Research- Alfred Hitchcock Style Inspiration!

http://borgus.com/hitch/openings.htm - This link was a godsend when it came to finding out what the master of thrillers himself used in his opening sequence and gives us an insight into why he includes these things and how I can incorperate these points into my own opening sequence.

Some key points I took out of this page was the use of skylines or headlines. I initially wanted to use the garage and only the garage for my opening but after reading this information, I have found that the use of a daylight or outdoor surrounding accompanied by light hearted music (which in our case is going to be the whistling of oranges and lemons) is an interesting way to open a thriller of any sort as the contrast itself causes suspense.

This is a screenshot image from the opening sequence of the thriller, panic room. It shows an ordinary American city and there is no indication as to what is going to happen or that there is any suspence involved but in the clip below, you will see how music is used to make some suspence and create an atmosphere for the opening of this film.

Another interesting point I came across was the use of written text. I am going to be editing in titles to my opening sequence during the editing process and am going to be using a font simular to the one used in the film 'SE7EN' as is going to be showing mise-en-scene related to the objects around the character including books (leather) and the tools and weapons we are going to be showing.

Camera Shots I May Be Using

Racking focus is the practice of shifting the attention of a audience of a film or video by changing the focus of the lens from a subject in the foreground to a subject in the background, or vice versa. I will be practicing this technique first so that I can perfect the shots I am going to be filming. If I master it to a satisfactory level, I will be using it to show the dirt on the floor in the garage and then changing the focus to the silver bolted door and back again.

Here is an example of a rack focus shot and I think this will be extremely interesting and effective to use as part of my opening sequence as it is mainly about the surrounding and objects around the character who's face is not shown in the sequence.

Health & Safety

Due to the nature of our opening sequence, we had to use threatening tools and weapons to demonstrate danger and suspense. The kind of tools we included in our shots were pliers, hammers and knives, however during the production we had other tools around that were hazardous. To ensure that we were safe and to prevent accidents, we had a briefing about safety regulations we had to follow e.g. any exposed weapons were to be put away straight away or straight after the shots in safe places.
As well as the weapons and tools, we used a ladder and a garage door which could have been potentially dangerous so we again, were careful with these and had people supporting the ladder whilst we shot the scenes.

Background Sound- 'Oranges And Lemons'

For the background sound of our opening sequence, Sarah and I had initially planned to use the humming of a nursery rhyme. This however, didn't sound as effective and 'creepy' as whistling. Therefore, we have decided to use humming of the nursery rhyme 'Oranges And Lemons', only having having the following lyrics being sung at the end to finish the sequence off:

"Here comes a Candle to light you to Bed

Here comes a Chopper to Chop off your Head

Chip chop chip chop - the Last Man's Dead."

These words have an eery meaning behind them for a nursery rhyme, which is a contrast that suits our Genre of film. Nursery rhymes are also conventionally used within psychological thrillers. 

Camera Angles For My Opening Sequence

In my opening sequence, I will be using medium shots, close ups and extreme close ups. I will be using the medium shots to show some detail in the actions, whilst using close ups/extreme close ups to show specific details of mise-en-scene and emphasis on a certain thing. Low angle shots will be used at times to suggest that the character has power over the other characters, a situation, or even the audience. 


Medium Shots

This is a medium shot from the film Scream 2. The actresses facial expression and clothes are able to be seen using this shot and we can sense innocence because of the use of the colour white. Her blonde hair, pale skin and creme top are all similar and white is usually associated with innocence or purity. 

This is a medium-shot from the film, Psycho, and shows how all we can see is a silhouette but we can still see what the character is doing as well as the light that is shining behind them.

This is the same effect I want to create with the use of mid-shots because the characters clothing, some of the surroundings, and his actions will able to be seen. 

Close Ups

This is a close up from silence of the lambs. The mask he has on his face is usually associated with animals, which gives the impression that he is insane whilst the straight jacket he is wearing, which we can only see part of obviously lets an audience know what he is mad. It also has many other connotations such as murder, death, and mystery. This angle lets us see the mans penetrating eyes that look red and sore in this picture. 

