Cliffhangers

Cliffhangers are sometimes used in films when a sequel or prequel is wanted. They often feature the main character in a precarious situation, or are confronted with a shocking revlation. This can entice the audience to keep watching in order to see how the situation resolves.

The most commonly thought of cliffhangers are those in soap operas. At the end of each episode the soap is drawn to a close using a cliffhanger to make sure the audience will watch the following episode to see how the situations pan out.

Red Herring

The 'Red Herring' is a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. It can work with other devices, such as the enigma, to create extra suspense.

An example of this is Hitchcock's 1958 film 'North by Northwest'. The main character Thornhill, is sent to meet a man (Kaplan) who will explain why he has been mistaken for a government agent and help him.

Locations

The locations we are planning to use to film for our thriller are dark, dingy spaces. We wern't planning to film in school but at the last minute didn't get permission for the warehouse we were originally going to use, so we walked around school to look for possible locations. We discovered a 'backstage' area, a rarely used gym which would be perfect when we block out the windows with black card.We can also film in my house or possibly my cousin's house if permission doesn't come through, and a black wall where the 'Victim Board' will be.

Stairs Backstage

Gym

Me checking out the gym

Gym

Gym

Backstage corridor

Enigmas

An enigma is a puzzle, something mysteious or unexplainable, or a ridde or difficult problem in thrillers. This is commonly something which the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the 'final stand off' or the conclusion of the film.

Narrative; Structure, Formulas and Devices

The clear establishment of 'cause and effect' plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell a interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily. Also the automatic use of 'continuity editing' in a piece of film. This is where the editing has little or no flaws in it. For example, if someone was wearing a red shirt in one shot and a green one in another, this would cause continuity editing problems.

Hitchcocks 'Maguffin'

A 'Maguffin' is a plot device that advances the story and involves the charactors, but has little relevence to the story.

''We have a name in the sudio and we call it the ''Macguffin''. It is the element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers.''
-Alfred Hitchcock


The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with one another or by merely trying to demolish the others mental state.
Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitarty character where characters must resolve conflicts in an effort to understand something that has happened to them.

Production Meeting 1

Task 1: Create a spider-diagram of potential thriller ideas.


Task 2: Take on one idea and develop it onto a second spider-diagram. Consider locations, props, camerawork, cast, etc.


Task 3: Write a 'Proposal' outlining your idea for a thriller opening and the locations/props ect, that you require.


Task 4: Storyboard it.

Rope by Alfred Hitchcock

'Rope' directed by Alfred Hitchcock is another film that is all about suspense.

Two young well educated men strangle and murder a friend of theirs just to see if they have the intellect to get away with it. They then invite close friends, their old professor,and the murdered mans parents round for a dinner party while hiding the body in a covered chest under all the food in the sitting room.
The chest is always in the centre of the shot, which builds anticipation and suspense as we don't know if they will get found out. There is also a strong sense of disgust as there is a dead body in the middle of the room! 
The audience was almost part of the murder and therefore we know something the other character's don't, which gives us an advantage over them, we hold the upper hand. A part of us might not want them to be found out and prosecuted, just to see how things play out.

Sabotage by Alfred Hitchcock (1935)

'Sabotage', directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a classic example of suspence. An secret agent from a foreign country owns a cinema and lives with his wife and her younger brother. The agent plants a bomb in a can of film and uses the boy to transport the bomb to the other side of London to blow up another cinema.
Suspense is created because the audience know what time the bomb is going to go off at, we fret for the young boys safety as the viewer wonders if the bomb will go off when the boy is holding it and therefore killing him. Hitchcock has cleverly made the audience empathsize and care for the young boy as his childish nature is revealed, for example his marvel at the parade, and we are literally on the edge of our seats as we see the time for detonation growing nearer.

Children Of Men

'Children of Men' is one of my favourite movies, it's not so much a thriller as a brilliant example of shock and suspense.

I noticed shock was used more heavily than suspense, for example in the opening scene everything was all calm, the camera follows the lead charactor out af the shop and down the road where he stops to put sugar into his drink. The camera rotates 360 degrees around him at a normal pace, prehaps so the viewer can take a good look at him, and rests on him with his side to the shop. Out of nowhere the coffee shop he has just exited explodes without warning; this is shocking to the audience as we had no idea or suggestion that the peace would be disrupted in such a shocking manner.

Zodiac

Zodiac is set at night time, so there was little light and the car in which the two characters were in was dimly lit which portayed an air of mystery, you dont know what could come out of the shadows. This builds suspense as we don't know what is going to happen. We also never see the face of the murderer, this worries the viewers as we generally take comfort in knowing who is the killer, the majority don't like guessing games or mind games at the end of a film, we prefer the story to be wrapped up.

