Editing

The lesson before we broke up me and Taio just got on with the editing and made a start on the credits. We were working out the exact time we wanted them to apear. The affect we want is that every time there's a scene where there's a light swinging the light will illuminate the credits we've created. I hadn't been able to be there the week before so I hadn't beem able to work on most of the story editing. We still have to get the timing right for the fading out of credits but it should be fine when we get back. Getting it right was hard as the window of time that we wanted the credits to be seen in was too short. We had to slow down the light swinging across the screen to adjust this.

Our Thriller Opening

Filming and Ideas:

At first we had only an abstract idea of what we wanted to do. We wanted part of it to be set in a forest. We also thought it would be good to have some of it take place in a darkroom and may be have a wall of photos. Throughout the darkroom scene suspense music would be played. I thought it would be interesting if we had an interrogation playing throughout the forest scene. The idea was that there would be a stalker who has been following this girl and in the scene where he follows her through the forest you find out that he’s actually murdered her as well. During later stages we decided it might give the start more energy if we cut between these two scenes and we could also add suspense if as we cut back to the forest we get closer and closer to the girl (played by Yolande). In the darkroom we cut to things the stalker has such as a film reel, camera and pictures of Yolande on his cabinet. Filming in the forest was hard because sometimes Yolande had to be a certain distance away from us and yet we needed to tell her when she was meant to run from here to there. I had to be called to give the right cue to Yolande at times. It would've been easier and a lot more cost effective to have used a radio.
The first day filming was spent 3 hours set in the dark room to reflect on the stalkers thoughts/ideas/plans. We filmed; panning shots over pinned up photos of the victim with red and white lighting, we did a white spotlight in the dark room over film reels floating in water with the effect of a tap dripping which gave a gentle ripple effect, moving the images giving a rhythm and feel of stillness and silence in the room; to create suspense as you wait for something to happen. The use of the steady, hand held, swinging spotlight in the dark over the camera gives an indication of the theme or the base of the subject is. The audience think why? What? Where? Confusing them, enforcing vulnerability on the audience as part of the thriller film.

Idea for Opening

We were asked to come up with an opening idea in the lesson to see if we could. We each had to come up with an idea and then in our groups we talked about it and refined our idea. This is the idea that i came up with and some aspects of it have been used in our final idea.
Intro
In the park a man is out playing with his son. He throws a ball to his son but it goes into the bushes. His son then goes to try and find it. Meanwhile in the bushes a man is peeking on the dad. POV shots of the dad. Suddenly the boy comes back and discovers his dad lying dead on the ground. The film would then go on to show the son much older as a cop trying to solve a similar case which turns out is done by the same man that killed his dad all those years ago.
Contingiency
Rain- film on another day or possibly move it into an indoor playground
spare balls in case we lose some in the bushes
Spare batteries
kid gets scared- make sure parents are there on filming
Talent
2 Person- 1 40 years old, 1 10 years old
Production staff
3 camera operators, Storyboard manager
Outline schedule
5 hours with talent
2 week edit
Equipment
1 camera, 1 tripod, 1 ball to throw, 1 microphone for sound.
Music
Diegetic sound of them playing. On POV shots have sinister slow deep strings from a violin.
Costume
Dad- Jeans, t-shirt and long over coat
Son- Jogging bottoms and football shirt with dads name on the back.

Responce to "Chainmail"

As a piece, this was oe of the most sophisticated. From the titles you could tell this. instead of trying to be over complicated with ideas, they used a simple text shown over the action on film. Although others may have showns a scense of imagination they failed to seem real. If anything they seemed over hatched. This title sequence was simple, and more effective for it. They id however enhance the imagery of them by making them slightly contorted and abstract, but not over done. In some way this could go towards aiding the audience build an idea of what kind of a thriller it could turn out to be. One that is subtle but still sinister.


The camera work was interesting. It used a range of close ups and medium high angled shots for effect. The close ups of the moving chains and the quick cuts and changes helped add to the tension of the piece. Building up to something that the audience are expecting but never comes. Although this was one of the things that people seemed to hate about the piece i felt the opposite. I felt that it showed that the ilm makers had a controle of the audience; something that is needed from a thriller maker.


There was also a few uses of a high angle long range shot. On a few occasions the shot was used in the office room with the feme fatale in her work office. The camera was used used at a high angle and made her seem as though th killer was a fly on the wall or a preditor looking at her. This was also seen in the one of the beggining shots and the ending shot of a train going in and going out. It made it seem as though the stalker is always there, everyday, everywhere. In someway, using these shots in the way they have has created a scense of continuety. I don't know whether this was done on purpose but if it was or not, its there, and it looks good.
In the same office shot, there understadning of lighting came through, providing use with a shot that used noir qualities. Creating shadows and dark angles. The lighting made the audience feel as if there was something evil around, as if somehting bad as going to happen. This use of lights and an overall dirty looking set created a dark and unclean mis en scene, that made the audience feel uneasy and on edge. Like most thrillers, the mis en scene plays a big part in its aim. This was understood by the group and created the right embience for "Chainmail"

The narrative of the piece was a good chioce for a thriller, showing some classical generic themes that enhanced the piece. The idea of a chained up evil character was one that i as an audience member could easily identify, but at the same time original. It is an image that can stick with you; the moving chains and the dark areas around the building that also add the noir feel of the piece. The chains also enhanced the evil ofthe unvailed character. As if nothing could hold him down from what he does.

