A typical Thriller:
Blood, suspence, fight scenes, tension, plot twists, murders, chase scenes, psychological, detectives, clues, predictable.
Some directers who do thrillers are Hitchcock and Coen brothers.
Sone thriller movies are: Seven, Red eye, Silence of the lambs, Bourne identity, Bank job etc.
The thriller Seven.
Narrative: It is a typical thriller about crime and investigation. It is about the seven deadly sins, 7 days of retierments, 7 days of the week and a countdown of seven days till death. The film is all about time.
Setting: has many crime scenes. It is all very dark and gloomy. The weather is depressing and the weather represents the tone of the film and how it is going to be. The start links to the end.
Style: It is a very edgy film and suspencefull and uncomfortable. The music is very repetative and sounds like a heart beat at the start of the clip and its scarey.
"eyes- window to your soul"
Titles:
Child like writing and flashing subliminal images at the start in the graphics. darkness, good and evil, black and white, race, purity. There are horrible pictures so give an insight of the killer and what he is like. Extreme closeups to empthasis this and one of the book to show the killer is educational and it is about religion. when he cuts his finger tips off this is to make the character onomonous and makes us think who is it? It is about mutiliation and the killer could be obsessed with sacred. The colours are reddness, blood, death, anger and love. ghosting it added in the film to make it feel more freaky when one frame overlaps another.
Characters:
Both characters Mills and Summerset are both detectives but have very different lifestyles and different personalities. There is alot of opposition conflict. Summerset does not have a wife anymore and mills does. mills is a family man. Summerset is an old man whereas mills is a lot younger. Summerset is a black man and mills is a white man. Summerset is older and has more experience on the job and mills is young and has less experience. Summerset dresses more formal then Mills and there is also a father and son relationship shown between then in the film.
Seven is a successfull thriller because it has all the elements of what a thriller should have. Such as the style of the film makes you feel on edge and uncomfortable throughout the narrative and its suspencefull. The characters are what you exspect them to be, very different but with similaties in some ways. For example they are both detectives but have very different lifestyles and personalities. The narrattive is very typical. It is about clues and murders, suspence and investigating.
Theories for Thrillers
GK Chesterton: His theory says that thrillers try to expose 'the poetry of modern life' which basically means that he thinks that the world we live in is drab and mundane and thrillers offer a situation where the normal becomes extraordinary. This creates excitement for the audience as it opens the possibility of finding adventure in everyday life. This separates the genre from others as they are already set in exotic places.
Northrop Frye: His theory builds on Chesterton's idea of the normal being extraordinary as he says the hero is usually 'one of us' a normal person who is forced to become a hero through the circumstances. This usually means that as an audience it is easier to relate to them. His theory also states that we are happy to believe in the reality of thrillers because according to Frye they exist similarly to Romance. He explains 'the hero of romance moves in a world which the ordinary laws of nature are slightly suspended.' The thriller changes the romantic setting of the enchanted forest for the modern city.
John Cawelti: Cawelti's theory combines the ideas of the two above saying that thrillers transforms the city 'from a modern centre of commerce, industry and science into a place of enchantment and mystery'. This is introduced by something strange,unusual happening in the everyday world.
W H Matthews: Matthews theory is is one that describes most thrillers. His work is a textbook on how to design mazes but it can be applied to thrillers, it should be complex, so the solution does not come too easily or quickly, and it should be possible to reach then end by deduction and strategy rather than just trial and error. This shows the thriller narrative but also suggests that the audience gain pleasure from prolonging the journey rather than solving it all quickly.
Pascal Bonitzer: His theory says that in thrillers we only get a partial vision, that we are allowed to see so much but what we don't see is as important or more important that what we actually do see. These are the things that compel us to keep watching the film as the answers might just lie around the corner. This theory says that the narrative of a thriller links with the metaphor and an actual labyrinth like what W H Matthews theory says. This links with the answers being around the corner, as this could apply in an actual maze. It is worth considering how much actual mazes do appear in thrillers like 'The shining (1980)' and 'The third man (1949)' being two examples. Bonitzer also says that the idea of a thriller, like a maze, could go on forever as out view is at least partially blocked, and it is also confining allowing minimal movement. This means the labyrinth and the thriller becomes an 'unlimited prison'. Suspense adds to this and needing to meet a deadline like to catch a killer or before something horrific happens, can create a maze anywhere.
Lars Ole Saurberg: Saurbergs theory identifies two ways suspense works to pull the audience completely different ways. Concealment and protraction. Conclealment is where something is deliberately hid from the audience like the killers identity. Protraction however in the deliberate delaying of a suspended outcome. This is done for films like in Golfinger (1964) when there is a countdown a bomb explosion.
Noel Carroll: Noel carroll's theory is based on a question-answer model. He indentifies the importance of questions within a thriller narrative which the audience will wair in suspense for. To create suspence he says the questions must be clear and there must only be a few outcomes like will the hero live or die. Suspence is also created through two factors within the questions. The first one in the probability factor where they is a 'sure thing' which is less exciting and suspenseful than a battle against the odds. The second is what he calls the moral factor, the right thing to do which increases our involvement in the action which sharpens the suspence. The morality does not have to be what out conventional ideas of right and wrong are, just who we think deserves to win. He states the suspense is the greatest and then when both factors are combined, the most desirable outcome is the least likely.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
section 2: Research into examples of thriller opening scenes
We watched a few of the following openings to thrillers and analysed them.
RED EYE
Narrative/Structure:
The film is based on a man and his daughter and a wallet has been stolen. It is at a demestic home. You see this one women in a photo straight away which signifies she is going to be one of the main characters. The photo of the parents show relationships. The film has three strands of the story. at home, at an inustrial work then a citie. The man in the film throws the credit cards away which clarifys at this point the film is not about money. The girl is shown again just to show she is very important.
Thriller codes and conventions:
The music is a typical thriller investigationg style. It is also a typical mysteray wondering what is gonna happen? The initials shown on the wallet makes the audience think who is JR? The false ID makes us think that people are pretending to be different people and lies and decieveds. When the building is shown it makes us think what is the building? The mystery element is you only see hands at the start and not the faces to make the characters enonemous. There is aggresive and rushing behaviour when he opens the envelope It makes us think who is the man on the ID? There is typical henchman working. The box shown is an inigment and secret it makes us ask questions.
Camerawork:
Extreme closeups of photos to show they are important. Extreme closeups of objects such as the wallet because is shows it will be a big part of the film. There are alot of close ups and extreme close ups because many thrillers have them. Close track in of the wallet and keys to draw our attention. There is also a tracking shot of the stuff being but into the van/car. There is a dissolve shot to the third strand of the story. there is a closeup of the photo pf the building. Pan shot and point of view shots on the photos of individuals this is very jerky and can show ban film work. There is extreme closeups on photos again to emphasise characters are very important. Closeupson envelope being ripped open. Extreme close up on the wallet again to explain who is JR? Tracking shot to the action of opening the stuff. Then there is a low angle establishing shot of the lux atlantic to show what is gonna happen next in this hotel.
Mice en scene:
Props: wallet to show importance and the tension of the initials. The women in the photo is young, pretty, educational and clever. she plays hockey this for shadows what is going to happen in the film and it also shows she is also buff and can stick up for herself and is a sporty girl aswel as a girly girl. the photo of the parents makes it feel like a safe place to be.. it is an ordinary day very demesitc and normal. based in florida which could be important. Blue prints are shown whih are plans for building.. a penthouse on a lower level floor. Inspector improved the sea food this means it could be to do with fish and business. The wallet turns up again and florida pops up again to show importance. We know from the clip they are not here for the fish they are disrespectfull to it it is all about the box inside the fish.
Sound:
Music builds up throughout to build tension makes it very mysterious. The music becomes more fast in tempo to show something is going to happen. It opens up with the sound of an airoplane in the opening graphics. Typical psychological heart beating music.. the sound mirrors the action. The music comes to an end the man bangs and twice the wind comes in an it is non diegetic. The ripping noise of the envelope is emphasied. Diagetic sound of the keys and a creaking door, thrill scene to create excitment sounds builds to a cresendo When the wallet is stolen there is a big bang of sound and fast music. The it changes to very musical funky type music like mission impossible. The music gets louder when the box comes into it to show importance and suspence
Editing: Very fast shots. Slow editing with dissovles. Long edits for important parts, When the sound comes in it becomes quicker. the editing picks up speed on the photos then slows down on the box scene.
Graphics: Black with no background to show danger with very bold writing. Red eye title is in red to show connotations of death, blood, anger and maybe love. The writing goes backwards to show it is moving in the distance. Black and white as oppositions such as good and evil. Purity and bad. there is no background to make it simple. some titles are over the action. it goes in order of produced, screen play and directed by is always right at the end of the graphics.
