Preliminary Task - Miss Miller

Preliminary Task

The other members of my group are Malu Pillai and Kane Faulkner-Wild. I filmed the task whilst Kane and Malu acted. The purpose of the preliminary task was to get familiar with the different equipment we will be using for our own opening thriller sequence and to understand how it works and how use the equipment successfully. It was also to experiment with the different camera angles and shots. We had to film a short conversation between two people. We had to include a panning shot of one of the people entering the room and then a shot reverse shot of the two people having a conversation and then an over the shoulder shot and also a long shot of the setting and also a close up shot . The sequence had to be less than a minute long. Once we had finished shooting the sequence we came back to class and uploaded the clips onto Final Cut Pro where we watched it back and quickly edited the sequence together. We cut out the parts that were unsuccessful and then we watched it back in order to see how the filing had  gone. Once we had finalised and was happy with how our preliminary task sequence had come together we uploaded it onto Youtube.

We had to use different camera techniques whilst experimenting filming. We had to include different shots such as a long shot, a close up shot, shot reverse shot, an over the shoulder shot and a panning shot. We used the panning shot to show Kane entering the room and also Malu and Kane leaving the room. The shot reverse shot was used to show Malu and Kane's conversation. It showed Malu's face then Kane's face and then back to Malu's face again. The close up shots were of Kane and Malu's face to show their facial expressions. The over the shoulder shot was used when Kane tells Malu to leave. We also had to experience the tripod whilst filming to familiarise ourselves with it as we will be using it when we film our own thriller sequence as it keeps the camera firm and steady. However when we tried to use the tripod when filming our preliminary task we found it difficult to correctly use it as the camera kept falling out and we couldn't keep the tripod up right. Therefore we had to use the hand held camera technique. We will have to practise using our tripod before we film our own original piece. I think that our group used the different shots well, using them correctly and in the suitable parts of our film. Although we concluded every shot required, some took more time than others as they didn't come out the way we wanted them to. For example our panning shot looked uneven to the shot before and we tried various times to get it as close as possible as we could. I think my group perhaps struggled with the editing process once we had filmed our preliminary task. There is parts of the clip that could have been cut shorter so that the film flowed more consistently, for example when Kane enters the room to when Malu first speaks. I think if we were to do our preliminary task again we would work differently to try and use our tripod as our film was a bit shaky due to me holding the camera whilst filming. This will have to be done differently when we film our own thriller sequence as we want it to look professional and smooth. We will make sure we don't make this mistake again by constantly practising how to use the tripod correctly and effectively.
The use of various different camera shots will definitely help us when producing our own thriller sequence as it makes the film more interesting when the audience can experience different things being shown to them in different ways. We can also make some of the shots seem more scary, for example a close up shot to scare the audience and make them jump.
Watching our clip back after it was quite easy to notice some of the silly mistakes we had made. One example of a mistake we made would be the cutting of shots in the editing. We left some of the shots to long before the next shot which made our film look inconsistent and unprofessional. Another mistake was near the end of our film when Malu and Kane get up to leave. As the over the shoulder shot finishes and the panning shot begins they don't match up and they look like they don't join together which also looks unprofessional as all the shots should flow. The final mistake I noticed was how shaking some of the shots looked as I was filming it with just my hands. It made the film look unprofessional and messy. Therefore we need to use the tripod when we go to film our thriller sequence.

This task helped me in preparing for my own thriller film because it gave us experience on how to use the different equipment and to find out the groups strengths and weaknesses so we know what to work on for next time. I learnt from the task that the equipment can be tricky to use at times and they sometimes required detailed focus in order to work effectively. However I also learnt that my group work well together and can provide each other with different ideas and opinions to improve our work.
There's certain things we need to keep the same and change when we film our own thriller sequence. We should keep the same variety of different shots and the consistent flow of conversation and acting as it looked realistic. However we do need to change how we edit our film after we have filmed it and ensure that it looks professional and flows with ease. It is also imperative that we use the tripod when filming our real piece this because it makes the film steady and firm and look professional instead of using a shaky hand held technique.

Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

Group Narrative

In my group there are three members including me, my other two group members are Kane and Malu.

Group Member 1 : Bettie Cooper

The narrative I've come up with is the theme of cannibalism. This is when people eat other people. I think this is an unusual narrative an the idea is quite mysterious and disturbing. I think this would surprise people which is an element of thriller. Two characters are walking in the forest when they discover something isn't right and they are not alone. They could be walking their dog and when it runs off and goes missing they have to split up to look for it by themselves. This could be where something starts to go wrong and things start to become suspicious.
My idea of a good setting for my short thriller sequence is in the forest at night time. I think this would be a good setting because it is automatically associated with frightening themes at night time. The iconography that we could use would be masks. This could be to show a hidden identity and make the murderer seem more mysterious and unknown. The use of masks makes sure that the audience cant build a relationship with the characters and it makes them anticipate what they may be like and what their intentions are. A good use of iconography would be weapons to use in my short thriller sequence. These weapons could include things such as a knife, a gun or perhaps a bat. This is because it is conventional to the thriller genre because the antagonist usually uses weapons to assist their attacks but also because it makes the audience feel more frightened and it creates suspense to what the weapons will be used for which always leads to death, pain or brutality.
I think the weather should be cold, muggy and dull. This is because it is conventional to the thriller genre as it immediately gives a negative and cold feel to it, it makes the audience feel as if something bad is about to happen. and it gives them a sense of foreboding.

