Our brief was to film the opening sequence of a new thriller film, including titles, aimed at 15 or 18 certificate audience, approximately two minutes in duration.
The people I worked with for this project were: Laura Henshaw, Ian Austin and Joe McKeown.
In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
To ensure our product fulfilled the brief of being a Thriller we decided to follow a few of the most popular Codes and Conventions of Thrillers, including the Question & Answer model, the Transformed City and Protraction and Concealment. We used these because after watching and analyzing the examples of Thriller films (section 1) we found these were the most popular and effective. Our opening sequence is set in an ordinary safe looking house, thus following the theory of The Transformed City; we also used ordinary safe looking Characters. We used our Killer as the exotic as his appearance was of an ordinary person; this was so the Audience would not automatically assume things, that he was definitely the killer, from the very beginning. To include elements of Concealment and Protraction, we did not make it clear who this man was or why he was in this house or what he was doing in the girl’s bedroom. This was to create suspense and tension and also to keep the audience asking questions such as: ‘who is he?’ ‘What is he doing?’ ‘Who is the girl?’ ‘Why is he there?’ following the Question and Answer model. Although, as we saw in the majority of the examples of thriller films we watched, the killers or victims face and Identity or what they are doing is rarely shown in the opening sequence to follow Pascal Bonitze’s theory of Partial Vision, we did not follow this theory and the face of our Characters and what they are doing is shown from the beginning. We did this as we did not feel it was important as to weather the killers face was revealed at the beginning or not as the storyline allows the killers identity to be known to the audience rather than them having to figure it out, this is different to most Thrillers. We decided to make the narrative structure of our opening linear. We tried to use a wide range of different camera angles to make our product interesting to watch, we used a few low angle shots in the scenes including the killer to make him look powerful and superior. Whereas in the scenes with the girl, the victim, we used a few high angle shots to show her vulnerability. We used a few close ups to emphasize certain aspects, such as the knife in the kitchen and also to highlight some of the things the killer was doing in the bedroom, for example sorting through the wardrobe and cuddling the teddy bear, to make them seem more abstract and creepy. Our Thriller also challenges the genre by showing our killer and aligning the audience with them during the opening sequence which then makes the audience assume the film is going to follow the killer throughout. We did this in a similar way to ‘American Psycho’ an example of a thriller we watched during our research into other products. (For a full analysis of our product see section 12.)
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our product presents particular social groups in the way everybody would expect, the way society perceives different social groups though they know it is not entirely true. For example, we represent males as ‘creepy stalkers’ and as the gender more likely to kill. We used a male character as the killer, as this is the stereotypical killer seen in most thriller films. We also chose to do this because; from our audience research (see section 4) we found that the majority of people would expect the killer to be male. We chose to use a female victim, therefore our product represents females as the weaker sex, who are vulnerably and more likely to become victims to males. We decided on a female victim because we think that this presentation of females in stereotypically assumed by most of society. Our product also represents ‘mentally ill’ people as scary and dangerous ‘killers’. We used the idea of our killer being ‘mentally ill’, he had escaped from a mental institute, as there is an existing social issue of the ‘mentally ill’ all being grouped together and labeled as dangerous we thought this could be good to use.
What kind of media Institution might distribute your media product and why?
It is possible that companies such as U.K Screen or the U.K Film Council would distribute or film, as these are British lower budget companies that like independent work and home grown talent. It could also be possible for our to be shown in a mainstream cinema as the content is suitable however some people may disagree and say it is not good enough, compared to professional film, it may be seen as amateur. Also it is rare for a cinema to distribute a lower budget film as apposed to a high budget professional film. We could upload our product onto YouTube and see how many views it receives and how popular it is on here, and then use that information to decide whether it is good enough to be digitally distributed. If our production were to be digitally distributed and shown in mainstream cinemas this would be much better for the publicity and would probably result in it being viewed by a much larger audience. However, it could also result in a lot of bad publicity as, if it were shown in a mainstream cinemas, this could possibly higher people’s expectations and therefore make our thriller not seem as good.
Who would be the audience for your media Product?
The target audience for our project would be people who enjoy psychological thrillers, people who like to think and try to work things out because the general conventions of a psychological thriller are twisted plots full of mazes and mind tricks. We decided on this type of thriller because using our audience research we found this was the most popular type of thriller and we wanted to appeal to as large an audience as we could as we wanted our film to be popular and widely watched. The audience would also have to be of people over the age of 15 as we rated our film a 15. This is due to scenes of a violent nature we imagined would be included in our film, so it would not be suitable for people under the age of 15. We decided to classify our product as a 15 rather than an 18 so as we could appeal to a larger audience, and we had decided not to make it too violent and gory as some people do not like that. Our product may appeal to people outside of our target audience; it could still appeal to people under the age of 15 who enjoy watching thrillers.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We addressed our audience through conducting some audience research, so as we could find out what would attract an audience. We made a questionnaire to hand out to people we expected our target audience to be, to fill in. We asked them questions such as ‘what is your favourite/least favorite type of thriller?’, ‘would you rather be scared or intrigued?’ ‘What do you find scary?’ ‘What would you expect from a bad character?’ etc. (see section 4 for full questionnaire).We used the results of this to decide on what elements to include in our production which would make it appropriate. For example, we found from our research that the most popular type of thriller is a psychological thriller so we decided to produce a psychological thriller. We also found that most people would expect more tension building than violence so we did not include much violence and tried to create a lot of tension. We found that most people would associate the colour red and creepy music with a thriller and that the sound of heavy breathing is what made people scared, so when adding graphics and sound we used the colour red and the sound of loud breathing. We also found that in some areas we had to compromise things to make it suitable for a larger audience, for example we found that 50 % of the people we asked preferred to be scared whereas 50 % preferred to be intrigued so we tried to make our production scary but not too scary and also intriguing.
