Audience feedback

Here is the audience feedback that helped make our thriller film. Please note: he first 7 minutes is footage of our respondents watching the opening. They're opinions are not shown until 7:14.

First draft

Project Update

Possible sound for opening titles...

Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Making the titles: research and production

I made this post on wallwisher to show what we basically did in the past three lessons, in order to decide how to make our titles.

Title sequence

Here is a sample of a title that we may use. Unfortunately Nicole does not like this, and Hazel is sitting on the fence. Therefore, we probably won't use it!

Sneek peak: Thriller filming day photos

This is just a quick video I made on iMovie using some shots I took on the day of filming just to show a little preview. The music I used for this is the Sin City opening titles.

Unattended lesson summary

Just a brief summary of what we did during our unattended lesson on Thursday, 29th November

Sin City title sequence

I really like the way the titles for Sin City comes across like a comic strip, with the cartoon images of the characters in black and white in the back ground and the name of the actors sliding across the screen in red. The way that the pictures are in black and white with the red writing reflects the effect used in the actual film.

I think the cartoon affect would be effective for our title sequence, however we wouldn't be able to do a complete cartoon strip for ours as we wont have enough time but we could use add an effect on some of our still pictures from the filming day to create a similar effect. Then add the titles over the top.

Cape Fear sound scape analysis

This clip is very minimalist in terms of sound in the sense that there is next to no non-diegetic sound.

The main sound is the dialogue, which communicates the narrative of the film. A noticeable and important part of the sound scape is the sonically exaggerated kicking of the man on the floor's head. The sound clearly wouldn't be that loud in real life. Sonically exaggerated sound is where the sound is made to sound louder. The main purpose of it is to add effect and possibly shock the audience. It is most commonly found in action/adventure films but of course is clearly used here.

The background atmosphere noise (wind and rain) is also sonically exaggerated. This sound is of course to add realism to the clip, if it was raining on screen but not in your ears, something would seem wrong and the film would be unrealistic. The howling sound of the wind is discordant and makes the viewer feel uneasy. This is backed up by the rain and the rain hitting the window. It also creates a sense of being exposed in a large, open space. Most of the people there are vulnerable. This is re-enforced by the fact that Leigh is out of breath. This makes her seem desperate and incapable.

When the handcuffs are removed from Leigh, there is another sound added to the soundscape, the sound of the handcuffs being removed. You can't really see them being removed so it is important that we hear is. Perhaps it shows that the handcuffs are still on, metaphorically.

The main non-diegetic sound happens when the girl squirts lighter fluid on the antagonist. A low pitched dramatic sound used to emphasize his screaming. Clearly, tables have turned here and the sound aims to shock the viewer. It helps them to digest the fact that the antagonist is no more. Or is he?

Overall, the sound from this clip is quite impressive. This is partly due to it's simplicity. It might be a good idea to apply the 'Keep It Simple Stupid' approach to our project.

Psycho sound scape analysis

The audio in this clip is very effective. It is also very simple. From the moment she walks into the bathroom, the music becomes very mellow but still high pitched. This leaves us thinking that everything is OK, but we know something is about to happen as the soundtrack is slightly discordant. Of course, as she takes her shoes off, the diegetic sound of the shoes hitting the ground is clearly heard, this adds realism to the clip. Notice the layering of sounds at this point. The next sound we hear is the shower curtain closing. This isn't a very nice sound as it is so high pitched, it adds to the realism whilst creating a horrible discordant sound that fits perfectly with the sound scape. Once the shower is turned on, the obvious diegetic sound of the water is heard. This does provide a link to rain. Rain is always seen as a bad thing in thrillers and represents a dark/corrupt society. *Spoiler alert!* It also has significance as she is about to die in that very shower! The music now stops meaning no non diegetic sounds. This makes for an eerie non diegetic silence. We now know that something is definitely about to happen.

The important thing is that we don't actually see the knife entering her body, that's a a horror convention, not a thriller convention! Of course, the sound has to make up for this.We hear the blade entering alongside the piercing screaming sound. Again, notice the layering. The famous 'Psycho' soundtrack can also be heard at this point. It builds up suspense and releases the tension once it has finished. It really is horrible, but very effective for a thriller.

As soon as she dies, the music stops completely, leaving just the sound of the shower. This perhaps acts like a 'before and after sound'. It was like this when she was alive, and the same now she is dead. She is alone and nobody cares, nobody knows, nothing will change. Or will it?

I really like the sound scape here. It really helps to illustrate the story and helps build tension. From this, I have gathered that it would be a good idea to layer our sound.

Film noir edit

Here is the first draft of our film in film noir. Enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment! :D

Sepia tone edit

Here is the first draft of our project in sepia tone. Enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment! :D

Today

Today wasn't too bad! The main body of the opening has now been edited and we are about to show it to our potential audience in order to see if they prefer it in film noir or Sepia tone. Of course, sepia tone is a huge change from our original plan but still looks good. In terms of soundtrack, we are very impressed with the soundscape in our production and think that it really helps to build up suspense/enigma! 

Hopefully audio clips of our sounds will be posted in due course. They are all royalty free and so can be used in our project freely.

One is not impressed however at the fact that Nicole is currently editing a film of all my 'daft moments' from the preliminary task. We'll leave that one there!

Shutter Island soundscape

As Hazel previously mentioned, we have decided to look at soundtracks as part of the editing process. This particular post analyses part of Shutter Island in terms of it's soundtrack.