The use of this shot shows a lot of emotion and emphasis on something in particular which is what I want to include in my opening sequence. 

Extreme Close-ups

Extreme close-ups of a face, for example, show only the mouth or eye in this example, of someone without any background detail at all. This kind of shot can be used to dramatic effect and means that when filming, you have to be careful with the camera and lighting as one slight movement can be seen easily in this type of shot. In this title, the title is shown on an extreme close up of someones eye.

I want to use extreme close ups to show detail of certain aspects of mise en scene and to create more emphasis and unease from from objects that usually wouldn't be seen in a negative way.

Sound In My Opening Sequence

I will be using a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to create a suitable atmosphere of uncertainty and mystery in my opening sequence. The sounds I will be using is a pre-recorded humming done by a male, to the tune of "twinkle twinkle". This is usually associated with children, as are dolls, so it fits into our genre and storyline.  As well as this I will be including the occasional grunt or sounds of feet shuffling that are a part of the filming process to make the scene seem more natural.

We want to use ambient sound (e.g. the sound of traffic outside as the garage is near a road) to emphasise that our character isn't hidden away and is quiet literally on the other side of the door from civilisation.

Production Company

The Production company I have chosen to use is New Line Cinema. I have chosen this because after doing some research on other opening sequences I found that New Line cinema was becoming a trend when it came to Psychological thrillers. The colours used in the logo, being blue, black and white, create are dark and will go with the humming that will start as soon as the humming does.

Click  Here To Find Out Some History On New Line Cinema On A Easy To Use Timeline.

Here is what the logo at the beginning of the film will look like:

Final Storyboard

This is the final storyboard for my opening sequence. I used post-it notes as they are easy to move around and I am able to change parts of if If I want to. I have included drawings of the angles and shots I want to use aswell, e.g. the close up of the shoes.

This is the beiginning of my opening sequence, showing the cinema company and the very first clip I am going to use.

This is the very end of my opening sequence, where I will be showing the shutters slowly creaking up until they reach the mans neck.

This will be one of the titles I include into the sequence during the editing process.

Individual Storyboard

This is the first version of my individual storyboard.

This is the final version of my individual storyboard.

Font Analysis

We can often tell that a film is a Thriller partially because of the font used in the title. What is different is that it's not similar to that of a romance/comedy which will usually use bright or pastel colours. Also, these genre's tend to use more artistic or imaginative fonts. Thrillers however, often have a bold slanted font that is simple. This could mean that the film has something dark behind it, mystery and suspense, and cannot be interpreted as "happy". The use of red in the title is also a connotation of danger and is most commonly associated with blood and death. This co-insides with the use of the black background, which could imply death, sadness or misery.

This dvd cover uses a fairly simple font that is the colour red. As stated before, red could imply danger, blood or possibly even love but most likely not in this situation. The word "window" is in bold and stands out in comparison to the first word "secret". This makes the audience think about the window more than the secret and it puts emphasis on this certain part of the title. Also, the last for letters in 'window' are slightly distorted. This looks almost like its moving when you look at it for to long, which is slightly disturbing and uncomfortable, which is possibly what the person who created this title wanted it to do.

This is the title of 'Final Destination 3' at the beginning of the film. What strikes me is the 3, which has a font used that is usually seen in circus's. The words 'final destination' however, contrast with this because the font used is big, black, bold and looks rather daunting. The fact that all of the letters are in capitals is almost overpowering, and it creates a kind of image for the audience. The use of the colour black is important because again, it is conventional for this genre.

 Similarly, this title is also written in black, and uses a simple font that doesn't give anything away to an audience. It is suspenceful and whilst the audience may know from watching previous films what to expect from a film using this type of font, there is still an element of mystery included as there is no blood dripping off the title like you might find in horrors.



'Psycho' Poster Analysis

After researching many DVD covers and posters for psychological thrillers, I have found that they do have many similarities between them.
Alfred Hitchcock is the director of the very well known 1960's film 'Psycho' in which a young woman steals money from her employer's client and encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the dominationj of his mother. I have decided to look at this cover because the film is a very well-known psychological thriller.



