Unit G321-Foundation

production and brief title

The titles and opening
sequence of a new fictional
film
By Danielle Conneely 0360
 1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
The title of my opening sequence is called Pursue, the opening
sequence contains many forms and conventions of real media
products. We decided to do this to make sure our outcome of our
production was the best it could be and to follow the conventions of
a thriller film. We used the narrative theory of Barthes as our
opening sequence relates to one of the five codes: Hermeneutic
code as throughout the actions of the characters make the audience
enticed to the production and want to know what is going to happen
next. This is because our film doesnt reveal the identity of the
intruder and the reason to why he wants to kidnap Lilly, we done
this as we wanted to create an enigma for the audience and for
them to guess what is going to happen to the protagonist Lilly.
 1. (Continued)
Location: Throughout our opening sequence we used one location as the
house fit the conventions of a thriller films as the theme of kidnap films
fit the stereotypical location of where the protagonist is kidnapped. To
help us conform to the stereotypical location of a house we watched
Taken and used some of their ideas to help structure the location and
use the thriller conventions from that film and adapt it to ours. This was
because we wanted to make sure that we followed and incorporated as
much of the conventions of a thriller film as possible as well as the
conventions of the theme of kidnap. We decided to use this location as
we felt our target audience of all genders 12-35 with socio economic
group C1,C2,D&E would be able to understand the reality of our
production. However, there are a few aspects of a thriller film we didnt
follow as you could also take our production as a drama as our
production had a dramatic effect and style however we stuck to the
conventions of a thriller as we wanted to create suspense and for the
audience to become entice with the situation that the protagonist is in.
Overall choosing our location of a house was not difficult as it fitted to
all of the scenes we wanted to use as the rooms used e.g. Lilly and
 1. (Continued)
Title of the film- The title of my opening sequence is called
Pursue, the narrative is about a young girl named Lilly who is left
at home by her older sister and is woken up by the sounds of an
intruder. Scared Lilly jumps out of bed and runs into her sisters
room and hides under the bed, the intruder comes upstairs and
approaches the bedroom where Lilly is found by the intruder. So we
decided to chose this name as we wanted to base this on a 90
minute film instead of a opening sequence, this is as we wanted to
give an insight to the audience of what the narrative could possibly
be or what it could unfold into. This can go against conventions of
thriller films titles as normally you can tell from the title what is
going to go on in the film. We decided to go against this as we
wanted our title to create interpreted meaning for the viewers as it
will entice them into wanting to watch our full production.
 1(Continued)
Title font and style- The title of my opening sequence is shown at the end of the opening
sequence, we used the font Lucida Bright in the colour white at the size of 252 as we wanted
our title to stand out as well as the colour white standing out on a black background. We
didnt want to follow the stereotypical colour and font like other thriller film titles such as
Taken, as they used red we wanted ours to be unique and stand out to our target audience.
We deiced to place our white text over a black background to symbolise suspense and the
unknowing of what could happen next. Similar, to Takens opening title we put our title in
caps as it also helped it stand out and add suspense to the narrative of our production which
is around kidnap. We added a fade in and out effect to our title as this helped the title stand
out to our target audience and to other viewers as this could help catch their attention of our
production.

Costumes and props- The costume of our protagonist played by Olivia Conneely follows the
stereotypical look of a young vulnerable girl who is wearing emojis pyjamas which represents
that she is a typical young girl who follows the new crazes. This also shows the audience that
she is a normal young girl for her age as the costume used is what another young girl would
wear making her look realistic, we chose this as we wanted her to look as if she was in her
normal routine to make the audience unaware of what was going to happen. As for her sister
played by Danielle Conneely (myself), we decided we would put her in crop top and a black
skirt to show the audience that she is going out. We decided to pick this as its modern and
shows the stereotypical image of a teenage girl going out as teenagers are now the target in
the clothes industry of wearing crop tops, we chose to follow this as the audience could
identify her style. As for our antagonist we wanted to hide his identify as he was the intruder,
so we choose black gloves, jumper, jacket, tracksuit and boots to keep the audience guessing
of who the intruder could be. This fits with the stereotypical way of how a kidnapper looks as
we wanted to keep the audience wondering of who the intruder is. Throughout the opening
 1(Continued)
Camerawork and editing- Throughout our opening sequence we wanted to
make sure we included as many shots and angles as we could to make our
production stand out. We used a range of medium close ups, close ups,
povs, long shot and over the shoulder shot. Close up and extreme close
ups fit into the stereotypical shots used in kidnap films as you can see the
expressions and reactions of the young girl. We also used many povs as
we wanted to show the audience the experience and perspective through
the eye of the protagonist and antagonist. At the beginning of our
production we used a medium close up to show that her sister is going out
this helps set the scene of what is going on and this fits the conventions of
a kidnap film as we've set an enigma of where the girl is going. As the
cinematographer, with the help of 1 other member we decided to use a
variety of panning and hand held shots to add a sense of realism to the
opening sequence.

The story and how the opening sets it up- The first shot used is a medium
close up to show that her sister is going out this was used as it helps set
the scene of what is going on and fits the conventions of a kidnap film.
After this, we use a low angle close up shot to show the sister putting a
vodka bottle in her bag this shows the audience that the older sister is
 1(Continued)

How the characters are introduced- The main protagonist Lilly is

introduced to the audience at the end of the first scene as she is
seen asleep in her room, this shows the audience what she looks
like and that she is a young girl. The other protagonist Sarah is
introduced to the audience at the start of the first scene when
she is getting ready to leave the house, this shows the audience
that the Sarah is leaving Lilly at home alone this shows the
audience the stereotypical representation of teenagers that they
aren't responsible. The antagonist is shown half way through the
opening sequence when entering the house, they are wearing
dark clothing and their face is not shown this automatically
causes the viewer to worry about what could happen to the
young protagonist.