Pitch

Today, we made our pitch in a powerpoint presentation. We presented our idea and got positive feedback but told two opinions on our music choice.

Pitch

Today we made a pitch for our thriller idea in a powerpoint presentation and presented it to our class. We were given positive feedback but were given two different opinions for our music choice.

Thriller Has Sub-Genres!

Thrillers are commonly perceived - like i did - to be just to do with horror, or something similar enough to make you jump. However, i have discovered in my past lessons how thrillers can be included into many genres such as:

Crime

Disaster

Action

Erotic

Medical

Psycological

Religious

Horror

Political

All these genres have specific characteristics which makes them fit into the required genre of thriller. I particularly enjoy Pshcological thrillers, Erotic and Horror, i enjoy films with an imaginative story line and films which make me have to think a little along the course of it. I think psychological can be acheivable for our own opening sequence because it can be combined with various other genres to create an intense opening. This is because it can be very broad in its own genre. I think it would be an excellent theme to work with.

I thought i'd add in the comical view of Michael Jackson who almost did or did definetly manage to create his own sub genre of THRILLER! A thriller-thriller.

'Seven' Opening Analysis

In class we watched several openings of thriller films, these included Panic Room, No Country for Old Men, Arlington Road and my favourite of the the few: Seven. The opening was very effective in the sense of mystery, but very much produced the sense of horror and gore. It was almost messing with the psychological aspect of things.

The opening sequence included a lot of props, if anything, it was all props. I'm not disagreeing that it was to its advantage but it would be hard to use the same characteristics in my own production, just because it is easier to produce a clip with many aspects such as narration and actual visible characters instead of just one focus of props. However, Seven created a really good effect with this method, of showing almost intimidating props and actions, such as old books, razorblades, photo clippings, scrawly writing, bandages, etc.

There is no speech whatsoever in the clip, and this can effective, it portrays a better sense of mystery to such a thriller, but then again, you would have to be very sure of the quality of your film to introduce narration into the commencing sequence of any film.

The lighting works very well with the camera angles in Seven, the continuous extreme close up shots which are normally darken out with dim lights or in red lighting, give an eerie aspect of the situation. The close ups are used to create more detailed description of the objects and deeper meaning, rather than a vague camera shot of them. It is also effective in the sense it doesn't show the character, rather showing what he does, which again is part of the characteristics of a thriller, in the way it creates continuous mystery, especially in the first scene.

The music/sound is equally as important in a thriller opening. It creates atmosphere into what the audience should expect. In this particular film, the music opening title sequence is greeted psychedelically with an electric, rhythmic, distorted music. This of course fitted in very well with the excellent flash editing, there was so many shots it would have been impossible to count, and the creativity and ability of the editing to create such an impact was incredible.

On the whole the opening sequence was excellent on creating such horror/eerie atmosphere for the audience. I will soon watch the whole film, and come back on here to update if i thought the rest fitted into the thriller category.

I have listed here the link to the film clip for reference of source. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY

Define Suspense!

Suspense is the stomach curling motion in a film, when you endure an entire hour and a half of mystery and battle with you brain, to not let yourself travel to the negative side of what could happen. Suspense is a state of mind, of when you are uncertain of the possibility of something happening and the excitement it brings. Suspense is extremely effective to create atmosphere or mood within an audience. It begins to grip viewers into wanting to know more of the particular story.

News/Current affairs in Haiti

I read in the paper the other day that the organisation "Clowns without Borders" have been travelling through Haiti from camp to camp to cheer up the people with their tricks and performances.

As the Haitians have been severely affected by this earthquake it is sweet that they are trying to do something about their morale.However, I can't help but think that this is pathetic.

The people of Haiti have low morale for the plain fact that their livelihoods have been ruined and people of this world send in clowns to cheer them up... why not put a roof over their heads instead.

Filming and Editing Match Cut Exercise

In today's lesson we got our storyboard, gathered the equipment we needed and headed to a room that we could film in.

We were in the editing suite for both filming and editing. However, we encountered problems whilst filming which were that people who began in the mise en scene walked out of the room between other shots which we realised mainly when we began editing.

When we began editing we shortened relevant shots and lengthened others to create tension and a pace for the film. We then added in transitions such as fades throughout the different cuts to introduce and end them which also added to the pace and tension. We also edited the sound by muting some parts as this also ruined the continuity.

Planning Match Cut Exercise

In today's lesson me and my group were given the task to plan our match cut film.

We were given the brief to have one person walking into a room in order to converse with another person.

We were given a storyboard and we decided to have the situation of filipa going to see a fortune teller who I played the character of.

We decided to start the scene with an overall shot of the door which then lead on to shots such as an Extreme Close Up of Filipa's hand pushing down the handle to then see a Close Up of my head turning to see the door. Then we decided on a Close Up of Filipa's feet whilst the camera was handheld and pushed delicately across the floor to follow her feet to the chair she sits on whilst the door closes. We then planned to have a Medium shot of the scene of me and Filipa which has me asking her if she wants to know her fortune. We then have a shot reverse shot between me and Filipa. At first there is a Medium shot of Filipa saying "Hello Mother!" at which point the camera cuts to an Extreme Close Up of my eyes widening.

Match Cut

The continuity of this particular video makes us displeased. In future we could get more shots without lighting changing and other people in the mise en scene moving :(

Card Game

We really like this video because the execution of the match shots are very good. We like the continuity of it. the lighting and overall mise en scene make it professional alongside the dissolve transitions that we used.

We could however have a few more close ups on the eyes and speed them up to create more tension.

