Group Storyboard- Miss Miller

 Elements

The purpose of a group storyboard is to take individual ideas then to collaborate them to make a much better storyboard done by the whole group. This will undoubtedly be better than one done by an individual as it only take one persons opinion into account which limits the possibilities of our film clip

Ben Yarwood:

The killer always walking was one element that was take from my own storyboard. We used this as it makes the man less human with his movements and it seems to make the man much more terrifying than if he wasn't. Also it makes the victim more vulnerable in the way that she is running and is nervous and panicky which juxtaposes the way that the killer moves in a calm and fluid movement. This also makes the audience feel more uncomfortable as he is so robot like and gives them a surprise when he comes onto the screen yet does not run.

Another is the way that in my own storyboard the face of the killer is never revealed to the audience or the victim. This makes the killer much more threatening as you cannot identify him and the victim knows this.This makes the victim panic and therefore the audience will feel uncomfortable in the way that it could be anybody in the street so is making the actions on the screen feel more real and relate able. This will also make the part where the victim is murdered more unsettling for the audience in the end.

I also used a panning shot which was used in my storyboard. This was used in the the chase as it presents the idea of speed and panic which helps present the emotions of the scene. This is one way that emotions can be prented to an audience though the camera angle.

Beau Abery:

From Beau we took the idea of the setting being in a normal and familiar area that is deserted. This makes the killing more personal and has a feeling that it could happen on any street to anyone. When the killing finally happens then it makes the killing more personal to the audience and therefore makes the killing much worse to watch. Also the idea of it being in a normal area the audience can relate to building a relationship with the people who are there. Also the idea of it being empty gives the sense of hopelessness which puts people in more of a vulnerable position.

A second point that we took from Beau's is that we should use a big knife instead of any other weapon. A knife is much more dramatic than a gun and makes the killing much more brutal to watch for the audience so makes them feel more pity for the victim. Another reason is that it makes the killing much more personal for the killer and victim , if it was a gun the killer would not need to actively pursue and chase the victim, therefore leaving less of a chase scene and more hiding so less active for the audience.

Michelle Woods:

From Michelle's storyboard we decided that we should have both characters in normal clothes. This will make the victim seem more relatable and when she finally dies it will be more personal for the audience. Also the killer will be much more scary in the way that he could be anyone in the audience and therefore make people that see it more scared of the killer as he is anonymous among a crowd.

A camera angle that we took from Michelle's was the low shot of the shoes of the victim. As she see's the killer she start to run and then it goes to the killers trainers walking quickly on the concrete. This will show the mood of the scene without actually showing the faces.

Evaluation

Overall I believe our group storyboard has been a success in the way that we have pooled our ideas to create a even better one incorporating everyone ideas. We have used parts from all of the storyboard but some more than others to make a unique clip that we are all happy with and that we all think is good.





Opening Sceneration- Miss Miller

Opening Scene Narration

This is our final finished product for our filming and includes our ideas combined to make a better version of our individual ideas together.

Our plot is as followed: a woman who is coming home from work at 7pm and is driving. She then parks up in a underground car park and gets an odd feeling of being watched , she ignores it and gets on with locking her car and walks away. Unsuspecting to her she has a follower who as we can see has a knife in his hand and when she finally notices he is much closer. She starts to run immediately for her house which is on the other side of a forested area and goes for a shortcut straight through. Over some time of running the killer is finally gaining on her. She stumbles and the killer is finally able to grab her and then the screen goes black with just silence.

Our first frame is a woman in a car driving through a forest on a empty road. The only light source is from lamp posts and this creates shadows on the side of the road, this is very conventional to the start of a thriller. The sounds in this scene are the car engine and the noises of the forest such as wind and trees swaying.The shots used in this scene are the establishing shot, panning and point of view shot.There is no dialogue in this scene apart from a small amount of talk from a radio station. The screen also shows some of the background such as a person walking and a dog barking in the distance.

The second is the car driving into the car park after it has driven on the road.The light again is from a lamp post but one that is far away so the car is in shadows.The noise in the scene is the engine and noises from the forest which surrounds the car park.The camera shots used in the scene are middle shot, high shot from far way and a pov from the killers perspective . This also has a person walking on the road with a person walking on the side of the road.

The third frame is when the woman gets out of the car and closes the door.The light is the same as before but the sound becomes more tense and it is obvious that something is going to happen. The other sound are the slam of the door and the wind which is happening around them.The camera shot used are a low shot which creates the sense of vulnerability, middle shot and a long shot. There is a car alarm in the background but not close enough to see the car.

Our fourth frame was the beginning of the chase scene where the woman first see's the killer. The sound in this scene is dramatic sound and everything goes silent. This created dramatic suspense and is very conventional to thrillers and can be seen in films such as Shutter Island. The light in the scene goes darker than before but is just due to time and the increased shadows creates even more suspense. The lighter area created by the lamp post creates an even more eerie scene. This scene has a very uncomfortable feeling and we can see it in the woman's movements.

The fifth frame is when the chase scene start and she starts to run. She sees the man advancing and starts to quickly walk then breaks into a run this is done rapidly over a short amount of time. The noise of this scene is the noise of her shoes on concrete and the killers heavy shoes. The rest of the scene is silent for dramatic effect this is seen in many other films. The camera angles in this are pov which makes the dramatic effects more personnel. Another camera angle is the tracking shot which is used for the chase scene as they are all moving.

The sixth frame is when the woman runs through the forest area to the other side which is safe but is struggling to make it against the killers fast walking. The sound is the rustling of the leaves and the wind rocking the trees in the background.The light is the moonlight coming through the trees and the faint glow of a lamp post in the distance. The camera angles are pov, tracking and a long shot all of these make the scene feel more real for the audience and improve the scene. This scene is very tense as the audience can see that she will probably not make it.

Frame eight is when finally the killer is catching her up she is sobbing and he is very close behind her now.The sound is the rustling of the leaves and the wind rocking the trees in the background.The light is the moonlight coming through the trees and the faint glow of a lamp post in the distance which makes for an odd glow. The camera angles are pov, tracking and a long shot all of these make the scene feel more real for the audience and improve the scene. This scene is full of anxiety as the audience wants the woman to escape but she will not at the rate she is running.

Frame nine is when the killer finally catches her and she is struggling to get away.The light is the moonlight coming through the trees and it is very dark now representing how hopeless she is. The camera angles are pov, tracking, close up and a low shot.These make the scene have many different camera angles and give lots of camera angles to how horrific it is. This scene is very anxious as the audience now knows the woman is caught but we do not know what will happen to her after.

Frame ten is simply when a blindfold is put over her and we can hear nothing but her sobbing and her heartbeat. Then silence for a few seconds then the laughing of the killer. This scene is very disturbing for the audience and makes it quite unpleasant as the bond between the characters has been built and now they car about her.

Finally frame eleven shows the killer leaning over the woman in silence and the camera goes into a low shot looking up at the bell tower and trees. Now we want to know what has happened finally to the woman and now the audience is interested in what will happen.

There are many ways that our own storyboard is conventional. It being set in a forest and car park are very conventional places and give the idea of isolation towards the audience. Other things such as the killer not being directly viewed gives a sense of him being inhuman and this makes him more scary.A last way is the way that the victim is portrayed as a vulnerable characters from the start which is typical as no victim is ever strong.

Things we may add  for it to become more conventional:

A scream from the victim may help the scene become more conventional as it is easy to use and shows pain and panic which is what we want from our victim. This would also shock the audience more and make it more uneasy for them to watch.