This is relatively simple in terms of sound. at the start of the clip, all we can hear is talking and rain. This makes the dialogue stand out and means that more attention will be payed to it. Obviously the dialogue is important. It would be unrealistic to use a condenser mic mounted on a boom pole to record this audio due to the special effects at the end, so I would guess that the dialogue was recorded in a studio post filming. This will stop any noise from wind and the water etc. Of course, the main difficulty with this is lip syncing, certainly not an easy thing to do.

As the clip progresses, the audio starts to build up with more and more layers. The rain can be heard from the beginning however it would seem that it gets louder as the clip progresses. This is more of an illusion than anything else however it adds to the tension of the clip. The tension is clearly building up with the dialogue and so the other sounds must complement this. I would say that the rain is actually Foley sound. It has been recorded post filming and is not necessarily actually rain!

Up to now, we have only heard sounds that the characters can hear; these are called diegetic sounds. Non-diegetic sounds cannot be heard by the characters. They are used to help tell the story to us. The non diegetic sound is the ever so slight build up of a repetitive low pitched sound. Lower pitched sound can often be found in Thrillers. as it builds up suspense. This sound of course slowly gets louder and louder until the door opens and there is a crescendo. This is where the sound suddenly stops, helping to build tension. When the door does open, there is a horrible screech; this is the hinges and is a diegetic sound. The rain is then evermore louder. This illustrates the fact that the two characters are now in the open and are in perhaps in danger. Rain is a predictor of bad things.

The final layer of sound is the deputy speaking. This would have most certainly have been done in a studio and has been edited to sound like it is coming from loud speakers. The editing of course makes it sound much more realistic.

The sound builds up to make a soundscape and all adds to the tension. Diegetic sounds make it seem very realistic whilst non diegetic sounds help to build up the tension.

Soundtrack analysis

Now that we've started editing, I thought i'd start looking at how sound tracks effect the over all effect of a thriller film. I decided to look at the music and sound affects used in the opening of Inception. This is the opening sequence of Inception:



Instantly the music starts with low deep notes. Although it is quite a simple piece of music to begin with, the notes are slightly off so it makes the audience feel on edge and unsure.Then the music starts to layer and slightly higher pitched, shorter notes are added very subtly, which increases the off putting, unsure feeling. There is also an added eerie tone, like on note being held for a large proportion of the set up, this is typical of lots of thriller films as it adds suspense to footage instantly. As the actually footage starts, softer high string instruments are added in, lighting up the mood of film. This is also very off putting as the combination of the low slow music and high quicker notes confuses the audience. The string music quickly ends as the action starts. As the shot changes and they change  location, the music partly comes to a halt and a deep dong like noise plays for a moment. From this point, the music although it is still important, is over powered with speak.

In the first 1:08 the layering of music is very important in building up suspense and creating tension in the film. The layering helps to make the audience with uneasy and slightly off as they know something is going to happen but some of the layers hint something bad may or may not happen. Listening to the soundtrack from Inception and other thriller films, I'm starting to realise that layering is very important in creating the right feel/mood and tension within a thriller film and we should consider this when adding soundtracks to our thriller opening.

Today was rather interesting

Editing did not go as smoothly as we would have liked it to today. We spent most of the lesson attempting to add a 'Sin City' effect to our project. 

This ended in our female character having blue lips... not quite what we wanted! 

We also added a few sound effects such as the gun shot. This sounded absolutely awesome! 

In the next few weeks, we will be exploring thriller sound scapes, stay tuned for more.

Possible soundtracks

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?genre=Horror seems to be a good site for royalty free music. There is no 'Thriller' category but there is a 'horror' category. Some of the tracks in this category seem appropriate. They are 'Aftermath' and 'The house of leaves'.

Update... 08/11/12

Well, We're getting there... slowly!

Filming day went great, albeit after a shaky start! None of out actors turned up for various reasons so we had to think on our feet. Luckily, after Hazel running down the street and grabbing one of her friends, we had a main male character. This was a huge relief, but we still didn't have gangsters. After some discussion, we decided to proceed with no gangsters, which worked out really well in the end. We have come to the conclusion that our opening actually works better without them.

Other than this, the only problem we had was lighting. The lights were too bright! After lugging heavy equipment up a staircase and then having to assemble it, I was rather disappointed when it turned out that we actually only needed one light, the smallest one, which wasn't on trussing. Down came the lights, trussing and stands with only the small Birdie remaining. It was conveniently stuck to a roof fan using electrical tape. Trying to keep it in the same position all the time was difficult, but we managed.

Our male actor; Martin was absolutely excellent, especially considering he had just been dragged out of bed to help with our project. Jazz, our female actor, who also just happens to be Hazel's sister was not only a great actor, but also very helpful in terms of making sure filming went well. She knew exactly what she was talking about.

We are now in the editing process. Yesterday, all the video clips were arranged into folders respective of whether or not they were good takes. Today was the day that we began to edit the beginning of the sequence. We are now using Final Cut Express, which is much better than imovie. A full tutorial on Final Cut from our teacher; Miss Hill, will take place tomorrow.

Filming day

On wednesday, we completed all the filming of footage needed for our film. The previous night, things started falling apart as we were all talking over Facebook, checking the things we needed. We discovered that all of our extras, and our main male character dropped out, leaving us with only one actor. Another quite large problem we realised, was that none of us had remembered to take a tripod from school. We all arrived at our location (Hazel's house), by 11:00am and were set up by 11:20. After some rushed reach-outs on Facebook the night before, we managed to get an actor for the main male role and Adain found a tripod he had.
- obviously it's clear from this, that we all need to improve on our organisational skills...

