Friday 29 January 2010

Thriller Title

We have not yet thought of a suitable title for our film, one idea given was Johannesburg, due to that being the antagonists birthplace and possible setting for the end of the film. However, this may be unsuitable because it is not related to the clip we are filming.

Thriller task - characters/mise-en-scene

1) Compare and contrast your protagonist and antagonist with characters from a blockbuster thriller.
The antagonist is not shown but is revealed by notes on a piece of paper, this is not like any thrillers that we've heard about, however there is similarities to the film 'Identity' due to the referencing before seeing the antagonist, or like 'Se7en' when the antagonist isn't shown until the end.


2) We will be using a table with a folder (containing files about the antagonist) with 'post-it' notes with other information on them, photographs of objects related to the antagonist and his/her victims, a coffee mug, these are conventions of a crime thriller, which our film partially is, an example of this is shown in the film 'Identity'. Also the protagonist is wearing a formal suit, shoes and sunglasses, similar to the 'agents' in 'The Matrix' and he also carries a briefcase.


The setting will be in a dark office which is also similar to the star of 'Identity', however the setting will also be in a car park, also using the lift in the car park, this is not similar to a film but the inspiration was taken from the videogame 'Driver' specifically the first five minutes.

Thursday 28 January 2010

Feedback

After pitching our ideas we were asked some questions by our class. Here are the questions and our reactions.

What style would your credits be in?

Our credits will be in a bold caps much like the font we used for "productions" on our studio ident. The text will be white and will fade in and out over the top of the images in our film opening.

How will the flashbacks be made clear that they are in the past?

The flashbacks will be edited so that they are almost black and white, bright and with a blue tint.

What costume shall you use?

Our agent, played by Ben, shall wear a black suit, formal shoes and black Ray Ban sunglasses. This will make him seem mysterious and detached.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Film Opening - Pitch

- Narrative Ideas
Our opening will introduce our main character. We shall show objects and case files on his desk to imply an investigation. It will be hinted at by showing shots of the text within these case files that there are political and crime themes in the investigation. We will show evidence photos, not any of another character, but of objects from the case. We will make it seem that an incident has taken place that involves a politician with sinister motivations.

-Character / Actor Ideas

In our opening scene we won't actually show the main character's face however we will include shots of case files but not photos to introduce some characters.
The main character will be a agent working independently to solve a case. He will wear a black suit to follow the conventions of thrillers.

-Locations Chosen

We need a couple of locations for filming. This shall be a dimly lit room.
Our photographs that we shall include in the case files shall be taken in other locations such as a kitchen so that the lighting will be bright and harsh.
We shall also use a car park where the main character will walk down through the car park.

- What Certificate Would it be?

Our film opening would be a 15 rating because of the violent themes of the narrative.

-What sub-genre is it

Political/Crime thriller
Conventions that we shall follow:
-Political : Plots are designed to illustrate a possible power shift or give power to someone.
-Crime: Set in a large city
Seedy locations
-Thriller Genre: Antagonist traps protagonist in an increasingly intricate web
An enigma is set up at the beginning of the film

-Music/shot Information

Our music shall be atmospheric and suggest a dark and sinister theme.
Shot wise we shall use lengthy shots of items on the desk of various distances interspersed with short flash backs of the main character in a car park

-Will there be any Intertextuality Reference to Other Films

The opening shot of a desk is a genre intertextual reference as quite allot of thriller films use these to introduce characters and situations. The desk is also used in Identity (2003)

Friday 22 January 2010

Our Studio Ident


This is our unanimated studio ident. We created it from scratch using Adobe Photoshop. We decided not to use stock images from Google.co.uk so that the ident would be more original. We will make decisions about sound and animation during the editing process, and will most probably use this as part of the final project, as we are pleased with it, plus it will save valuable time for editing.

Studio Idents



We analyzed the ident for Universal Studios.

It shows a picture of a glowing earth. The Universal text then comes around from behind the earth. As this is happening the camera pulls back to reveal the whole earth.

The sound is a dramatic, orchestral and highly recognizable score.