Advantages:

• Unusual and different narrative, not many people will think of the idea. 
• Forest setting is conventional to the thriller genre as it is isolated and the characters will feel vulnerable in this setting

Disadvantages:

• Hard to film if we were to film the eating action 
• Could be seen to be a bit unrealistic

Group Member 2 : Kane Faulkner-Wild

My Film is going to be located in the forest. It will consist of a group of friends that take a stroll into the forest, they have an argument and one of the characters walks a head of the group (female), what no one noticed is that they was being stalked by two men in white masks. Once the girl is far enough ahead of the group the two stalkers show themselves. The group who are remaining split up to try and find the girl not knowing that she is has now been kidnapped by the two masked men. The group then meet back up after not finding their missing friend, but now there is another missing person in the group.The group decide to stick together and leave the forest assuming the other two must be together. The group then see one of their friends lying dead in the bushes. They then panic and try and run out the forest as they bump into the two men.The mise en scene will be set in the forest.Iconography - The white masks.There will be cinematography, a range of different camera angles to make the killers seem scary.Our target audience will be 15 plus, mainly between 15-20 but aimed at the mass market as it the thriller genre is watched by all ages.

Advantages:

• Conventional to the thriller genre, for example a forest location
• Unidentified killer is conventional to the thriller genre and creates an enigma 

Disadvantages:

• Quite a common and conventional thriller narrative idea
• Audience may feel as if the characters are hard to build relationships with

Group Member 3 : Malu Pillai

In this opening sequence, it would start by showing the setting of where the scene is set by displaying a panning of the forest. The lighting that would be shown would be low key as it would create more suspense and enigma which is conventional to the thriller genre. After the setting is displayed, the frame would then display a slow zooming in into the two characters walking their dog so that we see a rough image of what the two characters look like and hear a typical conversation they would be having to represent their personalities. After this is displayed, it would be cut so immediately the focus is on the dog once it starts to sense that the bad omen is nearby and runs off. As the dog is running off, it will then cut straight into one of the characters point of view angle so that as the audience we can see what they are viewing and can see everything from their perspective to add more suspense. The camera angle will then change into a extreme long shot so that the audience can see the two characters split up and go different directions while we also see the focus on the background showing that they are isolated and have no one to help them adding more tension to the sequence. After the two characters have shown their two different departures it would then change into the dogs point of view perspective and would slowly starting zooming in towards the back of the antagonist once the dog discovers that she is a cannibal and is eating the other characters. At this point we would then show her turning round to face the dogs perspective with her face covered in blood in a slow editing to add more suspense and shock towards the sequence and to add enigma and to display what she has done. After this the sequence would slowly fade out to leave the audience in shock and leave them with an untold enigma.

Advantages:

• Having the dogs POV shot is quite unusual and creates suspense and unfamiliarity as we wouldn't expect the dogs point of view to be shown 

Disadvantages:

• Audience may find the narrative hard to understand at first as they may get easily confused and think the dog ate Kane and was the murderer.

 

Final Group Narrative

Characters:

• Kane
• Bettie
• Kanes friend
• Maisy
• Billy
• Stacey

Our final group narrative that we've come up with is a group of 5 friends walking a dog in the forest. They are all playing with the dog when they throw a ball for the dog , the dog runs after it but doesn't come back.  Kane being the victim and the owner of the dog he takes it into his own hands to make sure everyone splits up to look for Bella. The group split up into all groups of 2 , Bettie & Kane and then Kanes friend, Maisy, Billy and Stacey. From a POV shot one of the friends can see kane of the floor and Bettie kneeling down beside him however it is her back so they cant see her face. They start to call Bettie and when she doesnt answer they start to get suspicious, as they slowley walk over to Bettie this is a part where we will add in tense music and build up the suspence. As the friends reaches Bettie and goes to tap her shoulder, Bettie sharply turns round in a close up shot looking possesed this is a part which will make the audience jump. The friend screams and runs as fast as they can. They run around the forest rapidly trying to find their other friends. This is the beginning of a chase scene between the friends and Bettie the antagonist which is conventional to the thriller genre. Once all the friends find eachother they are panicking and trying to figure out what to do and how to escape the forest whilst avoiding Bettie. Whilst this is happening you can see Bettie lurking in the trees as if she is planning her own plan on how to kill and eat the rest of her friends. The friends decide they need to escape as quick as possible, stick together and run as fast as they can out of the forest. As they run they spot Bettie standing in their path infront of them, this scares then and they automatically run in a different direction Bettie slowly walks behind them, the seuqnece will end here on a cliffhanger and an enigmas as we don't know whether the friends escape or become the next villians on Betties list.

Tzvetan Todorov Theory

We have decided that the final narrative of our thriller sequence falls into Todorv's theory. Todorov's theory is that all films follow the same pattern. This pattern is when the film goes through stages of equilibrium and disequilibrium; this means balanced and unbalanced. For example a film starts of balanced until there is disruption which causes disequilibrium. By the end of the film the disruption has to be resolved so that everything is balanced again and makes it end with an equilibrium state. This means the film should start and end with everything how it should be. We think that our narrative idea falls into Todorov's theory because it starts with equilibrium and then disruption occurs which causes the unbalance in our narrative. However the only disadvantage of our narrative falling into this theory is that because our short sequence ends on a cliff hanger we don't get to balance then end of the sequence and create the final state of equilibrium.

Research Into Target Audience - Miss Miller

Research Into Target Audience

It is important that research is carried out before we start to plan our own individual piece because it is good to understand what types of things an audience prefer to see in the thriller genre. This is because we want our thriller piece to include most of the things the audience recommend as these are clearly elements of the thriller genre that create the most surprise, shock, suspense and tension. We asked 40 people as this it is quite a large number and there will be many different opinions included in this group, this is so we can get a clear variety and find out exactly what different people like to see in a thriller genre and to and co-operate all these into our piece as much as we can. We will look deeply into the different results we got an analyse what we think will best suit our thriller narratives and try and include elements of all the results collected.

We have made a collection of pie charts to show our results in a clear and professional way. We made pie charts on the 10 questions that we included in our questionnaire.

The first question we asked our participants was their age. We thought that this would be a suitable question as we know that the age certificate of our production will be either a 15 or an 18 certificate so therefore the participants included in these age groups and older will have the most relevant information for us to use. This is because we can gather the different aspects that people of this age group will prefer to see in a thriller sequence and try and include these in our production. This is because different age groups will prefer different things. For example an older age group would perhaps prefer more mature themes which would be more difficult for our group to come up with as we are much younger and include it in our short thriller sequence. This chart tells us that the majority of the audience with 62% are aged 16-25.  This means mostly teenagers and young adults are the main viewers of thrillers. This means the themes we use don't have to be too mature and we can include ideas we would enjoy to see as we are part of this age bracket.