Generally speaking from there on out the filming went really well and we all cooperated with each other in a reasonably professional way. Haha. We managed to get all the filming done in one day and finished by half past four, really happy with our footage. Now all that's left is to start the editing process first lesson back!!

Shot List

Lighting equipment

Here are some pictures of the equipment we will be using to light the 'table scene':

This is a Fresnel made by Eurolite. I have two of these; one will be used for key lighting, the other for  side lighting

Here you can see the barn doors and the straw coloured gel

Here is a Birdie. It is a small par can that will be hung just above the table for overhead lighting.

Today and yesterday...

Today was a case of finalizing preparation for the filming date for Hazel and Nicole whilst I prepared some lighting to be used in the table scene.

One option for controlling the brightness of the lights was to use a lighting desk accompanied by a dimmer and mounds of cable/converters. A much simpler method was to put straw coloured gel into the light with barn doors in front of it. They work together to make the output dimmer than usual whilst also controlling the beam of the light.

The next issue is putting the lights in a high position. I have stands and trussing at home and so we will use them to do the job.

How will it be set up?

Have a look at the diagrams below. They show how the lights will be set up and focused.

Front view with beam shape

Birds eye view with beam shape

Front view

Moving on to yesterday...
We edited our preliminary task. This involved putting the shots together and adding a soundtrack whilst maintaining continuity. imovie was used to do this. It took around one hour to completely edit the project. This included me showing Hazel how to use imovie. My personal view is that imovie is too simple and that there is little scope for you to fine tune the edit. There are some much better editing suites available!

AS Media Studies Preliminary exercise

This is the final edit for our preliminary exercise, set by OCR to show our progression in; editing, use of equipment, and our ability to apply theories and techniques such as shot variation.

Se7en, mise-en-scene

This is a scene from Se7en. On this sheet, I wrote about the costumes of the characters and what they show about the characters and their relationship. I also wrote about camera angles, lighting and location. Suggesting that the two characters do not like each other but are pushed together because of their work (work that puts these men in great power). Doing this helped me think about how the costumes, props, lighting and location can have a strong impact on the impression the characters give to the audience.

The Third Man

This sheet shows still shots from 'The Third Man' and which part of mise-en-scene they show best. I also wrote what the lighting/costume/props/location/camera angle could represent.

Organising filming!

We plan to film on Wednesday the 31st during the half term holiday. We are going to start filming early on so we can get enough light for the 'bedroom scene'. We have told our actors to get to the location at around 10 am so we can get there make up done and costume on and start filming around 11. We have all our props, costumes and locations sorted so we can concentrate on lighting and filming difficulties (:

Editing

As I did not do Media at GCSE Aidan and Nicole showed me how to edit using i-movie. He showed me how to cut parts of the footage, add music, titles and make sure continuity was okay. I had a few difficulties getting used to i-movie but managed to edit parts of our preliminary task reasonably well. I think I did quite well in getting to grips with this editing programme and would like to using more advanced editing programme, like final cut, for our final film!

Decision change - Equipment

Yesterday, we decided we would be using my brothers camera instead of the school's. I thought this would be a good idea, as we had a struggle working with some of the school camera's functions and i know this other camera quite well. A bonus from this decision is that i know the camera is of a high quality, so we are hoping to get some equal, if not better, results from it. The camera we will be using is a Panasonic Lumix HD GH1, pictured below.

The camera pictured above, would have been the camera we used from the school - a Sony HD Handycam.

Locations Ideas

Location photo's

Possible location for outside of warehouse

Second possible location for outside of warehouse

Wooden doors of the second possible location for warehouse

Different views of 'table scene' location

Flooring

The light in the room

Obviously everything will be removed from the room to make
it a blank empty space to put the table.

Different views of the bedroom scene. All non-essential objects will be removed, like boxes, clothes, bed covers and sheets, mirrors and wall art.

 <Space to put television, to complete the apartment look we wanted for the bedroom scene.

Window to let in natural light to  > this will complete the 'waking up'  in the bright light in the morning, but we will also use artificial light to increase this effect.

< Dressing table to put essential props
on- mobile phone, drugs etc.

Storyboard for Thriller opening

This is the final storyboard for our thriller opening, apologies for the noticeably large lack of artistic talent. We hope it still gets the right ideas across.

Nefas Via-Past student opening analysis

What was that all about?

Simply amazing! Extremely confusing and impossible to understand, just how thrillers should be.

The first thing you notice is the horrible soundtrack. It really makes you feel uneasy and you know something bad is about to happen. After that, an element of the psycho theme tune is introduced which again tells you that something is about to happen as we all know that bad things happened in psycho. This is mixed in with the dietetic sound of the train. These sounds fit hand in hand and really create a sense that bad things are about to happen.

Moving on to camera work... The first notable shot is the extreme close up of the male character's face. It Shows sheer panic and desperation but the important thing is that we cannot really see who he is. It adds to the enigma and creates suspense. Of course, it is assumed that he is about to get ran over by a train, but we are not 100% sure if that will really happen. We then see a very short shot of a totally different person on the floor. Who are these people? We now wonder who the person on the floor is. This is great as thrillers should be this enigmatic. There is then a 'behind the shoulder shot' of somebody. This adds mystery as we see that a person is there but do not know who he actually is. It also suggests that there is a dark side to him.

