In what ways does your opening sequence use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real film opening sequences of the genre?

A young man (David) works part-time at a local cafe. He gets into an argument with a costumer but that argument will lead to a vicious chase that will cause devastating consequence for both of them. The genre of our film is horror although it's not your typical horror film. Our film really focuses on panic, fear, paranoia and mystery. The panic and fear being when the man attacks David, and the mystery being that the audience and David don't know who the man is and what he wants. The opening sequence keeps the audience at the edge of their seat without giving too much away too soon. So by the time it ends, there's still room left for a full length film. It starts with equilibrium and then a disruption, so that's where the opening sequence ends. The recognition, repair and new equilibrium is for the full film.

Our opening sequence uses thriller conventions because it has a protagonist who comes across as a normal teenage boy and an antagonist who comes across as a weird stalker. It also uses thriller conventions because it had a definition of obsession at the beginning of the film. It was Daniel's idea and we agreed that it would be a nice touch. The film ' The Town' which is also a thriller gives the viewers some general information and quotes at the start and initially, that was what we had in mind. Additionally, the shaky camera movements when there is a close-up of David were intentional because we wanted David's uneasiness to come across, he feels quite nervous and uncomfortable and we wanted to audience to feel to same. A lot of thriller films actually use this shaky cam to project the character's feelings or the general mood of a particular scene.

It challenges the forms and conventions of thriller films because although there is a protagonist and an antagonist in the beginning, those two are actually both protagonists as we later find out the " stalker" is harmless (e.g One Hour Photo, we think ). It also develops and challenges conventions of the thriller genre because it's not as dark and gritty as most thriller are, it actually looks more like a drama, until the very end. It challenges thriller conventions because they're both male instead of a vulnerable female protagonist and a male antagonist. However, it also challenges thriller conventions because the antagonist later becomes a protagonist instead of being the evil antagonist throughout the whole film ( e.g one hour photo). Another way our opening sequence develops forms and conventions of thriller films is although it's set in a big city ( London), we used a relatively small and quiet neighbourhood instead of the busy part of town where the majority of thriller films are set.