Group Narrative

Group Narrative

My Narrative

A narrative is important to a film as it creates a main purpose for the film. Without a narrative the film would be unwatchable as there would not be a point or solution. It is important to have a narrative for a thriller as it should create enigma to keep the audience engaged and making them want to continue watching, also creating the three key elements of shock, surprise and suspense.

I will target my thriller towards people aged 15+ as some of the scenes may be upsetting towards a younger viewer and may potentially be scary due to the use of blood, gore and weapons. 

My own individual narrative for my thriller sequence is based around a boy that was kidnapped which the reason is unknown to the audience, tied up and taken to the middle of the forest. The audience will see the struggle of the boy and the flashes of the event. By using flashes of the event, and not completely showing the event I hope this will create enigma as they are wanting to know what is happening to the boy and why, making the audience want to watch on, to see why this has happened. The sequence will then end on a cliff hanger when two girls who happen to be walking into the forest discover the boy. This is a cliff hanger as the sequence would end on a scream, which is unknown to the audience who's scream this is, the audience would then begin to wonder is there a reoccurring theme of entering the forest and death.

Our opening thriller sequence is the narrative which would be at the end of our film. We decided to do this because the audience will watch this, and want to know the entire story line leading up to the events that have been seen in the sequence. This has shown disequilibrium as we have shown the end at the beginning of our opening sequence. We believe that this will entice our target audience and make them want to watch on further.

Some conventions that i will include in the opening sequence could be set in a forest at night time. This is because it conforms with typical thriller conventions of an isolated setting as it is in the middle of nowhere, automatically giving a sense of fear and danger as there is nobody around to see, hear or help if anything dangerous occurred. Furthermore, the use of dark lighting creates suspense as the vision is slightly impaired in darker vision so it is harder to see what is going on and what is hiding within the darkness. This makes the audience sympathizes for the protagonists as they are not aware of what is about to happen and has less of a chance to defend there self as they cannot see what is coming.

Another convention I will use is the use of iconography. the iconography my group will use is most probably a fake knife. This is because a knife is a typical weapon you would expect to see within a thriller film. A knife has several connotations such as death, brutality, blood and violence. This will create a sense of foreboading for the audience as the knife will be a clue that something bad is going to happen to one, or possibly three of the characters. 


Disadvantages: One disadvantage of my narrative is, it may not be very clear to the audience as it will not be a continuous sequence, so they may find it difficult to understand.
Advantages: One advantage of my narrative is, it is conventional to the thriller genre as it will create suspense and tension for the audience as they watch.

Ellas Narrative

Individual Narrative Ideas (planning the thriller production)

My production is going to be a thriller film. Planning out my narrative is important so i know exactly what i am going to do and collect all of my ideas.

Firstly, my setting ideas are:
- Small Town
- Dark and gloomy/bad weather
- A small crowded place e.g. forest with lots of trees
- Abandoned house in a middle of a street

I want my thriller opening sequence to be a cliff hanger. This keeps the audience/watchers wanting to watch the whole film and eager to know what is next. This creates suspense and catches more views from the audience.

Furthermore, i will use animals e.g. dogs in my opening sequence. This creates a little more adventure instead of just using me and my other group members in our opening sequence.

My overall narrative story line will have a dark setting. For my first initial idea I will be filming in two different scenes. In the first seconds of the scene The audience will see a news flash on the television being watched by myself. The news flash will contain a recent reocurring murder that has taken place in that day. Then myself and Hannah from my group will be having a friendly conversation walking down a open road. We happen to come onto the conversation of the news flash. Whilst walking with out pets(dogs) we see a van speed of with a young boy inside trapped in the back, we think nothing of it until we head into a pathway leading into the forest. It's only until then the camera slowly zooms into a body laying on the floor. The scene will end here on a cliffhanger. There are many conventions that will be used in this opening sequence. Firstly the setting is dark and with minimal lighting. Furthermore, i feel that I have created something different to normal thrillers. I am going to use a male victim instead of a female, this will give a different aspect onto the audience, creating a completely different view on thriller films. I have tried to keep a simple story line although one that will keep the viewers interested. Although this might not be my final idea, I feel that this narrative story line would work well and have good feedback from the audience. I will receive feedback from my questioner and from this I will discuss with my group what works well and what dosent. Although I feel I will use typical conventions that the audience love to see. E.g. A weapon In the scene somewhere which could conclude to some sort of evidence. Furthermore a lot of drama to keep the pace of the film going. Although i am only making an short opening I want the audience to want watch more and feel like this could be a real film.

