Influences on ideas/moodboard

Days we will be shooting

If all goes to plan, and weather is okay to shoot in, we should be shooting on:
Sunday 8th January 2pm onwards for London scene
Thursday 12th January 4pm onwards for car park scene

Permissions

To see my work on Permissions, visit the following link:
http://danbeckiebeth-asmedia.blogspot.com/2011/12/permissions.html

Animatic

Thriller Expectations Vox-Pops

Film Production Company Research

Hammer Film Production's are a British Production Company who specialize in gothic 'Hammer Horror' films but also produce sci-fi, thrillers, film noir and comedies but also some TV series. They were founded in 1934 and were financially beneficial in their most successful years when they dominated the horror film market between the mid 1950's until the 1970's.

The logo is simple and just includes the name of the production company in a font which reflects their genre of film that they produce. The red is very bright and stands out on the background which shows the importance. Inbetween the two words, is just the first letter of the production companies name, the 'h'. 

20th Century Fox is a U.S. film production company which was found in 1935, their most successful productions are the Star Wars Saga, The Chronicles of Narnia and Avatar. They are claimed to be one of the 6 best production companies as of 2011. They have also produced TV Series such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. 

The logo says the production companies name in big bold writing which shows how important this is and the colouring this is in, the gold, may also show importance as gold is represented as a royalty colour. The fact the title is high up makes it look important and that a low angle shot of this is used also shows the importance. The lights on it, give it the effect that it is very important and popular. 

Fox Searchlight Pictures are a low budget production company who were established in 1998 and specialized in independent or indie and British films, one of their most famous films were Napoleon Dynamite which was a low budget film which cost around $400,000 to film and produce. 

This logo is again very similar to the 20th century Fox logo as it has the bold, big, gold writing showing the importance. The fact that it is up high and a low angle shot is used on it to again show the importance, and the lights shining up on it making it look important. Both logo's have the city buildings around the outside and the same sort of weather in the background. 

Thriller Audience Research of 3 Contemporary thriller films

Inception -                                                      


This shows that Inception is aimed at a male audience aged 18-29 years old.

Shutter Island - 

This shows that Shutter Island is aimed at male audience aged 18-29 years old.

Hanna-

This shows that Hanna is aimed at a male audience aged 18-29 years old. Even though this rating says that this film is for men, I would more say that the film is aimed at female's as I feel that this film has the female main character.


All of these films say that they are aimed at the male audience aged 18-29 which shows that this is the majority of thriller film's target audience.

Progression...

Through these last two modules, I feel that I have progressed increasingly amount. I feel that at first when I was analysing a film or its opening, I was just picking out the most obvious parts and was just leaving my analysis like this. However, now I feel that when just watching an opening, I pick out in my head what has happened, why this has happened, what the director expected the audience to feel by this, and what else could possibly have been taken from this. I feel that now I can't watch a film without this constant thought progress running through my head!

I feel that after the first module, I would have only been at a Level One as although I had done the work I had posted barely any evidence of this onto my blog and you wouldn't have known at all what I had done and what not, for someone else to look at my work, it would seem as though I had no work done at all. My time management was really bad and I was struggling to finish the work all work set and have it on my blog. Looking back now, I realise that me and my group has little communication with one another so a lot of the group work wasn't done as we didn't know who was doing which part of it. I feel that looking at my blog at this stage would have seemed like I didn't know anything about a thriller film and that I had never watched one as there was minimal evidence of this. I wish I could go back to this stage and complete all work on time and post it on my blog straight away as I learnt from this that I lost a lot of work by not posting it as I had done it.

However, from making all of these mistakes, I have learnt from them and have hopefully changed!

Now, a week before the end of module two; I feel that my progression has changed a lot! I would now hope that my work would be at about a Level Three. I think this because I have got a lot more communicative with members of my group and done all of the work I was meant to and hoping that they have done their part too. Although we lost a group member, I feel that this has helped us as it is easier to meet up together, as we can find more time to get this work done. I feel that I have put in a lot of more time into my research of thrillers and tried a lot harder this module. The only thing I think I could change is by making my work more creatively and presenting this, this way. 

