Other student's work

When looking at other students work of their thriller openings, I learnt that:
- In my thriller opening I will need the use of titles, they will need to be interesting and have quite a few of them. They will need to include many different titles and include the name of the film but can't be too repetitive.
- I can't give too much away in the opening sequence as it isn't a trailer, it's only the opening. It can't include too much about the storyline and have something that will ruin the rest of the film as then the audience wouldn't want to watch the rest of the film. However, it can't include too little in which makes the opening confusing for the audience and have them not knowing what's going on as this too would be a bad opening.
- The sound is really important and without it, the opening sequence would not have the same effect on the audience. A lot of opening sequences use foley to add in the sounds of things happening, the most common of these include breathing, footsteps and the shutting of a door. If any speech is used, the sound should be clear and understandable. However, many thriller opening's don't use too much speech so I should use little of this too. The music should be suitable and interesting, don't pick something random.
- The title's should include the production company's name and logo clearly near the beginning on the opening sequence. They should be unique and not just copying another company.
- The actor's used should be good and sensible - they shouldn't be laughing or smiling if the scene is serious as this ruins a lot. As the genre of the opening sequence is a thriller, generally older actors (or actors who look like an adult) are more appropriate as these are the type of actor's you would see in a thriller.
- You shouldn't include your school's name or your candidate number or the fact it is an 'AS Thriller Film Opening' as this doesn't look professional and you wouldn't see this in a real film.
- There should be lots of close up's used, most commonly on a character's hands, feet, eyes or an important mise-en-scene item, there would be lots of these used in a professional thriller film opening.
- The opening should look original and thrilling. You want to make it look interesting and leave the audience wanting more, rather than copying something which has already been made.
- The setting needs to be carefully thought about, especially if you wanted the setting to look empty apart from your characters and if you then have a lot of people in the background, this hasn't been done well. However, if I want the scene to look busy, I should pick a place in which lot's of people are around.
- When editing the piece together, it should all be done correctly and without any mistakes. The shot's should continually flow to one another unless your intention is not to do this.
- If editing the colour of the scene later one during the editing stage, the colour should be carefully chosen and should match in with the scene. It should look professional and not like you've just stuck a colour over the top.
- Don't follow the characters around, let them walk out of the shot as it looks more professional.
- The scene should look realistic and professional, not like student's have filmed it.
- Don't follow the characters exact steps all the way through the scene, use ellipsis and cut out parts that are not needed.
- Remember to use high and low angles to show information about the character.
- The mise-en-scene should be carefully chosen out and really thought about.
- Make sure the expressions on the characters faces are correct and that they are portraying the right emotion you want the scene to show.
- Use a steady and good camera, shaky camera's look messy and can ruin a whole scene if it was not intended to be this way.
- Make sure the lighting is correct and look's right.
- Think carefully about the timing and the speed of the shots each one should take.

When looking at other students work, I saw a shot I liked of when someone was stalking another character, to have the camera in front of both characters, focussing on the character being followed but being able to see the stalker character in the background.