Thursday 21 January 2010

Sound Terminology

Diegetic - You can see where the sound comes from:
  • Dialogue e.g. Tones/accents/ phrases
  • Background noise e.g. Tv/radio
  • Ambient sound- things you don't pay attention to but notice if its not there. e.g. people talking in the background of a restaurant
  • Asynchronous sound- Sound that doesn't match the action/scene
Non-Diegetic- sound that is added later:
  • Sound effects
  • Soundtrack/character motifs
  • Asynchronous sound- Sound that doesn't match the action/scene

Soundtrack for Opening Sequence of the film 'Identity'













In this lesson, we created a soundtrack for the 3-minute opening sequence to the film Identity using the Apple Garageband software.
We managed to create 1:10 of sound in the 45 minutes given, and managed to utilize the software creating a satisfying soundtrack, creating diagetic and non-diagetic sound.
To the left is an image of our work.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Analysing previous projects

We analyzed group Q1-10's thriller opening 'August 13'




A variety of shot types and movements are used in this clip to make it fast paced and exciting e.g the tracking shot of the suited man running from the pursuers. This not only includes the marking criteria "use a variety of shot types" but also the "race against time" convention of the thriller genre.
This opening includes selective mise-en-scene through props and costume. The briefcase and suit relate to the thriller genre as well as adding a mysterious atmosphere. One of the pursuers is wearing sunglasses this is also commonly used in thriller films e.g The Matrix (1999).


August 13 uses varied and stereotypical thriller settings such as the bank and roof top.
The Music used incorperates low electric guitar riffs and drum beats which adds atmosphere and tension. This is also often used in thriller films.
This group has demonstrated the appropriate use of titles. This has been done by pausing on a frame of the actor and then cutting to a graphic featuring the actor's name.

Marking Criteria

Marking criteria for level 4
marks: 48/60

You must demonstrate excellence in the following:

- Holding a shot steadily
- Framing a shot - excluding/including elements as appropriate
- using a variety of shot distances
- Shooting material appropriate to the task set
- Selecting the Mise-en-scene
- Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
- Using varied shot transitions/effects
- Using sound with images
- Using titles appropriately

Friday 15 January 2010

Example of Crime Thriller: Reservoir Dogs



The clip above is the trailer for Reservoir Dogs (1992), one of the conventions followed is the fact that this contains 'murders, shoot-outs, and a double cross'. This is shown by the dialogue and the narrative of one of the characters betraying the rest. Also it is set in a large city, which is also a convention of a crime thriller this is shown as the setting of the film. Also from the narrative you can tell that they aspire for recognition/ success by actually committing the crime. Also the several locations, as shown by the warehouse, the bank which their robbing, the car at thirty seconds in to the clip.

One of the conventions, "the protagonist being in danger" seems to happen a lot during the trailer, most of the time, if not all of the time, involving guns. There also seems to be themes of identity, as shown by the main characters having colours allocated to them instead of using their names. It is also centered around the crime of them robbing a bank, Which, as well as being a crime (and a convention), is also where one of the characters has betrayed the other characters, also a convention.

Action Thriller Analysis


We analyzed the opening scene of The Matrix (1999) to see how it follows the conventions of a action thriller.
There is a clear antagonist shown by 'the agents'. They wear suits and sunglasses which distinguish them from the rest of the police. The fact that you can't see their eyes also depersonifies them, and also gives them higher status. The shot shown below is an example of this, they are both (naturally) taller than the police officer, putting them in the position of power.


The chase scene and need for the character Trinity to get out of the situation follows the convention of "a race against time".
The opening scene shows Trinity fighting off a group of police officers. This use of violence is another convention of the action thriller genre. Trinity is also skilled in combat to a supernatural level e.g jumping over long distances accurately. Combat skills are often used in action thrillers to add to the tension and action of certain scenes.
It is set in a large city, as can be seen from the skyscrapers in the distance when Trinity is running across the roof tops.


The character's ambition to succeed is also apparent in this scene as if Trinity does not escape, the agents will kill her.

