Mise en-scène

In order for our thriller movie to be filmed, we need to understand what Mise-en-scène is,and it's elements.

Mise en-scène

View more presentations from Louise Levitt.

Use of the camera

In order for our thriller movie to be filmed, we need to understand the different the types of shots, and the different movements of the camera.

In order to show the shots and camera movements, I have made a clay person called Cyril help, and made him the star of my movie.

Sound

In order for our thriller movie to be filmed, we need to understand the different types of sound.

Early films were silent, but sometimes had live music accompanying them. The first film with sound, or 'Talkie', was 'The Jazz Singer' in 1927. Film companies at this time were unwilling however to use sound as it was expensive, and they were making huge profits still with silent films. It wasn't until 'Lights Of New York' in 1928 that sound properly took off in films.

Diegetic and Nondiegetic sound

Diegetic sound is sound which is part of the film world, for example, sound effects, dialogue and music from a source that can be seen within the film world. Diegetic sound occurs on and off screen, if it can be heard by the characters, it is diegetic on or off screen.

Nondietic sound is sound which is not part of the film world, for example, background music or voice over. Nondiegetic sound is sound which only the audience can hear.

Sound bridges

A sound bridge is when a sound is played during the end of one scene, that is part of the following scene, or vice versa. It creates a smooth transition between the two scenes.



Parallel and Contrapuntal sound

Parallel sound is sound which fits what is happening on screen, for example, if we are shown children playing in the park on a sunny day we expect to hear happy voices and laughing, and light-hearted happy music, or if we are shown a battle screen we expect to hear shouting, gun shots or cannons or sword hitting each other.

Contrauntal sound is sound which doesn't fit the image on screen, for example, if we are again shown children playing in the park on a sunny day, rather than the happy voices and light-hearted music, the music would be more sinister, as would the noises.

Colour

In order for our thriller movie to be filmed, we need to understand how to use colour.

Denotation is the literal description of an object, concept or idea

'The mug is blue'

Connotation is what we associate with the object, concept or idea.

'The teapot is red. It is red as red means danger, which would be due to the hot tea which is inside it which could easily burn someone'

Connotation of blue and red

Colour in films

Early films were only available in black and white, and the only way to use colour was to hand paint each frame. This process was expensive and time-consuming, so many films remained black and white. It wasn't until the early 1930s that Technicolour started. By using colour, film makers could easily give films a certain mood, and example of this was 'The red room' from Jane Eyre. Today the audience expects films to be in colour, and black and white is only used to show the past.

Lighting

In order for our thriller movie to be filmed, we need to understand the different the types of lighting, and how to use them.

Main sources of lighting



The Key light is the brightest and most influential

The Back Light helps counteract the effect of the key light, making the character/object look 'rounded'

The filler light helps soften the shadows created by the key and back lights. More than one can be used.


The key light can be directed from different angles, creating different effects:

Under lighting is when the main source of light comes from below the subject. This creates a distorting effect, and if often used in horror movies.

Top lighting is when the main source of lighting comes from above the subject. It highlights the features of a character, and can be used to create a glamorous look in a star.

Back lighting is when the light source comes from behind the subject. It little or no other lighting is used, silhouettes are created.




High-key and low-key lighting

Low-key lighting is created by using only the key and back lights. This produces a sharp contrast between the light and dark areas making distinct shadows. It is also called Chiaroscuro.

High-key lighting is when more filler lights are used, making the subject more realistic to our eyes. It can be used to show brightly-lit sets such as a sunny day in a park, or to show more subtly-lit night scenes.

The difference between high and low-key lighting is that the difference between the light and dark areas are not so pronounced in low-key lighting.

Film Noir

Film Noir (Noir meaning black in French) is the term given by French critics to American films in the late 1940s and 1950s due to the dark subject matter and the visually 'dark' look of the film. The main features of Film noir is the use of low-key lighting which gives the film a hard sharp look with strong areas of contrast between the light and dark areas. The lighting on the actor's faces suggests the darker side of human nature. Another common feature is to have parts of the set cast shadows across the scene creating a sense of mystery. Many of these films were made on a limited budget, and the lighting meant cheaper sets could be used, which creating a sense of style at the same time.

Storyboard for our thriller opening

In today's lesson, as a group we drew out our thriller opening's storyboard.

Our opening is split into 3 sections:

• The party scene
• The park scene
• The murder scene

The opening starts with a boy and a girl meeting each other at a party (The part scene) it then cuts to a few days later where they are together at a park (The park scene) and finally is the scene that happens later in the day of the park scene in which the two characters are skyping when they receive emails saying someone will kill them, when a mystery murderer appears behind the boy, and the girl watches as he is killed on the webcam, and the then finally the killer sends his email onto his next victim.