The next question we asked our participants was their gender. We thought that this would be an appropriate question because we can understand which gender is most likely to be watching our thriller production. This is important because different genders prefer to see different things in a thriller. Although our thriller will  hopefully contain elements of thriller that all our participants enjoy we will try and contain elements that males enjoy as that is the majority of our target audience and that is what they will enjoy the most. The pie chart tells us that the majority of our participants was male with 75%. This means that most males will be viewing our production and therefore we should include more manly elements for example blood, gore and weapons.

The next question we asked the participants of our questionnaire was "What thrillers do you like and why?". We thought that this would be a good question to ask as it gives us an idea of the narrative and different techniques used in these thrillers which captivate an audience. We can therefore get influence from these thrillers and use some ideas in our own thriller production. These thrillers will give us ideas on a narrative, different camera shots, different editing techniques and codes an conventions. The pie chart shows results that "The Shining" was the most popular thriller with the highest percentage of 37%. This means the idea of evil and possession makes the audience the most frightened so this is perhaps and idea we could include in our own thriller sequence.

The next question we asked in our questionnaire was " What type of sub-genre do you like?". We asked this question because the audience usually enjoy a thriller more if there is an added element or genre added to this. However there are so many different types of sub-genres that can be included so we thought this would be a good question to ask to see which ones where the most popular and fit the best with the thriller genre. In our questionnaire we gave three options of sub-genres including sci-fi, horror and action. 50% of our questionnaire participants said they liked a sci-fi sub genre in the thriller genre. We gathered this meant futuristic elements and thought of ways we could perhaps include this in our own thriller production.

The next question we asked was "What do you expect in a thriller film?". We thought that this would be a good question to ask in our questionnaire as it would give us an idea on the things that instantly pop into peoples minds when we present the word thriller to them. The things they say will be their immediate reactions to what they usually expect to find in a thriller film. These are usually the elements that stand out the most to them and therefore are things we should try and include in our own thriller sequence. Our results show that the most popular element that the audience said was death with 32% and possession only a short percentage after with 28%. Therefore we may try and merge these two elements together to make an interesting and captivating narrative.

The next question we asked was "What type of music do you expect in a thriller film?". We thought this was an appropriate question to ask because it can give us an idea of what music is conventional to the thriller genre and therefore use it in our own piece. Our results showed us that the most popular music choice was eery music with 55% and 30% said jumpy. We expected these results as we believe this type of music will create suspense and tension in our thriller and we will include this music in certain parts of our own thriller pieces.

The next question we asked in our questionnaire was "What do you think a good narrative for a thriller film is?". We asked this question to help us get inspiration on a good idea and storyline for our own opening thriller sequences. Our results show that the most popular narrative was a physcopath on the loose and the second most popular narrative was a possessed child. We think that these were quite common narratives for the thriller genres and if presented in a good way then they can come across as very frightening and jumpy which is conventional to the thriller genre. Therefore we will try and include some of these ideas or elements of these ideas in our own thriller production.

The next question in our questionnaire was "What weapons do you like to be used?". We included this question in our questionnaire because we wanted to gather an idea on what weapons are most effective on the audience when used on a character in the film. We calculated in our results that the most popular weapon that was said was a knife with 45% and then a gun at 30%. We expected the knife to be the most common as it is the most weapon and therefore if we decide to use iconography of weapons in our piece then it will be a knife.

The next question we asked was "What would be a typical setting?". We asked this question so we could understand where for our thriller to be set would automatically give of the genre of the film was a thriller. As we want the setting to be conventional to the thriller genre and give the audience an immediate understanding of the genre of the film. Our results showed that the most common and popular setting was the forest with 32%, just slightly less was an abandoned house with 30% and then a grave yard at 25%. We thought that all these settings give off an eery feel and could instantly related back to the thriller genre. We think that a forest would be a perfect setting for our thriller piece because it is open and makes the audience feel vulnerable which is the feelings we want to create for our target audience.

The final question we asked in our questionnaire was "What would you expect the killer to be?". The options we gave the audience was male, female and other. By other things such as paranormal characters and animals were included. We thought this would be a good question to ask because we could see whether the audience believed whether supernatural killers work in the thriller genre. Our results showed that 67% said male, 25% said female and 8% said other. We expected the most common answer to be male as most antagonists in the thriller genre are male with female victims. Therefore we decided that being unconventional to the thriller genre and changing this that this might also act as effective as a male killer.

We are also using vox pops. These are short interviews of people taking our questionnaire and their answers. We are going to use three different people to interview so that we can get a range of different answers. The people we will be interviewing will be of different ages and gender to make our results reliable and varied. The purpose of them is to give evidence of our participants and gather information from our target audience to get ideas that we can influence from and try to include in our
own opening thriller sequence.

This is a copy of the questionnaire we used and also the same questions that we used in our vox pops.

 

In conclusion we found that the results we gathered were very interesting and conventional to the
 thriller genre. The answers were what we expected and we were glad as we thought of a great idea from our analysis of results. The results gave us an idea on the narrative, iconogrpahy and sub genre and we will be using evidence from our results in our own opening thriller sequence. If we were to carry out our research again we would perhaps of changed some of the questions to make them more open and find out more information from the audience. We could also give more options for them to choose from and make the questions more specific nd therefore get clearer and more relevant information.

Individual Narrative Ideas - Miss Georgiou

Individual Narrative Ideas

A narrative is important in any genre as it is the main foundations of the film. The narrative is the story line so without it the audience wouldn't understand the purposes of the film. It is important to have a narrative in a thriller sequence because the audience need to feel scared but also understand the story. However not too much should be revealed in the opening sequence as this will give to much away and the audience will realise the storyline straight away. The opening sequence needs to include an enigma to hold the audiences attention.