The image of a helpless female alone is one that is seen frequantly in thrillers. Someone that the eventual protaganist/ hero could maybe come and help or save. This is not to say that in thrillers, women are always the person in need, especially in modern day thrillers. Actors like Jodie Foster are leading the way for femal actresses to be somethin more than the person in need and in some cases the hero.

This was the first of all the pieces that didn't just resort to using a over playing track to create the tension in the piece. "Cainmail" uses the diagetic sound of the chain to build a scense of fear within us. We also heard the sounds of the computers turning as they worked in the office. All these diagetic sounds were really refreshing in some way from the others because there was something more to the sound.

Out of all the pieces this was one of few that i really enjoyed and challenged me as an audience member. I would have been interested to know what the ideas for the rest of the piece were because im sure they would have been really strong.

Silent Whisper

We watched past examples of thriller openings from previous years to get an idea of what is required of us. One opening that i thought was particularly effective was one called silent whisper. The reason for this is the titles were in the opening. They were hidden on the walls and in the text which meant you concentrated more on what was going on. The opening was very abstract and didn't really have a storyline which i think was very clever because when you look at thriller openings not a lot happens because thrillers are all about keeping things hidden from your audience for as long as possible. They had a good variety of camera shots and i especially liked the close ups and the hand held work that they did because they didn't over use and it felt like it really brought something to the piece . however i didn't really like it when they used the zoom function as i think that it didn't really look very professional. I really liked the way that they used binary opposites with the two characters clothing to show the contrasts of good and evil. The white of the girls clothes was really effective because it shows her innocence but the fact that you never get to see her face does give her a weird feel like she may of done some bad in the past. The use of the rose petals give connotations of love and danger and betrayal which could give you ideas of what the film is about which i really liked. The soundtrack is also really effective and its composition is really well timed and fits well with the action. This group took a lot of inspiration from other thrillers particularly with the photos which are very much like Memento and all the writing on the wall that the credits were in which was like Se7en. i really liked this opening and think it thoroughly deserved the A grade that it got. i hope our groups piece is as good as this.

A list of Directors and actors that are involved in Thrillers

I thought it would be a good idea to write up a list of actors and directors that have been involved in thrillers thus far.


Actors:

Tommy Lee Jones ,62(Enemy of the State, Valley of Elah)
Awards: Academy Award, Golden globe, screen actors guild and Emmy

Matt Damon, 38 (Bourne Trilogy)
Awards:

Nicole Kidman, 41(The Interpreter, Dead calm, Bankok Hilton)
Awards: Golden Globe , MTV Movie, Berlin International Film Festival

Denzel Washignton, 53(De ja Vouse, Inside Man)
Awards: Golden Globe, Academy Awards

James Stewart, 89(Anatomy of a Murder)
Awards: Academy awards





Thriller Directors:

Steven Spielberg, 61(Encounters of the Third Kind, Minority report)
Awards: Academy awards for best director, Academy awards for best movie

D.J. Coruso, 43(Eagle Eye, Disturbia, Two for the Money)
Awards:

The Coen Brothers, 51 and 53 (No Country for Old Men, The Man Who wasn't There)
Awards: Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, Direcor, picture and editing.

Stanley Kubrick, died aged 70 (The Shining)
Awards: Golden Globes, Baftes, Oscars

Riddly Scott, 70( Hannible, Matchstick Men)
Awards: BAFTAs, Emmys, Golden Globes

From this information I can conclude that acting in thrillers isn't a young man's game generally because the average age of these A-list thriller actors is 50 years old. May be because thrillers usually have loads of puzzles to solve they need wize minds to solve them. The directors are of senior age but it seems that to get to the global market most of them need this experience.

My film analysis Old Boy

The film starts off with

Preliminory exercise



What i have learnt:

Taking part in the behind camera elements meant that i have now become more confident in filming also learning new things like the importance of continuity, match on action, establishing shot and the 180 degree rule Diegetic/Non-Diegetic. Before we started filming i was not aware of how much we needed to do

My Thriller

To make my thriller of a good quality there are many aspects of the genre that i will need to take into consideration. This will be hard because the genre is really hard to pin down into what it is. You would identify that a thriller is something that has a fast paced narrative that aims to thrill the audience. however i do believe that this is the only genre that can be splti onto so many sub genres; spy thrillers, conspiricy, horror thrillers, crime thrillers and the list goes on. the key to our group making a good thriller will be trying to stick to what we deem as a good thriller but also what we can realisticaly achieve with the resources that we have.