STATE OF PLAY
Narrative/Structure:
This thriller is a political thriller all about crime. The victim see's something he should of not seen. It has a very clear beginning, middle and end. The end to this clip as a hint of a cliffhanger and suspence. This is because when the pizza man is shot he is still alive when the killer runs away. It has three aspects to the film. Equalibriam - Everthing is good. Destruction - Chaos. Resolution - it calms down again.
Thriller codes and conventions:
The chaser remains unseen untill the last few seconds on the clip. This is to create the typical thriller and make the audience ask questions such as: Whos is the man? Why is he running? Why did he kill him? Who is the killer? it creates mystery and suspence and makes you want to know more about the film. The brief case makes you want to know why he as it and what it is it aswell. The two characters are not in the same shots to sow differences and how un close they are.
Camera work :
There is an establishing shot of the citie to show where everything is going to happen and take place. There is a two shot of the characters at the beginning to show a relationship. Hand held camera technique is used to make us feel like we are involved and are running with him. There is an extreme closeup of the man who is still allive to show this could be a problem later in the film. There are many tracking shots, pan and tilt shots of characters. There are many still shots to show focus. Steadi cam is used to express we are in the shot following him. There is a forward tracking shot of his face to show he is still alive. The is a whipping pan shot following the man running. There are many low angle and high angle shots, like a bird watching him to make us feel the man is in trouble. The camera is also very jerky to represent the danger he is in. Closeups start to come in to show more personal emotions. The men are in different shots each time they are shown to show differences. The camera follows the fun to show the power of weapons. There is a point of view shot looking at the brief case to show importance. The killer runs out of the shot and we stay in the shot with the victim.
Mice en scene:
Very dark dull lighting which connotes danger and death. The dark clothing represents bad characters. When it becomes clear it is in Washington citie it shows it is an urban thriller and very political. The night scene shows something bad is going to happen. "bad people come out at night" The weather sets the tone of the film. It is raining and very gloomy which means something bad or depressing will happen. Old people to show they are vunreable and fragile. There is a lot of naturalistic action. When the smokes comes out of his mouth this could express he is a beast in anger. When they go through the china store the saying comes in mind " Bull in a china store" In the dark alley way it is very dirty and scarey which shows political views: Power, poverty, wealth, good and evil. The man is very frantic.. he is running for his life. He jumps off a very high ledge to show he is clumsy and in extreme danger. His bad teeth represent drugs, alcohol that he is in the wrong end of society. The briefcase can express the man could be a buisness man.
Sound:
It opens with sounds of the citie, traffic and sirens and helicopters. The sound of the bullet is loud to express importance. enenemous sound. The sound of thunder and rain to express something bad is going to happen which is diegetic sound. His panting is heard to show personal and that he is desperate for his life and like he is breathing his last breath. The music intenses. There is a very loud thud sound when the man is shot which sounds like a drum to show impact. Non diegetic sound comes in over the top of the diegetic sound to make it more enonemous. The music then builds un to a cresendo. The sound of the bike falling down when he gets shot is to express the sadness and heartbreak of the situation. It then ends with the sound of rain in the puddles as it fades out of the sequence.
Editing:
Very long takes and slow editing untill the chase scene happens then the edits and shots beome very fast. It does not cross cut even though it is a chase scene between the chase and the chaser. The cuts are well done. Throughout the clip it becomes slow then speedy and then slow again.
Graphics:
A logo is shown to show a classy name of a company. The colour scheme is blue writing which signfys coldness, calmness and nuteral. Then white and red writing comes in which is to express the American flag to show nationallity and political. Minemal graphics are used and thr action is shown in the background of the graphics.
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
Narrative/Structure:
Two trangers meet on a train. Bruno imposes himself on Guy the famous tennis player. He suggests to create the perfect murder by swopping murders with no motive By the end of the sequence Bruno takes Guy seriously and Guy takes it as a joke and dismisses him. This is then left with a cliffhanger. The film is based on fate and destiny.
Thriller codes and conventions:
The characters are unidentifyed for a long time in the clip to create mystery and meaning.
Camerawork:
They are going in opposite and different directions. Through camera work it shows they are going to meet theamatricly. There are many two shots of both characters to show they have similar backgrounds but a very different characters with different personalities.
Mice en scene:
There are many low level shots to show that the characters are enonemous and to create mystery. He gets into a taxi to be enonemous again because we dont know who he is and everybody gets into taxi's. The costume and Brunos shoes show his character to be very exentric. Guys shoes are very black and dull shows an ordinary normal dull character. The shoes represent the playful music. When the train is shown on the track it make us think about the track of life which is a metaphore about the journey of life and which track you are going to choose in your life. It can also represent you can not go back in time because you can not go back on a train. makes us think of cross roads. Bruno's tie shows he is a mummys boy and it is an idetity thing "I am Bruno" very psychotic.
Sound:
It begins with old fashioned imposing loud music it is not creapy so it is a non typical thriller music It is very epic music. Music becomes very jolly like tom & jerry music very cartoon like and it does not fit with the genre. Very sexy music is played when Guy is shown. Creepy music is played when Bruno's feet are shown. The music signifies they have met and that something is going to happen. dialogue " I do admire you do things" This shows that Bruno admires murderers.
Editing:
There is cross cutting between scenes. There is a two shot reverse shot to show the two different people. they were seperate and then come together in a two shot
Graphics:
The colour scheme is obviouslt black and white. The font is very large and bold and it mixture of different types of font. The last title always says directed by.... then the film begins.
We were then asked to pick two thriller films ourselves and analyse the opening scenes to both of them. The films i have chosen to analyse myself are The Bourne Ultimatum with Matt Damon as Jason Bourne and the film....
Thriller analysis: Saw
Narrative Structure: The film opens with a close up shot of a man unconcious. This automatically shows us that he is going to be a main character. He seems to be submerged in water, and then he wakes up and throws himself out of it. He catches the chain on his foot as he falls out causing the plug to come out and the water be flushed away. He falls out of the bath, and when he realises that he is chained up he begins to shout for help. A mystery voice starts talking to him from the darkness and they have a conversation. The last shot of the opening is when the lights start to come on.
Thriller codes and conventions: Saw is full of enigma codes like who is he? why is he there? who is behind it all? and in the opening who does the unknown voice belong to? These create mystery and intrigue the audience. In the opening there is also only one character shown which creates a mystery in itself as no other characters seem to be involved, leaving them completely annonymous.
Camerawork: The first shot in the film is an exteme close up of Adam. Then the shots flick between close up shots of him, and medium shots of the blue item panning over his face. Then there is a shot of him spluttering as he gasps for air and a close up of the plug again as the water starts to go down. The camera focuses back on the man again but then shows the small blue item going down the drain which makes us think that it is significant as it is shown so much in the opening sequence. This creates a sense of mystery, and gets the audience thinking of what it could be. After the thing has gone down the drain, the camera just focuses on the man, which shows his importance in the film. In the next part of the opening the camera just continues to follow the man until right at the very end when the lights come on when it tracks backwards and then forwards into his face again. This is to show his look of surprise and his face because the lights are harsh and glaring and we can see that they are hurting his eyes.
Mise-en-scene: The first shot is of the main character. The setting is dark which has connotations of being scary and when 'bad' things happen. The next thing to come into shot is a small blue thing going over the mans face. It is unclear what it is but straightaway it obvious that it is going to be important. It shows it swimming around on the water and then there is a close up shot of the mans face. Next, he jumps up and pulls the chain out and the thing goes down the drain. He tries to climb out of the bath but ends up falling out. He follows the chain on his leg and finds that he is tied to a drainpipe and thats when he starts to shout for help. An unknown voice answers him, which creates mystery as they are annonymous, and they have a conversation until the mystery person finds out how to turn the lights on. The last shot of the opening is a close up shot of the man squinting like he is in pain because the lights are too bright.
Sound: The first sound that we hear is the diegetic sound of water dripping. This foreshadows before we see the first shot that it will have water in it. At the start of the opening there is lots of diegetic sound and when the blue thing is sucked down the plug the sound is emphasised, again indicating that it was something very important. The non diegetic sound starts to slowly get louder after he gets out of the bath, and it is creepy and iconic for a thriller. Then the sound switches again to being mostly diegetic, we hear him shouting for help and then the dialogue that goes on between him and the unknown character, who we found out is Jack. The last sound that we hear in the opening is the clicking as the lights switch on.
