Other the past two lessons we have been looking at examples of unique and different Title Sequences, this is so we have decent ideas for when we have to create a title sequence for our thriller opening. We looked at films such as Seven and The Panic Room and The opening sequence of 'Seven' sets a scene off mystery as the music is set to a smooth tone of a two beat continious cycle. The filming is deliberately shaky and poor, this could be to show the audience that the characters might not be in a perfect situation. The careful cutting out off pictures and words may describe that one of the characters is a very precise person, who has to do everything perfectly. The cut out pictures of dead people also adds to the idea that things may not be right, adds mystery.
The opening sequence of 'The Panic Room' is interesting as some of the names of the actors and actresses are shown before the title of the film and some more names of the actors and actresses are shown after the title of the film. Its an unconventional technique, but interesting. Also the titles are all on a backdrop off skyscrapers, and large buildings. this is clever as it fits in with the title off the film, because there are lots off rooms in skyscrapers, which fits in with the name in "panic Room"
Tuesday 21 December 2010
Monday 13 December 2010
Sabotage (1936) - 6/7
The sequence of the Hitchcock thriller 'Sabotage' that i watched in class to observe the use of Suspense.
Sabotage (1935)
I researched an Alfred Hitchcock film to observe certain techniques i can use in my Thriller opening. In his 1935 hit 'Sabotage' Hitchcock uses Suspense to great affect, so well in fact that now days he is known as 'The master of Suspense'
The plot of the film in short is that a young boy has to deliver a film canister to his uncles film studio by 12 O'clock, however the dramatic irony is that we as the audience know that the film canister is actually a bomb, that is set to go off at 1:45 pm. This creates suspense throughout the film as we as the audience are hooked to the film as we want to know whether the boy delivers the film, whether the bomb goes off and whether the boy gets harmed or not.
Hitchcock uses music to create the suspense, he uses music like a clock ticking to build up the tension of the bomb going off as we don't know whether the boy is going to get to the film studio in time or not.
Throughout the sequence Hitchcock keeps showing shots of a clock followed by the ticking music (the sound of the music is parallel and Diegetic music) the clock emphasis the tension further as we keep seeing the time getting closer and closer to the time the bomb is due to go off.
The fact that we as the audience know that the bomb is in the film canister and that the young boy doesn't is a use of Dramatic irony. The dramatic irony is that we know the boy is carrying a bomb but the boy doesn't. This means that we get really tense when we see the boy taking his time around a busy london as we don't want the bomb to go off and kill everyone.
The plot of the film in short is that a young boy has to deliver a film canister to his uncles film studio by 12 O'clock, however the dramatic irony is that we as the audience know that the film canister is actually a bomb, that is set to go off at 1:45 pm. This creates suspense throughout the film as we as the audience are hooked to the film as we want to know whether the boy delivers the film, whether the bomb goes off and whether the boy gets harmed or not.
Hitchcock uses music to create the suspense, he uses music like a clock ticking to build up the tension of the bomb going off as we don't know whether the boy is going to get to the film studio in time or not.
Throughout the sequence Hitchcock keeps showing shots of a clock followed by the ticking music (the sound of the music is parallel and Diegetic music) the clock emphasis the tension further as we keep seeing the time getting closer and closer to the time the bomb is due to go off.
The fact that we as the audience know that the bomb is in the film canister and that the young boy doesn't is a use of Dramatic irony. The dramatic irony is that we know the boy is carrying a bomb but the boy doesn't. This means that we get really tense when we see the boy taking his time around a busy london as we don't want the bomb to go off and kill everyone.
Thursday 9 December 2010
Shadow Of A Doubt Part 1/11
The opening sequence of Hitchcock's thriller, Shadow Of A Doubt. In this sequence we see Hitchcock's great use of music, camera angles and lighting and colour.
Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)
Shadow of a Doubt is yet another example of Alfred Hitchcock's ability to create a great Thriller film opening. Hitchcock starts telling us about the character 'Uncle Charlie' straight away, we find out he is rich in the first 4 minutes of the film, by the way the character leaves huge wods of cash lying around his bedroom. The way he is dressed also (in a smart suit) emphasis the wealthyness of the character. Hitchcock uses sound to great effect in the opening. The change of music when the blinds were pulled down, tells the audience that the atmosphere is changing. Before the blinds close there is no music and the light through the window, tells us as the audience that everything seems ok. When the mistress closes the blind, Hitchcock cleverly changes the music to an eerie, tense music, which shows that something may be about to happen. As well as the eerie tense music 'Uncle Charlie' gets up and throws his glass violently at the wall, to show all is not right with him, and that he may have some problems. The way Hitchcock reveals something about the character, but keeps somethings hidden is a clever ploy as it keeps the audience in enthralled into what is going on.
Hitchcock builds up a great anti climax, which he emphasises with the music quickening as 'Uncle Charlie' walks towards the two men on the edge of the street. It gets the audience entranced as they believe they are going to see a confrontation, however 'Uncle Charlie just walks straight past them and down the road. Hitchcock uses a great camera angle behind the two men and looking over there shoulder at 'Uncle Charlie' walking away as it shows they are now following him and accomponied with the rhythmic two time beat of the piano, it keeps the audience interest as they want to know what the two men want with 'Uncle Charle'.
All these techniques show Hitchcocks brilliance in setting a scene and attracting the audiences interest within the first few minutes of a film. This will also help me when it comes to creating my thriller opening, as i will now have good ideas into how i create my camera angles, music est.
Hitchcock builds up a great anti climax, which he emphasises with the music quickening as 'Uncle Charlie' walks towards the two men on the edge of the street. It gets the audience entranced as they believe they are going to see a confrontation, however 'Uncle Charlie just walks straight past them and down the road. Hitchcock uses a great camera angle behind the two men and looking over there shoulder at 'Uncle Charlie' walking away as it shows they are now following him and accomponied with the rhythmic two time beat of the piano, it keeps the audience interest as they want to know what the two men want with 'Uncle Charle'.
All these techniques show Hitchcocks brilliance in setting a scene and attracting the audiences interest within the first few minutes of a film. This will also help me when it comes to creating my thriller opening, as i will now have good ideas into how i create my camera angles, music est.
Snow.
Sorry for the lack of blogging at the moment, we have been hit in Dagenham with a lot of snow, so filming was put on hold for a week. I spent the week at home because of this, which meant lack of blogging. I'll back date my posts to make up for lost time.
Wednesday 1 December 2010
Preliminary Exercise.
On the 18th of November we created a preliminary exercise in our groups. We had to create a short clip of film , to be filmed anywhere in the school, which showed a loose idea on what a two minute sequence of Thriller fillm may be like. We were given a video camera and a tripod, so that we could film the exercise, and within our group we decided to stage the sequence in the 6th form block and the toilets. By staging it in two seperate areas it taught us good skills in editing techniques and how to cut the film quickly and precisely. The filming took us around about an hour too do, and there were three of the four members of our group starring in the film sequence (the fourth was the person filming)
On the other side of the filming aspect we had too edit our film (like our voxpops) on the computer software 'Final cut express.' This was another good way to prepare ourselves for when we film our Thriller film, as it meant when we came to edit the Thriller we were more experienced and better at doing it. As a group we transferred all our raw film off the video camera and onto the final cut express software. Then we spent time cutting and putting together our film sequence so that the final outcome looked smooth and professional. We had too add a bit off film at the start of the exercise which was a frame with a black background, with white writing, which read 'Preliminary exercise' followed by a list of our names, showing who was starring in the fil and who was directing the film. We did this to make the film look professional and too tell the people watching the film, the names of people involved in the film and what the film was.
On the other side of the filming aspect we had too edit our film (like our voxpops) on the computer software 'Final cut express.' This was another good way to prepare ourselves for when we film our Thriller film, as it meant when we came to edit the Thriller we were more experienced and better at doing it. As a group we transferred all our raw film off the video camera and onto the final cut express software. Then we spent time cutting and putting together our film sequence so that the final outcome looked smooth and professional. We had too add a bit off film at the start of the exercise which was a frame with a black background, with white writing, which read 'Preliminary exercise' followed by a list of our names, showing who was starring in the fil and who was directing the film. We did this to make the film look professional and too tell the people watching the film, the names of people involved in the film and what the film was.
Sunday 28 November 2010
Survey monkey Results
Thursday 25 November 2010
Sunday 21 November 2010
Thursday 4 November 2010
What i did to produce my vox pop video.