Four key elements we need to think of when we are making our trillers are;
The theme
The narrative
Characters

A teenagers we aren't going to be able to have an actor that can play an old war s.a.s veteran or police workers like seen in most thrillers. However, youare seeing more character today that start as normal everyday people. In films like Enemy of the state with Will Smith show this brilliantly. This may be in order to make the audience have a greater connection to the characters if the can relate to the situations and the people that they are. In some ways you think of wheather it can happen to you.

The narrative is tradtionaly fast paced in thrillers, the narratives overlap with more twists and turns than the audience would have throught possoible. The protaganist would strive to stop aand opposing force from achieving their goal with a pulse raising climax. I doubt that we would be able to produce something like that. and seen as we are only doing an opening we cant unravel a full story. however thrillers fill their fist 10 minutes with intense narrative and action where the audience are never rarely board. This will be a tall order for us but i think we can do it.

The themes will have to be things that us as a group can relate to. things like crime, conspiracy suspence are constatly seen in thrillers and we will need to think of things like this to make our work creditable. They help to make thrillers what they are. This will be important in the script writing procces which might be the hardest of all the things that we will ahve to focus on.

I dont think that we can produce a piece of work that will shock the world. That would be impossible. But i do believe that if we stick to what we know and love about thrillers, we can use it to our advantage and produce something to be proud of.

Early Thrillers
Vilans: These films had to be respectable - law abiding institutions. the first film to break the law was 'The Great Train Robbery' - landmark 1903; they showed moral lessions that provedhow dangerious and unprofitable crime was. Thugs were shown usually with heavy blck make-up to be unshaven.
Heros were coloursless and the bad guy/villans wore the darker clothing and were the bulk of plot motivation. for example, 'The Lonely Villa' and 'A girl and her Trust' created tension by the heroine constantly menaced by the villians, with the occansional cutaways to the hero putting rescue plans into operation. At these times the motive was quite simple; robbery. All villiany was like this. It influenced alot of melodramatic, victorian novels. Th movies were full of such situations as a girl taking on a mans job and proving herself to handle all emergencies as well as a man including the outwitting of robers.

By 1910 the villians had become sophisticated villians, hoodlimus, brutes and other clearly defined types. then by 1914 the movies had changed quite a bit, they were on there way to becoming an art as they were already big business sprked by names like Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Helen Gardener, and Maurice Costello, the star system had arrived to sky high rocket saleries. Once a player/character became a star there was no fluctuating between good guys and bad gauys, he had to be somebody the audience had to root for all the time.

It was Panzer who conveniently encompassed severl different brands of villiany. First, he was ruthless, with no regard at al to humand life. Second, he wqas cunning and crafty. Like in 'The Perils of Pauline' playing Pearls guardian, he tried to kill her off from the first chapter to the last, and never once did pearl tumble to the double-game he was playing. He betrayed her at every turn, set her out to sea in a leaky boat, sprinkled barbed wire on the road hoping to wreck her racign car, and tried poison, time bombs, snakes, and every other conceivable mode of execution in his efforts to dispatch her. But, even in the final episode when his teachery had rebounded on himself and he had gone to watery grave, meanwhile Pearl seemed naively unaware of his perfidy. on the other hand, she didnt seem induly distressed by her guardians suden demise, either. Panzer, dressed to the hilt and usually sporting jack boots and a deer-stalker hat, gave his villiany a robust exuberance that seemed to have even greater gusto when compared with the rather underplayed heroics of Peal White. He'd grimace, shake his fist, pantomime his newest scheme, and gloat gleefully in anticipation of its succcessful execution. Panzer was in movies until the 1950's, somehow he always seemed to be playing Koerner and perhaps because of that never became a really important silent villain. Koerner was one of the last standing grand Victorian villian.
Reference ; Bok written by William K.Everson, Published by Citadel Press,

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock has changed the way film will be made for the rest of time. As a director and producer he took the ideas of thrillers to the next level developing the ideas of the psycological thriller and the tools of suspence. In his life time he directed over fifty films in a career that lasted for 60 years. He saw the end of the silent movie era into the introduction and development of sound and well into the use of colour. He had seen the potential of what film could be.

He strongly believed in the ideas of story boarding in detail. This was probably the reason his films have a great attention to detail. in a wide range shot in North by North west it is said that the camera angle is set to the same angle in the title. This hard working ethos helped him to become the most highly regarded director of his time.

Born in london in 1899 his early career started in Britain first as someone more behind the scenes but he worked his way up to direct films like Blackmail (one of britains first talkies although poorly dubd) which can be seen at the BFI. The film follows the story of a woman who is forced to kill a date she was on in self defence. Someone witnesses her and the man together and comes forth to blackmail her and her police man boyfriend.

He then went on to america and was under contract to the producer Selznick. He hated this. Hitchcock was the sort of director that liked having complete controle over his work and he didnt always feel likehe did. His first american film Rebecca 1940 ( set and written in england) about a young woman who moves into an big english home in the country. She has problems with a distant husband and the memory of his now dead wife Rebecca. The film won a few academy awards but not the best director.