Editing: The first shot of the man is short, and then the shot of the blue thing scanning over him last around 4/5 seconds but after that the editing gets very fast with each shot being just 1/2 seconds each. This could reflect the speed in which it all happened. After he has woken up and got out of the bath the shots get longer and the editing gets much slower.
Graphics: All of the writing is in blue which has connotations of being cold, and calculating reflecting the film. In the room there is a theme of black and blue which shows the cold calculating nature of it along with the black which symbolises evil and death. The titles are seperate from the shots, there isn't any overlapping. However the first shot of the man unconcious is between the titles and the Saw logo.
Thriller analysis: Silence of the lambs
Narrative structure: The opening starts with a shot of a tree and then a woman comes running into shot. This shows us that she is going to be a main character as she is the first one introduced. She begins to run through the forest, stopping to climb over a net, which makes us think she is in the army or police and then a man comes and tells he that she is wanted in someone's office. She then runs off and disappears into a building.
Thriller codes and conventions: This opening creates a lot of mystery as it doesn't give many clues about the story of the film. It makes lots of enigma codes for the audience such as who is she? why is she so important?. This makes the audience want to carry on watching because we have no idea about what is to happen later on.
Camerawork: The first shot in the opening is of the top of a tree and then tracks downwards to see the rest of the forest. This creates tension as the audience wonder why we are there and forests have bad connotations. A medium shot is used as the woman runs up towards the camera showing more of the forest and fog. There is then a close up of the womans face and then the camera continues to follow her as she starts running, using a variety of shots. Shots of her from behind, her feet, etc and other angles make the audience feel that we must see her in detail and almost gives us a sense that we are following her every move. As she climbs over the net, the camera pans around, again giving the impression we are watching everything that she does carefully. Then the man runs into the shot and exchanges some dialogue with the woman. The camera then shows a extreme close up of the mans face as he watches the woman run off into the building. This shows us that maybe him or the implications of what he has just told her could be very important. We then follow the woman again as she runs into the building.
Mise-en-scene: The first shot of the tree and the forest makes the beginning very mysterious. The woman runs in and we follow her as she starts to run through the forest and over the net. The man runs in with a yellow vest on, implying maybe he is in a uniform of some sort, and he also calls her by her last name which also implies that she is in the army or the police along with the net. She runs off and then there is a shot of the top of the tree with the signs 'hurt' 'agony' 'pain' 'love it' 'pride' down in. This again could be to do with the army or police or could be foreshadowing what will happen later on in the film.
Sound: At the beginning the music starts off pleasant but has an edge to it and then it starts to build up and get faster as she starts to run. There is diegetic sounds of her breathing heavily and then someone shouting her, using her last name. They exchange dialogue in which she calls him 'sir' backing up she is in the army or police. Overall, in this opening there is mainly the non-diegetic sound of music.
Editing: At the start of the opening there is very long shots, for example 15 seconds. This picks up speed as she starts to run, and there is lots of shots in quick succession. As she gets to the net it slows down again and until the end the shots and editing are relatively slow.
Graphics: The titles in 'Silence of the lambs' are all black and white following the iconic symbollism of good and evil. Unlike some of the film i have looked at, all of the titles overlap the rest of the opening. They font used is big and bold, and also very minimal.
RED EYE
Narrative/Structure:
The film is based on a man and his daughter and a wallet has been stolen. It is at a demestic home. You see this one women in a photo straight away which signifies she is going to be one of the main characters. The photo of the parents show relationships. The film has three strands of the story. at home, at an inustrial work then a citie. The man in the film throws the credit cards away which clarifys at this point the film is not about money. The girl is shown again just to show she is very important.
Thriller codes and conventions:
The music is a typical thriller investigationg style. It is also a typical mysteray wondering what is gonna happen? The initials shown on the wallet makes the audience think who is JR? The false ID makes us think that people are pretending to be different people and lies and decieveds. When the building is shown it makes us think what is the building? The mystery element is you only see hands at the start and not the faces to make the characters enonemous. There is aggresive and rushing behaviour when he opens the envelope It makes us think who is the man on the ID? There is typical henchman working. The box shown is an inigment and secret it makes us ask questions.
Camerawork:
Extreme closeups of photos to show they are important. Extreme closeups of objects such as the wallet because is shows it will be a big part of the film. There are alot of close ups and extreme close ups because many thrillers have them. Close track in of the wallet and keys to draw our attention. There is also a tracking shot of the stuff being but into the van/car. There is a dissolve shot to the third strand of the story. there is a closeup of the photo pf the building. Pan shot and point of view shots on the photos of individuals this is very jerky and can show ban film work. There is extreme closeups on photos again to emphasise characters are very important. Closeupson envelope being ripped open. Extreme close up on the wallet again to explain who is JR? Tracking shot to the action of opening the stuff. Then there is a low angle establishing shot of the lux atlantic to show what is gonna happen next in this hotel.
Mice en scene:
Props: wallet to show importance and the tension of the initials. The women in the photo is young, pretty, educational and clever. she plays hockey this for shadows what is going to happen in the film and it also shows she is also buff and can stick up for herself and is a sporty girl aswel as a girly girl. the photo of the parents makes it feel like a safe place to be.. it is an ordinary day very demesitc and normal. based in florida which could be important. Blue prints are shown whih are plans for building.. a penthouse on a lower level floor. Inspector improved the sea food this means it could be to do with fish and business. The wallet turns up again and florida pops up again to show importance. We know from the clip they are not here for the fish they are disrespectfull to it it is all about the box inside the fish.
Sound:
Music builds up throughout to build tension makes it very mysterious. The music becomes more fast in tempo to show something is going to happen. It opens up with the sound of an airoplane in the opening graphics. Typical psychological heart beating music.. the sound mirrors the action. The music comes to an end the man bangs and twice the wind comes in an it is non diegetic. The ripping noise of the envelope is emphasied. Diagetic sound of the keys and a creaking door, thrill scene to create excitment sounds builds to a cresendo When the wallet is stolen there is a big bang of sound and fast music. The it changes to very musical funky type music like mission impossible. The music gets louder when the box comes into it to show importance and suspence
Editing: Very fast shots. Slow editing with dissovles. Long edits for important parts, When the sound comes in it becomes quicker. the editing picks up speed on the photos then slows down on the box scene.
Graphics: Black with no background to show danger with very bold writing. Red eye title is in red to show connotations of death, blood, anger and maybe love. The writing goes backwards to show it is moving in the distance. Black and white as oppositions such as good and evil. Purity and bad. there is no background to make it simple. some titles are over the action. it goes in order of produced, screen play and directed by is always right at the end of the graphics.
STATE OF PLAY
Narrative/Structure:
This thriller is a political thriller all about crime. The victim see's something he should of not seen. It has a very clear beginning, middle and end. The end to this clip as a hint of a cliffhanger and suspence. This is because when the pizza man is shot he is still alive when the killer runs away. It has three aspects to the film. Equalibriam - Everthing is good. Destruction - Chaos. Resolution - it calms down again.
Thriller codes and conventions:
The chaser remains unseen untill the last few seconds on the clip. This is to create the typical thriller and make the audience ask questions such as: Whos is the man? Why is he running? Why did he kill him? Who is the killer? it creates mystery and suspence and makes you want to know more about the film. The brief case makes you want to know why he as it and what it is it aswell. The two characters are not in the same shots to sow differences and how un close they are.
Camera work :
There is an establishing shot of the citie to show where everything is going to happen and take place. There is a two shot of the characters at the beginning to show a relationship. Hand held camera technique is used to make us feel like we are involved and are running with him. There is an extreme closeup of the man who is still allive to show this could be a problem later in the film. There are many tracking shots, pan and tilt shots of characters. There are many still shots to show focus. Steadi cam is used to express we are in the shot following him. There is a forward tracking shot of his face to show he is still alive. The is a whipping pan shot following the man running. There are many low angle and high angle shots, like a bird watching him to make us feel the man is in trouble. The camera is also very jerky to represent the danger he is in. Closeups start to come in to show more personal emotions. The men are in different shots each time they are shown to show differences. The camera follows the fun to show the power of weapons. There is a point of view shot looking at the brief case to show importance. The killer runs out of the shot and we stay in the shot with the victim.
Mice en scene:
Very dark dull lighting which connotes danger and death. The dark clothing represents bad characters. When it becomes clear it is in Washington citie it shows it is an urban thriller and very political. The night scene shows something bad is going to happen. "bad people come out at night" The weather sets the tone of the film. It is raining and very gloomy which means something bad or depressing will happen. Old people to show they are vunreable and fragile. There is a lot of naturalistic action. When the smokes comes out of his mouth this could express he is a beast in anger. When they go through the china store the saying comes in mind " Bull in a china store" In the dark alley way it is very dirty and scarey which shows political views: Power, poverty, wealth, good and evil. The man is very frantic.. he is running for his life. He jumps off a very high ledge to show he is clumsy and in extreme danger. His bad teeth represent drugs, alcohol that he is in the wrong end of society. The briefcase can express the man could be a buisness man.
