Evaluation Task 1

Frame 1:  This frame shows the title to our thriller film. This is not like many other film openings that I have seen because not many titles use a rain effect. You also get the feeling that the film will be a thriller because of the colour used. The colour red is usually associated with horror films, thrillers or hybrids of both thriller and horror. I cannot find any titles from thriller films that look identical to the one we created. The colour red is used effectively in frame 1 on the right of the screen.

Frame 2: This frame comes from a scene in which the use of a police radio is used giving it that thriller aspect because the way in which the person is walking down the stairs while the radio is on, gives the idea that a murder may have been committed. From the thrillers that I have seen I have never seen this kind of thing happen. Thrillers usually cut from the dead body to the police talking, so the way we have done this is unique. The way that the scene also fades in and out gives the idea that time has passed.

For example in some Nightmare on Elm Street film it cuts from the body of a dead teen to the police controlling the scene.

Frame 3: This frame shows a scene in which many thriller use this idea. For example in many thrillers the murderer is either marking off victims on a list, crossing out the faces on photos or marking where the person has been killed. I remember seeing this in the opening of the film Seven. As shown in frame 3 on the right of the screen.

Frame 4: This frame gives the idea that the film may be a thriller becuase it has been editted to look like CCTV footage, which may or may not be a highly common technique in many thriller films, or openings. This shot uses a very slow pan, which is a common element of many thrillers. I believe this because it keeps the viewer wondering, and gives a mysterious feel to it. I believe that this effect was used in the horror film Halloween

Frame 5:  This is very similar to the effect used for the name of the film, except that there is no use of the rain effect. Again this is common to the thriller genre, because of the colour red. The colour itself denotes the colour red, but the connotations could be the blood of someone that has died, or danger. This kind of text is common in films such as Freddy vs Jason, and some other thriller films.

Frame 6: For this frame we have taken the idea of what some thrillers use, but added our own twist to it. For example, the murderer checks his victims on a board ( we used a guess who board for this as it seemed the most suitable, and is commonly known) whereas many other thrillers use photos/lists. We also put a twist on  the lighting. many thrillers that I have seen use very low key lighting, for a mysterious and scary feel, whereas for our one we used high key lighting, to break that usual stereotype that thrillers have. I believe that this kind of effect is similar to Seven in which the person is blanking out pictures of people, and we do not know if he is the murderer.

Frame 7: This frame includes a crossed out newspaper with the image of a murder victim. This part of our thriller opening was used in the thriller film Seven. In Seven's opening we see a person crossing out words in a book. So we decided to use this technique in our own thriller opening, by using a newspaper, where the words have already been crossed out. The font that is used for the photoshopped image, is very common to newspapers, so it has a natural feeling to it. Similar to frame 4 on the right of the screen.

Frame 8: This frame introduces the murderer into the opening as the scene is giving a full body view of the character, and it very clear. The costume that we decided to use for this character, is usually used in many horrors where the person is dressed in black and his face is usually not seen. This type of scene can be seen in many horrors or thriller-horrors. This is never really used in the openings of films, but a good scene where this happens is in the film Psycho, in which you cannot see the person behind the shower curtains, and all you gain is a silhouette of the murderer, as shown is frame 2 on the right screen.

Frame 9: This frame focuses on the main use of special effects in our thriller opening. The effect that we used to make the screen darker and more "dusty" is not very common in the openings of thrillers that I have seen, as they usually use low key lighting for these scenes. The mise-en-scene of this particular frame is also common, e.g. a broken down factory or house.