Thursday 24 March 2011

Peer Feedback on Final Cut

Good points:

Heart beat and ticking builds up tension and creates atmosphere

The sound effects go really well together in order to build up the tension.

The combination between diagetic and non diagetic sound go well together with the slow cuts which show the protagonist tied up. The close up of hands and feet tied up are effective.

Parallel shots are good and of the different characters gradually being shown is more effective.

Beginning is effective with the blank screen and voiceover then cuts to image of maya

Soundtrack is brillaint makes the scenen very mysterious and tense.
Good mixture of non-diagetic and diagetic sound (phone ringing)

The echoy phone call sounds really nice and gives a flash back feeling.

The effects on the title 'Black Out' look really good and fit it well.

Good angles

Heart beat very effective

Its very mysterious and makes the viewer want to watch more.


Bad points:

The storyline is unclear and confusing

Some of the short clips are repeated, its rather repetitive

Voice overs a bit echoey.

 Its to trailer likits resembles a trailer to much as no story is shown.

Sound gets repetitive.

After a while the heart beat loses its effect, try adding something else or making it slowly getting louder.

Voice over is a bit echoey and more could be done with the sound.

Not enough imagery is used to show what is happening

its not to clear what s going on in the opening because of the lack of video.

costumes and make up

james' and maya's costumes


this is mine and james' outfits, as you can see we applied make-up around our eyes to make it look like we have black eyes. but keeping in the conventions of a thriller we did'nt make it gory.



DSC00869

Screen grab shots from final cut

This is our screen shot sheet for our final cut showing thriler conventions, camerawork, location, lighting, costume, props and titles.

12R2-45 Screenshots

Tuesday 22 March 2011

12R2- 45 Final Version of Thriller opening sequence

This is our final cut of our thriller opening sequence, towards the end when we were trying to add the voice overs, the video became slightly distorted and we tried out best to try and resolve it in the time we were given.

If we were to have more time we may have added someting midway through the film because it gets slightly boring and the viewer is expecting something to help build up the tension.

Friday 11 March 2011

Rough Cut Deadline


This is the rough cut of our thriller opening sequence.

Rough Cut Deadline: on your blogs by 2:30pm

Editing- continuitiy, pace, 180 degree rule, transmissions, gaps.
Camerawork- shot variety, holding a steady shot and framing.
Mise en Scene- appropriate material, props, costume, lighting, location and titles.
Sound- Levels, music, dialogue and voiceovers etc.
Thriller Conventions- which ones have been used and how effective they have been used.

Friday 4 March 2011

Filming outcome

After finishing our filming, we feel that it went reasonably well. We really like most of the quick close up shots and a few of our establishing shots too. The diagetic sound is very effective as it is the natural rustling of feet/ breathing etc.
We used the dark room in the media studio for all of our shots, and this gave a really dark and gloomy effect to the shots. We will be putting a black and white filter over our shots, with credits injected throughout and our own non-diagetic sounds of ticking and a heartbeat over the top.
If we were to redo our shots, we would definately plan out the different still shots to make sure that we would be more ready and prepared to film.

Monday 28 February 2011

Thriller Analysis - Fight Club - Georgia

Fight Club - 1999

Fight club is an American film directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter. The opening sequence of the film is about a man who is dis-contented with his standard life as an office worker, and not only does he collect furniture from his IKEA catalogue to give meaning to his apartment, he suffers from insomnia. The movie quotes that "i am never really asleep, and i am never really awake," which is the exact way to describe his character as he is very bland and average. He starts going to support groups such as testicular cancer support, and tuberculosis support although he is not suffering from them, but he goes there to be able to cry and let out his emotions, in which he then is able to sleep. As the film goes on, the plot of the film is confusing and really makes you think and you feel very shocked when you realise what has actually been happening. As the film goes on, it just gets more and more enticing.