Sound in Catch Me If you Can opening sequence

At the beginning the piece of music used is a very similar piece of music although some aspects change, for example the volume, the speed and the tone. The music starts with being very quiet and after playing a short melody there is a 'shhh' sort of sound. This repeats itself again. The music then does this melody again but louder, a bit faster and for longer. The music then seems to slow down again but seems to be the same piece of music used from before, there is a sudden speed up in the music for a few seconds which has the pitch going up and down.
After, there is a fast piece of music which seems like it has claps within the music every so often. This piece of music is then used again at 0.37 but this time is a little faster. The music then seems to drastically slow down.
At one minute, the music gets a bit more classical as it seems like it has included a different instrument into the music this time. The music played at this point sounds a bit like the music should be playing in water as it is classical and slow. The music speeds up a bit but keeps with the classical, after a while, the clicking noises start to return. The music seems to get very intense and is building up suspense, it would make the audience feel that something is going to happen.
Then the music quietens down, but is brought straight back up afterwards but at a slower speed.
The music suddenly changes into something completely different with deeper sounds used. Then the music goes back to classical softness, after the music goes intense and fast again leading to a build up.
At the end, the music fades out and ends with the clapping sound.

Words associated with Thriller's

Juno - Map of Titles

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs - Map of Titles

In case this can not be read the titles are as followed: 

Title 1 - 'Written for the screen and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller'

Title 2 - 'Produced by Pam Marsden'

Title 3 - 'Based upon the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, written by Judi Barrett, Illustrated by Ron Barrett'

Title 4 - 'Bill Hader' 

Title 5 - 'Anna Faris'

Title 6 - 'James Caan'

Title 7 - 'Bruce Campbell' 

Title 8 - 'Andy Samberg'

Title 9 - 'Bobb'e J. Thompson, Mr. T'

Title 10 - 'Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris' 

Title 11 - Al Roker, Lauren Graham, Will Forte'

Title 12 - Executive Producer...' 

Title 13 - 'Co-Producers...' 

Title 14 - 'Music by...'

Title 15 - 'Editor...'

Title 16 - 'Production Designer...'

Title 17 - 'Visual Effects Supervisor...' 

Title 18 - 'Head of Story...' 

Title 19 - 'Art Director...'

Title 20 - 'Character Designer...'

Title 21 - 'Senior Animation Supervisor...' 

Title 22 - 'Head of layout..'

Title 23 - 'Digital Effects Supervisor...'

Title 24 - 'Supervising Animators..' 

Title 25 - ' CG Supervisors...' 

Casino Royale - Map of Titles

Reflection on Reservoir Dogs

I found that getting actors to do this for us was pretty hard as most people were quite unreliable and didn't just agree to it easily so a lot of persuading was needed but what would what have helped us would have been to of sorted out who our actors were before we started.

We also found the problem with timing hard with this as a member of our group kept not turning up for when we had planned to film and after adjusting the date's a few times, we finally just did it without him which solved many problems.

Another problem we occurred was that because we left our filming till the last minute, when it came down to filming it, we didn't have the props we needed, the sunglasses. I think this really showed on our piece and it didn't reflect Tarantino's work as much as we would have liked it too. I feel that from this, I learnt that I needed to plan things out more and in more time to have got these props ready.

Once we started filming this, our only other problem was that we found it hard to have a steady camera as we were following the actors as we walked backwards (we were in front of them) as many of our actors were too tall to have used a tripod on but also it wouldn't have worked if a tripod was used as we moving and then the camera still would have been a bit wonky. I think that from this I learnt that we should have better planned this out and thought about this problem before or we could have filmed from further out and then edited this on the computer's later to be a close up of the actor's face.

Reflection on 25 Word Pitch

I found the 25 word pitch hard to do at first. Although I found coming up with the idea for the film pretty easy, I then found it hard to put my whole idea within 25 word's but I ended up only going a few words over this which I found was quite good.