Action Thriller Conventions

  • Obvious antagonist
  • Race against time scenario
  • More violence than other sub genres
  • Disruption to equilibrium requires the protagonist to use action to solve it
  • Protagonist must be skilled in some form of combat
  • Generally involves a character of the opposite sex to drive the narrative
  • However their loyalty maybe doubted (double cross scenario)
  • Often will involve high profile actors

Examples Include:
James Bond films, Spiderman, Die-Hard, The Bourne Trilogy, Taken, The Matrix, The Transporter

Conventions of a crime thriller

  • Suspenseful accounts of failed or successful crimes
  • involves murders/robberies/ shootouts/ double cross
  • can glorify the rise and fall of criminals sometimes real life
  • often set in large crowded cities to provide a view of a secret world
  • characters have ambitious desires for success/ recognition
  • strong rivalry between binary opposite characters
  • several locations, often seedy interior locations
Examples of this are: The Fugitive, The usual suspects, Kiss the girls, Reservoir Dogs, Double Jeopardy, Murder by numbers, Public enemies.

Thursday 14 January 2010

Example of Psychological thriller

Silence of the Lambs

In the first 5 mins of the clip, which is what I'm going to analyse you see part of a conversation
between the character Clarice Starling and a psychiatrist about Hannibal Lecter, they talk about
a scene earlier when Hannibal Lecter is playing mind games, this is one of the conventions of a psychological
thriller. Also you see the location of the area in which Hannibal led the protagonist to. The location appears to be dark
which is another convention of a psychological thriller. Also you see the protagonist in peril, this is shown about 4:30 when
you hear something moving in the background.


Conventions of a Psychological Thriller

  • Elements of drama and/or mystery
  • Danger on a mental level, rather than physical
  • Two or more characters preying on the minds of each other, to create conflict, or:
  • One solitary character in mental conflict with their own mind
  • Characters try and discover their own purpose
  • Characters have a fear or fascination with death
  • Narrative contains confusion of what is real or what isn't
  • Non-linear editing, flashbacks, montages

Examples include:

American Phycho, Se7en, Panic Room

Analysis of Political Thriller

We analyzed the theatrical trailer to the 2004 film, The Manchurian Candidate, we explored how the micro-elements relate to the genre of political thriller.

Sound
The dialogue in this trailer uses simple science terminology. This use of complicated words relates to the genre of political thriller, as the audience is meant to be unsure who they can trust. Because the terms are well known it makes the science accessible to the audience so the film will still make sense.
Screaming is used in two different points of this trailer. The first is a man screaming in an odd medical situation and the second is a crowd cheering at a political personality. The second use at first sounds like people are screaming in fear but then changes to celebrations, this puts the audience on edge and shows them that there is something not quite right with thew politician. politicians going off the rails or being involved in a power struggle is a convention of the political thriller genre.
Conversations in this trailer are shown to be urgent and fast paced. this sets the tone of the film as dramatic and action packed. This incorporates the "race against time" element of action thrillers. It also shows that the conversations are needed but not important as the situation has moved on from discussion to action. This is another common theme in political thrillers as politicians have gone so far away from what is considered ethical that they must be stopped by force.

Camera Angles
All of the politically involved characters are shown in a medium close up, low angle shot. This makes them appear more powerful and fearsome to the audience and it is clear that they are not the leader figures that they should be.
On the other hand the protagonist is shot from a high angle which makes him seem less powerful and in peril, another convention of political thrillers.
The trailer also shows a low angle shot of CCTV cameras which makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they are being watched. This follows the convention of figures in power abusing means set up to make the public safe.
The trailer includes a long shot of the protagonist running through some pigeons which all fly up. This represents the theme of one man disrupting the calm and causing a ripple effect that effects everyone.

Camera Movements
There are many cuts used in the trailer. This follows the conventions mainly of a thriller film, creating a sense of tension and increasing the pace of the trailer. Several quick fades are used as well, giving a sense of time passing, and giving it a quick pace too.
Pans are used too, to give characters a position and status in the trailer, a convention of the political thriller sub-genre.
A couple of seconds into the trailer, there is a 'night-time' infrared camera shot used, this connotes, very heavily, a military theme.