Sound:
It opens with sounds of the citie, traffic and sirens and helicopters. The sound of the bullet is loud to express importance. enenemous sound. The sound of thunder and rain to express something bad is going to happen which is diegetic sound. His panting is heard to show personal and that he is desperate for his life and like he is breathing his last breath. The music intenses. There is a very loud thud sound when the man is shot which sounds like a drum to show impact. Non diegetic sound comes in over the top of the diegetic sound to make it more enonemous. The music then builds un to a cresendo. The sound of the bike falling down when he gets shot is to express the sadness and heartbreak of the situation. It then ends with the sound of rain in the puddles as it fades out of the sequence.
Editing:
Very long takes and slow editing untill the chase scene happens then the edits and shots beome very fast. It does not cross cut even though it is a chase scene between the chase and the chaser. The cuts are well done. Throughout the clip it becomes slow then speedy and then slow again.
Graphics:
A logo is shown to show a classy name of a company. The colour scheme is blue writing which signfys coldness, calmness and nuteral. Then white and red writing comes in which is to express the American flag to show nationallity and political. Minemal graphics are used and thr action is shown in the background of the graphics.
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
Narrative/Structure:
Two trangers meet on a train. Bruno imposes himself on Guy the famous tennis player. He suggests to create the perfect murder by swopping murders with no motive By the end of the sequence Bruno takes Guy seriously and Guy takes it as a joke and dismisses him. This is then left with a cliffhanger. The film is based on fate and destiny.
Thriller codes and conventions:
The characters are unidentifyed for a long time in the clip to create mystery and meaning.
Camerawork:
They are going in opposite and different directions. Through camera work it shows they are going to meet theamatricly. There are many two shots of both characters to show they have similar backgrounds but a very different characters with different personalities.
Mice en scene:
There are many low level shots to show that the characters are enonemous and to create mystery. He gets into a taxi to be enonemous again because we dont know who he is and everybody gets into taxi's. The costume and Brunos shoes show his character to be very exentric. Guys shoes are very black and dull shows an ordinary normal dull character. The shoes represent the playful music. When the train is shown on the track it make us think about the track of life which is a metaphore about the journey of life and which track you are going to choose in your life. It can also represent you can not go back in time because you can not go back on a train. makes us think of cross roads. Bruno's tie shows he is a mummys boy and it is an idetity thing "I am Bruno" very psychotic.
Sound:
It begins with old fashioned imposing loud music it is not creapy so it is a non typical thriller music It is very epic music. Music becomes very jolly like tom & jerry music very cartoon like and it does not fit with the genre. Very sexy music is played when Guy is shown. Creepy music is played when Bruno's feet are shown. The music signifies they have met and that something is going to happen. dialogue " I do admire you do things" This shows that Bruno admires murderers.
Editing:
There is cross cutting between scenes. There is a two shot reverse shot to show the two different people. they were seperate and then come together in a two shot
Graphics:
The colour scheme is obviouslt black and white. The font is very large and bold and it mixture of different types of font. The last title always says directed by.... then the film begins.
We were then asked to pick two thriller films ourselves and analyse the opening scenes to both of them. The films i have chosen to analyse myself are The Bourne Ultimatum with Matt Damon as Jason Bourne and the film....
Thriller analysis: Saw
Narrative Structure: The film opens with a close up shot of a man unconcious. This automatically shows us that he is going to be a main character. He seems to be submerged in water, and then he wakes up and throws himself out of it. He catches the chain on his foot as he falls out causing the plug to come out and the water be flushed away. He falls out of the bath, and when he realises that he is chained up he begins to shout for help. A mystery voice starts talking to him from the darkness and they have a conversation. The last shot of the opening is when the lights start to come on.
Thriller codes and conventions: Saw is full of enigma codes like who is he? why is he there? who is behind it all? and in the opening who does the unknown voice belong to? These create mystery and intrigue the audience. In the opening there is also only one character shown which creates a mystery in itself as no other characters seem to be involved, leaving them completely annonymous.
Camerawork: The first shot in the film is an exteme close up of Adam. Then the shots flick between close up shots of him, and medium shots of the blue item panning over his face. Then there is a shot of him spluttering as he gasps for air and a close up of the plug again as the water starts to go down. The camera focuses back on the man again but then shows the small blue item going down the drain which makes us think that it is significant as it is shown so much in the opening sequence. This creates a sense of mystery, and gets the audience thinking of what it could be. After the thing has gone down the drain, the camera just focuses on the man, which shows his importance in the film. In the next part of the opening the camera just continues to follow the man until right at the very end when the lights come on when it tracks backwards and then forwards into his face again. This is to show his look of surprise and his face because the lights are harsh and glaring and we can see that they are hurting his eyes.
Mise-en-scene: The first shot is of the main character. The setting is dark which has connotations of being scary and when 'bad' things happen. The next thing to come into shot is a small blue thing going over the mans face. It is unclear what it is but straightaway it obvious that it is going to be important. It shows it swimming around on the water and then there is a close up shot of the mans face. Next, he jumps up and pulls the chain out and the thing goes down the drain. He tries to climb out of the bath but ends up falling out. He follows the chain on his leg and finds that he is tied to a drainpipe and thats when he starts to shout for help. An unknown voice answers him, which creates mystery as they are annonymous, and they have a conversation until the mystery person finds out how to turn the lights on. The last shot of the opening is a close up shot of the man squinting like he is in pain because the lights are too bright.
Sound: The first sound that we hear is the diegetic sound of water dripping. This foreshadows before we see the first shot that it will have water in it. At the start of the opening there is lots of diegetic sound and when the blue thing is sucked down the plug the sound is emphasised, again indicating that it was something very important. The non diegetic sound starts to slowly get louder after he gets out of the bath, and it is creepy and iconic for a thriller. Then the sound switches again to being mostly diegetic, we hear him shouting for help and then the dialogue that goes on between him and the unknown character, who we found out is Jack. The last sound that we hear in the opening is the clicking as the lights switch on.
Editing: The first shot of the man is short, and then the shot of the blue thing scanning over him last around 4/5 seconds but after that the editing gets very fast with each shot being just 1/2 seconds each. This could reflect the speed in which it all happened. After he has woken up and got out of the bath the shots get longer and the editing gets much slower.
Graphics: All of the writing is in blue which has connotations of being cold, and calculating reflecting the film. In the room there is a theme of black and blue which shows the cold calculating nature of it along with the black which symbolises evil and death. The titles are seperate from the shots, there isn't any overlapping. However the first shot of the man unconcious is between the titles and the Saw logo.
Thriller analysis: Silence of the lambs
Narrative structure: The opening starts with a shot of a tree and then a woman comes running into shot. This shows us that she is going to be a main character as she is the first one introduced. She begins to run through the forest, stopping to climb over a net, which makes us think she is in the army or police and then a man comes and tells he that she is wanted in someone's office. She then runs off and disappears into a building.
Thriller codes and conventions: This opening creates a lot of mystery as it doesn't give many clues about the story of the film. It makes lots of enigma codes for the audience such as who is she? why is she so important?. This makes the audience want to carry on watching because we have no idea about what is to happen later on.
Camerawork: The first shot in the opening is of the top of a tree and then tracks downwards to see the rest of the forest. This creates tension as the audience wonder why we are there and forests have bad connotations. A medium shot is used as the woman runs up towards the camera showing more of the forest and fog. There is then a close up of the womans face and then the camera continues to follow her as she starts running, using a variety of shots. Shots of her from behind, her feet, etc and other angles make the audience feel that we must see her in detail and almost gives us a sense that we are following her every move. As she climbs over the net, the camera pans around, again giving the impression we are watching everything that she does carefully. Then the man runs into the shot and exchanges some dialogue with the woman. The camera then shows a extreme close up of the mans face as he watches the woman run off into the building. This shows us that maybe him or the implications of what he has just told her could be very important. We then follow the woman again as she runs into the building.
Mise-en-scene: The first shot of the tree and the forest makes the beginning very mysterious. The woman runs in and we follow her as she starts to run through the forest and over the net. The man runs in with a yellow vest on, implying maybe he is in a uniform of some sort, and he also calls her by her last name which also implies that she is in the army or the police along with the net. She runs off and then there is a shot of the top of the tree with the signs 'hurt' 'agony' 'pain' 'love it' 'pride' down in. This again could be to do with the army or police or could be foreshadowing what will happen later on in the film.
