CHARACTERS

SHREYA

she is 17 years old. Shreya is like any other teenager but her main goal in life is to enjoy life, to live life to the fullest. She is outgoing and loves to socialise. She is used to getting attention, not only from boys or friends but also her family. She is an only child and so the heart of the family. Her family come from a wealthy background and so she doesn't face any problems financially. Her life is full of fun moments and some people are even jealous of how she has 'everything' but sometimes having everything comes with a price. Being the centre of attention also means more people know about you, some people you would rather avoid. 

STALKER

He is 18 years old. A mystery man in my opening sequence. A guy who started off with small gifts but quickly escalated to a serious obsession. He doesn't know the boundary where a sweet crush turns into a psychotic infatuation. He sacrifices his time to stalk and follow Shreya to know her whereabouts. He is too shy to confess and thinks this is the best way to do it. He can not understand what he is doing is wrong and does not wait to think of the consequences. He can only and only think about making her 'his' by forcing her into loving him. 

CAST-

SHREYA

STALKER

2nd Analysis of thriller opening- HUSH

HUSH-

it is a 2016 American slasher film, directed and edited by Mike Flanagan.The movie is about a deaf and mute writer retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.
Blumhouse productions(a production company that produces low-budget horror films) is the production company for this film.
Netflix is the distribution company.
Intrepid pictures(an American independent film and television production company dedicated to producing elevated commercial content for global mainstream audiences)
 is also the production company for this film.

The scene starts with a crane shot and the text 'HUSH' is written in bold to introduce the name of the film at the very start. The text fades and the camera tilts down from the view of the sky and trees to a view of a house isolated in the middle of the forest.The camera seems to be on a crane as it is constantly moving and it goes closer to the house. During this, There is an ambient or natural sound of the birds chirping to create a very natural environment feeling and to highlight the fact that the house is in the woods. A clicking sound of the gas(sound effects) takes the scene ahead to an extreme close up of someone turning the gas on and the fire starting only in a matter of seconds.Next, is a close up of the person opening a bottle of champagne with a mounted corkscrew, pouring the wine into the glass, chopping onions with a knife, then breaking an egg, dropping in flour, whisking the egg, smashing garlic with her hands, chopping asparagus and stirring the asparagus in low heat which is all accompanied with the synchronous sound to highlight the sounds that come with the day to day chores such as cooking.

Afterwards there is a point of view shot of the person opening the lid to check the meal( sizzling sound)  and then opening the oven to an overcooked meat dish inside.The camera then scans the recipe on the screen of an iPad  to show what the person is doing which then shifts focus to reveal the person seeing the recipe from the screen itself.
Next, there is a mid close up of the person's face to reveal a women in her mid-thirties with brown wavy hair and fair skin.

 From her expression she looks as if she is trying to figure something(the recipe) out. The camera slowly rotates to her right profile, clearly showing her ear whilst the sound fades out to reveal that she is deaf and all the previous sounds that were shown earlier while cooking was inaudible to her.
This creates a very dramatic effect as the sounds that are so familiar and normal while doing something as basic as cooking is actually not audible to her.

analysis of thriller opening sequence-YOU

ANALYSIS-

YOU is an American thriller series based on a bookstore manager's crush on an aspiring female writer which turns into a deadly obsession. Using social media and the internet, he uses every tool at his disposal to stalk and come close to her. He is a murderous stalker who would remove any 'obstacle' that comes in the way.

This show is on Netflix.

I have chosen this series because my opening sequence is very similar to this. A young women being stalked by an obsessive man. however, my film shows how the stalker likes to play mind games and puzzles.

Netflix(production company) logo opening which is continued with WARNER HORIZON TELEVISION( a division of Warner bros. production company)