Mise-en-scene
At the beginning of the trailer, much emphasis is put on the army, with many props and costumes used to impose this concept to the audience.
The political themes are soon made clear, when a character leaves his car and walks into a building, there is a lot of red, white and blue hoarding all over the building, and crowds of press and the public surrounding him. This would normal suggest celebrity, but because of the red, white and blue colours of the hoarding matching the colours of the American Flag, these mise-en-scene naturally follows the conventions more of a political movie rather than mainstream.
Along with the sound, the audience is shown images of the American high class soceity, with a Rolls-Royce and large Federal-style house in large grounds (a typical image of Conservative America). When Meryl Streep's character talks about 'a plan' of some sort, the combination of the images with her dialouge start to connote the concept of conspiracy, which is a common convention of political thrillers.
It also follows convention with the large amount of different settings, such as a military base, Denzel Washington's character mentions Kuwait, the large house, a rally, and presumably a high-class party. This is typical of political thrillers.

Political Thriller Conventions
-Threat against a backdrop of power struggle
-Plots are designed to illustrate a possible power shift or give power to someone
-Opposing characters will try to prevent this person from gaining power
-2 sets of characters ranked by authority
-Often spans many locations

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Se7en Analysis



Sound:
The opening scenes of Se7en (1995) contain almost constant diagetic emergency service sirens and heavy rain fall sound effects. This gives the audience a sense that no-where is safe and that danger is everywhere. The rainfall also sets the mood as quite gloomy.
The montage featuring someone constructing a scrap book contains a non-diagetic score which consists of distorted synthesized sound, random drum beats and a deep bass line. This is used to create tension and fear in the audience as there is no tune, only synths that sound a bit like screaming. The music is very similar to that of horror video games such as "Silent Hill" (1999 - Konami) which make the audience scared even though nothing scary may be happening on screen.



In the first victim's house the score is made up of just deep bass. this is unnerving and creepy for the audience. it also hints that something is going to jump out at them as it builds and gets lower.
The dialog is quite hard to make out over the sound of heavy rainfall which makes it hard for the audience to quite fully grasp what they are saying. This makes the film mysterious as the audience never has all of the information. The dialog that makes sense is hard boiled and reminiscent of the Film Noir genre, famous for it's detective themes., which ties in with the storyline. It also makes the characters seem experienced and quick witted as there is no general chit chat.

Camera Angles / Movement:


Mise-en-scene:
The clip starts in Morgan Freeman's character's apartment. This is set in a dark, anonymous apartment in a city. Incorporated with the sound, this makes the scene as a whole darker and more mysterious to the audience.
Morgan Freeman's character wears a normal suit, of black and white, contrasting but normal colours, which presents his character as a fairly normal man living in a fairly normal life. Then his colleague arrives. The colleague wears a leather trench coat, which is used as costume in many thriller films, especially The Matrix (1999). Brad Pitt's character is presented as younger, wearing more youthful clothes, such as a beige suit and his leather coat, which contrasts Freeman's basic suit and basic coat.
Throughout the entire clip, there is rain. This helps to create a melancholic image of the plot of the story, which is common amongst thrillers and is used a lot.
The opening credits start with a burst of sound. There is a large montage of clips used, showing seemingly random images which the audience do not know the point of. This gives a mysterious feel to the opening credits, which draws an audience in to watch the rest of the film, used in all films but particularly in thrillers. Here it makes it seem that there is something more to the film's plot than has been suggested. There is much black and white used as well, which gives a dark image to the clip.
After the opening credits have finished, then we return to the city. This time it is much darker, and still raining. This adds to the melancholy feel of the film we have already seen.

Analysis of Classic Thriller

We watched a clip of the Hitchcock film, Vertigo.