The opening is full of tension and suspense which is a typical convention of the thriller. I can use this in my thriller as and I can also use the dim light effect as it creates a mysterious atmosphere along with the creation of suspense and tension.

A History Of Violence

Today I watched the opening scene of ‘A History of Violence’, we are introduced to the two main charactors, one wearing a black suit in the middle of a desert, while the other in more appropriate t-shirt and shorts. This instantly contrasts one another as the man in the black suit is instantly seen as the antagonist- a cliche in the thriller genre.


The two men were casual in their way of talking, moving and body language, almost too exaggerated in their casualness which builds suspense as we want to know what's happening, and frustration at their exaggerated slowness. 



There was hardly any sound at all in the opening, there was little speech with only the sound of crickets as a background buzz. The car radio is turned on momentarily but then switched off when a western folk song begins to play.

The camerawork was rather simple; panning, mid shots, over the shoulder shots and close ups. It was very slow moving, almost exaggerated which built suspense and kept the audience guessing what was happening or what had happened. The audience pieces everything together really slowly which then builds more anticipation and tension.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Following a truck hijack in New York, five con men are arrested and brought to a police station for questioning. As none of them are guilty, they plan a revenge operation against the police. The operation goes well, but then the influence of a legendary mastermind criminal called Keyser Söze is felt. It becomes clear that each one of them has wronged Söze at some point and must pay back now. The payback job leaves 27 men dead in a boat explosion, but now the real question arises: Who is Keyser Söze?
The Usual Suspects is a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat right til the very end. It makes you question everything and everyone, plays mind games as every good thriller does.
 ''Who is Keyser Soze? Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.''
-Roger Kint (played by Kevin Spacey)

Editing; Psycho

Today in class we watched the iconic shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The director had used fast and frantic shots to make the scene more gruesome and scary than it actually was, as at no point does the viewer see the killer stab the woman. We see her reaction to the killer, the knife, the stabbing motion, blood around her feet, but we don't at any point see any harm being done to her, but we assume shes been stabbed to death due to the rapid edits.

Suspense and Shock

Suspense and Shock


Imagine a scene of a film in a classroom like this one, the camera reveals that there is a bomb under the table to the audience but the students and teacher are unaware of it.
This creates suspense as the audience knows about the bomb but the characters don't. This also creates anxiety as the audience will ask themselves questions such as: 'Will the bomb go off?' and 'Will we be saved?' 
This is suspense!


Now imagine the same scene except that instead of the camera revealing the bomb under the table it, without warning, explodes and kills everyone present.
This is shock!

Alfred Hitchcock Quotes

"The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them."


"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."


"If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what's going on."


"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible."


"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."


"Under the strong influence of Alfred Hitchcock, thrillers often begin with a crime and the accusation of an innocent bystander. When the accused tries to contact the authorities, no doubt the case could be promptly solved, but instead the poor bystander runs from the law thus jeopardising life and limb." - Rick Attman

Do films follow rules?

Most would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream films observe in order for them to be accepted to the mass audience.


MY THRILLER RULES;

• They run a lot, sometimes for no reason.
• Turn away from explosion, don't really care if they kill people.
• Walk away slow while victim runs and somehow reach them.
• Doesn't always follow the Protagonist, sometimes its the Antagonist.
• Cool gadgets.
• Femme Fatales.
• Twist in the plot.
• Antagonist gives away his whole evil plan.
• Revenge.
• Sidekicks.
• Sidekicks/Women who fall over at the most inappropriate times and in the most inappropriate places.
• Set in urban areas such as major cities. Eg, New York, Paris, Chicago,London.
• Fight sequences.
• Car chases.
• Point of view shots.
• A problem, sometimes called an Enigma.
• Kidnapping.
• Slow motion.
• Mind games.
• 'Who dunnit?'
• Dramatic music.
• Trade off.
• Stand off between Antagonist and Protagonist and various other people.
• Cliff hanger between scenes and at the end of the film occasionally.
• Drive off into the sunset leaving trail of destruction.
• Time limits.
• Low key lighting.
• Serial killer.
• Suspense.
• Helpless innocents.
• Extreme close up.
• Fast pace edits.
• Antagonist returns at end for revenge.

The Thriller

"Thrillers are films of suspense... supposed to instill terror into the audience" - Susan Hayward, 'Key concepts in film studies'


When looking at thrillers, we have found that it is very difficult to define what passes as a thriller as most thrillers are also put under other genres, the most common one being action, horror and even romance.