We possibly may extend the last bit as the ending is very predictable maybe if she escaped the wood but ran into the killer it may be a better ending. This would also be more conventional as in thriller things normally do not go the way expected and it may be better to have a twist.

Also making the time the victim does not know she is being followed could be longer. This could relate to the audience as everyone has had the feeling of being followed which can make the experience of watching it more unsettling. Also in many other thriller films victims do not immedietly see the killer.

Risk assessment- Miss Georgiou

Risk Assessment 

A risk assessment is used to minimizes the risks of an environment and make it as safe as possible for the people involved. Without a risk assessment that people do pay attention to it can be very dangerous for the people involved even in the most safe of environments. This will make the risks that are undertake much smaller by comparison.

Our risk assessment covers the main dangers that are related to our filming and are very specific with things that can be done to prevent them and how they have started.An example of a dangerous location which is not to far away is just filming on a road. This is an example of how any location can be dangerous but can be helped by a risk assessment of the area. Things as simple as avoiding using a busy road can really help the safety and make filming much safer for the people involved. Without the risk assessment it would be very dangerous to film on any location.

Our first risk is trailing leads while working around a set which form a tripping hazard which is very easily done and is easily preventable. All that is need is taping them to the floor so they cannot be moved and this will prevent tripping over them.

Running in a forest can be very dangerous as debry and obstacles in the way. Things such as rocks, branches, roots and holes can all cause a serious trip and landing of any of these can result in serious injury such as broken bones or cuts. The best way to counter this is to use appropriate footwear when running if possible and clear the path of any tripping hazards before the run.This will prevent any injuries when running in a forest.

Another big risk is using a knife in filming , things such as cuts and stab wounds can be fatal and would need medical attention immediately. To make it safer using a knife we must hold the knife in the correct way which avoids cuts to hands and to not run with the knife as if someone ran and slipped they could impale themselves and would likely die. Or it would be much safer using an alternative although that is not possible in this case.

This is essential as if we did not have a risk assessment and people did get hurt then it would be the fault of the people who are in charge as they have not instructed them. With a risk assessment that is known it is easier then for people to take precautions and to be safe in the area that we are filming and working on location. Also necessary things are needed for working with different things such as running in a possible wet forest with a knife. For this we cleared a path and made sure there were no obstructions in the way. However it is also personnel responsibility such as wearing appropriate shoes.

Overall a risk assessment is very important on keeping people safe and to make sure that the chance of dangerous things that could be happening to be kept to a minimum so as to make it hopefully not happen while filming.

. 

Filming schedule- Miss Georgiou

Filming schedule 

Our filming schedule was very important as it was used  to keep our filming on time and to help minimize the time that we were actually filming as this is very time consuming. Without the filming schedule things also take much longer as you will be deciding on what to do when you are actually there. This can take some time and makes the filming so much more time consuming , also it can make decision making hard and this can leed to a difference in opinion and a argument. All of this will not help filming and the filming schedule can be easily drawn up when the time constraints are more relaxed.This is where the filming schedule comes in and it really helps fix this problem.Also after certain points it would be beneficial to have them marked what we have and havent done which will make it easier to get everything finished in the end.

Even with the filming schedule things did not completely go to plan when filming on location. Things can change very easily on set such as weather, background, noise.Also we sometimes found better ways of doing things such as a unusual shot or a different aspect that we could not have anticipated while not on location. This is how we can change to where we are filming and how adaptable we are as a group. Times of things also changed and we could not know some of the things such as the time that it takes to get from one place to another.This is how we sometimes need to change the schedule to make it better when on set and filming. Other different things that can change is the things we use, for example the mask we were meant to use did not look as good as though so we decided to abandon it.

The only downside to a filming schedule is that it is very hard to stick to and could make it harder to film if you have a very restrictive schedule which would be very hard to change. One example is when we wanted to film on the 24/11/13 but it rained heavily so had to be put off until 29/11/13.  This may lower the quality of the film as you may be able to tell that something has been rushed or has a time lapse between two different scenes.This would make a bad reflection on the people who have made the film.

Overall a filming schedule is very useful in the way that it can show what we will be doing at what time the only thing is when we change something the filming schedule does not reflect it. Furthermore it can sometimes limit what we will do.

Production Roles - Miss Miller

Production Roles

In films people need to be allocated roles, if  they did not then people may do the same thing or leave things out this would become very unorganized and very inefficient. Another reason is that certain people are good at certain things , for example you would not have a cameraman doing the job of editing the film.The main roles for creating a film are the director,producer,actor,cameraman,music producer,screenplay writer,mise en scene co coordinators and editors.All these people have a certain set of skills and are very good at what they individually do, this will make a very successful film.

We decided who would do what by picking who wanted to do what and how well they would do at it.So Beau is the location manager, casting manager ; Wailum is the editor and music producer.Michelle is the costume designer and co producer; I am the cameraman, director and executive producer. We have all picked our jobs out of how well we would do them such as Wailum being good at using editing and me being good at using the camera and knowing what shots  and when. Although we have separate jobs we all made points on the screenplay and mixed our ideas together. This would be better as a group as more ideas can be made by brain storming as a group just due to the increased amount of people involved. More ideas can come up and bad ideas can either be improved or discarded by the others.

Now that we have chosen all our jobs we have done them very well.We have not actually filmed yet but the process leading up to it has been quite good. We have not actually filmed so we do not know how it will be when filming and other certain things but up until then we have been very good as a team. We have all done very well and it is clear that we made a good decision on choices as we have all excelled in our specific areas. Beau has been very good finding our location which is unique in having so many different aspects which can be filmed this will bring variety to our group. Although we still have the stereotypical forest we have different places such as a car parks and hospitals. Michelle has been very good at producing and has been very decisive on decisions involving the film and where it will be. These are just some of the ways that we have been good as a team and people have made good decisions.

Having our set jobs will also make making our film much easier. If everyone has a specific job they will do that well and at the end all of the finished pieces can come together to make a very good film. This also saves time as having one person doing it will be much less complicated than a whole group deciding on what sound is needed at certain points, this is why we have allocated separate roles to people.

So an overall of each person:

Beau is the location manager and casting manager, we chose these roles for him as he lives in the area and knows the area very well. Also he knows lots of local who are in the area therefore it would be easier to get people who lived not far away to be in our film. Overall he did mediocre in task as he got us a very good location although he did not provide the actors apart from himself so he did not do as well as the others.

Wai-Lum has been given the job of editor and music producer. She has been given these jobs as she is good at editing so therefore she is the main editor and she is also good about putting music with the right scene to reflect the emotion. Wai-Lum has also been very good both sides of filming and has helped in many ways afterwards as editing is the biggest task after filming.

Michelle is the costume designer and co producer as she knows what we wanted in a scene and reflected this in the way she told the actors to dress. She is also a producer as she is very good at actually putting the film together so we chose her for the role.She has been very good both before and after filming and has completed the task well.

Overall we all did very well in our roles, although there are certain areas where we could have improved. Some areas such as deadlines and timekeeping we were very relaxed about and this could have added up to lots of time. Another could be communication about what people are doing, as sometimes we were doing something then we would find that we were not prepared for it. This is another way time was wasted.Although giving people allocated roles has helped as people only need to do there jobs and when it is done we can put it all together and have a good film with all of our expertise combined.

Inspirations- Miss Miller

Inspirations

Inspiration is when you take aspects and ideas from another source to put into your own and make it your own.We need inspiration as otherwise ideas would be very hard to find as we use other ideas as a template for ours, if we could not then original ideas would be all that there is possible and could make the number of ideas very low. If you have an original idea then it cannot be a bad thing to watch other successful examples that you could take things from.

