'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.

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:

• Maguffin
• Red Herring
• Enigma

A Maguffin is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story. One example of a film Hitchcock uses the device 'Maguffin' in is in his 1960's Thriller sensation 'Psycho'.
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.

Psycho (1960)

 

Silence Of The Lambs (1991)



             



No Vacancy (2007)






Speed (1994)

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.

No Country for Old Men Opening Scene

This is a short clip of the opening sequence of 'No Country For Old Men'

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.

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.