Monday, 14 January 2013
Group Meetings
The purpose of carrying out meetings was to provide evidence that our group was planning out all the aspects of creating our thriller in lots of detail in order to make sure that the process of creating the final thriller went smoothly and according to plan. Also, by carrying out meeting, it allowed our group to organise and record all the different decisions we had made during the planning period. Our group worked very well together as we were able to each have input into the planning and we were able to come to decisions that the whole group was happy with.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Extra Group Storyboard
During the editing process of the footage we originally filmed, we realised that, we did not have enough footage to equal the required two minutes. So we had to plan further filming to make up the extra minute that we needed. To do this, we discussed some ideas for our new storyboards. We decided to expand the beginning of the narrative, and being the film with the focus being on the antagonist, as this way, the audience would have a further understanding of his actions later on in the film.
Monday, 3 December 2012
Sound
Sounds are important to thriller films because the use of sound helps to create and build fear an tension within the thriller. Sound is used to warn the audience when something bad is about to happen. Consequently, sound is incredibly important because it helps to manipulate the audiences emotions and feelings, helping the audience to feel more engaged in the film.
In the beginning of our thriller film, the music will start low and quiet when she is in the room. The low, eerie music will make it obvious to the audience that the character is in danger, but as they do not yet know why, the music will help to create an enigma. The sound will be non diegetic and will make the audience feel tense and apprehensive. This is conventional to thriller films because the tension, suspense and mystery the sound will create is something that the audience will expect to see and hear from thriller films. As we know that this is something the audience look for and enjoy, it will help our thriller to be more successful.
Along with non diegetic soundtrack, we will also be including the use of just diegetic sound. We will use this when the female victim is running through the forest, as the adueince will be able to hear the sound of crunching leaves and her heavily breathing. We chose to use diegetic sound at this point in the film as the absence of soundtrack makes the sounds that belong in the film world more important and significant. The audience will be able to fully understand the danger she's in as all they can hear is her running away as fast as she can. This is conventional to thrillers because it helps the audience to feel engaged in the film and helps them to create a bond with the character as all they are able to hear is her running, no soundtrack to take away the significance of that.
We then decided to use soundtrack again around the point in the narrative when she gets caught. The soundtrack will start to play, low at first but quickly building louder and louder and higher and higher pitched which will create a dramatic build up to the climax of the scene. The audience will instantly be aware that danger is about to occur, which will again build the fear, suspense and tension, aspects that are all important and conventional to thriller films. We chose to use this type of soundtrack at this place because it is the most dramatic and tense part of our narrative.
In the beginning of our thriller film, the music will start low and quiet when she is in the room. The low, eerie music will make it obvious to the audience that the character is in danger, but as they do not yet know why, the music will help to create an enigma. The sound will be non diegetic and will make the audience feel tense and apprehensive. This is conventional to thriller films because the tension, suspense and mystery the sound will create is something that the audience will expect to see and hear from thriller films. As we know that this is something the audience look for and enjoy, it will help our thriller to be more successful.
Along with non diegetic soundtrack, we will also be including the use of just diegetic sound. We will use this when the female victim is running through the forest, as the adueince will be able to hear the sound of crunching leaves and her heavily breathing. We chose to use diegetic sound at this point in the film as the absence of soundtrack makes the sounds that belong in the film world more important and significant. The audience will be able to fully understand the danger she's in as all they can hear is her running away as fast as she can. This is conventional to thrillers because it helps the audience to feel engaged in the film and helps them to create a bond with the character as all they are able to hear is her running, no soundtrack to take away the significance of that.
We then decided to use soundtrack again around the point in the narrative when she gets caught. The soundtrack will start to play, low at first but quickly building louder and louder and higher and higher pitched which will create a dramatic build up to the climax of the scene. The audience will instantly be aware that danger is about to occur, which will again build the fear, suspense and tension, aspects that are all important and conventional to thriller films. We chose to use this type of soundtrack at this place because it is the most dramatic and tense part of our narrative.
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Preliminary Task
This task was to make a 30 second to a 1 minute film clip to get to grips with the equipment.