Reflection on Title Timeline

From doing the title timeline, I learnt how many titles are actually shown in a title sequence, I didn't realise that it was this many and was really shocked. There are so many different people involved in making a film. I learnt that I wouldn't be able to put this many in my opening film sequence but I would still need quite a few. I saw that film titles are often put in interesting ways which are all different and I found out that the titles of a film are a legal requirement and they are often needed to be put in certain places throughout the title sequence.

Reflection on Parity

From doing a remake of another students work, I learned that it is really hard to rely on people as many people don't show up for certain meetings about what you will be doing or won't show up on a date in which you decided to film and can be very unreliable. It is hard to work around other students schedule and when they can do stuff the same time as you, doesn't also work. I also learned that sometimes things come up and things can't get done e.g. being ill. However, I had to get over this and after rescheduling a couple of dates, we just came up with a date and told all group member's to be there or we would have to do it without them otherwise, this was to get over this problem.

Once we started filming, we found it quite difficult to figure out from where a shot would have been taken from and tried to copy the exact angle used, I learned from this that we should have worked all of this out before. During filming, we had to re shoot some of our scenes as the actor's facial expressions looked wrong and inappropriate which couldn't be helped but we again learnt from it and worked out that we should have thought about the expressions before hand and told the actor's how we wanted them to look.

Before now I didn't realise how much time it would have taken to film this sequence and how much thought and effort went in it so I think now we should have given ourselves a bit more time to complete and we ended up rushing some parts. We could have helped ourselves by making sure the camera was fully charged before we started filming which is what we will need to do for our real thing.

However, I feel that we did well on finding a place to shoot in and the thought we put in of the mise-en-scene. The fact our character's were wearing the right costumes and we had the use of a knife, 'blood' which was ketchup and this could have been checked to make sure and changed to make this look more realistic. We also had the use of the mop and bucket which all these things helped the scene.

Other student's work

When looking at other students work of their thriller openings, I learnt that:
- In my thriller opening I will need the use of titles, they will need to be interesting and have quite a few of them. They will need to include many different titles and include the name of the film but can't be too repetitive.
- I can't give too much away in the opening sequence as it isn't a trailer, it's only the opening. It can't include too much about the storyline and have something that will ruin the rest of the film as then the audience wouldn't want to watch the rest of the film. However, it can't include too little in which makes the opening confusing for the audience and have them not knowing what's going on as this too would be a bad opening.
- The sound is really important and without it, the opening sequence would not have the same effect on the audience. A lot of opening sequences use foley to add in the sounds of things happening, the most common of these include breathing, footsteps and the shutting of a door. If any speech is used, the sound should be clear and understandable. However, many thriller opening's don't use too much speech so I should use little of this too. The music should be suitable and interesting, don't pick something random.
- The title's should include the production company's name and logo clearly near the beginning on the opening sequence. They should be unique and not just copying another company.
- The actor's used should be good and sensible - they shouldn't be laughing or smiling if the scene is serious as this ruins a lot. As the genre of the opening sequence is a thriller, generally older actors (or actors who look like an adult) are more appropriate as these are the type of actor's you would see in a thriller.
- You shouldn't include your school's name or your candidate number or the fact it is an 'AS Thriller Film Opening' as this doesn't look professional and you wouldn't see this in a real film.
- There should be lots of close up's used, most commonly on a character's hands, feet, eyes or an important mise-en-scene item, there would be lots of these used in a professional thriller film opening.
- The opening should look original and thrilling. You want to make it look interesting and leave the audience wanting more, rather than copying something which has already been made.
- The setting needs to be carefully thought about, especially if you wanted the setting to look empty apart from your characters and if you then have a lot of people in the background, this hasn't been done well. However, if I want the scene to look busy, I should pick a place in which lot's of people are around.
- When editing the piece together, it should all be done correctly and without any mistakes. The shot's should continually flow to one another unless your intention is not to do this.
- If editing the colour of the scene later one during the editing stage, the colour should be carefully chosen and should match in with the scene. It should look professional and not like you've just stuck a colour over the top.
- Don't follow the characters around, let them walk out of the shot as it looks more professional.
- The scene should look realistic and professional, not like student's have filmed it.
- Don't follow the characters exact steps all the way through the scene, use ellipsis and cut out parts that are not needed.
- Remember to use high and low angles to show information about the character.
- The mise-en-scene should be carefully chosen out and really thought about.
- Make sure the expressions on the characters faces are correct and that they are portraying the right emotion you want the scene to show.
- Use a steady and good camera, shaky camera's look messy and can ruin a whole scene if it was not intended to be this way.
- Make sure the lighting is correct and look's right.
- Think carefully about the timing and the speed of the shots each one should take.

