We was given a story board to complete which had boxes for us to draw animations in and besides it was another box to write what is happening, the purpose of this was not to determine exactly what our thriller will be but so that we can get a rough idea of what our opening will be about and the type of shots that we could use. It is likely that our actual opening will alter from the storyboard because there is a possibility of us coming up with something which we did not think of during the making of our storyboard as we progress. We then had to compose an animatic from our story board, which consisted of us taking pictures of each and every animation we drew which when played one after the other in a video made our animatic.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
Initial Ideas
This was the initial ideas that we had produced, an intake of all our ideas as individual, which we was then going to analyse after as a group and pick out all the aspects and ideas we had preferred over the others. This way everyone could see each other’s ideas and compromise within our group of what we wanted to use and what we could leave out which means no arguments and everyone happy.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Survey & Results
Survey
I have created this survey in order to gather constructive information which will aid me identify my target audience both gender and age group, what they look for in a thriller and thrillers which they make out to be successful, which we will hopefully analyse and pick out aspects from these thrillers, which will help us achieve a fine thriller opening.
This survey was taken by 30 people.
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Results
As you can see from my results, our target audience are 17% male and 13% female, consisting significantly of teenagers, which is going to encourage us to produce something quick and satisfying to the teenage generation. Being teenagers ourselves gives us an advantage of what our target audience would want in a thriller opening, which means we have a rough idea of the type of work to produce which will satisfy our target audience, working in our favour. The 2 most popular thriller openings that our target audience selected, were Saw scoring 9 out of 30 and Seven scoring 11 out of 30, the 3rd most popular thriller scored only 4 out of 30 which as you can see Saw, the 2nd most popular scored more than double than the 3rd most popular. The elements of a thriller that our audience thought would make a fine thriller was suspense which scored 17 out of 30, more than half which gives us an idea of what they are looking for in a thriller. The type of thriller that out audience most favoured was a suspense thriller which will encourage us to produce something consisting mainly of suspense.
I have created this survey in order to gather constructive information which will aid me identify my target audience both gender and age group, what they look for in a thriller and thrillers which they make out to be successful, which we will hopefully analyse and pick out aspects from these thrillers, which will help us achieve a fine thriller opening.
This survey was taken by 30 people.
.bmp)
Results
As you can see from my results, our target audience are 17% male and 13% female, consisting significantly of teenagers, which is going to encourage us to produce something quick and satisfying to the teenage generation. Being teenagers ourselves gives us an advantage of what our target audience would want in a thriller opening, which means we have a rough idea of the type of work to produce which will satisfy our target audience, working in our favour. The 2 most popular thriller openings that our target audience selected, were Saw scoring 9 out of 30 and Seven scoring 11 out of 30, the 3rd most popular thriller scored only 4 out of 30 which as you can see Saw, the 2nd most popular scored more than double than the 3rd most popular. The elements of a thriller that our audience thought would make a fine thriller was suspense which scored 17 out of 30, more than half which gives us an idea of what they are looking for in a thriller. The type of thriller that out audience most favoured was a suspense thriller which will encourage us to produce something consisting mainly of suspense.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Preliminary Exercise & Problems
We have been using a camera to film a preliminary exercise, which is going to be used to see what we are capable of producing at the beginning of the course and therefore does not to be a master piece. After filming the real thing, later on in the course, the two pieces of work will be compared together, which will determine if we have learned any new aspects and skills in media, capability of using the camera, and the ability to effectively edit the film and justify why we have made specific changes, e.g. a black & white shot. We carried out and filmed our preliminary exercise in a school classroom, we filmed it according to a sheet which was given to us and we had to include all aspects on the sheet. The sheet went like this:
1) Wide shot: “A” enters room
2) Over the shoulder: Both in shot, “A” closes the door
3) Close up: “B” replies
4) Wide shot
5) Over the shoulder: “A” replies
6) Close up: “B” replies
7) Wide shot
8) Over the shoulder: “B” replies
9) Close up: “A” replies
10) Over the shoulder: “A” leaves and turns back to reply
11) Wide shot: “A” has a final word, then leaves
12) Close up: “B” is left alone
After filming the preliminary exercise, we began to edit what we had filmed. We begun by cutting out any bloopers or test shots, secondly we began shortening shots so that none of them dragged on from any extra recording which may have occurred. We then added in different transitions between shots, such as jump cuts, dissolve shots, for a smooth transition. Lastly we added in text and a black fade out to finish the preliminary exercise.
