Props- Danny

The Man

The man will have a Laptop because technology is key in our storyline because it is a social networking stalker, also a laptop because this is how he is contacting the girl. The man will use a laptop because chatting to her is his main focus he wont have a tv on or music on he will just focus on their conversation because that is all that matters to him because he is obssessed by her. Another prop that he will have is his notebook, this will be used because he will use it to scribble down every little bit of infomation in which she tells him, the main effect we are hoping this will give to the audience is to the extent of how much he knows about her, by showing how full the notebook is and the dates showing how long it has been going on for. The pen he uses will just be a standard biro, this shows that he doesnt care of the quality of what hes writing as long as he has all of his information.

The Girl

One of her props will be her smartphone, we have chosen a smart phone because these give access to everything from social netowrking to a high quality camera everywhere and is easy to use and with them you can multi task. We chose her to be using a phone and not a laptop or computer because the conversation with himis not her key focus,she is getting ready to go out. Another prop that she will have is a hand bang and make up bag (filled to the top with makeup) this will give across the effect that she cares about how she looks and that she wears alot to try and give across that she is older. Also she will have boyband posters on her walls to show that she is a stereotypical teenage girl.

Costume- Anna

In our thriller opening, there are two main characters; a male and a young  female. The male character is the stalker of the story and the villain however we would like to disguise his personality and age to the young female by dressing him in trustworthy clothes. The female on the other hand will be dressed in clothes that present her vulnerability and innocence to the audience and make them feel sorry for her.

The girl's possible clothes:

                      
Navy/black skinny jeans.               A casual knitted jumper to                Ugg boots to show the innocence in
                                                     give the sense that it isn't                   the young female.
                                                     that warm in that location.              


The male's possible clothes:

                                          
I think a casual shirt and tie                    Perhaps a more scruffy                   Converses will show the normal
but presented in not the                         looking pair of jeans to                    side to the male character.
smartest of ways is appropriate            show the creepy side to him.
for the male lead as it will show
a sense of trust in him.



These ideas for clothing will help represent their personality in the opening and get the audience interested. The male clothing will show that he is a cunning man because he will be able to creep out the teenager in a smart way whilst the girl's clothing will show her personality in an innocent way but sophisticated at the same time.

Costume- Aimee

There are two main characters that are in our opening scene, in both we would like to portray the characteristics of the characters by their costume and show their distinctive and different personalities from each other.

The 2 characters are-

- The innocent Girl Victim who is being stalked.

- The second the Antagonist Male stalker.

The Girl-
With the teenage girl I want to incorporate a convention of a Thriller by creating the sense of an extraordinary event in an ordinary situation. I believe this can be done by the girl wearing clothes that a girl at that age would, to give the impression she leads a normal life but has her own personality. I don't want her through her clothing, to come across as rebellious or as acting to old for her age, I want to create an impression that she is nice and friendly and kind, and that she does not deserve what happens to her. I think the clothes looking clean and new gives an impression she is also the protagonist and is well looked after.

I want her in average teenager clothing such as-
Plain Jeans-                                                  And a Printed young T-shirt or Shirt-            
                                                                                

The Male Stalker-
For the stalker I think that to show he is the antagonist he would be more appropriate in darker tones such as greys or blacks to show he is the antagonist. The clothes would also look much better if they looked worn to show that he isn't in a very good state himself, which reflects what his personality and health is like. We also don't want the character to be too obvious to the people and situations around him and without the pop of colour they may not be as aware of him.

I would like the man in-
Grey Baggy T-shirt-                                                               Black Jeans-
                                                                                                                              

Costume- Danny

The Girl

The teenage girl will be getting ready for a night out so she will trying to make herself look as attractive as possible and also try to make herself look older then she is :

Make up- she will be putting on bright red lipstick and putting on mascara also she will be spraying hair spray and other cosmetics.

Clothing- the girl will be putting on high heels, putting onn ear rings and jewellery whilst wearing a short dress

The Man

It will be very dark in the scene in the scenes in which you see the man so you will not get to see much clothing :

Clothing: he will be wearing just normal everday clothing e.g a hoodie and shirt or jumper and shirt this is because he is viewed to be seen as very secrative in the opening we dont want to give much way to the audience yet

Our Thriller Conventions- Anna

Choosing the thriller conventions in our thriller opening is an important aspect of the planning. At the beginning of our thriller opening, the audience will view the introduction of characters, location and various other conventions. We will make the opening built up on suspense and avoid loosing the viewer's attention.

The first thriller convention to be included in our opening is themes of identity which will introduce the audience to the characters and the plot of the thriller. It will introduce the vulnerability of the teenage girl by portraying shots of her getting ready whilst the stalker is talking to her which makes her feel uncomfortable. The personality of the stalker will help be identified through the social network, Twitter, by showing the direct messages sent by him to the girl. This helps present to the audience about the male character's views upon the teenage girl.

Another convention I think we should use is Voyeurism. Voyeurism captures the viewer's attention as it builds up hype because the audience are interested in who the voyeur is and why they are watching that character. I think it will help the audience see through the male character's perspective and see two sides to the plot. By using Voyeurism in the opening, it will establish the obsession the male character has on the teenager and show what the character wants to watch in her.