I don't understand the change from light to dark in a split second. Perhaps this is just to add to the enigma but I still don't understand it!

Thee other thing that possibly could have been done better is the title text. It seems to be a little bit neglected in the sense that it is small and just shoved in the corner. Perhaps it should have been bigger and more prominent.

One of my favorite shots would have to be the point of view shot as the character walks onto the train. It seriously adds suspense as wee see the world through the eyes of the character, even if we don't know who he is!

The next important part is the when the character on the train gets off the train and walks over to the unconscious/dead person. This is extremely confusing. We think that he has just killed him and then he goes over to him and shouts 'help'! Perhaps everything but the first bit was a flashback. We simply don't know, it is very enigmatic. Flashbacks are a common feature of thriller films and are often used to create enigma.

The editing is quite clever in this opening. The most well thought out bit is where the high angle shot of the train arriving at the station. It is shown as if it is a CCTV camera. This adds to the suspense and makes it feel like a crime has taken place. It also connotes the fact that somebody is about to be ran over by the train.

Perhaps the most enigmatic thing about the opening is the gray scale tint on most of the shots. It connotes a dark and corrupt society and perhaps shows that the walking male character has a flawed, dark past. Both of these are common of thriller films.

To conclude, I basically haven't got a clue what this opening is all about. For this reason, it is great as it has clearly done it's job in being enigmatic and confusing!

The Third man-Shot analysis

Past student film analysis-Anonymous

This film is very enigmatic and suspenseful. It is quite creepy and shows that there are some weird people out there!

The one thing that stands out is the fact that the male character is wearing a hoodie. This fits well with the title 'anonymous'. It shows that there is something being hidden about this character and that there are possibly two sides to him. It is black which connotes darkness. He is clearly a flawed male character, typical of thrillers however this is usually seen in the protagonist not the antagonist. I think this works well.

The other thing that immediately hits you is the soundtrack; It is very unnerving and connotes bad things. The low pitched sound lasts just a little bit too long. When the bracelet is picked up, the soundtrack is almost unbearable, with a low pitched sound showing that something is about to happen. It is very enigmatic and makes you wonder what is about to happen.

Later on in the opening, there is an over the shoulder shot from behind the male character as he takes a picture of the female character. This shows that the girl does not know what is happening and  creates a sense of mystery. A clever editing technique is then used to emphasize the fact that a photo has been taken.

Moving on; the female character walking down the road is shown in a long shot. This means that she is alone and small in a wide open space, therefore, she is very vulnerable. A medium shot is then used to show her with the male character walking behind her. This shows her emotion in the sense that she is beginning to panic and builds suspense by showing us the boy walking behind her. We can only make one assumption...

The next shot is a tracking shot, which in my eyes was badly done. Firstly, it is very shaky and struggles to keep up, secondly; the wind. To combat the problem with the wind, Foley sound could have been used. This is where an audio recording of something similar to the thing making the noise is done. So the footsteps could have been done by pencils hitting a table for instance. The sound of the footsteps would still be there, but the sound of the wind would not. The main problems with this include trying to get the sound right and syncing it with the actual on screen action. Another simple technique in the form of noise removal could have been used instead.

The point of view shot after this is a different story altogether, it really puts the viewer in the shoes of the male character. Suspense is created as we wait for him to kill the girl.

Then... the plot twist. The whole thing has been building up to him killing her. But she turns around and knees him. This is a great twist as the audience do not expect it to happen, we are convinced that the girl is to die. It does look slightly unrealistic however.

The confusion comes when he burns the pictures. Why? Does he feel defeated? Is this the end of it all? what will happen next? The last line of dialogue is quite possibly to most enigmatic thing about the whole opening: 'if you're not here'.Has he now killed her or does this mean something else. So many questions are left unanswered. We now want to see the rest of the film.

Overall, this is a very good opening, there are some amazing techniques, most notably, the soundtrack. However a few things such as wind noise does let this piece down slightly. In terms of the narrative, it is very suspenseful and enigmatic, all in all a good production! Oh, and I love the title...

Inception opening analysis

It is clear from the start that this is a thriller film. It is extremely confusing and enigmatic, just as thrillers should be. The scene opens with a shot of the sea followed by a close up of the first character's face. At first, the water obscures our view of him creating enigma-we wonder who he is and can't tell if he is drowning. The next thing we see is a child screaming. We think this is just because somebody is in the water drowning, but then we see a shot of a gun on the drowning man's back. We do not instantly see the face of the person holding the gun but assume he is an antagonist. When we do see his face, it looks like he is a police officer, it is not unusual for cops to be corrupt in thrillers however. We still don't know if he is good or bad. There is then a long shot of another person, whom the 'police officer' is talking to. We cannot make out who this person is at all. The long shot is used to represent his distance. A large building then comes into view, it is part of the mise en scene and is very enigmatic. It is an establishing shot of the room that we are about to enter. In the room, there is a conversation in a foreign language. This is clearly to add to the confusion. It is something we are not used to. The doll shot slowly reveals to us what is in the room, but we don't see the person who is speaking. This is very enigmatic and is used to makes us wonder what is going on.

