Analysis of past student's opening sequences

The Gardener is graded a level 4 (A), the reasons why it is a grade A is because it has it's cinematography skills is good, for instance the camera was steady most of the time and it has demonstrated a range of shots, for example at the beginning there was a tracking shot, which seemed like the gardener was being spied on, through the use of restricted shots it has also created red hearing and sense of enigma, which are all elements/conventions of a thriller film.


The mis en scene is also appropriate because it is set in a forest looking place, which is perfect for a thriller because it is isolated, which creates tension and suspense. This is also a generic convention of a thriller film.


The editing technique was also well presented because there is a wide range of transitions, for example I like the use of the graphic match, when the photo graph that was displayed on the board came to life and that we witness the victim trying to escape from the the gardener, there was a constant cross cut from the women to the gardener, which is effective because it hints to the audience that the two scene are related.











The beginning of the short film the music sound track was playing 'American Getaway',which is a cheerful soundtrack, this synchronises with the establishing shot of the suburban houses. This creates a sense of normality, which is a generic convention of a thriller film.

However, the lightings are bright(high key lighting, which suggests that nothing is going to happen because there is no tension or suspense to the film, which subverts the conventions of a typical thriller genre because a typical thriller film would often have elements of dark lightings, to create enigma in order to create suspense.


The scene of the house fades into the main character, who is in bed, this signifies that the he is the protagonist and is important in the story, this conforms to the conventions of a typical thriller film because most thriller films always starts to introduce the main character of the story.

There was a sudden silence in the scene, when the protagonist got off his bed, this creates tension and immediately this hints to the spectators that the protagonist is going to encounter some danger, which conforms to a typical representation of a thriller genre because the use of silence is way to create a sense of realism.




In the beginning of this open sequence, we first denote a establishing shot of a park and five male characters, the idea of the establishing shot was to demonstrate the sense of realism, which is a convention on a thriller genre film because it makes the film more realistic, which makes the spectators feel tense. The sense of realism in the beginning of the film is also demonstrated through the use of silence, which is also conventional in most thriller films because it builds tension, in order to gain attention from the spectators. (It is important to capture spectators attention in the beginning of a film in order to get the spectators engaged)


When the main character walks away from the other characters, there was a long shot of the character from behind, this connotes that he is a vulnerable character and is depicted as a victim because the use of long shot makes him seem isolated, which makes the spectators feel uneasy about what is to happen to him. At the same time, the use of long shot/tracking represents the conventions of a thriller film because the it the tracking shot make it seem like the character has been stalked and most importantly, as a spectator, we do not get to see the face of the stalker, which makes it restricted, this conforms to a conventions of thriller film because a typical thriller film always have elements of restrictions to create a sense of enigma in order to build up tension.


The use of the soundtrack is used to represent the thriller genre, for example the music starts to play when the character was all alone behind a building, which hints to the spectators that the character is going to encounter danger, for example maybe a stalker (tracking). The slow tempo of the soundtrack creates a sense of suspicion, which synchronises with the tracking movement to create a stalking effect. The tempo of the soundtrack starts to increase, when the character starts to run, which synchronises with the movement of the character and the pace of the editing, this helps to build up tension and to make the spectators feel confused from the fast pace of the music and the movements.