Sound: At the beginning the music starts off pleasant but has an edge to it and then it starts to build up and get faster as she starts to run. There is diegetic sounds of her breathing heavily and then someone shouting her, using her last name. They exchange dialogue in which she calls him 'sir' backing up she is in the army or police. Overall, in this opening there is mainly the non-diegetic sound of music.
Editing: At the start of the opening there is very long shots, for example 15 seconds. This picks up speed as she starts to run, and there is lots of shots in quick succession. As she gets to the net it slows down again and until the end the shots and editing are relatively slow.
Graphics: The titles in 'Silence of the lambs' are all black and white following the iconic symbollism of good and evil. Unlike some of the film i have looked at, all of the titles overlap the rest of the opening. They font used is big and bold, and also very minimal.
section 3: Brainstorm of ideas for your film
Ideas for our thriller opening sequence,
1) A man is in a room and he is tied to a chair. He looks around the room to see if he can see anything or anybody but nobody is there. The camera then spins around to show a sillohette of a man standing behing the man who is tied up. The man behind him is breathing heavily and the man tied up is sweating and very nervous. Then it cuts to quick flashbacks of what has already happened like the film Seven.
2) A teenaged troubled girl becomes very obsessed with her ex-boyfriend. There is a shot of a wall covered in pictures of him when they were together and pictures she had taken from spying on him. There is also scribbled out writing of plans and what she is going to do next, The teenaged girl becomes crazy and starts to murder every person who becomes close to him because of jealousy. Even her own best friend.
3) The film begins on a beach in the night time with two henchmen dragging a very large box out of the sea which contains a dead body and millions of pounds. They open up the box and gather all of the money and throw the body and the box back into the sea. They leave the beach like nothing as ever happened but somebody witness's what they just commited.
4)There is a schizophrenic man who has been in a mental insitution for years and years with many plans ahead of him. He manges to escape the home and becomes unaware of his actions in the real word and he begins to murder innocent people thinking they have hurt him in his life before he went into the mental insitute
5) A man is frightened and is hiding in the shadows and is breathing fast and heavily. The camera then switches to two men looking for him. They find him and start to rung after him. The other man trips and the two men catch up to him. One of the two men stabs the other man and he falls to the ground. The two men run off leaving the man to die. It ends with a close up of the stabbed man to show he is still alive,
6)The opening starts with a close up of a mans hands playing the piano, A man is asleep in his bed and hears the music being played. He wakes up and the music then becomes silent. He starts to creep down the stairs as the music starts to buld up and get louder. He see's the man and asks who he is with no reply he taps him on the shoulder. The man turns around and it is himself playing the piano
Synopsis
The film begins in the middle of the night. The main character is woken by the sound of a piano playing, so he goes downstairs to investigate. Bathed in moonlight, a mysterious man is sat playing the Grand Piano in the living room (or a different room, this hasn't really been established yet), and as the man turns, the light reveals it is the main character himself! Almost immediatly after this, the main character wakes up in his bed, believing it to be some crazy dream. As the story goes on, more about the main character is learnt, he's a fairly famous musician with major mental health issues that he keeps in check with hefty doses of prescription drugs. As the 'dreams' begin to reoccur, large amounts of the drugs the main character depends on to keep himself in check begin to go missing. Then, the murderous alter-ego forms. As the main character doesn't take his medicine, the alter-ego appears more often, killing purely for fun, even though the main character seems unaware of this. Enter the genius detective, whose only objective is to find the killer behind all the murders. The main characters dreams become more like flashbacks of the terrible deeds he has commited, and suddenly it all becomes clear, it is him killing all these people! Around about the same time, the detective figures this out aswell. The final scene is personal confrontation, the main character wants to hand himself in, but the alter-ego won't allow it. Cue suicide, with the police appearing a minute too late. It's a kind of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde/ Fight Club story.
1) A man is in a room and he is tied to a chair. He looks around the room to see if he can see anything or anybody but nobody is there. The camera then spins around to show a sillohette of a man standing behing the man who is tied up. The man behind him is breathing heavily and the man tied up is sweating and very nervous. Then it cuts to quick flashbacks of what has already happened like the film Seven.
2) A teenaged troubled girl becomes very obsessed with her ex-boyfriend. There is a shot of a wall covered in pictures of him when they were together and pictures she had taken from spying on him. There is also scribbled out writing of plans and what she is going to do next, The teenaged girl becomes crazy and starts to murder every person who becomes close to him because of jealousy. Even her own best friend.
3) The film begins on a beach in the night time with two henchmen dragging a very large box out of the sea which contains a dead body and millions of pounds. They open up the box and gather all of the money and throw the body and the box back into the sea. They leave the beach like nothing as ever happened but somebody witness's what they just commited.
4)There is a schizophrenic man who has been in a mental insitution for years and years with many plans ahead of him. He manges to escape the home and becomes unaware of his actions in the real word and he begins to murder innocent people thinking they have hurt him in his life before he went into the mental insitute
5) A man is frightened and is hiding in the shadows and is breathing fast and heavily. The camera then switches to two men looking for him. They find him and start to rung after him. The other man trips and the two men catch up to him. One of the two men stabs the other man and he falls to the ground. The two men run off leaving the man to die. It ends with a close up of the stabbed man to show he is still alive,
6)The opening starts with a close up of a mans hands playing the piano, A man is asleep in his bed and hears the music being played. He wakes up and the music then becomes silent. He starts to creep down the stairs as the music starts to buld up and get louder. He see's the man and asks who he is with no reply he taps him on the shoulder. The man turns around and it is himself playing the piano
Synopsis
The film begins in the middle of the night. The main character is woken by the sound of a piano playing, so he goes downstairs to investigate. Bathed in moonlight, a mysterious man is sat playing the Grand Piano in the living room (or a different room, this hasn't really been established yet), and as the man turns, the light reveals it is the main character himself! Almost immediatly after this, the main character wakes up in his bed, believing it to be some crazy dream. As the story goes on, more about the main character is learnt, he's a fairly famous musician with major mental health issues that he keeps in check with hefty doses of prescription drugs. As the 'dreams' begin to reoccur, large amounts of the drugs the main character depends on to keep himself in check begin to go missing. Then, the murderous alter-ego forms. As the main character doesn't take his medicine, the alter-ego appears more often, killing purely for fun, even though the main character seems unaware of this. Enter the genius detective, whose only objective is to find the killer behind all the murders. The main characters dreams become more like flashbacks of the terrible deeds he has commited, and suddenly it all becomes clear, it is him killing all these people! Around about the same time, the detective figures this out aswell. The final scene is personal confrontation, the main character wants to hand himself in, but the alter-ego won't allow it. Cue suicide, with the police appearing a minute too late. It's a kind of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde/ Fight Club story.
section 4: Audience research - and research into BBFC film classification system
Audience Research
In the people that we asked, 23 people were 18 years old, 16 people were 15 years old and 1 person was 40 years old. This meant that the majority of our sample was in the intended/target audience 
When we asked what sex the killer should be, 31 people said male, 6 said a female and 3 said either. This made us decide that our main character will definitely be male. 
We asked whether a plot twist was preferable in a thriller and 38 people said yes with only two people saying that it was too cliche. We took this into consideration when discussing the plot. 
When asked whether they liked a romance, 16 people said they did, but 24 people said that they didn't. Because of this split result we may have a small romance within the film but not let it distract from the main plot. 
We asked the audience whether they would prefer an anonymous killer and 33 people said yes whereas 7 people said no. 
We asked our audience which film title they like the best and overall they preferred 'Antipyschotic' (22), then 'Prescription' (8), then '4AM' (7), and least 'The Scary Door' (1). Therefore we are going to name our thriller film 'Antipyschotics'.
For our audience research, we made a questionnaire with twenty questions about different things that our target audience prefers in a thriller.
Question 1 
To answer our questionnaire we asked 40 people, 17 males and 23 females. This gave us a decent sized sample and was split pretty equally so that the results were fine to generalise.
To answer our questionnaire we asked 40 people, 17 males and 23 females. This gave us a decent sized sample and was split pretty equally so that the results were fine to generalise.