We practiced using different camera shots and also editing. We filmed two members of the group walking up the stairs and meeting in the hallway. A strength of this task was the editing; the cuts were professionally edited in order for the clip to flow better. We could improve by using a wider variety of camera shots and by making the clip longer, to be able to include more camera shots. We initially found it difficult to edit as we were unfamiliar with the editing software. Another thing we struggled with was getting a wide range of camera shots within our film. This task will help us when we come to film and edit our thriller because we will be more familiar with the equipment and we will plan our shots better, in order to incorporate lots of different camera angles and shots in our thriller.
Vox Pops
Along with our questionnaires, we also decided to conduct spoken interviews with some students from West Hatch High School, to get more detailed answers that would help us to decide what would be the best things to include in our own thriller film. We wanted to give people the opportunity to elaborate on their answers, something that they were not able to do on the questionnaire. This type of interview will help us to plan our thriller because we now have a deeper understanding of the types of thrillers our target audience enjoy watching. This will help us when we come to planning our thriller because we will be able to plan it very closely to the way our target audience would enjoy it the most, making our thriller ultimately more successful.
Planning Editing Styles
Editing is important because the different different shots all need to linked, or edited, together and the way they are edited can have a dramatic effect on the look and feel of the film. As there are so many different camera shots and angles within the film, editing is vitally important as the shots need to be put together in order for the film to flow and make sense. The following shot should should compliment its predecessor so that the audience are easily able to follow the sequence of events happening within the film.
The types of editing we will use in our own film will be;
Slow editing-
We decided to use slow editing because it builds suspense and draws the audience in because it causes the film to be more dramatic. We will use slow editing when the female character is sitting in the chair crying. We feel that slow editing would be the best type of editing to use at this point in the narrative because it builds up the suspense and tension. Slow editing is very conventional to thriller films because it helps to build up the suspense, fear and tension within the film. Slow editing involves the characters doing something in slow motion which adds effect to the scene. An example of this is the film 'The Strangers' when the female character is walking very slowly towards the door after hearing knocking. This makes the audience worry about who's behind the door and what might happen to her. The use of a conventional editing type such as slow editing will make our thriller successful because it is something the audience expects to see so they would enjoy our thriller more.
Fade-
We chose to use fade at the end of our opening sequence because the end shot involved the female character sitting in the chair and the male protagonist sitting on the floor near her legs. He drags the knife over the leg and the audience can see blood on her leg. He then plays with the knife and although its dark, the audience can see blood on the knife. The screen then fades to black which leaves an enigma as the audience wonders what's going to happen to the female next. A fade is conventional editing style because the effect of the screen fading to black creates questions and suspense. The audience wonders what will happen next, how will it happen and why and the questions keep them interested and intrigued. As this is commonly used at the end of the film, it leaves the audience wanting more. This will make out thriller successful because it will keep he audience interested in our thriller and make the whole film more enjoyable.
Jump cut-
We used the jump cut when the female runs away from the antagonist in the forest. The camera is focusing on her from behind and the antagonist grabs her. At this point, the camera suddenly focuses on the male character. A jump cut is when the film suddenly focuses on something. This is conventional to thrillers because the technique of quickly changing the shot and focus makes the thriller fast paced and exciting and shows the audience the importance of certain characters. When we use this in our thriller, it's to shock the audience and the show the importance of the the antagonist. Due to the fact that this is a convention of a thriller film, the audience would expect to see this editing style, it will keep the interested so they will enjoy our thriller, consequently making it successful.
In conclusion, we chose to use editing styles that were very conventional to thriller films because we knew that they were the things our target audience would expect to see. Important elements to include in our thriller would be the elements of shock, suspense and surprise, because these elements are something that our target audience will expect too see and also will draw the audience into the film and feel more engaged in the film, which will make it ultimately more enjoyable for our target audience. By making the edits, consequently our film, conventional to popular thriller films, it increases the chance that our own thriller will be more successful and popular.
The types of editing we will use in our own film will be;
Slow editing-
We decided to use slow editing because it builds suspense and draws the audience in because it causes the film to be more dramatic. We will use slow editing when the female character is sitting in the chair crying. We feel that slow editing would be the best type of editing to use at this point in the narrative because it builds up the suspense and tension. Slow editing is very conventional to thriller films because it helps to build up the suspense, fear and tension within the film. Slow editing involves the characters doing something in slow motion which adds effect to the scene. An example of this is the film 'The Strangers' when the female character is walking very slowly towards the door after hearing knocking. This makes the audience worry about who's behind the door and what might happen to her. The use of a conventional editing type such as slow editing will make our thriller successful because it is something the audience expects to see so they would enjoy our thriller more.
