Analysis of opening of Memento!!

I’ve decided to analyse the opening of memento, a typical thriller film; in this analysis I decided to focus more on the credits and the introduction of characters as opposed to focusing purely on the camera, lighting and editing etc. I will still be including these aspects but mainly to show how the characters are introduced.





Credits:

The credits are very simple, and they begin straight away with the first clip, along with the beginning of the music. The title of the film ‘Memento’ is the first credit that comes up, and in the background there is a picture of what seems to be a person on the floor surrounded by blood. This immediately sets up a violent and gruesome atmosphere, but it’s also mysterious as many questions arise from the picture. The colour of the text is light blue and the font is very plain and simple, also the text is in the centre of the screen so we are drawn to the title. In our film we could integrate the title at the beginning along with a certain background picture to set a certain atmosphere; we should also think about what colours and font to use if we want to portray a certain image of the opening.

How characters are introduced:

‘Leonard':
The first time we see Lenny is a close up of his face, which seems to have blood on one side – straight away from this we assume he has killed someone as he is also looking down perhaps at the victim, but as we don’t know if he is the antagonist or protagonist we cannot make an assumption of if he is likable or not. This shot is also at a slightly low angle therefore making him look important, this establishes him as character with power. Also this first shot we see of him has chiaroscuro lighting, this type of lighting usually connotes mystery or a hidden narrative linked to this character. We then see him shoot a man; therefore we conclude that he is probably an antagonist as we don’t know why he shot the man. As there is a lot of narrative retardation it’s difficult to come to a clear conclusion about this character so far, however this makes the audience want to watch on to find out everything about this mysterious character.

The scene then changes into a black and white scene – this is quite unusual for a thriller film, however the black and white suggests that something in his world is not normal, and I think the use of black and white in these shots to show when we are listening to Lenny’s inner monologue is used very well as it shows the audience must focus on what he’s saying in these scenes to find out about the storyline. Again chiaroscuro lighting is used on a close up of his face, so although we feel close to him and we can see his emotions – he is still mysterious. The high angle shot of him sitting on his bed changes the way the audience have seen this character so far – firstly as it is a high angle shot, he looks belittled and weak so we begin to pity him, also his costume adds to him looking belittled as he is in his pyjamas looking scruffy – a complete contrast to the suit he was wearing in the last scene. The black and white in this scene could connote darkness or depression, so we link this character – who now seems quite important as we are hearing about him – with depression and mystery.

When he says “It’s Leonard.” In an assertive and confident tone to the man with glasses, we assume that he is a confident man who stands up for himself; also he seems to reply with a serious tone of voice to the joke of the man who says “Lenny!” this makes him seem extremely uptight and we feel slightly scared of him. In the next clip Leonard says “it’s not good to make fun of someone’s handicap” – this reveals something about him that the audience didn’t know before, and as we know he has a handicap we feel sorry for him, but now we know slightly more about him we become attached to this character as we want to know everything about him and the clips we have seen beforehand.

The fact that he drives the car as opposed to the man with glasses suggests he’s the leader in this relationship and the man with glasses is his sidekick. In the car park at the abandoned setting, Leonard walks away and the camera follows him instead of staying on the man with glasses – therefore showing he is the more important character and the
audience should pay attention to him. We then see him looking through pictures that seem to remind him of certain thing, we figure out that he perhaps has some memory problems – this makes the audience respect him as he seems to have a respectable job with a handicap problem.

From the first 5 minutes or so we learn a lot about Leonard – he is a stereotypical male, with some sort of detective job or goal, and we learn that although he is a conventional male in
a thriller, his handicap means that information is held back from the audience also, almost like we only know what he can remember – therefore we are supposed to sympathise with him and we will probably go through the film following him.

Man with glasses:

The first shot we see of him is an eye level medium shot, suggesting he is equal to Leonard. He is chewing gum throughout the clip which often connotes that the character is relaxed and laid back. The first thing he says is a joke; “LENNY!” so straight away he comes across as a fun person, so the audience like him, also he pats Leonard on the back so we think they are close friends – making us like them as a pair. His clothing is not as smart as Leonards, so we assume he isn’t as powerful as Leonard and his perhaps just a sidekick. Throughout the clip there is key lighting on the man with glasses, bright key lighting is usually used for protagonists so we think he is a good guy – because Leonard thinks he is a good guy. However as soon as Leonard knows he is bad, we are led to believe he is bad through dark shadowy lighting on him.

As soon as Leonard realises he is the man he needs to kill, the camera angles change so that we see the man with glasses like Leonard does – not as an equal but as an antagonist. For example the whole way through the clip there are eye level shots on him, however when he is on the floor with Leonard pointing the gun at him there is an over the shoulder high angle shot on the man with glasses. From this short clip we have two completely different views of the man with glasses – at first, from the camera angles, his costume, lighting and miese-en-scene we are led to believe firstly that he is a protagonist and then contrastingly that he is an
antagonist.

I think all the techniques used in this short clip are used really well to show that Leonard is the main character and that we are supposed to follow him and figure out his storyline. The characters are introduced to how Leonard see’s them.

:D:D:D

My individual job roles :D

As we've assigned all our roles now, I can look into exactly what I need to do for each of my jobs and start coming up with ideas, or things that I specifically need to do for my role!

Storyboard artist: So even though i'm a terrible drawer, i've been picked to do the storyboarding for our film. I thought about different ways in which we could present our storyboard and i've decided that I will draw out an initial storyboard, and if the drawing isn't up to a high standard I may collaborate with another student or friend that I know is good at drawing to draw the shots for us - therefore when we come to film our thriller opening it will be much more organised and we will get it done a lot quicker as we will understand exactly what to do! Another idea I came up with is that we could go to the setting where we plan to film our opening and take pictures for each shot, this will give us a deeper understanding of exactly what our setting is like and any restrictions we may have with the setting. It will also help the lighting and set designer to plan exactly what they need before shooting!