From this cover, you cannot really tell that it is a psychological thriller apart from the title 'Psycho'. The font of the title 'Psycho' is broken up which does create an uneasy atmosphere because you can tell that there are going to be 'weird' parts in the film. The images of the man and woman do not really seem 'scary' as such but do make the audience feel a little curious. The writing at the top says 'A new- and altogether different- screen excitement!!!' which attracts the audience because the director claims that this is different from the rest so the audience would definitely want to watch it. I think they decided to make the cover like this because it does not give too much away however provides a hint of horror in the film.

'Black Swan' Poster Analysis

I decided to look at 'Black Swan' as well because that it also a good psychological thriller and has an interesting cover. This film was made by Darren Aronofsky and is about a ballet dancer who wins the lead in 'Swan Lake' and seems to fit the role of the White Swan however starts losing her mind and becomes more like the Black Swan.

From this cover, you can see a lady's face which does look creepy as she has red eyes and dark makeup. She is also wearing a crown which indicates that she may be of some importance. Although there is a lot of writing on this cover, the main writing which can be seen is 'Black Swan' because it is in a darker colour than the rest. By doing this, they clearly show what the title of the film is and describe what the film is about without giving too much away.

'Se7en' Poster Analysis

I also looked at the cover of 'Seven' because this is another psychological thriller with an interesting storyline. It was made by David Fincher and is about two detectives who hunt a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his method of operation.

The cover seems very dark and twisted because the eyes of the characters seem to be looking straight at you. The font of the title stands out the most because it is written in white which contrasts with the rest of the colours used on the cover. The cover intrigues the audience because of the way it has been laid out It makes the audience want to watch the film and find out what the word 'seven' has to do with the two men and what 'seven' could actually indicate.

Mood Board

We decided to use these images in our mood board because we want our audience to get the feeling they do when they see these pictures whilst watching our opening sequence.

Costume Planning

We are going to have our character, who's face will not be shown, wearing very casual clothes that wouldn't usually attract any attention. However, we will be drawing attention to stains such as paint on his trousers in quick flashing images to emphasise on the messiness more. The audience will wonder what he actually does and what his significance in this film is.

We want the male to be wearing dark colours such as blue/black and have no watch or jewellery on. He also have plasters on or possibly clear medical gloves if we can find any.

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Location Shoot (Sarah's Garage)

On the 9th of November 2011, Sarah & I went to her house to see how the chosen location would fit into our opening sequence and where we could place our props and films. Shown below are the photos we took:

    These pictures shows how the garage we are going to use with the shutters up and then down.

We want to give the impression that the garage is just like any other in layout but is used for a more  hidden, dark purpose. This ladder on the wall is what is typical of a garage however we will be using the one below for our male character is coming down the ladder from the attic.

We also decided, whilst we were there that we were going to use this light flickering as part of our opening.

This is the floor of the garage and the messiness of it will add to the atmosphere.

These car screen washers resemble acid, or the kind of containers that acid may be in, so we're going to re-label them and use them as props when showing the garage in more detail.

This is the range of tools that were in one of the cupboards. We may use this cupboard for our character to get his tools out of, e.g. the scissors he uses to cut the dolls hair in the sequence. 

This is another picture of the tools we may use to emphasise his psychotic state of mind.

This is the hole in the ceiling that leads up to the attic we are going to start the whole sequence off from. The darkness of the place will be eery at the beginning because the audience will only be able to hear the humming but not see anything. 

Other than the obvious garage shutters, this is the other door that leads to the garage. The cold metal door with bolts in it gives the impression that the door is not meant to be opened. 

'Se7en' Opening Sequence Analysis

Right from the start of this opening sequence, I noted the colour that it has been edited into. The brown and grey tinged clips create an illusion that all the things the character is doing is in the dark. This makes his actions look secretive which contrasts nicely with the plain black background that the titles are put onto. The sequence consists of clips of a males hands doing various things e.g. writing something in a notebook and more significantly, using a blade to cut the skin off his fingertips (shown below). Without it being said, the audience can guess that this is an indication that he doesnt want his DNA to be traced.