You can take inspiration from many things such as books,T.V, film,music and from your own life.Past experiences are often the best as they have not been thought up by anyone else and mean something personal as they have actually happened to you.This will make whatever you are putting it into better. If you took inspiration from a secondary source such as another film you are effectively copying their idea which is not very creative but can be good if you take small amounts that could improve your own idea.This would be acceptable like us using the location of a forest even though many other thriller are also set.

We have taken ideas from many thriller films such as Seven, the Saw franchise, Shutter Island, Phone Booth and Insidious.All of these films are successful thriller which have many similar elements of which they have copied from each other. These elements are expected and are synonymous with thriller films, these things we can include as they are expected and generally make it better for people watching the film. If they had not been in these other films then they would not be successful so we now know that they are successful ways and we should use them.

We have taken ideas such as not having dialogue only screams which brings a sense of mystery and enigma to the scene. A second is having the heart beat of the victim while she is being chased.We have taken this inspiration from Shutter Island which portrays the heartbeat in a different manner. Lastly one from Scream which never shows the face of the killer which again brings mystery and enigma to the scenes where he is present this makes the character much more scary.This type of inspiration is okay due to it not being a straight copy but we have selected the elements that make it good.

 These have helped our film in many ways but mostly it being better general viewing for the audience of the thriller film. Thriller films are meant to be mysterious and surprising and these things that are included in other films and they have some of the best ways to do that. So it is better to use other successful things that we can take from other films that is why we have used it.We know they work so we can use them without worrying are they successful in making a good thriller film.

Planning Opening Credits- Miss Georgiou

Planning Opening Credits

Credits play a important role in all films as it gives recognition to the people who have worked hard to make it ,it gives appreciation to everyone in the film from the director to the costume designer.They are also used to show how big the people in the film are, if it was a famous  director or actor then the name would be more prominent in the credits than a new and up and coming actor who was previously unheard of. This is because audiences who have seen their previous work will want to see it again.This will help bring people in to watch what they have made and will help make other less well known people more publicly known and increase their popularity. So this changes how different people are portrayed in credits and how audiences respond to the different type of people involved as how famous a actor or directer is often helps the film make more money.

We took inspiration for our credits from many different films both thrillers and from other film genres to improve our credits. One film that we analysed was Se7en. The credits of Se7en are very unique and are not a very common style. They are in white with a contrasting black background and shake and move about constantly and how they look hand written. This I believe builds a more personal feeling with the people who have worked on the film as it seems like it is hand written.The white could represent the differences between good and evil and the hand written feels more unusual for the audience. This moving and jerking keeps bringing your attention back to them and makes you read them when they change , this brings attention to the names even though there are things going on in the background which distract you. Also in the background we can see a man reading a Bible and other religious book and we do not see his face.This makes us think he will be the antagonist and this  is from ideas of Aristotle as he believed it was themes that made a scene and the themes is having an enigma in the opening scenes of Se7en. This is where we have taken our inspiration from for our black and white contrasting effect in our own credits. Overall Se7en's credits are personel to the audience yet still mysterios and help keep the audiences attention.

,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1e1feo4DUk

Another film we chose to analyse with very good credits are from the film insidious and cthis because it has a long opening scene. The credits are written in red and could be indicating blood and violence is to come. This is a good representation of the film and makes the audience immediately know what the film will be like and prepare for it. They almost also drip just like blood on the screen and this again links in with the film.The bright red blood also highlights the difference from the dark and gloomy background and again gives a sense of an enigma following. This again could indicate the difference between good and evil in the film which is built by these differences and the audience knows immediately that there will be a victim and a killer. We have used the idea of using colours to indicate things such as in our own we use black and white to represent good and evil against each other as they are in the scene. This is because you can use colours to put the audience in a mind set white and black are cold colors and contrasting. Whereas blue and white match and make the scene more mellow. Also the r=time between each credit is relatively slow and this keeps the credits quick to set the speed for the film.

   In our group we decided that we would have colours that contrasts such as red and black or white and black.This makes the names stand out and helps bring attention towards the names and this makes the people who have made the film happier as they are more easily seen and therefore more prominent. Also you can sense that the clip will have two sides and it helps explain the narrative.Secondly we want to have things happening in the background this makes people watch the whole screen which would otherwise not happen if it was just the credits. Also the credits will be moving as this will make audience pay attention to the screen when things are going on this brings much attention to it. Also using dramatic music suddenly pulls attention towards the screen so this will also help people keep interest in our own credits. This also uses time that would otherwise be wasted on just credits but can begin to tell the story which is valuable. There will be a gap of one second between each credit and a credit last 3 seconds. This is setting the pace of the start of the film. We will use this font

 which also makes the credits seem more natural and helps make it easier to read than if it was handwritten for instance. Although it does give an impersonal impression whereas hand written does not. Without all of these effects going on people would not even look at the credits and will defeat the point of them. This is what we have discussed as a group on how to portray our credits and the ways that we can use other films to make our own better.

The order of credits:
Actors : Beau Abery , Ellie Holt
Music : Michelle Woods
Location co coordinator: Beau Abery
Casting: Beau Abery
Editor: Wailum Pang
Camera Operator: Benjamin Yarwood
Producer : Benjamin Yarwood
Co Producer : Michelle Woods
Screen Play: Benjamin Yarwood, Wailum Pang, Michelle Woods, Beau Abery
Director: Benjamin Yarwood


Overall we have spent much time on discussing the idea of credits and we have spent lots of time discussing how we will portray them to the audience. We have finalized them and we have included things such as contrasting colors and interesting credits to make them even better viewing for the audience.

Planning Sound- Miss Miller

 

Planning Sound

Sound is used in all films not just thrillers and is critical in conveying a story or idea to the audience which would the ruin any narrative. Sound the techniques include diegetic, non diegetic, contrapuntal,parallel and on and off screen. All these convey many emotions and help dramatically to improve any scene.Without sound things would clearly be wrong with things such such as the background not feeling real or scenes not making sense as the audience cannot tell what mood the film scene is and this can be confusing with the things going on.

Diegetic sound can be the sound that is on screen or off screen but the sound must have its source within the same background e.g police siren in bacckground for city, but not in jungle. Non diegetic is when a sound has no relevance to a scene such as music or sound effects.Contrapuntal sound is where a sound is opposite to the feeling of the scene such as happy music with a violent or scary scene. Parallel sound is where the sound matches what is happening in the scene such as a gun shot or a car going away with engine noise.

In our scene sound is used continuously, when the car is winding down the road we can hear the car engine which is diegetic sound as it is not added by effects and we can see its source and we know it is there; another is the radio which we can hear and see so it is diegetic.Then as the car is going down the road we can hear the sound of the radio but at the start of the scene we are not in the car so it is non diegetic as it was added. This happy radio music is contrapuntal sound as the road is dark and wet and the trees are menacingly leaning over the road, these are dark images and contrast the happy music. This puts the viewer in an uneasy position as you feel uncomfortable with the dark scenes but the happy mellow music makes it less fearfull. The audience has mixed feeling at this point which we were going for.When the car parks up we can hear the buzz of the lamp post light which is diegetic as we can see its source and it the sound has not been added in and is expected,another is when the car door slams we can see the place that the sound comes from. The buzz of the lamp puts the audence in a uneasy waiting for what is to come . Then when the door slams it brakes this feeling and brings the audience back to the current scene, this makes the tension build for them. Then the happy radio song is back and is again juxtaposed by the scene but it puts the audience at ease for what is to come.