Director: In my role of director I will be telling the actors what to do, where to stand and what to say during each scene. I will have to use the script to enable me to direct each scene and I will need to use the storyboard to help me direct the scenes too. I'm unsure of who is writing the script as that was not one of the roles we assigned, due to this we will probably work as a group to write it! To complete my role well I will need to know the script well and what each person is supposed to be doing in each shot, therefore I will need to listen closely to the rest of the groups ideas throughout the process and filming, also I will need to work with the lighting director and sound director and whoever is filming to direct each scene as we want it to be filmed!

Costume design: I asked to be the costume designer as I think sometimes when I'm analysing a piece of media I don't feel like I fully grasp the use of costume in it. So I think by actually designing the costumes to connote certain things or portray characters in a certain way, I will have a greater understanding of the use of costume in the media! To fulfil my role I think I will make a short character profile for each character, outlining who they are, age, gender, and what their role is in the story, and also how we want the audience to see them. Once i've done this I will come up with ideas for the costume they can wear, then supply the costume!

Make-up: I think doing make-up ties in with my role of costume designer nicely, as once again it will enable me to understand the use of make up in the media. I will need to work with the lighting designer to decide on certain types of make up, and go through the storyboard to see what make up each individual character will need.

I think now I will be able to focus on exactly what I need to do for each of my roles, and work with the rest of the group to get some ideas from them and see what they're doing in their roles that can help me! :D

Byyyyeeee x

Job Roles!

So in class we've had our initial discussions and started storyboarding, but we need to assign roles to certain people. We all agreed that as it is a team project we will help each other out and give tips or ideas in every aspect, but each of the assigned people will have the final say and be in charge of that role.

Storyboard artist: Carla

Camera operator: Everyone will shoot different scenes to gain experience, but Ruby is the leader

Director: Carla

Editor: Ruby, but everyone will help and have a go at editing at some point

Sound design: Ruby

Continuity: Ruby

Actors: We will work as a team to find actors, but Carla will be in charge of informing them about filming days and times etc

Set design: Kath

Props: Kath

Costume design: Carla

Title design: Kath and Ruby

Lighting: Kath

Special effects: None needed!

Make-up: Carla

We feel that the assigned roles have equal responsibilities and amount of work, therefore everyone has the same amount of work!

Now that we've assigned roles, we can each individually begin getting ideas and planning for each job! :D

Our initial story ideas - Picture form!

Hello once again!

These are our initial story ideas for our Thriller opening! I drew a mind-map as we were having our discussion and this is what we came up with.

First idea:

Second idea:

Third idea: ( and our chosen idea!)

Fourth (and last) idea:

So, that's what all four of our ideas looks like on paper! This a picture of what it looked like altogether, just so you know we did them all at the same time :)

In the end and after a lot of discussion, we decided to go with the hostage situation because it's most challenging o the four ideas that we came up with. Also, it fit with most of the questionnaire results, so we decided to go with the hostage situation.

Thank you! :)

hello everyone!

So this is my first post because my laptop doesn't seem to like blogger too much... but now its finally working!

So, for my film analysis, i chose one of my favourite thriller films, Law Abiding Citizen. i analysed the opening 3 minutes or so and saw how it fitted in with the classic thriller codes and conventions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FAyARAVVI&feature=related

^ here's the youtube clip i used :)

the opening titles are displayed in a quite official font, but the letters are cracked and warped, which could hint disruption or damage which could be foreshadowing of the opening sequence. the first scene we see is a scene between the Gerard Butler and Ksenia Hulayev, who play a father and daughter. Both characters seem to be making something, extreme close-ups are used to show what they are doing, and because they are doing similar activities, this could show the closeness between them. In the background there is ambient music coming from a radio. This gives a homely innocent feel to the scene and leaves the viewer relaxed. After the close-up shots, there are then medium shots of the characters, which also shows their surroundings, because of the casual normality of the scene, the knock at the door seems innocent and unsuspicious, shot reverse shot is also used very effectively.

The father then walks up towards the door to open it, the atmosphere is happy, and an over the shoulder shot is used. light is ambient and natural creating a sense of false security for what is about to happen. When the door is opened and the father is smashed in the face with a baseball bat, the family atmosphere then turns very dramatic, the editing is a lot faster and moving constantly, the ambient music has turned to non-diagetic cold sharp noise creating suspense. There is a close-up shot of the intruders tying up the fathers hands, showing power for the intruders and helplessness for the father. An effective jump-cut is used when his wife walks in, and her echoed screams creates a loss of hope for the viewer.

her echoed screams continue and she claws her fingers across the floor to try and escape, also a stereotype of thrillers. There are now many close-up shots on the victims faces, emphasising their pain and desperation. the music also also becomes a higher pitch and faster tempo, to build tension and insecurity. The fade to black transitions used effectively as if they were blacking out. Although this is the same setting and place as when it was peaceful the lighting now seems to be darker than before, creating a change in the mood and emotions of the characters. The shouting of the criminals combined with the sobbing of the victims also helps to create suspense. Focusing is also cleverly used here to reveal something in the background as the music also comes to a halt. As the little girl comes into the scene, there is a low angle shot of the criminal, showing his power and dominance over the little girl. The end of the scene is an extreme close-up shot of the man's face, he is clearly in agony and struggling to stay conscious. The scene ends with high pitch music fading to sirens, and the cut into blackness as the man shuts his eyes, symbolising his unconciousness.

In my opinion for this type of scene to be the opening one of a thriller is very unconventional for a thriller movie; thrillers usually build up tension throughout the film to keep you watching from the edge of your seat, but this film literally catapults you into the action! Also there are many elements of a thriller in this opening scene, it is unusual for it to be so dramatic so fast, but i do think this is a clever and diverse way of performing this. I know the whole point of a thriller is to keep wanting to watch it, and even though this goes at it from a different angle, i certainly want to see the rest of movie, and this is definitely a fantastic example of a thriller. - definitely worth a watch! :)

thankyou for reading! :) :)

Initial brainstorming!

In our group we have begun brainstorming our thriller opening yaaaaay!!