Hitchcock was a director not to stick to the usual. He was known for his experimentational approach to film making. In films like Spell bound and Rope where new ideas for POV shots and extended one take shots were made, un heard of at the time.

Through his peak years ( 50 - 60's) he made films like North be North west, Psycho and The Birds, all three are hailed as some of the greatest thriller films ever made. He is a great influence and a man who has helped make the thriller genre and film what it is today.

Get Carter 1971 director: Mike Hodges

This film is not only regarded as a british classic but also one of the most iconic thriller films in the world. It follows the story of jack carter played by Michael Cain on his return to the north to finsd out more about his brothers death.

It has a destinctive opening, in some ways an establishing shot, but not one of a place but of our protaganist. The camera slowly zooms in on him facing out towards us as the theme music plays over the diagetic sound of the wind. Imediatly you know who the story follows and recieve hints of a sinister storyline.

The opening scene is in a room with the characters gangster bosses and his contemporaries. Here you see the steriotypical characters showing power. They are over wait, wear black suits and smoke cigars. Commonly seen in films that a thriller/ gangster. They all sit back watching porn on a slide. You can imedialty see that Carter is different. He is lean, wearing a grey suit and drinks a some what more sophisticated whiskey. Our eyes are almost Blinded by the cut to the bright light coming from the front of the projector mixed with the diagetic sounds of the changing of sound work as a tool for the director to un ease his audience and create a sence of tension in the scene, something that you can also see in the subtext of the writing.

Hodges approaches the opening in a very noir esc fashion. The room is dark and shadows are created by the surroundings and the single light from the projector. Everything seems to have a hidden feeling of darkness just like the characters in the scene. It creats a evil mis en scene, the audience seem thrown into this world of the dark criminal underworld.

The dialogue is used here to start the story off. The audience is told where and why he is doing what he plans and in some ways how he is going to do it. The repetative warnings of "don't go" and "rethink this" from the people that suround Carter set up the idea that something is going to happen. It is also very interesting that this is one of the most important scenes in th whole film but it isn't played up to be. Like the rest of the film everything is done subtly. Without this scene the ending doesn't really make much sence.

Get Carter isn't just an iconic movie, it is one of the rare films that told its story with an unbelievable amount of truth. This is something hard to find in the thriller cinema of today. Get Carter helped to reperesent the generation in which it was made. With the fashion, the language and the over all mis en scene of the piece. It showed the britain of that time for what it was ; gritty and unforgiving, and it was enhanced and made better for doing so.

Preliminary Excersize.

I found that the pre Liminary excersize more challenging than I had thought it would be. I had already used a camera before and the requirments seemed easy enough. however you would be suprised with how much you can forget, using a camera isn't like riding a bike. We also had a lot more things to think about with the making and editing of the piece. These include 180 degree rule, match on action and continuety editing.

We had gotten the cameras and desided to film in our calss room. We had our story board to refure to and evrything was planned, But the opperation of the camera was tricky. i had forgotten how to make sure our shot was level, how to tilt the camera and other little things that we needed in order to get the shots we wanted. Luckily the hero of the group Jack was there to ease our pains.

Operating the camera was a long forgotten worry when i was eventually standing infront of it. ( i wasnt just helping with the camera work i was also an actor in the excersize). i found it almost impossible to not make mistakes, causing us to waist time and film at least 5 takes of each shot.

There was a hitch during the filming. In our story board we had mis understude the idea of match on action which meant we had to do some rethinking and film some extra shots, but we handled it very well and with ease in my view. We almost had problems with the 180 degree rule untill Ms Williams stept in to look over what we had done.

In all i think we wroked well as a group and produced a coherent piece of work. I really enjoyed it.

What makes a thriller a thriller

The idea of a thriller is to thrill its audience. It will atempt to focus on one goal and there for take the audience on the journey to find this goal with the protaganist/ protaganists of the story. Tension is needed to keep the audience on the edge of there seats as the narrative comes to a thrilling climax. The characters will find that they come accross obsticles ie, situations or people (villians) that they must over come in order for the film to finish or continue it's narrative.

You will find that the thriller is very fast paced, keeping the audience guessing and edgy. This can be helped in the editing. Which is vital for a thriller. Quick cuts and changes of camera angle are alwasy sure to bee seen in a thriller film.

The sounds in the film are also destinctive and b=very important. Music and cinema are like two peas in a pod, but when music is added to thriller film it becomes a different ball game. Thrilers would lose at least 50% of there impact if it weren't for the music or sounds (diagetic or non-diagetic) sounds heard in the films. For example the high pitched strings are often used to bring tension, and this can be influenced by the tempo. Jaws has one of the most iconic musical tension building tracks. So does James Bond with its use of a great orchastra and brass horns.