We had to make a voxpop video, to show we had learnt the sufficient skills needed for when using the video cameras. Ive wrote about this in my previous post. After using the camera and tripod correctly we took the film out of the camera and uploaded the film as a file onto the computer. Once uploaded we opened the film on a software called Final cut express and edited the film that we had to make it look professional and inter cut the questions we had recorded with the answers we had recorded.
Monday 11 October 2010
Media Lesson- 7/10/10 (Learning how to use a camera)
In Thursday's lesson, we learnt the correct way to set up the camera we will be using for the Thriller film we will be filming. We learnt how to insert the camera film correctly into the camera. Technically we learnt how each individual button works on the camera. This is so that we know how to include technical aspects into a thriller such as the zoom tool. This will enhance the quality of our thrillers, making them look more professional, which in turn should hopefully gain us a better grade. We also learnt how to use the Tripod. The Tripod is used to hold the camera up so when filming the shot on the actors will be more focused, making it look more professional. we learnt the correct way to assemble the tripod, this included; correctly stabilising the legs when increasing or decreasing the tripods size and correctly connecting the camera to the top of the Tripod, so that it is secure when filming.
To show we had learnt the ways in which both the camera and the Tripod were to be used, in groups of 2-4 we had to make a short clip of an interview in which either member of the group or indeed members of other groups, were to answer three questions. The three questions were:
What is your favourite thriller ?
What do you like about the Thriller genre?
What do you most enjoy when watching a Thriller ?
In turn we all had a go at answering the questions whilst being recorded on camera, we did individual shots of people answering the questions on there own as well as joint shots of One person asking the question, whilst another answered it whilst they were both being filmed.
From doing this exercise in class i believe i have learnt valuable skills for when it comes the time for me to create my own Thriller clip, this will therefore enhance the chances of gaining a better grade.
To show we had learnt the ways in which both the camera and the Tripod were to be used, in groups of 2-4 we had to make a short clip of an interview in which either member of the group or indeed members of other groups, were to answer three questions. The three questions were:
What is your favourite thriller ?
What do you like about the Thriller genre?
What do you most enjoy when watching a Thriller ?
In turn we all had a go at answering the questions whilst being recorded on camera, we did individual shots of people answering the questions on there own as well as joint shots of One person asking the question, whilst another answered it whilst they were both being filmed.
From doing this exercise in class i believe i have learnt valuable skills for when it comes the time for me to create my own Thriller clip, this will therefore enhance the chances of gaining a better grade.
Thursday 7 October 2010
My Favourite 'Thriller' film of all time.
My favourite Thriller film of all time is the 1994 hit 'Speed' directed by Jan De Bont. Even since i first watched it a couple of years ago it has become one of my favourite films off all time. The reasons for my love for this film are as follows.
Firstly the suspense that is built up right from the start when the bomber played by jeff Daniels is in a lift shaft and is looking very suspicious. The suspicions towards him are brought to a dramatic climax when he brutally murders the engineering man with a screwdriver in the lift shaft with a cold brutality.
The main reason Speed is my favourite thriller is that the main part of the film is set on a bus full of people and the bomber who murdered the man earlier has planted a bomb underneath the bus which will go off if the bus doesn't stay over 50mph. This means that the driver and the policeman have to use cunning and bravery and take huge risks throughout to keep the bus over the specified speed. The thriller is brought to an amazing climax when the policeman (Keanu Reeves) has to get the people off the bus onto the vehicle parallel to it via a metal slab while its going at 50mph otherwise they will die. He manages to do it, just in time, whilst driving around an airport and avoiding airplanes. The film is intense and gripping throughout which is why it is my favourite thriller of all time.
Firstly the suspense that is built up right from the start when the bomber played by jeff Daniels is in a lift shaft and is looking very suspicious. The suspicions towards him are brought to a dramatic climax when he brutally murders the engineering man with a screwdriver in the lift shaft with a cold brutality.
The main reason Speed is my favourite thriller is that the main part of the film is set on a bus full of people and the bomber who murdered the man earlier has planted a bomb underneath the bus which will go off if the bus doesn't stay over 50mph. This means that the driver and the policeman have to use cunning and bravery and take huge risks throughout to keep the bus over the specified speed. The thriller is brought to an amazing climax when the policeman (Keanu Reeves) has to get the people off the bus onto the vehicle parallel to it via a metal slab while its going at 50mph otherwise they will die. He manages to do it, just in time, whilst driving around an airport and avoiding airplanes. The film is intense and gripping throughout which is why it is my favourite thriller of all time.