Ruby will upload our fantastic spider diagram of some different ideas we had but we also wanted to write up our ideas in writing! So here are some of our initial ideas for all aspects of our opening!! (Also added some nice pictures to show how happy we were during our discussion)

So to begin with we needed to come up with some different storylines that we could possibly work on, we came up with these 4;

1. A family hostage situation (our research showed people enjoy watchning hostage situations!)

2. A code cracking situation where a man is being made to crack a code before a deadline (our research suggested our target audience think deadlines make the opening more tense)

3. A pyschological theme in a mental asylum (according to our research, pyschological genred thrillers were peoples favourites!)

4. A stalker situation (once again, our research showed people thought stalker situations were good to watch and appropriate in thriller openings)

After discussing which storyline we would all enjoy working on most and which one we had the best ideas for we decided to go with the family hostage situation - we feel that even though pyschological was the favourite sub-genre, we could do more with this storyline and all had some fantastic codes and conventions to add into the filming!
So then we dived deep into this storyline to come up with an in depth (well sort of in depth) storyline that our opening will consist of;

A family are taken hostage apart from the dad, who we see waking up in the morning and searching for his family; when he realises they are missing he becomes frantic and runs around the house looking for them or any clue to where they may be. He comes across a RANSOM NOTE (we're not sure exactly what it will say yet- but it's going to be pretty tense) giving him a clue to the whereabouts his family are, and a DEADLINE saying when he needs to get them- as soon as he reads it a countdown clock will start in the corner. When he finds the note we begin to see short clips of the family in the place they are being held. We then follow the dad as he thinks he knows where the family are being kept - this is when it gets realllyyyy tense! The dad gets out of the car and runs to the door of where he thinks his family are, the clock is around 00:05 now. He opens the door and turns out he's in the wrong setting, he becomes enraged and scared as the clock turns 00:00.

- We think this is a good storyline which we can build suspense and tension throughout, whilst using a huge variety of camera shots and movements, lots of meaningful props and costumes, tense music and a lot of other stereotypical thriller codes and conventions!
This is how happy Ruby was after we came up with our storyline....yaaaay;

So after coming up with the storyline, we wanted to figure out exactly what narrative techniques we could actually use in this opening;

Narrative techniques we could use:

* Plot twists and turns = dad going to wrong setting, audience won't expect that.

* Cross cutting = between hostages and dad in family home

* Narrative retardation = audience will want to know who the antagonist is and why he has kidnapped the family!

* Pursuit = dad trying to get rescue family

* Deadlines = the ransom note, and the countdown clock

Camera techniques we can use:

* high/low angles to show power of certain characters (high angles on family as they have no power)

* POV of antagonist to create tension as we never see his face.

* Over the shoulder of protagonist, therefore the audience will feel like we are in his place and sympathise with him!

* establishing shots on house to show setting clearly

* close ups on family as hostages to show their emotions - audience will sympathise and understand how scared they are, therefore they will want the dad to rescue them

* long and mid shots to show certain scenes or certain actions of characters.

Sound effects and music we can use:

* Gravel path sound, for when dad is running to his car

* Tense music begins as he finds the ransom note

* Loud sounds of struggling when we see hostages, makes it tense!

* Subtle stereotypical 'morning' sounds at beginning - false sense of safety for audience.

* Music which becomes more tense as the opening goes on

Little picture of me and Ruby doing interpretive dance (not in a media lesson obviously, we never mess around in media)

Settings we will need:

* family home and garden

* 2 warehouses, or similar settings where hostages will be

* car for when dad is driving to find family

Lighting we can use:

* Exaggerated shadows in warehouse (connotes mystery and evil)

* Lighting in warehouse will be dark and sinister

* Bright outside, especially at beginning to create a contrast between normality and when dad finds note

* chiaroscuro on hostages

* key lighting on dad

* bright lighting on dad throughout - shows he is protagonist!

Costumes:

* dark for antagonist, prehaps scruffy or leather - connotes evil!

* casual and light colours for dad - shows he is protagonist and audience will immediately know this

* family in scruffy clothes or pyjamas- shows they were taken in a rush and forced to leave!

Props:

* rags to tie up hostages with

* ransom note

* car

* photos of family together

Editing pace:

* slow at the beginning when dad gets up to show he thinks everything is normal

* when he realises family is gone, editing gets faster - builds tension!

* slow long shot as he finds and reads ransom note - shows seriousness of note!

* quick shots of family from then on - audience want to see more shots, builds suspense!

* fast cuts as dad gets in the car and drives to setting

this actually is in media, this is how happy me and Kath are when we do media YAAAAAAY!!!

Hope you enjoyed our initial ideas, we know there aren't looooaads at the moment but when we focus on each individual aspect we will go into thorough detail so we use techniques which will be most effective! The other girls may comment on this post but we wrote it together in class as a group :D

Byeeeeee x

Analysis of the opening of 'Donnie Darko'.

• Helloooo :)
  I have analysed the opening five minutes or so of the film, 'Donnie darko'. I have to tried to answer the question, 'How does the opening of 'Donnie Darko' fit the codes and conventions of the thriller genre?'. I've also put the clip that I analysed up here so you can see how much i watched. I watched up until 4.10.
  Another thing, I haven't done it in essay form, but I've analysed it in chunks. I've done paragraphs on Lighting, sound, location, editing etc.
  So, enjoy!
  
  http://youtu.be/h8SrDiySfEc
  
  Camerawork
  
  
  
  One of the first shots we see is an establishing shot that zooms in to see him lying on the ground. This launches the audience straight in on the action but also establishes location as well. It also helps emphasise the desolate landscape and the lone shots of Donnie represent how alone he feels. This also gives the audience who to identify with at the very start of the movie. For the first few minutes, all we see is Donnie. This establishes the protagonist nicely and gives the audience someon to identify with for the rest of the movie. This is emphasised by the use of tracking shots on Donnie throughout the whole opening sequence. We always know where he is and what he's doing. Also, the use of low angles and POV on Donnie gives him power in the opening sequence. It also makes the audience believe that he is a 'good guy'. The fact that he is on his own and he is being given power through the use of angles establishes him as the main protagonist.
  