When the chase is happening we can hear the wind, leaves and rustlings around her, this is diegetic sound as we can see the source of the sound and know it is there but has been added by editing.The heavy footsteps of the man behind her is diegetic as they have been added but when she turns and looks it is easy to see the source also it is obvious it relates to the source.This will give the audience a feeling of sympathy for her and more hate for him as we can hear from his boots he is the more powerfull of the two. When she is finally caught fromk the music before it will become more personal to them and be sorry for the vunerable woman.  This also creates the fear for the audience that the character is facing and helps increase the fear of the scene. The footsteps of the man are also parallel as the sound goes with the actions of the person.This makes the man seem much more big and intimidating from his footsteps that get louder and louder the closer that he gets to her. This makes the audience very uneasy as well.This is one way that we will use sound to show off physical characteristics in our clip and how a diffrent size can change people perception of them and how an audience acts to them.Lastly is the heartbeat that can we can hear when she is finally caught. That is non diegetic as we cannot see the source and it was digitally added after the filming. This is so the audience how she is feeling and when it goes the audience presumes she is dead.

The audience can use these sound very easily to create a better relationship with them and build on it. Things such as the happy music at the start when we can see the woman make the audience like her more. She seems like a positive person who is associated with nice happy music therfore the audience like her. Another example is the mysterious and uneasy music that is played just when we see the killer. It puts the audience on edge and makes them feel uneasy and negative towards the man immedietly.


These sound techniques are very  conventional in a thriller as it is mostly used around points that are meant to either increase the tension of the scene or scare the audience and this makes it typical of a thriller film.An example would be the music as the tension rises when the woman is getting out of  the car.Then when the chase begins it starts to heighten and when she is eventually caught this is where the sounds stops. These sounds make the audience more and more tense and when finally it happens it is a big shock and this is used in many films such as the Saw series , Shutter Island and Se7en.

Overall sound is a crucial part in any film and can make a good scene a terrible one and vice verse. Moreover it can help give an audience an immediate indication of what the scene is about or can mislead an audience an audience for effect.This shows how with sound you can change a scene completly and that is why it is crucial.



introduction
why is sound so important
what sound will be used and when
 4 points diffrent sound techniques
How will you use sound techniques to potray charactersistics, emotion at certain times
what is conventional abouit it

Planning mise-en-scene- Miss Georgiou

Planning mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is very important in any film but massively in thrillers. Mise-en-scene includes 5 main things which are lighting,setting and iconography, costume and make up, facial expression and body language and positioning of of objects and characters.These things can make a film a success or failure and can completely change the audiences reaction to the film.An example would be a film with bad costume's and bad iconography so the audience cannot believe the things that are happening, this makes the scene feel unreal.Although if a film has very good iconography it can make anything seem believable. 

We have many different aspect of mise-en-scene in our own clip.For our setting we have a forest,car park and a tower these are quite a range of setting and we believe it will create interest for our clip.Also it offers differences from just the stereotypical forest which people could have become accustomed to and people may now be less scared of as they have seen it so many times.Our iconography is a knife and a mask ; we used a knife as we did not want to deviate too much from a normal thriller and it is much more dramatic than a gun which makes for a better villain who is more physically intimidating.Our mask is used as it hides the killers identity which is very important for us, we believe it creates a good sense of mystery to our clip and helps keep it true to the thriller genre.

Our costume's are  just normal clothes as it make it easier to relate to the characters and can make it more personal to the audience.Also it makes the killer much more scary as it could be any normal person who could do it and the same wit our victim who could be anyone.Our lighting will primarily be low key as it keeps up the idea that it is a spooky, dangerous area and makes the audience have a sense of what will be following.Also it makes the audience feel more unsettled just from how dark the film is which is key for our thriller film and anything that can add to that is good.Also Our facial expression and body language will be different from the normal thriller film.Our killer will be calm and this makes the killer much more inhuman and  this is often used as it makes it much better for the audience to watch.Our victim will be quite strong with a straight face at the start but she will start to seem less and less as the scene continues and eventually breaks down crying and wailing at the end.

Our mise en scene points are very conventional as most of ours have been in other successful thriller films which we have taken influence from for our thriller. Just some of these films are Se7en,  the scream series,Shutter Island and Phone Booth,  many conventions such as low lighting are in all of them and is clearly a convention of all thriller films so these are the strongest. This will make our film so much better and help make it seem more professional compared to other thriller films.

Our mise en scene builds a relationship with the audience in many ways such as putting normal clothes on the victim which makes her seem like a part of the audience and they therefore care about her. This will make the things that happen to her much more shocking and true to life. Another is how she is female and this immediately makes people feel sorry for her as she is in a venerable position next to a male killer due to his physical size.All this would help build a connection between the audience and the character and improve the scene which it is in dramatically , also it makes a film so much better when a audience care for the characters. 

Planning Editing Styles - Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles

Editing is crucial in any film but especially a thriller as this is what helps give the film continuity and make the film clip flow.Editing is very important in any thriller film as it is this that creates mystery, suspense and enigmas which are what thrillers are all about.This will keep an audience engaged and make them want to continue watching so the suspense can keep on building.

There are many styles of editing that we have included in our clip.One of these is a straight cut, this is used simply when a camera angle changes or another scene is taking place. This is used  as it changes the perspective and as we have 3 locations and this will be very useful. We use this to highlight the differences in our scene and to help the clip continue and this makes the clip more engaging. This is the one that is most frequently used in films.

Fast editing is where the scene moves quickly from one shot to another. It is used in our clip extensively due to the nature of the clip, we use it in times such as the chase scene and the car driving in which are fast paced.This makes the clip quicker and shows action and helps keep the audience entertained and wanting to watch so it moves quickly at points , these include fast editing, straight cut, timing of shot and slow editing. All of these contribute to our clips suspense and mystery and make the clip better.

Another editing technique that is used in our clip is a jump cut, this is when a camera angle changes only slightly. In our clip the car driving at the start will have numerous camera angles to show how it is going.This shows the car and the background and makes the audience aware of the scene and helps give lots of angles on the background.This shows the audience that it is a dark road and that she is clearly alone.

Slow editing is when scenes come slowly after one another and make a scene much slower. We use this when the start of the chase happens to add dramatic effect to the start of the bug chase which is very fast so this balances it out.This gives the audience a chance to think about what is happening and will make more sense to them through this.Also we can see what the characters are about to do and make more of a connection between the audience and the victim.

In summary editing is crucial and cannot be left out of a film.Especially with thriller it is what helps make the whole film flow and create something that seems real and could actually to anybody, this makes the whole film better in turn. This makes the experience for the audience more real and helps the audience belive in the film and in the case of a thriller film more scary.

Planning characters - Miss Miller

Planning Characters

There are many reason why characters are in films.They convey meaning towards the audience and help bring connection between the audience so that people are more interested in what will happen to them as the narrative unfolds.They also build a relationship so now the audience cares about what will happen to the characters.This makes the viewing experience so much better for the audience.

Our first character is a young blond female victim who is trying to show innocence and get a connection towards the audience who then in turn care for her.She is a stereotypical of the thriller genre in many ways.She is 17 so very young and very innocent and this is typical of many films; she is a blond female so in thriller films is automatically more in danger than a man and finally she is in normal clothes which makes the audience feel a connection between them and her and care about her more.So the audience can build a relationship with her as she is quite weak and people would be protective of her as she is presented in a way that is not strong, therefore they want to keep her safe. She is very conventional as she is nearly everything that a victim should portray. She is a woman she is small in stature and looks physically tired. This is the way most first killing victims are portrayed as later on stronger characters often get killed. So people build more of a relationship with her as she is vulnerable and people would like to protect her.

