Previous Student Thriller Openings

SMILE

Pros:

• I thought the voice over worked well in this opening to the thriller, smile. It emphasized the fact he was watching and had the effect of being creepy, adding to the feel I think they were going for. I thought that the voice over was done very well considering the technology available, it is very hard to create a good sound however in some points they could improve the background sound of the camera so that all you can hear is the voice over.

• I liked and thought that the shot to picture worked well having similar framing to that in motion to still frame. I liked the elements of the polaroid shots taken from the movie ‘memento’ this worked well in smile to emphasize the fact he has been watching her in person and not only to memorize these accountings he has taken pictures to keep sake.

• The music is simple and still creates tension. The music fades in, it has a low tone and is very slow and mysterious perhaps portraying the personality of the protagonist. I thought the balance of music and silence while the voice over was played worked really well and they were very careful when using both together not to drown out the voice over so they audience would be able to hear both pieces.

• I thought that this good had put a lot of effort into their story taking ideas from other films and making them own. They really looked into the important features like props that made the film for me as they made the scene seem more realistic to me, the audience. They used newspaper clippings of articles, train tickets and receipts to me this has importance showing that he is part of the ‘real’ world emphasizes that it is more scary than initially thought as he could just be a normal person but with a twisted mind.

Cons:

• I thought the shot where he screws up the paper could have been made more clear. Once looking at the shot in slow motion, it then become clear the it was suppose to be an object that I perceive as an insect of some sort. This could then have greater meaning to the shot meaning that he is willing to kill anything that gets in his way. They could improve this by leaving the shot on the paper for longer then less time spent on him screwing up the paper.

• Another thing that I thought they could have mad more clear was the last shot where she is in fact tied up however this was not apparent to me until I was told, so therefore I think it could be improved perhaps by panning out to seeing her in the flesh.

• They used a similar shot three time of them sitting on the park bench. I thought they could have varied this by using another shot from a different angle.