When the film begins, it is a clip of the character sitting in a chair with the character Tyler Durden putting a gun in his mouth. There is a voice-over of the character in the chair explaining and narrating the story occasionally. And then he takes the viewers back to understand how he got into that situation. This is a clip of the very start of him explaining the way he got there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYDLv8rK4z8

Editing: he style of the opening sequence and throughout the film is continuity editing which is fast paced. It is fast paced because the speed in which the cuts to another scene occurs quickly and frequently. There are a lot of reaction shots of him.  And occasionally there is a glitch of a person appearing on the screen for no apparent reason. In the first few seconds on the youtube clip above, there is a wipe transition of the starbicks cup across the desk, and match on action shots of the man but in different locations. There is also a voice-over of the man occasionally throughot especially in the opening sequence, explaining his life to the viewer.

Mise en scene: The setting location is of the man's life. i.e his work, his apartment, his support groups etc. The costumes of the people are very standard and average. As the film progresses as we meet 'Tyler Durden,' we see that the man's clothes are very un-unique to Tyler's as he is wearing flashy clothes that make him stand out, and the man is simply wearing a plain white shirt and a tie, but gradually loses the tie and becomes more scruffy the more he is with Tyler. The lighting is all natural light, either night or daylight. The body language of the man is very inferior and discrete and he slumps and is very unenthusiastic in his facial expressions.

Camerawork: In the opening sequence there are a range of shots. For example, It starts with a close up of him tied up in the chair, leading onto a close up shot from the shoulders up when he is at his support group, then to a mid shot/high angle, from the waist up and looking down on him when he is in bed, back to a close up when he is at work and throughout the opening sequence there is not that much variety in the camera angles apart from that. The camera is usually in a fixed position with slight movement in the opening sequence, becoming more varied as the film goes on.

Sound: Throughout most of the opening sequence, the sound is diagetic and is of the sounds that are around him. However there is a voice over of him which is both diagetic and non-diagetic as it could be his inner thoughts while the film goes on.


Friday 18 February 2011

Production Companies

A production company is a company responsible for physical production of new media, performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for raising of funding for the production or may accomplish this through an emissary. The company will then sell the production to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself.  It is common for actors to form their own production companies so that they can have more control over their own careers.

universal


Fonts

There are many types of fonts that can be used on most word documents whilst writing these include:

Ariel - Media
Verdana -  Media
Georgia - Media
Courier - Media
Trebuchet - Media

Fonts can also be changed by the size of the writing, for example:
 
Smallest - Media
Small - Media
Normal - Media
Large - Media
Largest - Media

Fonts can also be changed by the use of colour for the writing such as:

Red - Media
Orange - Orange
Yellow -  Yellow

Friday 11 February 2011

level four marking scheme

The following shows the grading for a level 4 which we will aim to achieve.
level 4: there is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills-

  • framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; we shall frame our shots so that we will be excluding light from our shots and make them relevant to what we choose to shoot in our story boards.
  • using a variety of shots distances as appropriate; we shall use appropriate shots for the type of shot we need for the scene within our opening sequence. using different angles and distances this will allow us to get the effect we need to make are film a good thriller.
  • shooting material appropriate to the task set; we shall strictly follow the task set and our story boards to complete our thriller effectively and completely finish it to a high standard.

Video level marking scheme

This is to make sure that we get the highest possible grade to our ability.
  • Holding the shot steady where appropriate: we will be using a tripod to create a steady and controlled video clip or the camera will be placed on the floor which is equally as steady. 
  • Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate: We will make sure we abide by this by only using basic shot types and not thinkning about the distance we shoot them at. We will have a set distance from each shot e.g. hands, eyes etc. 
  • Shooting material appropriate to the task set:We will make sure that our thriller doesn't turn into a horror by keeping the suspense up and the gore down. We will also follow the basic task set and complete it to a basic standard. 
  • Selecting mise en scene including colour figure lighting objects and settings: making sure we include the 5 elements above and including them in our thriller opening sequence. 
  • editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer: We will have fast cuts from the footage to the credits as it will give out a very disorientating image to the audience.
  •  using various shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriatly for the task set: We will use mostly close up shots to give it the disoritntating effect to the audience as the close ups will make it very hard for the audience to understand.
  • using sound with images and editing appropriatly for the task set: We will be using non digetic sounds of a hard beat and a clock to create suspense for the audience.
  • using titles appropriately: We will put our titles in between the various shots using quick cuts to and from the shot.

