Thriller Opening Storyline

For my thriller opening I will be using two of my friends as actors a male and a female whom I have already asked permission to avoid any confusion at a later date. The setting that I have chosen is high up in the Peak District which I believe will be perfect to fit with the feel and look of my thriller opening.


The story line for my opening will begin with both my actors in the front of the car driving down a country road. This is where I want the opening title sequence to begin.


Once the drive is complete I will film both my actors getting out the car in a very rural car park. They will start their walk and on the way they will walk past a tree which has a missing poster with a young girl on it pinned to the tree. This is a very significant part of my thriller opening as it gives the audience their first real taste of the suspense and danger to come.


The two characters will walk down a long narrow path where I will use a number of different shots. Once at the end of this long pathway the man and woman notice something  discarded on the ground near a picnic bench. The thing they have seen is a child's glove and it is covered in blood. Obviously this is going to alarm the two walkers and hopefully the audience too.


Once this is discovered the two people decide to make themselves scarce and call the police. My thriller opening will end with the man putting his arm round the woman and them walking off into the distance with the name of the film 'The Missing' filling the screen.

Characteristics of a thriller

Characteristics of a thriller A thriller movie has many lots of different characteristics, like: mystery storylines that are distinguished by their plot, the standard plot elements including a sense of jeopardy and violence, but they also often take place wholly or partly in exotic or dramatic settings. There are a variety of different types of thrillers including: political thrillers, spy thrillers, military thrillers, conspiracy thrillers and many others. These types of thrillers work because there is always something suspenseful that can happen and there are many possibilities for the storylines in these types of thrillers.

AS Preliminary Evaluation

Barthes Narrative Code

Barthes' narrative code

Action code
 This is used to indicate which is the next logical step. It advances the narrative and gives the audience an insight of what is about to happen next, for example the buckling of a gun belt in a western film signifies the start of a gun fight.
Our group used action code in our preliminary task. At the start of our video one of the characters was being chased through the woods by a cloaked figure. As he is being chased through the woods the camera keeps blurring and cutting out. This is used effectively as it shows that the character is in danger. Action code is a good thing to use here as it shows the danger without revealing too much about the cloaked character chasing the other character through the woods, this increases suspense and allows the audience to use their imaginations.

Mystery Code or Enigma Code
This code is used to explain the narrative by controlling what and how much information is given to the audience. It grabs the audience's interest and attention by setting up an enigma or problem that is resolved during the course of the narrative, e.g. someone's murderous hand in the opening sequence - who does it belong to? In our preliminary task when the character is being chased through the woods the audience have no idea why he is being chased. I think we used this effectively as is causes suspense with the audience and creates a sense of mystery.

The Semic Code
This code is all about signs and meanings in a text that tell us about its narrative and characters e.g. in a horror film, the supernatural would be signified by the fear of light or garlic to signify an evil monster like a vampire or zombie.

The Cultural Code
This code is used in order for the narrative to make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. It makes reference to elements from the real world that the audience will recognise e.g. Aston Martins in James Bond films. We didn't manage to use the cultural code in our preliminary piece but it would have probably been better if we did.

Code of Oppositions
This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites e.g. black v white, hot v cold etc. The cloaked figure in our preliminary piece was wearing black and you couldn't see their face. Whereas Sam was wearing some lighter colours.