From watching our preliminary task back, we can see that the start when Megan walks through the door isn't quite right because the continuity is a bit out. Also, the cross dissolve transition that we used to show time change wasn't as clear as we had hoped it would be. However, we found that the cutting from character to character during a conversation worked out OK despite issues we had with that in our editing process (we struggled to make the conversation flow). The Preliminary Task has taught us how to use the camera as we have not used that particular kind before, also, it was an opportunity to practice our camera shots so that when it comes to filming our Thriller we will hopefully be a bit better at shooting particular shots. Overall, our pre-task has drawn attention to continuity and how important it is to keep it flowing.

So Far So Good... (Preliminary Task)

The other week me and Holly went off to film our preliminary task, once we had found an apppropriate classroom (it took a while) and found our actress (Megan Tooke) we set to work on our filming and all in all I think we got around 80 shots. The reason why it took such a lot of shots was because me and Megan were acting together and found it very hard to keep a straight face- but we managed a few decent ones in the end! Today, me and Holly uploaded the shots onto iMovie and began our editing process, the programme (being slightly different to last year) was quite confusing at first, but it didn't take us too long to get the hang of it and now we can confidently use the programme (we hope!). Next lesson we should hopefully be continuing to get on with editing our pre-task and get that finished so that we can make a start on our actual Thriller Opening, which is now all planned for.

Our Storyboard

Sample Questionnaire

The Bourne Identity

What does the set up reveal about setting? Where is this place? What gives you this information?

The first setting shown is the Mediterranean Sea, this is revealed in the set up due to writing on the screen. However, also in the set up, slightly later on, another location is revealed which is The Central Intelligence Agency Langley, Virginia. This location is also revealed via writing on the screen.

What does the set up reveal to the audience about characters? Choose one character and explain HOW the set up reveals this information.

In the set up, the audience is introduced to Jason Bourne who gets rescues from the sea by some Fishermen in a storm. This is revealed through the surprised behaviour of the men on the boat who think he is dead, but then quickly try to save him. They do this by lying him down, and one of the men surgically removes a couple of bullets and a device from his back. The set up also reveals to the audience that Jason doesn't know where he is or why he is there, this becomes clear when he regains consciousness and demands answers from the man operating on him.

What does the set up reveal about the interrelationship between characters?

The man who operates on Jason appears to hold authority over the other fishermen. However Jason challenges him when he wakes up on a table in a fishing boat. The man reassures Jason that he is his friend, trying to help him and that he doesn't mean him any harm. The set up also reveals the language barrier between them, Jason (not knowing who he is) struggles to communicate with the other characters in the set up, but despite this, the fishermen get him off the boat safely into Switzerland.

What is this world like? Safe? Happy? Dangerous?

This world is dangerous and mysterious. In the set up we don't know who Jason is and neither does he, but the fact that he is found floating on the ocean with bullets in his back insinuates that the world he is living in is not at all safe.

What possible conflicts or strains are there that will become part of the story later on?

The main issue is that Jason Bourne appears to had lost his memory, but he keeps discovering things about himself, like that he is good at fighting when he needs to. Also, he finds his passport which he uses to find out basic information about himself, i.e. that he is called Jason Bourne and he lives in Paris. This becomes important to the story later on because he has to find out what he is doing with his life.

How does the opening fit with the codes and conventions of thriller films?

Establishing shot of boat in the water
Fast paced editing (when Jason attacks people)
Point of view shot (when he is looking down at the bag he dropped when he is hanging from a building)
Zoom (onto the boat)
Hand held (men playing cards in the boat)
Close-Up shots to show facial expressions
Tense, eerie music to arise a fearful mood.
Over the shoulder shots to give the impression something is going to happen behind the character.

*Questionnaire Results*

Age

4% = 13-14 years 16% = 17-18 years
80% = 15-16 years

Gender

56% Female 44% Male

Do you watch thriller films?

96% said yes. 4% said no.

What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?

32% said psychological. 4% said crime.
28% said action. 28% said comedy.
0% said political. 8% said romance.

In a thriller film, would you prefer the victim to be...?

60% said man. 12% said teen.
8% said woman. 12% said other.
8% said child.