Lighting helps to add to the mis en scene of a piece. This can indicate to the audience what mood the scene is and what may happen next. In films like Seven, it is always raining and dark. It sets the mood of the whole film being a dark and twisted story. This is a good example of how the director David Fincher has used sound (sound of the rain) and the lighting to affect the audience watching his film. The use of shadows in thrillers (also used in Seven) is another devise used to creat a more sinster enviornment.


The idea of using lighting to enhance the atmosphere of the film can be traced back to the film movment of Film Noir. A film i have seen recently that uses film noir ideas was Momento. In a scene where the protaganist is sitting in his room alone, you really feel like you can feel the darkness of his character.

Addition to spy thrillers

In addition to the post on spy thrillers.
James Bond: quantumn of solace.

This is the latest addition to the james bond saga, bringing a new look to the originals and a faster passed narative. For once it can be said that this is now a thriller film.

Starting with a fast car chase that gets your blood pumping the story and the film doesn't stop thrilling you. The story line more complex than normal jams bond films, a tighter script and more realistic events if that is possible, to some this may be classed as the first james bond film to be credited as an actual film at all rather than a fars.

But what has made the producers want to make this change in the layout to the film?

This may be due to stiff competition in a relm that james bond once used to rule. In the last eight years films like the Bourne series and Taken have been released, challenging and thrilling the audiences. Although the special effects and technology for films have gotten smarter, so have the audiences. The expect something more than just a film they want something to think about. They want to feel apart of the world that is being shown to them.

James bond has shocked the worldwide box office with an overall take of $594 million. Its opening day in the US and UK gained it £4,940,000 and its opening weekend for the uk gained it $ 25,300,000. This film is long on its way to being one of the biggest grossing films this year.

However this is not the only franchise that has desided to take a darker, challenging and an overall more thrilling turn on the way it is made. Batman shocked audiences all over the globe with its more "sophisticated" cinematis approach. This broke the $200 million record.

The Usual Suspects

I decided to watch the opening of the usual suspects as this is another film that i really should watch as it is such an iconic thriller. Firstly the music really adds tension and suspense to the proceedings especially witht the use of the strings. The fact that the whole thing tasks place on a boat makes it seem very eery and scary. it is sooo isolated and alone and the fact that there are people unconscious or dead all around makes it look like something big has happened. The flames makes it a very shocking opening and also cements the fact of hell and the devil which is a big theme of the film. the out of focus background also adds suspense because you can't quite see everything. There are still things that you can't make out and it makes you feel like something else could jump out at anytime. Something big could happen. The use of the film noir style where you cannot see the whole oif the characters face is very effective. It shrouds the character in mystery as we no nothing about him and it makes the audience relucytant to trust him where as the other guy you can see all his face. The fact that the chracters no each other aswell instantlty forces the audience to start asking questions about what is going on and how these two no each other. It instantly gets you intrested in the story. The other part that i think is really effective about the opening is the way that the camera shows stills of the surrounding when the gun goes off as this helps to really show how alone the character is and how isolated everything is. the use of levels also helps to show who is really in charge because one of the chracters is higher to show his dominant position.

Endings of thrillers

Another thing that i decided to research was the endings of thrillers and the way they build to the final climactic moment. I noticed that thrillers will go one of two ways really. They will either build up to a big climactic moment where everything comes down to this one point. The 'will they make it moment' that happens in a lot of the more action thrillers like James Bond or Die hard or something like that where you are on the edge of your seat wondering whether he will save the girl or beat the villain. On the other hand in the more psychological thrillers you tend to be led down a path with little clues here and there about what is going on and then they will put in a massive plot twist. For example M. Night Shyamalan sixth sense you have the massive twist at the end when we find out that he is a ghost, or in se7en when you find out that he hasn't turned himself in and that he had it all planned out to make sure that Brad Pitt killed him to make all of the seven deadly sins. This tactic of the plot twist i think is a better way of doing it because it gives the film to different contexts. The first time you watch it tyou don't no what is going to happen and you sit there being thrilled with your heart in your mouth. However once you no what is going to happen and you watch it again it gives a whole different meaning to the film as you sit there seing all the clues along the way and kicking yourself for not guessing how it is going to end.

Typical Characters

I have done some research about the typical characters that you are likely to see in thrillers. Usually the main protagonist is a man. I think the reason for this is because the typical audiences of thrillers is male and that men want to empathise with the man character and be like them for example every man wants to be James Bond and the women go to see James Bond to see him because he is attractive. Another reason is because a lot of thrillers use the typical story template of a women in trouble and the man trying to save her. The typical fairytale of a damsel in distress and a night in shining armour saving the day. This will heavily influence me for when the group come to decide on a plot and characters because we will need to decide whether we are going to conform with the code and conventions and have a male lead or whether we are going to go against that and decide to have a female lead like in some of the new thrillers such as The Eye with Jessica Alba.

