Individual Narrative Ideas

Individual Narrative Ideas

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.

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, and a flash of the dark figure possibly holding a knife, 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.

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. 

A typical thriller convention that I will include is where the opening sequence is set. I will set my thriller opening sequence 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 foreboding 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. 

The use of characters in our opening thriller sequence is also conventional as we have the use of younger characters and also female protagonists. This is conventional as in most thriller films there is a young female victim. This works well because a young female is stereo typically portrayed as weak and defenseless in the thriller genre, creating a sense of foreboding over the characters, keeping the audience watching on, on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen to the protagonists next.

Also within my thriller opening sequence I will use a typical convention of non-diegetic sound, which will be both slow and eerie. This is to create tension and suspense which are key elements to create in the thriller genre. It creates tension and suspense as at some point the eerie music must come to an end, with the audience suspecting something or someone will jump out or somebody will get hurt, also fearing that something bad will happen to the protagonist.