The murderer is a 25 year old man who is tall and thin. He wears a mask throughout the scene and this makes the man seem much more in human and makes him much more scary to the audience and he wears normal clothes which makes him very unusual. He is very stereotypical and this makes him more scary as so many other killers are seen as the same this makes it more unusual for the audience. The audience feel lots of negativity towards the characters as he is the complete opposite of the victim and this makes the things he does even worse.So the connection the audience has to him is completely bad and that is what we were trying to get.

The audience can and cannot build a relationship with this man. He wears normal clothes so is quite relatable but at the same time wears a mask which distances himself from the audience.He also walks in a unusual way and this does not help the audience feel sympathy as he is different to them. Finally he is represented as powerful and foreboding therefore the audience find it hard to connect with the character through the idea he is portraying. He is completely conventional to the thriller genre; he is bigger than the victim , he looks very mysterious and he looks like an outsider and unusual so we instantly take a dislike to him. Also he is even more scary as we do not know who he is so it is up to the audience to decide and each person will have an individual idea which will scare them more.

In all our characters are very much convention with thrillers as simply lots of films across the genre contain these essential characters and there qualities. This will help the audience immediately understand the genre of our film and this will make telling the story easier than if they were characters that had never been used before. Also as we are only using two characters the focus can just clearly be on them and this will help to develop the characters as they spend such a long time building up to a moment, this will also improve the quality of the characters themselves.Without all this helping the characters into the film then it would be incredibly hard to film.

The characters are crucial in films and ours we have planned in lots of depth.Without them there would be no story and would be pointless making a clip. We needed to plan our characters as without planning they would have no depth and this can not be made up with the narrative, and this can completely ruin a film. We found doing this very useful as now we could film doing what the characters would do and it makes the filming so much easier. If we filmed with two characters who were not conventional to the thriller genre then we would need more time building up the identity of the characters.

Cinematography planing- Mrs Miller

Cinematography planing

 

Cinematography is the use of camera angles and shots used within a clip.Each of these give a different feeling and experience to the clip and can convey many things.These are very important in all films but especially in thrillers as this makes  up the suspense that is so important in thriller films.This is why we need to plan our own cinematography as it is such a crucial part and therefore we should spend as much time as possible on it.Another reason why we need to spend as much time as possible is that without a cinematography plan lots of time would be taken to try to find the best shot when we are filming, which is very time consuming. This planing will also make the scene look much more professional.

There are many techniques that could be used in our scene ,some of these are close up which makes the audience feel the emotion of the character,high shot which makes the object small and insignificant. POV which makes the audience see what the characters see's,panning which shows the way the object gets from one place to another. A middle shot shows some of the character and some of the background, low shot which makes the object seem big and powerfull. These are used many times throughout our opening clip and express many feelings throughout the scene and helps to make it a better film.This is conventional as many thriller films use it to show something going on in the background while the main character is unaware as it shows both. This is used in such films as Saw where the killer is stalking the victim and we get an over the shoulder look. This also helps the audience as it shows what is going on with the main character and the background.

A panning shot is one of the first shots used in our scene and will make clear the setting and what the feel of the film is before anything has even happened and to see and meet the characters that the clip will be base around.The camera angle is conventional with thrillers as like in many other films it is used to get an idea of where the film is and what it is all about and what will happen. This will be used in the very start of the film while the killer is walking to his destination.Without this the audience would simply be confused as no story has been built up and we do not know where we are or who is there and it would cause much confusion  for the audience.

An example is a high shot which shows how small and insignificant the person is.This makes the audience feel sorry for the person and builds a connection which makes them want to find out what happens to them. Therefore this builds a relationship with the audience.This is a convention of the thriller genre as in almost every film there is a victim who is presented as small and helpless.The opposite to this is the low shot which makes the person seem big and intimidating this is also frequently used as it is mainly on a murderer or villain. This is often used to make the audience feel scared and builds a relationship of anger and hate towards the person and now the audience want to see something bad happen to him.We will use this more than once as it is such an effective way of getting pity and caring onto a character.This is used in our clip when we see the woman getting out of the car.

A third example is the POV (point of view) which is used when our victim is running in our scene.We used this as it is a good way to help move our Chase scene in the forest.This makes the audience see the persons viewpoint which makes them build a relationship towards the person as they can see through her eyes. This is normally used on the victim in thriller films and makes the audience feel sorry for the person and scared of what will happen. This also builds a relationship as we can see through her eyes and this makes it more personal and therefore builds a relationship. A close up is also used in one of our scenes, we used this as it shows people's emotions clearly and this helps the audience understand a scene.Our close up is on our female victim and this builds up a relationship with her as we can see she is scared and frightened.This again makes the audience care about the victim and makes the killing more personnel to the audience. This is conventional to a thriller as thrillers often have close ups to shoe the emotion on the persons place. This in our clip is in the chase scene and we can feel the fear that is coming from the female victim from this and the noises.

Overall all scenes will be so much more effective with the cinematography plan due to us not doing it on set and this will be reflective in the finished product. We know what we are doing and this will make the clip look more professional and to manipulate the audience to feel things like sympathy, fear or power. We are also using many conventional shots which are often seen in a thriller film as we know they have been successful in the past, this will make our clip much better. Also they are conventional in the way they manipulate an audience to get the desired effect of fear and tension in the scene and for the people watching to feel it. By doing this now I clearly know what to do and we will not be deciding on the which will make filming much more time efficient.

Purpose of story board- Miss Miller

                                        Purpose of a story board

Story boards are scene clips in drawings with a description of the scene which includes audio and camera angles.They are in series to show what happens in the scene and help understand how the scene will look. It is drawn for many reasons such as to show other people the idea, how the final product will look and see any faults that could happen and this will save money.

My first slide is 15 seconds long and shows a car going through a darkened forest.The sounds in the background would be the car engine and some slow background music in the background.Along the way we have camera angles from alongside the road.

The seconds slide is 8 seconds long.It shows the woman parking up then going to get out the car but something runs across in her wing mirror and she starts to panic.In this scene the lighting is from a distant street lamp and is very low key.Then she sees a figure come into place with a knife still in shadow.The sounds are from the car engine and the buzzing from the street lamp.

Frame 3 is when the woman has got out the car starts to walk quickly then start to run as the man starts to advance with the knife. The iconography in this scene is a knife and a mask for the killer. The sound in this scene is a car alarm going off then getting lower and lower in volume.The setting for this is the begging of the forest and part of the car park.

Frame 4 is 20 seconds long and is simple a chase through the forest with various scenes such as POV and tracking.The lighting is very low key with many shadows around the area of the forest.The sound is rustling  and wind through the branches.The editing is fast as it makes the chase scene feel more real and keeps it going.

Frame 5 is 8 seconds long and we can see that the killer is now closing in on the victim. The music is fast paced chase music as it makes it more exciting for the audience.The editing is also fast so now the audience knows that something is going to happen.The sounds is the wind and forest noises and a distant car alarm.The lighting is becoming darker and darker over time.

Frame 6  is only 4 seconds long and  is very short.It is just the victim turning around looking at the murder who is chasing her with things the same as the previous board.