When looking at other students work, I saw a shot I liked of when someone was stalking another character, to have the camera in front of both characters, focussing on the character being followed but being able to see the stalker character in the background.

Lesson Reflection

CLOSE UP'S ARE SO IMPORTANT!!! 
>> don't go any more than three shots without a close up

FOLEY


First Titles:
1. Production Company
2. Director
3. Actors etc.

Catch me if you Can, title sequence - map of titles

For my map of titles work I chose to do 'Catch me if you Can' the opening titles were 2 minutes 32 seconds long. Th first picture shows a main image in the opening titles of the name of the film, which was at 44 seconds. The second picture shows what title appeared at what time in the opening sequence, there was 28 different titles throughout the title opening. The titles tell the audiences who has directed, produced, acted in the film and anyone else who helped with their job title. 

From doing this task, I learnt that in films, there are a lot of different title's that need to appear for legal reasons, I now know what type of titles need to be in my opening.

Production Company Logo

We created seven different ideas using different fonts to choose from for our final production company logo and chose five different images that we can chose from for our logo. We decided that we liked the name 'Fancy Vision' and were going to keep it rather than experimenting with this too.

Costume ideas for 'The Hunt' opening - our final idea

Our killer will be wearing a suit similar to this and shoes similar to the one's below. We have put our killer wearing this because we feel that this will make him look professional and also in thriller films, the characters look older and we think that by putting our actor in this costume, this will increase the look of his age.

Both our victims will be wearing black suits like the one on the left hand side because we again feel that this will help to make them look professional and older. This would also give the women the look of a independent business woman, not giving the typical stereotype of a woman victim.
Both women victims will be wearing black, flat shoes which makes them still look smart.

Reflection on School Trip

From going on this school trip, I learnt so much which has really made an impact on what I'm doing.
I found a good website to use is: www.artofthetitle.com, we were given his blog address which was www.petesmediablog.blogspot.com

I learnt that in my own title sequence, we need to give a sense of what the film will be about but can't give too much information away.

SOUND IS IMPORTANT.

Our task is to create the titles and opening of our film and we should aim for two minutes.

We are awarded:
- 20 Marks for Research and Planning
- 60 Marks for Construction
- 20 Marks for Evaluation

*Need a lot on blog*
*Visual evidence and explanations*

PRELIM: - what worked and what didn't? - get others advise on what they liked
RECREATIONS
CREATE OWN PRODUCTION COMPANY
LOOK AT FILM OPENINGS

To look at other students work - type in 'G321 film openings' on youtube

Titles Analysis - timeline, each time a title comes up and what it says
Possible Scenarios
25 Word Pitch
Moodboard
Treatment
Peer and teacher feedback

Some advice we was given is that we should know what is going to happen in the whole film even though we're not filming it but this will help us.

Recce Shots of Locations
Examples of shots
Costumes
Props

Storyboard
Animatic
Moodboard

Logistics Planning - including a risk assessment

The Shoot:
- People, Places, Props, Costumes
- Rehearsing
- Equipment, jobs on the day
- Keeping a record of the process

Edit:
- All need to do a part
- Screenshots of process
- Importance of audio and titles
- Foley - not just music
- Rough cut deadline
- Peer feedback

Evaluation:
- seven questions become seven tasks e.g. nine frames, split screen comparison, voiceover on distribution

Most common problems:
- looks more like a trailer/short film
- insufficient titles
- poor sound and lighting
- confusing for viewer

Iconic Thriller Directors

Alfred Hitchcock was a British film director and producer. He directed many suspense and psychological thriller films. Hitchcock had a distinctive and recognisable style, the use of the camera in a way that mimics a person's gaze. Many of his films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring violence, murder and crime. Some examples of his films include: Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Strangers on a train and The 39 Steps.