Narrative: The narrative I've come up with is the theme of cannibalism. This is when people eat other people. I think this is an unusual narrative an the idea is quite mysterious and disturbing. I think this would surprise people which is an element of thriller. Two characters are walking in the forest when they discover something isn't right and they are not alone. They could be walking their dog and when it runs off and goes missing they have to split up to look for it by themselves. This could be where something starts to go wrong and things start to become suspicious.

My idea of a good setting for my short thriller sequence is in the forest at night time. I think this would be a good setting because it is automatically associated with frightening themes at night time. The iconograpy that we could use would be masks. This could be to show a hidden identity and make the murderer seem more mysterious and unknown. The use of masks makes sure that the audience cant build a relationship with the characters and it makes them anticipate what they may be like and what their intentions are. A good use of iconography would be weapons to use in my short thriller sequence. These weapons could include things such as a knife, a gun or perhaps a bat. This is because it is conventional to the thriller genre because the antagonist usually uses weapons to assist their attacks but also because it makes the audience feel more frightened and it creates suspense to what the weapons will be used for which always leads to death, pain or brutality.
I think the weather should be cold, muggy and dull. This is because it is conventional to the thriller genre as it immediately gives a negative and cold feel to it, it makes the audience feel as if something bad is about to happen. and it gives them a sense of foreboding.

The target audience for my thriller production will be mainly teens and young adults as I believe that this is the main age group that watch and enjoy thrillers. I think this is because they enjoy the adrenalin that comes with it and they also like that they can be made to feel scared and jump at scary parts of the film. I also think that if the target audience is too low they may get too frightened and not enjoy the film or if the target audience is too high they may find the production a bit silly and boring.

I will share my ideas with my group by explaining why I think we should try and include them in our piece but also why it would be suitable and how it would effect our target audience. After this I will try and compromise with my partners ideas and come up with a narrative all together which includes as many ideas that the group come up with.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Miss Georgiou

Halloween Opening Sequence Analysis
An opening sequnce is imperative in any film genre because it gives the audience a taste of what the film is about and gives the audience an idea of the genre of the film. An opening sequence is important in a thriller film as it usually makes the audience want to carry on watching the film and make them become hooked and intrigued. However not too much can be given away in the opening sequence as thriller films usually want the audience to gain interest in the film very early on and usually creates an enigma. This is making the opening sequence mysterious so the audience want to carry on watching and find out more.

Cinematography

There are different elements of cinematography used in this sequence to create effect in the thriller genre. One of the shots I noticed whilst analysing was a "shallow focus". There is a shallow focus on the knife as the killer pulls it out of the drawer. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense as it makes the audience question the antagonists reasons and purposes of what they will do with the knife. Another element of cinematography used in this sequence is a "high angle shot". The high angle shot is of the house as it zooms in and out at the end of the sequence. This is conventional as it makes the house seem less superior, dull and gloomy. This is because the audience can understand that a murder has just been taken place in the house and it is also the house of the murderer. This gives the audience negative thoughts about the house and this could be used to an advantage in the rest of the film.

Editing

There are many different editing techniques used in the opening sequence of Halloween. One editing technique used in the clip is "wipe". This is evident at the beginning of the scene to introduce the house into the setting and to introduce the location. This is conventional to the genre as the setting is usually a key element and there is a lot to show to make the audience feel scared and frightened. Another editing technique used is "slow editing". This is used when the antagonist is looking through the windows outside the house at the beginning of the scene. This is conventional as it creates suspense as it makes the audience anticipate why they are looking through the windows at the other characters and makes the audience wonder about their intentions. Another editing technique used in this clip is "timing of shots". This is evident throughout the clip but especially when the antagonist is running down the stairs trying to get out of the house quickly. The shots were edited quicker so that it seemed to the audience that the antagonist was trying to escape quicker. This builds suspense as the audience anticipate whether the antagonist will get caught or not.

Soundtrack

There are many different elements of sound used in the opening sequence of halloween. These include elements such as diegetic sound, non diegetic sound, silence and parallel sound. The use of diegetic sound is used in different parts throughtout the clip. I think that the clip uses very good use of diegetic sound. There is an element of diegetic sound when the clock chimes as the murderer makes his way to kill his victim. This is conventional because it seems as if it is chiming down a countdown to the characters death and it also builds up tension. This is an element of thriller as there needs to be a build up of tension before a jumpy or scary scene to make it seem more frightening.

There is also the use of silence in this scene, this creates tension and suspense which are key to the thriller genre. The silence is used as the killer walks round the house in a POV shot. This is a perfect place to have no background music as it builds up suspense as we don't know who is looking through and we don't know what their intentions are. Also the silence makes the audience not know what to expect and makes them anticipate what will be the next part of the scene. The is also aspects of parallel sound used in the clip. This is evident at the very start of the clip as we hear children chanting the words "trick or treat". This is an example of parallel sound because this is what we would expect as it is Halloween and this is a time where children are excited and go out trick or treating.

Codes and Conventions

There are many different codes and conventions of a thriller film such as an unidentified murderer, setting, lowkey lighting and the soundtrack. The codes and conventions are things that help the audience recognise what type of genre a film is from. These things help us to recognise that the film clip is from a thriller genre as we would associate most of the elements with dark, gloomy and painful things. There are different types of conventions included in this clip such as the isolated setting. This scene is set in what looks like a deserted forest late at night. This is conventional to the thriller genre as we would expect the characters to be in a place where they are vulnerble and usually alone without any signs of help. This would make the audience feel on edge and sympathetic for the characters as they are hopeless and things dont look good for them.

Another code and convention used in this clip is the low key lighting. The characters are in a dark forest late at night. This is conventional as we usually associate the dark with unknown precenses and mysterious things. This makes the audience anticipate what may be lurking behind the characters in the shadows, this makes them feel nervous for the character as they build a relationship with them as they are helpless and don't want anything bad to happen to them. 