Test Footage Take 2

We have now uploaded our second attempt of test shot footage with new music as we didnt like the previous music and didnt add to the effect we wanted.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Test Shots

We did some test shots in the media studio green room. We would have preffered to use the dark room but it was unavalible.

we went through are shot list and story board and tried to replicate this to our best abilities in the green room but with the large window and green room this was rather difficult. we tried different angles and practiced the way we will film the thriller. we used close up shots, low angles, shot reverse shot and mid shots.
we added the same music we used for our sonic mood board, but when it comes to our final thriller we are going to use a different sound for the heart beat as the one we are currently using isnt good enough and doesn't have the right effect we want to portray.
we put a black filter over the film to hide the fact we did film in the green room and to see the other effects we could use to add the effect of our film.

Friday 4 February 2011

Location:
The location we will be using will be the colleges media studio and using the black room. We could also use the photography departments dark room but that would be too small.
There will only be one scene but with a lot of cuts going back and fourth from blackness to a shot of a clenching fist etc.
we shall take a copy of our shot list and story board so we all know whats happening if we get stuck on what needs to be shoot next.

Props and Kit requirement:
  • Chair
  • Rope
  • Black card ( to cover window)
  • Fake flood
  • White t-shirt
  • Tights

contact details:

>maya
  • 07768688566
job role: actress

> james
  • 07415336848
Job role: director

> georgia:

contact number:
  • 07510316620
job role: camerawoman

Thursday 3 February 2011

Sonic mood board

this is the mood board for are opening sequence

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Maya Whitmore- Why Thrillers Thrive- Homework

The article is about the differences between thrillers and horrors how Thrillers provide ‘thrills’  for the viewer which civilization has so screened and sheltered us that is isn't practicable to experience sufficient thrills at firsthand. Thrillers have been made to allow the viewer in the cinema to be able to see whats happening but at the same time be safe and secure so they can experience the thrill artificially and as the civilisation has become so sheltered and protective of the viewers welfare and psychological state the cinema screen is the best medium  for this. watching a well made thriller we don't sit by as spectatorswe participate in the story getting involved and engaging with the plot, as its in are nature to want "shake ups" within the story otherwise we grow sluggish and jellified.
The scene  in hells angels in which a British pilot decides to crash the plane into the envelope of the zeppelin to destroy is and obviously killl himself, this could be a horror stricken scene but the way camera work is used, cutting from his face and then to the piolts seat so have the impact as if the viewer is the pilot hurtling to there death, but the viewer knows there safe and in no harm because in are subconscious we are aware that we are safe sitrting in a comfortable arm chair watching a screen. the use of camera work plays a big part in the way the audience capture the scene and the emotions which are being thought.
a bad example of attempting to thrill the public was at an exhibition slide show  promising thrills, where the public sat between two colums in a bid to frill the viewers as they sat there in there seats naturaly expecting the curtains to be drawn but instead hearing a loud craking noise, one of the pillars began to toppel over onto the audience, before they even had a chnace to run for cover the piller was suspended above there heads. even though it provided a trill it wasnt the tyoe which pleased the public, having so many complaints the slideshow was closed down as the publics basic feeling of secuirty and saftey was underminded.

horror films are rather different to thrillers, the term orginially meaning "extreme aversion" has been loosely applied to films which to supply the desrired emotional joilt, including exploit sadism, perverstion, bestiality and deformity. horror is seen as utterly wrong being vicious and dangerous. there is a growing body of opinion inside as well as outside the film industry against such films which are succesful in direct ratio to thier power to create unantural excitiment. as a matter of fact they are bound to fail because the public is as a rule healthy minded.

Georgia Maya and James - The Sixth Sense Opening Sequence Sound Analysis.