List of Thriller Sub genres- Which inspires you at the moment and why????

List of thriller subgenres:
Action thriller
Conspiracy thriller
Crime thriller
Disaster thriller
Drama thriller
Erotic thriller
Legal thriller
Medical thriller
Psychological thriller
Spy thriller
Techno Thriller
Religious thriller

At the moment I’ am inspired by a psychological thriller as this appears easier to achieve. A psychological thriller doesn’t require plenty of prop or action it’s more inner based and this would be easier to achieve by eerie text or a simple hands on someone’s head. With a psychological it seems possible to also create a hybrid with other sub genres, for example action psychological perhaps a troubled man/women physical combating for his sanity. A psychological thriller also appears to be the most creative, it is the human mind and would be rather satisfying to mix around the sound, props and editing.

How Suspence is created in the Shining

The Shining is a 1980 psychological thriller directed by Stanley Kubrick, the film is based on a father (Jack Torrance played by actor Jack Nicholson) who accepts the job of the winter caretaker in an apparently empty hotel. Jacks wife and his psychic son are under threat by Jack who later on descends into madness.
The shining elaborates suspense successfully throughout the film using the distinct methods of mise en scene, sound, editing and camera work as well as a strange credibility to Nicholas’s performance.
The Camera work within the shining was very efficient, the dominance of long shots down endless corridors underline the sheer size of the hotel, A perfect example being little Danny driving his tricycle where the undeniable apprehension is felt. Another suspenseful part was the rapid cuts from Danny’s face to an increasing array of ghostly apparitions. The most impactful shot in my opinion is the way the camera was tracking Danny from behind an example being the scene he was trying to escape his father through the labyrinth maze as well as the tricycles scene, this created tension and a sense of chase or following.
Sound was predominately attained throughout, being a key figure in order to capture suspense triumphantly. Shelley Duvall who plays Jacks troubled and particularly useless wife Wendy is in constant peril, an example being her diegetic agonizing screams from where Jack was attempting to inflict an axe on her. This shocks the audience, the tension unfolds as they begin to question ‘will she or will she not die’?
Also the scene where Danny asks the chef about the room 237, the chefs’ facial expressions gradually drop and throughout this the music ascends to a low non-diegetic tone building suspense. Furthermore whilst Danny was on his tricycle and riding on and off the carpet the sound of the floor boards where grim and hollow, the repetition of this part also somehow created suspense because of the long and eeriness of the scene.
An example of an edit which is added to considerably create tension is the added titles where it introduced the days. For example a title would pop out of nowhere saying ‘Tuesday’, I’ve noticed from this the suspense gradually builds slowly because as a viewer myself I began to wonder what awaited the family.
The Mise en scene throughout was very effective a good example would be Jacks face his facial expressions were always twisted and psychopathic looking. Nevertheless the talking finger Tony created suspense; the fact the finger was right created a sense of fear. The red writing on the wall ‘REDRUM’ spelt back Murder was a significant prop as it emphasized deep tension and conclusion especially when the audience were informed that it spelt murder backwards.

Definition of Suspense

Task 1: (Definition of Suspense)
A way in which authors/film makers ect maintains the audience's attention through the buildup of events, the outcome of which will soon be revealed. Suspense in Stanley Kubricks 'The Shining' is sustained throughout by the question of whether or not the father 'Jack' who is suffering a mental breakdown will kill his family.

Comment from disappointed teacher

Sam - you still are not blogging. This is becoming a serious concern. Imogen - you too need to be making more of an effort. Try to make blogging a habit.

Livetype and sound filming practice

Today me and the rest of my group planned the shot types and our storyboard for our editing practice. Our brief was to show a card game.

Our task was to film a card game so we drew up a storyboard that first began revealing the cards and our dealer so we panned up to show our dealers face. Following this we used a mixture of Medium shots (of the cards and the other characters picking up the cards) and Extreme Close ups(of our other characters's eyes getting wider and looking nervously.

When we edited our shots we repeated a few of our Extreme Close Ups to create more tension. We also added in fade transitions which compliment our spotlighted area very well.

Overall our final edit looks as though a lot of time is passing until the winner of the game is revealed which ends on a Close Up on the cards that our dealer lays out.

Introduction to Cameras/Health&Safety

Today we were given an induction on how to use the video cameras and any other equipment that is usually used with them as well as health and safety regulations.



Firstly, we were shown how to insert memory cards and batteries into the camera. Following this, we were shown how to use and switch between digital and manual focus. Finally, we were shown how to turn on the camera, record and playback.







The tripod is basically a stand for the video camera which improves the quality of the sequences in the sense that it reduces the handheld effect.

We were taught how to stand up the tripod and edit its height. We were also taught how to fit the camera onto the tripod and how to lock it in place.

The health and safety regulations we learned were basically :
-keep water/liquids away from the electricals
-carry the equipment carefully
-take out two batteries with you incase you need it so you don't lose your work
-transfer your work to your hardrive

Skills Audit:Livetype and Sound

Today we were introduced to Livetype and Final cut pro which are softwares that can be used to edit the footage shot.

You can edit the footage in many ways such as speeding up cuts and slowing down cuts to unveil tension using Final cut pro. You can also use final cut pro to add sound to the footage.

Also you can add in transitions to show time passing or to also create tension and make the continuity better. Other features that can be edited in are text (of names/titles i.e directors,actors etc) and images using Livetype.

Teacher comment

Interesting blogs for this group - they show a strong developing understanding of the thriller genre and the title sequence in particular. A good level of interest shown here.

Sam - you really need to get blogging!