Quentin Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He began his career as an independent film maker with films with non linear story lines and violence. Tarantino's style is recognised by taking violence to a new level, he ignores all the rules. Some examples of his films include: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.

Chris Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer. Nolan's style is recognised by beginning and introducing his main characters with a close up of their hands performing an action, he also usually starts films with a flashback or a scene from the end of the movie. His films usually revolve around characters that have some kind of psychological disorder and the storyline in his films usually involves a determined character seeking vengeance over the death of a loved one. Some examples of his films include: Memento, Inception, The Prestige, Insomnia, Batman Trilogy.

Nine Frame Title Sequence Design Analysis

For this task, we analysed Casino Royale's opening title sequence design. We chose nine stills from the sequence which we felt were important to the opening. 

1. This first still shows us a blood like substance dripping down the whole screen, this gives the audience an insight of what this film may be about and what it will include e.g. violence.

2. This second still shows the title of the film in capital letters which shows that it is quite important. The images around the outside are very interesting and show the symbols from the pack of cards, this is a very important symbol within the film as it is based around gambling. The four symbols around the outside may represent bullet holes which also give the audience the idea that this film will include violence and guns.

3. This shot shows the character with this gun which shows the violence and aspect of the film. Notice the creative and interesting background which could show that the film is very creative and interesting too or maybe it could show that there are things going on behind what is happening from the main scene.

4. This shot again shows two guns, showing the violence and action within the film. The man on the left represents a character from a card which is again showing the audience a bit about the film. Also notice again this background and interesting shapes between the two characters.



5. I think this shot is quite significant as it has the guns shooting, the aspect of the film, along with if you look at what is coming out of the gun you will see shapes from the pack of cards e.g. hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds.

6. This shot shows the fighting of the characters in which shows the aspect of the violence within the film as well as the interesting background in which you see some of the different symbols. Because of the silhouette of the other character, it is quite private of who this other character he is fighting is which may attract the audience to watch the rest of the film.

7. This shot shows a character in which also looks like she is from a pack of cards and has all the different symbols on her and all around. The background is also very interesting with the different shapes.

8. This still shows the audience the card from the pack, aspect of the film, with the shooting the holes into the card which also shows the other aspect of violence and guns.

9. This last still shows the audience a close up of the main character, Daniel Craig's face. This is the first we see of his face in this opening which lets the audience know who he is and a close up of his face is used to let the audience see the expression in his face.

Opening Title Sequence - Taxi Driver

In the Taxi Driver opening sequence, the music started off fast but then turns into classical/jazz music. We see a city which is bright but the lights are faded. There are 'booms' and drumming in the music which makes the audience slightly scared and thinking something is going to happen to them, it builds up suspense. We hear a saxophone which makes the mood feel romantic and relaxed. There are extreme close up's used of the eyes. There are also close ups of the taxi used. The sequence is quite steamy which builds up mystery. Some bits of the sequence are blurry and we can't see what is going on which creates the mystery.

Analysis of Title Sequence

For this task, I did the Se7en title sequence. I found that the music was scary in the back ground, it started of very quietly and slowly, there was sounds over the top of the music, they were squeal sounds and were creating this atmosphere. The music then got a bit louder and was a bit faster making the audience feel like something was going to happen.
The sequence was mysterious and edgy. Some parts of the sequence were repeated and a lot was blurry creating this mystery. There were lot's of extreme close up's used but we never see much of the person's face, the title sequence does this to create the mystery and make you want to watch more to know who this person is and what is happening.  There was also a lot of cutting used.
The credits were showing in writing that also created the atmosphere as it was scary. The writing looked like hand writing and sometimes moved slightly creating a 'scratching' effect. There was a lot of flashing and the pictures used were carefully picked, a lot of them including blacking out clip's on some of the pictures.