From the very start during the title sequence there are non diagetic dramatic sounds. This entices the viewer, however it seems to drag on a bit. Then it cuts to the sequence of the woman in tha basement which has diagetic ambient sounds of the door and her footsteps. It then goes to the scene when she is with bruce willis and there is a low pitched diagetic sound of the radio while they are talking. The sound of the radio stops and then the only sounds are the diagetic sounds of them as they are fumbling around with footsteps etc. The woman then gasps followed by a diagetic sound of the phone off the hook. There are then non diagetic dramatic sounds which the contex is added (location sounds.)

Georgia and Maya- Storyboard, Shot List, and Risk Assessment Sheet



Location Recce- Georgia and Maya

This is a photo of Maya in the studio dark room. Obviously this will not be the kind of footage we will be taking but.. yep.


 This is the studio room. When we got in there we realised there is a window in the dark room and we found this to be a problem. However, to overcome this we will put a large piece of black card over the window.


 We will be using a chair like this in our opening sequence.
  This is Maya..

                               She will be our actress.


The media studio room from the outside.

Why ''Thrillers'' Thrive

Take a case in point, which a great many picturegoer readers are likely to have seen the scene in Hell's angels, in which the British pilot decides to crash his plane into the envelope of the Zeppelin to destroy it, even though this means inevitable death to himself. We see him face grim, tense, even horror stricken as his plane swoops down. Then we are transferred to the pilot's seat, and it is we who are hurtling to death at ninety miles an hour; and at the moment of impact and blackout a palpable shuddering runs through the audience. This is good cinema. In this there is no harm, because in our subconscious minds we are aware that we are safe, sitting in a comfortable armchair, watching a screen.

Monday 31 January 2011

Georgia Atherton- "Why Thrillers Thrive." Homework

The article, 'Why "Thrillers" Thrive,' is about different Thrillers and the difference between Horrors and Thrillers, and why Thrillers are a lot more satisfying.

Thrillers are Thrilling to the audience because they are seeing life reflected, but the kind of life that we will never experience ourselved that consists of emotional disturbances which provide us with the thrills. Our nature is to have these thrills or shake ups, but as we can rarely experience them ourselves we have to experience them artificially, for example in the cinema or a theatre where it has been made for us. In a well made film we not only watch the film, we participate in it in our own way as we appreciate what the characters on stage are going through and we project ourselves into thier conciousness.

A good Thriller, such as 'Hells Angels,' there is no harm to the audience because in our subconcious we are aware that we are safe as we are only visually watching the cinema and know to ourselves that we wont be harmed. For example, when the pilot decides to crash his plane to destroy it, the audience are aware of his inevitable death. This is followed by the viewers seeing his grim face as the plane falls. We almost feel as if we are there with the pilot, also crashing to our deaths, and as his plane crashes, shudders and thrills run through the audience.

However, a bad thriller such as an exhibition show promising thrills to the audience. The audience were sat between two columns facing a curtain. They expected the curtain to rise, however, one of the columns began to fall over toppling on to the audience. It was then suspended above them before it fell completely. This caused the audience fear, not thrills, and therefore there were a lot of complaints about it as the audience's feeling of security was undermined.

A horror is an entirely different type of cinema. It originally means "extreme adversion," and there are a lot of different types of horror, varying from drastic to mild. They were made to provide an emotional jolt to exploit sadism, perversion, bestiality and deformity. Horrors are generally vicious, dangerous and gruesome. Horrors also provide unnatural excitement to the viewers.

"A Thriller must be wholehearted- the more exciting the better and that is why the authentic thriller will live and thrive, and the horror film will die."

Thursday 27 January 2011

Feedback from Thriller Presentation- Georgia, James, Maya.

  • Sound:
We got asked about our use of sound and whether we were going to have obvious thriller sounds or some more ambient sounds. We decided on using ambient sounds that are diagetic of the man, the heartbeat etc.
We think it will give a better effect than using dramatic non diagetic sounds.

  • Location.
 We got questioned on our location and we decided upon using the really dark room where you process your films in the college photography department. Or the studio room which has black walls which could be equally effective.

  • Lighting.
We will be using either a torch or a night vision camera o give the effect we want in our opening sequence. 