Where would you most expect a thriller film to be set?
8% said graveyard. 44% said old house.
24% said woods 24% said other.


What excites you most about thriller films?

(Mixed results e.g. “the suspense and adrenaline”)

Do you prefer thriller films that make you think or ones that are obvious?

8% said ones that are obvious. 92% said ones that make you think.

Do you like thriller films?

88% said yes. 12% said no.

Our progress so far...

Pre-production, we have been doing a lot of work finalising our idea by focussing on plot and character. Already we have chosen who we want in our film, where we want to film it and what is going to happen. We have also thought up some interesting shots which we want to use to create effect in various parts of our thriller. Our 'film treatment' includes detailed descriptions of our characters, including their appearance and personal attributes. Also included in this treatment is description of Hopton church, park and alleyway where a majority of our thriller will be filmed. We have thought about extra conventions that would be interesting to use, for example, a red herring to send the audience off course to create a more impactive finish., we have also considered fast-paced editing because we think it will fit in nicely with the Thriller genre. Probably the most challenging thing we have had to do so far is come up with a name for our film. Initially, we chose roughly 6 names that were suitable and then we asked other people what they thought i.e. our media class and other people our age (the audience is our peers therefore their opinions are very important to us) and also the poll on our blog should hopefully bring in some more votes.

Holly & Katie x

Location Pictures

Film Treatment

Character Profiles

Brian Kennedy, 47

Susannah Kennedy, 42

Mary Kennedy, 17

Morris Kennedy, 9

Brian: What everyone would perceive as an everyday family man, he has a secure job with a respectful firm. He is friendly and popular within his friend group. Brian sometimes finds it difficult to speak out when something is wrong and struggles to express his opinion sometimes. The only thing that really matters to Brian is his family, which is why it is such a shock when he brutally murders them. He is of an average height and build with grey hair and brown eyes. He is 47 years old.

Susannah: Caring and genuine, Susannah is loved by all who know her. She is be perceived as the perfect mother and in a lifelong marriage of 20 years which is envied by many. She enjoys cooking for her friends and has an impeccable taste for fine wines.  She stands at 5”8 and has a big heart.

Mary: She is everything to be expected of a teenage girl. She loves socialising with her friends, listening to chart music and going clubbing. She regularly goes to her best friend Lucy’s house that lives nearby. She falls out with her little brother Morris on a regular basis, but deep down, she loves him. Her appearance is quite striking, she is blonde and slim and very pretty.

Morris:  He is 9 years old and enjoys playing football with his dad, hanging out at the park with his friends and playing Xbox. He is academically challenged but makes up for it with his charming personality. He hates his name because he gets bullied for it at school. He is about 5 foot tall with blonde hair and a big build. 

Location

Church

Park

House

Alleyway

The introductory scene will be filmed in a church, at night in candlelight. We will see Brian kneeling on the floor praying, in dire need for repentance.

The park will be used to film Morris playing with his friends on the swings, before they leave him and then when he is alone being spied on.

The house will be used to film Susannah in her home with Brian drinking wine, and then perhaps later when she is found dead.  (Undecided as of yet).

The alleyway will be used to film Mary walking home at night from her friends; it will be the place of her murder.

Codes and Conventions

In our thriller we will be using the following techniques:

·         Tracking

·         POV shots

·         Reveals

·         Eerie, tense music

·         Low key lighting

·         Jump cuts

·         Face paced editing

·         Silence

·         Exaggerated sound

·         Flashbacks

·         Red Herrings

·         Pursuits

·         Morally complex characters

·         Principle of concealment

Name ideas for our film

1.      Crazed  (1)

2.      Hunted  (1)

3.      The Sinner  (5)

4.      Repentance (2)

5.      The One Who Sinned  (1)

6.      Take Me With You  (3)

Review Of Last Years Work

I watched the finished film from one of last years groups "Reflect Productions" and I thought it was really impressive. First of all, I love the establishing shot of the man typing on the keyboard because it is original and made me wonder what was going on. Also, I think the use of music is suited to the thriller genre well, it is easy listening but also relatively unnerving. I think it is really brilliant how they titles their names through objects like paper and the ipod, that was impressive as well. And it's really smooth how they have transitioned the man to walk from one place into a completely different one so effortlessly. The only criticism I have for this example, would just be that I didn't get quite what it was about, but that is OK because it was just a thriller opening and I'm sure that if it was made into a complete movie then the rest would be unveiled.