The clip started with tense, high pitched music. The sound if the high pitched strings make the audience feel uncomfortable and jumpy, this suspense is common in thriller films.
The rooftops are a convention of thriller films, as it is a foreign setting for most people, and a foreign setting is typical of many thriller films.
There was a dolly zoom when the man falls and holds onto the gutter. This is used in many thriller films for aesthetic affect and to emphasize the height of the building.
Medium close-ups of the man's scared face and the long shots of the ground below shows the audience how scary the situation is and makes the audience feel like they are in his position.
Cut edits are used to convey the haste of the situation and how quickly the policeman must act to save the detective from falling.
This edit is also shown to disguise the moment when the policeman hits the floor to make it suitable for viewing at the time.
This clip follows convention by showing the main character's weakness, a fear of heights, early in the film. This weakness is also shown in the title "Vertigo" which means fear of heights.
This clip also features a chase scene which is a very common scene used in Thriller films.

Sunday 10 January 2010

Conventions of the Thriller Genre

Conventions of the Thriller Genre

Sets:
Often Thrillers are set in banks e.g Firewall (2006) or government offices. These settings are used because of their importance in society and the opportunity for people to cause large scale damage.
On a larger scale lots of thrillers are set in France and other European countries. Not only does it make the film seem more exotic but it also adds humor for English speaking audiences as they can see how irate the foreign policemen get but without knowing what they are saying e.g The Transporter (2002). On the other hand political thrillers are often set in america as the danger is more scary the closer to the home of the audience it is.

Narrative:
Narrative often include locating and stopping ritch, foreighn and manic villains e.g. "Hans Gruber" - Die Hard (1988). Heroes or heroines also have to work for the villains at some point in order to sabotage them. Sub-narratives include a relationship between the hero and an Ex-partner and other family issues.

Dialog:
Thrillers normally contain quite allot of shouting or screaming to add drama, tension or shock to a scene. This is normally used by bystanders to emphasize how increasable stunts are or how dangerous the villain or his henchmen are.
The Hero/Heroine's voice is normally calm and controlled for most of the plot and their script contains hard boiled conversations to show their wit. Some heroes also have catchphrases e.g "Yippie-ki-yay Mother F***er" - Die Hard, which audiences will recognize and associate with the character.

Characters:
Hero: Stereotypically male, often an ex policeman who has given up becuase of a failed case or accident, sometimes divorced because of his devotion to his job, often is an anti-hero that the audience likes but doesn't know if they can trust them.
Villain: Often a leader of a terrorist organisation, very clever, rich, has lots of weapons and technical equipment, their downfall is usually caused by pride or underestimating the hero.
Love Interest: mainly ex wives or partners that have been neglected by the hero because of his job, prove to be strong characters and often help the hero or attempt to restore equilibrium themselves.
Police: often the police are shown as incompetent or at least hindered without the help of the hero, sometimes used as a means to coax the hero into working for the villain as they wouldn't understand the situation and blame the hero for the villains actions.
Henchmen: muscular men, normally fairly quickly dispatched by the hero, sometimes used to add humor through slapstick as they are picked off in different ways according to their personality, many are just filler characters with no back story that aren't very good at aiming guns and don't even scratch the hero e.g in older James Bond films.
Helper or Friend: Normally deal with computers to aid the Hero, sometimes are killed off to add another motive for the hero to defeat the villain, sometimes sacrifice themselves to aid the hero.

Props:
The props used normally appeal more to the stereotypical man e.g guns, computers, cars, airplanes and gadgets. Props like this are often assigned to characters such as a lucky gun or a painstakingly personalized car. This is used to show character traits and if the character's prop is lost or damaged the audience feels the loss with the character which endears the audience to them.