  • Test Shots.
We also decided to do a few test shots to decide how we will film our thriller openin sequence and also the effect a night vision camera/ a torch will give.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Opening Sequence -

For are thriller opening sequence we have chosen Georgias first idea of the heart beat and the quick shots to the flustered/ panicked man. The man shall be wearing a ripped shirt with fake blood stains and jeans.
The opening sequence will last for few minutes. It will consist of several different shots of a very flustered man in a very confused and stressed state. Whilst a non diagetic sound of a heart beat plays all the way through the opening sequence then slowly shall fade out to the end. The use of this sound and suspense and mystery.
The thriller opening sequence would fit into the sub genre of a mystery thriller, it fits the conventions of a mystery thriller as it is a Suspense film where characters attempt solving, or involved in, a mystery. The thriller conventions uses suspense, tension, and excitement to build the main elements of the opening sequence. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique.

Camera work- our opening sequence will use shot types such as; close ups of the mans hands to show him clenching and facial expressions to show his distress and medium to long shots to show him when he wakes up in the bed and the confused state he will be in. The film shall be in a continuity style through out.

Mise en scene- the opening sequence shall be filmed in a dark room with no lighting apart from the single light on the video camera, this adds to the suspense as it creates a feel of the unknown and mystery, which are both typical conventions of a mystery thriller film. Also maybe filming the cuts where the camera cuts to the man in night vision we may also do as its looks scary and mysterious. We will take close up shots of different parts of the mans body before we cut to a long shot of the man tied down on a bed whilst we see his worried and confused reaction to the situation he is faced with.

Picture 17

The image above shows the effect of what we may decide to do if we filmed in night vision, but we would have a green filter not purple.



Picture 18

The image above shows the sort of thing which we shall be trying to film when we do close ups of the man in distress.

Picture 19
 
This image is the style of how we want to film the clenching fist but in our shot of this we would have a lot more tension being sown.

Picture 20

The image above shows the setting which we shall film are opening sequence in but we wont have the window which is letting in a beam of light most likely.

Friday 21 January 2011

How sound is used in our opening sequence

The sound in are opening sequence which is a heart beat is used to add to the dramatic effect which builds up tension and realism. The heart beating builds up suspense for the viewers and doesn't reveal much leaving them questioning.

analysis of sound used in thriller opening

Catch Me if You Can Opening Title Sequence- the use of sound within the opening sequence portrays an image of the film and how its mystical and how its on a per suite theme thought the theme, the sound is emphasising the tension which is being built up through the animation sketch of the opening sequence. the music picks up pace to suit the scene of the animated sketch and towards the end the music is very fast in pace.

 Pulp fiction opening sequence- The song is "Misirlou" by Dick Dale. The song in the opening sequence shows a good reflection of what the film is like and the way the song changes to another at the end emphasises the away the film is inconsistent and fast past which shows the way it has alot of action and extremism.

Thursday 20 January 2011

Individual Ideas For The Opening Sequence Of Are Thriller Project

My first idea was to have my opening sequence set in a dark room, with a flash light flashing on a person who has been tied onto a chair with fake blood over their face for the effect that they have been beaten up. I shall have the tittle sequence in red writing which shows up when the spot light isn't showing. the cuts between the flash light and black background with the titles showing shall be fast paced to add to the suspense. this meets the typical convention of a thriller opening sequence as creates a scared thrilling feeling to set off the film for the viewers.

My second idea was to have a woman walking through a park and night and have a camera follow her and pop up in different positions through her walk, making creepy diagectic noises so the woman gets scared. this shall add suspense and the viewer will become scared for the woman so this is meeting the typical conventions of a thriller opening sequence. the pace between shots shall be a steady and continuity throughout. this shall have reference to murder mystery .

Georgia Atherton- Thriller Opening Sequence Ideas

My first idea is to have a non-diagetic --> diagetic sound of a heart beat with a black background. The titles will be slowly cutting from one to the next slowly getting faster. Then i will add a non-diagetic ticking that gets quicker, and have this over the heartbeat. There will then be a extremely quick shot of a person with thier eyes clenched tight and then cutting back to to a black background with another actor's name or producer etc, then it will carry on like this with different parts of the man's body like his forehead sweating or his fist clenching etc. During this the music will be getting quicker and quicker, finally ending with a cut to the man waking up in bed/ tied up in a room etc really flustered and concerned. Then something happens such as another person comes in and says something (im not sure what this could be yet!) then a dramatic almost eerie drum? sound will cut off with the man shouting/screaming? to a final title credit of "By Georgia Maya and James" or something along those lines. This would be much easier to film than explain as it is hard to explain my vision of it. This thriller opening would be an action/scary thriller. 