007

Spy Thriller-"Thriller or that which thrills; spec(slang or colloq.) a sensational play(cf. shocker) 1896 Pall Mall Mag 'Full blown detectives...the sort you read of in thrillers!"-Oxford English Dictionary

Another type of thriller genre is the spy thriller. Every spy thriller needs big drama, fast cars, gadgets and espionage and the James Bond movies are no exception. In essence what happens is someone belonging to some secret agency solves a large problem using any of above components. when the Bond movies first came out their was a buzz about the whole genre what with features like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Prisoner and Get Smart and books like The Ultra Secet and Pearl Harbour: Warning and deception. There was definately money to be made and Pineapple studios cashed in, becoming the home of the double agent. It is the second most profitable film after Harry Potter. They still produce Bond films today; films such as Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
I think Bond was a big hit with audiences because he's a a daring, hansome character who many men wish they could be and whom many women wish they could be with although he also has a dark side; his willing ness to kill with ease and slight missogeny. These human touches help the vewer to really connect with the character but also show that he isn't just two dimentional.

Cassino Royale, 2006

Directed by: Martin Campbell

Starring: Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench and Eva Green

The movie starts in black and white. A man took a lift to his office. A lot of silence while this happens. Odd camera angles make us feel ill at ease. There is no music at this point; It's quiet, too quiet. The man got to his dark office, looked around and saw Bond waiting for him in a chair. The man sat at a desk down and half opened a draw. There is a close up on the draw, there's a gun inside. Because their wearing trench coats it resembles a 60s black and white movie. They exchanged dialogue and then the scene cut to a fight between Jamese Bond and nameless villain. The new scene is a good contrast to the dark office. They're fighting in a white tiled public toilet so the villain must be really out to get James. Ergent music.
Cut back to office. The office worker pulled out the gun that was in the drawer and bond explains that he'd already removed the magazine. the man thinks that Bond isn't there to kill him because double agents(people who've killed at least twice) are the only people that MI5 would send but then again if Bond killed his associate then he could've been sent to deal with this man to be given a chance at double 0 status.
Cut back to Men's toilet fight. James Bond seems to overwelm villain. The villain has dropped his gun and lies motionless
Cut back to the office. We've concluded that this could be Bond's second kill. He dispaches the office worker
Cut back to toilet fight. As Bond turns to pick up his gun the villain starts to sturr. He grabbs his gun(camera become the eye of the barrel) but befor he can shoot Bond does the classic turn and shoot that starts the title sequence.

Intro of Sleepy Hollow

I looked at this because i think it is a good example of a thriller that has a lot more scope than most genres. This is following on from the point me and Yolande made in our blog about thriller sub genres. Sleepy Hollow is a horror thriller which includes a bit of romance between Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp's characters as well as the Crime which the headless horseman comitts throughout the movie.

Title: Sleepy Hollow, 1999

Directed by: Time Burton

Staring: Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci

The first titles seem to almost swim into existence like a halucination and disapear like smoke. That and their cold colour let you know that one of the big themes in this will be ghosts or the paranormal. Also there are string instruments playing which seem to be hurried. May be there is an emergency. The scene starts with someone writing a will and testiment and cuts between that and what looks like dripping blood as the music plays out. It turns out that the blood is not blood but wax used to seel a letter which makes you think that even though it's only wax, the presentation of it suggests something more gory is to come. It also shows you that this is a period piece. Hardly anybody seels letters with wax anymore. In the second scene the writer of the will and testiment is riding in a cariage. The night is dark, foggy and a strom is starting to break. Lightning tears across the night sky. The dark night is horror mes en scene and by this point we are expecting something to happen. There are lots of close ups on the tense faces of the driver and rider. Shwing!(onomatopoiea) The rider peers outside of the carriage to see the headless driver's body lolling forwards.

Box Office Figures

I regularly read Empire magasine for the film reviews and interviews and stuff and have reacently noticed that they put in the box office figures for that month so i thought that i would talk about them. Ba ck in december 2006 the Us Box office had one thriller in it at number 5 which was the covenant which grossed $22.2 million in four weeks. In the Uk box Office there was only one thriller film which was children of men which grossed £2.98 million in 2 weeks. This shows that back in 2006 there were people going and wanting to see thriller films. In January 2007 there were three thriller films on the US box office the departed grossed $75.1 million in a month and in the five weeks it was released it grossed over $102million. The second highest grossing film was Saw Vl which grossed $59.4million in just 2 weeks and in third place was the prestige which grossed $39.1 million in three weeks. In the Uk box office that month the departed grossed £9 million in 5 weeks and Saw Vl grossed £5.6 million in 2 weeks. Fast forward to September 2008 and there are still 3 thriller films in the US Box Office top five. Hancock is number one with $164.1m in 2 weeks third was Wanted which grossed 112.5million in 3 weeks and finally Get Smart which grossed 202.1million six weeks. In the Uk Box Office Hancock was number one again grossing £16.7 million in 2 weeks. Prince caspian was third with £9.6 million in 3 weeks and wanted was fourth with £7 million in three weeks. This shows that there still is a really big market for thriller films and that the audiences are out there and waiting to watch thrillers. This also shows that there is a very wide audience of thriller lovers and it is not just the 18-25 year olds that enjoy thrillers but most adults do. Not only that but it also shows that more people are now going to the movies as the films are grossing more money.

