what i found from my questionnaire.

What age are you?
- 10/14 (2)
- 15/19 (14)
- 20/24 (4)
- 24/28 (3)
- 28 + (0)

Are you male or female?
- male (1)
- female (23)

Are you employed, self employed or unemployed?
- employed (7)
- self employed (0)
- unemployed (17)

How often do you go to the cinema?
- once a week (3)
- twice a week (0)
- once a month (12)
- not very often (8)

What type of film would you usually go and see?
- horror (4)
- comedy (18)
- thriller (2)
- chick flick (6)
- action (1)
- fantasy (0)

Do you like thriller films?
- yes (11)
- no (4)
- they're alright (8)

Do you like the films to start slowly, or would you rather it start with a bang?
- slowly (8)
- start with a bang (10)
- other (5)

What would you expect to see in the opening 2 minutes of a thriller film?
- not a lot (1)
- something strange, but establishes the main character (15)
- something that makes you jump (4)
- a lot of dialogue (0)
- not much dialogue (3)

Anything else you'd like to add about what you like about thriller films?
- it depends what you class as thriller I guess... I don't like things that make me jump, I think of that more in horror films... if films like Speed are classed as thrillers then I like the tension of wondering if things are going to go badly or if it will all be fixed in the last minute.

- more in relation to the last question, i'd expect there to be something of a sort of mystery to happen, that is basically what the plot goes down to solving. i don't really watch that many thriller films, but when i do i like to have to guess what's really happening, rather than it all just being laid out on a plate from the start.

- the twist at the end. i think a good thriller knows how to create an ending no one would suspect, leaving the audience wanting more.

- they should star johnny depp. that's a helpful answer, right? yeah thought so.

- i think it depends on your definition of a "thriller." i'm not very fond of movies that always have something jumping out at you to make you jump. i think it's because it gets me every time. i also don't really like blood and gore, so horror movies are not really my favorite genre. i don't mind movies that are just suspenseful, those can actually be quite good.

- an awesome twist.

analysis of arlington road opening.

Arlington Road was made in 1999, it is a film that sits in the 'thriller' genre. The movie starts with an unfocussed image of a young boy walking along the road on his own,
his vision slightly disorientated, the camera blurring establishing shots. The camera cuts back and forth between shots of parts of his body like his feet, and then the back of his head, creating a sense of unknowing, the audience don't know what has happened or why he is walking like he is. The camera the cuts to a shot of his face, he looks delusional and like he is about to collapse, showing that something is actually wrong.
During the sequence of distorted shots, you can hear talking in the background. Whether this is diegetic or nondiegetic sound is not made clear in the first 2 minutes of the film. We are then shown an unfocussed midshot of the boy, which shows us that the boy is injured. This creates enigma codes such as 'why is the boy injured?' and 'where is he going?'. The camera edits then speed up, giving the audience a sense of disorientation. The camera reverts to a shot of his feet as he is walking, and then blood starts to drip from his wound showing that he really is hurt. A cut is used to show a car that is driving along the same road as the child is walking along, and the camera keeps switching between the child and driver to show a connection between the two. You can see the small child unfocussed in the windscreen of the car, and this creates suspense as you don't know what is going to happen. Suspense is a common convention of a thriller movie. The car then stops and the man gets out to go and see to the child, he then runs to him and turns him around, the young childs hand is burnt and parts are missing, creating another enigma code... 'what happened to him?'

This opening is typically a thriller, as there is very little dialogue and the filming is very abstract, for example the edits.

analysis of paranormal activity opening.

