Discussion of Representation, Narrative and Structure by Maria Beardall

Representation

Our main character is represented as an innocent protagonist as in the first scene which introduces Eliza who is dressed in white, which can be guessed, as the hall scene is in black and white, which heightens the contrasts of the dark and light aspects of the room. She has minimal make up on as there isn't any need for wounds; she is supposed to look unharmed and slightly odd as there are no signs of trauma to the protagonist. She also stands in front of gothic styled windows which makes her seem angelic in a sense, as she is in a delicate flowing dress and also her hair cascades around her face as it is loosely curled, making her again seem angelic and very omniscent.

We haven't shown the antagonist deliberately to create mystery and enigma. 

Narrative

The thriller begins with the mysterious hall setting to show the story in a different way, closely followed by cuts in and out of the woods scene. The elements that create this narrative to be shown in a different or unique showing manner are: the non diegetic sound, possible use of unnatural foleys, the grey toned filter in the hall scene to emphasis contrast, the cross cutting to represent a 'flashback' and the voice over throughout. These all create an edgy and creative way to present the beginning of the thriller film, heavily focused on sound and editing to create an unusual sense of tension and drama.

 Structure

The structure of the opening sequence cross cuts between two scenes, both seemingly interlinked, yet they are shown to contrast each other entirely. There is a sense of the two scenes being linked due to the voice over playing over both of the scenes, and they cross cut at key moments that are relevant to the script used for the voice over. This is to show that one happens before the other yet they are both recalled at the same time for the audience, especially as it's the opening scenes, to seem bold and to create an active viewing from the audience due to the effect of enigma.