A lot is included in our opening, so we discussed that if we feel the final edit of our movie is too long or includes to much we will cut down on the part or park scenes, or maybe even cut out the park scene altogether, but this will not be decided until we have filmed everything.

Final survey monkey results

I collected the final results of my survey, a total of 17 people answered it.

Mostly my results were good, but some people were un cooperative in taking my survey, mainly on the last question. The reason for this was that I posted my survey on Facebook and Twitter, and so many of the people who answered it were friends, and so rather than be professional about it, as they knew it was mine, they decided to be un cooperative and put in silly answers.

My survey results suggest that more females enjoy the thriller genre than males, however this may not be the case. One of the sites I used to advertise my survey, the McFLY Super City, is mainly used by females as it is a fan site for a male band, and so this would influence my results.

My resuls seem to suggest that mainly people aged 11-20 enjot thrillers the most, but it was likely that this result was influenced by the sites I used to advertise. This is because a majority of people aged 11-20 use social networking sites more than other age groups. Also, many of the people who I am friends with on Facebook, the people who can view my posts, are people I know from school in my year, most people who have access to my post were around 16/17 years old. The same with my followers on Twitter, most of them are people I know from school and so are once again around 16/17.

This result has a 3 way tie, 'Love them!', 'Like them' and They are OK' all received the majority vote of 5 each, while the other 2 choices are both tie with 1 vote each. From this result I can tell that people seem to like the thriller genre, or they are neutral.

From my results I can see that most people enjoy physiological and sci-fi thriller movies. The answers I recieved to this question also shows how some people taking my survey were uncooperative, with the answer of 'Comedy-Thriller :p'. This shows that maybe it would of been best if i tried not to ask people I know to fill in my survey.

From these results, it seems that most people enjoy twists in the storyline most in the thriller genre, and they don't really enjoy Good overcoming evil, which may mean that this particular aspects of the thriller genre has taken place of often, people feel as though it goes without saying. From people's own answers, we can see that some enjoy enigmas, and we can also see another case of someone being unprofessional.

From this reulst I can see that the most popular movie with the 17 people who took my survey was Se7en, followed by Casino Royale and Psycho. Also from some of the answers, theres further eveidence of people being uncooperative by putting 'Bugs Life' and one person proved my point of not advertising on sites with people i know by putting the answer 'I dunno, do your own work Louiseeee =P'

I didn't get as many results as I wanted to however. This may of been my fault as I could of advertised more than I did. Most of my results came from posting on the McFLY Super City, and this was probably due to the high amount of members, all of which could see my posts, and so I was more likely to get more rplies than on Facebook or Twitter.

Title sequences

In todays lesson we started looking at title sequences of thriller moives, to help us create our own titles, so we know what to include, and how to include it.

Se7en



The title sequence of Se7en cuts the action up.


Panic room



The titles of Panic room appear as the setting of the movie is shown.

The brave One



The productions companies appear first, and the rest of the titles show a while the start of the movie plays.

Collateral

The movie starts straight away, and the title are held back for several minutes.

Green Zone

Some titles are shown at the start such as the production companies, but the main titles are held back for several minutes.


From watching these openings, and from openings of many other movies we have seen, we learned what is shown during the title sequence, and roughly what order they are shown in:

• Production companies with their indents
• 'A film by' with directors name
• The main stars of the movie
• Other stars in the movie
• Some of the main people who helped make the movie
• The director

And the title of the movie, which can appear anywhere between the above.

Sabotage and North by Northwest

Today we watched a scene of Sabotage that shows how to create suspense, and a scene from North by Northwest which shows how its possible to create an action scene with little resources.

Sabotage

Throughout the whole sequence the audience is shown close ups of the film canister, which the bomb is in, as well clocks, showing us its getting closer and closer to the time of the bomb going off. When the boy get on the bus, the music changes, and resembles the ticking of a clock. The music getting faster and faster as 1:45 approaches, along with the close ups of the bomb and clocks, with the boy who keeps looking to see the time and where the bus is or why it has stopped, all builds up the suspense dramatically.

North by Northwest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5D1aeNB2Bc

This famous scene from North by Northwest shows how an action scene can be created with little resources. This is a good scene for us to watch as we have little resources compared to proper film companies, and it shows that from using a few things a good action packed scene can be created. Even though the resources used in this scene are ones we can't use, we can still use the idea of 'Less is more' to help create our own thriller moive opening.