Thrillers :


Usual Suspects
Disturbia
Buried
Panic Room
Phone Booth
Hostage
Battle Royale
12 Rounds
No  Country for Old Men
When a Stranger Calls
The Strangers
Law Abiding Citizen 

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock (13 August 1899–29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned a distinctive and recognisable directorial style after a successful career in British cinema and silent films. He directed 52 films and is often regarded as the most influential British filmmaker. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense/psychological thriller genres, for example he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. 


His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law and have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring violence, murder, and crime. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

The Daily Telegraph said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."

Preliminary Task; Filming

On Wednesday Shelby, Tori, Ahmed and I started filming our preliminary excersise. We went out and started to film the first few shots of our short clip. We didn't use any other people to appear in our clip, Shelby and I were the only two people that appeared in it, while Tori and Ahmed worked the camera. One of the main problems we faced when filming were the occasional outburst of laughter which made the filming process take twice as long as anticipated. After finishing the filming after two days of shooting, we decided we will edit a lot of the bloopers out as they are not needed. Overall, I think we are all happy with the way we handled the camera and think it was great.

Preliminary Task; Editing and Analysis

After uploading the footage we shot onto FinalCut Express we realised two of our shots were missing, we left a gap in our sequence and planned to re upload them or reshoot them after we had finished editing the majority, so the film could be complete.

After we finished editing we uploaded the final piece to YouTube. I think the speed of editing is steady, we didn't include any fast shots as our film isn't a thriller or high octane movie so it would have looked strange.

Overall I am happy with the final film, although there were some small errors such as when we missed out  shot of Shelby siting down, the reason for this is because every shot we had she either laughed, or hit her feet on the bench then laughed! 

We followed the 180 degree rule and I'm quite proud of our continuity shots, and if we were to do it again all I would change is to get more shots.

Preliminary Task; Brief

For our Preliminary task we had to film a sequence of someone walking along a corridor, opening a door, having a conversation with someone else then walking back through the door and back along the corridor. During the task we had to carefully watch the camera angles, length of the edit and especially the continuity between each shot to make our film look realistic. 
We also had to pay attention to the 180 degree rule, this is where two people in a shot always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary 'line' than the viewers can become confused to who is where.

Casino Royale-2006, Martin Campbell

How is mise-en-scene used in 'Casino Royale'?


Mise-en-scene relates to what can be seen in the scene. In the 2006 James Bond movie 'Casino Royale' we are presented with two contrasting scenes, in the first scene we see, Bond is seated in a glass office building, half concealed in shadows. In the next scene, which is a flashback, we see Bond in a toilet where he is fighting frantically with another man.
In the first scene Bond is shown to be calm, collected and prepared to shoot the man whilst in the second scene he is frantic and his movements are  fast unlike the first scene when they are slower and more careful.


Another important aspect when looking at the mise-en-scene is the colour used in the film. In scene one the action is set in a contemporary glass office building at night time and looks quite mysterious because its empty and the viewer gets the sense that something isn't right. The second scene is a grimey tiled bathroom, the white of tiles picks up the dirt and makes the violence stand out more, it reflects Bonds corruption as this is his first kill.

Source Code- 2011, Duncan Jones

Is the opening to 'Source Code' effective? How does it build suspense and how does the director ensure you want to continue watching?


By looking at movies in the thriller genre I can effectively see what I can bring to  my own thriller film.
Source Code is an action thriller centered on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
The film starts with a good establishing shot of Chicago and then the train and continues to switch back and forth between the two locations, this makes the viewer guess that these to aspects play a main role in the film.

The viewer can get a clue to where he is because we can hear train sounds in the distance. The music then becomes more classical and mysterious as he tries to figure out where he is, dark tones make the viewer question whats going on with this man.

The pace of the music quickens when we sense something isn't right and gradually as we find out more about the bomber and the 'source code' programme the music starts to become darker.

The trailer has many edits (over 100) this portrays to the viewer that it's going to be a high octane/fast pace movie. In the actual movie, only some events have quick edits, more last for longer. For example when the soda can is opened the attention is quickly transferred to that. During the face to face conversations that aren't shown in the trailer, the edits are fewer so the viewer can concentrate on what they are talking about. The pace quickens or slows to reflect the characters feelings at the time.

This week Ahmed and I created a storyboard about the opening sequence for a thriller called 'Eagles Path'. We drew small sketches for each scene then described what camera shots, movements and sound we were going to include if we did make it. We then used FinalCut Express to edit the pictures of the storyboard we had uploaded. We added text to these images then using the razor tool, decided how many seconds we wanted each scene to last. I think that FinalCut Express was really simple to use especially for first time users.