Frame 7 starts with the victim still looking at the murder but the turns around and runs into a tree, falling over and knocking herself out in the process.This is a straight cut to the knocking out scene and the scene slows down to show this.

Frame 8 is 3 seconds long and shows the murderer leaning over her with a knife in his hand and has his smiling mask on.There is no noise and everything is silent around and the scene is darker than the previous scene.

Frame 9 is the camera looking up with the screaming coming from the victim and we are looking at the tops of the trees.

Frame ten is when the camera darkens and we can just hear the victim moaning in the distance.

Overall story boards are very useful tools and can save time and effort.Also you can see problems before they happen as if they happened on set it would be very inconvenient. Also our storyboard helped us finalise our narrative.

We have taken our ideas from different people in our group.The original forest idea came from Beau's storyboard which is quite stereotypical, the car idea and the car park came from me from my own story board and the killer being masked and with a knife came from Michelle ideas so overall we have used a wide variety of ideas from a range of people.Finally an idea came from Wailum that we should have no speech in it as it simplifies the whole process.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WYDo56qhrs&feature=youtu.be

Our preliminary task was to create a scene where a person goes into a room and has a conversation with  another the leaves. In ours we included things such as a mid shot,straight cut, high shot and an over the shoulder shot.

The mid shot is used at the start of the scene when the person walks into he room to start the conversation.The mid shot shows the top half of the person and some of the background in a shot.This can give a instant idea of where the person is and who it is.We used it as it was the appropriate shot for the starting of our scene and also helps people watching understand some of what is going on before anyone starts talking.

The straight cut is when a scene cuts away to another angle but still continues the scene and giving it continuity.In ours it goes from a middle shot to a over the shoulder shot but the scene still continuous with conversation.This keeps the scene interesting and gives a different perspective on the people.Ours did not look very professional as the cut was half a second out and the conversation is not joined as it should and background noise is prominent

The over the shoulder shot is used to bring attention towards the conversation and what they are saying and usually follows a establishing shot.Our over the shoulder shot only shows a brief part of the conversation but changes the viewing of the scene.This brings the audiences attention towards the conversation and helps make the conversation move along and flow.Our clip again did not look smooth as there is a brief lapse between them

The high shot is a shot when the camera is looking down at something and makes something seem small due to the background being big.Our scene shows a high shot when the person is walking away from the conversation and walks out the door.We did this as it helps keep the scene flowing and the audience interested and engaged.We were able to do this due to the location we had chosen which would not be possible in many other places.

Overall our clip was not very professional with lapses between shots and background noise at certain points throughout.Background noise could not be helped due to the location, but our time lapses would have made the scene not look correct so we have split second of repeated scenes.So we would of needed to re film some of the scenes and this could not be helped by editing.

Target Audience Results-Miss Miller

Target Audience Results

The research that we carried out was for finding out what different people of different ages would like in a thriller film.Then what age we are targeting for we can see what they want and incorporate it into our own clip.Also we can target what specific age certificate to use to try to appeal to the biggest audience and what they want.

Questionaire

1.

Graph one shows how many males and females we asked our questions to.We can see how we asked more females in our questionnaire.This may have changed the results as thriller films are targeted toward males and may have things that male's find more interesting. This is one of the things could distort our questionnaires answers.

2.
Graph two shows the ages that we asked in our questionnaire. We can see that we asked many more older people than younger as thriller films are targeted more toward older people.This can be seen in the way that not many thrillers are rated below 15 and often have gore, violence and scares that would be unsuitable for children.This could help our clip in that we will raise the certificate of the clip to make it more entertaining for people.

3.
In graph 3 , 1 is certificate 12, 2 is certificate 15 and 3 is certificate 18. In this graph we can see how people prefer older age rating with 40% going to 18.We now know that we should definitely target our clip towards older people and not to a younger audience audience.This means that we should include things that are suitable

4.

This graph is one of the most important over.It ask's what interest's you in thriller films and this is the one we paid most attention to as it indicates what people want.The highest was murder with 32% which was expected and would indefinitely be in our clip.The next is  mystery with 23% which again is is in our clip as expected.All things that were highly demanded in our pie graph will be in our clip.These segments also again show how adult certificates should be used.

5.

What this graph shows is what they have already seen but will be expecting to see in this clip.This is what other films have shown and now that is what they expect to see.We could either stick to  what people expect or change it and take a unique view on the thriller genre.The only thing that will be certainly in it will be the suspense

6.
This graph is irrelevant to our clip.

7.
Graph 7 shows what sound people would like to hear in a thriller film.We would put these in our clip as it would be exactly what we would need in our clip.Screams and all the other types of sound will be in the clip to show variety.This will make it a better experience for the audience and help a range of people enjoy it.

8:
Graph 8 shows what type of characters people would expect in a films such as a hero,villain and villain.As it is a short clip we will only be using a victim and a villain but that will be all that is necessary for our short clip we are filming.

9:
This graph shows what type of actors people would like to see in a thriller clip. Surprisingly unknown actors came out on top at 45% wheres well known actors only had 37%.This is irrelevant for our clip.

10.  This graph shows what setting people would like to see. Unsurprisingly a forest came out on top with 40%, the next was a house at 35%.This clearly shows that we should do it in one of these places as this is what people have said.If we were to ignore this then we would make a less successful clip.

11: This is not relevant to our clip.

12:
This is important as we now know how complicate to make our narrative. Now that we know people prefer complicated narratives we could put this into our own clip to make it appeal to more people.This would appeal to a larger audience.

Overall there are many things that we can take from our questionnaire that could be useful in our own clip in the thriller genre.

.

The opening scene of Halloween- Miss Georgiou

How does the opening sequence of Halloween inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film?

The opening scene of Halloween includes many conventions that are typical in any thriller film.These things include things such as hiding the killers identity,low key lighting, suspenseful sounds, death and a victim.All of these are in numerous thriller films.

Hiding the killers identity is in many thriller films and is typical in creating suspense. In Halloween we do not know who the murder is until the camera zooms out when we find it is a small boy who has actually murdered the girl.This makes the scene quite disturbing as we realize now he has murdered his sister and the hidden identity was building up the tension and the murderer seems much more inhuman and unnatural compared to if we knew who it was from the start.This makes the audience continue watching as now they want to find out the killers identity.Hiding a killers identity makes the audience feel quite cold towards the characters as they cannot see a face.  This informs the audience that it is a convention as the whole scene was building up to it and makes it obvious

Low key lighting is when only one main source of light is seen.It is present in many thriller films and in Halloween it has constant low key lighting from when the boy is outside to where the boy is walking up the stairs.Most of the time the source of light is the moon when the lights go out and when outside a bedroom light .This keeps the audience on edge constantly and makes the scene feel more dark and that something will happen in the house also they can tell that something bad will happen.This also informs the audience of it being a convention as it is very common in films and it is used throughout this scene.

Suspenseful sound is a sound that can keep an audience on edge but not ruin the tension.This is played all the way through the clip but especially at 0.41 where it increases dramatically. The sound keeps the audience entertained and helps them understand the film is building up to something big happening in the following scene.This is in nearly all films as it is just a key role in helping the audience understand a scene this is why it is a convention in thriller films.The audience can tell that now something will happen just from the music but the director can use this to mislead the audience.

A victim is a vulnerable person in a film who is normally in danger.In Halloween the victim is the boys sister who is stabbed to death by her brother in her bedroom.This is conventional to thriller films as normally there is a vulnerable person who gets hurt which helps develop the emotions towards characters and exposes the murderer. This helps an audience relate emotionally with that character and keeps them watching the film as they want to see the antagonist face justice.This is a convention as it is very common in thriller films to have a vulnerable person who something happens to as it helps move the film along.