The moment the 'prisoner' is brought into the room, the suspense is significantly heightened. We wonder what  he is there for and if he will survive. There are lots of close ups to show the emotion on his face. The same is true with the man asking the questions. There is a full view of his face however we still do not know who he is or what he is doing. It seems to be that he is the antagonist and the other character is the protagonist. The protagonist seems to have a dark and troubled past, as shown by this scene and the fact that his face is partially covered by water at the start. The 'antagonist' has one side of his face lit in a lower key than the other which would suggest that there are two sides to him.

To conclude; this is a very good opening and creates lots of enigma through use of dialogue, camera work and mise en scene. This is of course in addition to a seemingly good narrative.

Mise-en-scène

Location

After looking at lots of possible locations and discussing strengths and weaknesses of all of them, we have finally decided on the location for two of the main scenes. Photographs will be uploaded shortly!

Lighting

The only issue we might have with location is being able to get the lighting right for our 'gangster/table' scene. The lighting in this scene is very important. We intend to use chiaroscuro lighting to show the contrast between moral good + bad, and the contrast in our main characters personality. We also want to use lots of shadowing to create an enigmatic feel to our Fem-fatale, as we do not want to reveal her whole identity. For this to work we will have to concentrate really hard on getting the lighting right.

Props

At the moment, we, as a group, have not really discussed in great detail exactly what props we will need for our filming. We know that we will need to find a gun that looks really enough, as the gun is an important prop for our film. We also need to find a suitable oval table that we would be able to move to our location for that scene. There are lots of little props that are not major parts of our filming but will make our scenes look realer and will back up the rest of our story, such as the lipstick, ashtray, cigarettes and drugs. These things may not be hard to come across, but are essential in making our opening sequence look more professional.

Costumes

I have a very strong image of the costumes for our filming and feel that they will have a big impact on the overall effect of the characters.

Fem-Fatale

Our Fem-fatale will wear tight black trousers, a simple black vest top. She will either wear a black leather jacket or a fur coat- depending on what looks best on our actress. She'll wear red lipstick which is feature that will enable the audience to identify who she is in our main scenes. The fact that our fem-fatale is dressed in all black shows that she is the 'bad-guy' and the villain of our film.

Main Man

In the first and second scene our main character will be very simply dressed. He'll be wearing a pair of plain skinny jeans, a branded t-shirt and some kind of plain zip up hoodie. This will show that he is just an ordinary man, there is nothing special about him. In the bedroom scene, he will wake up in bed in boxers and a plain t-shirt. The t-shirt and will be a grey colour with stains down the front (to imitate sick or drink stains). The colour grey is part way between black and white, showing he is not good, not bad; he's stuck in the middle of being the good guy and being the bad guy.

Stock Characters

All the stock characters will wear plain black suits with white shirts and black ties. This is to show that they are also the 'bad-guys' not as bad as our fem-fatale, but we knows they are not to be trusted. The suits are to show that they are not amateurs, they are very serious about why they are there.

Photo's of costumes will be uploaded very soon!!!

Crave (2012) -Title sequence analyis

Crave (2012) — Art of the Title

This is really freaky. It is easy to guess what the movie is all about just by looking at these titles. It seems to represent the fact that people will be killed in horrible ways but it also seems to suggest that this can be fixed, as quite often, the toys will end up back in one piece. There are certainly connotations that the world is a dark, horrible place to be in. Some survive, some do not. The sequence shows a child's worst nightmare. At the end, the name of the film appears. The letters are are lights. The light up as if they have just been switched on which is very effective as it shows they are driven by something. It is interesting to note that the first shot is of a hole opening up, this makes us feel like we are seeing the film through  peephole. The soundtrack is a bit weird and there is no real sense of rhythm to it, this makes us feel uneasy.

Cape Fear (1991) - Title sequence analysis

Cape Fear (1991) — Art of the Title

To start, I am guessing that the bird is there to symbolize death. This is very effective in building up suspense. The water is also slightly red suggesting blood. Perhaps somebody has died there. Also, the audience will wonder what the water is there for. Does it symbolize the fact that somebody has died in water? When the water turns completely red, it is almost staring us in the face that somebody has been killed there, or have they? Perhaps it is a red herring used to build enigma. The close up of the woman speaking shows emotion very well. We also wonder who she is and what she is speaking for. It is all very enigmatic. The text itself is in italics, this could be to suggest that something is slightly skewed about the place. I love the shadow of the man against a backdrop of green water. It is extremely enigmatic and we want to know who he is. The soundtrack is very enigmatic and mysterious. It helps to build up suspense by being unpleasant.

Preliminary excersise

We are now in the process of completing our preliminary exercise. We will try out some of our camera, mise en scene, lighting, and editing ideas through this. The video will be no longer than a minuet and must show a door opening through two shots, followed by the person who opened the door sitting down opposite somebody.Dialogue must then be exchanged. There are a number of techniques that we must use: • Match on action-Shot of character starting action, and completing of action in next shot • Shot/reverse shot-editing pattern that cuts to the view in the opposite direction (often used for dialogue) • The 180 degree rule-keep camera on one side We must also make the film funny and use a wide variety of shots.

Survey results...

The survey has now been closed and here are the results!

Psycho (1960) - Opening sequence

Psycho (1960) — Art of the Title

This opening sequence is interesting. The moving lines are like a knife moving through the air and the fact that they are out of sync symbolizes the fact that something or somebody is about to be broken up. This is reinforced by some of the names doing the same thing. The black background suggests a dark and cruel world awaits the viewer. In general, it worries the viewer. The psycho music in the background is quite literally horrible. The viewer automatically feels uneasy. It does this through being very high pitched.  To sum up, the title sequence will seem quite random to the average viewer. It therefore creates enigma and mystery. I personally don't think it is very effective or good considering that the average viewer probably wouldn't be able to make the above links.