Survey monkey results/repost

Today I check my results on survey monkey, and found that only 11 people had taken part, so I decided to re-post again, and try and get more replies.

Here are my current multiple choice question (1-5) results

North by north west and Vertigo

Today we watched the opening of the movies North by North west and Vertigo.

North by northwest


The opening titles are on a green grid, just as the movie starts it changes into skyscraper windows, this is a Graphic match as the lines of the green grid match with the window frames. We then meet the main character, Roger Thornhill. He is fast talking, which shows he is busy. He works in advertising, and so the fact he is fast talking is a sterotypical characteristic of someone who works in advertising or on a newspaper. He is also dressed very smart, which further shows he must be an advertiser as advertisers have to get an image across, just like he is doing from the way he's dressed. The plot of the story starts right away, the plot being he is mistaken for someone else and kidnapped, this further shows his busy life and nature.

Vertigo

Like the opening of North by northwest, vertigo also has a graphic match, this time it goes from an eye to a swirl pattern. The story starts off with a chase across some rooftops when the main character,John Ferguson , falls a building and is left dangling on the edge. This is when his fear of heights start, which is were the title comes from, however, vertigo doesn't mean fear of heights, but in fact it is a type of dizziness, where there is a feeling of motion when one is stationary,but many people believe it means fear of heights due to this movie. This shows how influential Hitchcock's movies were. When he looks down, while dangling on the roof pipe, a rolling shot is used to show his dizziness as he hangs there.

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Shadow of a doubt'

Today in our lesson, we watched the opening of 'Shadow of a doubt'.

The opening introduces the character Uncle Charlie, and sets the scene of the movie. It starts with a longshot of a run down town along a river, and slowly zooms into a window of a house where we find Uncle Charlie laying on a bed. He has a cigar lit, and has money on the floor next to his bed. His clothes are smart, these things suggest that he is rich, but as the money if on the floor, he is not too obsessed with his money. The idea of him being rich however, is questioned when we notice that the room he is in is in facts a hotel room, or a room he is letting due to there being a sink in the room, and a woman who knocks on his door which we think could be the cleaner or landlady checking on him. When Uncle Charlie looks of of the window and sees the men who knocked for him, he gets angry, and through his glass against the wall. Later on we discover he is going to stay with family in Santa Rosa, California. This is when we see his niece, Charlotte, or Charlie.

There is a lot of mirroring and contrast in this opening, such as the

areaUncle Charlie is in, and Santa Rosa.

Both of these places are very different, the

area Uncle Charlie lives is run down and dull while Santa Rosa is more lively, brighter and looks like a better place. Also, both Uncle

Charlie and Charlie when we first meet them are lying on their beds suggesting they are similar, while at the same time, we see

a difference as Uncle Charlie is in the dark, and Charlie is in the light.

Our thriller movie ideas

Main idea

Our main idea was that a couple would be Skypeing each other at their homes.

The male would then receive an email from an unknown person, saying

'I'm coming to get you!'. A mystery person would then appear behind the male, who will then be killed by the mystery person as the female witnesses the

whole thing via skype. After the death, the mystery killer would then send his message of death on to the female on the other side.

Titles

We came up with a few possibilities for our title:

• Nowhere left to hide
• Sleep-bag
• Skype
• Send

We finally decided on a title of 'Sent' as this is what appears on the computer screen once a message has been sent.

Resources

The main things we will need for our thriller are:

• A skype account
• Web-cam
• Room
• A weapon
• Actors/actresses

Thriller movie settings and weapons

Here are some settings we could use in our thriller opening

However, these are just stereotypical settings of the thriller genre, and in fact many other setting could be used as well.

Here are some ideas of weapons we could use

There are just some ideas, and many other everyday objects could be used as weapons too, if they are heavy or sharp.

Research into what to put in our thriller movie

Before we started to plan our movie, we firstly needed to research what goes into a thriller movie, sub genres we could include, what we want in our thriller movie and our target audience as a group.

In order to make an opening of a thriller movie, we firstly need examples of thriller movies we had seen so we knew what they were, these included:

• Jaws
• Snakes on a Plane
• Speed
• Shutter Island
• Psycho
• The Bourne Identity

We then thought of some sub genres of thriller movies:

• physiological
• action
• horror
• mystery

We then decided who our target audience would be:

• Teenagers
• Young adults

We then decided what we would like to include in our thriller:

• Action
• Exciting
• Suspense filled
• Red herrings
• Enigmas

Survey monkey

I made a survey on survey monkey to research what type of thriller movies people enjoy, what about the genre they enjoy, how much they enjoy thriller, and to see what gender and age groups enjoy them the most.

