this genre into our opening sequence to make it obvious to the audience, as well as the fact that it is a popular genre amongst our target audience, so they would therefore be expecting certain conventions in the opening sequence, such as a build up of suspense and anticipation.
The very first shot that the audience sees is the date "21st June 2001", immediately we have attempted to make our opening appeal to the target audience by confronting them with a date that has no particular significance to them. This successfully appeals to them as fans of the psychological thriller genre enjoy questioning what they are seeing, so seeing a date would challenge them into thinking why it might be important. This shot then fades into a long shot panning across the room, which is used in order to establish the setting. Within the room we used low key lighting to make it seem more sinister as well as build suspense, which attracts the target audience as they want to watch something that will build anticipation. Whilst this is ocurring, the audience can hear narration in the form of a news reporter beginning to read a story about the 9/11 attacks. Psychological thrillers often revolve around crime, which means that this theme would appeal to the target audience as well. As well as this, it also allows the audience to further question what they are seeing. Initially it may seem confusing as the news story is clearly taking place on September 11th whereas at the start, the first shot claimed that the date was in June. Here we allow the audience to make the connection between the two dates of how Cornelius' actions being shown have already happened when the attacks occur. A medium shot of Cornelius twitching in his sleep followed by an extreme close up of his eyes opening abruptly is used to startle the audience, attracting them to our film as it is something that will surprise them and keep them anxious whilst viewing the film. It also represents the character's unstable condition, which makes his actions very abrupt and unpredictable. The audience's anticipation is further built up as a high angle show of Cornelius rummaging for a note pad is shown. They are unaware of what he is about to do, and their interest is engaged in order to find out. Cornelius' behaviour seems erratic as well as frantic which is demonstrated by the various close up shots, such as the extreme close up of the pencil, following it that are moving very quickly. This also means that the audience constantly has to stay attentive to follow the narrative, making them want to continue watching the film. When it came to the vision of Cornelius in a mental asylum, we had to ensure that it was obvious it was a vision so the black and white effect made that work, as it contrasted the reality that was taking place. It also makes the audience curious as to why Cornelius is in that situation, and to find out they are encouraged to keep watching.
Successful psychological thrillers have involved numerous themes similar to those that we incorporated in Premonition. Our main themes involed mental instablity, crime, and terrorism. In Don't Say A Word, there is a significant presence of psychological problems through Brittany Murphy's character of Elisabeth. We thought that this was an interesting aspect of thrillers that could be developed in various ways due to the vast number of mental disorders, so implementing it in our own film would attract the target audience as well as fit the conventions of a psychological thriller.
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