Disadvantages: One disadvantage of Ella's narrative could be that it my be difficult for the audience to understand.

Advantages: An advantage of Ella's narrative is that is conforms with a typical thriller film as it creates suspense, tension and will also create shock. 

Ollie's Narrative

The narrative is important because it tells the audience the background story of a film. It also makes the film have a meaning. Without the narrative the film would be confusing to the audience because they wouldn't know what was going on. The narrative keeps the film together and stops the storyline from going off track. Thriller narratives should have a tense opening sequence to grab the audience and pull them into the film straight away.

I have come up with a narrative about an old eery forest which has had some weird unexplained happenings occur in it. A group of friends take a trip to the forest for a day out and they suddenly become trapped and in danger. The forest plays with your mind and makes you confused and lost really easily. There is also a dark cloaked figure constantly lurking amongst the trees, spying on people that enter the forest. There have been constant sightings of this figure and some even say he follows you when you leave the forest. 10 people have suddenly disappeared over the course of two years. 

My opening sequence will consist of 3 friends going to the forest to try and find out what all the fuss is about. After one girl spots the dark figure in the corner of her eye they leave thinking that it was just her imagination going wild. She returns home haunted by her experience and goes to bed trying to forget about it. She later wakes to find that she is back in the forest. Scared and confused she tries to find her way out but she ends up encountering the figure again. This time she doesn't  escape. She becomes the 11th person to go missing. The opening sequence the ends with a close up of the dark figure with just his face showing. 

Im going to share this idea with my group and discuss the advantages and disadvantages with it. This is so we can have the best idea possible.

Disadvantages: One disadvantage of Ollie's narrative may be that it will be difficult to display how the group become in danger without revealing too much of the narrative.

Advantages: One advantage of Ollie's narrative is that it too, like Ella's conforms with the typical thriller conventions creating shock, surprise and suspense. It also helps that the scene is filmed in the dark as it is unknown what will happen to the friends once it becomes dark. 

Final Group Narrative:

Our final groups narrative the sequence beginning with a news report of the news reporter saying there have been several disappearances within the area lately. We continue throughout the opening sequence of seeing and hearing the screeches of vans and children. Whilst watching the news report, there are shots of the dark figure walking past windows and around the area, this is only seen to the audience at first. Then two friends are out walking their dogs in the local forest, after hearing screeching vans earlier, they find a boy roped up in the forest now looking possessed. The scene then ends on a cliffhanger of the girls looking around for help, before the final clip is shown of the dark figure walking past.

Our opening thriller sequence is the narrative which would be at the end of our film. We decided to do this because the audience will watch this, and want to know the entire story line leading up to the events that have been seen in the sequence. This has shown disequilibrium as we have shown the end at the beginning of our opening sequence. We believe that this will entice our target audience and make them want to watch on further.

Narrative Theory:

Our final narrative is based on the theory of Aristotle who is a Philosopher who's knowledge can be applied to media. I think our theory is based around Aristotle because we have an protagonist which is the boy which has disappeared and is now possessed. The antagonist is the dark figure which is the villain within the film. In addition to this my narrative also is based on Aristoles theory as an iciting incident occurs, you begin to see who the killer could possibly be as the dark figure shadows over the screen. My opening thriller sequence also contains scenes where the audience will begin to sympathise for the protagonists as he is tied up not knowing what is going to happen to him. My opening sequence also includes a dramatic question on wether the victims are going to live or die, this creates a tension and suspense, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats wanting to continue to watch on untill the end of the film. However, my opening sequence does not contain a resolution as it is not a short film, so can't be solved as it will not create enigma for the audience, making the audience not want to continue to watch on.