Thursday 30 September 2010
'Children of Men' opening sequence.
This is the opening of the film 'Children of Men', i have put it her so you can see
what i was talking about in my review of the opening sequence below.
The opening sequence of 'Children of Men'
In the opening sequence of the Thriller 'Children of Men' which was filmed in 2006 by the director 'Alfonso Cuaron', we are instantaneously drawn into its story. The film is set in the year 2027, In the opening we find out at the start that the youngest person in the world named 'Baby Diego' has been assisinated, at the age of 18. This makes us the viewer automatically inquisitive as to why the youngest person in the world is 18 years old.We start to wonder why there are no children on the earth in the year 2027. The thriller has been building as up for a red herring because just as we start to think about the assisination and the main character walking around, the explosion nearby instantaneously takes our attention, making us want to watch on even more because we want to find out, why the bomb went off, and who set it off, as well as the reasoning behind the assisination est.
Thursday 23 September 2010
Sub Genres used in thriller films.
Thriller sub genres:
- Crime Thriller; an example of a Crime thriller is the film 'The Godfather' directed in 1972 by Francis Ford Coppola.
- Disaster Thriller; an example of a Disaster thriller is the film 'Cloverfield' directed in 2008 by Matt Reeves.
- Sci-fi Thriller; an example of a Sci-Fi thriller is the film 'Alphaville' directed in 1965 by Jean LUc- Godard.
- Pyschological Thriller; an example of a Psychological thriller is the film 'Inception' directed this year in 2010 by Christopher Nolan.
- Action Thriller; an example of a Action thriller is the film 'Die Hard' directed in 1988 by John McTeirtan.
Alfred Hitchcock's Film Techniques.
Alfred Hitchcock was known as the 'Master of Suspense' whose films set the benchmark for many years to come for Psychological thrillers. Hitchcock, through his great use of suspense and shock in his films made people suffer throught out all his films as they did'nt know what was going to happen next. He usually directs a film which has a mystery involved in it. The main character in his film will usually be the person who has to solve the mystery.
Alfred Hitchcock uses three key film devices in every film he has done. They are:
A Red Herring is a name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of signifigance. In the film 'North by North west' filmed in 1959 Hitchcock uses the device to create a great film.
An Enigma refers to a puzzle, something mysterious or inexplicable and a riddle of a difficult problem. Hitchcock uses enigma in 'North by North west' as well as is red herring. This shows that Hitchcock on occassion used more than one plot device in his films.
Alfred Hitchcock uses three key film devices in every film he has done. They are:
- Maguffin
- Red Herring
- Enigma
A Red Herring is a name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of signifigance. In the film 'North by North west' filmed in 1959 Hitchcock uses the device to create a great film.
An Enigma refers to a puzzle, something mysterious or inexplicable and a riddle of a difficult problem. Hitchcock uses enigma in 'North by North west' as well as is red herring. This shows that Hitchcock on occassion used more than one plot device in his films.
My personal 5 favourite Thrillers of all times.
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| Psycho (1960) |
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| Silence Of The Lambs (1991) |
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| No Vacancy (2007) |
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| Speed (1994) |
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| Taken (2008) |
My top 5 'Thriller Genre' Directors
Top Thriller directors and there most famous films
Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Shadow of a doubt
Steven Speilberg
Jaws, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost ark, Indiana Jones and the last crusade.
James Cameron
Aliens, Terminator, Terminator 2, Abyss.
Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Kill Bill 2, Reservoir Dogs.
Martin Scorsese
Taxi Driver, The Departed, After Hours, Bringing out the Dead.
Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Shadow of a doubt
Steven Speilberg
Jaws, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost ark, Indiana Jones and the last crusade.
James Cameron
Aliens, Terminator, Terminator 2, Abyss.
Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Kill Bill 2, Reservoir Dogs.
Martin Scorsese
Taxi Driver, The Departed, After Hours, Bringing out the Dead.
