American Psycho uses dialogue in the opening sequence to convey the character, social and private life of the protagonist. The Limey only uses dialogue in the form of voiceover, effectively helping the audience to establish a purpose for the man’s quest. The use of distinctive silences is also a common technique; it not only makes the audience feel awkward and fearful, but also draws their attention and expectations to what might happen.
There are many stock situations that are conventional of thrillers, thier openings are small introductions to the rest of the film and have the power to intrigue the audience, so it is important that they are as interesting and effective as possible.
The audience employ expectations and predictions from these conventions meaning they interact with the film. Often the thriller genre plays with the supernatural, using children who act as innocent bystanders or who get possessed by unseen threats. Like many films the question of who the killer is, is a mystery, and the audience don’t find out until the end.
- Planning
We chose upon the narrative relative to satanic worship due to its potential in terms of mise-en-scene, camerawork, editing and music. We planned to create an opening sequence that unfolds through the use of cross-cutting, as this enabled us to demonstrate the protagonist’s seemingly normal life and contrast it with his accursed behaviour. To help and reinforce this comparison only diegetic sound was to be used at the beginning up until shot 13 to reflect the characters state of normality, whilst to express and demonstrate the powerful, spiritual, and haunting nature of the film; a tape of monks singing seemed to be a credible choice, lingering through the sequence and reflecting the nature of the narrative ideally for the audience to comprehend.
This would conveniently fade in at shot#13 in which candles are being lit so as to signify and reflect commencement.
The first shot (a close up of a puddle-shot 3) is returned to and made sense of through cross-cutting four shots later when the protagonist walks into it. The close up limits what the audience can see of him in order to create a sense of mystery, intrigue and suspense, and the concept of not revealing the character’s identity for this purpose is followed throughout the sequence. Shot 13 is an example of how we tried to include as much relevance as we could in order to signify the rest of the sequence’s importance and meaning; shown through it’s connotations and the use of non-diegetic sound. The possibilities of texture and patterning were also explored, the most effective being of a bike wheel (shot 21) which we intended to accompany with a squeaking sound to evoke an eerie yet ironic sense in the film. The rest of the camerawork distances the audience from the protagonist and his actions with the use of various long shots, medium shots and all form a range of angles. Shot 16 for example, a very high angle VLS shows no intimacy whatsoever toward the character but stands to observe. The audience aren’t made to feel any emotion or relationship toward him because they are instead curious of his strange lifestyle; it is not that they should sympathise but that they should be almost apprehensive.
In order to target our specified audience we had to come up with a narrative opening that was both professional and intriguing so the audience can generate expectations of how the opening ties in with the whole film. The planned narrative was of a man that starts off as a normal person but gradually turns out to be a malevolent worshipper of Satan who corrupts and intoxicates the innocent people around him – set at night, the audience can draw expectations of distress ahead. As the occurrences in the narrative are particularly unlikely in real life, the idea of an unworldly force as the reason for terror spreading throughout the film is one that attracts audiences to it due to its imagination and use for escapism.
In terms of location, most of the sequence was to be filmed in a church - such a setting is perfect for the narrative and even more so in respect to the magnificent décor and connotations of holiness that it brings. The rest of the sequence however, would be in a setting that most reflects the protagonists normal lifestyle, so in order for location to maximise this sense the most appropriate setting would be the home. The home is comforting, safe, and a definite place of normality so these characteristics associate themselves with the said character and allow the audience to feel unthreatened by him.
We had no intention of favouring over which sex the mainstream production should be aimed at, the hope was that it was suitable for anyone as there is no gender dominance and only one character introduced.
- Constructing the Production
As we began to edit the sequence following unsuccessful filming on several accounts, it became apparent that due to filming problems beyond our control we needed both to rewrite the narrative and again do further filming. This set us back immensely and we found ourselves filming closer and closer to the final deadline. The problems consisted of many things from unreliable group members to inefficient equipment and limited time available in which to film a well lit sequence. Though the narrative did not change too radically, we still had to endeavour in finding new uses of the useful footage we had, and merge it with the new shots to produce a plausible production.