I posted a link to my survey on some sites I use often.

Here is my post on Facebook

My post on the McFLY Super City

And my tweet

I chose to advertise my survey on Twitter as I have my close friends as followers, and so they are very likely to fill in my survey as they know it is important that I have people fill it in. I advertised on Facebook as I have many people from my school, many of which also do media studies, and so they will understand how important it is. I chose to advertise on the McFLY Super City as there are a few under 20,000 other users, all of which can see my posts.

I will check my results later today to see if anyone has done it, and post the links again. I will continue with this for the next few days, and if I have enough answers I will then post the results.

Here is the link to my survey:


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GXPWQZS

Preliminary exercise

This was my groups Preliminary exercise. Billy Cove and Myles Wilson are the actors in it while myself and Jessica Wallin Directed the scene.

We firstly made a storyboard of what we was to film. We decided that the scene would be of person A (Billy) walking into a room to find person B(Myles), and A would declare their love for person B, who would the walk out on person A.

In the scene we used diegetic sound, such as the dialogue ad the door closing, as well as a range of shots. A long shot was used at the start to show the setting, point of view shots of both characters, as well as midshots to show their facial expressions clearly and so show they're emotions, and to show this from the characters' position. A close ups was also used when person A leans against the door to show the pain and upset on their face of being left.

We then as a groups edited the video, and added the opening credits.

There were some mistakes with the video, the shots f the characters faces when they were talking before person B got up were blurry as the camera was too close to the actors, and so when the camera zoomed it it distorted the image. This also happened near the end of the video when the camera zoomed into person A's face. The editing was also jumpy when person B stands up, and at the end when person A leans against the door. This is mainly due to the fact we have had limited use of the editing software, Final cut express. However, as we will be using the software frequently, we will improve and so out editing skills will continue to develop.

Our storyboard for our Preliminary exercise

Here is our storyboard for our preliminary exercise.
We did a preliminary exercise to practise using the cameras and the editing software, final cut express.



In our preliminary exercise we will use a range of shots, such as
-A close up of the characters faces as they talk to show emotion
-Point of view shots to show what its like from the characters perspective
-Over the shoulder shots
-Medium shots
-Long shot to set the scene

What did we learn from our video?

The purpose of the video was to research what type of thriller movies audiences like, and why they like them.

From our research we found out that audiences like that thriller movies are full of suspense, which make the audiences interested all the way through.

Analysis of the technical quality of the video

The framing of the video was done well, as the interviewer and the people being interviewed we all within the frame, and not cut off. Also, the sound was all captured and captured well. The dissolve between the different people was very smooth and looked very professional.

The only thing that could be improved is the position of the people within the shot. At times, you could see a large height difference between the people, and so next time we should try and make sure the height difference is less. Also, the interviewer takes large pauses between asking the questions, this makes the video look very unprofessional. Some of the answers to the questions were also rushed, and makes it look as if the answers had bee rehearsed and un-natural

How and why was the video produced

The aim of the video was to find out what thriller movies audiences like, and why they like them.

To do this, we chose a spot to film in. We chose the spot we filmed in as it was outside, and so would be quieter than it may of been inside, and there was better lighting. We then set up the camera started filming. We then fund some people to interview and asked the people we interviewed 3 different questions;

1) What's your favorite thriller?
2) What do you like about the thriller genre?
3) What makes a great thriller?

From this, will be able to see what audiences like in a thriller film, and then use this in our own thrillers.

Thrillers audience research

My favorite thriller moive

My favorite thriller movie is Psycho.

One of the mian things I like about the movie is the use of enigma used throughout the movie. Throughout most of the movie it is unclear who the person who murdered Marion. When Marion and Norman Bates are having dinner in his office, the way he speaks of his mother and what happened to her husband, we get the impression that he is the villain in the film. However, this later changes when we see the death of Marion as we see the back of the mystery person, who resembles an older woman. We further believe this later on when we once again see this old woman kill detective Milton Arbogast. We only know that it was in fact Norman Bates when we see his face as he attempts to kill Marion's sister, Lila and we see that his mother is in fact dead, and Norman Bate's dressed as his mother.

