Elise Thompson

Elise Thompson

These are the 9 key frames I have chosen to represent the

narrative for my creative artefact Abduction. My narrative
follows the narrative structure of Levi Strauss who talks about
binary oppositions; the opposition present within my artefact is
the clear distinction between the antagonist v the protagonist
as well as the opposition of the two differing genders. I
photographed my actors in freeze frames; within each frame
the audience will see the narrative progress. I selected these
images to tell the narrative as well as possible in a

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 1
Scenario: In this shot you can see
Sophie sitting unconscious on a
chair in a workshop. Sophie has a
spot of dry blood on the side of
her head and she sits there lifeless
and limb.
Cinematography: The first shot
of my sequence will be an
establishing wide shot of the
protagonist sitting tied to a chair
in the workshop. This shot will
allow the audience to familiarise
themselves with the location in
which the sequence will take place
in as well as familiarising
themselves with the situation the
protagonist is in.
Mise-en-scene: The lighting
within the frame will be low-key
and artificial to fit with the
common codes and conventions of
a thriller. The location of a
workshop is thrilling due to the
torturous nature of the
environment that has often been
used in other thrillers. Such as
Saw and Texas Chainsaw
Massacre. The props of
mechanical machines in the
background of the shot connote to
the audience the severity of
Sophies scenario as the audience
could depict from the props that
Sophie will be tortured.
Sound: In this scene to add to the
ominous atmosphere the other
microelements have created there
will be complete silence. This is

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 2
Scenario: As Sophie begins to gain
consciousness a hand will suddenly
appear on Sophies left shoulder;
Sophie will look down at the hand and
begin to panic.
Cinematography: A medium close up
will be used for this shot this will show
the antagonists hand appearing on
Sophies shoulder, with this shot
showing Sophies expression of fear to
the situation it will heighten the
audiences fear and create a bond
between the audience and protagonist
as they will begin to feel sympathetic
for her.
Mise-en-scene: Sophie and the
antagonist will both be dressed in all
black, stereotypically in the
thriller/horror genre the protagonist
wears bright colours to connote their
innocence whereas the antagonist
would wear all black to connote their
evil nature so the fact that Sophie is
wearing all black also acts as an
enigma to the audience. The
positioning of the antagonists hand
over Sophie represents Sophie as the
weaker character among the two of
them. The hand on Sophies shoulder
is also symbolic of the power he has
over her which will once again
reinforce a sympathy response towards
Sophie from the audience.
Sound: To create a vast cut from the

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 3
Scenario: In this third shot the audience
will view the masked male walk over to a
table full of weapons. He scans the entire
armoury there.
Cinematography: An over the shoulder
shot is used in order for the audience to
realise that the antagonist is planning to
torture Sophie.
Cinematography: The camera will crane
upwards to create an over the shoulder
shot that is used in order to show the
antagonist glancing over an array of
weapons. This shot will heighten the
audiences tension, as it will unveil the
suspected intentions of the antagonist to
torture Sophie.
Mise-en-scene: The props of this
variety of weapons creates a connotation
of death and trauma and therefore will
produce a fearful response from
audiences as they recognise that death is
a theme of thrillers.
Sound: As the over the shoulder shot
develops the non-diegetic soundtrack will
continue throughout this shot, till the
audience view the weapons within the
frame. The soundtrack will distort (the
sound will be amplified) to act as a jump
scare, which is a convention of horror.
Representations: Relating to my textual

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 4
Scenario: The antagonist has
selected his weapon a saw and he
gets on Sophies level to hold it
her throat with one hand, with the
other he holds a phone and looks
down at it.
Cinematography: A two shot will
be used to show the expression of
both the antagonist and
protagonist; in this shot we can
see Sophie terrified in opposition
to masked male who calmly looks
down at his phone.
Mise-en-scene: The positioning
of the antagonist arm over the
protagonist holding a weapon to
her throat furthers the
connotations of the dominance
and possession that the masked
male has over Sophie it will add to
the sympathy the audience feels
for Sophie and express her
vulnerability.
Sound: The diegetic sound of an
iPhone notification will be rung
cueing the antagonist to take out
his phone which is captured within
the still image