Seven

I decided to watch seven this week and i have reviewed the opening. The sound is really simplistic with a lot of dark shadows all over the place. All the people are in very old looking suits and the silence at the begginning with the feint siren as detective somerset is getting ready makes it seem really scary as it is soo quiet it also helps the detective to seem really alone. the way they keep the policemen in the dark is very film noir. You never get to see his face you are totally focused on Brad Pitts character. The town is also really clever as it looks really grubby and old and the pathetic fallacy as it is raining. Also as they walk down the street you really get a sense of the two characters in the may Morgan Freeman walks and is uninterrupted whereas Brad Pitt keeps walking into everybody. The colours used for Morgan Freemans house are very drab it seems like all the colour has drained from his house in the same way everything has drained from his life and he just wants to give up. The mise en scene of the opening seems very dark and sombre as if something big is about to happen but none of the characters no it yet. The music of the begginning is really confusing and when teamed with the images it just makes you ask loads of questions about what is going on and what are all the pictures and notebooks about.

One Hour Photo

Another thriller that i have watched the opening of was One Hour Photo. The opening sequence are really clever especially the way that the words fade in and out like on a photocopyer.The use of the machine noise and the music makes it seem very eery and the black on white is very simple and stylistic. The still shot on the camera really helps to add suspense and it really gives you the sense that something horrible is about to happen. The wide shot in the interrogation room makes it also feel really impersonal. The close ups of the chracters face also help to make the viewer feel really awkwardand none of the shots tilt or pan which makes them seem very much like photos. The use of the non-diegetic sound building to the camera flash also really helps to add suspense and the silence also makes robin williams character feel very alone and it makes you feel very uncomfortable. The mise en scene seems very clinical and clean. When i watched the film i originally felt really sorry for robin williams character but after watching the film and watching the film again it made me view it in a whole different light and it actually really creeped me out.

Film Noir

Created in the 1910's- 20's, film noir saw the merging of the german expressionism and the italian neo- realism. Two very disimilar ideas but merged to help start the ideas of film noir. The idea was used to help show the inner darkness and feelings of characters not just in the actor, but in the suroundings.

The ideas and influences for the movement was seen in the developments in theater, photography, paintings. these influences may be why people refured to it as painting on screen The idea wasn't originally suited to places like america but was embraced by the europe. However this changed in the 1940-50 when the film noir seemed to take over the american screens and therefore the films of the world. The term was first used by a french critic Nino Frank in 1946 and thus the name was born.

Film Noir was often used in films that had a rather dark tone to them. Often the followed a murder story of some sort. Film makers found that these were films that drew in audiences and were cheap to make due to the lak of needing to touch up of try to enhance the lighting on set and in the editing. Therefore they were made in abundance, and in a space of a decade the craze of film noir as over. However it influences can still be seen in fil today.

Film makers like Billy Wilder double indemnity 1944 directed one of the first big time noir films. One of the most iconic is Touch of evil 1958. A thriller to use a lot of the ideologies of the film noir was a film called Odds Aginst the Tommorow 1959 directed by Robert wise. An all time classic film made after the film noir craze but heavily relied on some if its ideas was Taxi Driver directed be Martine Scorsese 1976. Staring thriller icons such as Al pucino and Jodie Foster. Michel Mann is another director who has frequently used film noir influences in films like Heat. Most recently The dark knight directed by Christopher Nolan. All these films that i have mentioned above are classed as thrillers and all have paid homage to the movment of Film Noir. Its important influence is improssible to deny.

Defining the Genre

I have found a quintessential guide to a classic thriller in the library. this is what the story line is for most thrillers in the same way you could right about what happens i n a romantic comedy.

A relatively innocent character who normally avoids commitment and dissociates from conflict in life is abruptly caught in the snare of a menacing conspiracy. The character is completely bewildered and wants nothing more than to return to the normalcy of everyday life, but a powerful antagonist is committed to killing the main character in order to achieve a goal that threatens not only the protagonist, but the community at large. The protagonist, spurred by uncontrollable panic, runs to escape the antagonist, yet soon discovers that not only is escape impossible, but that there is no help forthcoming from supposed friends or trusted institutions. Instead, the protagonist must act alone by acquiring the strength of self sufficiency and out-maneuvering the antagonist in a battle of wits until, in the final confrontation, the protagonist defeats the menace by attacking the antagonist's vulnerability and exposing evil. Having changed from an avoider of conflict to a self-sufficient person, the protagonist now must face the larger world with a keenly sharpened vigilance.

Neil D. Hicks (2002). Writing The Thriller Film The Terror Within. California: Michael Wise Productions. p135.

This is really interesting as it shows what happens in the classic thriller film. this is really helpful for when we begin to come up with our story-line for a thriller as we will have this to work against to make sure that we are fitting everything in and that it is a thriller film.