Titles- Catch Me if You Can

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/catch-me-if-you-can/

I really love this title sequence! I think the animations are really good and a clever way of showing the titles while including entertainment for the audience. I love the way it reveals parts of the narrative in the little animated title sequence. Obviously we wouldn't be able to use this kind of title sequence for our thriller because we simply do not have the time to make an animation like this and will not have time in a two minutes of footage, as this type of title sequence takes up a lot of time. It would be wiser for us to incorporate our titles into our actually set up instead of trying to squeeze it in before our opening sequence.

Our thriller idea summed up

Titles- Along Came a Spider

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00113-Along_Came_a_Spider

This is the title sequence for 'Along Came a Spider'. Most titles for thriller films are shown during the set up, but 'Along Came a Spider' choose to show there titles differently. They drop the letters down on a spiders web, a very clever twist on ordinary titles while keeping in tune with the name of the film 'Along Came a Spider'. They also use the titles as a way to start off their opening sequence, by incorporating a voice over that follows into the opening sequence, it shortens the set up and also makes the transition smoother.

I really like this technique but I think it may not be a suitable technique for our Thriller opening because it would be hard to do and may not suit our type of film. I also think it would be hard to come up with a clear link between film and title sequence.

Shutter Island Set Up

The first time we see the island where the entire film is based, is in the set up. The set up starts off on the ferry but as they approach shutter island, the camera gives us a wide shot of the island, showing it to be a dark and isolated. We are given no indication of where the island is situated, although we do know it is inhabited by an American team of men; we know this because when Teddy and his partner enter the island in the set up sequence, they are met by American officers/soldiers. We know what the island is used for as chuck (teddy’s partner) states ‘all [he] knows, is it’s a mental hospital’ to which teddy replies, ‘for the criminally insane’. However we are given very little information about where the island is, and we are unable to see any other islands surrounding it.

Another thing revealed to us in the set up sequence is information about the characters within. The first person we see is teddy, our main character. The first time we see teddy he is lent over a basin being sick; this makes the character seem very vulnerable. It’s unusual for the main character of a thriller to be made to look vulnerable, as the main character is meant to be the ‘hero’ of the film. As the scene continues, we learn that teddy has trouble with the sea. Once again this is used to highlight his weakness and perhaps a hint to a further moment in the film or even to teddies past. Another hint at the importance of water to teddy’s character is in the next scene (but still in the set up) is when teddy has a flash back of his dead wife; in between glimpses of her face, the camera flashes back to the ocean. This reveals a lot about teddy, as it shows a bit of his past; a character’s past is usual very important in a thriller as it makes the character complex and can blur the line between black and white (bad and good).

One of the relationships established in the set up, is the relationship between teddy and his partner. From the language used between the two characters and the lack of information, you can tell teddy does not yet trust his new partner as he is reluctant to reveal much information about himself.  This suggests either teddy has a past he does not want to reveal, or that teddy instinctively knows not to trust this partner.

From the first image in the set up, we see a screen of mist and fog. Fog and mist is a very enigmatic feature, as you literally cannot see clearly is you are stuck in the mist. The fact that the film starts with a fog screen, clearly shows how something wrong with world that is stopping characters for ‘seeing clearly’, this is very typical of thriller films as they start off with disequilibrium. The next image we see is the ferry coming out of the fog, perhaps suggesting that the characters on the ferry are stuck in the ‘mist’ of this world. Even the image of the island suggests there is something dark and mysterious about the world teddy is in. almost all of the film takes place on the island, this could be illustrating how the rest of the world is a mirror image of the island. The island is dark, surrounded but cloud and fog, and looks very isolated suggesting the world in which the story is set is very similar to look of the island.

There are many codes and conventions of thrillers that are used in the opening of Shutter Island. There is a lot of use of enigma codes, like the hand cuffs on the ceiling and the metal gates on the ferry. Flash backs are used in lots of thrillers to get the audience to work and try and figure out what is going on. Flash backs are used in the same way in shutter island, is helps the audience figure out what is going on with teddy. Teddy is a very typical character for a thriller, he is a detective, but we have a feeling there is something odd about him, and perhaps has a bad past.

Survey

I have just created a survey to find out what people want from thriller films. Please answer honestly!

Student example- Expose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeyPGWBKFC0&list=UUO6cu8QZ2TrZ-yXRDPpn3bA&index=15&feature=plcp

I like the idea behind this thriller opening, it's got a typical story line for a thriller and uses many codes and conventions of thriller. The opening scene gives the audience enough information to start guessing at the story line but not too much information so there is still an enigmatic feel to it. I also like the music playing through out the opening, and how it stops at certain points when the shot changes quickly. The music really builds tension and suspense in the film, because it gives the audience the feel that something is wrong.

However I personally think the filming and editing isn't that good. I don't like the black and white effect they used in the opening scene and I think it looks very amateur. They don't use many interesting camera movements or angles and seem to stick to basic camera angles, like close and mid shots.

Classification of people

To conduct effective audience research, it is a good idea to know what classification people fall under. This post explains the different classification systems and how they suggest people should be classed.