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 5
Scenario: The audience is viewing
an iPhone screen displaying a text,
which reads: Problem outside, need
you ASAP
Cinematography: A close up will be
used in order to display the screen;
this shot allows the audience to view
the message clearly.
Mise-en-scene: Within this shot you
can see the antagonists costume of a
black glove with a camouflage
designed hoody, black has a
connotation of death and evil which
is why the use of black clothing is a
common found convention within
horror productions. The use of the
black jacket is a connotation of the
antagonist trying to hide his identity
this is furthered by him covering his
face with a balaclava acts an enigma
to the audience and creates
suspense as they wonder who the
antagonist is. The use of masking the
antagonists identity is a common
convention in horror production such
as Scream, Saw and Texas Chainsaw
Massacre.
Sound: The non-diegetic soundtrack

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 6
Scenario: Seizing her opportunity
to escape now the antagonist has
left, Sophie begins to attempt to get
out of the chair; her panic causes
her to topple onto the floor
knocking over the table of weapons
as she falls sprawling all the
armoury onto the ground around
her.
Cinematography: A medium close
up will be used for this shot to show
Sophie on the ground. Sophie is in
the background of the entire shot
however, the depth of field brings
the focus to her this highlights her
importance as a protagonists and
this will foreshadow to the audience
that this is Sophie opportunity to
escape.
Mise-en-scene: The positioning of
Sophie on the floor reinforces the
fact that she has consistently been
inferior throughout this sequence
her position on the floor clearly
presents her as weak which
contrasts with the representation
the composition creates these two
contrasting elements acts as an
enigma and will leave the audience
is suspense as they ask themselves
Will she make it out alive?
Sound: the diegetic sound effects

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 7
Scenario: As the masked male
walks back into the room Sophie
stabs him in the back and pushes
him to the ground.
Cinematography: A medium
shot will be used in order to
display the entirety of the scene.
Mise-en-scene: As the audience
saw previously Sophie is dressed
in all black, which is a
stereotypical colour for an
antagonist to wear, which
previously acted as an enigma.
However, this scene reveals to the
audience the true meaning of her
costume, as she is the one who
overall displays violent behaviour,
which is a stereotypical feature of
an antagonist.
Sound: As the antagonist walks
into the room no sound will be
used this will build tension for the
audience as they will be waiting
for something to happen. When
Sophie appears with the knife and
stabs it into the Masked Male
back suddenly the previous nondiegetic sound effects that acted
as a jump scare in the third key
frame, the sound effect will distort
once again.

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 8
Scenario: Sophie sits on top of the
masked male stabbing him in the chest
repeatedly.
Cinematography: A low angle wide
shot will be used to represent Sophie as
dominant over the antagonist as she
thrusts the knife repeatedly into the
masked males chest. When it came to
the composition within this shot I
wanted bring attention to the
background instead of the main actions
within the foreground, the reason behind
this is that I wanted to create a stylistic
way of presenting Sophies current state
of mind within this still image in the
frame. The fact that the focus is on an
inactive background connotes to the
audience that Sophie is acting in an
unconscious manner and is simply
acting on an impulse in order to survive.
She is in a daze and is morally
desensitised.
Mise-en-scene: The character
positioning of Sophie over the
antagonist furthers the representation
that she has gained the dominance
within the sequence now accompanied
by the low angle shot.
Sound: The non-diegetic soundtrack of
the eerie music previously faded into
the second and fifth key frames will be
faded into the sequence once again to
add to the brutality of this sequence.
Representation: In reference to my
textual analysis I looked at how
protagonists are represented in my two
case studies. Both protagonist were

Elise Thompson
Key Frame 9
Scenario: The masked males
blood drips from the knife Sophie
holds
Cinematography: A close up of
the knife will show the blood all
over the knife connoting violence
and brutality.
Mise-en-scene: The prop of a
knife connotes death and
brutality and therefore the final
shot of this knife before the
scene fades out will leave a
chilling reaction on the audience.
The low-key lighting also brings
attention to the blood on the
knife that pops out against the
dull tones created by the
lighting.
Sound: As the eerie soundtrack
fades out again the diegetic
sound effects of heartbeats and
panting from our protagonist will
be heard connoting her fear and
shock as to the actions she had
to perform.