Planning an individual narrative - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of a narrative is to set the scene and the plot. It helps the audience to understand what is going to happen during the film and what they might expect. The narrative engages the audience through the story line that is included and by an enigma which is part of the narrative. The audience would want to watch the film to find out what happens during it. The narrative also builds
up suspense for the audience as they don't know what is going to happen during the film and so tension is built up.

My opening sequence is going to be two minutes long and will be about a girl who is kept hostage and tries to escape.  The girl see's someone else lying on the floor next to her and they are both covered in blood. She untangles herself and she see's a shadow in the curtain. She makes her way towards the curtain and as she opens the curtain she puts her face towards the window she sees a face. She then panics and turns around and sees the person standing there with a knife. Throughout the sequence there will be constant flash backs on why she has been kept in hostage. The flashbacks will be of the girl on Facebook getting bullied because of an embarrassing video that someone put up of her. She then gets threatened by an anonymous person and they threaten to kill her. During the opening sequence she see's things that trigger the flashbacks for instance there are ripped up photos of her and her phone is on the floor.

My opening sequence will include low key lighting and this will be used throughout the whole sequence to create a dark and a sinister atmosphere. The low key lighting would also be used to create tension for the audience as it would be harder to see what is in the scene. The audience would be left in suspense as they don't know what is going to happen next and they don't know when the killer is going to strike. The low key lighting also adds to the dark atmosphere as typically in thriller films the lighting is dark to make the audience jump when something unexpected happens. My scene will also contain back lighting and filler lighting which will be the lamps in the background to create shadows and so the audience can actually see the characters. I wouldn't want key lighting as this makes the scene seem more bright and colourful which portrays a more happier scene

I would also want my opening sequence to be set in an isolated house so that it implies that the victim is alone and that there is no escape for her. The isolated house also makes it seem like the victim is helpless and nobody would be able to hear her scream. Setting the sequence in an isolated house will give the killer more chance of murdering the victim as she has no escape and there is no one else around to help her. The actual sequence would be set in one room which creates a more realistic setting. The room would look like its been abandoned and this makes the victim seem weak and vulnerable because she is trapped in the room. This is conventional to a thriller film because they are usually set in a deserted or isolated area so that the killer has more chance of murdering the victim and it also makes it seem like the victim has no escape and this leads the audience into suspense because they become worried for the victim as they know that she is going to die as she is trapped. This builds up suspense for the audience and creates an element of surprise and shock for the audience because the killer can easily murder the victim.

Iconography elements that will be used in my sequence include a knife, a broken picture frame and ripped up photos. The knife is used by the killer when at the end of the sequence when he is standing there looking at the victim. The knife helps to create a sinister atmosphere as it foreshadows events that is going to take place during the sequence. The knife also foreshadows the death of a victim and makes the audience think that the victim is going to die. The knife is also used to show the power of the antagonist and make the victim seem helpless because the victim has no weapon and this also gives the killer more chance of killing her. The knife is conventional to thriller films as the antagonist always carries round a weapon which is used to kill the victim. It is also conventional as it sets the theme of the thriller genre and lets the audience know straight away that there is an antagonist and a victim. It also intrigues the audience instantly as they know a death is going to take place. The audience are engaged as the knife creates an enigma as to why the antagonist has it and what the antagonist is going to do with it. It creates suspense for the audience and makes them intrigued to find out what is going to happen during the film. The other iconography items are used during the flashbacks and engage the audience because they wonder why the photos are ripped up and why there is a broken picture frame. This builds up tension and keeps them watching the rest of the sequence.

My opening sequence will also include the female victim wearing white clothing. The connotation of white suggests purity and innocence and contrasts with the connotation of black which represents death and pain. The killer is going to be wearing black to foreshadow death and to set a dark atmosphere. The colours of the costumes are going to be used to define who the killer is and who the victim is. The white clothing makes the victim seem helpless and naive which shows how she is a perfect target for the killer because she is portrayed to be innocent and weak. The white clothing also stands out from the low key lighting and so the audience are focused on her and they can't see when the killer is approaching as the killer is wearing black. This creates an element of surprise as when the killer does appear, it will be unexpected for the audience and so they will become shocked and will be scared. White and black costumes are conventional as the victim always wears white to show innocence and purity while the killer always wears black to show how the killer is capable of murdering someone. White clothing is also conventional to thriller films as it makes the victim an easy target and when the victim does die, the blood stands out against their clothing to show that the killer has murdered them. This engages the audience as they are left in suspense because the white clothing foreshadows her death and the audience know straight away that she is the victim and so the audience start to worry for the characters life as they know she is going to die.