When coming up with our final ideas for our thriller, using the audience research, we decided we wanted to make our audience feel mostly intrigued, so as to make them want to watch the rest of the film, if it were to have been made. We also wanted to make them feel scared and on edge.
The feedback we received from our audience was fairly positive, (see section 11 for full conclusions.) We found that our choice of camera angles and music was effective, and the majority of people enjoyed the storyline. We tried to use a variety of interesting camera angles to keep the audience interested and we found, from our audience research, that the audience liked our camera angles. And they thought that the music created suspense, as it was intended. We found that most people thought that our graphics were appropriate and set the scene and the characters were believable.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Our final product differs from our original plan shown on our Story Boards (section 10) as during the filming we came up with new ideas for more interesting shots and camera angles. For example we had to lie on the floor with the camera to get a good low angle shot of the killer. Or one of us had to stand on a ledge to get a good high angle shot.
I found using the Premier editing software fairly easy to use. To create our sequence we put all of our footage onto the computer, capturing it in the editing software. We chose our best shot that we wanted to use and clicked and dragged them onto the timeline in the right order to make them flow as a complete sequence. In the beginning of our production, the bedroom scene, we did not do a lot of editing, we added a few dissolves between shots to make them flow a little smoother but we found that most of our shots seemed to run smoothly. We added these dissolves by choosing one that we thought looked good from the menu and dragging in onto the timeline and placing it over the shots where we wanted it to happen. In the kitchen scene we used more special effects. We used a three layer shot at one point to increase the sense of urgency of the shot. We did this by layering 3 different shots on top of each other on the timeline, making them play at the same time. And we slowed down one shot, the knife shot, to emphasize the severity of it. We added sound effects and royalty free music that we found and downloaded over the internet. We found finding and added the music difficult as it was difficult to find ‘good’ music and sound effects that were useable, also the group had to decide together on something that we all felt worked well.
During the bedroom scene we found we had to record numerous takes of a few of the shots as we had a problem with the lighting. We found that we sometimes caught the shadow of the camera or the reflection in the window in our shots, to overcome this problem we had to experiment with different styles of shots. Also, we had to film the bedroom scene twice as after looking back at our original footage we found that our variety of shots was small and boring, we decided to re-film using more shots to make it more interesting to watch.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at the preliminary task I feel that my skills in general have improved. For example my editing skills, as in the walking through the door task the editing I used was fairly minimal whereas in this coursework task the editing was more elaborate. We were able to use more dissolves between shots and also could experiment with other effects such as the 3 layer shot and the slow motion shot. Also, my knowledge of use of a video camera has improved as during the preliminary task we came across the problem of not leaving five seconds between each shot and found that some of our shots hadn’t worked properly due to this, and therefore we were more careful to avoid this whilst filming for our coursework. Also, the range of shots we used was more varied and thought about. If we hadn’t done the preliminary task I think our camera work would have looked a lot worse and our range of shots would have been much smaller and boring. Doing the preliminary task helped with my knowledge of how to use the camera well and which shot look best. I feel our production has fulfilled the terms of the brief to a standard, as we included codes and conventions of a Thriller and the storyline we used was suitable for a Thriller. Though I feel there are aspects where our production could be improved. For example I think our storyline was a little boring and not very intriguing or scary. Also, when we were filming we did not pay much attention to the lighting; if I could I would change the lighting maybe to create a more eerie atmosphere, suitable for our thriller.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Friday, 24 April 2009
Section 1: Thriller the genre.
Thrillers.
Defenition : A thriller is a genre of fiction that attempts to thrill the audience by putting the characters at risk.
There is no clear indication as to what it should consist of .
Thriller is a problematic genre.
Thrillers can be categorised by fast paced editing, action, hero’s who must outwit the villain, devices such as red herrings and cliff hangers are visual.
Thrillers usually take place in exotic places, foreign cities, deserts etc.
The hero is usually a ’hard man’ and accustomed to danger.
The hero is usually an ordinary person.
Thrillers often overlap mystery stories however thrillers usually work on a much grander scale.
Big crimes, mass murders etc are usual.
Sub Genres.
Action Thrillers : Race against time. Usually contains violence.
Conspiracy Thriller : Hero confronts a powerful group.
Crime Thriller : Hybrid of crime films and thrillers focus on criminal rather than police.
Disaster Thriller : Conflict against natural disaster.
Drama Thriller : Slow paced, great deal of character development.
Eco Thriller : Protagonist must rectify environmental problems.
Erotic Thriller : Popular since the 1980’s, fatal attraction.
Horror Thriller : Conflict, the main character is up against a superior force.
Legal Thriller : Lawyers in danger, have to do the case to live.
Medical Thriller : Hero’s are doctors who solve a medical expanding problem.
Political Thriller : Hero must create stability for the government.
Psychological Thriller : Conflict is mental and emotional.