Problems:
After filming our preliminary exercise we discovered that a basic guideline in film making, known as the 180 degree rule, states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. This meant that we had not included this in our preliminary exercise; however it gives us a heads up to remember this in our actual thriller opening.
1) Wide shot: “A” enters room
2) Over the shoulder: Both in shot, “A” closes the door
3) Close up: “B” replies
4) Wide shot
5) Over the shoulder: “A” replies
6) Close up: “B” replies
7) Wide shot
8) Over the shoulder: “B” replies
9) Close up: “A” replies
10) Over the shoulder: “A” leaves and turns back to reply
11) Wide shot: “A” has a final word, then leaves
12) Close up: “B” is left alone
After filming the preliminary exercise, we began to edit what we had filmed. We begun by cutting out any bloopers or test shots, secondly we began shortening shots so that none of them dragged on from any extra recording which may have occurred. We then added in different transitions between shots, such as jump cuts, dissolve shots, for a smooth transition. Lastly we added in text and a black fade out to finish the preliminary exercise.
Problems:
After filming our preliminary exercise we discovered that a basic guideline in film making, known as the 180 degree rule, states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. This meant that we had not included this in our preliminary exercise; however it gives us a heads up to remember this in our actual thriller opening.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Analysis of Thriller Openings
I have briefly analysed the opening of 3 thrillers and commented on the elements of a thriller that I have identified.
The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1978)
A brief description of what happens in the opening of this film is we see a group of people spying and listening on a conversation that a couple are having, the spies use a van with the label ‘pioneer glass’ as a base to report to and send back their information to. One of the couple notices one of the spies and tells her man and says ‘he’s been following us’. Elements of a thriller that I identified in this film are a puzzle because it makes me think, why are these spies doing this and what’s the purpose/reason behind their actions. I also identified suspicion, suspense and enigmas from the start.
No Country for Old Men, directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (2008)
A brief description of what happens in the opening of this film is that we see an officer taking an arrested man in hand cuffs to his police car where he then drives him back to the police station, after which the arrested man kills the officer from behind using his hand cuffs after a struggle on the floor. The arrested man then pulls up an innocent driver using the stolen the police car, tells the innocent man to get out of the car and kills him with a gun with an appearance of an oxygen tank which in fact shoots out bullets like a hand gun. We then see a different scene, where a cowboy discovers a wounded dog in the country, he then looks at where the dog came from and makes his way there on foot. He then discovers a load of cars in the distance and as he gets closer he finds dead bodies both on the ground and in the cars and one barely alive. As the cowboy does some more investigation he finds a further man, dead, under a tree beside a suitcase full of money which he then picks up and walks off with. Elements of a thriller that I identified in this film is suspense, which I got from the weird oxygen tank before I knew it shot bullets because it was made out to be one thing but in fact was something totally different and it also questions me why does he have it? What does he use it for? When the cowboy discovers the dead bodies, I questioned myself, why are these people dead? What happened to them? What are in all the packages and what’s all the money about? By all this I assumed it was a drug deal which went wrong. During the opening there was no non-diegetic sound.