Representation of Characters

There are only three characters that consist in this sequence, these are a boy and a girl couple and a hidden identity killer which is revealed to be a young boy. The use of having a young boy as the unidentified murder is not very conventional to the thriller genre as we usually wouldn't expect the murderer to be a child as we doubt that they have much power and don't really find them very intimidating so therefore it isn't very common in the thriller genre. However there is elements of convention in the use of this character as it creates an enigma and is very mysterious. This is because the audience are usually surprised when they find out a child has the ability to do something like that and therefore they want to find out the reasons for it and also find out what else they are capable off.

However having the female as the victim is conventional to the thriller genre. This is conventional because we usually expect the men to be the murderers as they are strong and powerful and we usually expect them to go after the helpless female victims.

Narrative

The narrative of the clip is conventional. This is because we understand that the film is based around Halloween and we immediately know that this is associated with scaring people, masks, dressing up and all things scary for one night. Therefore focusing the narrative around this season will automatically make the audience think of the negative aspects of Halloween. The narrative of the film is different murders taking place on Halloween. This is conventional as we expect there to be death and murders in the thriller genre. The audience expect to be scared by the different scary costumes and characters on Halloween. This is also a good narrative to base the thriller film on as it is the one night were people can get away with things without others getting suspicious, the audience can guess this which will make them anticipate some of the things the characters will do. The narrative thats based in the opening sequence of the film leaves us on a cliff hanger. This is because the audience are lead to believe that a murderer is walking around the house with intentions of death and murder. This is conventional because this creates an enigma and it makes the audience anticipate who it is walking around the house and also the reasons and the intentions of the character. This is because in the thriller genre cliff hangers were used so that the audience stays hooked and wants to carry on watching the rest of the film.



Research into Editing Styles

Research into Editing Styles

Editing is the way camera shots are timed and placed in a sequence to create a certain effect. The editing is created in a certain way to emphasise certain parts of the film and make a scary atmosphere for the audience. For example in a thriller slow editing is used to create tension and suspense. I have chosen to analyse a scene from The Human Centipede. I have chosen this clip because it has different editing techniques to create different conventional effects.

 



Reaction Shot
The first editing technique used in this clip is a Reaction Shot. This is any shot in which a subject reacts to a previous shot. This is used many times in the clip. For example a reaction shot it used right at the beginning of the clip when the two girls react by screaming and crying while the man is injecting them. Their upset and frightened facial expressions show that this is their reaction to the situation and it tells the audience that the substance being injected into them is painful and frightening. The purpose of this shot is to ultimately present to the audience certain characters thoughts and feelings and to show the audience the narrative of the film. This helps the audience to understand what is happening in the film and also how the situations in the film effect the characters. This can help the audience build relationships with most of the characters as they can understand and relate to how they are feeling and almost imagine themselves in their situations.

Slow Editing
Another editing technique that I analysed was Slow Editing. This is when clips are juxtaposed together at a slower pace and this is to create suspense. This is used in the scene when the woman is trying to escape although she is trying to escape quickly the editing that is used makes it seem to the audience that she is working rather slowly. This is to create suspense and to see if she will make it in time before the antagonist catches her. The effect of this technique makes the audience worried about what is going to happen to the character. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the victim character as they can feel their pain and they want the best for the character, they build a relationship where they want the character to overcome and beat the antagonist. A slow editing technique also helps to build tension within the scene as it intrigues the audience and gives them a sense of foreboding as if something is about to jump out to scare them or if something bad is about to happen. Tension being created is also a convention of the thriller genre so therefore this is a successful editing style.

Timing of Shots
A third technique used in this scene is Timing of Shots. This means that when in the editing stage some shots are either edited slower or quicker to add emotional impact or to create suspense. This is used throughout the whole of the sequence as in every scene of every film the shots have to be timed in a certain way depending on what effect is desired to be created. In this scene tension and suspense is created, this is because this is a chase scene. Therefore the shots have to be edited into a way that will make the audience feel on edge and wary. The purpose of this is so the audience build themselves up and this makes them jump and become frightened at the scary parts of the film. This is conventional to the thriller genre as ultimately the main purpose of thriller films is to make an audience feel scared and uncomfortable. The timing of shots is important as due to the timing of shots it can create different emotions towards the audience. For example if the shots were edited in a fast pace this would create tension and suspense for the audience as this is were the intensity levels begin to rise which makes the audience feel on the edge of their seat as they anticipate what will happen next.

Shot Reverse Shot
The final editing technique that I analysed in this scene was the Shot Reverse Shot. This is mostly used in films where a conversation is taking place and it is when one shot quickly follows another. This is used in the scene when the two women are crying and talking to each other right at the beginning of the scene. This is a Shot Reverse Shot as the camera quickly shoots back and forth to each character as it is their turn in the conversation. The purpose of this shot is to make sure the audience catch the characters facial expressions but to also make the audience understand that the two characters are facing each other and are usually having a conversation. This is conventional in this scene because as it is a thriller film usually the conversations that happen are important. In this clip the two girls are crying to each other and talking about how they need to escape. This makes the audience feel sympathy for the characters as they can see that they are in pain, they also want the characters to get out safely and for everything to end well and ok.

This research has helped me to understand how different editing techniques create different emotions and conventions of the thriller genre. It has helped me to understand how every aspect of the editing technique needs to be analysed in order to create a certain technique or emotion. This research will help me in order to create my own opening sequence because I know fully understand the different types of editing styles that I can use as a variety in my own production. This will hopefully help me to use a variety of shots and to create many emotions and make a successful opening thriller clip.

Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

Inspirations

We need inspiration before we create something because it gives us ideas that we may want to use in our own pieces and gives us further ideas than our what our own knowledge includes. To also get inspiration from others means that we can gather further insight as to what we can expect in a thriller film. We can take inspiration from other thriller films that intend to create the same effects as to what our own film will want to.  We can also take inspiration from things such as newspapers, magazines, graffiti, posters and other peoples work as well as many others. I have taken inspiration and analysed different successful thriller films  such as "Insidious", " The Human Centipede" and "Saw".

