Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

Before choosing the final idea for our thriller sequence, we had to think carefully and plan individual ideas to feedback to each other and be able to incorporate these ideas into the final narrative.

Kate's Idea: Kate wanted to create a thriller based on the theme of an ongoing murder investigation detailing the victim's life up until her death in a flashback like story line. It becomes clear that the victim's husband may have been having an affair leading on to the female character, Betty having an affair with another man in revenge. The man who Betty has the affair with, James, then becomes increasingly violent due to Betty ending it which then triggers the murder as Ronald picks up the knife however Betty is the one to stab herself. The entire story line is based around revealing what exactly happened to Betty due to not knowing if there were ever real suspects.

Strengths: I believe that this is a good narrative in the fact that the story line is original and something that hasn't necessarily been done in any thriller before which would appeal to the audience as they are witnessing something new and it could create some elements of suspense and shock due to the plot twist of it being revealed that Betty killed herself and that there should never have even been a murder investigation which is an unexpected plot twist. This narrative also features many conventions of a thriller such as a death, a female victim and the iconography of a knife.

Weaknesses: However, I believe that there are some weaknesses to this narrative. The content seems a little restricted and the story may not be as gripping for the audience therefore creating a less successful thriller.

My idea: I decided to have an individual idea based around the kidnap of a young girl and the thriller would document the journey from first being kidnapped to her being tortured and then eventually killed.

Strengths: A strength of this particular narrative is the ability to create a maximum amount of suspense and tension through the use of the kidnap story line. This would keep the audience on the edge of their seats as they wonder what would happen next and if the young girl would make it out alive. It also helps to create a relationship with the audience as they begin to feel sympathy towards the victim of the crime.

Weaknesses: A main weakness of this narrative however would be the lack of originality as there are a lot of thriller films already been released such as Taken and Abduction and would not be an original narrative to drive the film upon.

Final idea: My opening sequence will be based around the theme of a psychological thriller therefore
making it conventional to the genre.We decided to base the narrative around the story of a hit man being paid by the antagonist to kill his estranged ex girlfriend. He locates the woman and begins to follow her carefully planning how he will murder her. However he is viciously attacked by his victim's boyfriend after he sees the hit man following her and is left unconscious. When he awakes, he finds himself in an alleyway with his chosen murder weapon on him. He then stumbles upon the road of his victim and walks up to the house he believes belongs to the woman he needs to kill. He breaks in and stabs the woman repeatedly and soon realises he has killed the wife of the man who paid him to kill upon seeing a photograph in the house of both of them together. He then flees the scene and the husband comes home to see his wife laying dead which causes him to go insane and venture on a murderous rampage in revenge.

Strengths: A variety of themes are evident within this narrative idea following the Aristotle theory. One of these is an inciting incident which is the murder of the wrong person, this makes the narrative more interesting causing the audience to be engaged as they wonder why and how this has happened and what will happen next. The idea also features a major plot twist as the audience are led to believe that the hit man is the antagonist and while he is being jailed for murder, the real antagonist strikes which would keep the audience hooked and wanting to find out who the real killer is. This idea will be conventional to the thriller genre as it features a female victim, an antagonist, elements of shock, surprise, suspense and tension as well as a realistic setting which are essential when creating a thriller film.

Weaknesses: One weakness with this idea is that it is a very complex narrative and would take a long time to make the sequence due to the number of locations needed. In order to portray the psychological theme, we will need to demonstrate that the hit man has suffered from amnesia very clearly so that the audience will be able to understand the narrative completely and not get too confused by it. Psychological effects are very hard to create on the audience therefore we will ensure that the correct camera and sound techniques are used as well as creating relationships between characters to portray this theme effectively.

When constructing the group narrative, I mentioned that a psychological theme should be included as well as my partner mentioning the idea of amnesia and we thought of ideas around these themes so that the narrative came together as a whole. I think that this is a good narrative as it features many conventions within the thriller genre and many themes which support Aristotle's theory. Other theories include those of Propp and Todorov, which demonstrates ideas about an equilibrium and disequilibrium structure within a narrative and the individual functions of characters within a film such as the involvement of a hero and a princess, mainly common in fairy tale like films. These theories would not be as closely supported by our narrative as it is driven solely by the use of themes instead of focusing on the structure of the narrative and the characters. Conventional thriller films don't include the character theory devised by Propp as this would only apply to fairy tale films due to the narrative being based on the quest of a hero rescue a princess, something which is not evident within the thriller genre. In addition to this, having all of the characters within Propp's theory would confuse the narrative of a thriller genre as a large number of characters would not be able to serve individual functions and make sense. Furthermore, films of this particular nature are usually not solved within the same film, many thriller films such as Saw and Halloween include several films within the franchise before the new equilibrium can be established and the enigma solved therefore this is why our narrative would not be able to follow Todorov's theory.

Therefore, when planning the group narrative, my group and I decided to use Aristotle's theory as this theory states that there should be key themes within the production such as; an inciting incident, a dramatic question, character goal, antagonist/protagonist, stakes, resolution and sympathy/empathy. Our thriller opening sequence will see the idea of a character goal theme being incorporated into it showed through the use of the hit man being held hostage until he agrees to kill the wife of the antagonist. When it is seen that he takes the money, he is immediately recognised within the audience as the hit man. This will evoke elements of shock and surprise from the viewers as it is completely unexpected and something that they didn't see coming. This is also what makes thriller films so successful as they never expect to see what they do and when they do, their emotions are heightened and causes them to be gripped and on the edge of their seats therefore encouraging them to watch on further to see what may happen next. Another theme that Kate and I decided to use within our sequence is the antagonist vs protagonist idea. Within the opening sequence, the protagonist is the man who pays the hit man to kill his wife which helps to create shock within the audience as immediate connotations relating to someone who pays another man to kill his wife for him are shown to be that of the antagonist therefore the inclusion of this plot twist is, as previously stated, unexpected and the audience are left unaware that these events would be unfolding. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it allows viewers to understand the narrative in more depth therefore creating a definite relationship. The final theme we have decided to include is the occurrence of an inciting incident. This will be clearly shown when the wife is killed by the hit man. This would immediately evoke senses of surprise and terror from the audience as they are aware that the hit man, due to taking the money being offered to him, was willing to kill straight away for the sake of money therefore meaning that viewers are left in the dark about what the hit man could truly be capable of which helps to create suspense and tension. The audience are also forced to feel empathy towards the wife as although she was cheating on her husband, she didn't deserve to die because of it. In another sense, the antagonist also deserves some sympathy as, deep down, he is mentally disturbed and upset about the situation which is a side to this character that the audience won't be able to see due to only seeing his angry and murderous side. Now that the viewers have witnessed what the antagonist is capable of, this can then cause them to think about what could happen next therefore making individual perceptions and ideas about what they think might happen at the end of the sequence.

To conclude, I feel that my group narrative is conventional as it includes many of the key features which you would expect to find in a thriller film. This includes; a hidden identity of the killer, the creation of an enigma, a female victim and a psychological theme. Therefore, this would appeal to my specific target audience as all of these conventions will combine to create a maximum amount of suspense and tension as well as shock and surprise with the inclusion of a plot twist which are essential in keeping the audience engaged and causing them to want to watch on to see what will happen next.