Seven, directed by David Fincher (1995)
A brief description of what happens in the opening of this film is we see detective Somerset getting ready from the beginning in an incredibly meticulous and organised method, which pretty much establishes his character. He seems to be an extremely methodical and careful character even from the beginning which makes me assume that if he’s that careful at getting ready in the mornings that he also does that for everything else he does, such as his detective work. Another character appears, Detective Mills and has a brief conversation with Detective Somerset which then quickly moves on to a scene with Somerset again but this time with the sound of a clock ticking which builds suspense because this could be suggesting that his time is running out. Along with the ticking I can also hear city noises, car alarms, and people shouting, despite this Somerset is perfectly still and quiet. I get the feeling that he is listening out for the city and that he cares, it’s as if the noise is intruding into his bed room which means he doesn’t quite have his own space and that the city is just a part of him that he will never escape from.In the first murder scene that I saw, the dialogue I get from that is death, uncaring character and a grisly murder, in other words not a nice place to be. The contrast that I have noticed between Mills and Somerset is that Mills is inexperienced, in this youth and has enthusiasm however Somerset is experienced, in his old age and ready to retire. Along with this Mills wants to get into the city however Somerset wants to get out of the city but despite these differences I have realised they probably have more in common than I first thought as I imagine that Mills will become somewhat a character like Somerset. The film is a thriller, crime convention like the film, Lethal Weapon, it contains scenes which overlap with the music and also jumps frequently. The mise - en scene of the title sequence included grotesque pictures, someone’s hand writing into a diary, finger prints being sliced off, something being read from a book, things being erased and cut out, grimy, dirty, unhealthy activity which made me feel uneasy. Also distorted music and as if someone had been denied a normal way of seeing things. The music was in the nature of a static, distorted, industrial rock and included the dialogue ‘closer to God’ and also showed a scene of cutting out the word god which link together. The editing included quick jump cuts, overlapping which gave it a fractured feel and doesn’t flow like I expected it to.
The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1978)
A brief description of what happens in the opening of this film is we see a group of people spying and listening on a conversation that a couple are having, the spies use a van with the label ‘pioneer glass’ as a base to report to and send back their information to. One of the couple notices one of the spies and tells her man and says ‘he’s been following us’. Elements of a thriller that I identified in this film are a puzzle because it makes me think, why are these spies doing this and what’s the purpose/reason behind their actions. I also identified suspicion, suspense and enigmas from the start.
No Country for Old Men, directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (2008)
A brief description of what happens in the opening of this film is that we see an officer taking an arrested man in hand cuffs to his police car where he then drives him back to the police station, after which the arrested man kills the officer from behind using his hand cuffs after a struggle on the floor. The arrested man then pulls up an innocent driver using the stolen the police car, tells the innocent man to get out of the car and kills him with a gun with an appearance of an oxygen tank which in fact shoots out bullets like a hand gun. We then see a different scene, where a cowboy discovers a wounded dog in the country, he then looks at where the dog came from and makes his way there on foot. He then discovers a load of cars in the distance and as he gets closer he finds dead bodies both on the ground and in the cars and one barely alive. As the cowboy does some more investigation he finds a further man, dead, under a tree beside a suitcase full of money which he then picks up and walks off with. Elements of a thriller that I identified in this film is suspense, which I got from the weird oxygen tank before I knew it shot bullets because it was made out to be one thing but in fact was something totally different and it also questions me why does he have it? What does he use it for? When the cowboy discovers the dead bodies, I questioned myself, why are these people dead? What happened to them? What are in all the packages and what’s all the money about? By all this I assumed it was a drug deal which went wrong. During the opening there was no non-diegetic sound.