The Nielsen Media Research National readership survey from December 2003 states that people fit into the following classes. The pie chart shows the proportion of each class.

Whilst some groups have more than others, there are not huge differences between them.

The other classification system defines people by their aspirations.

• Mainstreamers
• Aspirers/social climbers
• Succeeders
• Reformers
• Individuals

To give an idea of what each group means, we put Simpsons characters into categories respectively. The picture of this can be found here.

Knowing classifications of the audience means that we can conduct surveys in a very effective way. For instance, if we were to interview somebody like Homer, we would find that he is not willing to pay much to go and see a thriller film. He would also want a very simple plot. On the other hand, if we were to interview Ned Flanders, putting aside the fact that he would find thrillers offensive, he would want a complicated maze of adventure that requires a lot of thinking about. He would also be willing to pay more than others and would possibly go to the cinema as a pose to buying the film. 

To conclude, when conducting surveys, we will be sure to use the classification groups to mold our questions and to help us analyse our answers. This means we can make our film most appealing to our target audience.

Update... 11/10/2012

Today we talked mainly about who would star as the main male character. We used various social media platforms to put the word out that we were looking for somebody whilst discussing who we knew that would fit the role. So far, we know of two people who might be interested.

We have also set a location for one of our scenes, pictures will follow shortly.

Classification of People!

Today in class, we looked at the different 'types of people' to help with our audience research. Nielsen Media Research developed eight groups that most people will fit into. These groups are based income, media consumption, life style and age :

• Liberal Sophisticates
• The Young Hopefuls
• The Affluent Acquirers
• Struggling Young Families
• The Comfortable Full Nesters
• The Settled Seniors
• The Lonely and Dissatisfied
• Next Generation

However there are different ways of grouping people. These groups are based on personal aspirations:

• Mainstreamers
• Aspirers/Social Climbers
• Succeeders
• Reformers
• Individuals

Knowing the ways in which people can be grouped can be helpful when doing research into our audience for the thriller opening. By knowing which groups our target audience falls into, can help us identify what kind of sub-genre, props, plots or characters they would want to see in the opening. For example, Liberal Sophisticates may enjoy a psychological thriller more than The Young Hopefuls.

We intend to use the grouping of people system to help us with our surveys and questionnaires. We will make our surveys more specific for the group of people we believe are most likely to enjoy our sub-genre of thriller

Simpsons characters-Type of people

Casino- Lighting

Lighting Ideas

I love this image from Casino because I really like the lighting in it. The single light shining down on a table of 'gangsters' in complete darkness is very effective in illustrating who the most important character is. It is also a demonstration of chiaroscuro lighting because it shows a strong contrast between dark and light and could be suggesting a strong contrast in the good and bad within a characters personality. However, it only allows the audience to see parts of the face and not the entire face, this is used as an enigma code. By hiding parts of the face, it doesn't allow the audience to completely identify the character. I think this kind of lighting would look amazing in our thriller opening as it would hide some of the characters and give an enigmatic feel to the scene.

The Ghost Writer- Set up

The first thing we see if the lights of the boats coming out of the darkness. This scene is very significant and sets the dark feeling for the rest of the film. The darkness and windy atmosphere gives the impression that the entire world where the film is set, is dark and dangerous. The lights on the boat stand out, which draws our attention to the boat coming into the harbour. These lights could symbolise the 'light coming out of the dark' and set the idea for the rest of the film, the idea of good emerging from the dark.

The next image we see is as the ferry opens up to let the cars out. As this happens we get a clear view of how bad the weather is, we can see the rain and wind and the effect it is having on the people. This also adds to the disequilibrium and is perhaps suggesting the effect this distorted world is having on people. 

The opening sequence adds an enigmatic feel to film. It gets the audience questioning what is going on. A brillaint enigma code in this, is when a single car is left on the ferry without a driver. This causes the audience to question why it is still there, where is the driver, why hasn't the driver come back for the car? This also helps build the tension in the set up sequence because all the security gather around and are trying to figure out who the car belongs to. Another element that builds tension is the low pitched, fast paced music that plays through out the set up and gives us the impression that something is going to go wrong or that something is already wrong. 

Student example- Calculated Killer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKBGdYcBUnY&feature=bf_prev&list=UUO6cu8QZ2TrZ-yXRDPpn3bA

From the beginning you can tell something isn't right, the darkness and music builds tension and makes the world seem like a dark dangerous place. This is a well known thriller convention, known as disequilibrium. The music continues through out the opening until someone is shot, the music is very deep and tense, and gets quicker as we approach the main event in the opening (the shooting).

This group also uses other codes and conventions in their opening. the black bag and knife makes the audience question what is going to happen and makes the scene very enigmatic. It's props like these that really build up the enigmatic feel for the opening and make us question what is going to happen next or what he is going to do with them.

I really like this shot and the lighting in it. The bright light in the background blacks out the figure and makes it very enigmatic because we can not see who is carrying the bag. This is also an example if  chiaroscuro lighting  because it shows a contrast between the dark and light. A lot of  thriller openings do this and it is very effective in showing the contrast  in a characters personality.




I like the locations in this opening but it is clear that there were some continuity problems because different scenes filmed in the same location were clearly filmed at different times, because there is a drastic difference in lighting. This is a bit of a let down and makes me realise how careful we will have to be to make sure our continuity is perfect.

A possible location...

I have taken some photos of the stage in the auditorium. Whilst it would look unprofessional if we used the stage alone, we think that some clever camera angles, lighting and perhaps the use of green screen would make it look very effective.