My second idea is of a woman walking her dog through some woods at night and suddenly her dog runs off into the darkness. The woman is calling for it to come back but all she hears is silence.  Then she hears someone breathing behind her. She turns round and no-one is there. Then there is a tracking shot of a handheld camera running towards her face. She screams and the title credits roll with a thrilling non-diagetic sound behind it. This is a murder mystery/ scary thriller.

James Bissell-thriller opening 2

The sequence starts with a couple walking through a park chatting to one another when the man's phone rings, he answers the phone to a women he tells him that she is watching them. The man looks around in fear and then asks who it is. The women then reveals to the man that she knows what he has done and that his girlfriend wouldn't want to know what that is. The man tells her to leave him alone and hangs up the phone. As soon as the man does this his phone rings again with the same number, he quickly hangs up and phones his friends at the police station as the man is in the police force. However before he can put down the phone someone hits the man from behind right on the head, the women screams but is then smothered before the scene is cut to the end credits.

James Bissell-thriller opening

The sequence starts in a pitch black room with just a women's voice being heard as she cries for help. Suddenly the lights come on in the room revealing the girl sat on the floor handcuft to the leg of one of the table legs. All of a sudden a deep mysterious voice is heard from a set of speakers that are in the room telling her the only way out is to find the key to uncuff herself, however if she doesn't find the key within five minutes the lights will go out again and she will be left in the dark to die. The kidnapper also tells also tells the girl that in her right pocket is a key but this key doesn't fit the handcuffs. The girls' five minutes begin and she staggers around the room as far as she can in order to find the key. The cut pace will be much quicker here to enphasise the tension in this scene. Eventually the girl finds the key under a table with ten seconds to spare before releasing the cuffs. The mysterious voice then comes over the speakers again telling the girl that the door to the room may not be as harmless as it looks and that the key in her pocket will open the door but whether she chooses to do so is up to her.....

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Previous Student's Thriller Video Analysis



Mise-en-scene: Most of the footage is filmed on a bus. The first scene is a panning shot of a bus station and then quickly cuts to inside the bus focusing on the boy sitting in the corner. At the end of the sequel  there is a long shot of the bus stopping in the middle of a town and you see everyone getting off the bus. The boys body language throughout the opening sequence is very closed and doesn't show much emotion.

Picture 11


Lighting: Most of the light in the sequel is provided by natural light although it seems there could be some artificial light on the bus.

Sound: Most of the sound comes from the soundtrack that covers most of the footage. At the end of the footage when the bus stops in town it is replaced by more natural sound.

Editing: Throughout the footage the cut pace is kept very slow and it cuts mostly to different angles of the  boy.
There are a lot of close up shots of the boy to express his expressions throughout the journey. there are many other different shots types which are appropriate to the relevant distance which is needed to show the detail n the shot, this would be a level three in the grading criteria.

Picture 10
This screen grab shows the panning shot which is used at the beginning for the establishing show when the bus leaves the bus bays and has a panning shot of the other buses coming in.

The screen grab above shows the boys face with a close up shot, which shows how the boy doesn't show much emotion.
Titles are used appropriatly and used at the relevant points during the opening sequence.

Marking Criteria

Marking Criteria

Level 3:
There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:
  •  holding a shot steady, where appropriate,
  • framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate.,
  • using a variety of shot distance as appropriate,
  • shooting material appropriate to the task set,
  • selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting,
  • editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer,
  • using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively ad appropriately for the task set,
  • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set,
  • using titles appropriately.
Level 4:
Thee is evidence of excellence n the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

  •  holding a shot steady, where appropriate,
  • framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate.,
  • using a variety of shot distance as appropriate,
  • shooting material appropriate to the task set,
  • selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting,
  • editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer,
  • using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively ad appropriately for the task set,
  • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set,
  • using titles appropriately.