Question 2:
In the people that we asked, 23 people were 18 years old, 16 people were 15 years old and 1 person was 40 years old. This meant that the majority of our sample was in the intended/target audience Question 3:
When we asked what sex the killer should be, 31 people said male, 6 said a female and 3 said either. This made us decide that our main character will definitely be male.Question 4:
We asked whether a plot twist was preferable in a thriller and 38 people said yes with only two people saying that it was too cliche. We took this into consideration when discussing the plot.Question 5:
When asked whether they liked a romance, 16 people said they did, but 24 people said that they didn't. Because of this split result we may have a small romance within the film but not let it distract from the main plot.Question 6 :
We asked the audience whether they would prefer an anonymous killer and 33 people said yes whereas 7 people said no. Question 7:
We asked whether out target audience preferred a gory thriller or a psychological one. 21 people preferred a psychological one, 9 gory, and 10 for both. This will be taken into consideration with the plot
Question 8:
We asked what point of view the film should be in. 23 said the killers point of view, 10 said the detective, 10 said both and 1 person said the victims. Therefore, our thriller is going to be in the murderers point of view.
Question 9:
When asked how many murders are better 11 people said just one, but 29 people said several so in our plot we are going to have more than one murder.
Question 10:
To decided whether to put a chase scene into our film, we asked our target audience would they like one. 16 people said yes, but 19 people said no. 5 people said it completely depended on the plot overall, so if we are going to see if a chase scene fits into our particular plot.
Question 11:
We asked our audience which film title they like the best and overall they preferred 'Antipyschotic' (22), then 'Prescription' (8), then '4AM' (7), and least 'The Scary Door' (1). Therefore we are going to name our thriller film 'Antipyschotics'. Question 12:
We asked the audience what styles of music they would like and they came up with quite a few suggestions:
Eerie
Creepy
Dark
Tense
Exciting
Orchestral
Screamo
Scary
Fast-paced
Edgy
Screechy
Metal/Rock
Suspenseful
Dramatic
Classical
Techno
Repetitive
Spooky
Eerie
Creepy
Dark
Tense
Exciting
Orchestral
Screamo
Scary
Fast-paced
Edgy
Screechy
Metal/Rock
Suspenseful
Dramatic
Classical
Techno
Repetitive
Spooky
We will take these into consideration when we are choosing the soundtrack for the opening of our thriller.
Question 13:
When asked what time of day the film should be set in, a huge majority (29) said night, 3 said day, 2 said both, and 2 said either. We have decided to film our opening at night.
Question 14:
We asked where the film should be set as question 14. 23 people said in a city and 17 people said in a village, therefore the setting of our thriller will be in a normal, everyday house in an urban, city setting.
Question 15:
We asked the participants what type of killer they would prefer and everyone but one person said that they would prefer a creepy, clever killer over a big, bulky one.
Question 16:
We asked the audience what plot sounded the best and overall (23) they picked our plot out as sounding the best. This means that we are going to continue to develop the plot we have discussed.
Question 17:
In the questionnaire we asked what would your method of killing be and they came up with a few answers:
Torture
Knifed/stabbing
Mutilation
Beheading/decapitation
Explosives
Massacre
Bleeding to death
Poison
Abuse
Blow torch
Chainsaw
Strangling
Shooting
Knifed/stabbing
Mutilation
Beheading/decapitation
Explosives
Massacre
Bleeding to death
Poison
Abuse
Blow torch
Chainsaw
Strangling
Shooting
Question 18:
When asked which is the best way to solve a murder, 12 people said seeing it happen, 25 said seeing the aftermath and piecing the clues together and 3 people said they like to see both. Therefore in our thriller we are not going to show the murders happening.
Question 19:
The majority of people asked (25) preferred age certificate 15 thrillers over age 15 certificate thrillers.This means that we are going to aim our thriller at a slightly younger audience than first imagined.
Question 20:
We asked whether our target audience preferred the murders to be slow or fast and 31 people said they preferred a slow murder, while 3 people said they preferred a quick murder and 6 people saying that it depends.
These were all of the questions that we included in our questionnaire.
section 5: Treatment
Treatment for Antipsychotics
“Antipsychotics” will be a thriller that shows the extent the human mind is capable of trick its self and convincing it it’s doing something else.
Concept
A man runs out of his prescription drugs and his split personality starts to come out and begin to kill people.
Synopsis
Beginning: The film begins in the middle of the night. The main character is woken by the sound of a piano playing, so he goes downstairs to investigate. Bathed in moonlight, a mysterious man is sat playing the Grand Piano in the living room (or a different room, this hasn't really been established yet), and as the man turns, the light reveals it is the main character himself! Almost immediately after this, the main character wakes up in his bed, believing it to be some crazy dream.
Middle: As the story goes on, more about the main character is learnt, he's a fairly famous musician with major mental health issues that he keeps in check with hefty doses of prescription drugs. As the 'dreams' begin to reoccur, large amounts of the drugs the main character depends on to keep himself in check begin to go missing. Then, the murderous alter-ego forms. As the main character doesn't take his medicine, the alter-ego appears more often, killing purely for fun, even though the main character seems unaware of this. Enter the genius detective, whose only objective is to find the killer behind all the murders.
Ending: he main characters dreams become more like flashbacks of the terrible deeds he has committed, and suddenly it all becomes clear, it is him killing all these people! Around about the same time, the detective figures this out aswell. The final scene is personal confrontation, the main character wants to hand himself in, but the alter-ego won't allow it. Cue suicide, with the police appearing a minute too late. It's a kind of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde/ Fight Club story.
Opening scene
The film opens with an establishing shot of a house in a quite neighbour which hints that this is a normal quite house but soon something is going to happen to change all this later in the film. There is an enigma established right away as we see a man playing a piano and only see his hands and eyes we have no way of telling who he is. Then we are put in suspense as we see someone is asleep up stairs so we start to ask questions who’s the man playing the piano and what is he doing in this persons house? The scene ends with the man playing the piano being revealed to be the same man as who was a sleep then a black screen with the film name appears on screen.
Other Details
Character will be a young adult to match to fit the musician image this is to show that mental issues and other things can affect anyone in any social status also the house will be ordinary too thrill the viewer as they see that events can occur in ordinary location.
“Antipsychotics” will be a thriller that shows the extent the human mind is capable of trick its self and convincing it it’s doing something else.
Concept
A man runs out of his prescription drugs and his split personality starts to come out and begin to kill people.
Synopsis
Beginning: The film begins in the middle of the night. The main character is woken by the sound of a piano playing, so he goes downstairs to investigate. Bathed in moonlight, a mysterious man is sat playing the Grand Piano in the living room (or a different room, this hasn't really been established yet), and as the man turns, the light reveals it is the main character himself! Almost immediately after this, the main character wakes up in his bed, believing it to be some crazy dream.
Middle: As the story goes on, more about the main character is learnt, he's a fairly famous musician with major mental health issues that he keeps in check with hefty doses of prescription drugs. As the 'dreams' begin to reoccur, large amounts of the drugs the main character depends on to keep himself in check begin to go missing. Then, the murderous alter-ego forms. As the main character doesn't take his medicine, the alter-ego appears more often, killing purely for fun, even though the main character seems unaware of this. Enter the genius detective, whose only objective is to find the killer behind all the murders.
Ending: he main characters dreams become more like flashbacks of the terrible deeds he has committed, and suddenly it all becomes clear, it is him killing all these people! Around about the same time, the detective figures this out aswell. The final scene is personal confrontation, the main character wants to hand himself in, but the alter-ego won't allow it. Cue suicide, with the police appearing a minute too late. It's a kind of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde/ Fight Club story.
Opening scene
The film opens with an establishing shot of a house in a quite neighbour which hints that this is a normal quite house but soon something is going to happen to change all this later in the film. There is an enigma established right away as we see a man playing a piano and only see his hands and eyes we have no way of telling who he is. Then we are put in suspense as we see someone is asleep up stairs so we start to ask questions who’s the man playing the piano and what is he doing in this persons house? The scene ends with the man playing the piano being revealed to be the same man as who was a sleep then a black screen with the film name appears on screen.
Other Details
Character will be a young adult to match to fit the musician image this is to show that mental issues and other things can affect anyone in any social status also the house will be ordinary too thrill the viewer as they see that events can occur in ordinary location.
section 6: Character outlines and script
Characters
Tom Scott:Main character-Rock star, singer and rhythm guitarist of his band.Severe mental health issues, split muderous personality. He hides this from the rest of the world, embarrassed by his issues. Depends entirely on drugs, 'Antipsychotics', to control his illness. Typical rock star, good-looking, a bit rough.
Katie Starr:The Girlfriend- Groupie of the bandBlonde bimbo, but with a high level of cunning. Uses her good looks to get to Tom, despite not liking him in the slightest.
Detective Johnson:The Good Guy- Police OfficerHis first major case, investgating the murders. Nervous, but a hard-working typical good guy with strong morals. Only character flaw is his perfectionism.
Aaron Ripley:Tom's best friend- Bassist of the bandSlightly dumber than average, but a close and loyal friend of Tom's. Big boned, dark-haired.Ste Wright:Slight Comic Relief-Guitarist of the bandThe funny guy, into rubbish practical jokes and scaring the others by any means possible, sees the bright side of any situation.