Memento

I watched the opening to Mento and thought that it tlooks like a really good thriller. The titles are really clever in the way they fade in and out. it is all very simple and plain with very ominous sonuding music that really helps to build suspense. You desperatelt try and figure out what is going on in the picture and the harder you try the more that it fades. The shots that are used are very film noir a lot like in Sin City particularly when he wakes up in the hotel room and Guy Pearce is narrating. The Mise-en-scene is very dramatic with the blood and the beard of the character immediately makes him untrustworthy. The diegetic sound of the photo shaking adds drama and the scream of the man is very chilling. Another clever thing about the opening is the way the camera cuts to extreme close ups of the objects like the blood and you never get to see the full picture. It is really clever the way the action moves backwards. Immediately your mind starts asking questions about what is going on.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=J_VRZJf91nw

Today was the editing stage of the prelim exercise. i enjoy working with final cut pro and found this quite easy and really ebjoyable. the hard parts of the lessons was the match on action shots. The shot of Taio walking into the classroom was very difficult to get it too look right from botht the sides of the doors. The other hard part was matching the panning shot of Taio crossing the room and the POV shot of him saying his line to me. Sadly we found out that we didn't really have a proper panning shot because the only one that actually worked one of our people was in the shot. This meant that we needed to do a little bit of swapping around but other than that the finished product does look good. There was also one shot that i was a little dissapointed in. I had the idea to put the camera inside the lost and found box and then have it looking up at me while i rummaged through it but it didn't quite turn out the way that i had hoped. It still looks good but not as good as i had hoped that it would.

Preliminary Exercise

Today we actually filmed the prelim exercise. it was really enjoyable and we had our storyboard all ready to go and so we just had to follow it off. we had a little trouble at one point because we wanted to use a pan shot to see the person come in but sadly we had to use match in action. This wasn't difficult to do it just meant that we had to go back and film a couple of things again to make sure they worked. the hard part of the task was we wanted to film a POV shot and i needed to hold the camera because i was the actor being used. we decided not to use the tripod as then it would be more realistic because you are always moving. This also is the way the POV shots are done in Peep Show so i think this was the right thing to do. The hard part was trying to think how i would follw somebody walking towards me. would i pan up to keep there head in shot or wood i keep it level. Another thing that i found difficult was the continuity. Because w e did it in a classroom with peoples stuff in we had to make sure that no one came ina and picked up there stuff or moved it so this was a problem as the lesson drew to a close.

Preliminary Exercise

Today we got the cameras from our lesson and had a little play. The school has got new cameras since my GCSE project but they are basically the same as the cameras we used. It was nice to mess about witht the cameras and just have a little practice before. The hardest part i found today was making sure that the tripod was level so that the shot looked ok and that it wasn't on a slant. I was more focused on trying to get Yolande and Christian to have a go so me and Taio took a back seat. They have never used the camera before so we needed to make sure that they got to try everything and to make sure that they knew what to do.

Thriller Subgenres

A thriller is generally is a fast paced, action packed drama with quite resouseful characters. Although it can be catagorized very easily it usually includes more than one genre, which becomes the subgenre. in order to make a good Thriller it must contain suspense, clifhangers, puzzles. As long as you have these elements a Thriller can be set practally anywhere like, an exotic setting, rural areas, deserts, polo regions etc.

The general characteristics of a thriller varies like mystery stories, crime/mass murder, terrorism, assassination. They mostly deal with quite big issues, there are usually mysteries to solve and suspense is held until confrontation; in the plot there is usually a twist in the plot.

Sub- genres

• sci-fi thrillers (I, Robot), A thriller where technology ahead our time plays a large part
  
• Action thriller (The Matrix) Usually
  
• Conspiracy thriller (Enemy of the State)A violent confrontation of a hero in front of a group of enemies.
• crime thriller (Righteous kill)
  
• Disaster thriller (The Day After Tomorrow)
• Eco-thriller (The Day After Tomorrow)
  
• Erotic thriller(Basic Instict)
  

Christian and Yolande

Match On Action

This is used to explain the cutting between two different camera angles but continue showing the action in the scene at the same point in time. Without this, you will find that your work will not make sense. This could be the difference between continuity editing and dis- continuity editing

Continuity editing

For our preliminary exercise we were introduce to some media terms. One of these was continuity editing, which is basically editing a clip so that the appearance of the scene stays the same and nothing seems to magically appear or disappear. For example if a bag is on a table in on shot it needs to stay on the table for next.

Video form http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NoiVAPY_ww

In the first scene the laptop remains on the girls lap after every cut. This is an example of continuity editing.

Group

The Begginning

We are group one. In our group their is Jack Perry, Christian Graham, Yolande Bramble-Carter and Taio Rene-Lawson. Taio and I did the GCSE media course and have some minor experience of using the cameras as we made a soap opera opening sequence last year. Christian and Yolande are brand new.