The font used for the titles looks like handwriting, and is shaken as it is put up on the screen. This goes with the fast paced and snappy way about this opening sequence. The font is written in plain white which is a good contrast with its black background. Because the character is shown writing, it almost creates the effect that he has written these names down and rather than it emphasising the real names of the actors in a way to show this, it shows them in a way that still matches the film.

There is enough shown in these clips to give us an idea of what he is doing but not why or in any relation with the storyline which this opening sequence doesn't show. All it does is establish the setting and give an insight onto the kind of weird and obsessive things this character does.

The music used is interesting because the sounds of the child and the machinery is used along with the music and becomes part of it.

I will be using this as an inspiration for my opening sequence and studying some of the camera angles used e.g. close ups. 

BBFC Rating (Certification)

After listening to the feedback that the class had to give, one of the main issues was the 12a rating my group had previously agreed on and whether the contents of our opening sequence was suitable for such a young audience. We decided to take this information into consideration and after some research, we have now decided to certify our film a 15. Written below are some official guidelines stating what is expected from a film of this certification.

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

Pitch Of 'DOLLS' To AS Media Class

Props (General)

• Dolls (as many as we can get hold of) Charity Shop
• Scissors, Scalpel, Carving Knife  (Other Tools)
• Wooden Jewellary box
• Chalk For Hands
• Fake Hair (extentions)
• Tatty Desk
• Wooden Chair

Title Sequence (Final Ideas)

After doing some further research and looking into the feedback that we were given, Sarah and I have decided not to include the hallway scene as we want to create a more suggestive opening rather than including too much action.

We will be filming our entire opening sequence at Sarah's house, as we will not have to get permission and do not have a set time limit.

Our opening sequence will start off with a few titles e.g. Warner Bro's Cinema. This will be followed by a clip of a line up of dolls. You will then hear the sound of the humming becoming louder as Salem (Titas) stands in front of the dolls, showing his shadow, and picks one up. After another title, there will be a close up as he places the doll on a desk, which will then be followed by a clip of the equipment he will use (e.g. scissors, carving knife, scalpel). We will hold it on each clip for around 8-9 seconds depending on what we are showing. Next, we will hear the disturbing sound of a chair screeching across the floor as he pulls it out and sits down. The focus will then be on his hands as he slowly touches the equipment and selects one (scissors) picking it up carefully. Salem's hands will have plasters on them, and we will cover them with chalk so they look worn out slightly. As he uses the scissors and you can hear the sharp snip snip of his cutting, the focus will change to the wall behind him, which will be covered in pictures of women who resemble dolls. We will be asking permission of girls to take photos of them as their doing stuff, as we want the photos to look as if they had been taken by a stalker.


You will be able to tell that he is male because our male character (Titas) will be humming the tune of "twinkle twinkle little star" throughout the scene as well as a few grunts as he forcefully cuts the hair. He will be putting the hair in a wooden jewellary box that is already full of hair. Between these shots we will be using a black background, with a shaky font to show the titles.

We will be using a variation of close up shots and mid-shots, without showing any faces, as we want to create more emphasis on whats going on, and give an insight into our psychopathic characters actions and mind set.

The opening sequence will end with Salem placing the deformed doll near a photo of a girl that resembles the doll. you will be able to see his shadow against the wall and then see his hand open the garage door with a remote. the noise of the garage door will be creepy and add to the atmosphere we are going to be trying to create. the final shot will be of his feet walking towards the garage door on a blood stained floor and show the garage shutters opening slowly up until his neck, which is when the title "DOLLS" comes up. 

