Part 1 – Brief

Our brief was to compose the opening 2 minutes of a Thriller, which we were to
make ourselves. This included creating a layout/5 part narrative
(http://shaninaikmedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/preproduction-5-part-
narrative.html ) for the whole film even though we were making the opening 2
minutes, as the rest of the film is crucial when making the opening to a Thriller.
Our title is ‘Open Verdict’ which means that the jury could not come to a
conclusion of a death but is suspicious. This fits in well with our opening
sequence as we see two characters that seem to be already dead and nothing
but a combination of clues to their death through out the opening. We have
also referenced our title and discussed the themes e.g. violence and romance,
which it represents in the Title section of our treatment.
Our opening sequence is meant to create questions, which would build
anticipation for the rest of the film. In the opening we introduce two of the
three main characters, the couple. They are seen laying on the bed and floor
not moving, assumed to be dead. We emphasis the mise-en-scene around the
characters such as the knife, alcohol bottle etc, which work as clues which may
be foreshadowing scenes to come in the rest of the film. It then follows through
a Flashback that is clearly understood as a convention through the use of the
fade to white and saturation of the colours during the flashback. After coming
out of the flashback, we see a pivotal moment as the female character wakes
up and therefore shocking the audience to create anticipation as she was
assumed to be dead. Throughout the opening sequence we have a Voice-over
to mimic the conventional effect often used in noir styled films such as Double
Indemnity and Taxi Driver. Reference to our Treatment explains in detail what
will be happening in our opening through the narrative, explaining conventions
and representations etc. The sub genre of romance is simply represented
through the iconic actions such as holding hands and kissing on the cheek in
the flashback, whilst the style of film noir is represented mainly through the
low-key lighting maintained through out the bedroom location scene and the
voiceover playing through the opening. Themes of crime are denoted by the
knife in the main characters hand, being indexical of a death.
http://shaninaikmedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/treatment-open-verdict.html