This would look unprofessional alone, the tabs (curtains)
will be used just to make the background black.

Lighting will come in very useful.

The floor would be effective as it does not necessarily
look like a stage.

Alfred Hitchcock-Director Study

Includes a short analysis of Psycho.

Alfred Hitchcock-Director Study on Prezi

Director Study - Martin Scorsese

Thriller Openings- The Davinci Code

The Davinci Code, Set up

Location:
The opening sequence is set in a dark art gallery, with very little lighting.
Narrative
An old man being chased by a cloaked man with a gun, a fast walking chase. The old man shuts himself in an area of the art gallery, where the cloaked man is talking about a secret. The next shot is of the roof so you can only hear muffled noises of them talking, which makes the audience question what is going on. The camera then goes back to the two men, and then the old man is shot.
Sound:
The music being played during the chase, is low pitched, slow paced string instruments. The music stops when the two men start talking and starts again when the old man is shot. This is typical of a thriller because it illustrates the power the cloaked man has.

The death of the old man and the question of the 'secret' sets the 'quest' for the rest of the film and leaves the audience asking questions like; Why was he killed? What was his secret? Who is the cloaked man?

Director Study- Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is an American film director, screen writer, producer and studio entrepreneur. Born December 18th 1946, his career has crossed four decades and his films covered many different genres and themes, but a genre he is most famous for is thrillers:

• Duel- 1971 (psychological-thriller)
• War of the Worlds-2005 (sci-fi-thriller)
• Minority Report- 2002 (crime-thriller)
• Jaws- 1975
• Super 8- 2011(sci-fi-thriller)
• Munich- 2005 (Historical-Thriller)
• Jurassic Park (Adventure-Thriller)

Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest film makers in the world. Here are some trailers for his more famous thrillers:

Duel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ0wP1R9jqw&feature=player_embedded

War of the Worlds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJYnHA2OzfA&feature=player_embedded

Minority Report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn2sLUJ-eLk&feature=player_embedded

Jaws:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMLFO6TsFM&feature=player_embedded

Final Thriller Plot - Outspoken

Thriller opening plot:

The plot for our opening comes under the psychological and crime sub-genre of thrillers. It consists of six actors, four of very little importance as they are just extras in a shot. The main character (and also the hero of the film) is male and the secondary character a woman fitting into the femme fetal category.

The film opens at a close up of a man's hand, holding a piece of paper with an address/name of place hand written across it. his feet defocused but still clear enough to distinguish. The camera then slowly pans up, to what can be seen as an old warehouse, the address/name written on a old rusty sign to confirm the relation between paper and place. Another close up reveals his hand moving towards the door to open it, and as it opens a little. The following scene opens on a wide shot, inside the warehouse, where we see five people sat around an oval table, much like in the above shot from the film Casino directed by Martin Scorsese. The primary change in our shot is that the boss in this scene, will be the secondary main character, a woman. The scene continues as we hear footsteps walk into the warehouse and the shoulders of our hero appear in the bottom left hand corner of the shot. Some dialogue is exchanged between the hero and the woman; shots changing between the mid table shot, and a close up of the woman's face, shadows covering her eyes so we only see her red lips moving and as she takes long drags of her cigarette. A low angle close up then depicts a gun being raised just above the edge of the table and is fired, cutting to the table mid shot again, left not knowing whether he has been shot or not.

There is a fade to black which last approximately three to four seconds, the sound of phone ringing in the background and a caption that reads "eight hours earlier". The scene opens up showing the man from the previous scene in bed asleep, next to an unidentified woman. He abruptly opens his eyes and frantically looks around, making it apparent he doesn't know where he is. The only clues given as to the identity of the woman is her red lips and and ash tray beside her. The man then answers the phone still confused, and he exchanges dialogue with a stranger, telling him to write down a location on a piece of paper. The location written on the piece of paper is the same as the one from the very first shot of the opening. The scene then fades to black, and the title of the film, 'Outspoken' appears.

Plot has been decided!!!!!

During our lesson today, we went over all the possible plot ideas, linking them to locations, actors, props and equipment that would be needed etc. We had three initial ideas, one from each of us. The idea all of us liked the most was my idea (also the very first post on this blog http://studio101hna.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/blog-post.html, but we quickly decided this was not very feasible in terms of location choice and number of actors. Aidan and hazel then came back today with ideas of their own, Aiden’s' including a hostage theme, and Hazels' a drug heist. We all agreed both ideas would be perfectly do-able but we wanted something a little more original and slightly more complicated, within reason.

After looking around school for locations, and at the auditorium for lighting and possible use of the green screen, we were still hanging on something better. Taken from doing a lot of research on Martin Scorsese, I wanted the use of light to be highly significant in our opening. Looking at the auditorium, we went through the possibilities with the lights in there but soon decided, the stage would make the whole production look highly unprofessional. With about half the lesson already gone, a decision needed to be made fast as we could see we were starting to fall of schedule. I quickly looked at a few more thriller sequences on www.artofthetitle.com trying hard to come up with another idea. Then, thinking of both hazel and Aidan's ideas and with inspiration from Sin City and Momento I came up with a plot which we all agreed on and quickly became excited about. We showed the idea to Miss Hill, who gave us some extra pointers on how to shoot it (possibly a film noir twist). The full plot will be coming soon in another post from me!! SO EXCITED NOW.