Our film opening, Murder Inc., was an original thriller idea that took little inspiration from other films, and therefore the actual construction of the narrative had very little influence - if any - from the films we studied prior to our production. However, having spent the first month and a half of the project studying film openings, we picked up valuable skills that were mirrored and used in our piece, such as the style and form of our opening.
One of my first posts on the blog was to research the main conventions of the thriller genre, and looking back at them, the following are applicable when comparing our opening to typical thriller openings (some require a feature-length film in order for them to be discovered):
- Suburban/city locations
- Heroes are often normal citizens
- The identity of the archetypal villain is known throughout
Our opening is conventional, as it follows a linear pattern. Furthermore, in keeping with both traditional and contemporary thriller media products, it involves both character exposition - as we see the main characters, Jack Renwick and Simon Daglass, appear in the opening sequence - and locational exposition - as we are introduced to the location at which much of the rest of the story continues at. In terms of plot and mise-en-scene, the opening sequence conforms to more recent films in that there is a sense of mystery following our protagonist (Renwick), as the opening wake-up sequence gives little away about his character.
Our opening is also continuity edited, though unlike most other films of this type, there are some jump cuts; this was done to both cut down soome of our footage but still retain the same narrative, whilst also retaining some of the comedic feel about the opening, created by the non-verbal language and tone of speech of our characters. The inspiration from this (on my part) came from the TV series 'Garth Marenghi's Darkplace', although myself and Simon were told that we were naturally humorous, despite our best efforts of 'serious acting'.
I also feel that our use of Timo (our hostage) as, in effect, a prop, also conforms to generic conventions, as in many films there is use of a hostage, who seems weak and vulnerable. This is connoted through camerawork, as we have a low angle shot looking out of the boot when he has been re-captured, as well as through mise-en-scene, as his body is slumped when we first see him.
One way in which our piece most definitely breaks with convention is through the use of sound; our soundtrack involves mainly dialogue, with only two pieces of music played through the whole piece. We felt this was one way in which we could break with convention, as with most thriller films, tense and dramatic music is used to anchor the images on screen, whilst also setting the scene and mood for the film. We felt that by using mostly dialogue, but interspersing upbeat major-key guitar riffs, we could create a contrast between the feel of the opening and the overall mood of the film.
One problem that we did encounter when we came to pitch our piece was the suitability of our locations; whilst we felt that given the majority of our piece would be based in a warehouse, and therefore the other locations would not be of as much significance, Miss Fernandez raised the issues that our setting in Sevenoaks may not be in keeping with other thrillers, such as the Dark Knight, where one of the first shots of the sequence is of a sky-scraper. Whilst this would be a way in which we could break convention, we felt that actually we wanted to retain the high-rise/close-wall feel of our piece, and therefore in order to combat this, we used two main techniques; as Renwick locks the front up and the victim escapes, we used quick motion pans to keep focus on the characters, instead of the location; when we switch to the victim running away, we felt that a POV shot would be best as it would capture the emotion and adrenaline to an extent, whilst also narrowing the shot and the walls and buildings around it to a close proximity. The diegetic sound in the shot directly afterwards, when the victim is caught, also helps to connote an industrial feel, as the viewer can hear a large fan-like sound, coming from the Stag theatre which was releasing air, as well as the look of the shot, as it appears as though the shot is filmed in a narrow alleyway in between two industrial buildings. We feel that although the suburban feel is definitely present for some time in our shots, the piece is overall in keep with the generic conventions which suggest that the narrative should take place in an urban location.
Although our story does not have a hero, the protagonist with whom the audience are likely to show sympathy is an average, every day normal citizen; he likes a lie-in, as connoted by the time on the clock, whilst there is no strutt as he walks; he talks in perhaps a common way, and also wears normal clothes (apart from the bright green trainers), which suggest there is nothing supernatural about the character. In this way our story therefore conforms with convention, as the same thing can be seen in films such as Spiderman, where Peter Parker is a normal citizen with a normal job.
In our opening, there is no archetypal villain; the identity of the characters therefore, is perhaps the most significant way in which our film opening breaks with convention, as we have no designated hero or villain in our piece. In conclusion, therefore, given the evidence which I have provided I would say that on the whole, our film has effectively drawn inspiration from the pieces we have studied, yet allowing us to create a completely unique and original take on the thriller genre.
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