Thursday 13 January 2011

Psychological Thrillers

central theme of identity- examples of how this theme is explored include mistaken identity, amnesia, stolen identities, dual identities.
memories is another key thing. the torture of an individual of bad of traumatic memories.  The trauma of a lost memory.
reality + perception- A persons perception of what is and isn't real is also explored.- events are shown from the view point of multiple characters.


Memento (2000)
stream of consciousness- voice over- internal thought.

 dramatic + mysterious music- building up suspense- string instruments.

mise en scene- writing on his hand- cant remember things so he uses his body as a note book. he tattoos his body with important info.

set on intrigues- the writing on his body are clues to a bigger puzzle.

cuts + bruises on the protagonists face indicates he has been fighting. he is a vunerable character + his weakness of having no memory makes him more so. it could make him dangerous.
Picture 7 

the use of point of view shots in the hotel room tells the viewer he is unsure of where he is. This could indicate he could be unsure of who he is.

close ups of photograph have a voyeuristic feel- the viewer has a privileged perspective.

sense of time is being destrupted by showing the event backwards.

the opening sequence signals to the viewer what to expect in the rest of the film- distortion in reality, disruption of time, repetition + loss of memory.


questions- unreliable narrator.

mistaken identities- "Lenny "- "i have told you before it is Leonard" - dual identity.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Previous Student's Thriller Video Analysis



Throughout this clip, fades are used as the main editing style. It really works and capivates your attention. The pace between shots is slow through most of it when it is fading between settings and positions of the girl, but then it is fast when the girl is in shot and moves backwards away from the camera which has been very cleverly edited in final cut. The settings range from being outside where the girl is on a swing, to an empty mysterious room which has an unfriendly presence about it. The way the camera is positioned on the floor gives the impression it has been abandoned, like the house and the girl.
The sound used is only ever diegetic sound which is very eerie and mysterious.

Picture 6

Friday 7 January 2011

Alfred Hitchcock- Marnie Opening Sequence Analysis

Sound: from the beginning there is non-diegetic sound that builds suspense and tension which is over a title sequence which is in the format of a book. The music then suddenly stops to a tracking close up shot of a woman's hand bag as shes walking, you do not see her face but there is a diegetic sound of her shoes .

Picture 1

Picture 2

Camerawork:  Close ups and panning shots are mostly used in the opening sequence to give the extra feeling of suspense and mystery. When it cuts to the scene of the investigator after the theft you feel as if you are in the room with them which gives extra feeling of realism to the film. In the actual opening sequence the woman who we discover is the thief her face is never revealed. This gives an extra sense of suspicion.  There are a lot of cuts in the opening sequence which goes from completely different scene to scene but they are also connected through the storyline.

Picture 3

Mise-en-Scene: The costumes used are very typical of the era the film was set in which is very formal and made up. The location is in early America, in a middle class area, however the costume portrays a much higher class of people. There is natural lighting throughout with a slight dim-ness to the scene with the police investigators. The body language of the police investigators is at first very strong and bold but when the man who got robbed confronts them about why they are laughing when he describes the thief then hunch over slightly to show a very subtle sense of cowardliness.
Picture 4
 The woman walking after the title sequence is very calm, strong and seemingly powerful and she walks with meaning and sophistication and her head held high- clearly smitten with the fact she had just stolen the money.
Picture 5

Editing:Through the opening sequence there is continuity editing. The pace between shots is fast,but not within every cut, just a few during the investigation and then the suspense has been built up, which shows and reflects the pace of the woman and hows shes constantly on the move.
there are lots of cuts within this opening sequence. On the title sequence it starts off with a fade and each transition is made with a wipe. In the interview with the detectives there is a shot reverse shot between the detectives and the man.

Thursday 6 January 2011

Georgia Maya James Preliminary Task

This is our second attempt at the preliminary task which we feel we completed well by including all the camerawork theat was required and the objectives that were set.