In my planning cinematography post I analysed a scene from the film "Insidious". I analysed this clip because I could find a lot of different camera shots used in it that were conventional to the thriller genre. These consisted of different shots such as gradual zooming in and a tracking shot.



Gradual Zooming In 

Tracking Shot

Seeing what shots were used in an actual thriller film gave me inspiration to how they create the emotions of tension, suspense, shock and surprise. The shots showed me how they were used to create emotion as I could tell which shots were the most effective and made me feel the most frightened as part of an audience. For example the gradual zooming in technique created tension because it is helping the audience to engage and build a relationship with her as the camera gets closer her facial expression become more visible. In looking back on my own thriller sequence I have noticed that I could use this type of shot on the characters faces when they are beginning to become worried about the missing dog. The gradual zooming in will tell the audience that something isn't right as they get closer to the character and see the worried expression on his face. This will also create a sense of foreboding that will make the audience anticipate something bad and make them feel sympathy for the character which is conventional to the thriller genre like they used in this insidious scene. The tracking shot also creates tension as it slowly tracks around the dark hallway which makes the audience anticipate and expect something to jump out at them, however when it doesn't come at the moment they are expecting it to it will scare them more as they wasn't expecting this. I feel like this type of shot would also work in my own thriller production due to our unusual narrative. We could use this shot to show our setting at the beginning of our piece. This would be effective as the setting of a dark forest will make the audience fear the unknown and feel as though they may be about to be scared by something they aren't expecting which will therefore make everything seem more frightening for the audience when it comes before Therefore I am going to use the shots that I found the most effective on myself in my own work.

In my next post I analysed sound. I analysed a clip from the film "Scream". I analysed this clip because there was so many different sound effects used in it that was conventional to the thriller genre and made certain parts of the scene seem scary. Certain aspects of sound that I analysed in the scene was diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, sound effects and parallel sound. Examples of this was sound effects of the entering antagonist and a use of parallel sound when the man is screaming once he has been stabbed. I will also use parallel sound in my own production. I will use this to show the audience when one of the victims has been attacked. Due to the scream not having a picture image to acompany this the scream will be important in order to ensure that the audience understand what is going on and make sure they are still following the narrative. Another technique that I analysed within the scene were diegetic and on screen sound. These where evident when the man was looking in the mirror when he heard a knock on the door behind him. This is diegetic and on screen sound as we can hear and understand where the noise is coming from and what is producing it. I understood that by using this type of sound it can create tension because we usually associate knocking on the door with a bad presence behind it. I will also use diegetic and on screen sound in my own production. I will use this in my POV shot and low angle shot of me and Kane entering the forest. In these shots we will use the sound effects of footsteps. This sound is expected in thriller films as it usually creates tension and makes the audience anticipate the unknown of what may be following and lurking in the forest. This will also play a part in making the victim characters feel vulnerable which will make the audience feel sympathy for them which is also a part of the conventions of thriller. As part of the audience watching this clip I felt as though the knock on the door presented a sense of foreboding as it is conventional to the thriller genre because we usually expect the antagonist to knock on the door and tease the victim before he attacks. I took inspiration from the clip I analysed from Scream because the different sound techniques they used were effective on the audience and create shock, surprise, suspense and tension. The use of sound was created to highlight certain parts of the scene and make the audience jump which is ultimately the impact thriller films have on the audience.

Dark and abandoned setting

Close-up shot to show characters facial expressions

The post I analysed next was research into mise-en-scene. I analysed a scene from the movie
"Saw V". I used this scene because it had various different elements of miss-en-scene that made it apparent to be part of the thriller genre. Two of the main elements of mise-en-scene that inspired me within the Saw V scene was the setting and the facial expressions and body language. The setting was an abandoned dual room with the positioning of the character in the middle. The setting was dark and gloomy which is conventional to the thriller genre and immediately gives off a sense of foreboding and vulnerability. We also took this inspiration in choosing a setting for our own thriller film as we decided we would set our production in a forest during evening so it will be quite dark and gloomy. We felt this will give the audience a sense of foreboding and also make them feel vulnerable and sympathise for the characters as the forest is a big open space which anybody can enter. Also the scene showed various different close up, extreme close up and mid shots of the characters facial expressions and body language. I found this inspirational for my own opening thriller sequence because it expressed to the audience exactly how the character was feeling which was mostly pain and brutality. It made me feel empathy for the character and I felt as though I wanted to help him and didn't want him to experience anything bad happening to him. We decided this would also be good to use in our own thriller clip as we could use body language and facial expressions to show the characters beginning to become scared and helpless as they cannot find the dog. This was intentional as thriller films usually try to use these techniques so that the audience find themselves building relationships with the characters so when bad things happen to them this has a stronger effect on the audience. I found that I wanted to use these elements in my own opening thriller sequence as they had an effect on me being part of the audience and they also help to shock and surprise the audience which is a conventional element of thriller genres.

The next clip I took inspiration from was Halloween H20 : 20 Years Later. I analysed this clip because it had key conventional elements within the scene which created the different elements of a thriller such as suspense, surprise, shock and tension. The first element I analysed and took inspiration from was the hidden and unidentified antagonist. The purpose of this is to create and enigma and ensure that the audience are unable to connect and build a relationship with the antagonist as their purpose is to frighten the audience. I found this inspirational because as part of the audience watching the clip I found that I couldn't focus on any of the antagonists facial expressions which made me unable to understand him as a character and left me wondering about his reasoning's for murdering. Therefore we decided to use this element in part of our thriller sequence. Although our antagonist doesn't wear a mask or using a piece of clothing to hide their identity we will use this technique in a way where the antagonist is one of the characters that you would originally think is one of the victims and wouldn't expect for them to turn around an be the antagonist. We will also not discover the real antagonist until halfway through the production so the audience will be left waiting and anticipating what or who the antagonist may be.
Another element of conventions that I found inspirational was low key lighting. This is were the lighting is very dark and dual which creates a gloomy and mysterious aura. I wanted to use this in my own thriller sequence as I want the audience to feel the characters vulnerability as they are in the dark of night. It also makes the audience feel empathy for the characters as they would have built relationships with the characters and therefore feel aware of them wondering in the darkness. This would also have an impact on the audience as they could imagine themselves in this situation and would therefore understand how the character may be feeling. This is conventional to the thriller genre as they usually try to make the audience relate to the characters so the impact is stronger on them when the characters become the victims in danger. My group also decided we would take inspiration from this film of this technique too. We decided to use low key lighting throughout our whole production to keep a consistent gloomy atmosphere and make sure the audience understand that something bad may happen due to the dark gloomy whether and the sense of foreboding that this element gives to the audience.

