MEDIA STUDIES - EVALUATION QUESTION 1

In what ways does your opening sequence use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real opening sequences?

Kylie Lee 8059

For our AS Media Studies coursework, we had to create an opening sequence with any genres of our choice. My group and I held production

meetings in which we decided on creating an action based opening sequence. But when we did our questionnaire, we found that our target

audience preferred to see something with the subgenre of thriller in which we then decided to create and action-thriller opening sequence.

We did further research into each of the genres and analysed the typical codes and conventions. This included:

- a chase scene - use of weaponry

- death of characters- destruction

- a motive/goal/mission to be completed/achieved - Tension

-Characters: stalkers, psychotic characters, men associated with danger

CONCEPT

Opening sequences is as important as the ending and climax. It helps to establish the setting, characters and scenario. A successful opening

sequence will leave the audience wanting to see the rest of the movie – it has to appeal to them by grabbing their attention.

Examples of good opening sequences with an action-thriller based genre are:

- Se7en- The Expendables- Captain America

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When deciding on characters for our opening sequence, we wanted to include an antagonist in which they would have also been a false

hero. For this character to be a false hero, we needed ordinary characters (a group of friends) in which we are able to portray these

traits. This character can be considered as the dominant figure in the sequence. Along with this decision, we felt that it would have been more effective if they were all male figures – as our chosen

genre appealed more to the male population than females.

An example of this false hero/antagonist is Batman – The Dark Knight Rises.

Talia Al Ghul was made out to be an ordinary woman, but as the storyline progresses, we learn that she is actually the false hero who

is trying to finish her fathers deeds.

CHARACTERISATION

The chosen settings were vital in our opening sequence as it helps to answer the questions of ‘where’ and ‘what(‘s happening)’. We used:

establishing shots to help the audience to develop an understanding of where the location is based.

This is an example of an establishing shot from the Divergent trailer.

Although our establishing is not as extreme as the ones you see in movies, it still creates the same effect.

SETTING

Another example of a setting that we used was inspired by other movies. We were inspired to create a setting in which we could portray similar traits for the thriller genre. We went into a small

room in which we made to look like a ‘lab’ by sticking newspapers and mug-shots of another character.

This is what the movie Se7en included in their opening sequence:

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As a group we decided to create an action-thriller opening sequence. We were very inspired by many works of other people

and developed our ideas based upon their works as well as feedback from our questionnaires. One way in which we set out to portray this action-thriller sequence is the equipment that we used. As

inspired by the movie Se7en and an episode in Pretty Little Liars, we created a lab like scene which represents the antagonist/false

hero’s doings. However, as we filmed at school, we had very limited equipment in order to create that effect as well as anticipated. As we filmed in art classroom, we found clay tools which we thought

would look well in the sequence.

GENRE

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This collage shows what was used in the episode of Pretty Little Liars (episode – Picture This) – which inspired us to do something

similar in our opening sequence:

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In the editing process, we added a filter effect on top of our original footage to create that same effect as it does in Pretty Little Liar. However, they used a red filter to create a darkroom setting. Whereas we used a blue filter to create an eerie and

mysterious setting.

This effect helps to illustrate the conventions of thriller as its supposed to make the audience feel at unease or to create tension

in what is to come.

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As well as using props and editing to help portray these conventions of action and thriller, another important way to develop these conventions is

the storyline itself. We included a chase scene in our opening sequence which is very representative of the action genre.

The point of a chase scene is to help set a storyline within a sequence. It is important that it is made to be interesting and eye

grabbing – especially in the opening sequence, as if it does not appeal to the audience, then they will lose interest in wanting to

watch the rest of the sequence (or film). Here are examples of chase scenes:

Hunger Games

Taken

NARRATIVE

When deciding the narrative to our opening sequence, we wanted to create something that reaches out to the audience in a way that

interests them in wanting to ask questions such as ‘what happens next?’. We held production meetings in which we then created a

brainstorm of ideas, as follows:

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We gained our ideas from being inspired from different movies as well as the feedback from our target audience. We analysed what

exactly our target audience wanted to see and developed our ideas around them. For example:

#2

Introduction ofCharacters

Mystery

Chase Scene

Fighting

What do you expect to happen in the opening sequence (the very

beginning of a movie – which tends to last around 2 minutes) of an

action movie (typical conventions)? #3Introduction ofCharacters

Mystery

Chase Scene

Fighting

Tension

Dramatic Music

Getting to knowStoryline

What would you like to see in the opening

sequence of an action movie and why?

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We can see clearly that the majority of our target audience wanted to see something along the lines of getting to know the storyline and there being an

introduction of characters within the action genre. However, this alone would not portray any action. So we chose the next most chosen answer – which was a chase

scene being involved.

Our production meeting as a group helped us to decide what was going to happen and how it would be portrayed. This is when we decided to include a flashback to

help develop the storyline as well as to create a cliff hanger and tension.

VISUAL STYLE

As stated previously, we used many techniques and props to create our visual style.

For a thriller visual style, we used:- special effects (filters) added onto the original footage to create

that darkroom but mysterious feel- clay tools (in replacement for ordinary tools – as of limited access)

were used to represent the evil doings in the lab scene

For an action visual style, we used:- different camera angles to create different perspectives during the

chase scene- special effects were added – flash bulb effect to help make the cuts

from shot to shot seem more effective. It helps to create tension

IDEOLOGY

Our opening sequence begins with a chase scene with alternating shots of the lab scene. We do not acknowledge who the antagonist is

at this point until after the shot of Michael slashing the picture of Ashley with a knife. This is because the previous shot is of Ashley

running, which is then followed by Michael running – the audience could assume that the two characters are both running away from something, as it doesn’t specifically show that Michael is running

after Ashley.

However, it is then clear to the audience to as who the antagonist is when the sequence reaches the beginning of the flashback.