Fade-
We chose to use fade at the end of our opening sequence because the end shot involved the female character sitting in the chair and the male protagonist sitting on the floor near her legs. He drags the knife over the leg and the audience can see blood on her leg. He then plays with the knife and although its dark, the audience can see blood on the knife. The screen then fades to black which leaves an enigma as the audience wonders what's going to happen to the female next. A fade is conventional editing style because the effect of the screen fading to black creates questions and suspense. The audience wonders what will happen next, how will it happen and why and the questions keep them interested and intrigued. As this is commonly used at the end of the film, it leaves the audience wanting more. This will make out thriller successful because it will keep he audience interested in our thriller and make the whole film more enjoyable.
Jump cut-
We used the jump cut when the female runs away from the antagonist in the forest. The camera is focusing on her from behind and the antagonist grabs her. At this point, the camera suddenly focuses on the male character. A jump cut is when the film suddenly focuses on something. This is conventional to thrillers because the technique of quickly changing the shot and focus makes the thriller fast paced and exciting and shows the audience the importance of certain characters. When we use this in our thriller, it's to shock the audience and the show the importance of the the antagonist. Due to the fact that this is a convention of a thriller film, the audience would expect to see this editing style, it will keep the interested so they will enjoy our thriller, consequently making it successful.
In conclusion, we chose to use editing styles that were very conventional to thriller films because we knew that they were the things our target audience would expect to see. Important elements to include in our thriller would be the elements of shock, suspense and surprise, because these elements are something that our target audience will expect too see and also will draw the audience into the film and feel more engaged in the film, which will make it ultimately more enjoyable for our target audience. By making the edits, consequently our film, conventional to popular thriller films, it increases the chance that our own thriller will be more successful and popular.
Friday, 23 November 2012
Opening Credits
Opening credits are important because it lets the audience know the most important members of the production, for example, the major actors and crew. The crew members that are featured in the opening credits are members such as the director.
Typical order of the opening credits;
NAME OF THE STUDIO/PRODUCTION COMPANY
PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)
STARRING
FILM'S TITLE
FEATURING ACTORS
CASTING or CASTING BY
MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY
PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Opening credits of the film Se7en
The colours used throughout this opening sequence are very dark, plain colours. The main colours used are black and white, which builds the suspense and is very conventional to thriller films, as black represents the darkness of the film and also portrays mystery and hidden identity which builds the suspense. The white typically represents the innocence. Putting these two colours together shows the contrast between dark, twisted, sinister characters and innocent, vulnerable characters that feature in the film. There is also hints of red which connotes blood, violence and danger. The credits and the image behind the credits flicker which suggests some form of unstableness, but it also builds the tension.
There are also other uses of generic conventions such as diegetic sound, for example, the sound of the felt pen being dragged across the page. But there is also non diegetic sound, which is a soundtrack with music that builds the fear, tension and suspense because of the tempo change in the music, elements which are all very conventional to thriller films because they are elements which the audience expects to feel when they watch a thriller film and also they draw the audience in and engage them further in the film.
The Order of Appearance;
Production company
Director
Actor
Tile of the Film
Actors continued
Casting
Music
Costumes
Editors
Production
Camera Operator
Co-Producer
Producer
Writing
Director
Opening Credits of "Number 23"
The opening sequence of the thriller film Number 23 is very conventional because of the use of the blood over the background f the credits. Blood is one of the main conventions in thriller films as it represents violence, pain and torture. The use of the blood shows that audience instantly that this is a thriller film. The background also features numbers, which fits in with the film title, but also creates an enigma as the audience wonders what the significance of the number 23. The colours used are very light, the whole background is white, with black writing that stands out against the plain background. The credits also feature both diegetic and non diegetic sound. The diegetic sounds comes from the sound of the typewriter keys and the non diegetic sound comes from the soundtrack that runs behind the sound of the typewriter. This builds the tension and suspense.
Movie's with fonts that gave us the inspiration for our own font;
We chose to use fonts like this as our inspiration because they are conventional to thrillers. This is because the first and last fonts are very bold, which would make them stand out against any background. The last example we looked at is slightly cracked and faded, and we chose this as an inspiration to our own font because the faded and cracked font could represent the faded and cracked identity and sanity of the antagonist character in our thriller. The second font was also an inspiration because the writing is in capitals, in bold, and in an unusual font, which makes this font stand out and capture the audiences attention.