Seven, directed by David Fincher (1995)
A brief description of what happens in the opening of this film is we see detective Somerset getting ready from the beginning in an incredibly meticulous and organised method, which pretty much establishes his character. He seems to be an extremely methodical and careful character even from the beginning which makes me assume that if he’s that careful at getting ready in the mornings that he also does that for everything else he does, such as his detective work. Another character appears, Detective Mills and has a brief conversation with Detective Somerset which then quickly moves on to a scene with Somerset again but this time with the sound of a clock ticking which builds suspense because this could be suggesting that his time is running out. Along with the ticking I can also hear city noises, car alarms, and people shouting, despite this Somerset is perfectly still and quiet. I get the feeling that he is listening out for the city and that he cares, it’s as if the noise is intruding into his bed room which means he doesn’t quite have his own space and that the city is just a part of him that he will never escape from.In the first murder scene that I saw, the dialogue I get from that is death, uncaring character and a grisly murder, in other words not a nice place to be. The contrast that I have noticed between Mills and Somerset is that Mills is inexperienced, in this youth and has enthusiasm however Somerset is experienced, in his old age and ready to retire. Along with this Mills wants to get into the city however Somerset wants to get out of the city but despite these differences I have realised they probably have more in common than I first thought as I imagine that Mills will become somewhat a character like Somerset. The film is a thriller, crime convention like the film, Lethal Weapon, it contains scenes which overlap with the music and also jumps frequently. The mise - en scene of the title sequence included grotesque pictures, someone’s hand writing into a diary, finger prints being sliced off, something being read from a book, things being erased and cut out, grimy, dirty, unhealthy activity which made me feel uneasy. Also distorted music and as if someone had been denied a normal way of seeing things. The music was in the nature of a static, distorted, industrial rock and included the dialogue ‘closer to God’ and also showed a scene of cutting out the word god which link together. The editing included quick jump cuts, overlapping which gave it a fractured feel and doesn’t flow like I expected it to.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Thriller Conventions
1) A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not always).
2) A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues & resolutions.
3) A narrative pattern of establishment enigmas (problems) which the viewer expects to be resolved.
4) A protagonist who is systematically, disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by an antagonist.
5) Extraordinary events happening in an ordinary situation.
6) Themes of identity.
7) Themes of mirroring.
8) Themes of voyeurism.
9) Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist.
10) Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist/ antagonist psychological state.
11) There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.
12) Mise En Scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonist plight.
2) A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues & resolutions.
3) A narrative pattern of establishment enigmas (problems) which the viewer expects to be resolved.
4) A protagonist who is systematically, disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by an antagonist.
5) Extraordinary events happening in an ordinary situation.
6) Themes of identity.
7) Themes of mirroring.
8) Themes of voyeurism.
9) Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist.
10) Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist/ antagonist psychological state.
11) There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.
12) Mise En Scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonist plight.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
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Reference:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
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I have watched and analysed, The Manchurian Candidate, a conspiracy/political thriller, set of the time of the cold war. It is a re make of the Frank Sinatra film, directed by Jonathan Demme and the cast include; Denzel Washington who plays Ben Marco, Meryl Streep & Liev Schreiber who plays Raymond Shaw.
Ben Marco is the main character, an innocent hero who is drawn into action against a powerful enemy. His enemy has managed to brainwash an entire hotel, which would take an entire organisation with large ambitions to accomplish as it involved the capture of soldiers, brain surgery, and the ability to implant probes into them. A comment was made about the probe, ‘this shouldn’t even exist’ which just demonstrates how serious these brainwashers are, having technology which shouldn’t even exist. A moment of suspense is when Ben Marco is in the shower at what time he discovers a lump on his back which leaves us to anticipate whether or not Marco will find the probe under his skin, will he know what it is and the purpose of it being there. Another moment of suspense is when Marco confronts vice president, Raymond Shaw of also having a probe planted in him, which leaves us to think about if the vice president does have a probe in him and whether or not Marco will manage to get it out of him. A further moment of suspense is when Ben Marco manages to collect sufficient information to convince senator, Tom Jordan, the highest level of the states integrity that Marco and vice president, Raymond Shaw have been brainwashed so that Shaw can be elected president to control a multinational business, which leaves us questioning ourselves whether or not the senator will be convinced of Marco’s story and if so, will he be able to get the truth out before Raymond Shaw officially becomes president, which is the purpose for the brainwashing taking place. This film comprises of a few cliff hangers along with a degree of mystery.
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