Certficate Ratings

'U' films should be suitable for children aged four and above. They should be set within a positive framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror. There will be no references  to illegal drugs, scary scenes should be mild, there will be no dangerous or inappropriate behaviour. Infrequent use only of very mild bad language, occasional nudity, with no sexual context. Mild sexual behaviour (for example, kissing) and references only (for example, to ‘making love’). Mild violence only.

A 'PG' film should be for general viewing, however, some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. References to illegal drugs may be used but only with a suitable anti-drug message. Frightening scenes should not be intense, and mild bad language may be used. Sexual activity may be implied but discreetly and infrequent. Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed if justified by context.

 A '12A/12' is only suitable for those aged 12 and over. Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent. Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted. Dangerous behaviour (hanging, suicide, self harming) should not be in detail. Moderate language is allowed and the use of strong language must be infrequent. Nudity is allowed but in sexual context it must be discreet. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Moderate violence is allowed but shouldn't be in too much detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by context.   

A '15' film is only suitable for those aged 15 and over. Drug taking may been shown but the film must not encourage drug misuse.  Strong threat and menace are permitted. Dangerous behaviour should not be in too much detail. Frequent strong language is permitted but the strongest terms are only accepted if justified by the context. Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail and there may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour but the strongest may not be accepted unless justified by context. Violence may be strong but shouldn't be in too much detail of pain or injury.

An '18' film is only suitable for adults. It generally can have whatever it likes in it although the content may not harm the viewers or be intended for use of sexual stimulation, this would only be accepted in an 'R18'. 

Thriller films are usually 15's although some may be 18's due to the content. This also gives the thriller films their target audience. 

   

Composition, Lighting and Editing

This is my research I completed on composition, I watched some videos on youtube explaining this to mean which I then took stills from and took notes on the most important parts, which is shown here.













For information on lighting please visit Dann Stamp's blog and for information on editing please visit Beth Funnell's blog.

Purpose of opening

The purpose of an opening in a thriller film is to engage the audience and to keep them excited for them to watch the rest of the film. You want a good opening to keep the audience interested and you also want to give them a slight bit of information for them to be interested with and to give them a taste of what the film will be about and what will be in it. However, you don't want to give them too much information in the opening so that you would give it away as if you do they will know it all and won't want to watch the rest as they will already know it all.

25 word Treatment

The Hunt: Our film will include stalker scene's in which the stalker will be hurting his victims, you will be able to see this in the opening and once he has he will move straight onto the next victim.

Homage to: Hannibal, Silence of the Lambs, Psycho

Brainstorm Scenario

This is a brainstorm I created with another member of my group, Beth. We chose to brainstorm psychological thrillers because we would like to base our final project on this genre. Therefore we have obtained some more detailed research into it.

Nine Frame Analysis

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot Reverse Shot is a filming technique in which one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. The characters are shown facing opposite directions so the viewer assumes that they are facing one another. 

An example of shot reverse shot is shown in this video clip.


For information on 180 degree rule see Dann Stamp's blog and for information on Match on Action see Beth Funnell's blog. 

Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our preliminary task, we did an interrogation scene of  '6 way's to kill your husband (or wife)', I think our scene worked quite well and that it looked quite professional. I feel that our match on action edits worked very well and I think that they continually flow. I feel that we kept to the 180 degree rule pretty well and that it always looked quite professional. The shots and angles were well framed and I feel that both actors were always in the shot at the right place. I feel that it does look convincing as a conversation,  although there are some gaps in between the two characters replies at some points, I think that this looks quite convincing still as there may be pauses in speech during an interrogation scene as you wouldn't want to say the wrong thing as it is being recorded.

To improve our scene, I think that we would need to change the first shot as when he is opening the door, you can see somebody else walking past the room which may not look very professional although I don't think that it was too obvious in our scene and it might not have mattered that much as it gave it a more natural look. At some points I felt that you could hear some background noise which could have been removed to improve our piece and also at the end, there was a jerk in the camera which could have been changed to improve it.

Over all I feel that our piece was reasonably good and I felt quite proud with our piece.