Spy Thriller : Generally a government agent, e.g. Bourne Identity.
Supernatural Thriller : Conflict usually involves supernatural powers.
Techno Thriller : Focus on high tech equipment.
Theories behind Thrillers.
The Transformed City. G.K Chosterton.
Where your thriller is set, usually in large urban areas in modern times. Should expose the poetry of modern life. A dull mundane place, the thriller gives the possibility of excitement in this boring place, therefore transforming it.
The Heroic Romance. Northrope Frye.
The hero is an ordinary person. The become the hero because they are in certain circumstances which makes them act extra-ordinary. The hero is Romanticised. The laws of nature are suspended. Exchanges romantic settings for a modern city (hero always ends up in a modern city)
The Exotic. John Cawelth
Something is exotic / unfamiliar / foreign e.g. a place , person or object etc. Many thrillers make use of middle east artefacts e.g. Jewels.
Mazes and Labyrinths. W.H Matthews
Mazes are full of twists and dead ends, twists and turns in the plot keep the audience confused. Has to be complex so audience can’t simply guess what’s going on. They have to identify the killer through strategy using given clues. Audience gain pleasure from proroguing the puzzling journey.
Partial Vision. Pascal Bonitze
Audience only see so much so as not to give the game away. Parts are hidden e.g. only see the eye of the killer, don’t see the whole killer keeps the audience confused and in the dark.
Concealment and Protraction. Lars de Sairberg
A suspense technique. Pulls the audience in different directions so they get confused. Deliberately hide a massive clue. Delay of suspense in the outcome, deliberately delaying an event to when you least expect it.
The Question and Answer model. Noel Carroll.
Audience is constantly kept in suspense, always asking questions, keeping them interested. Wait in suspense for the answers. To create suspense questions need to be clear so audience are thinking what you want them to think. Suspense is how you give them the answers. Set them up with wrong answers and false clues.
A moral factor what frame of mind, where we are positioned. Should the right thing happen? Probability factor and moral factor, shock the audience.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Section 2: Research into Examples of Comparable Media Products.
Today in media we finished watching se7en to give us a clear idea of thrillers.
When we had finished watching it we began to analyse the opening, using grid sheets.
Narrative Structure.
The narrative structure was linear. There was a clear beginning, we could see somebody building up to doing something or doing some sort of research, helping the audience to paint a picture of the person. We see there is somebody doing something but we don't know exactly who it is, we are only shown so much so that we want to keep watching.
The person opens a book, this could represent the beginning of the film, he was just getting started.
Thriller Codes and Conventions.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout. The audience asks such questions as 'what's he doing?' 'why is he slicing his fingers?' 'who is he?' etc.
Partial Vision is also a mainly used one, used through out, the audience don't see who this person is so that they want to keep watching to find out.
Concealment and protraction is used, we are only shown little bits. We see a person and what he is doing and we get the impression he is bad but we are not shown who he is or given any clues about why he is doing it.
Camera Work.
There is a collection of extreme close ups used. This creates tension as we’re not really sure what’s happening. The close ups highlight the characters personality, we see what he is doing is very concise and important.
We see an extreme close up of the book pages turning so we see what he is looking at but not what it is that he is reading.
Also we see an extreme close up of somebody slicing their fingertips. It all happens very fast so we are not sure what exactly is going on and we are left asking why it is happening. Although we do notice that the camera keeps referring back to the book.
Only one different shot is used, this is a panning shot.
Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene is unclear for most parts. We don’t actually know where it is set, the camera shots do not give much away. However it looks like it could be set in some sort of office or library type place. The character is moving slowly and calmly, carrying out calculated acts.
Sound.
The bass sounds like a heart beat, beating at a normal pace at the beginning and eventually gets louder and faster to build up tension. Disturbing sounds are used such as screechy and scratchy noises and creaky chairs. Also an almost supernatural / alienated sound creates a surreal eerie effect.
The only bit of lyrics used are at the very end ‘you got me closer to god’. Towards the end the bass sound / beat kicks in again, it changes to make you jump again. Overall the bass is very loud, signifying that the sound is just as important as the visual effects.
Editing.
The editing is very fast paced and distorted to the audience. The use of a lot of cuts is disorientating.
Jump cuts are used to show the passing of time. Also split screens are used and cuts dissolve into the next cut to show the passing of time and what the character is doing. The cuts also seem to be in time with the music.
Graphics.
The graphics are all white and the hand writing is slightly childish. They flicker a lot and jump from the centre to different corners of the screen. They always end up on a plain black screen and they have an outline / strobe to them. They seem haphazard, as though they have not been thought about properly but this give an eerie effect.
When we had finished watching it we began to analyse the opening, using grid sheets.
Narrative Structure.
The narrative structure was linear. There was a clear beginning, we could see somebody building up to doing something or doing some sort of research, helping the audience to paint a picture of the person. We see there is somebody doing something but we don't know exactly who it is, we are only shown so much so that we want to keep watching.
The person opens a book, this could represent the beginning of the film, he was just getting started.
Thriller Codes and Conventions.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout. The audience asks such questions as 'what's he doing?' 'why is he slicing his fingers?' 'who is he?' etc.
Partial Vision is also a mainly used one, used through out, the audience don't see who this person is so that they want to keep watching to find out.