Death is also very prominent in almost all thriller films.Halloween has a death of the girl who was murdered by her brother and happens after the suspense has been built up until the point. This is in thriller films as it keeps the audience interested in what the outcome will be for either the people who know the person or the murderer. This is often the start of many thriller films.It is a convention as nearly all thriller films have a death and it keeps the audience wanting to know what will happen next.This makes the audience feel something for the person who has died  and creates emotion towards that person.

Overall many convention can be picked up on in Halloween and as it is a thriller many of these can be seen in other thriller films.This also helps the audience with convention as if they have seen other thriller films they can relate back to this one.

This analysis will help me with my clip as now I can use some of the themes in my own clip.Also I know these make a successful scene so will likely use them as they have been proven wheres if I used unknown ones they may not of been suitable for a thriller.

Group narrative - Miss Georgiou

         Group Narrative

What is the purpose of the narrative:

The narrative is to construct a story and help make sense of the plot of a film in a chronological order ; this  helps engage the audience to make it more enjoyable and build a relationship with the characters and help promote a theme.

How did our group discuss it:

 We discussed our ideas in quite thorough detail  with our group and what our ideas about what a thriller should contain.Things such as suspense, a victim and a murderer were automatically picked but other things that were surprising were not.We found out we wanted a masked murderer and other things we also talked about advantages and disadvantages. Overall we discussed well as a group and shared ideas and opinions well.

Group member 1: 

Group member one had an idea of it being situated in a hospital with the victim being a patient waking up after a coma. The murderer is a doctor and is chasing the woman through the hospital until she is dies due to her being away from her life support machine. The man then operates on her and does experiments on her. The doctor has a mask on so we never know his identity and never runs as he is relentless.

Group member 2 :  

Wai-Lum - A man (tom) gets married to a single mother (Elizabeth).  The mother and the daughter (Katy), move in with Tom.  For years they live happily.  One day katie comes home crying from school, she talks to her dad and says that her best friend is going out with the guy she likes.  Tom treats Katy like his own daughter and this is the first time he has witnessed her being devasted.  He wants to solve the situation but he is thinking of a plan, he invites katy's friend over and it didnt go as he predicted as he wanted to talk to her friend calmly where he got flashing images of katy of being sad 

which makes him aggressive.  Tom lies to Katy's friend who is clueless about katy's anger.  Whilst her back is turned he grabs a vase and he smashes it on the back of her head.  She loses consciousness, and takes her to a hidden basement which his family does not know about, he puts the body in there, realises what he has done and becomes mentally unstable.  He continuously starts stabbing her as he is frighted that the victim will start telling everyone.  The police find out the girl is missing and go search houses and the guard dog smells the scent and gets arresting.

Group member 3:

1) In her narrative teen girls have been reported missing.  A past female victim comes home one night from a party, however she has been drinking and is tipsy, but she is aware of her surroundings - whilst she walks, on the way she is unknowingly followed by a mass killer. She then eventually arrives home, whilst she enters her house she clumsily leaves her door open which becomes an easy access for the killer. The killer however doesn't kill her but he stalks her inside her own house. For months she carries on her normal life, he lives in her house in hiding. 

Vladimir Propp:

Vladimir Propp had the idea and held the theory  that the the characters made up the narrative of a film and were the most important part in building it.He thought that the characters told the story and people such as the donor ,the dispatcher and the false hero just add to the depth of the narrative. These characters are not always present in thriller films but are mostly in fairy films such as Shrek but are not normally in all films.

Todorov: 

Tzvetan Todorov preferred a simplified version of a narrative in a film.This although more simplified  allowed more complex ideas about narrative to be thought.He believed that first it started with an equilibrium in which all things were balanced and good. Then a disruption occurs which changes the balance of the narative and this needs to be repaired by someone who can be thought of as the hero.Then a new balance has taken place ans the narrative ends.This does happen in many films but often has a change at the end.

Aristotle

Aristotle believed that a narrative was built up and helped by themes.This made the narrative more in depth and helped us understand the narrative better.Themes he thought that could help a narrative are goals,antagonist/protagonist and resolutions.These would help make a narrative more interesting and help  engage the audience better.

Research into Sound in Thrillers- Miss Miller

Unbreakable

Sound is a very important element in all films but especially thrillers.Sound helps to create a sense of what the film will be about and help shape the mood of the scene, for example with a action scene fast paced music would be appropriate. It can also help to create suspense which is essential for a thriller film and this shows how it is different for each film.

Diegetic sound is sound that we can see the source of in the scene.An example of this is at 0.18 when rain is splattering on the flour and we can hear and see it on camera.This sound makes the scene immediately feel cold and dark and tells us about the scene without even seeing the images. This diegetic sound also manipulate the audience into believing that the following scene will be violent or have negative aspects.This keeps the audiences attention and helps the film to become more engaging for the audience who now want to know what will happen.

Music in the background of a scene is non-digetic as you cannot see where its coming from.When this happens in the scene it is at 1.20 and it has music that is suitable for a slow violent scene.This music makes the death feel important and that it is not necessarily a bad thing even though we do not know why.This makes the audience feel quite unsympathetic with the man and helps to not make the scene quite a offensive. This makes the scene more questionable as now the audience want to continue watching due to how the murder was carried out. 

Parallel sounds are sounds that go along with what is happening on the screen.An example of this is the noise the man who is being strangled.When this happens we can feel his pain and need to breath but we know that he will eventually die.This makes the death feel more real and make it seem more painful for the man.This keeps the audience entertained and makes them concentrate on what is going on in the scene and feel for the man who is being murdered.This happens at the time of 1.20.

When the woman falls to the floor we hear a thud, this is diegectic as it shows the sound on the screen at 2.06. When she falls to the floor we know she is in pain and has been there for a long time she does not wake as we can tell by the silence after.This creates sympathy for the woman as we know she has not been treated well.This makes the audience want to continue watching as now we want to know what will happen to her a we have an emotional connection.

Overall sound is a very important part of any film and can make or break a film completely. This is seen if you see a scene with no music the elements of the film are not there and the film seems dead to the viewer.This is how critical they are to making a good thriller film.

Research into the history of a thriller film- Introduction Miss Georgiou

       Research into  the history of a thriller film

Thriller films have been around since the start of cinema and have been thrilling and creating suspense for audiences ever since. This includes a wide range of films such as Vertigo by Hitchcock to modern thriller films such as Taken and The Bourne Ultimatum.

1950's :

The thriller films of the 1950's were overall quite basic and very mild compared to today's advanced thrillers.A film such as The Night of the Hunter by Charles Laughton was in black and white and had no special effects.Also violence and blood was non existent in the clip although the plot has murder in it which in modern films would be graphic and gory. Most thriller films made in the 1950 would be rated U or PG as they were excessive for the time but now would be considered weak or boring this emphasizes the difference between then and now.The audiences of the time were quite sheltered in cinema from what could have been.Other example of 1950's films are Bad Day at Black Rock,The Killing and Jack the Ripper.This decade of film shows how thrillers do not need lots of special effects to keep suspense up and can tell a story without graphic images.The narrative of these films were quite straight forward with little deviation from the main thing in the film.This compared to later films which can be quite confusing and have an ending that does not explain everything is quite different from modern film.This type of narative can be seen in the limited themes used and straight forward characters.  