Mick Carter:The Talented Cocky Member- Drummer of the bandArrogant, but unfortunately gifted drummer, the one nobody really likes, but put up with so as not to cause a fight. Dislikes Tom, believes himself to be a better frontman.
Script
EXT./INT. outside/living room. Night
The film opens with an establishing shot of a house in a quite neighbour hood all the lights are out, then all of a sudden one of the down stair lights come on and the camera begin to slowly track into the window then cuts to hands beginning to play the piano then cuts back to the tracking in and through the window a man can be seen playing a piano with his back to the window and piano.
INT. Bedroom. Night
The shot then cuts to a close up of Tom’s eyes as he’s he wakes up to the sound of music the music then stops for a while. The camera then cuts as tom sits up with a confused expression wondering whether he has heard the music he has heard the music he then gets up to walk to the bathroom.
INT. Bathroom. Night
The camera then cuts to a shot on a shelf with a bottle of pills half in the frame and reveals that the pills contain “antipsychotics” Tom enters the room reaches and picks up the pills and shakes them to find there is none in them. The camera then cuts to a shot over his shoulder where he is rummaging through empty bottles of pills as he tries to find his medication the music starts again tom then stops and pauses and his head turns and the camera mirrors his action with a pan to look to the bath room door. The camera then tracks through the house towards the music to show the back of the man playing the piano again.
INT. Living/room. Night
The camera then shows a close up of the man’s mouth as he licks his lips as he is playing. Then cuts to the mans hands playing the piano as he plays a small section of the piano also with a close up of his eyes then of his foot tapping to the music then cuts to over his shoulder.
INT. Upstairs Night
The camera cuts to a low angle shot of the bathroom door as Tom comes out and the piano music is playing he creeps past the camera. The camera then cuts to over toms shoulder as he peers around the corner down the stairs to the source of the music. “Hello?” he shouts with no answer then there is a close up of his hand as it touches the rail to go down the stairs.
INT. Living room . Night
The camera then cuts to the man’s hands playing again.
INT. Stairs. Night
The camera then cuts to the bottom of the stairs to watch tm come down the camera then pans to follow the action of him entering the room as this happens a whoosh sound is made the characters cant hear this.
INT. Living room .Night
The camera then cuts to over the man’s shoulder facing to the door to watch Tom creep in. “hello?” Tom reaches to touch the man on his shoulder as this is happening there are several cuts short 1 second shots flicking between Toms hand the man’s shoulder there eyes to. The camera cuts to Toms hand touching the shoulder as a sharp non-diagetic sound goes and the piano playing stops. The camera cuts to a Close up of Toms face and then to the back of the mans head as he slowly turns round to reveal he is Tom playing the piano A black screen appears with the Title “antipsychotics” appear as the title slowly fades into the blackness
Tom Scott:Main character-Rock star, singer and rhythm guitarist of his band.Severe mental health issues, split muderous personality. He hides this from the rest of the world, embarrassed by his issues. Depends entirely on drugs, 'Antipsychotics', to control his illness. Typical rock star, good-looking, a bit rough.
Katie Starr:The Girlfriend- Groupie of the bandBlonde bimbo, but with a high level of cunning. Uses her good looks to get to Tom, despite not liking him in the slightest.
Detective Johnson:The Good Guy- Police OfficerHis first major case, investgating the murders. Nervous, but a hard-working typical good guy with strong morals. Only character flaw is his perfectionism.
Aaron Ripley:Tom's best friend- Bassist of the bandSlightly dumber than average, but a close and loyal friend of Tom's. Big boned, dark-haired.Ste Wright:Slight Comic Relief-Guitarist of the bandThe funny guy, into rubbish practical jokes and scaring the others by any means possible, sees the bright side of any situation.
Mick Carter:The Talented Cocky Member- Drummer of the bandArrogant, but unfortunately gifted drummer, the one nobody really likes, but put up with so as not to cause a fight. Dislikes Tom, believes himself to be a better frontman.
Script
EXT./INT. outside/living room. Night
The film opens with an establishing shot of a house in a quite neighbour hood all the lights are out, then all of a sudden one of the down stair lights come on and the camera begin to slowly track into the window then cuts to hands beginning to play the piano then cuts back to the tracking in and through the window a man can be seen playing a piano with his back to the window and piano.
INT. Bedroom. Night
The shot then cuts to a close up of Tom’s eyes as he’s he wakes up to the sound of music the music then stops for a while. The camera then cuts as tom sits up with a confused expression wondering whether he has heard the music he has heard the music he then gets up to walk to the bathroom.
INT. Bathroom. Night
The camera then cuts to a shot on a shelf with a bottle of pills half in the frame and reveals that the pills contain “antipsychotics” Tom enters the room reaches and picks up the pills and shakes them to find there is none in them. The camera then cuts to a shot over his shoulder where he is rummaging through empty bottles of pills as he tries to find his medication the music starts again tom then stops and pauses and his head turns and the camera mirrors his action with a pan to look to the bath room door. The camera then tracks through the house towards the music to show the back of the man playing the piano again.
INT. Living/room. Night
The camera then shows a close up of the man’s mouth as he licks his lips as he is playing. Then cuts to the mans hands playing the piano as he plays a small section of the piano also with a close up of his eyes then of his foot tapping to the music then cuts to over his shoulder.
INT. Upstairs Night
The camera cuts to a low angle shot of the bathroom door as Tom comes out and the piano music is playing he creeps past the camera. The camera then cuts to over toms shoulder as he peers around the corner down the stairs to the source of the music. “Hello?” he shouts with no answer then there is a close up of his hand as it touches the rail to go down the stairs.
INT. Living room . Night
The camera then cuts to the man’s hands playing again.
INT. Stairs. Night
The camera then cuts to the bottom of the stairs to watch tm come down the camera then pans to follow the action of him entering the room as this happens a whoosh sound is made the characters cant hear this.
INT. Living room .Night
The camera then cuts to over the man’s shoulder facing to the door to watch Tom creep in. “hello?” Tom reaches to touch the man on his shoulder as this is happening there are several cuts short 1 second shots flicking between Toms hand the man’s shoulder there eyes to. The camera cuts to Toms hand touching the shoulder as a sharp non-diagetic sound goes and the piano playing stops. The camera cuts to a Close up of Toms face and then to the back of the mans head as he slowly turns round to reveal he is Tom playing the piano A black screen appears with the Title “antipsychotics” appear as the title slowly fades into the blackness
section 7: Production material - storyboards & shotlists
Storyboard
Bedroom
Close up of Tom's face as he wakes up.
Camera cuts to a high angle shot of Tom as he wakes up with a confused face.
Camera pans to follow Tom out of the room.
Bathroom
Camera has a wide shot with half covered by a box of pills and the other half show Tom enter and pick the pills up.
Camera cuts to a shot over Tom's shoulder of him rummaging through the pills.
Camera mirrors the pan of Tom's head to look at the bathroom door.
Then a steady cam is used to go through the house to where the music is coming from.
Outside
Establishing shot of a house in a quiet area with a light coming on in one of the windows.
Track shot up to the window with the light on.
Living Room
Close up of the man's mouth as he licks his lips.
Then a close up of the man's hands as he plays piano.
Close up of the mans eyes.
Close up of the mans foot tapping.
A high angle shot over his shoulder of his hands playing.
Close up of the manss hands playing, but from the side of the piano.
Shot over the mans shoulder facing the door.
Low angle shot at Tom in the doorway.
Close up of Tom's eyes.
Close up of Tom reaching towards the man.
Close up of man's shoulders.
Shot down Tom's arm as he touches the shoulder.
Close up of Tom's hand on the shoulder.
Close up of Tom's face.
Close up of Tom's face as he turns around.
Upstairs
Low angle shot of the bathroom door as Tom walks out.
Shot over Tom's shoulder as he peers down the stairs.
Close up of Tom's hand as he touches the rail.
Stairs
Low angle shot at the top of the stairs watching Tom walk down.
Camera then pans, following the action as Tom walks to the door of the source of the music.
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Logsheets
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Shotlist
Bedroom
Close up of Tom's face as he wakes up.
Camera cuts to a high angle shot of Tom as he wakes up with a confused face.
Camera pans to follow Tom out of the room.
Bathroom
Camera has a wide shot with half covered by a box of pills and the other half show Tom enter and pick the pills up.
Camera cuts to a shot over Tom's shoulder of him rummaging through the pills.
Camera mirrors the pan of Tom's head to look at the bathroom door.
Then a steady cam is used to go through the house to where the music is coming from.