Concealment and protraction is used, we are only shown little bits. We see a person and what he is doing and we get the impression he is bad but we are not shown who he is or given any clues about why he is doing it.
Camera Work.
There is a collection of extreme close ups used. This creates tension as we’re not really sure what’s happening. The close ups highlight the characters personality, we see what he is doing is very concise and important.
We see an extreme close up of the book pages turning so we see what he is looking at but not what it is that he is reading.
Also we see an extreme close up of somebody slicing their fingertips. It all happens very fast so we are not sure what exactly is going on and we are left asking why it is happening. Although we do notice that the camera keeps referring back to the book.
Only one different shot is used, this is a panning shot.
Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene is unclear for most parts. We don’t actually know where it is set, the camera shots do not give much away. However it looks like it could be set in some sort of office or library type place. The character is moving slowly and calmly, carrying out calculated acts.
Sound.
The bass sounds like a heart beat, beating at a normal pace at the beginning and eventually gets louder and faster to build up tension. Disturbing sounds are used such as screechy and scratchy noises and creaky chairs. Also an almost supernatural / alienated sound creates a surreal eerie effect.
The only bit of lyrics used are at the very end ‘you got me closer to god’. Towards the end the bass sound / beat kicks in again, it changes to make you jump again. Overall the bass is very loud, signifying that the sound is just as important as the visual effects.
Editing.
The editing is very fast paced and distorted to the audience. The use of a lot of cuts is disorientating.
Jump cuts are used to show the passing of time. Also split screens are used and cuts dissolve into the next cut to show the passing of time and what the character is doing. The cuts also seem to be in time with the music.
Graphics.
The graphics are all white and the hand writing is slightly childish. They flicker a lot and jump from the centre to different corners of the screen. They always end up on a plain black screen and they have an outline / strobe to them. They seem haphazard, as though they have not been thought about properly but this give an eerie effect.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Section 2: Research into Examples of Comparable Media Products.
Over the last week in media we have watched the opening sequence of a variety of differen't thrillers and analysed them using the grid sheets in the same way we did 'Se7en'. This was to help give us a clear idea of what makes a good opening to a thriller and give us ideas of the different ways things can be done to make it good.
'JAWS'
Narrative Structure.
The narrative structure is linear because it all flows, there is a clear beginning and there is equilibrium. Teenagers having a party on the beach and there is something in the sea where it belongs. Everything is as it should be.
It then moves to disequilibrium, the girl goes in the water and we already know there is something in the water and so we know something bad is going to happen. This leads the audience to carry on watching to find out what was in the water.
Thriller Codes and Conventions.
The Transformed city is used as we would generally assume that a beach is a normal safe place to be.
We see partial vision to tell us about the creature in the water without telling us what it is. Also Protraction and Concealment, we don’t know what the creature in the sea is and we don’t know what the teenagers are going to do in the water.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout. The audience is left asking questions such as ’where are they?’ ’what is in the water?’ ’will she die?’ ’why are they on the beach?’ etc.
Camera Work.
It opens with a point of view shot which aligns us with the creature. It is unsettling for the audience because they don’t know who / what they are or where they are going. The camera is also panning / tracking through the reef / unknown place. It then jumps to a midshot of teenagers on the beach having a party while the camera tracks, this is to align us with the characters and make us feel like we are part of the party. There are some over the shoulder shots which make us feel as though we are peering into what is happening, this could make us feel as though we should not be there, maybe signifying that neither should they. The camera then stops and gives a close up of the two main focuses and then a high angle shot of the teenagers, making them look vulnerable at this ’safe’ place.
Then the two main characters move into the shot and there is more tracking, following them. We see a low angle shot of the boy as he falls and then a long shot of the girl as she enters the water. We see an extreme long shot of her to show how far out she is and a low angle point of view shot of her, making her look vulnerable as she is unaware. We see close up shots of her being dragged under the water, this is distressing to the audience.
Mise-en-scene.
Set on a beach somewhere which is a general place we assume would be safe and happy. There are teenagers on a beach moving slowly and calmly around the campfire. The two main characters move with a sense of urgency as they go towards the water.
It is quite dark throughout which could make the audience panicky as they cannot see the characters or what is going on properly therefore neither can the characters.
The characters are all wearing normal teenage clothing.
Sound.
It starts with the now iconic Jaws theme tune which is used to build up suspense when following the creature underwater. Non digetic music at the beginning leads the audience to feel a certain way.
Then when on the beach we hear digetic sound of the actors and what is within the narrative such as the crackling of the fire, dialogue, the guitar and the boy playing the harmonica.
Then when the character is going in the water we hear the digetic sound of the bell in the background which signifies danger to the audience. Then when she is dead all we hear is the bell, showing it is over.
Editing.
At the beginning there is a long take under water and on the beach scene. This builds up tension as the audience expects something to change. Also, this is not very often used in film in case something goes wrong. Using a cross cut we go from one piece of action, the creature under the sea, to a completely different piece, the teenagers on the beach. Also shot reverse shot is used building up the sexual tension between the two main characters.
Graphics.
The first thing shown on the screen is the Production company, this is very big and in your face. As is the director ‘Steven Spielberg’ who is a famous credible director. All of the font is big, bold, white and central, this is quite in your face. Also the font looks maritime which relates to the theme of the film.
'American Psycho'
Narrative structure.