1960's:

1960's films were starting to increase the profile of the thriller film with big names starting to help such as Alfred Hitchcock, Jesus Franco and Stanley Doden. Arguably the biggest film was Hitchcock's Psycho which was highly regarded and praised even today. Films were now becoming more daring and exciting with violence and nudity becoming more accepted but still not very graphic compared to today.In one scene in Psycho a woman is having a shower which would have not been accepted before. Then a man with a knife comes in and starts stabbing her. In the end we see blood going down the drain which again would be unthinkable ten years before.This shows how themes were becoming more accepted in cinema and boundaries were starting to go.Audiences from now on were becoming more lenient with what they watched. Others films from the 1960's were Five Minutes to Live,Maniac and Z.This decade of films shows how themes and narratives are changing in acceptability but still do not deviate too much from the previous decade.They are still quite toned down in the ways things are portrayed.

1970:

Thriller films were now becoming more advanced visually and now were expressing violence in a more visual way. Also nudity is becoming more acceptable. A big film that was released in the seventies was Jaws which is about a shark terrorizing a island.Many parts in the film have large amounts of blood and there are scenes with mutilated body parts. This is a massive difference from 20 years earlier when blood was not allowed, so we can now see how over time the audience viewing tastes have become de-sensitised to graphic images.Other examples of films of the seventies are The Driver,Black Sunday and Armageddon.This decade shows how audience taste ha now changed completely from before.Narratives are now changing more than ever before there are unexpected things happening in the plot and characters are not as straightforward as before in cinema.Things are becoming more complicate overall in many ways.

1980:
The eighties brought thriller films that were mainly focused on action and violence and were pushing the boundaries on what could be seen on screen. These films include big blockbuster such as Die Hard,Rambo,Shoot to Kill and The Untouchables. All these films have many deaths and constant violence throughout. This is a continuation of the violence that audiences wanted in the previous decade but taken to more of an extreme.Violence is now totally acceptable. Most of these films still do not make use of special effects as it does not fit in with the genre as thriller is generally realistic.This again shows how audiences have changed what they would like to view.

1990's:
The 90's were a new time for thriller films with special effects and CGI at the disposal it made films that could not be done ever before.Films such as The Sixth Sense, Hard Rain and Payback with a more detailed plot line can show how there has been a shift in taste away from pure violence.Many new things could now be done with films that could not be done before so films could become more in depth and have a much more real feel to them.This decade shows how a change in technology can change what films people go and see and the films content.Now the narrative's are much more complicated with things that we could not have even guessed such as the end of The Sixth Sense.Films can have many more twist and turns which have not been seen in cinema before.

Overall thriller films have changed drastically in a very short amount of time. They have gone from very conservative films to extremely violent ones only ten years later. This shows how not only films have changed but also viewing tastes.This will assist me in that I can see how successful thriller over time have worked on themes and then put them into my clip.Then I will have a good range of themes rather than them being all the same with the same outcome. Also I can now see how thriller have changed and to make it as modern as possible which will make it better for the current time.

I can now apply this to my clip as now I can see what has worked at different times throughout cinema.I can incorporate a small part of some genres and put them together as now I know what things make a successful thriller film at different times and what is suitable for my type of thriller film.These mixes could come from any genre as they all have something that could be used.

Top 10 Thriller Films

1.Hannibal    Box Office $165,092,268
2. The Silence of the Lambs  Orion  Box Office $130,742,9222
3.Basic Instinct  Box Office  $ 117,727,224
4. Se7en  $100,125,643
5.Red Dragon $93,149,898
6. Saw II $87,039,965
7. Saw III  $80,238,724
8. The Bone Collector $66,518,655
9. Saw IV $63,300,095
10. The Cell  $61,334,059

The themes of these top grossing films are mainly adult and show lots of blood and gore. This can be seen especially in the Saw franchise and The silence of the Lambs which are very violent, this is why we have decided to make our film more violent and for an older audience than before. The characters in the films are also generally split into two with psychopaths and murderers or vulnerable victims.Examples of these in the films are Hannibal Lecter a cannibalistic psychopath and Tracy in Se7en a blond vulnerable victim. This is why we have only stuck to two characters as otherwise it would over complicate the relatively short scene.

The narrative of these famous films also are not straight forward with the killer getting away until the end; films such as Se7en which does not show who the killer is until a long time into the film.Other films show the narrative from the another perspective such as Red Dragon and we know what the villain has done and who he is.Finally the Target audience for these film are strictly adult and have strong violence and language and we have also gone down this path for our scene.Overall these films have clearly influenced our scene in many ways.

Conventions in a thriller film- Miss Miller

Taken

A convention is a way in which something is usually done or something that fits into a particular category. A thriller films primary objective is to create suspense and excitement at various points in the film. There are many ways that thriller films convey emotion and meaning and this is through the convention that can be used Examples of these are low key lighting,close up, iconography and innocence,unusual locations.

Low key lighting is when there is one key lighting and no others and this creates shadows around the characters.This can be seen in both scenes with the girl under the bed and her dad talking to her on the phone.This makes the scene feel uneasy as we now know something dark will be happening in the future. Secondly we can see all the emotions on the peoples faces due to the dark and light contrasts and this makes their faces express more emotion and this makes the scene feel more real.This makes the audience connect more with the characters and this helps them want to continue to watch as they now want to know the story of the character .So it builds a relationship by making a character feel scared and in turn a audience feels sorry for the person and cares about them. Or when low key lighting is used they can feel safe around a certain character and this can make him seem more powerful or trustworthy and if that characters dies it s quite a big blow.

Iconography is the use of props in a scene to convey meaning. This is  used throughout the scene in many different objects . The phone that the man is holding is the most important at the start as it is the connection between him and his daughter; later is is the connection between him and his daughters kidnappers and the only way of finding her.The phone is trying to express how helpless she is and how the man can at that moment do nothing about it.Also it could show the distance between them and how they are very far from each other.This makes the audience feel sorry for the daughter but wonder what the father will do now that she has been taken.

Innocence is a convention that is often used in thriller films.More than likely there is a helpless person who is alone or away from home and they are in danger and only the main character can save them. This happens in Taken as you have a girl alone in Paris who is kidnapped and her father thousands of miles away in California helpless to do anything.This is a convention as many films use it as an objective for the films plot line to get them back.This helps make the audience feel that they want to know whether the innocent person gets saved this is highly likely but it can be a good twist if it does not.Innocence can make an audience car deeply and want to protect a character and when that person dies the audience does feel worse than if no relationship was built.


Different locations is another convention used in thriller films. There is often a long way between the place where the main character is and the objective that they are trying to get.This gives the hero a path to follow and makes the story more interesting.In the case of Taken the girl is very far away and now her father needed to go ta a foreign country and this helps the story as now they are out of their comfort zones. This helps the audience feel engaged as now they can see hoe the character reacts in the place and now wants to know what will happen.

A close shot is also used in the clip it is used to show the emotion on peoples faces and what they are feeling. In taken there are two close ups focusing on different people the first is on the dads face he looks full of concern and worry but he is still calm. The girl on the other hand is very different as she is crying and sobbing down the phone. The director does this as from this we can tell what type of people they are one is calm and the other is not as controlled in her emotion. This is to help the audience also relate to his characters through their faces. This builds a relationship with the character as it shows the emotions on a characters face and as people have all had these emotions it is easy to relate to that. Also it gives you a sense of what the characters is like e.g if he is angry he is likely to be a killer.

Overall there  are many ways that the clip shows different aspects of a thriller film. These are just some of he ways that can be used to create a good thriller piece.