  Mise-en-Scene
  
  Location
  We are first introduced into a desolate landscape in a very remote area. We don't see any people or buildings. This is used to insinuate how alone Donnie Darko believes he is in this location. After the opening estalishing shot, the only other character for the first few minutes is Donnie, influencing the fact that he believes he is truly alone in this location. However, halfway through Donnie's journey home, the location suddenly changes from a very lonely mountainous area to an over-populated town area. This contrast in location is disorientating for the audience, because it is confusing when we are constantly changing location. Also it reflects the fact that Donnie doesn't really know where he is supposed to go. This influences the fact that he is a mysterious character.
  
  Costume
  When we first see Donnie he is very neutral colours. This doesn't give away any insights into his character. However, he is wearing pyjamas and he is barefoot. This gives him the connotations of being confused or mysterious. This is also a narrative technique, to be introduced to our main protagonist as a mysterious character. We are then introduced to a whole town of bright colour and busy people. A prime example of this is when we see two joggers, both wearing neon clothes. This could represent the fact that Donnie believes that he is completely opposite to everyone in his town. It could also represent that everyone in the town is happy apart from him. This just influences the fact that he is a 'mysterious character', a typical narrative convention of the thriller genre.
  
  Lighting
  In the first location, we are outside and it is early morning. This lighting is bright but has a slight 'foggy' effect. This gives the atmosphere of being early morning and we are confused as to why we are there in the early morning. The confusion carries on because we are then introduced to the location of the busy town. Also, the time seems to change because very heavy sunlight comes in. This contrasts to a few shots before with the light sunlight. We are sometimes shown direct shots facing the sun. This is confusing because it is as if Donnie has just come from his own world in the half-light to the bright world of everyone else.
  
  Props
  Regarding props, I only noticed one major factor. This was the book that donnie's mum is reading when he comes in from being in the mountains. It is a book called 'It' by Stephen King. It's about a boy that is pursued by a supernatural force in the shape of a clown. This foreshadows the story of Donnie because it is his story except he is being followed by a giant rabbit. Also the fact that Donnie's mum is reading it and is very interested in it contrast to when Donnie comes in. When Donnie enters the house, she just tuts but she is engrossed in this story. It reflects how uncaring his mother is in her own son's story.
  
  Editing
  In this opening sequence, all the shots we see, even when Donnie's on his bike, are really long and quite slow. This is to help the audience see more of the story and more detail in the story. The only fast cut that we see is when we switch location. It then goes back to extrememly long shots of Donnie on his bike. This fast cut is to emphasise the switch in location. Another thing that relates heavily to editing is the fact that when we are introduced to the rest of the family (Father and Sister then Mother and younger sister) reality is slowed down into slow-motion. It then speeds slowly up into real time again. This is foreshadowing of the events that will happen to the family and Donnie.
  
  Sound
  From the very start of the credits, we hear sounds of a storm. This creates a very creepy atmosphere for the start of the movie. It then turns into a sound bridge, turning from a storm to the sounds of brids chirping, as if in early morning. This is very disorientating because there is a stark contrast in the atmospheres that each sound creates. Another important thing relating to sound is the fact that there was no dialogue or sound effects when he gets on his bike and when an actual song comes in. It is a typical eighties tune and something that teenagers of the time would listen to. It reflects youth and innocence by influencing the fact that all teenagers know is music. It also shows that Donnie can lose himself in a world of music. The fact that there is no dialogue, even when characters are clearly speaking, means we can't get the full atmosphere that the other characters create. The only character we've seen where music isn't playing is Donnie, all other characters have music playing instead of the audience being able to hear their dialogue. This tells the audience to focus purely on Donnie and not to bother with what the other charactes are saying because Donnie is the only important one. Also, it could reflect the fact that Donnie doesn't care for his family because he doesn't care what they are saying to him. He only cares what he says and about himself. This influences the fact that he is a 'mysterious character' but also that he is troubled. Both are narrative conventions of the thriller genre.
  
  Thanks for reading! :)

Silence Of The Lambs opening, detailed analysis!!

The Silence of the lambs opening analysis

As a class we watched the opening of 'The Silence of the lambs' and took notes, I decided to use this opening clip to analyse in depth to pick out codes and conventions that I know fit with the thriller genre. I've added some print screens to show certain parts I thought were really effective or used a code or convention well! This is the clip we watched.. but not mirrored :D

The sound in the opening of SOTL is stereotypical of a thriller film, it begins with slow, tense, non diegetic sound which sets the mood and atmosphere as mysterious and tense. When Clarice first comes on screen we can hear her breathing heavily which makes the audience wonder if she’s running due to being followed, however we gather from the assault course she is not – but her heavy breathing makes the audience feel uneasy as we’re not sure exactly why she is running and out of breathe. The fact that she makes struggling noises introduces Clarice as a hardworking, strong woman who wants to get things done as she is not giving up on the course. As the opening goes on, the music becomes louder and faster and eventually quite erratic, this causes suspense and makes the audience think something bad is about to happen to Clarice. The music then becomes light hearted and soft after Clarice has a conversation – this anticlimax causes the audience to feel nothing bad is going to happen, the contrast between how the audience felt 10 seconds earlier is like an emotional rollercoaster, which is how thrillers are supposed to make their audience to feel! Throughout the clip there is not much music when conversations are happening, this makes the scene more realistic. Whenever there is a tense moment, for example when Clarice see’s the pictures of the killings, the tense music starts again which makes the atmosphere mysterious and sets the scene up for something bad to happen.