My favourite bit of the movie has to be the iconic 'shower scene' as despite the lack of special effects that modern films are full of, the murder still manages to be terrifying

Analysis of thriller openings

Children of men

The scene starts of with a blank screen with voice overs of various people making news reports, the last one being about how the youngest person has died. This already makes the audience interested in the movie, they want to know why people have stopped having children. The next scene shows a group of people in a coffee shop all staring at something which we believe to be a tv, in shock and horror. This further adds to the mystery of what has happened as the audience now wants to know why the someone dying is so bad. The fact that the man who enters the shop has to push his way though the crowd, and the looks they give him further shows the shock and horror of the events they are watching. The whole opening is very quiet with only the sound of the news reporters, man asking for a coffee and noises of the traffic, so when the explosions occurs it makes it even more surprising.


Memento

The opening shows a photograph of a murder scene, being held by a mystery person. As time goes on, the photo un-develops, at which point the audience realises it is going back in time. This gets the audience's interest as they now know that they will see the murder from the photo. After the photo had finishes un-developing, the audience sees the the person who has been murdered on the floor, and this too goes back in time as we see the blood of the person flow back to his body.This horrifies the audience as not only have the witnessed a murder which is disturbing, but in reverse which is not what is usually expecting. After this we finally see the murderer, but by this time the audience is not as worried as to who he is, but why the murder was shown in reverse.



A history of violence

The start shows two men in a car outside a motel talking. The only other sound heard is that of insects. This creates a calm and desolate scene. The men talk calmly which further adds to this. When one of the men enters the motel again, the audience sees blood, and then a murder scene. The man walks calming past it all to get some water. This is unnerving as this isn't the usual reaction you would expect when someone sees a murder scene. This automatically makes the audience realise that the reason for this must be because the man was expecting it, and so must of committed these murders. A young girl then comes of of a room, we know she has seen the dead bodies as she is crying, the man then crouches down and tried to silence her crying. The fact her once again does this all so calmly is unnerving, and we know that the man is abut to do something horrifying. The man then takes a gun out, and points it at a girl, which really horrifies the audience. Just as the shot if fired however, the frame changes, and so we don't know if the girl was shot or not. This makes the audience interested in the movie as they want to know if the girl was killed or not.

Thriller conventions

There are many different convntions of the thriller genre, such as those below,


1.A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not always)

2. A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions

3.A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas (problems) which the viewer expects to be resolved

4.A protagonist who is systematically, disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by an antagonist.

5.Extraordinary events happening in an ordinary situation

6.Themes of identity

7.Themes of mirroring

8.Themes of voyeurism

9.Protagonist with a "flaw" which is exploited by the antagonist

10. Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist/antagonist's psychological state

11. There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril

12. Mise-en-Scene which echoes/mirrors the protagonist plight

Thriller devices

There are 3 devices used in thriller movies

Macguffin

This is a plot device which motivates the characters and builds up the story but has no or little relevance to the rest of the story.

Enigma

This is a puzzle, like a riddle or something mysterious or inexplicable. The audience will try to figure it out, and so it keeps their attention to the movie as they wish to find the answer. In thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try and solve before the narrative is resolved and the film finishes.

Red Herring

This is a device which is made to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. It can work with other devices to further create suspense.

'No country for old men' opening analysis

The movie starts with long shot views of the area, setting the scene. As the scene goes on, the area gets brighter and brighter due to the sunrise, and reveals more and more of the setting. This is reflected later in the opening. We then see a man being arrested, but you don't see his face, and he is also wearing black which further contributes to the mystery of this man.

In the next scene we see a police station. The police officer from earlier is on the phone in the foreground, while in the back ground the mysterious man gets up, but the audience doesn't notice this as he is out of focus, and so the audience focuses on the police officer, so when the man attacks the police officer they are shocked. This is the first time we see the man's face, and more is revealed about him, like the setting in the first scene, as rather than him being a mysterious man in black we now know he is a killer.

In the next scene we see the guy, after killing the police officer, pull over another driver. Going on what happened before, the audience knows that he is going to kill this other man. This is also further shown when he is talking to the man in the car as when he smiles it seems very sinister. Like the police earlier, the attack, even though the audience is expecting it, happens suddenly, and shocks the audience.

What is a thriller?

A thriller is a film genre made to keep the audience on edge and in suspense. It is a very large and watched genre. Thrillers often overlap with other genres, such as supernatural or crime thrillers. Thriller movies typically involve lots of action and plot twists.

The Brief

My coursework is to create a 3 minutes opening of a thriller movie in a small group.

I will record my progress of the coursework on this blog.

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my Media Studies blog. Here I will be researching into the thriller genre and preparing to make my own opening of a thriller film.