Opening Scene Narration - Miss Miller

Group members: Amber-Louise Reed-Johnson, Lily Badcock and Jazz Chrystie.

Our thriller opening's narrative starts with showing a room full of wedding decorations, apparently ruined. This connotes a ruined wedding or a failed marriage. The camera pans to a woman sitting on a bed in a wedding dress wearing a veil; she has smudged make-up. This implies that she has been crying, and has gone 'crazy'. This then further implies that she is upset/crazy due to the failed wedding. She has many flashbacks to the wedding, which are in wedding video-style format. She thinks about when she was getting ready for the wedding with her best friend and bridesmaid, and also thinks about when she first saw the footage of her [ex-]fiancé getting ready for the wedding with his friends - his best man and ushers. The 'bride' also writes on the wedding balloons; she crosses out 'together forever' and writes "RIP". The 'bride' then looks through a wedding photo album. She eventually gets to two pages where two men, previously seen in the ex-fiancé flashback, are crossed out in marker pen. The woman then has two flashbacks, of killing these men. The camera then shows a photo of the ex-fiancé with a ring around him in marker pen, and the audience infers that she'll kill him next. The scene then cuts to the ex-fiancé and the 'bride's best friend sitting on the sofa, implying that they're a couple now. The ex-fiancé goes upstairs to the bathroom, and when he leaves, the 'bride' is standing there with a knife.

The iconography throughout the opening sequence will help to enhance the intense and frightening atmosphere, such as the knife that the 'bride' is seen with a few times. This tells the audience that the 'bride' is a killer, and the first scene/shot where she is holding the knife is very intense. Also, the iconography will help tell the story and make it more realistic. For instance, the audience will realise that there is a theme of weddings through the wedding decorations and wedding photo album. This makes the story more believable, because we know that the 'bride' is obsessed with the wedding that didn't happen. It is conventional for thriller films to include killers that are obsessed with one specific life event to the extent of homicide.

There are a few different settings in our thriller opening sequence. The main setting in which the woman sits during most of the opening sequence is dark and seemingly isolated. This represents her dark personality, and isolation from society and 'normal' behaviour. Dark and isolated settings are also conventional to thrillers, helping to increase our thriller film's conventionality, due to how they enhance frightening and intense atmospheres as the audience can't really see all what is going on. This then adds more shock to any shocking scenes that may come afterwards. Furthermore, the settings in which the groom's friends are killed are either domestic or outside at night. These are both conventional for different reasons. Domestic settings are conventional because they give both the character and the audience a false sense of security. Settings outside at night connote danger and mystery, adding to the enigma of the narrative. Both of these settings build up the relationship between the audience and the character, because the audience fears for the character(s).

Lastly, the costume and make-up for the main character, the 'bride'/killer, helps the story to flow better. The smudged make-up implies and foreshadows her unhealthy mental state and strong negative emotions (sadness and anger) towards the wedding and wedding decorations. The wedding dress that she is wearing further enhances this effect, because the audience then gets a vague sense of the narrative of the opening sequence/film. It is conventional for costume and make-up to connote, even vaguely, some ideas of plot and narrative.

The sound in the first frame, the panning shot of the room, is a small section on a eerie musical piece. The piece was credited in the credits to the film. The second, third and fourth frames are flashbacks. They are handheld shots of the bride and her maid of honour/best friend getting ready for the wedding. The maid of honour is straightening her hair, the bride shows the wedding balloons, and they look in the mirror together. The shots are made to look like a home wedding video due to an effect added in editing, where the screen shows a 'rec' button and a frame. In turn, the audience understands that the bride is recording the wedding video. Also, the sound in the second, third and fourth frames is all the same, happy and upbeat song. This contrasts with the previous soundtrack, and the upcoming scenes and sounds. The sound could also be considered contrapuntal as it is very upbeat, and thrillers conventionally do not include upbeat music unless it is necessary or relevant. The next frame is of the bride picking up one of the wedding balloons - it is a mid shot. The sound has reverted back to reflecting the eerie sounds that were in the opening of the film. The following shot shows a close up of the 'bride' crossing out the "together forever" that is written on the balloon. The frame after is again a mid shot of the 'bride' writing "RIP" on the balloon and turning it around slowly. This adds suspense and creepiness to the scene. The next frames are wedding-video-style flashbacks to the [ex-]fiancé getting ready for the wedding with his 3 best men/ushers. They are all excited and chatty, but the scene suddenly cuts back to an extreme close up of the bride's eye, as soon as the line "how do I look?" is spoken by the now-ex-fiancé. Another extreme close up of the 'bride's lips are shown, as the lipstick is smudged and this implies her unhealthy mental state. The next frames are of the 'bride' flipping through the photo album including photos of herself, her best friend, her ex-fiancé, and his best friends. The photos are on paper and have been written on, words such as "innocent" for the bride and "cheat" for the ex-fiancé. Eerie music plays all throughout these frames, and the next frames of the 'bride' killing the 'groom's best friends (pictured in the photo album with X's through their faces). When the extreme close up of the 'groom' is shown, the 'bride' circles his face in red marker pen. The next shot shows him and the 'bride's 'best friend' sitting on the sofa, implying that he left the 'bride' for her best friend. The scene is silent apart from the 'groom' talking with his new girlfriend. He then leaves the room, and tense music slowly builds up. He is shown in the bathroom, there is brief silence, and then a loud piece of intense music is played as he opens the bathroom door and the 'bride' is standing there with a knife.