In my sequence, I am going to have the victim as the main character and put the victim in the center of the screen while the antagonist will always be in the background or behind the victim. I want to have my victim in the center of the shot so that the audience will know straight away who is the main character in the scene. The audience will be more focused on the victim and by having the victim in the center of the shot it means that the audience will notice everything the victim does. It is conventional to have the victim in the middle of the screen as this also foreshadows events and the audience know that something bad is going to happen to her. The audience are left in suspense as to when the killer is going to strike her and this creates an element of shock and surprise for the audience as the killer will appear unexpectedly. This is also conventional as in all thriller films, the victim is always the center of the shot to show the audience that something bad is going to happen to the victim. The antagonist is also always shown to be in the background of the shot as this creates suspense for the audience as they wouldn't of noticed the killer at first because they are focused on the victim however shock is created when the audience finally notice the killer. The audience also begin to feel sorry for the victim because they know the victim can't escape and the killer is going to murder her.

In my opening sequence there is going to be a female and male character. The female character is going to be the victim while the male character is going to be the killer. This is typical to a thriller film as the female is always shown to be the victim as they are shown as the weaker gender and are shown as more naive. This makes a thriller film good because the killer has more of a chance of killing the victim if the victim is portrayed as naive. By having the victim as a female it also means that the victim is shown to be helpless and innocent which means that this is already foreshadowing her death to the audience and letting the audience know straight away that she is going to be the target for the killer. It is also conventional to have a male playing the killer as males are shown to be stronger and overpowering over females. By having a male killer in my sequence it already tells the audience that a death is going to happen as they are seen as powerful and strong which gives the killer an advantage over the victim. In thriller film, the antagonist is mostly male and this is because they are portrayed to be more determined to killer a victim and they are shown to be more manly and stronger than women. The audience will be engaged in my opening sequence as they will instantly be able to relate to the female victim and start to feel sorry for her as the audience know that the killer is determined to kill her. Tension would also be built up as the audience would be left in suspense as to what is going to happen during the sequence.

In my opening sequence I have included thriller conventions which will engage my audience. For instance I have used low key lighting  which is conventional to thriller films as it creates a sinister atmosphere and makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next. The low key lighting is used in all thriller films to set the genre of the film and let the audience know straight away that something sinister is going to happen during the film. The low key lighting makes it hard for the audience to see what is going on in the film and this leads the audience into the unknown. Low key lighting also thrills the audience as something unexpected happens which makes the audience jump.
Another convention is that there is a shadow in the background. This is conventional to thriller films because usually there is a hidden figure which intrigues the audience and creates an enigma as to what the shadow is. The shadow builds up suspense and gets the audience worried for the victim as they know her life is coming to an end and they know she is going to die.
A key convention in my narrative is that there is female victim and an antagonist and this is shown in all typical thriller films as there is always a female victim to make an easier target for the antagonist to kill. There is also an antagonist in my narrative which is a typical thriller convention as there is always someone who wants to kill someone else or cause pain towards other people. This is shown as a major thriller convention because there is always an antagonist where ever there is a victim.
Finally the last thriller convention I have used is that there is weapons and blood. The weapon used in my opening sequence is a knife which is conventional and shown in a lot of thriller films as it is used to kill the victim. The knife is also used by the antagonist to make the antagonist seem stronger and overpowering compared to the victim. The knife also foreshadows events and portrays death. Blood is also conventional to all thriller films as it implies someone has been hurt or has died which is typical for thriller films as a death always takes place. This engages the audience and makes them more intrigued in the film as they want to find out what is going to happen next.

My sequence will appeal to my target audience as it contains typical conventions that the audience expect to see. The audience will be engaged in my narrative because it builds up suspense and the audience build up a relationship between the victim as they feel sorry for the victim because they know the victim is going to die. My narrative will also engage my audience because an enigma is created and this will intrigue my audience because they would want to know what is going to happen next and who the killer is. I will share this with my group by creating a group narrative in which we each discuss our ideas and what changes could be made.