The narrative structure is linear. It is a clear beginning, we see the day after the night before. We are introduced to a character, and straight away aligned to the killer and his daily life. It shows us how he prepares for the day and his roles in life which is unusual. Nothing is concealed, we know it is the killer because he talks about killing the girl in the bar.
Thriller codes and conventions.
The transformed city is used as although some people would say night clubs are dangerous they are a general place that should be safe. Also in a way the character can be exotic as he is in a city where we would expect him to be normal and like everybody else but he isn’t he is odd and different.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout, as the audience we find ourselves asking questions like: ‘who is he?’ ‘is he really going to kill the girl?’ etc.
We also see elements of concealment and protraction, we are not shown everything about him, we do not know anything about his background, and it is too obvious he is the killer so we think something is hidden.
Camera work.
First an overhead shot shows us a packed overcrowded nightclub. We then see an over the shoulder shot as he is served at the bar, as though we are peering into the conversation to see what’s going on. A tracking shot through his apartment is used, making it as though we are walking through his apartment. There are a range of close ups used throughout including a close up of him grabbing the things he uses in the shower, these close ups highlight the aspects of his lifestyle. We also see a few midshots of him in the shower and doing yoga.
Mise-en-scene
We see a contrast between the characters normal life and the life he wants us to see. We see him in a dark ‘seedy’ night club which gives us a dark / bad impression then we see him in his apartment and it is all white and minimalist and he moves very slowly and purposefully giving us the impression of good and purity. There is no hiding of the killer, he takes of a facial mask which signifies he is not hiding.
Sound.
There is digetic sound at the beginning, 80’s music playing in the night club tells us something about the time period or that they were in an 80’s night club. Also there is dialogue when he is at the bar ‘I would like to kill you and play with your blood’
In his apartment we hear a piano playing soft posh music, we are unclear weather this is supposed to be digetic or non digetic. There is non digetic sound, from the narration of the man and his lifestyle, he tells us a little bit about what is going on.
Editing.
The editing is all slow paced and in time with the piano music, especially in his apartment, this drags the narrative out. A shot reverse shot in the bar scene makes us see the two characters having a conversation, at this point we are not sure who we are supposed to be aligned with, the man or the girl. Also the editing tends to highlight his obsessive routine, for example as we see closely the cleansers he uses.
Graphics.
The graphics are all white and small but in capital letters. Three different contrasting fonts are used this shows the character is a contrasting person.
'Silence Of The Lambs'
Narrative Structure.
The narrative structure is linear and there is equilibrium. Some woman is running somewhere, we are unclear where she is running, she could be running to something or away from something. When an FBI man comes and tells her she is wanted in someone’s office we assume she has done something wrong. We also realise she works for the FBI. In the FBI building she seems to be then only woman, in a mans world. She goes into a room and at first something is hidden from us, she is looking at something that we cannot see and it seems to be something big. Eventually we see what she is looking at but her boss appears and we are still unsure what is going on.
Thriller codes and conventions.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout, we are continuously asking questions such as ‘who is she?’ ‘where is she running?’ ‘why is she running?’ ‘why is she wanted?’ ‘what is on the wall?’
The transformed city is used as it is set in a forest / police station which is a general place. Also she could be considered as the exotic as she is a woman in a mans world. She looks small and sort of out of place, which is made clear when she is stood in a lift with all the men. The Enigma code is used, we don’t know what is going on, who she is or why she is important. Also there are elements of partial vision, when we follow her we don’t know is we’re supposed to be somebody watching her and we don’t know what is on the wall when she is in the building.
Camera Work.
At the beginning there is a crane shot as we see her move into the shot and there are a lot of pans so we fell like we are following her through the forest. Quite a few midshots are used to emphasise her height and make her look vulnerable. A lot of different shots we used such as a publishing shot to show the FBI building and over the shoulder shots used when she is talking to the FBI man.
Mise-en-scene.
It is set in the woods, and then moves into a building. She is made to look very small when in the lift with all the men, she is the only one wearing grey. This makes her look out of place and almost as if nobody notices she is there.
Some things are kept from us to build suspense and make us think something is going to happen or to prepare us for something that will happen later on. We are given a clue when we see what’s on the wall but we still don’t know the significance of it or her or why she is there.
Sound
We hear the digetic natural sounds of her feet on the crunching leaves as she runs through the forest and her breathing which is quite scary. Also as these sounds get louder she gets faster.
We also hear non digetic music. The type of music leads the audience to believe she is in a bad place.
There is very little dialogue included, the dialogue that is used is all very official and comes towards the end as she talks a little to the people in the building.
Editing.
The editing is slow paced, this builds up tension as we are waiting for something to happen. We see a match on action when we follow her through the forest, we know she is the main character as we are always watching her. Also an eye line match is used, when she is looking at something we see it from her height.
Graphics.
The graphics are all in black and white, this gives a the impression of bad / danger. They are in capital letters and are very bold and central, sometimes we could not see properly what was in the background as they were in the way, this links with the idea of partial vision. They were also prolonged and left on the screen for a while.
'JAWS'
Narrative Structure.
The narrative structure is linear because it all flows, there is a clear beginning and there is equilibrium. Teenagers having a party on the beach and there is something in the sea where it belongs. Everything is as it should be.