Cinematography

Cinematography is about the use of camera, the framing and positioning of the camera, and the movement of the camera.


Key shot types include: 

• Close up 
• Extreme close up
• Medium or Mid shot
• Long shot
• Extreme longshot 
• Point of view 
• High angle 
• Low angle
• Establishing shot
• Over the shoulder

ESTABLISHING SHOT  

MIDSHOT

EXTREME CLOSE UP

CLOSE UP

Reverse zoom

               Here is a good example of a reverse zoom shot using a dolly.  

Camera Movement

Last lesson we looked at camera movements. 

From a fixed position, the camera can:

• Rotate left to right- this is called Pan.

• Tilt up and down, this is called Tilt.

• Tilt on an angle to give a disorientating effect- this is called Dutch Tilt but is also known as Canted.

• Zoom- the camera remains still but the focus is adjusted to move either towards or away from he object.

• Reverse zoom- when the focus zooms in while the camera moves away from the object.

When the camera is free to move around the set you can film using a:

• Tracks- the camera moves fluidly on a set of tracks in a certain direction. 

Stedicam

• Dolly-the camera is on wheels so can be moved in any direction.

• Crane-the camera is placed on a large crane arm that enables it to move around the set with ease. It allows the camera to move quickly between different heights.

• Rolling shot- the camera moves diagonally making the images askew.

• Handheld camera- the camera is held in the hand and can therefore move in any direction without the need for tracks; however the result is usually a very shaky picture.

• Stedicam- the camera is worn on a weighted harness to keep it still and balanced, while allowing the freedom of handheld filming.

Trainspotting- an example of contrapuntal sound

An example of contrapuntal sound.

Film Language; sound

Today we have learnt about the use of sound in films.
The world of the film we see on the screen is known as the Diegetic world, we can only see a section of this world; what the director has chosen us to see. However we accept that there are other things going on around the edges of what we are seeing. These edges are extended by the use of sound. For example we may hear a doorbell ring and acknowledge that there is someone being let into the house even though we can't see them.

Diegetic sound is sound which is part of the film world we are watching. This can be dialogue, music or noises which come from a source in the film world. For instance music could be coming from a radio, the way i remember it is to think whether or not the characters can hear the sound.

Non Diegetic sounds are sounds that we, the viewer, do not recognise as part of the film world such as a voiceover, background music and credit music. Similarly I remember this by thinking whether or not the characters can hear these sounds.

Off screen sounds are sounds that we can’t see the origin of, but are still part of the Diegetic world, this could be a kettle boiling in another room or traffic outside a house for example.

On screen sound is when the viewer can see where the sound is coming from as it could be in the same room as the characters we are watching.

A sound bridge could be either Diegetic or Non Diegetic. It is used to create a smooth transition from one scene to the next.

Parallel sounds are sounds that compliment the image being shown. For example in a scene where children are playing happily in a play ground and a light happy sound is playing in the background then this is parallel sound.

Contrapuntal sounds are sounds that don’t compliment the image. For example if people are playing and laughing on a beach and there is a dark sound then this would be contrapuntal sound. This is used to warn of something not being right and make the viewer be wary that something is going to happen.

Film Language; lighting

So far i have learnt a range of things about lighting that will help me to use lighting successfully in my own thriller film sequence. Lighting helps to convey a mood or atmosphere in the scene and the attention of the audience can be guided by lighting an object, scene or person important to the storyline. Also, directors can use shadow to create a sense of mystery and suspense.

• Low key Lighting- Low key lighting is created by using key back lights which create a sharp contrast between the light and dark areas in the shot. The deep distinct shadows give a sense of mystery which is perfect for a thriller film.

• High Key Lighting- High key lighting uses more filter lights than low key, it makes the scene look more realistic. Shadows wont be as pronounced as low key.

• The Key Light- Is usually the brightest and most influential light.

• The Back Light- Helps counteract the effect of the key light, it makes the character/object look more 'rounded' and realistic.

• The Filler Light- helps to soften the harsh shadows that the key light and back light create. There can be more than one filler light used. If little or no lighting is used then a silhouette.

• Under Lighting- Is when the main source of lighting comes from below the subject. This has a distorting effect on the object or person that is being light and it is often used in horror films.

• Top Lighting- This is when the main source of lighting is directed from above, highlighting the main features of a character, it can be used to create a glamourous look.

Welcome to my AS Media Studies blog! This blog will show the progress of my foundation portfolio. On it I will include details of the lead up to making a thriller title sequence along with other sources of inspiration. Enjoy :)