My research of the different elements of thriller films was very helpful as they helped me to understand how to make an audience feel frightened and also what techniques are most effective and why. I feel as though the research into conventions and the research into mise-en-scene where the most inspirational. This is because I felt as I analysed the clips I understood clearly how the different techniques were used in ways to make me as the audience feel scared and how the different emotions of shock, suspense, surprise and tension were created through these techniques. I feel that researching different thriller clips was helpful because it has made me understand and see the similarities in different thriller films and has give me inspiration for my own narrative and has given me an idea of what sort of things I want to include in my own opening thriller sequence.

Research Into Conventions - Miss Miller

Research Into Conventions 

Conventions are the different elements that feature in a film that are what we would expect. Conventions are different in different genre films. For example conventions in a thriller film consist of things such as low key lighting, blood and weapons and also an isolated setting.

Some other conventions of the thriller genre that I haven't analysed in this clip are suspense, shock, surprise, tension, death, isolation and an enigma.

The clip I have chosen to analyse is a clip from Halloween H20 : 20 Years Later. I have chosen to analyse this scene as they have easily identified conventions of a thriller genre and I can understand how they are used to make a scene seem scary and make an audience feel on edge.

Unidentified/ Hidden Murderer
In this scene the antagonist/ murderer is wearing a mask which relates back to the narrative of the film being set on Halloween. However this is also a convention of the thriller genre as the murderer has a hidden identity. The purpose of this convention is to create an enigma and make the murderer seem mysterious and unknown. This is conventional to the thriller genre because we are usually expected to be frightened of the murderer and the antagonist. By having the antagonist and murderer masked it helps to stop us from building a relationship with that character as we cannot focus or experience any of his true facial expressions and it makes it hard for us to find out much information about him. Therefore this reduces the audience from building a relationship with the character and makes them feel uncomfortable when looking at them because they are left wondering about him and what his reasoning's are for murdering.

Weapons
There is a huge focus on weapons in this scene and the weapon that is used is a knife. This is conventional to the thriller genre as knives are usually associated with blood, death, pain and brutality. The purpose of this convention is to engage the audience as once they see this type of weapon in the scene they would usually automatically feel a sense of foreboding for the character as they expect that they will soon be experiencing pain and usually death. This holds the audiences attention as they desperately want to know what happens and what the knife is used for which they usually expect to be hurting someone. Also the use of a knife is quite a personal weapon as it requires close up attention in order to work and hurt someone effectively. The item is also sharp which immediately gives the sense of danger as it is a very harmful weapon that can do a lot of damage. As the knife is quite a common weapon to be used in thriller films it automatically gives the audience a sense of foreboding and makes the intensity levels rise as it leaves the audience wondering what it may be used for and why. 
 

Splashes Of Red
During the scene there is splashes of the colour red. The colour red can symbolise many different things such as danger, blood and death. In this scene the splashes of red is evident on the knife once the murderer has stabbed his first victim. The purpose of the blood on the knife is to show what the knife is capable of and also to show blood which is also a convention of the thriller genre as it represents pain, death and killing which is what we would expect to see in a thriller film. The audience can build a relationship with the victim of the stabbing because they can witness their blood on the knife and they can realise they would be in pain and this would perhaps make the audience feel sympathy for the character. The audience wouldn't necessarily build a relationship with the antagonist/ murderer as they don't give off emotion and usually have a hidden identity which is conventional as it is what we expect of them.

Low Key Lighting
In this scene mostly low key lighting is used. This is because the scene is set in what looks like a forest at night time. This is conventional because we usually expect most scenes to be set in a deserted place where a character is alone and feeling vulnerable. The purpose of this convention is to make the characters look vulnerable and at risk of getting hurt or in trouble. It is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience anticipate what may be lurking in the dark shadows, it creates an enigma as the audience feel themselves wanting to find out what scary things are following the characters in the darkness. This makes the audience feel sympathy for the character as they can imagine themselves walking alone in a dark forest and they can understand how the character may be feeling.

Sound
There are different modes of sound used in this clip such as diegetic sound, non- diegetic sound, sound effects and short moments of silence. The diegetic sound used in this clip is the dialogue and screaming. This is conventional because it makes the situation of the clip seem more realistic to the audience. When the audience see and hear a character screaming and talking and planning about what they are going to do it makes the audience imagine themselves in this situation and also make them feel sympathy for them as they build a relationship with the victims and therefore don't want anything bad to happen to them. The non- diegetic sound used in this clip is an eerie and tense piece of soundtrack played in the background of the clip. This is to create tension and suspense which are key elements to create in the thriller genre. When the editing picks up pace the soundtrack also speeds up coordinating with the scene. The purpose of this is to make the audience feel engaged as they want to know what the tension is building up to. It also helps make the scary parts of the film make an audience jump because they get a shock when the murderer or antagonist enters the scene and the tense music stops and is replaced with a heavy and loud sound effect which signifies their entry. This is an example of the sound effects used in this scene. At key parts of the scene sharp sounds are used to symbolise different things. When the masked murderer appears after a long tense piece of non-diegetic sound a loud sound effect. Also when the murderer first reveals his knife a sharp loud sound effect is played. The purpose of this is to create suspense and shock which is conventional to the thriller genre. This makes the audience feel frightened and these parts of the film make the audience jump which is also conventional to the thriller genre as we usually expect to see jumps scenes. Lastly there are short moments of silence when the murderer and a victim is having a stare off. The purpose of the silence at this part of the scene makes the audience anticipate what is going to happen next. It also creates suspense and tension as the silence creates an enigma. This is because the audience can't build a relationship with the characters due to their lack of emotion and speech therefore they anticipate and wonder about the characters and the situations.