It then moves to disequilibrium, the girl goes in the water and we already know there is something in the water and so we know something bad is going to happen. This leads the audience to carry on watching to find out what was in the water.
Thriller Codes and Conventions.
The Transformed city is used as we would generally assume that a beach is a normal safe place to be.
We see partial vision to tell us about the creature in the water without telling us what it is. Also Protraction and Concealment, we don’t know what the creature in the sea is and we don’t know what the teenagers are going to do in the water.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout. The audience is left asking questions such as ’where are they?’ ’what is in the water?’ ’will she die?’ ’why are they on the beach?’ etc.
Camera Work.
It opens with a point of view shot which aligns us with the creature. It is unsettling for the audience because they don’t know who / what they are or where they are going. The camera is also panning / tracking through the reef / unknown place. It then jumps to a midshot of teenagers on the beach having a party while the camera tracks, this is to align us with the characters and make us feel like we are part of the party. There are some over the shoulder shots which make us feel as though we are peering into what is happening, this could make us feel as though we should not be there, maybe signifying that neither should they. The camera then stops and gives a close up of the two main focuses and then a high angle shot of the teenagers, making them look vulnerable at this ’safe’ place.
Then the two main characters move into the shot and there is more tracking, following them. We see a low angle shot of the boy as he falls and then a long shot of the girl as she enters the water. We see an extreme long shot of her to show how far out she is and a low angle point of view shot of her, making her look vulnerable as she is unaware. We see close up shots of her being dragged under the water, this is distressing to the audience.
Mise-en-scene.
Set on a beach somewhere which is a general place we assume would be safe and happy. There are teenagers on a beach moving slowly and calmly around the campfire. The two main characters move with a sense of urgency as they go towards the water.
It is quite dark throughout which could make the audience panicky as they cannot see the characters or what is going on properly therefore neither can the characters.
The characters are all wearing normal teenage clothing.
Sound.
It starts with the now iconic Jaws theme tune which is used to build up suspense when following the creature underwater. Non digetic music at the beginning leads the audience to feel a certain way.
Then when on the beach we hear digetic sound of the actors and what is within the narrative such as the crackling of the fire, dialogue, the guitar and the boy playing the harmonica.
Then when the character is going in the water we hear the digetic sound of the bell in the background which signifies danger to the audience. Then when she is dead all we hear is the bell, showing it is over.
Editing.
At the beginning there is a long take under water and on the beach scene. This builds up tension as the audience expects something to change. Also, this is not very often used in film in case something goes wrong. Using a cross cut we go from one piece of action, the creature under the sea, to a completely different piece, the teenagers on the beach. Also shot reverse shot is used building up the sexual tension between the two main characters.
Graphics.
The first thing shown on the screen is the Production company, this is very big and in your face. As is the director ‘Steven Spielberg’ who is a famous credible director. All of the font is big, bold, white and central, this is quite in your face. Also the font looks maritime which relates to the theme of the film.
'American Psycho'
Narrative structure.
The narrative structure is linear. It is a clear beginning, we see the day after the night before. We are introduced to a character, and straight away aligned to the killer and his daily life. It shows us how he prepares for the day and his roles in life which is unusual. Nothing is concealed, we know it is the killer because he talks about killing the girl in the bar.
Thriller codes and conventions.
The transformed city is used as although some people would say night clubs are dangerous they are a general place that should be safe. Also in a way the character can be exotic as he is in a city where we would expect him to be normal and like everybody else but he isn’t he is odd and different.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout, as the audience we find ourselves asking questions like: ‘who is he?’ ‘is he really going to kill the girl?’ etc.
We also see elements of concealment and protraction, we are not shown everything about him, we do not know anything about his background, and it is too obvious he is the killer so we think something is hidden.
Camera work.
First an overhead shot shows us a packed overcrowded nightclub. We then see an over the shoulder shot as he is served at the bar, as though we are peering into the conversation to see what’s going on. A tracking shot through his apartment is used, making it as though we are walking through his apartment. There are a range of close ups used throughout including a close up of him grabbing the things he uses in the shower, these close ups highlight the aspects of his lifestyle. We also see a few midshots of him in the shower and doing yoga.
Mise-en-scene
We see a contrast between the characters normal life and the life he wants us to see. We see him in a dark ‘seedy’ night club which gives us a dark / bad impression then we see him in his apartment and it is all white and minimalist and he moves very slowly and purposefully giving us the impression of good and purity. There is no hiding of the killer, he takes of a facial mask which signifies he is not hiding.
Sound.
There is digetic sound at the beginning, 80’s music playing in the night club tells us something about the time period or that they were in an 80’s night club. Also there is dialogue when he is at the bar ‘I would like to kill you and play with your blood’
In his apartment we hear a piano playing soft posh music, we are unclear weather this is supposed to be digetic or non digetic. There is non digetic sound, from the narration of the man and his lifestyle, he tells us a little bit about what is going on.
Editing.
The editing is all slow paced and in time with the piano music, especially in his apartment, this drags the narrative out. A shot reverse shot in the bar scene makes us see the two characters having a conversation, at this point we are not sure who we are supposed to be aligned with, the man or the girl. Also the editing tends to highlight his obsessive routine, for example as we see closely the cleansers he uses.
Graphics.
The graphics are all white and small but in capital letters. Three different contrasting fonts are used this shows the character is a contrasting person.
'Silence Of The Lambs'
Narrative Structure.
