Script for Evaluation Q1 - Using Conventions and Representation

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Hi my name is Eliana Brassey and this is the first of two director's commentaries about my opening sequence for the thriller film 'Keep'. In today’s commentary I am going to discuss the conventions that I have used for both my medium and my chosen genre, and how my opening sequence represents social groups or issues. 

As one of the first tasks for my research, I considered opening scenes from a wide range of genres. I looked at opening sequences from different genres because at this stage I wasn’t sure which genre I wanted to do, but also so I could identify and analyse whether the conventions would remain the same or whether they would change depending on the genre. I looked at the opening sequences from 'Bride Wars', a rom com, 'Split', a horror film, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', a western, 'Red', an action comedy, and 'Iron Man', a superhero movie.

There were lots of similarities that I eventually used in my opening sequence for ‘Keep’, such as the production company idents and the title cards featuring the names of the production companies, the cast and crew and the title of the film. What was also clear from these sequences from different genres was that they often introduced the main characters and revealed their character traits and the sequences placed the audience in the relevant setting where most of the film was going to take place. I followed all of these convention in my opening sequence, but before I finalised my shot list and storyline I decided to look at more opening sequences from films from the genre I decided to work in.

As my film is a thriller/mystery, I analysed a number of opening scenes from the genre to see how genre conventions were used in those sequences, including scenes from 'Fight Club' and the 'Usual Suspects'. The films that I researched, held back critical information about the main characters in the opening scenes, creating enigma by often starting in the middle of the action and by disrupting the more conventional cause-and-effect pattern found in other genres. In this way they create an air of mystery, an important common convention, creating intrigue for the audience and almost forcing them to watch on to figure out why things are happening.

By holding back information, opening scenes in thriller films create a riddle to challenge the audience, often placing them in the same position as the protagonist who must also try and work out why seemingly unexplained events are taking place. In my scene I want the audience to wonder who my
protagonist is and how she ended up in that situation. In my scene I chose to focus mainly on the setting, a bare room apart from a phone on a table, showing different angles of the room in but not having any establishing shots which might reveal where the character is. I decided to show who the main protagonist is but to reveal nothing about her personality.

My main character is lying on the floor dressed in a grey tracksuit. She is asleep and wakes up when a phone rings. She answers the phone and says hello in a scared and confused tone. Typical of the enigma often found in the opening scenes of films from the thriller genre, what is unclear is how she arrived there, why is she lying on the floor and who is ringing her on the phone. This instantly creates mystery for the audience. Chronologically, my opening sequence is a flash forward and so creates additional confusion for the audience not knowing at what point this scene will appear in the overall narrative. This moving of story events to a different point in the plot was a common convention I found in the thriller opening scenes I analysed. 

I also researched many different film production companies to see which were most popular for thriller/mystery films, so I could use appropriate idents and title cards. As a result, I introduced Warner Brothers, A24 and Magnolia Pictures, all film companies that have a history of making films from my chosen genre. The social group or issue that my opening sequence represents relates to gender stereotypes that I found were common in thriller movies. My protagonist, a vulnerable woman alone, who is presented initially as the victim in the film, follows stereotypical conventions in thrillers of women who need to be saved. I reinforced this by using further conventions I had found during my research, such as the use of camera angles and music that was typical of thrillers. I made my protagonist look vulnerable by using a bird's-eye-view shot to look as if someone was in control of her, something that was a common trope of the thriller genre. By filming the protagonist lying on the floor, the high angle accentuated her vulnerability.

Furthermore, no one else is in the room with her and the fact that it is completely empty apart from one prop emphasises her isolation and her peculiar position. I also used extreme close up shots to give the impression that she's trapped or enclosed, as she also looks terrified. In terms of gender representation, I decided to follow conventions by making the antagonist male and have him issue an ultimatum to the woman. As is common in thrillers, his phone call suggests that he is involved in some shady organisation and that he has imprisoned her because she has vital information on a device that could harm them.  

Music was another important convention I found in opening sequences, as a way to signal genre but also as a way of indicating threat, menace and danger. In my clip I used intense and sinister music to create an additional mysterious atmosphere. 

Right at the end of the sequence the protagonist answers the phone and there is a short piece of muffled dialogue, where a man reveals that the protagonist has an important device that he wants and won't let her go until she reveals where it is hidden. This raises all kinds of questions in the minds of the audience; who is this man, what device is he talking about and will she give it to him? We now know that she is trapped and is going to struggle with the ultimatum. Will she give up the device or be trapped potentially forever? I want the audience to feel confused and disorientated as well as wanting to continue watching to find out what led her to this point and if she will manage to escape. Due to the
vagueness and tension in the scene I would want to make the audience question everything. Most likely, the audience would side with the main character as events shown from her perspective, often through POV shots, and I want the audience to see her as an innocent victim, a conventional character type of
thriller films. However, I would also like the audience to debate internally whether she really is innocent, as thrillers often have plot twists where something that the audience feel certain about turns out to be false later in the narrative. This, in many ways, conforms to conventions of genre, with the audience asking themselves whether she might not be so innocent as she seems.