'Psycho' Trailer

This trailer for 'Psycho' is helpful for us and the development of our thriller film because it shows us what kinds of characters have been used and the mise-en-scene, as well as the variety of shots suited to the thriller genre. I think that from this we can start to think about what has been used and why and then apply this to our own film introduction.

Who is our target audience?

Sir Alfred Hitchcock

13th August 1899 – 29^th 1980

He was an English and producer

His films ranged from 1926-1976

Some of his films:

·         Psycho (1960)

·         North by Northwest (1959)

·         The Birds (1963)

·         Frenzy (1972)

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style.

Many of his films have twist endings and thrilling plots. He also made an appearance in 39 of his 52 films as an extra.

Quentin Tarantino Profile

Born on the 27th March 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.

Director, Screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor.

Films are renowned for violence and non-linear story lines.

He has directed many films such as: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Death Proof & Inglourious Bastards.

From his films, he has received an Academy Award, a Bafta, a Golden Globe and a Palme d'or.

SHUTTER ISLAND Q's & A's

1. What does the set up reveal to the audience about setting? Where is this place? What gives you this information?

The set up reveals that the 2 Marshalls are being taken to “Shutter Island” via boat, which insinuates that Shutter Island is out of the way because it is dangerous. When they arrive, this becomes clear when the guard explains that the wards are A, B and C, arranged in order of high risk, from this we discover it is a mental hospital.

2. What does the set up reveal to the audience about characters? Choose one character and explain HOW the set up reveals this information.

The set up reveals that the 2 men are Marshalls, going to Shutter Island on a job. The character Teddy is seen as more important than his colleague because the attention is more on him e.g. he gets sea sick on the boat. This seems pretty normal during the set up but later on we discover this is actually a result of the death of his 3 children who were drowned in a lake by his wife.

3. What does the set up reveal about interrelationships between characters?

The body language of the people and the things they say to Teddy are subtlety strange, e.g. the guard says with a smirk “I’ve never seen a Marshall’s badge before”. We don’t discover why until later on in the film when it becomes known that Teddy is a patient there and everyone is acting. Even the patients seem to recognise Teddy, one of them waves at him, another puts her finger to her lips and smiles like she knows him.

4. What is this world like? Safe? Happy? Dangerous?

In Teddy’s view, the place in dangerous and gives him unhappy experiences. But in reality, the place is safe other than the fact that they have the potential to cause him harm for his own good.

5. What possible conflicts or strains are there that will become part of the story later on?

There is a bit of tension from the start between Teddy and the deputy warden, (Teddy doesn’t want to hand his gun over).

6. How does the film opening fit with the codes and conventions of thriller films?

At the very start, the ship enters the shot through a mist, that way we don’t know what has happened before which makes the story more realistic when it concludes at the end, and we find out the meaning. Zoom is used when the ‘Marshalls’ are driven to the gates of the hospital; this makes the viewer feel like they are the character and therefore, involved. Eerie, tense music is used throughout the introduction to keep the audience on edge, and wondering what will happen. Foghorn and chain rattling at start – hint at what’s coming. Close up to show expression, washed out and cold colours, in contrast to the bright colours used in the flashbacks. Close up of badge, red herring. Low angle looking up at prison shows he is small in comparison. Use of tracking. Music gets very loud and then suddenly stops. Many POV shots used. Term “most dangerous” used. Teddy finds it easy to remove his gun, Chuck struggles. Woman with finger on lips used as red herring. When walking in, dialogue sounds disappear, natural sounds go up massively.

The Butterfly Effect- Eric Bress

The Butterfly Effect

  

 The Butterfly Effect is a psychological thriller which does not necessarily involve blood and gore but includes plot twists, flashbacks, morally complex characters and makes the audience work.

   Throughout the film the audience is left asking themselves why certain events are taking place and how they will conclude. Eventually, the film ends with a shock scenario that is not just unexpected, but unconventional as well. The original ending was too much of a shock for many test audiences that it got taken out and replaced with a more typical ‘happy’ and unambiguous one. However, the director’s cut is still available and in my opinion is the most thrilling of all the alternate endings.

