For my AS production I had the task of creating a 2 minute introduction sequence to a thriller movie. The movie's synopsis consists of a police detective who has been informed about a murder nearby and has been called to the location of the murder to investigate. On his way into the building, he receives the files about the crime from his partner and as he heads up the stairs he is communicating with the mysterious partner. Upon finding the corpse, detective Gullaid reports his findings and shares his opinion to the antagonist (Thomas Tesfay). His partner then shows up behind him and it is revealed that he is in fact the murderer. His face however is not shown as this will create enigma throughout the rest of the film. The mise en scene that was used for this opening subverts to the general conventions of a thriller because the sun is shining as well as there being a medium amount of background noise suggesting children playing nearby. The location is set at an urban environment, specifically, a lower class housing estate which again subverts to general conventions of a thriller as usually they are set at a rural location where help is not nearby.
The title sequence to our film opening was inspired by the title sequence of se7en. It is a montage of different clips showing the insanity of the main antagonist. The clips range from flammable liquids to sharp objects, to unreadable text to pictures of victims. All of these clips are there to portray the madness and criminal mind of the main antagonist. This title sequence contained many different types of shots and many effects were added to create tension and keep the viewers interested. A good example is during the shot of the murderer writing on paper, an "old film" effect was added to add to the mystery. Another shot which I believe was effective was the panned shot of the Newspapers and CDs which showed the audience that the murderer posesses copious amounts of information about his victims. Another effective shot was the shot where the knives were scraping together. This idea was inspired by the film "Scream" which we thought was effective as it was a silent weapon and one which creates more tension than a gun for example.
The character who plays the murderer in the film subverts and conforms the typical representations of a villain. He subverts because villains are generally seen to be larger, more muscular and usually also have a dominant presence. While not much of the murderer is seen, it is visible that the murderer is somewhat short and skinny which in effect makes for a successful murderer as not many people would suspect him to be capable of such things. On the other hand, he conforms to the typical representations of a villain because his voice is very deep and sounds evil. The murderer is also seen to be wearing a suit which could either suggest that he is wearing uniform for the police or he is powerful and rich. The main protagonist on the other hand completely conforms to the representations of a "hero" character. He is also wearing a suit but does not have a tie and has his top button undone which suggests he is cool and collected. This characteristic of a protagonist is also shown in se7en where Brad Pitt is seen dressing in a similar way. Gullaid is also larger than the murderer and during the scene of him walking up to the crime scene, he does not seem worried at all.
The shots used throughout the introduction sequence are quite stereotypical in that a lot of close ups and medium shots are shown which shows detail on the person's face and helps the viewer to detect fear, anger and other forms of emotion. This allows the audience to know what the person is feeling and allows them to connect with the person more. The murderer also has a zoom-in close up of his face when his identity is partially revealed. Due to the low lighting, the audience still does not see exactly how the murderer looks but the general shape of his body is shown which suberts to the typical representation of thriller movies as the main antagonist's identity is revealed at the start of the film whereas usually it is revealed at the end.
Overall I believe that our AS Production had elements of conforming to typical representations as well as suberting to them. The location of the scenes and the weather subverted to the representations, and so did the main antagonist with his ectomorph body type. On the other hand, the main protagonist conformed with his "cool" way of dressing and calm attitude. This mixture of conforming and suverting to stereotypes will create confusion with the audience which will make them more interested in watching the entirity of the film and finding out the plot.
