Group Blog

My group:  Lauren Whymark and Alexandra Ryder
this is the Link to Our blog

http://laifmediawork.blogspot.com/

Liner & Non Linear Thrillers and Omniscient & Restricted Thrillers

Liner

Liner thriller films are simple they are understanding and have a basic beginning, middle and ending. 

An example of this is Children story's as it is very basic an easy to read and understanding.

Non liner

A Non Liner film is where the audience has no idea of what is going on, from the beginning the film is not simple it is all mixed up and confusing the director does this to entice the audience, to continue watching the film and find out what is going on. This creates Mystery. 

The example we was shown was the begging of the film 'Memento'

Omniscient 

This give the audience an 'God' like prospective on the film, as they know what will happen in the film as they have seen it set before it happens. This creates suspence and a build up for the audience.

Restricted 

This is were the audience has no aware of what is going on and what will happen in the surroundings of  the film, they only know what is happening there and then. when something dratic happens this creates shock and the audience question what is going on and what just happened. 

'Lock,Stock pocker game'

Today in lesson we had to look at a clip from 'Lock,Stock pocker game'. A 1min 53 seconds of a sequence we had to follow, and chose what still parts we will copy for our clips of this. We chose 9 still chose to copy and shot in this order.

This is a story board of what we will be doing 

First we will do a close up, still shot of the cards on the tables

 

Then we will do a close up on each of the characters that are playing

After that we will do a mid shot of both characters faces. To show the emotion of them both.

  

Close up of the winners cards being laid

  

Still eye shot of the losers eyes

                                  

close up of the losers cards

      

close up on both the winner and losers faces

  

       

Our video sequence 

                                   

I learned from this task to use editing on final cut and how to use a camera without breaking the 3 continuity rules.

History Of Thrillers

Alfred Hitchcock was the first man to make a thriller film. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres.

• North By Northwest
• Vertigo 
• Rare Window

These films are the 3 most important thrillers made by Hitchock

The Theme Hitchcock usually used in his films where punishment of breaking social rules and normally a blond woman gets punished in his films or dies. 

3x of Continuity

Match on Action 
Match on action is a continuity of movements in a shot. Its a natural flow and has no dramatic jumping in the camera shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR3LXTIKfTM&feature=BFa&list=PL22CC39425E9FBDC5&lf=results_main

Shot Revers Shot 

This is when the camera is looking at one person at a time then flicks to another person (like in a conversation).

The shots are normally over the shoulder shots. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLkUHZ1qips

180 Degree Rule

The camera needs at a certain angle, with one character on one side and another on the other side. When the camera is at this angle it can not change, if it does the characters look like they are on the wrong side and does not make sense. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckPbSwV0l3Y  

From this information i know how to use Match on action, Shot revers shot and 180 degrees rule. I will be able to film my thriller film correctly as i know the rules. 

Thriller Plot

My First Idea

A group teenagers receive a phone call one night and they soon encounter a serial killer has been stalking them a sleepover turns into a nightmare as the teenagers have to strive for their lives to get away from a murdering mystery stalker.


This gets me thinking about the type of plots i can have for our thriller so when we shot we know exactly what we are doing and where our story will go

'Enemy Of The State' Opening Scene

What i see

• CCTV shots
• Surveillance - top secret this creates a mystery of why are they showing this
• Tracking and Tracing 
• Computer, Phone sounds
• Theme = Surveillance 

This makes the audience look for clues for a connection between the links


What makes it a thriller? 


Costume

• Long black coats = Mystery and threat
• The old man in a jucks position so his a Good/Bad person
• Gloves= Sign of a crime

Setting 

•  At a lake early in the morning its still isolated with nobody around.

Props

• The needle
• Tablets to cover up the murder = this creates mystery and makes you think there is something more behind this murder 
• Black car
• Dog

Sound

• The Music comes on when the tension builds up and when the murder is about to be done

Essential Elements and Key Elements For Thiller

Essential Elements

• Characters 
• Location
• Stage directions
• Colours
• Lighting

This creates questions with no answers

Key Elements 

• Murders
• Police
• Investigators
• Props- Knifes, guns, blood ect

This helps me understand what i need to put into a thriller film so that it is actually a thriller and will make sense more than a horror like film, as they are quite similar and people can get mixed up.

Visual Effects For the start to create mystery and suspense

• No Dialog 
• Setting
• Colours
• Sound
• Camera shots
• Editing
• Mise-en-scence
• Introduction on characters 

This helps me know the type of effects i should use in my opening. So when i am editing the film i know properly the type of visual effects to use. 