Preliminary Task - Our Interrogation Scene Video

Beth's AS Media: Preliminary Task - Our Interrogation Scene Video:
This is our interrogation scene for our film named '6 Ways To Kill Your Husband (Or Wife)'
Worked with Beth and Dann.

Preliminary Script

Preliminary Shotlist

Shot 1 - Long shot - Match on action
Shot 2 - Close up - Match on action
Shot 3 - Wide shot - High Angle
Shot 4 - Mid shot
Shot 5 - Close up - Match on action
Shot 6 - Mid shot - Match on action
Shot 7 - Medium Close up
Shot 8 - Extreme close up
Shot 9 - Wide shot - low angle
Shot 10 - Medium long shot
Shot 11 - Medium close up
Shot 12 - Close up

Preliminary Storyboard

History of Thriller Film's Research

Thrillers have changed a lot throughout the years, one of the first thriller films was silent and the second famous was released in sound but also silent. In the 1950's Hitchcock added Technicolor to the films, the films now included glamourous stars. Later on, Thriller films became more violent, viscous and explicit, they became more tense and had deeper story lines. Thriller's from this decade are mainly psychological ones that deal with obsession, domestic violence, revenge and mentally ill characters.

Beth and I each played a part in doing this task.

Iconic Sounds connected with genre

A lot of pieces of music or sounds that are used in Thriller films, start off with a loud distinct noise that the audience recognises, it is often a loud bang or a slam in a door. It then quite often goes into a piece of music that is quite fast and quite often the piece of music sounds like someone is running, maybe away from someone as this is a frequent convention from a thriller film. It gives the audience the idea that something bad is going to happen or has already happened and that character needs to get away. The music sometimes slows down but has sudden noises which makes it seem like the character could be trying to hide.The music sometimes picks the beat back up and we can just hear certain sounds such as breathing, dripping water or footsteps.

However, some pieces of music that are used are quiet pieces which are soothing but they have a beat to them and the beat is consistent throughout that whole piece of music. This type of music can have the opposite effect and the audience may feel as everything is very calm and relaxed and then if something that makes the audience jumps suddenly happen, this music may pick up this freight as the audience weren't expecting it. Slow music is sometimes used when I character is hiding but wouldn't be used during a chase scene. Most of the time, in Thriller films, classical music is used.  

The type of music that is chosen can cause a lot of tension and create the whole atmosphere. 

Iconography of Genre mood board

This is my Iconography Thriller mood board which shows some of the conventions that are in a Thriller film.

Typical Synopsis

This mind-map shows the characteristics of the Thriller Genre, it also shows the sub-genre's of thriller and explains some of the typical thriller synopsis for the sub-genre's.

The Usual Suspects Opening Scene Recording

This is a recording where we are talking about the stereotypical conventions of the Usual Suspects thriller opening scene. I worked with Beth Funnell and Dan Stamp, you can hear all of our voices on this recording talking about different aspects.

Camera Angles

Shot Types

This is an extreme wide shot, the view is really far away from the subject that you cannot see the subject. This is mostly used to see the view or scenery. This shot is often used in an establishing shot at the beginning of a film or opening.

This is a wide shot, in which the subject takes up the frame and you can see the characters whole body.

This is a mid shot, in which you are shown the head and upper body of a character. This shot is appropriate when a character is speaking without too much emotion. This shot allows room for movement and hand gestures. Shows facial expressions and is filmed from the waist up.

This is a medium close up which is in-between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows more of a character's face.

 This shot is a close up in which a certain feature takes up most of the frame. This shot is used for showing detail and emphasizes the emotional state of a character. Used to show facial expressions and invades personal space with a character and show's their feeling's. Don't cut under chin.

This shot is an extreme close up which shows extreme details and really emphasizes emotions, this is often used on a characters eyes. This shot is all about one character and gives the audience information about this one character.

This is a two-shot in which shows two characters and really emphasizes the relationship between both characters.

This is an over the shoulder shot which is framed behind the character who is looking at the other character. This is commonly used in conversations.

This is a point of view shot, which shows a view from one characters perspective.

This is a weather shot which shows the weather and is used to set the mood.