Camerawork is used in the opening to introduce characters and give an impression of what they are like or how they’re feeling. The first shot on Clarice is a high angle shot, which immediately makes her look small and belittled – this is conventional of a thriller as women are often seen as damsels. However as Clarice carries on the course, there’s a tracking shot from behind here making the audience feel as if we are in her shoes and also showing she is a main character as the shots of her only. The tracking shot could also foreshadow situations later in the film where someone is following her. Contrasting to the high shot of Clarice, when she is climbing over the net (which is stereotypically a masculine thing to do) there is a low shot of her, which all of a sudden gives the impression that she is powerful and strong – therefore the audiences view changes and they see perhaps she is not weak as we first expected. The mid shot where Clarice is in the elevator surrounded by tall men suggests she is out of place in her society, and isolated a lot, it foreshadows that she is singled out and treated differently due to being a woman through the film. The close up on Clarice’s face when she see’s a picture of the woman Hannibal attacked highlights her facial expression, concluding in the audience understanding how bad the situation is, which makes Hannibal seem like a terrifying character.

The mise-en-scene sets the film atmosphere and suggests things about certain characters; Clarice has her hair tied back and is extremely sweaty, also she is in a grey hoodie which connotes masculinity due to the colour grey and the lack of stereotypical fashion sense Clarice has. In the opening clip, any man that Clarice talks to is taller than her, therefore suggesting she is belittled in the world and society she lives in for being female – due to this we get the idea that Clarice is trying to succeed in a male dominated society. Throughout the clip all the colours are very dull, and dull colours connote sadness, dreariness and sombreness, showing this is how the world and storyline is portrayed throughout the film. In each scene, the males take up the majority of the frame, insinuating that males are higher in the hierarchy and have more power over women; this is typical of a thriller film where men are usually seen as the powerful strong characters.

The lighting starts as quite dark which immediately sets a dark mysterious atmosphere, which is continued throughout the whole film. The fog in the forest connotes mystery and evil which accompanies Clarice being alone and isolated in the forest. In the beginning the lighting is all realistic, creating a realistic atmosphere therefore the audience is more likely to believe and be intrigued by the opening. In contrast, the lighting inside the FBI building is realistic and extremely bright suggesting that at this moment in time Clarice is safe from danger, it also connotes happiness and safety which makes us feel that when Clarice is surrounded by people she is safe, as opposed to her being in danger when on her own. Chiaroscuro lighting is used on ‘mysterious’ or ‘dangerous’ characters for example the man who shows Clarice round where Hannibal is kept has chiaroscuro lighting which makes him come across as slightly strange, also Hannibal has chiaroscuro lighting on his face, therefore making him seem mysterious. Another time lighting is used to set the mood and atmosphere is when Clarice is about to meet Hannibal there is a red light which fills the shot, red connotes blood and danger, concluding in the audience feeling that something bad is going to happen, and foreshadowing the fact that Hannibal is linked with danger and blood.

The credits are extremely simple and in black and white, they flash onto the screen and then go off with no transition just a simple cut. They are large on the screen meaning people will easily see them and be able to read them quickly

The opening of SOTL is extremely effective and achieves what a thriller opening should; it draws the audience in, there are red herrings and enigma codes already. There is narrative retardation so the audience want to watch on to find out what happens, there are conflicts that are not resolved for example we want to see if Clarice succeeds in her task and if she becomes successful, and there are relationships between people that the audience want to see develop. SOTL opening fits with a number of different codes and conventions of thrillers, such as the woman being isolated, the use of camera shot types are all conventional of thrillers. Red herrings and narrative retardation are used which are conventional and the use of lighting!

Studying SOTL opening in depth really helped me understand exactly how many different conventions and codes are actually used in just the opening, I think it gave me a better idea of certain aspects I could use that I didn’t think of before and I got some ideas for lighting, colour and mise-en-scene that we could use in our thriller opening.. yaaaay :D

Discuss the ways in which ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ fits the codes and conventions of the thriller genre.

This is a short analysis of the entire film of 'Silence Of The Lambs' I will watch the opening on it's own and write up a deeper analysis of the opening, but I wanted to watch and analyse an entire thriller film first to get a better idea of codes and conventions throughout the film.

Discuss the ways in which ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ fits the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. Does it do it successfully?

The use of music in ‘Silence of the lambs’ fits the usual conventions of the thriller convention. In thriller films the music usually fits with the scene and the intensity of the scene, for example when the scene is tense the music usually accompanies the scene by being fast paced and gradually getting louder. This is what the music is like throughout ‘SOTL’ for example; in the opening scene the music is mysterious, and although it is quiet it still sets the scene as being menacing. Throughout the film, whenever there is a ‘normality’ scene, there isn’t any music, only diegetic sound, this is to make the normality scenes seem more realistic to the audience- this is stereotypically what happens in all thriller films, again showing that ‘SOTL’ fits in with the conventional thriller films.

Another way that ‘SOTL’ fits in stereotypically with the thriller genre is the use of camera shot types throughout the film. Some common shot types used in thrillers are; close ups of victims, tracking shots of victims or antagonists, close ups of people’s faces during tense conversation, and point of view shots from the victims or antagonists eyes. All of these shots are used during SOTL, which means it fits the conventions of thrillers, for example; when Clarice and her boss are having a conversation about what Clarice has to do, the shots switch between each of the characters faces to show their expression about the conversation, this means the audience can see how the characters feel when they are talking about Hannibal- they seem serious and worried, so the audience know that they should be scared of Hannibal. Another camera shot in SOTL that fits thriller conventions is when Clarice is in the warehouse- which is a tense, scary scene and to make the audience feel the way Clarice feels a point of view shot from Clarice’s eyes is used, enabling the audience to feel as though they are actually there experiencing it.

Lighting is another aspect in ‘SOTL’ that fits with the thriller genre conventions. Lighting is an important factor in thrillers, it can set up how the audience are supposed to feel about a certain place, person or setting; lots of dark lighting is used in thrillers, key lighting and back lighting is used lots, along with rim lighting and chiaroscuro. All these types of lighting are used in ‘SOTL’ like the second time Hannibal and Clarice meet, there is mild chiaroscuro lighting on Hannibal which makes him come across as quite an evil character, but as he is still in the light and not completely in darkness he does seem to have a different side to him- which is how the audience is supposed to see him. In the scene when Hannibal strings up one of the policeman the most significant use of lighting is used, when the police open the door they see the body clearly because of the harsh backlighting used which outlines the body and the room brightly. Each time Clarice and Hannibal meet, there are shadows on their faces and also in the settings they are in- this connotes that the storyline is mysterious and things are being hidden from us.