Typical order of the opening credits;
NAME OF THE STUDIO/PRODUCTION COMPANY
PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)
STARRING
FILM'S TITLE
FEATURING ACTORS
CASTING or CASTING BY
MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY
PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Opening credits of the film Se7en
The colours used throughout this opening sequence are very dark, plain colours. The main colours used are black and white, which builds the suspense and is very conventional to thriller films, as black represents the darkness of the film and also portrays mystery and hidden identity which builds the suspense. The white typically represents the innocence. Putting these two colours together shows the contrast between dark, twisted, sinister characters and innocent, vulnerable characters that feature in the film. There is also hints of red which connotes blood, violence and danger. The credits and the image behind the credits flicker which suggests some form of unstableness, but it also builds the tension.
There are also other uses of generic conventions such as diegetic sound, for example, the sound of the felt pen being dragged across the page. But there is also non diegetic sound, which is a soundtrack with music that builds the fear, tension and suspense because of the tempo change in the music, elements which are all very conventional to thriller films because they are elements which the audience expects to feel when they watch a thriller film and also they draw the audience in and engage them further in the film.
The Order of Appearance;
Production company
Director
Actor
Tile of the Film
Actors continued
Casting
Music
Costumes
Editors
Production
Camera Operator
Co-Producer
Producer
Writing
Director
Opening Credits of "Number 23"
The opening sequence of the thriller film Number 23 is very conventional because of the use of the blood over the background f the credits. Blood is one of the main conventions in thriller films as it represents violence, pain and torture. The use of the blood shows that audience instantly that this is a thriller film. The background also features numbers, which fits in with the film title, but also creates an enigma as the audience wonders what the significance of the number 23. The colours used are very light, the whole background is white, with black writing that stands out against the plain background. The credits also feature both diegetic and non diegetic sound. The diegetic sounds comes from the sound of the typewriter keys and the non diegetic sound comes from the soundtrack that runs behind the sound of the typewriter. This builds the tension and suspense.
The Order of Appearance;
Production
Director
Actor
Title
Actors continued
Group decision;
As a group, we looked at a few different types of thriller films and the credits. We believed that Se7en as was had the best opening credits as they were suspenseful and very conventional to thriller films because the use of font, style, images and sound all went perfectly together and created elements of shock and suspense, elements which are both conventions of thrillers as they draw the audience in and engage them in the film. This film sequence has inspired us for our thriller film. The font style in the opening sequence is conventional to a thriller and we will be using something similar to the font. The sound effects used created suspense and a thrill. The sounds startled the audience and we will be using sounds similar that will also startle the audience of our own thriller.
The group decided on the following;
Size; Small and subtle
Colours; Grey with white glow around the edge
Order In Which They Will Appear; Production name, director, actors, editor, title
Font; Carved on the tree (title). Rest of the credits will be bold and scribbly.
Group decision;
As a group, we looked at a few different types of thriller films and the credits. We believed that Se7en as was had the best opening credits as they were suspenseful and very conventional to thriller films because the use of font, style, images and sound all went perfectly together and created elements of shock and suspense, elements which are both conventions of thrillers as they draw the audience in and engage them in the film. This film sequence has inspired us for our thriller film. The font style in the opening sequence is conventional to a thriller and we will be using something similar to the font. The sound effects used created suspense and a thrill. The sounds startled the audience and we will be using sounds similar that will also startle the audience of our own thriller.
The group decided on the following;
Size; Small and subtle
Colours; Grey with white glow around the edge
Order In Which They Will Appear; Production name, director, actors, editor, title
Font; Carved on the tree (title). Rest of the credits will be bold and scribbly.
Movie's with fonts that gave us the inspiration for our own font;
We chose to use fonts like this as our inspiration because they are conventional to thrillers. This is because the first and last fonts are very bold, which would make them stand out against any background. The last example we looked at is slightly cracked and faded, and we chose this as an inspiration to our own font because the faded and cracked font could represent the faded and cracked identity and sanity of the antagonist character in our thriller. The second font was also an inspiration because the writing is in capitals, in bold, and in an unusual font, which makes this font stand out and capture the audiences attention.
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