The third convention I would like to include in our thriller opening is definitely Mise en Scene. It will identify the costumes, props which will establish to the audience the location and the personality of the characters by portraying what they tend to wear which will show their occupation. Mise en scene also involves the lighting in the scene and as the general lighting in thrillers tend to be quite dark and dim so I think in our opening we should aim to make the scenes and shots look gloomy and mysterious which will help give an eerie feel to the audience. In the opening we will use certain props to give a feel to the audience of what for example the male character is capable of, such as, we will present a notebook in the scene to demonstrate the obsession he has with the teenage girl.

The Conventions of Our Thriller- Aimee

There are four conventions of a Thriller that I would like to incorporate into our opening, these are just four of the many Thriller conventions that there are.

The first convention is Voyeurism. Voyeurism is a situation when someone is oblivious they are being watched  and the voyeur does not relate directly with the subject of his interest.  It is one of the top conventions I would like to see in our Thriller opening because our Thriller is about a girl who is being stalked but is unsure of it and the element of voyeurism will give the opening an eerie effect as the male character is spying upon her. A Thriller that I have previously looked at that incorporates Voyeurism is Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. This is a Thriller about a man who ends up with a broken leg and cannot leave his building so he spies on his neighbours through his window (making you an accomplice in his voyeuristic self-assurance, which I would like our Thriller to do) and unravels some private secrets of neighbours.

A convention that will be in our Thriller is Crime which is the main foundation of our film, the micro element will be mystery as I want the audience to keep guessing throughout the start of the film why the man is stalking the teenage girl. I think that featuring crime into the storyline will excite the audience as they know what is happening to the characters but they want to wait and see what will occur which keeps there attention drawn. The Thriller will start with a girl being stalked over a social networking site the police are then involved to reveal whoever is doing this. The audience know who the stalker is, they just don't know if the police will find him, so they carry on watching to find out.

A convention which I believe is an important aspect of our Thriller must be Mise-en-scene which involves lighting, costume, location and props. The situations that the protagonist is in will reflect how the Mise en-scene is and build up the scene to show the audience what is going to happen and if that scene is going to be positive or negative. In the start of our Thriller without the protagonist knowing the antagonist is watching and creating a book of the times he has stalked the female character, this will be a dark setting with a murky location and specific props to show us the situation is unsafe . The scene previous to this though will be the girl in her normal situation which will be a happier setting as the audience do not know the dangerous and dodgy situation she will be in. The different situations contrast each other reflecting the contrasts the protagonist is in.

Idea of the antagonist ensnaring the protagonist is another last convention that I believe will be a strong element to the Thriller. As the antagonist's stalking motives get stronger the character getting stalked starts feeling more trapped and feeling as if the stalker is catching her until she feels isolated and helpless. This will incorporate a side to the Thriller which makes people worried about the girl and creates a feeling of hatred towards the stalker.The hatred towards the stalker will make the audience feel snared as they are an accomplice in his voyeurism, and want to watch on to make sure that he is caught.

Thriller Conventions- Danny

One convention that is used in many thrillers is that of a binary opposition these are two similar things but which are opposite in meaning. One binary opposite would be a protagonist against an antagonist (good guy against bad guy). One example of this would be the conflict between Batman and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, this is stereo typically shown by the Antagonist having the upper hand at the start of the film, but then as the film goes on the Protagonist starts to find the antagonists Achilles heel or weakness and then in the end scuppers their plan or ends their wrong doing. Another binary opposite would be that of law enforcement v’s crime as shown in The Dark Knight Rises and in another film that we studied Se7en. This is use in the film Se7en by, detectives have to find out whom and why someone is committing all the murders.

Another Convention that is used in thrillers is that of Editing. Editing is normally key for thrillers because it sets the mood for the thriller it can add to intensity with the use of a fast cutting rate or can get your mind thinking with cross cutting to show you two things that are going on at the same time. Also lighting is very important in editing because this adds to the mood of the scene for example in the chase scene in the opening of The Da Vinci code everything was dark in the gallery this added to the mystery of the scene and made viewers be on the edge of their seats.

Mise en scene is another convention which is very important. The costume/make up in which each character wears can add to the effect and persona in which they give off to the audience, for example the priest in The Da Vinci Code he wears a traditional and old fashioned monks uniform which gives the across the effect that he is not a normal character as that is not the normal costume of somebody from modern times. To add to this his pale white skin and white hair with scars covering him shows he’s some sort of an extremist. Also props are very important in a thriller because they can tell you things about a person for example in the opening to seven there is a chess board laid out on the table what this shows in this scene is that this character is very lonely, so lonely that he is playing chess on his own.

Location is a convention in which is important to a thriller. Where in which something is going on is key to the storyline and plot of a thriller. In the film One Hour Photo the location of the man’s work helps him to stalk a family, it aids him in getting everything he needs to find out things like what they look like and where they live for example. Location is also important because some locations may be able to hide things from the audience due to lighting or proximity of actors this can add to the mystery of a scene.