Casino Royal

Elements that are included in the design of the opening Sequence  


In my group we focused on casino royal and looked at the design of the opening sequence and explained what we saw and what it means.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/14/casino-royale/ 

9 screen shots 

Image

• Animated effect 
• The main character is animated also the victims are  
• the blood, and weapons are all card suites like hearts, spaids ect

Style

• Bright colours

Visual Effects 

• Black and White beginning of man getting shot 
• Card Suits for the effects of patterns and bullets 
• The gun aiming targets turn into casino spinning wheels 

Font

• Simple white font 

Animation of the title 

• The titles don't move when they appear 

Editing 

• They fade in and out

What this means?

They have made this opening scene like this so the audience know it will be based for a casino. The character at the begging is shown in life then in animation, you know straight away that it will be the main character the spy (James bond). The gun aiming targets turn into casino spinning wheels tell you that something is going to happen in the casino, but you don't know what and why. This helps me understand that the title sequence tells a short story and sets the mood of the film, this will help me when shooting so that i know the key elements to put into my film to give the right effect and set the mood and atmosphere.  

Tittle Sequences

Why is is so important?

• Builds up to the move
• introduces the main character 
• To entice people to watch the film
• sets the mood and atmosphere
• tells something about the story 
• sets the location

I know now why a title sequence is important at the beginning of a film, as before i didn't understand why. 

'Taxi Driver' Opening Scene

Today we looked at the opening scene of Taxie driver and i described what  i  was seeing and how this makes it a thriller operning by giving out mystery.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/09/05/taxi-driver/

What i am seeing 

• Close up camera shot of the eyes lets you see his expression. He looks troubled and angry.
• The red light on his face symbolises anger and fear. 
• Blick outlook of city shows he doesn't  like it
• Fog, Sewer fog- this could show known cares about him as sewers are dirty and nobody realy goes there. 
• The red light in the streets symbolises Prostitution
• His eyes show he is looking for someone
• Looks like he is a threat 
• He knows the streets as he is a taxi driver
• looks like he knows what he wants, but the audience dont actually know what he is looking for

From this task i learned how to analyze a opening scene and describe how it makes a thriller. I learned the type of camera angles, shots and probs needed to make a thriller opening. 

'The Usual Suspects Opening Scene

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/12/05/the-usual-suspects/ 

Muse-en-scene

• The Long water effect this creates mystery as you don't actually know where it is the colours in the water (Blue, white and brown) this could symbolise a person not as they seem to be
• Props : Guns, Fire and the knife creates mystery as you don't no why the person is dead and why the mystery man has killed the other man.

Camera

• Still camera : this could show that it will be the same person comiting the crimes

Editing

• Continues Frame 

Sound

• Classical instrumental. This is intence and creates mystery. The music in this opening scence is the main thing as you don't know anything at all. 

I learned how to analyze a opening scene and look at the 4 technical areas and pick them out in a opening scene. This helps me know the type of things i need in my thriller opening. 

Camera Shots

Extreme Long shot

• This establishes time and location, often used at the beginning to introduce whats going on.

Extreme Close up

• Draws the audience in and gives intenceness.

Close up

• Head to shoulder. This restricts the audiences View.

Long shot 

• This enables to see the character and environment. 

Mid shot

• Lets the audience see the character better. 

Two Shot

• 2 characters this express the relationship.

Point of view 

• Engages the audience as they are seeing what what he characters are seeing.

I learned and understand the different types of camera shots and learned the angles and movements. I will use this Knowledge when filming the sequence this will help me get the right shots and know what i should be doing to produce the right thing. 

Costumes for a Thriller

Normal Black dark clothing this symbolises Mystery or Death

 A smart suit, long coat this makes the character look professional and serious about what they are doing or going to do. 

I now know the type of costumes i need in my thriller film to make it look like a thriller film, rather than like a horror. 

'Se7en' Opening Scene

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/26/se7en/

The Type of Opening the Thriller Se7en has

• Flashing lights (camera Jumping) 
• Props 
• Photos 
• Creepy Music
• Edginess 
• Strange Mysterious Person
• Noises
• Suspicious sounds  
• An isolated location 
• Darkness
• Scratchy pictures

In our groups we made our own se7en type of sequence but as a sevailence sequence

we used normal clips and pictures and edited them in to the type of style se7en uses. we focused on using Sharp, dark scratchy pictures, with camera jumping, this made it more affective just like Se7en.

I learned how to edit clips and photos in final cut. I learned how to batch capture, import sounds into a clip, add effects also how to make a short sequence complete. 

Thriller Mind Map

For our introduction to thriller films we We made a mind map in groups, of all the different categories that make a thriller.

These are the main key points a thriller should have and this is what makes a thriller.

Thriller MoodBoards