The first scene is an Ariel view of a city at dawn, then a bird eye view shot of the same city and lastly a mid shot of the road. There's a soothing song in the background to create a calming sense of the location and to show it is morning by the use of sunrise in the first scene.
Next, There is a close up shot of the bell chiming by someone opening the door. This gives a hint that someone has entered or left. These sounds overall give an appeasing aura. After the sound of the bell chiming, the song continues playing. There is a mid shot of a women walking into the store by starting with her legs and moving upwards to reveal her body( her face is not shown clearly).The store looks very spacious, old and dull. They have used prop lighting through the lamps in the store and natural light from the windows.The song slowly fades away and a voiceover starts with 'well, hello there.Who are you?' 
Which clearly indicates that the girl is a stranger.
The backgrounds has stacks and shelves of books which suggests that it is a library.
The next scene is an over the shoulder of the person who is thinking( the voiceover) and you can see the guy looking at the girl walk past him at the store. 'based on your vibe, a student' is the next voiceover which shows that the guy is making assumptions of the girl because he is interested in her.
There is a mid shot of her pulling her bag closely towards her shoulder, you can see from above her waist and below her neck. Over all, the girl is wearing jeans and blouse shown by the previous short close up scenes.
With every scene the main protagonist continues to make assumptions on her by just observing her every action and on how she looks.
There is a close up of her bracelets and a sound of them jangling.Next, there is a close up shot of her hair( tied in a bun) which she moves forward on her search for a book.
After this, the scenes are point of view shots of the guy lurking behind different sections of the library and looking at the girl.' You search the books Fiction,''F" through "K".' which clearly shows that the guy is stalking the girl and noticing her every move. The scenes still do not reveal her face and show her back close up. 
The next scene is from behind the guy showing that he is watching the girl walking around. The voiceover continues with the assumptions he is making about her which is interrupted when the girl walks up behind him and says 'hello'. The scene changes from the guy's head close up to him turning around to see a blur figure turn into a more clear one when she comes closer to him. 

Throughout the opening sequence, there is a mystery and suspense created as the girl's face was not revealed but her every action was analysed in the voiceover by a guy who was observing or 'stalking' her. The end was with the revealing of her face when she comes in contact with him.
The girl has a casual look with her blonde hair into a bun and a light blush lipstick. Her features are appealing, subtle and attractive. 
Her clothes fit her body well and looks as if she is into fashion because her dressing sense is good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyNYkd2kLHs

Research- focus group

I made 3 groups with 3 people in each. All girls as the victim in my opening sequence is a girl, getting their views helped me add to Shreya's (my protagonist) opinion.
They all shared some personal experience and opinion about how stalking is a very serious issue/crime.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eYhv9_qAlm8psMk0Nw6r0dhB5n-emc7s/view?usp=drivesdk

Research work- online survey:part 2

ONLINE SURVEYS-

Fifth question

The majority said can be which means people believe there can be casual and serious stalking. In my opening sequence i wanna hint that the girl didnt take the previous gifts as a serious sign of someone stalking her.

Sixth question 

The people who said never are only  10.9% so i feel thriller could be a good genre to choose.

Seventh question

76.4% believe male stalkers are more common and hence, my opening sequence will involve a male stalker.

Eight question 

A lot of them believe that even if it is our own parents, stalking can not be justified. This could be because it is still taken as invading someone's privacy and that should be respected. 

Ninth question

I feel because my target audience is young, they would want to also see a young cast on screen to relate. My cast will be young. 

Tenth question

I will try to check out most of these movies for reference and their shooting style. This will help me research even furthur.

research work- online survey :part 1

SURVEY-

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_DFIBLIt4iTL3TJo_p53Ezj4NZO5bk0NSEUBjemFBCZWBsQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1 

^ This is the link of the google survey that I created.

First question

Because my target audience is for people between the age 14-25 i kept those options but when i advertised for this survey and what it includes, i wanted to see if any other age groups would be interested so i left an option for them to write their age if it's not there in one of the options. Almost all my respones were from people between that age bracket so i will go ahead will this target audience only.

Second question

The majority is males.

Third question

92.7% of the people feel stalking is a very common issue now and veryconvenient for someone to know about others whereabouts. This topic could hence relate to many people as they have knowledge about the current problem.

Fourth question

Those who answered yes were asked why they believe that. Almost all concluded the reason to be social media apps that allow people to know about a person that could sometimes lead to something dangerous and/or used in a wrong way.

research work: interview

INTERVIEWS-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPLMy7IpOnM&feature=youtu.be

I have interviewed random (mostly friends and family) people for this research and asked people from the age bracket of 15-25. I have interviewed 20 people- 16 girls and 4 guys. Sadly, 13 of the girls had past, personal experiences of being stalked and some tried to hush it away by saying 'its not that serious' mostly because of how common it is. The guys had proper knowledge of the current issue and so did the girls. There were a few experiences of people being stalked by someone they have a relation which means it is not only a problem caused by strangers. Most of the girls that even I know have been stalked and so it was not difficult to find people who could talk about it. It is definitely a common, social issue focused mainly on female victims.