Paranormal Activity starts with disclaimer text on a black background, giving the audience the feel that they are watching something that is a true story. This creates an atmosphere of tension as the audience don't know what to expect, and it being shown as being a true story makes it more real for the people watching it because it creates a sense of paranoia that this could happen to them. After the disclaimer, a subtitle appears on the screen giving away the date and place this was set. There are no credits or titles in this film which gives the audience a larger sense of this being real footage. Paranormal Activity is filmed soley with a handheld camera which we can identify in the first few seconds of filming. A convention of thriller and horror movies is to use handheld camera's as they show the audience what is happening mainly from the characters point of view, and because they're handheld, they're not steady and it makes it look a bit scarier. It starts with a somewhat establishing shot of the inside of their house, which is portrayed as an average american household in the first few minutes, this gives the audience a sense of belonging, like they can feel comfortable being in there. The music in the background of the first shot somewhat relates to the outcome of the film, it is quite heavy and screamy, which makes the atmosphere a bit darker. We are then introduced to one of the two main characters, Mikah. There are only 3 characters in the whole of this film, unless of course you count the scary demon person! The first minute the house seems fairly normal, and there isn't a lot that we can establish that this is a thriller from. We are then introduced to the second main character, Katie who is Mikah's girlfriend. There is a lot of dialogue that doesn't point to a reason for the camera or for why the film is a thriller in the first minute of it, it just talks about the camera. At 1:46 in the film, we are finally introduced to the fact there is a 'paranormal phenomenon' in their house, which automatically puts it into the thriller or horror genre of film.

target. 22/1/2010.

this week i will continue my research into the triller genre and complete the analysis of 3 trailers or openings to films.

questionnaire.

What age are you?
- 10/14
- 15/19
- 20/24
- 24/28
- 28 +

Are you male or female?
- male
- female

Are you employed, self employed or unemployed?
- employed
- self employed
- unemployed

How often do you go to the cinema?
- once a week
- twice a week
- once a month
- not very often

What type of film would you usually go and see?
- horror
- comedy
- thriller
- chick flick
- action
- fantasy

Do you like thriller films?
- yes
- no
- they're alright

Do you like the films to start slowly, or would you rather it start with a bang?
- slowly
- start with a bang
- other

What would you expect to see in the opening 2 minutes of a thriller film?
- not a lot
- something strange, but establishes the main character
- something that makes you jump
- a lot of dialogue
- not much dialogue

research into genres we would possibly be working in.

thriller;
- creepy music.
- dark lighting.
- don't give too much away at the beginning of the film.
- not a lot of dialogue during the first 2 minutes.
- distortion.
- target audience would be teenagers, most probably 15 +.
- main character is usually first established, and is usually a child.

'psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. however, this genre often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. also, occasionally this genre will border into the also wide-ranging horror genre.
the suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.'

it is more likely that we will choose the thriller genre to use in our film, as it will be easier to recreate than horror, which is based around gore and death.

horror;
- blood/gore.
- tension.
- brunette girl survives.
- creepy music.
- usually a killer.
- set in a dark setting; eg. a forest at night.

research into a variety of film openings.

analysing openings to films;
- is the genre established? what is it?
1. thriller. (arlington rd.)
2. romantic comedy. (as good as it gets.)
3. chick flick. (mean girls.)
4. gangster. (departed.)
5. action/adventure. (pirates of the carribean.)
6. science fiction. (the matrix.)

- how is the genre established? what are the conventions used?
1. distorted imagery, blood dripping, music, voices and suspense.
2. dog peeing, old man talking to a dog, dialogue and music.
3. high school, stereotypes in school, female main character.
4. music, accent, silhouette - symbolizes that he is a dark figure.
5. ship, costume, misty sea, music.
6. it was all green, computer, digitally speaking, music.

- what else does the audience find out in the first two minutes?
1. young boy in pain, enigma codes.
2. a man and a dog, side character and main character.
3. she's going to school, her whole background, from africa, doesn't know the school system etc.
4. setting, time period, that the main is top dog, audience don't know who the main character is yet.
5. pirate themed, certain characters are emphasised, sets up for next scene.
6. 'the one', establish characters, enemies, possible future relationships.

research and planning.

key areas;
- forms and conventions (ingredients).
- production contexts (research).
- the role of technologies.
- audiences/users.
- representations.

conventions of a horror film;
- villian.
- blood and gore.
- tension.
- brunette girl survives.
- creepy music.

conventions of a film opening;
- main character.
- enigma codes; a set of questions.
- music.
- opening titles.

questions we should ask whilst analysing a 2 minute clip of a film;
- is the genre established? what is it?
- how is the genre established? what are the conventions used?
- what else does the audience find out in the first two minutes?