I think ‘SOTL’ uses conventional lighting, camera shots and music very effectively and all these aspects are used to create suspense and tension for the audience really well. The lighting sets up certain characters to be mean, kind or mysterious and also to show certain settings in particular ways for the audience, the camera shots used tell us more about characters and the story, or perhaps in places conceal information from the audience and the music sets up the scenes well, and builds suspense and tension effectively.

Questionnaire results analysis!!

My individual analysis on what we found from our audience research!! :D :D

Our target audience is age 14 onwards, and any gender. Therefore we asked a variety of different students from our school, both older and younger than us. This enables us to get an idea of what our target audience like to see in thriller films, and what they don't like to see!

Heres my evaluation of the questionnaire results:
Q.1 It's good that we got all 'yes' so we know the results are from people that take an interest in thrillers as opposed to just guessing and making up answers.

Q.2 Most people said that their favourite sub genre was 'Psychological'. However our idea for a thriller opening was a hostage sub genre, and I personally think we still should use a hostage situation, because the initial storyline we have come up with would be a suitable opening and also, I think a majority of thriller films are in the Psychological sub genre, so doing a hostage opening will prehaps be more challenging for us.

Q.3 This was a great question to find out exactly what aspects we should include in our opening, our target audience said that violence and a kidnapping definitely make them want to watch on, also a deadline, dialogue and music. However only one person said romance, therefore we will try to include violence, kidnapping, deadlines, dialogue and music in our opening, but not romance!

Q.4 We need to ensure we don't do any of the things people said would make them not want to watch on in our thriller opening. So I have come up with ways of trying to make sure none of these things happen!
-Bad editing: Thoroughly check editing throughout the editing process, perfect any match on action, special effects, continuity etc!
-Bad acting: Decide on specific actors, and discuss as a group any directions and dialogue each actor has to say or do!
-Bad special effects: We won't be using many special effects, if any, apart from title and credits, however we will make sure these fit with the theme of the opening.
-Obvious storyline/too much information revealed/boring storyline: To ensure we don't give away too much information, but enough to make our opening make sense, we will storyboard and plot the opening thoroughly so ensure it hooks our audience and makes them want to watch more!
-Death: Our storyline has no deaths in it, as we felt this may not hook the audience as much as we want, also the suspense and tension in our opening will be due to the audience not knowing if characters are going to get killed or not.
-Too many characters: Although this is not a specific amount of characters, our initial idea does not have an excessive amount of characters, and due to this answer we will keep it in mind when deciding on our final characters.
-Slow to start: As we only have a specific amount of time, we will need to make our opening grab our audience, therefore it definitely wont be slow starting!

Q.5 As these are some of the answers our target audience gave us, I will definitely look at each of the openings of these thrillers and analyse them, hopefully getting some good ideas that may give us inspiration for our opening!

Q.6 After looking at these results, I think we should have music that starts slowly, and as the tension builds the pace and volume should build, leading to a fast, tense, climatic ending. This music would fit all the things our target audience said they liked in thriller opening music!

Q.7 Although most people chose 'busy city' for a preffered setting, this was not a setting we imagined for our thriller opening and it would not fit with the opening we have planned. Our opening is set in a warehouse and family home, and some of our target audience did choose these settings so I think they will still enjoy our film just as much.

Q.8 Looking at our results, we will keep in mind all of these answers and therefore our antagonist will most likely be;
-male (due to the majority vote this, our antagonist will definitely be male)
-psychotic (again a majority vote),
-we will try and make him unexpected but due to the short time we have there isn't time to develop a character therefore characters need to be established quickly.
-young (we had in mind a reasonably young antagonist and our results show that he should definitely be quite young)

Q.9 We were stuck on what title to call our thriller opening so the questionnaire helped us decide, 'deadline' got the most votes, and therefore we will most likely call our thriller opening 'deadline'.

I think the audience research really helped us narrow down certain aspects of our thriller, and gives us a better idea where to start with things like music, characters and settings. Now that we've done some research I will look at some different thriller openings which will hopefully give us some ideas, and then we will be able to start storyboarding and plotting our thriller opening!!!

Questionnaire analysis - group blog

After creating our questionnaires, we gave them out to 30 people in our school, we made sure there were a variation of ages and gender, therefore we would get a variation of results. Here is an example of our questionnaire, and an analysis of the results we got.

Results;

Q.1 Do you enjoy watching thriller films? (tick 1)

Yes: 30

No: 0

Q.2 Whats your favourite sub genre out of the following choices? (tick 1)

Hostage: 4

Romantic: 0

Psychological: 19

Crime: 7

Q.3 What aspects of a thriller opening make you want to watch more? (tick all that apply)

Violence: 15

Romance: 1

Kidnapping: 14

A deadline: 9

Dialogue: 8

Music: 9

Q.4 Is there anything specifically in a thriller opening that would make you not want to watch on?

- Bad editing

- Bad acting

- Bad special effects

- Obvious storyline

- Too much information revealed

- Boring storyline

- Death

- Too many characters

- Slow to start

Q.5 What are some of your favourite thrillers?

- Taken

- Dark Knight

- Seven

- Inception

- Zodiac

- Bladerunner

- Shutter Island

Q.6 What music do you think suits a thriller opening best? (tick 1)

Slow: 7

Fast: 5

None: 0

Climatic: 7

Mellow: 0

Tense: 16

Q.7 What location would you prefer a thriller opening to be set in? (tick 1)

Warehouse: 6

Family Home: 7

Open Space: 2

Busy city: 15

Q.8 What makes a good antagonist?

