Planning: Opening Scene Narration - Miss Begum

Opening Scene Narration

Introduction

After the ideas were finalised and put together, it gave us a clear narrative making it useful during the making of the opening as it provides a clear narrative for the director to create the story by putting it together. Without a clear structure of the opening, the audience might not be able to understand what is going on in the scene. As this is just an opening, the audience does not necessarily need to understand the narrative in such detail as many films are a lot affective that way.

Opening Scene Narration:

• The opening scene begins with an establishing shot of the antagonist slowly walking in a graveyard. He wears a black crimson coloured suit with a matching tie and white shirt that further indicates he has just attended a funeral. The weather is dark and gloomy just on the edge of raining furthermore reflecting on his current state and mentality. It may also foreshadow further events that will happen as the opening progresses. A panning shot is consistent till he arrives home to which it then jumps to a straight cut from inside a house. The man from earlier opens the door, still wearing his suit, he enters the house carelessly with his hands full and keys in his mouth, his back faces the spooky looking girl who is extremely pale and bruised. Her stance is still and she doesn't move, she just stands right behind him as the door shuts in her face. When he is fully in the house, its lit with high-key lighting that further portrays no abnormalities until a tilt shot is used to show him picking up a chair that is stained in blood. The man causally walks towards the staircase and we are able to witness the lifeless bodies that are scattered around the house. As the antagonist walks up the stairs which is portrayed through extreme close-ups of his shoes, bodies are becoming more noticeable.

• As the opening progresses, there is a medium shot of the antagonist entering his bedroom. He walks towards his wardrobe whilst stripping his blazer off of him that lands on the bed. When he reaches his wardrobe, he takes out a black leather jacket but as the man closes the door of his wardrobe, we see a victim who is tied on a chair barely conscious, wounded and hidden at the other end of his room. We are only to witness this victim when the wardrobe door closes. When our antagonist exits out of the room, he carelessly turns his back and turns off the light and the spooky female figure appears again, hiding in the shadows however he doesn't notice the eerie, unidentified figure but when rushes back to get his phone he had forgotten, he switches back on the lights and the creepy girl disappears. As the man continues to walk around his house, dead bodies are becoming more visible as well photo frames on window sills that contain pictures of unidentified people.

• Towards the ending of the thriller opening, we see the man walk down the stairs from a high angle medium shot. We are able to see the man walk away until he disappears from the camera frame to which the camera does not follow him. When the man is completely out of the frame, the camera tilts upwards to which the girl from previous shots appears again. The girl supposedly has been following the man. She stands still with a motionless face planted on her with one hand placed on the window looking in his direction. The camera then pans out and we see the man walking into the public in a casual manner. The scene fades to black and it ends.

The themes that draw upon this idea are, murder, death, violence and vengeance. I believe that these are the most important and popular themes in thriller films.

Audience Response

Throughout the opening, the specific scenes such as when the audience are able to subtly witness the unidentified figure creates a chilling response. As a group, we are aiming to generate mix emotions such as confusion further creating a tense atmosphere all the way through. There is no clear narrative and the audience will feel confused watching this although will feel very uneasy at the same time. The opening scene may confuse the audience but as it progresses, the audience may feel a sense of discomfort and frightened due to the dead bodies that were laying on the floor. Followed by the mans casual attitude to this frightful scene, he leaves the audience questioning themselves making them wanting to further watch on.

Conclusion:

This planning has been highly helpful for my final production as now I'm aware of what I have to do in order to get the right audience response. I'm more organised and I now know clearly what I have to do.