Our Presentation & The Feedback

As a group, we were assigned a task to make a presentation about our ideas so far regarding our opening sequence and were expected to use the information we collected as research and present it to the class. Here are some screenshots of our presentation:

After presenting, we recieved a lot of feedback on how our ideas could be developed or changed to fit with the genre, or the conventions of a opening sequence.
We had the class, a very friendly gentleman from the media examining board, and the wonderful Mr.Ayres to give us an insight into what we could do to improve our sequence and what needed to be developed or looked into.
In short, here is what the class's feedback was:

• Look into "Rosemarys Baby" and "Repulsion" for an insight into how our hallway scenes can be improved.
•  Pre-production Work (include a 9 frame analysis & mood board)
• Think of sounds I can use (real sounds), e.g. chalk on a board or things that generally make people feel uncomfortable
• Use suggestions and symbolism rather than direct P.O.V (look at opening of film "seven")
• Look into age ratings and certification further 

"Dolls" - Naming Our Opening Sequence

After much thought and discussion with my group and the class, Sarah and I decided to name the title of our film "Dolls".
Dolls, in general are an extremely creepy prop to use in films such as thrillers, and are effective, which has been shown in the past through other films, such as CHUCKY. Looking at the picture below, I see that there are certain features of mis-en-scene including the dolls make-up and clothing, which helps add to the atmosphere and indicate that the doll is not meant to be a symbol of innocence, which they generally are, as they are associated with children.
I find that the name "Dolls" fits in with our synopsis without giving too much away. The audience will obviously know our film is supposed to include something about dolls but they won't know its role.

"SPLIT" Feedback

Group: Omar, Nile, Shingai & Liban.

- it is a lot to fit into two minutes, how will you narrow it down?
- how are you going to book the facilities, be realistic, and think about the timing.
you may have to re-shoot certain scenes, is this possible?
- Music- how are you going to include it in the scene? Will the grime suit the smart clip? why not use it as  symbolism, maybe use stereotypes?
- How are you going to have so many extras in an organised way? re-think exam scene.
- Camera angles need to be thought about because there are so many different things he's doing.

"Gloves Up!" Feedback

Group: Junuz, Luke, Titas & Ishaq

-It is interesting how the opening sequence is actually the end of the film, but will the audience know this and how?

-How will you show the difference between now and 20 years back? be careful not to show things that indicate the present or modernism.

-Which camera angles and effects are you going to use on the flashbacks? Use a variety of shots (try looking at existing films about UFC or general boxing films e.g. Rocky)

- Remember to use costume & scenery effectively to show time difference.

- Focus on the timing, how will you fit all of this information and these clips into two minutes?

- How can you make your video montage different to others?

Audience Expectations Of This Genre

The first image shows which genre people tend to like:

The next image shows which opening majority of people like:

The final graph shows which techniques an audience would like to find being used in a psychological thriller:

Using the research I did on what an audience looks for and enjoy in particular when it comes to watching a film, or a psychological thriller, I have found it easier to see which elements would be benefitial to include in my opening sequence. I see, from the second graph that more people enjoy a symbolic opening to a thriller in comparison to a narrative one, which is something me and my group can  work on. 

Research Into Typical Synopsis

Psychological thrillers, or just thrillers in general, often place an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation.


Also, directors tend to use woman who are often subject to misogynistic abuse, threatening humiliation, or murder. They would then explore the darker sides of human nature through the situation, including sexuality and voyeurism, guilt and punishment, or paranoia and obsession. They let the viewer know that some horrible event would happen - creating unbearable suspense while viewers waited for the inevitable.


This genre often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. Occasionally this genre will border into the also wide-ranging horror genre. The Elements that are related to the mind or processes of the mind; they are mental rather than physical in nature. 


Here is an example of the beginning of a synopsis for a psychological thriller I found on the internet:
It’s 2008 in a beachfront Mediterranean home overlooking the bay in Laguna Beach, California.  Under the Southern California sun, wealthy widow and art collector Paloma Zubiondo believes she is safe and protected.  She hides in philanthropy and discipline, surrounded by rare books and the Spanish Colonial art collection she has been carefully building for years.  The phone rings in Paloma’s fortress and everything changes.  

Iconic Directors Of Psychological Thrillers

Alfred Hitchcock

This first name that springs to mind when thinking about psychological thrillers is the late Alfred Hitchcock. He was a British film director and producer, and was regarded as the master of thrillers

After becoming a success in England, Alfred decided to move to America to broaden his horizons and it was over the length of over half a century that he gained a reputation for himself as a for himself a distinctive and recognisable director. He carefully framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing.