Friday 8 January 2010

Thriller film analysis

We analyzed how the micro elements are used to create meaning and how they represent the Thriller genre in this clip from the action thriller The Transporter (2002)



Sound:
At the beginning of the clip the music is a bass beat punctuated by burglar alarms. This creates tension which is a convention of thriller films. The driver's voice is also contrapuntal in comparison with the music as his calm, collected tone does not reflect the urgency of the non-diagetic sound. Hip hop style music is used to make the driver seem casual about his manic driving, which makes the audience like him more and give him a higher status. The higher status alpha male stereotype, emphasised by the shrieking male passengers, shows the male stereotype
which is common in Thriller films. As the climax of the car chase approaches the music builds and then cuts out completely as the car is driven over the side of a bridge. This adds tension and then impact to the action. This method of impressing the audience with stunts is an often used convention of Thriller films.

Mise-en-Scene
The clips starts with four men wearing black masks made to disguise their identities, which suggests (in line with the sound used) that they have recently committed a robbery. They also have guns, which connotes a criminal theme. The black BMW follows this theme, which is very common in thriller films, which is evidential by the other BMW 7-Series was used in the car chase of "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), a very successful James Bond film of the same genre. The setting is in Nice, which is foreign to the main English-speaking audience, which follows the convention of a foreign setting for Thriller films. There is a great amount of movement and car stunts in the clip, which gives a sense of tension and excitement to the car chase, another convention of thriller films. The main character, Frank Martin, wears a black suit and drives a black car, which, stereotypically, would connote a dark character, he in fact contrasts this image and we start to like his character through dialogue and his driving 'skills'. The large amount of car crashes near the end are stereotypical of any car chase, and thriller films.

Camera angle/ movements
The clip contains a lot of cuts during the driving sequences, this is used to speed up the action and make the cars look like they are going fast. this is also reinforced by the cuts to the dashboard of the BMW when it shows how fast the car is supposed to be going. At the start of the clip when the burglars are telling "Frank" to drive the car. During the scene whilst the burglar is talking it show Frank in the over the shoulder shot, and whilst Frank is talking, it only shows him, this shows that he is in the position of power which refers to the alpha male stereotype mentioned earlier. Also there is a tracking shot of the car this shows that the car contain the main character. also during the driving scenes it cut to inside of the car to show the specific movements like changing gears, or turning the steering wheel.

Previous Lesson Progress

Last lesson we completed filming and editing our preliminary task. The filming and editing went well but some shots had to be filmed hand held because of the angles the characters were positioned at, these angles could not be changed because it would effect continuity.

We also had to edit the sound level on most of the clips because of background noise from wind and loud automatic doors.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Preliminary Task

This is our finished preliminary task

Script

As our preliminary task is only short there isn't much dialogue, however this is our script.

Ben: Did they text back?
Jennie: *checks phone* no

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Preliminary Task Info

Group U2-65 consists of:

Andrew Burnett
Ben Furness
Jennie Devine

We have yet to assign specific jobs as one of our group members has not been in our planning sessions.
The purpose of our preliminary task is to practice filming with the equipment and to improve our editing for continuity skills.
We will be filming a scene inwhich our main character finds a phone and is then appraoched by someone else. We have yet to decide what the dialog is within our scene.
The locations that we shall be filming in are:
-The quad: outside social area
- The automatic doors leading into the quad

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Preliminary Task Story Board


This is our Preliminary Task storyboard







Preliminary Exercise: shot examples

Establishing Shot














This establishing shot is from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Its low angle makes Hogwarts Castle appear imposing which shows the audience that it is important.

Close Up Shot














This close up is from the opening titles of To Kill A Mockingbird. It shows a pocket watch and some text. It gives a sense of mystery as the audience wants to know the significance of the pocket watch, especially if they haven't read the book.

Match on Action


























This pair of shots is from Bullitt (1968) it shows Steve McQueen driving inside the car and then cuts to farther up the street, showing him pursuing the black Dodge car.

Reaction Shot














This reaction shot is from The Matrix (1999). It shows Neo reacting to something behind him.

Long Shot














This long shot is from The Italian Job. It shows three Mini Coopers driving up onto the roof of a factory. The long shot accentuates the danger of what they are doing and also the height of the building.

Over the Shoulder shot














This over the shoulder shot is from Star Wars III Revenge of the sith. It shows Anakin talking to Obi-wan. This shot is neither high nor low angle showing that they are both equal.