Male: 21

Female: 6

Normal: 5

Psychotic: 24

Expected: 2

UNexpected: 25

Old: 7

Young: 20

Q.9 Which of these is the best title?

Situation 00:00: 7

Deadline: 14

00:01: 10

Our thoughts on our preliminary task

Hello!

This is just a quick post to tell you our thoughts on our preliminary task. It won't be in one hundred percent detail only because we want to go into more detail in our overall evaluation.

Firstly, we tried to use several different shots in our film. This includes a match on action, a close-up and a shot reverse shot. We thought this would give the film diversity and make it different from everyone elses. We also tried to stick to the 180 degree rule which I think we did very well. We got some feedback from the class and this was one of the things that they pointed out as us using very well. They also said that they enjoyed the establishing shot of me and Kath at the table because it set up the conversation and was a really nice opening shot to the film. A couple of things they didn't like was the fact that our close-up was too close. We checked this and discovered that it was true. We accidently cut Kath's thumbs up off and the top of my head. This is something to consider for our Thriller opening.

A few things that I thought we could have improved on was making the frames at the start a few seconds longer. I thought the frames were a bit too short and you couldn't see the start of the match-on-action shot. Also the fact that Kath looked like she was walking from nowhere looked very odd. We could have used a longer shot to establish where Kath was walking from.

We learnt that we can use slower shots in our films and also that we should use a bigger variety of shots in our film.

Hopefully the other two should post comments about their thoughts on our preliminary task!

Our preliminary task :)

Thriller director research - Roman Polanski

Hello again!
This post is about Roman Polanski, the famous actor/director. We actually did a presentation in class about our chosen thriler director. But unfortunately, the powerpoint I showed to class won't upload to blogger so i've typed all the information up for you! It's lucky I'm nice isn't it really?






Roman Polanski

• He was born France in 1933, but his parents were Polish, they were trying to escape from the Second World War.
  


• In 1939, both his parents were captured by the Nazis and sent to different concentration camps. His father survived but his mother was murdered in Auschwitz.
  


• In 1945, he was reunited with his father and his father sent him to technical school which he didn't enjoy.
  


• In the 1950's, he took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda's 'A generation'. (1955).



• He then studied at Lodz's film school in Poland.
  


• His feature debut 'Knife in the water' was the first Polish war film not associated with the war.
  


• He then moved back to France where we became a long-time collaborator with scriptwriter Gerard Brach.
  


• His next two films 'Repulsion' and 'Cul-de-sac' won silver and then golden bear awards at the Berlin film festivals.
  


• In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made psychological thriller 'Rosemary's baby', one of his most famous films to this day.



• His wife was brutally murdered by the infamous 'manson gang' whilst she was eight months pregnant with their first child.
  


• In 1974, he made a US release, 'Chinatown', which began a promising career in film, but he was then convicted with the statutory rape of a Thirteen-year old girl.
  


• Afterwards, he fled from the US to avoid prison and made the film, 'Tess' which then won several Oscars and Caesar awards.

His filmography:
'Macbeth' (1971)
'Che' (1973)
'Chinatown' (1974)
'The Tenant' (1976)
'Tess' (1980)
'Pirates' (1986)
'Bitter moon' (1992)
'The Ninth gate' (2000)
'The pianist' (2002)
'Oliver twist' (2005)
'The Ghost writer' (2010)
'Carnage' (2011)

These are just a few of his films, if i posted them all, I'd be here all night!

Here are some reactions to his films and what audiences and thought of them:

• Many of his films were described as 'brooding, maccabre and eccentric.'
  


• Rosemary's baby was declared to be 'disturbing and convincing.



• In his film 'Macbeth', the scene with the murder of Macduff's family was said to have very realistically depicted his own family's Manson slaughterings.
  


• His 2002 film, 'The pianist' was given very positive reviews and said to be one of the most 'emotionally riveting films of the decade'.
  


• His 2010 film The ghost writer received mainly positive reviews and was said to be 'an intense thriller that doesn't let the audience relax.

This is a case study of the film 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968):

• Genre: Horror.



• Synopsis: An american couple plan to concieve a baby, and on the night, Rosemary falls unconcious and has a dream about being raped by a demonic presence. Her husband then tells her he had intercourse with her whilst she was asleep in order for her to concieve. She soon falls pregnant, but odd things begin to happen, as in the craving of raw meat etc. There is a massive discovery by one of her friends about one of her friends but the friend then mysteriously dies and Rosemary is left to work it out on her own. She is believed to be delusional and goes into labour after being chased by several doctors. She awakens to be told the baby died but then hears the cries of an infant and doesn't believe the doctors. She follows the cries and finds a coven of her next door neighbours crowded around er baby son. He is born with a hideous deformity and disturbing eyes and the coven tells her that she has borned the son of Satan. She is horrified when the coven try to beg her to be a mother to her son and tell her that she doesn't have to join if she doesn't want to. But, the film ends with Rosemary cradling her baby and adjusting her son's blankets.
  


• Mia Farrow plays Rosemary.
  


• Ruth Gordon plays her freaky next door neighbour, Minnie Castevat. Ruth won an oscar for her performance in this film
  


• Was universally given four stars.

Thanks for reading!

Thriller director research- David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg

To become the director and creator of a thriller opening, I wanted to get inside the head of a well known thriller director, hopefully to understand why they love thrillers, how they got into making thrillers and their views on society and the world itself. I chose David Cronenberg to look at.. and here's what I found!

• He was born in Toronto, Canada in 1943, and is classed as a filmmaker, screenwriter and actor


• David is known as one of the originators of 'body horror' due to his exploration of pyschological and physical themed thriller films


• His father was a journalist, and his mother was a pianist - he used parts of his parents characteristics and aspects of their lives to create characters in some of his films which I think is really interesting


• From a young age he had an interest in literature, and apparently he wrote a number of gruesome horror stories as a child and teenager


• He got a degree in literature but after making two sketch films and two short art-house features, he went into partnership with Ivan Reitman and from then on has been writing and directing a number of well known thriller films


• His films often involve horror by mutation, parasites, or medical conditions, when he first started making thriller films, a lot of them were based on science experiments going wrong, or mutation of the body making someone become some sort of monster. However through his career he has expanded his genre and is now known for thrillers based on pyschological as well as physical storylines


• He has turned down oppertunities to direct; star wars, top gun and robocop


• David has said his films should be seen from "The point of view of the disease."