The end of Hitchcock's films often have twist endings and thrilling plots including violence, murder, and crime. On the other hand, he also made many movies that were meant only to serve extremely complicated psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones Through his distinct way of film-making, he became a cultural icon.

"Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."

 The Daily Telegraph

David Lynch

David Keith Lynch is an American director, who also has a distinctive style, which has been dubbed "lynchian” He is also a television director, visual artist, musician, occasional actor, and is renowned for his surrealist films. The violence he incorporates into his films tend to disturb, offend or mystify" their audiences, making them all the more effective.

In the course of his career, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for best director and a nomination for best screenplay as well as many other awards in various countries.

One of the key themes that they noted was the usage of dreams and dreamlike imagery within his works, something they related to the "surrealist ethos" of relying "on the subconscious to provide visual drive".

Lynch also tends to feature his leading female actors in multiple or "split" roles, so that many of his female characters have multiple, fractured identities.

         "the most important director of this era"

        The Guardian

Iconic Sounds Connected With The Genre

                    The sound of someone getting 
                              closer and louder...
 
   the drip drip drip of a tap...
               
                                                        or the tap tap tap of a door knocking..

• Screaming is used in some situations depending on what type of thriller it is. For a psychological thriller, it is not used too often but may happen sometimes. 
• Dark creepy music, with dramatic changes in dynamics and pace to create suspense and make people feel uneasy.
• There is often a crow crowing, which may foreshadow an up coming death/ deaths. 
• In an action/thriller film, there is normally deep droning music to create suspense, and also there is normally and gradual build up of something about to happen e,g. if a train was about to come the sound of the train wouldn’t just start straight away, the sound of it would start very faintly and gradually get louder.
• Mainly in horror/thriller films, if the killer does speak, it tends to be a very deep low voice, with a constant creepy, angry tone mixed into it, to make the audience uneasy and more scared.
• In any thriller or sub-genre related to thriller films, the music being used would usually be deep, eerie and have a droning effect to it or, it would be a song being used which would have been taken from a rock or heavy metal band, loads of speedy guitar solo’s to match the action and make the scene more interesting for the audience.

For example, here are some infamous pieces of music associated with sub-genre's of thrillers:

Research- History Of Psychological Thriller's

After researching Psychological thrillers, I have found that it is a popular sub-genre of the thriller's, horror's and mysteries, however, it is more reliant on the characters mental state rather than their physical attributes. A crucial element of a psychological thriller is suspense. This can be created by the characters and their actions, which could either be done by playing deceptive mind games or them trying to mentally destroy each other. Sometimes the suspense comes from within one character who is resolving conflicts within their own mind, and is usually done so that the character can understand something that has happened to them.

There is a long history behind thrillers, nearly as long as cinema itself and the first thriller directors took a few techniques from a hugely popular serial literature of the time. 

One of the earliest thrillers was Harold Lloyd's comic 'Safety Last' (1923), which was about an all american boy performing a daredevil stunt on the side of a skyscraper. Another of the first thrillers was the haunting German film M (1931) directed by the great Fritz Lang, which was about a criminal deviant - a child killer. The film's story was based on the life of serial killer Peter Kurten (known as the 'Vampire of Dusseldorf'). 

No list of suspense or thriller films can be complete without mention of English film-maker/director Alfred Hitchcock. He helped to shape the modern-day thriller genre, beginning with his early silent film The Lodger (1926), a suspenseful Jack-the-Ripper story, followed by his next thriller Blackmail (1929), his first sound film (but also released in a silent version).

Three common techniques used in psychological thrillers are a stream of consciousness in which word usage, descriptions, or visuals are used to describe an individuals, first-person narrative which is in first person and is narrated by one or more of the characters, and finally back-story, which is the the history behind the character to help the audience understand their motivations and perceptions more.

Conventions Of A Psychological Thriller

Psychological thrillers are slightly more challenging than most mainstream movies. This may be because they often reverse the traditional 'thriller' balance of plot and character. A standard thriller emphasises plot; psychlogical thrillers however, emphasise character equally or more. Also, they are often analysed from a pschological point of view.

