Ideas for soundtrack with embedded clips:

Ideas for soundtrack with embedded clips:

‘The Ring’ soundtrack is one of the tracks that I have chosen to analyse for the reason that certain areas of the song has elements in it that we are hoping to use and re-create for our own thriller soundtrack. Additionally, as a group we decided that we wanted to create a soundtrack whereby the tone consists of a high pitched melody and an unsettling electronic sound which would be heard overpowering the film sequence. The soundtrack used in this particular film is clearly eerie and tense as it builds up fear and trepidation to keep the audience questioning about what might occur in the subsequent shot.

‘Dead Silence,’ is the second soundtrack that I have chosen as an idea for our own soundtrack due to the fact that as soon as the melody begins to play it engages the audiences’ attention. What is more, is that the louder the noise becomes you begin to feel your heat beat race and your throat suddenly becomes dry. Fear takes over. In my opinion, if these elements consist in a thriller soundtrack then this is what makes the overall film successful and enthralling. Furthermore, the tone of the melody is subtle and tense rather than being thunderous and edgy as it would not have had the same effect at creating a suspenseful thriller film. By using a lighter, distressing melody it tends to builds up apprehension and nervousness.

‘The Exorcist’ soundtrack delivers a dark, tense, atmospheric sound beginning with a piano and gradually incorporating the sound of tubular bells. This music can also occur during a particularly suspenseful part of a film and equally can stop abruptly to create a sense of dread as to what is about to occur next, delivering a rollercoaster of human emotions. In addition, horror scores can showcase the fears and anxieties of the characters during tense and frightening situations. It is for these reasons that this soundtrack is being considered as an example to the feelings I hope to re-create for our own thriller opening sequence.

Analysis of Film Posters and DVD covers (models of our own work)

'Nightmare on Elm Street,' is one of the film posters that I have selected to analyse for the reason that the narrative expectation in the film consists of a couple of elements which are similar to our own thriller opening sequence. This particular film poster is exceptionally eerie and unsettling since many sinister, murky colours are depicted across the film poster creating a sense of mystery and uncertainty. Additionally, the use of low key lighting has been used to create a disturbing atmosphere. It is clear to the audience that the characters showcased on the poster are the main characters in the film, perhaps the victim and the villain. The characters are introduced to the audience so they have a clear understanding as to who they are and what their purpose in the film is. What is more, is that across the side of the film poster is a couple of childrens drawings which look as though they have been scratched into the wall, these symbols may be clues which foreshadows the events and killings that occur later on in the film. The reason for choosing this poster as a possible model for our own work is due to the fact that we wanted to use a sinister, creepy colour scheme to create an eerie atmosphere and to build up terror and trepidation. Furthermore, we wanted the poster to catch the audiences attention and encourage them to come and watch the film.

'Premonition,' is another poster that I have chosen to analyse for the reason that a few of the narrative expectations in the film features in our own thriller opening sequence. The title of the film is an extremely bold, straight to the point title as "premonition" only has one meaning. Clearly, the audience know that the narrative consists of someone having a 'premonition,' a dream, where they are able to see events that are going to take place in the future. In my own thriller opening sequence, the main character has a premontion where she sees herself getting ready for a party. However, minutes later her boyfriend is depicted slamming her body against the bathroom door suffocating her in the process. The film poster presented above is exceedingly interesting and ambiguous for the reason that the main characters face has been created using parts of nature such as trees and leaves. In my opinion, perhaps the shadowy, blurred face made up of leaves emerging between the trees, demonstrates that "premonitions" are blurred and that there is a thin line between whats real and what's not. Additionally, the repitive use of plants and trees depicted on the film poster might be objects which are linked to the events that take place in the film.  

'The Uninvited' is the third film poster that I have chosen to analyse as it models our own work. The main reason for choosing this particular film poster to examine, is because similar to the first film poster I analysed there is a huge amount of 'low key lighting' and an unsettling, shadowy colour scheme which creates terror and ambiguity. The white typography printed across the bottom third of the poster is somewhat scribbled and depicted slanting downwards, these elements all add to creating the perfect thriller film poster. What appealed to me the most is the shadowy, darkened figure pictured outside of the window. It looks as though the person is trapped and is searching for a way to break free. Additionally, the mist and foggyness presented behind the figure adds to the mystery and uncertainty of the film. The reason why I chose this film poster to analyse, is for the reason that in my opening sequence the main character feels as though she is trapped and she doesn't know what to do or say. I wanted to have a look at possible film posters showcasing someone being trapped so that I'd know what sort of effects and ideas I could use to incorporate into my own thriller film poster.

The film poster presented above is a rough draft of what my own individual film poster could look like when incorporating images related to important scenes from my own thriller opening sequence 'Premonition.' I decided to change the lighting of the pictures so that each photo showed signs of 'low key lighting' to illustrate a shadowy colour scheme which creates tension, nervousness and fear. The same human emotions that our audience may feel when watching our thriller film.