Outside
Establishing shot of a house in a quiet area with a light coming on in one of the windows.
Track shot up to the window with the light on.
Living Room
Close up of the man's mouth as he licks his lips.
Then a close up of the man's hands as he plays piano.
Close up of the mans eyes.
Close up of the mans foot tapping.
A high angle shot over his shoulder of his hands playing.
Close up of the manss hands playing, but from the side of the piano.
Shot over the mans shoulder facing the door.
Low angle shot at Tom in the doorway.
Close up of Tom's eyes.
Close up of Tom reaching towards the man.
Close up of man's shoulders.
Shot down Tom's arm as he touches the shoulder.
Close up of Tom's hand on the shoulder.
Close up of Tom's face.
Close up of Tom's face as he turns around.
Upstairs
Low angle shot of the bathroom door as Tom walks out.
Shot over Tom's shoulder as he peers down the stairs.
Close up of Tom's hand as he touches the rail.
Stairs
Low angle shot at the top of the stairs watching Tom walk down.
Camera then pans, following the action as Tom walks to the door of the source of the music.
section 9: Production schedule
Name of film: Antipsychotics
Directors: Richard Graham, Jodie Mairs
Producers: Kirsty Dunn, Danielle Millett
Date production started: 15th November
Treatment started: 24th November
Completed: 26th November
Storyboard started: 26th November
Completed: 30th November
Shooting started: 1st December
Completed: 1st December
Post Production: 3rd December
Completed:11th January
Rough cut submitted: 20th December
Final show tape completed: 11th January
Location equipment required: Camera, Tripod, Lighting
Transporting Required:Buses
Crewing requirements: N/A
Actions: Camera sweeps into the house to reveal a man playing the piano with his face concealed. The camera then cuts to a man in bed. The then wakes up and the camera shows a shot of the clock saying its 4am. He then proceeds to the bathroom where he picks up a container of pills but finds them to be empty, he then throws them into the sink. Next he notices the piano music and goes downstairs to find where its coming from. He walks through his living room to then find someone playing his piano. He tries to talk to the person and reaches to touch him on the shoulder. The person then turns round to reveal he looks identical to the person who was in bed.
Props: Piano, container of empty pills, Clock
Directors: Richard Graham, Jodie Mairs
Producers: Kirsty Dunn, Danielle Millett
Date production started: 15th November
Treatment started: 24th November
Completed: 26th November
Storyboard started: 26th November
Completed: 30th November
Shooting started: 1st December
Completed: 1st December
Post Production: 3rd December
Completed:11th January
Rough cut submitted: 20th December
Final show tape completed: 11th January
Location equipment required: Camera, Tripod, Lighting
Transporting Required:Buses
Crewing requirements: N/A
Actions: Camera sweeps into the house to reveal a man playing the piano with his face concealed. The camera then cuts to a man in bed. The then wakes up and the camera shows a shot of the clock saying its 4am. He then proceeds to the bathroom where he picks up a container of pills but finds them to be empty, he then throws them into the sink. Next he notices the piano music and goes downstairs to find where its coming from. He walks through his living room to then find someone playing his piano. He tries to talk to the person and reaches to touch him on the shoulder. The person then turns round to reveal he looks identical to the person who was in bed.
Props: Piano, container of empty pills, Clock
section 11: Audience feedback
The audience feedback was very positive with some critisims. for example the some mentioned the soundtrack fitted well with the theme of the narrative and looked realistic as if the man was playing the music himself. Also our editing was very smooth and done very well. A critisim was that our storyline was not very clear as it was a psychological thriller but they thought the ended was interested with a good twist.
section 12: Analysis of completed sequence
Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
We used a male character at a young age to develop a mental illness through out the film. It goes against the idea of that when you are young you never suffer from a mental illness. It also explains that anybody can have a mental illness no matter what age, young, old, male or female. It shows the stereotypical rock star who spends his money in the wrong ways. We also used a red bright jacket. This connotes, anger, hatred and even love or lust. The pills represents he is indeed of help and the fact there is none left he can not controll himself. The plant in the first shot can also explain his life before he had his illness, a good healthy life whereas now he is killing himself slowly.
http://www.dazzlefilms.co.uk/http://futureshorts.com/index.php?site=3http://futureshorts.com/index.php?site=3
Overall, we learned a lot about the technologies of editing from the process of making this film opening including how to cut the shots with precision and using different effects such as blur and changing the colour from black and white back to colour again, and creating still frames from our moving shots. Also we learnt how to put music into our film and take sound out.
A typical convention that our media film contains is many enigma codes. This is because the mans face is hidden and only his back and hands are shown. This is to express the feeling of mystery as the audience will ask questions such as who is he? why is he there? what is he doing? and What is he going to do? If his face was shown it would ruin the narrative of the film and there would be not much point carrying on watching it as you have no suspense to look forward to and it would loose the audiences attention straight away. I think this convention makes it very interesting for the viewers to watch. This is because it is very confusing but interesting at the same time. This is similar to the film se7en were hands are shown at the start of the film in the graphics and nothing else untill further into the film. We also changed the settings to black and white and blury to express a dream and his mind. This is also to show a difference to help the viewers understand more and to question why is it different?
Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We used a male character at a young age to develop a mental illness through out the film. It goes against the idea of that when you are young you never suffer from a mental illness. It also explains that anybody can have a mental illness no matter what age, young, old, male or female. It shows the stereotypical rock star who spends his money in the wrong ways. We also used a red bright jacket. This connotes, anger, hatred and even love or lust. The pills represents he is indeed of help and the fact there is none left he can not controll himself. The plant in the first shot can also explain his life before he had his illness, a good healthy life whereas now he is killing himself slowly.
We used an Oasis poster in one of the shots to show that the main character is very into music and to show the stereotypical younger person's bedroom and there style of life. The guitar also represents he is a musician. In the film he is shown to be a famous musician with many problems this supports this idea. This shot also shows him asleep with his clothes on on top of the sheets. This represents that he has passed out before he had chance to get ready for bed. This is stereotypcial for a young adult to do. It can express his use of drugs and alcohol and just genral tiredness from his crazy life style. It also explains what a famous rock star would do. This is very stereotypical. He is wearing a watch and there is a clock on the side. This signifys he has a busy life and as a young man he is still experiencing life and going through time.
This shot with the photo of the scream painting in the background represents his personality and character. It shows he is unaware of his actions taking place and unaware of how crazy he can be. It shows he is very creative and artisitc and has an interest in art aswell as music. The painting its self is ment to mean many asumptions. It connotes, dreams, illness, being lost etc. These all relate to the characters personality, emotions and feelings. We managed to get the shot with him entering the room to express he is entering his madness which is going to accur.
Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
This link fits well for our Thriller this is because it is suitable for a psychological thriller and it distriutes very short films and it has a good range of genre's and sub genre's which goes very well with our type of narrative.
http://www.dazzlefilms.co.uk/http://futureshorts.com/index.php?site=3http://futureshorts.com/index.php?site=3
This link is very similar to the first one as it distriutes short films as well which really suits our film as our film is not very long.
This website advertises and sells films, but wouldn't distribute our film as it is only Amber Films that get showed so it would not suit our company.
This link comes across as very professional.. i looked through them all and this one seems to suit our film well as it sells many films related to our film
This website includes lots of films and the genres are easy to find so this would be a good website to show and think about whether they would distribute our film.
This website is a film distribution library and would be a great website to advertise and put our film for sale on because it suits our film very well.
Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target population for our audience we chose was for teenagers around the ages of 15 - 18 + This picture shows the types of people and the age teenagers who would be viewers of our film. They look quite intelligent so they would understand the complex storyline in our thriller film. It shows both males and females in the photo to express different types of people who would be shown in our film. It also shows general people who would watch this film.
Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
To find out what our audience preferred we distributed a questionnaire with twenty questions on and from the findings of it we shaped our film around the preferences of our target audience. For example most of our target audience preferred for the film to be from the killers perspective rather than the detectives and more people said a psychological thriller is better, so we took this into mind when designing the plot for our storyline.
Question 6: What have you learned about the technologies from the process?
Overall, we learned a lot about the technologies of editing from the process of making this film opening including how to cut the shots with precision and using different effects such as blur and changing the colour from black and white back to colour again, and creating still frames from our moving shots. Also we learnt how to put music into our film and take sound out.
Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Throughout the time of studying media studies i have progressed thoroughly and learnt many new skills involving using the programme we have been using to create our Thriller opening scene. My editing skills have improved and i feel more confident when making another film or project. I have also learnt how to set up the camera and use it correctly. I have learnt new media laungauge and and technical terms when discussing and explaning. over all i believe i have improved a lot from the beginning tillnow.
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