   The films main character is complex and unique, and the film is focused on him going back through time to change the past. His motives are solely to help his close ones, but his actions backfire as he realises that changing one small thing in the past changes everything in the future.

   To create suspense for the audience the director uses tense music, dramatic angles and fast paced editing. These factors have the audience hooked from start to finish.

   I believe that Thurston Community College should watch the Butterfly Effect rather than any alternative thriller as it is not just exciting for the audience, but it is also completely original. The variety of technical and narrative techniques satisfies any avid thriller viewer.

Phone Booth - Joel Schumacher

Phone Booth – 2003

Starring Colin Farrell, ‘Phone Booth’ is a psychological thriller about a Manhattan Publicist with a rude and aggressive temperament and a guilty secret of lying to everyone he knows and cares about. Getting on with his everyday face-paced life, the phone booth starts ringing and he makes the worst call of his life. On the other end of the phone is a sniper with knowledge about the finite details of Stu’s life (Farrell).

The film starts with a narrator sharing facts about how many people use telephones and the unimaginably large population of the area. He says “there are an estimated 8 million people in the bureaus of New York”. This emphasises the situation Stu is in because it puts in context how unlikely it is that anyone will know who the sniper is, “there are hundreds of windows out there”.

The introduction to ‘Phone Booth’ is quick, with heavy use of tracking and added sound, which is upbeat music. The intro shows Stu’s true colours, as he openly lies to many people as he just passes them by. We soon realise he has been lying to his wife and his girlfriend about his infidelity to both of them, something he is later forced to confess to the gathering crowd.

To highlight emotion and give two sided conversations, the shot is often divided into grids or split into two parts which is interesting and unconventional.

We meet a key character within the first ten minutes, a pizza guy, also used as a red herring as we are led to believe he is the killer towards the end of the movie, when in fact he is just a random person who was victimised not only by Stu’s cruel words but also by the sniper who slits his throat. This leads the police into thinking it was him that was on the phone to Stu all the time.

The fast paced start takes a standstill as Stu answers the phone and hears the voice of the sniper for the first time. The music also stops and is replaced with eerie, tense music displaying the danger Stu is in. The sniper plays a mysterious character whose identity is not revealed until right at the end; he has a deep unnerving voice that frequently threatens Stu and his future. At the start of the conversation Stu is his usual self, aggressive and threatening. However, he soon realises his place and shrinks down to a defenceless man with deep regret, amusing the sniper greatly as Stu’s life falls apart.

Flashbacks are used at appropriate times, for example when Stu is asked to remember other people the Sniper has shot before, featuring on the news. The previously murdered men and Stu have all got something in common; they have done something wrong; however the quite wimpy reason for Stu’s hostage is as simple as his deception to the people around him. The sniper says “Stewart, you’re in this position because you’re not telling the truth”.

Ironically, the reason Stu is victimised, he is forced to continue when the sniper tells him to say hurtful things to his wife and the understanding policeman who are trying to help him get out of the situation he is trapped in. If he doesn’t, he is told they will be shot.

The sniper is inescapable; he has bugged the booth to find out all about Stu’s life since he has been making secret phone calls to his girlfriend behind his wife’s back. He has also rigged the booth with a gun, which he tricks Stu into touching leaving his fingerprints all over it, evidence for the shooting of a man the sniper killed, not Stu.

Many dramatic shot angles are used, such as looking down on the booth from the snipers point of view to enhance Stu’s defencelessness and show how small he is in the situation.

There is a twist to the tale right at the end, and it finishes off nicely with more facts from the narrator, who is in fact a key character in ‘phone booth’.

That’s why Thurston should watch it. :)

What is the thriller genre?

Thrillers use suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. The primary sub-genres of thrillers are: mystery, crime, psychological, political and paranoid. Thrillers are mostly characterised by an atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder by showing society as dark, corrupt and dangerous, though they often feature a happy ending. They usually feature plot twists, red herrings and cliffhangers. They also promote on moods, such as a high level of anticipation and adrenaline rush. A few examples of thrillers are 'Psycho', 'Shutter Island', 'The Butterfly Effect' and 'Phone Booth'.