No Country for Old Men Opening Scene
This is a short clip of the opening sequence of 'No Country For Old Men'
Thursday 16 September 2010
Analyse of the opening sequence of the film 'No country for old men'
Today in media studies i watched the opening sequence of the oscar winning film 'No country for old men'.
From the opening sequence i automatically picked up on key ways in which the film builds suspense. Firstly before even the talking introduction starts, i hear the wind blowing and i see the footage of broken rundown objects in a desolate outback area. This builds suspense as you dont quite know what is going on. Throughout the opening the sequence the camera keeps cutting to the shot of what looks to be an oxygen canister, this builds suspense as we as the viewer want to know its importance. In the police station the man sneeks up behind the police officer and strangles him, this is what the suspense was leading up too and by this time it has got us hooked because we want to know why he did it, and why the attacker is in that mental, psychotic state. Again suspense is built up with the use of the oxygen canister. The man who murdered the policemen is carrying the oxygen canister whilst walking slowly towards a pedestrians car. The slow walking builds suspense as we want to know what is going to happen to the man in the car he has pulled over whilst pretending to be a policeman.
The film gets us hooked from the beginning when the man gets arrested and put in the cop car. Its gets us hooked because we want to know why he was arrested, so it makes us want to watch on and find out. Shortly after it makes us hooked for another reason when he murders the policeman. This is because we want to find out his reason for killing the policeman. Finally after he kills the second man in a short space of time we are fully hooked and enthralled by the film. This is because we want to know why the"nutter" is beginning an unwarranted, calm (yet brutal) attack and murders on innocent victims.
What is a thriller ?/ Rules of a Thriller.
A thriller is a type of film which includes a number of sub genres. In the thriller genre a lot of things make it enthralling. Thrillers are characterized by fast paced, frequent action. A main aim of a thriller film is to excite its audience.
There a few different rules that are generally followed when creating a Thriller movie.
-A key rule in a Thriller film is the characters drafted in the film There always has to be a good and bad guy, Hero and a villain.
- Another rule is the use of tense music in a certain part of the film. They use the tense music the intensify the suspense, and to keep the thriller.. Thrilling.
- Quick editing and cuts are used in a thriller ( especially in Action Thrillers) , they are used to keep the audience enthralled in the film as there is lot going on in a short space of time.
- Low key lighting is an unspoken rule in Thriller films as it is used in most of them. Low key lighting is used to create shadows which play a big part in Thriller films as they add mystery and suspense.
- Montage editing is used in Thriller films because it is a great way to explain to the audience the ultimatum in the Thrillers story. An example of Montage editing us used in the Horror/Suspense Thrillers 'Saw', it is used effectively to explain to the audience who is behind the brutal torture with the films before. In short montage Editing is a good way to piece the puzzle together.
There a few different rules that are generally followed when creating a Thriller movie.
-A key rule in a Thriller film is the characters drafted in the film There always has to be a good and bad guy, Hero and a villain.
- Another rule is the use of tense music in a certain part of the film. They use the tense music the intensify the suspense, and to keep the thriller.. Thrilling.
- Quick editing and cuts are used in a thriller ( especially in Action Thrillers) , they are used to keep the audience enthralled in the film as there is lot going on in a short space of time.
- Low key lighting is an unspoken rule in Thriller films as it is used in most of them. Low key lighting is used to create shadows which play a big part in Thriller films as they add mystery and suspense.
- Montage editing is used in Thriller films because it is a great way to explain to the audience the ultimatum in the Thrillers story. An example of Montage editing us used in the Horror/Suspense Thrillers 'Saw', it is used effectively to explain to the audience who is behind the brutal torture with the films before. In short montage Editing is a good way to piece the puzzle together.
The Brief
This brief is telling you what my thriller film will involve. The film has to be two minutes long, and has to be created in a group of 2-4 people. The people who will play parts do not have to be part of my group, or even the class. They can be friends from outside of school est. As the blog is a key part of my AS level media studies it is being assessed on the technique and skills used whilst creating it. This may involve the relevance the location has to the film genre; for example a scary house in a thriller movie. It could also involve the variety of shots taken whilst filming, the film may be given a higher mark for the variety of angles used whilst filming.
yo, started my blog today !
This is my media studies blog. On this blog i'll be running an on going blog on my media studies film, in the genre of a thriller movie.
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