In conclusion this research has helped me to understand the conventions of a thriller film and why these are effective in ways where they make the audience experience emotions of shock, surprise, suspense and tension. It has helped me to understand how the conventions make the audience feel and also how to use different conventions to build up tension to scare the audience further. I will take inspirations from these conventions to include in the production of my own opening thriller sequence to try and make our sequence as successful as possible.

Research into Mise-En-Scene - Miss Georgiou

Research Into Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scene is everything that you see in the scene. It includes five key areas such as : Settings and Iconography, Costume, Hair and Makeup, Facial Expressions and Body Language, Lighting and Colour and Positioning of Characters and Objects.

The clip I have chosen to analyse is a scene from Saw V and it is a scene of the pendulum trap. I have chosen to analyse this clip as I believe that it is a conventional thriller sequence and it includes key elements of mise-en-scene and they are easy to understand how they are used to create effect.

Settings and Iconography

The scene is set in a deserted and abandoned old room, we can tell that this is where it is set as we can make out that there is smashed and tapped up windows and also lots of clutter and mess in the background which has been left over long periods of time. The room is quite small and claustrophobic which creates a sense of entrapment. The use of having an abandoned place as the setting helps to create a mysterious effect and makes the audience feel as though it isn't safe or perhaps the victim isn't alone. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience feel on edge because they know anyone is capable of being in a deserted place and it makes them wary of who may be in there and what they may be capable of doing.

The iconography in this scene is mainly the death trap which is the pendulum. This is a death contraption which holds a hopeless victim in place with a swinging axe slicing through his body. The use of this iconography gives the scene a gruesome and violent theme. This makes the audience feel sorry and on edge for the character as they can see he is trapped and is about to have an axe sliced through his body, this would make the audience feel uncomfortable as they are hoping for the best and wondering how the victim will escape or if he won't.

Costume, Hair and Makeup

Only one character features in this scene and he is a British white man in his 30's. His costume is very minimal and bland. He is topless showing off his manly tattooed torso. He is wearing plain black trousers which are hard to make out during the scene, he is also wearing plain black shoes with aren't very noticeable at all. The man has no makeup on until nearer the end of the scene when he has splattered blood over his face and eventually coughs up blood. This is conventional to the thriller film as the minimal amount of clothing of clothing makes us feel as though the victim has perhaps already been tortured or stripped of his clothing. It also makes the character seem more vulnerable as he is trapped and also only wearing half of his costume. The use of blood is conventional because as an audience we usually expect something violent and unfortunate to happen to someone in the thriller genre which usually causes harm to another causing blood and gore.

Facial Expressions and Body Language

Facial expressions and body language are a key exaggerated element in this clip as it is the main focus on how to interpret how the character is feeling. During the clip the character is mostly in pain, from the beginning when the character realised he is trapped, his facial expressions are screwed up and we can tell he is straining as he tries many different ways to try and escape, he screams a lot which we can see very clearly on his face. His facial expressions turn to frustration and anger as he realises he cant escape the trap but he still pursues trying to escape. This is conventional to the genre as we can usually tell by the facial expressions how the character is feeling, it also makes the scene more believable as an audience wouldn't understand someone with a happy facial expression whilst trapped in a death contraption. It helps the audience to build a relationship with the character because the audience can clearly see how the character is feeling.

The body language in this clip is also exaggerated. During the whole of the clip the man trapped in the pendulum is jumping and jiggling about on a concrete slab trying to escape the contraption, he is constantly moving and straining himself in trying to escape, we can tell he is helpless as his body language begins to get weaker during the sequence. The body language helps the audience to understand how the character feels, we can tell by his constant movement that he is vulnerable and out of control, this makes the audience feel sorry and helpless for the character as well.

Lighting and Colour

The lighting and colour in this clip is mainly very low key. The lighting is low key except a key light which shines on the victims body and high above to show the situation he is in but also to create a main focus on the contraption and his body. The lighting helps to create a mysterious atmosphere as the audience don't know who is behind the evil plot and who has put the victim into the pendulum. This helps to create an eerie feel for the audience and makes them anticipate something bad as the dark is usually associated with bad presents and danger. This makes the audience feel tension as they anticipate what will happen next.

The colour in this clip is also very low key and dark, mostly black colours are used. The colour of the concrete slab is dark grey and the death contraption is all black, the TV which plays jigsaws video clip on is also black. This adds to the mysterious but also frightening atmosphere which makes the audience anticipate something bad and give the a sense of foreboding from the beginning of the scene. 

Positioning of Characters and Objects

The main character in this scene is the victim who is positioned on a concrete slab in a death contraption the pendulum in the middle of an abandoned room. The death contraption is positioned above him. This is conventional because the use of having the contraption above him symbolises is has superior power over him and therefore is bigger and stronger and is capable of things the weaker victim cannot fight against. This is usually what we would expect in a thriller because we usually expect the victim to be weaker and unable to comprehend with the villains or murderers strength. The positioning of this automatically gives the audience a sense of foreboding as they realise that the victim is vulnerable and out of control, this will immediately make the audience feel sympathy for the character as they don't want anything bad to happen to him but they know that it will.

In conclusion this post in researching how mise-en-scene is conventional to the thriller genre has helped me to understand how I can effectively and successfully include these in the production of my own opening thriller sequence. This research will assist me with planning and creating my own production as I can continuously look back on the elements of mise-en-scene and try to incorporate some of the ideas similarly into my own piece. This will also give me inspiration to try and make a profession and conventional opening thriller sequence.