The main theme of 'Identity' involves mistaken identity, stolen identity, dual identity, doppelgangers, confused identity and amnesia. The theme of 'Perception and Reality' can give us an insight of the narrative from the perspective of mor than one characters. A character having a different perspective of what is and what isn't real compared to the norm is often used to establish in the film. These are all sub conventions of a psychological thriller, some more are:

• Clever and unusual plots making the audience think in depth, often back to front by using flashbacks avoiding the typical structure of films. (Such as action) Twists used at the end to make the audience doubt themselves 
• often end on a cliffhanger , not always a resolution 
• question reality
• unusual heros, different from most films where hero is stereotypically big, strong, handsome etc..
• unusual dark themes
• focus on one psychological dimension
• typical narrative structure not used
• parallel edits, use of flashbacks
• characters in conflict with their own mind due to psychologically related problems/handicaps
• 2 characters preying on each others minds
• Danger is on a mental level rather than physical
• Mysterious

This particular sub-genre have emerged and evolved over the past years, in many different types of media including, film, literature, radio and books. Although these types of media are different, there has been a consistent trend of conventions used within them. For example:

• The Mind- Which is where you will discover a persons  personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. This is often used to help characters reach understandings about themselves that they must first battle with their own mind and create a narrative conflict to do so.
• Purpose or Existence- This is when a character/characters try to discover the reason for their existence, which is often shown and resolved through the narrative's conflict.
• Reality – The quality of being real. When the characters try to determine what is true and what isn't, within the narrative.
• Perception – An unreliable narrator is often used to alter the interpretation of the world around them through senses. They sometimes misperceive characters.
• Identity – This is when the characters are confused about who they are and try to discover their true identity.
• Death – Characters often either fear or have a fascination with death in this genre, however, it is less gorey and more psychological.

Virgin Shorts - First Press

This is another one of the short films that although, wasn't my favourite, had an effective way of keeping the main point of the 'initiation' a mystery until the end of the clip. There is a nervous and uncomfortable uncertainty created by the film makers, which is typical in the given situation, however, the comedic twist at the end is a light hearted and unexpected end to the clip.

In my opening sequence, the element of uncertainty will be highly important, because I want to create a certain atmosphere without giving too much of the story away, yet enough to keep an audience wanting to see more. The dress sense of the characters, and also the build, indicate that they are an elite group, also reminding the audience of a dangerous, mafia type gang. You wouldn't think that they would be doing something as innocent as flower pressing. Also, the voice of the main character himself, and the things he says like 'the first time is always the hardest' whilst putting gloves on are often elements found in murder films.

The close up of props that are used can be incorporated in my opening sequence, because props often create more tension because the audience will not know why or what they are there for.

Virgin Shorts - Saloon

Out of the 12 short films we watched, I had a few favourites, including '2.20' and 'Inanimate', but I also enjoyed 'Saloon', a clip showing indian men receiving different treatments in a hair salon.

What I found particularly interesting about this short film was that it portrayed the usual conventions of a salon, but using a play on words for the title, they made a casual trip to the barbers for an indian man seem more like an experience. The title 'Saloon', which is also the name of the barber's, reminds an audience of cowboys, where there is a serious atmosphere. It is interesting to see how a simple trip to a barber in india, which has all of the usual grooming e.g. hair cutting and shaving, is made to feel more manly than it really is, when usually, activities such as going to a salon, are associated with women.

The music used is the short film is continuous, and the male voice along with the fast paced music goes with the action happening in the salon. It is a slightly fast paced clip, which uses a lot of still shots, ranging from medium shots to close ups. These are used to show what different men around the salon are doing. The men seem very engrossed in trying to look their best, not talking to each other but getting on with things. Also, the props used are not hi-tech equipment we would find in salons today, but a traditional indian way of doing things is shown, which matches the context. For example, a brush is used to apply the shaving cream and spread it around the men's face.

Parts of this short film that I may incorporate in my opening sequence are the use of music used to create a certain atmosphere, the weird, quiet, out of the box meaning behind what is actually being done, and the different camera angles used to make the clip more interesting to watch visually.