The narrative structure is linear and there is equilibrium. Some woman is running somewhere, we are unclear where she is running, she could be running to something or away from something. When an FBI man comes and tells her she is wanted in someone’s office we assume she has done something wrong. We also realise she works for the FBI. In the FBI building she seems to be then only woman, in a mans world. She goes into a room and at first something is hidden from us, she is looking at something that we cannot see and it seems to be something big. Eventually we see what she is looking at but her boss appears and we are still unsure what is going on.
Thriller codes and conventions.
The Question and Answer model is used throughout, we are continuously asking questions such as ‘who is she?’ ‘where is she running?’ ‘why is she running?’ ‘why is she wanted?’ ‘what is on the wall?’
The transformed city is used as it is set in a forest / police station which is a general place. Also she could be considered as the exotic as she is a woman in a mans world. She looks small and sort of out of place, which is made clear when she is stood in a lift with all the men. The Enigma code is used, we don’t know what is going on, who she is or why she is important. Also there are elements of partial vision, when we follow her we don’t know is we’re supposed to be somebody watching her and we don’t know what is on the wall when she is in the building.
Camera Work.
At the beginning there is a crane shot as we see her move into the shot and there are a lot of pans so we fell like we are following her through the forest. Quite a few midshots are used to emphasise her height and make her look vulnerable. A lot of different shots we used such as a publishing shot to show the FBI building and over the shoulder shots used when she is talking to the FBI man.
Mise-en-scene.
It is set in the woods, and then moves into a building. She is made to look very small when in the lift with all the men, she is the only one wearing grey. This makes her look out of place and almost as if nobody notices she is there.
Some things are kept from us to build suspense and make us think something is going to happen or to prepare us for something that will happen later on. We are given a clue when we see what’s on the wall but we still don’t know the significance of it or her or why she is there.
Sound
We hear the digetic natural sounds of her feet on the crunching leaves as she runs through the forest and her breathing which is quite scary. Also as these sounds get louder she gets faster.
We also hear non digetic music. The type of music leads the audience to believe she is in a bad place.
There is very little dialogue included, the dialogue that is used is all very official and comes towards the end as she talks a little to the people in the building.
Editing.
The editing is slow paced, this builds up tension as we are waiting for something to happen. We see a match on action when we follow her through the forest, we know she is the main character as we are always watching her. Also an eye line match is used, when she is looking at something we see it from her height.
Graphics.
The graphics are all in black and white, this gives a the impression of bad / danger. They are in capital letters and are very bold and central, sometimes we could not see properly what was in the background as they were in the way, this links with the idea of partial vision. They were also prolonged and left on the screen for a while.
Section 3: Brainstorm of Content and Classifiacation of film.
Today in Media we were put into our groups of which we will be working in to create the opening sequence of a Thriller. The people in my group are : Laura Henshaw, Joe Mckeown and Ian Austin
We also produced a spider diagram of ideas for our thriller. Some of our ideas were:
Location:
Forest, Church, Field, Abandoned house, Remote location.
See a girl running but we don’t know what/who from
Set at night time. Dark and creepy.
Spy thriller- Use transformed city, Question and answer model, exotic element.
A girl goes to meet someone she has met online.
We see a person preparing a room obsessively and don’t know what for#
Classification:
Our film will be rated a 15 as this enables us to appeal to a larger audience as in 18+ year olds can watch a 15 rated film but under 18 year olds cannot watch an 18 rated film. Also none of us are 18 so it would not make sense for us to produce a film with certificate 18 when we cannot legally watch it.
We also produced a spider diagram of ideas for our thriller. Some of our ideas were:
Location:
Forest, Church, Field, Abandoned house, Remote location.
See a girl running but we don’t know what/who from
Set at night time. Dark and creepy.
Spy thriller- Use transformed city, Question and answer model, exotic element.
A girl goes to meet someone she has met online.
We see a person preparing a room obsessively and don’t know what for#
Classification:
Our film will be rated a 15 as this enables us to appeal to a larger audience as in 18+ year olds can watch a 15 rated film but under 18 year olds cannot watch an 18 rated film. Also none of us are 18 so it would not make sense for us to produce a film with certificate 18 when we cannot legally watch it.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Section 4: Audience research.
Today in our media lesson we produced a quesstionnaire about Thrillers. This is to give us a good idea of what people like to see in a thriller so we can make our thriller appeal to the audience.
Our Quesstionnaire was :
1)Age: __<16>18
2) Are you male or felmale?:
3) What is your favourite Thriller and Why?
Silence of the lambs. Jaws. Se7en.
4) What is your least favourite thriller and why?
Silence of the lambs. Jaws. Se7en.
5) What is your favourite style of Thriller?
Action Disaster Erotic Legal Medical Political Psychological Spy
Supernatural Techno-thriller.
6) What do you like most in a thriller?
good plot good characters good setting other: ______
7) Would you rather be scared or intrigued?
8) Would you associate a killer with a male or female?
9) What would you expect from a 'bad' character?
Evil Psycho Schizophrenic
10) Do you like to see alot of blood?
11) Would you expect more violence or more tension building?
12) Would you expect to be introduced to the killer at the beginning?
13) What type of music would you associate with a thriller?
Creepy Slow paced Fast paced 'bassy'
14) What colours would you associate with a thriller?