• He got the 'Special Jury Prize' at the 1996 Cannes Film Festical, and in 1999 he was inducted onto Canadas walk of Fame


• He is an atheist and doesn't believe in the afterlife - I think this could be an interesting fact and would probably have an affect on his films


• - After reading and watching interviews with David Cronenberg I think he has a unique outlook on society and life and he said so many interesting things, this is my favourite quote that I found; "Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos."


• His films include; A dangerous method, Eastern Promises, To each his own cinema, A history of violence, Spider, Short6, Crash, M. Butterfly, and Naked Lunch.


• I decided to look into one of his films, to look at the storyline and significant events. I picked at random 'Eastern Promises'; It's about a british midwifes interactions with the mafia after finding a Russian diary on a young girls body who died during childbirth, the midwife tries to track down the girls family in the hope that the baby will have a family to live with. The film appeared on several 'Top 10 films' lists in 2007, and the film has been noted for it's plot twists, subjects of sex trafficking, violence, and realistic depiction of Russian career criminals. 'Eastern Promises' won several awards, including audience prize for best film. Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassell all appear in it and 89% of critics gave the film positive reviews!!

Thriller film research

So, My first post. Thought I'd give you a little insight into the world of....

The thriller genre!

What is a thriller?

A thriller is a film genre that uses intense emotion and should leave us on edge and exhilarated. It also uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. The thriller genre includes many sub-genres: Mystery, crime, psychological, political and paranoid. There are also many types of thriller films; e.g. police, spies, religion, etc. Thriller films usually create an atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and sinister situations. Society is usually seen as dark, corrupt and dangerous. Many literary devices are used in creating a typical thriller film such as; plot twists, red herrings and cliff hangers.

Thriller methods

There are many different methods for exciting thriller openings. For instance;
-Crime: Ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge kidnapings.
-Mystery: Investigations, 'Whodunit technique'.
-Psychological: mind games, stalking, confinement, deatn traps, horror of personality, obsession.

Thriller characters

Alike with Thriller methods there a lot of interesting characters we could use for our Thriller opening:
-Criminals, stalkers, Assassins, psychotic individuals, escaped convicts.
-Menaced women, innocent victims, private eyes, world weary people.
-Cops, people involved in twisted relationships.

After researching many different types of different thriller characters, i found that characters are often not binnary opposites, so good and bad for example. The good and bad charaters of thriller films are more of a mixture and we are often confused about which side the characters are on.

There are many different narrative techniques for Thriller films. Here are just a few:
-Multiple lines of action
-Flashbacks
-Narrative retardation
-Misdirection


Institutional use of genre

-After researching thriller films, I decided to research the term 'genre' as a whole. Here's what I found:
-Film producers use genres as a means of minimising the economic risk in making films.
-Film distributors/exhibitors use genre as a means of advertising and promoting films.
-Both depend upon audiences foreknowledge and past experience of the films included in the genre.

Thanks for reading!

What makes a thriller a thriller?

Codes and conventions of thrillers.

So it's the first post! and where better to start than at the beginning?! Before we start even coming up for ideas for our thriller opening we need to research existing thrillers to find out about typical narrative and technical conventions, these are basically what the audience will expect to see in a thriller film, and therefore what the makers of the film will need to incorporate in the film.

Firstly when looking into the thriller genre I found that there are a lot of various sub genres of thriller including; legal, spy, action, medical, hostage, police, political, high-tech, crime, psychological and paranoid.
I discovered that unlike horrors, thrillers should make the audience think about the plot and how it will be resolved, the audience has to concentrate at all times to understand whats going on.

After watching clips of some thrillers, and some full movies I found the atmosphere is often menacing throughout and there are many scenes of violence and crime, also society is often seen as corrupt and dangerous.
Literary devices such as plot twists, red herrings and cliff hangers are used to trick the audience and keep them guessing constantly!
Some well known directors of thrillers are; Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubri, Orson Welles, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Tony Scott, and John Carpenter.
Inception, Fight Club, Silence of the lambs, Dark knight, The departed and Taken are all good examples of stereotypical thriller films, and they all include many of the codes and conventions highlighted in this post.
Methods or situations often found in thrillers are things like: ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings, investigations, mind games, stalking, deathtraps, and obsession - one of more of these will be found in a conventional thriller, and sometimes the entire storyline will revolve around things like obsession or kidnappings.

Conventional characters in thrillers; criminals, stalkers, assassins, psychotic, escaped cons, menaced women, innocent victims, private eyes, cops and people in twisted relationships. There's also a protagonist and antagonist, however sometimes these characters are more complicated in thrillers, for example in Silence of the lambs the antagonist also helps the protagonists.

Technical conventions:
* Tracking shots
* Reveals (zooming or tracking to reveal significant detail)
* Low key lighting and shadows
* Close-ups (sometimes for concealment of information of anything outside of shot)
* Dramatic angles and framing
* Editing pace changes for climax
* Eerie, tense music, often builds in tempo, volume and pitch to create sense of danger
* POV shots
* Harsh lighting (chiaroscuro and high contrast often used)
* Effects to signify flashbacks, disorientation and dreams
* Use of silence
* Exaggerated sounds

Narrative conventions:
* Enigma codes
* Deadlines
* Complex characters
* Retardation
* Mysterious characters
* Red herrings
* Flashbacks
* Cross cutting
* Plot twists and turns

After researching into the thriller genre, it gives us a much better idea of a plot to come up with for our opening, and the kinds of things we should try to include in our opening. I will continue watching a lot of thrillers to get more ideas and to grasp a better understanding of the genre, and I will be researching a specific director for background information of who comes up with these thrilling films!

Chow! :D