Previous Schools Opening Film Sequences:

Previous Schools Opening Film Sequences:


This is an opening sequence which was created by students attending 'Long Road' school between 2008-9. The main reason for choosing this particular opening sequence, is for the reason that I did not think that this was a great opening sequence. I thought that the students worked hard in creating the logo for their distribution company as it looked creative, unique and was brightly coloured. Additionally, they used a range of transitions to allow the logo to demonstrate a range of effects as certain words and pictures moved across the screen. What I believe to have been a letdown in the opening sequence, is three things:
1) The title sequences. These were simply a bland red typography which popped up onto the screen in the first few shots simply listing the names of the actors. They did not list the producer, director, costume designer, casting director and so fourth. If you look carefully, in most opening sequences they always list the conventions of film openings.
2) The narrative expectations. Sadly, the plot was boring and did not really grab my attention. Many of the shots looked as though they weren't thought through properly and they were just placed in a random order. Additionally, the plot was ambigous as I had no clue as to who the characters were and why they were suddenly being tortured in a room one minute and then being shoved into a car in the next one. What is more, is that there was a lack of continuity as the scenes did not flow very well alongside one another, it continually jumped between scenes.
3) The effects. Whilst it is good to sometimes use transitions and effects in your opening sequence, these group of students seemed to over use the transitions as they repeatedly used the same effects in the same scene, so the sequence seemed to jump three or four times when this wasn't really necessary.


This was another thriller opening sequence created by a group of students who attended the 'Long Road' school between 2008-9. The reason why I chose this particular film sequence is due to the fact that whilst the narrative is not particular exciting and seems quite confusing as the only thing that is being filmed is a forest panning through the different areas of it. The one area of it which I think is absolutely brilliant, is the title sequences. The students have clearly spent a lot of time editing and creating a creative, different and eye catching title sequence whereby you feel as though you are travelling through time across this map where the different conventions of film openings are presented. Additionally, the students have added small captions of text where it discusses parts of the story engaging the audience. However, a downside of doing this is that the opening sequence might look as though it is a trailer rather than the opening sequence of a thriller film.

Our Second group meeting in the christmas holidays and what still needs to be done:

In the last few days of the christmas holidays my group, group 4 arranged to meet up one last time to film the first scene in our thriller opening film sequence. We met up first thing in the morning and immediately got straight to work setting up the bedroom with blankets to block out the light, lighting, cushions and photographs, which are all significant items introducing the character to the film. Again, we set up the dolly and camcorder allowing it to record a 'behind the scenes' of Nimesh's bedroom and how we organised the props and placed them in the correct areas of the room.

In my opinion, the bedroom scene took the longest to film for the reason that we wanted the location and character to look as though they were being filmed late at night, when in reality it was actually 9:00am. However, by covering the windows efficently and blocking out all of the light, it helped us to use the various lamps to create low key lighting, without over using it. Additionally, the second hardest thing we had to do whilst filming the bedroom scene was to bear in mind that we had to use multiple camera shots and camera angles in order to create a sufficient opening sequence. Luckily, we used close ups, long shots, mid shots, pan shot, areial/birdseye view shot, tracking shot as well as using high angle and low angle shots. It took us a couple of hours to film the bedroom scene as we had to do many re-takes as certain shots looked out of place or the continuity did not flow well between scenes. Thankfully, after a hard's day work we finished filming our entire opening sequence, and now we were just excited to get back to school and start the editing process.

What we still need to do as a group, is that Khushel and myself have decided to edit the opening sequence and add in any transitions or effects that we believe are necessary to our film seqeuence, whilst Nimesh and Viraj are going to be creating the title sequences for our film. We'v decided that as a group were going to create the soundtrack together so that we can all make suggestions and decide what sounds best and what coincides well with the opening scene.

Our first group meeting in the christmas holidays:

A few days in to the christmas holidays Khushel, Viraj, Nimesh and myself agreed to meet up together and began filming our final shoot for our thriller opening film sequence. We started shooting bright and early sorting out the different props we needed in order to create the right setting/location for our scene. Whilst we were setting up the location with props, lighting and dark blankets to block out the light, we decided that it would be a good idea if we let the camera film whilst setting up the room so the audeince recieved an inside scoop into the 'behind the scenes' of our location, in this case Nimesh's bathroom and how Nimesh and myself worked together to film the death scene. Once everything had been set up and after completing a couple of practice shots, we were rearing to go.

We shot many 'reflection shots' of myself getting ready looking in the bathroom mirror before noticing Nimesh emerge in the doorway. We had to take quite a few shots of this scene as when we watched the clip back, we noticied that the camera emerged from the side of the shot. However, after a few takes we succeeded in filming the shot without the camera being seen. Khushel and Viraj (our directors) took different camera shots from different angles in the bathroom but still bearing in mind the '180 degree rule.' The one shot that took us quite a lot of time to film was the shot in the bathroom. This was where Nimesh span me around and threw me against the bathroom door suffocating me with a plastic bag. The main reason for this was because we wanted to make sure that I recieved enough oxygen and was able to breathe, without actually being suffocated! Additionally, we had some difficulties when Nimesh had to spin me around, hold me against the door, whilst pulling out the plastic bag from his pocket, all within seconds of the shot. When filming this shot we'd reach halfway and then the bag would get caught in Nimeshs pocket so we'd have to cut what we'd filmed so far and re-film the shot again. Thankfully, after a few practice shots we managed to get it just right so it looked realistic and fast paced.

We decided that after a full day's shoot we would arrange to meet up again to film the bedroom scene, towards the end of the christmas holidays.