Black&White Red other: ______
15) What style of graphics would you associate with a Thriller?
'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz'
16) Would you rather see the hero win or the villain?
17) Do you think the killer should be human?
18) Do you think the killer should use weapons?
19) Where would you expect a Thriller to be set?
Normal place Remote place woods city
20) What makes you scared?
Footsteps loud breathing the sound of wind silence
Our Quesstionnaire was :
1)Age: __<16>18
2) Are you male or felmale?:
3) What is your favourite Thriller and Why?
Silence of the lambs. Jaws. Se7en.
4) What is your least favourite thriller and why?
Silence of the lambs. Jaws. Se7en.
5) What is your favourite style of Thriller?
Action Disaster Erotic Legal Medical Political Psychological Spy
Supernatural Techno-thriller.
6) What do you like most in a thriller?
good plot good characters good setting other: ______
7) Would you rather be scared or intrigued?
8) Would you associate a killer with a male or female?
9) What would you expect from a 'bad' character?
Evil Psycho Schizophrenic
10) Do you like to see alot of blood?
11) Would you expect more violence or more tension building?
12) Would you expect to be introduced to the killer at the beginning?
13) What type of music would you associate with a thriller?
Creepy Slow paced Fast paced 'bassy'
14) What colours would you associate with a thriller?
Black&White Red other: ______
15) What style of graphics would you associate with a Thriller?
'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz'
16) Would you rather see the hero win or the villain?
17) Do you think the killer should be human?
18) Do you think the killer should use weapons?
19) Where would you expect a Thriller to be set?
Normal place Remote place woods city
20) What makes you scared?
Footsteps loud breathing the sound of wind silence
Section 4: Audience Research.
Today in media we formed graphs and made conclusions based on our data we gathered from our quesstionnaires. We will use this data to form the storyline of our thriller based on what people seem to like.
Results:
Our conclusions were :
Questionnaire Conclusion
After looking at the results we came to some conclusions that will benefit us when we make our thriller opening sequence as we know what the audience want.
We asked 40 people in total. We asked 20 males and 20 female. 2 were under 16, 35 were between 16-18 and 2 were over the age of 18. It is helpful that most of the people we asked were between 16-18 because we can now give our thriller a 15 or 18 certificate as we know what people of this age would like to see.
We put on our questionnaire a choice of thriller films and then asked people which was their favourite and least favourite. The three films we gave as a choice were ‘Jaws’, Seven’, and ‘Silence of the Lambs’. We found that ‘Jaws’ was both the favourite and least favourite.
We found that psychological thrillers were the favourite so we can consider doing one of these as it was the most popular.
We found that 50% of the people we asked liked the plot the most about a thriller. Therefore when we start our thriller we will concentrate on a good plot.
We found that 50% preferred to be scared and 50% preferred to be intrigued by a thriller.
We found most people would associate a male with being a killer .
Most people would expect a bad character to be evil.
22 people would like to see a lot of blood and 18 people wouldn’t. As this result was close we could consider using a small amount of blood and not making it too gory.
Most expect a thriller to be more tension building rather that violent.
Most would not expect to be introduced to the killer at the beginning of a thriller.
Almost half of people would associate creepy music with a thriller. Only 4 people would associate bassy music with a thriller therefore this will help us decide what type of music to use.
Red is the main colour people would associate with a thriller so we can consider using this.
22 people would rather the villain won while only 18 people would prefer the hero to win.
36 voted that the killer should be human.
Most people thought that the killer should use weapons.
A majority of people thought the thriller should be set in a remote location.
Most people thought loud breathing was the thing that scared them the most, closely followed by silence.
Questionnaire Conclusion
After looking at the results we came to some conclusions that will benefit us when we make our thriller opening sequence as we know what the audience want.
We asked 40 people in total. We asked 20 males and 20 female. 2 were under 16, 35 were between 16-18 and 2 were over the age of 18. It is helpful that most of the people we asked were between 16-18 because we can now give our thriller a 15 or 18 certificate as we know what people of this age would like to see.
We put on our questionnaire a choice of thriller films and then asked people which was their favourite and least favourite. The three films we gave as a choice were ‘Jaws’, Seven’, and ‘Silence of the Lambs’. We found that ‘Jaws’ was both the favourite and least favourite.
We found that psychological thrillers were the favourite so we can consider doing one of these as it was the most popular.
We found that 50% of the people we asked liked the plot the most about a thriller. Therefore when we start our thriller we will concentrate on a good plot.
We found that 50% preferred to be scared and 50% preferred to be intrigued by a thriller.
We found most people would associate a male with being a killer .
Most people would expect a bad character to be evil.
22 people would like to see a lot of blood and 18 people wouldn’t. As this result was close we could consider using a small amount of blood and not making it too gory.
Most expect a thriller to be more tension building rather that violent.
Most would not expect to be introduced to the killer at the beginning of a thriller.
Almost half of people would associate creepy music with a thriller. Only 4 people would associate bassy music with a thriller therefore this will help us decide what type of music to use.
Red is the main colour people would associate with a thriller so we can consider using this.
22 people would rather the villain won while only 18 people would prefer the hero to win.
36 voted that the killer should be human.
Most people thought that the killer should use weapons.
A majority of people thought the thriller should be set in a remote location.
Most people thought loud breathing was the thing that scared them the most, closely followed by silence.
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