As the main problem was the lack of continuity in the church – and we were in no position to take liberties and film in there for any longer – we decided to use selected shots from the footage we’d acquired as a series of flashbacks which would occur once the protagonist had entered a new location after the home. The next most relevant and available setting was a graveyard, so we altered the narrative so that it was of a girl who enters a graveyard and makes her way towards a grave. As she walks, the flashbacks occur giving implications of possible involvement with satanic worship; and when she reaches the grave she halts and stares at it as if to mourn. Finally, we wanted to reinforce the protagonist’s link with the flashbacks, so we used a dissolve transition to create the effect of her turning into the cloaked worshipper.
The music choice was then also adjusted to suit the new narrative. For the home, we uncovered a sample from the film The Ninth Gate, which held a very eerie and ghostly personality working to entice the audience into wondering what was so peculiar about the protagonist’s lifestyle. In the graveyard, we waited until the POV to begin the second track; the impact was much more abrupt this way as it contrasted with the first music and came unexpectedly. This diverse cello piece had a very mournful tone to it so overruled the suitability of the singing monks as the second location changed.
The credit titles also differed from how we’d imagined in our storyboard; we thought we’d make them more decorative by sliding them into the lower middle of the screen upon a black background. This evokes a contemporary and professional feel for the thriller; the pace and sense of movement making it all the more interesting and suspenseful to watch, and we also decided to use the Arial font in lower case as opposed to the New Times Roman style we’d originally favoured in upper case which contained less contemporary connotations. To add a further sense of professionalism, the roles of which the credits show praise towards were made into a smaller typeface, and less bold was applied so that when the names of the roles appeared (in larger typeface and in bold) there was a light contrast in each title – highlighting the names. We stuck to keeping most of the titles at the beginning of the sequence, although not alternating quite as frequently as we’d planned, to keep the new narrative meaningful and well paced. We also found a good use for one of our previously discarded shots for a background for the main title. The perfectly framed shot of the moon at first left little trace of the white title overlaying it, so we carefully faded the moon out as the title came in which developed into a very effective ending to the sequence.
- Evaluation of Finished Production
We included as many variations of shot as possible throughout the whole sequence: in the house we discovered valuable opportunities to use reflection so that we could introduce the character presenting her from both sides and implying her significance. The tilt shot in the graveyard is then a turning point in how the audience perceive her , as it very much creates a sense of menace. Shots 27 and onwards show diversity in terms of the use of camera distance, angle and movement: a jump cut to shot 28 adds a sense that the protagonist is being watched whilst the panning shot through the gates creates a separation between her and the audience – denoting wariness of the character. The remainder of the sequence varied in shot scale and angle so as not to result in a bland sequence but to be appropriate to suspense up until the highlight at the end. The flashbacks/cross-cuts were huge elements in having an effective use of mise-en-scene. The first, well timed occurrence of a cloaked figure inside the church is the first real indication of peril in the sequence and leaves a lasting impression which becomes formidable as further flashbacks appear. The second takes place during the next subjective camera, returning to the POV to support the idea of the protagonist being directly involved. The stained window lit from behind showing Virgin Mary and holding baby Jesus is just one of the symbolic aspects of the sequence that incur the idea of religion into the narrative. This is also reflected in the final and most effective flashback; the flashback of a crucifix occurs just as the camera pans to a different part of a cross-shaped headstone almost acting as a match cut to link the two shots through visual continuity. The camera returns in soft focus on the protagonist’s face, gradually moving back to deep focus to represent her dubious character.
The music in the background, which I feel through its instrumental approach evokes a precise atmosphere for the graveyard, is perfectly timed in the sequence. Its tempo and melody changed as the track went on so it was important to carefully match it together with any cutting and events that occurred – especially for a more dramatic feel when the main title appeared.
There are quite a few improvements I would make to the production if given the chance, such alterations would definitely better the opening and would probably make all the difference to the final evaluation.
There should have been more intrigue induced over the character in the first location, with possible links through the use of props to the next; giving a personality that could contrast with her behaviour inside the graveyard. There is also the problem of shot length: on several accounts, for example in the first shot in which I walk down the stairs, the editing cuts too early or too late; creating a lacked a sense of completion to it. Also, the framing of shots could have been bettered like in the final two in which a transition merges them together; if the shots were both framed evenly the effect would have seemed greater and more professional. Finally the music in the first location wasn’t totally perfect. Although the track itself is very powerful in evoking character, it was only a thirty second long sample so we had to repeat it in order to fit the length of the first scene which is quite a noticeable error.
The finished production turned out to be a lot better than we thought it would, and considering the problems and errors we were faced with, the production has been effective at creating meaning and generating response and is suitable for a thriller.
