Inspirations for Opening Scene - Miss Miller

Inspirations for opening scene 

In many sequences i took inspirations which i used during my storyboards and narrative. It was essential to watch different sequences and gain a number of ideas to piece my final story.

Sound

In opening scene of halloween we have numerous sounds being used to create a frightful atmosphere, what i derived from this was the off screen sound and how effective it was towards the audience .The different sound techniques were a contributing factor to the idea of creating a thrilling atmosphere. For instance the opening sequence began with a non diegetic soundtrack which is conventional to thrillers as it is prepping the audience for the horrific events about to take place. The following sound was most effective as if had a spooky element, the off screen sound was of the children chanting a halloween poem, this specifically increases the tension and gives the audience a chill. The use of silence after the off screen sound was most useful as it is creating a climatic atmosphere and make the viewers extremely tense. Erie music is used throughout which is made parallel to the sound of the footsteps. The increase of the pitch throughout the sequence is a constant ringing which is a good combination with the sudden piano tune.  

Cinematography 

Scream 4 fed my interest for specific edits that i will use throughout my thriller clip. For example the low angle camera shot which created tension and emphasis on the characters that were in a struggle to escape. The jump cuts to show the simplicity of the scene throughout the film. There were intense close ups that portrayed each facial expression of the actor/actress which made the audience feel a connection with what the character might be feeling. The high angle shot created a wider perspective of the scene which then led us to understand where the characters were and what could occur. Engaging the audience even more by making them continue to solve the enigma.

Lighting

Saw 5 used an ingenious technique of lighting to highlight how the characters were feeling and make the audience extremely tense and worked up. There was low key lighting to emphasize certain objects making you focus mainly on the characters. At times of danger high key lighting was used to project what was going on specifically. This emphasises the importance of certain situations. Throughout the clip the main use of lighting is low key to keep the consistence of thriller conventions throughout.

Costume and hair

I took my inspiration for costume and hair from 'Along came the spider'.this is because there basic every day characters who dress normally which sets the sense of equilibrium. It inspired me to use costume and hair in a very natural daily look.This is due to the naturalistic effect thats i wish to create within the thriller sequence. Also this creates a sense of realism within the thriller giving the audience something to relate to as it is a realistic experience that many people can experience.The villain will be dressed in black and his face will be blurred throughout in order to keep up the suspense. The film also pictures the villain in black as black is the colour of evil and wrong things.

Iconography

For the following inspiration of iconography i found his idea from the film 'V for Vendetta'. A shrine is usually an object of remembrance to commemorate a dead person. This was quite a peculiar thing to put in a thriller however it is something strange enough to spark fear within the audience.  The fact that the main character is not dead leaves question as to what might happen to her regarding the shrine that the villain has put forward for her. This adds an insidious twists towards the plot of the story eventually giving an element of mystery to what might occur next.  

Group Narrative - Miss G

What is the purpose of a narrative?

The purpose of narrative is to engage the audience and inform them about the story.

We discussed our ideas by brainstorming different thriller conventions and what we would like to see within a thriller clip. We also looked at what scares the audiences the most during films and from that we began forming an idea on what our thriller will be based about.

The advantages of a narrative are that it expresses your point of you which enables the audience to gain different perspectives into your story. You can base your narrative on a real life event either way it will sound impressive. An advantage to this is it has loads of good codes and convention like low key lighting from the stated settings. A Disadvantage to this is it would be hard to film the scenes without getting unwanted people in the background or noises the will distracted the viewers.

Vladimir Propp (1985-1970)  pioneering in the analysis of narrative folk tales, Propp was a russian critic who introduced a whole new theory to the film industry. His main focus was on the narrative of folk tales and his in depth analysis on what pieced the narrative together. This allowed us to experience different elements of the story such as the characters. The narrative function provides a structure for the story.The character analysis is conventional to most folk tales as seen below - 

The hero's main aim in the narrative is to seek something rewarding or statutorily advanced.
The villain must oppose the hero's quest to attain the reward.
The dispatcher's obligated to send the hero onto the quest or mission.
The false hero is employed to disrupt the hero's sucess by making false claims.
The helper is used to aid the hero in their time of need.
The princess is usually the reward for the hero.
The father of the princess usually rewards the hero with the princess as an act of respect. 

Tzvetan Todorov was a bulgarian struturist who puplished influential work on narrative structure. Todorov proposed that there are 5 fundemental elements to narrative which are as follows

- a state of equilibrium  which simply means all should be as it is.
- a disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
- a recognition that there has been a disruption.
- an attempt to repair the disruption
- a reinstatement of the equilibrium.
 

This theory is particularly mainstream in the film industry and it is the one that i will use.
 
 

 

Everyone in my group wrote up and individual narrative saying what will happen in each scene what types of character, camera shots, edit etc we could use. We looked at the advantages and disadvantages of each idea and created a narrative to use in our thriller clip. 

The people who are part of my group narrative are : James Edwards, Nathaliah Makki and Leandra Saunders.

Storyline

Characters

            
Setting

This film will be rated a 15 because it will have scenes of a sexual nature and maybe some use of drugs and violence.

Codes and Conventions

- Low key lighting

- Shock

- Surprise

- Suspence

- Tention

- Stalking

- Chase

- Background music

Opening sequence - Miss Georgiou

How does the sequence inform the audience of the conventions if a thriller?

 

Opening sequences are essential to thrillers as it uses a stylistic way of portraying what the film might be about, as well as creating an enigma which is then interwoven throughout the film leaving the audience in question as to what might happen. The variety of conventions used piece the movie are all as significant as the storyline. This essay will be a detailed analysis of all the conventions within the film industry as well as how and why it informs the audience of the conventions.

The opening sequence commenced with a high angle shot of the house which gradually zoomed into it creating an eire atmosphere for the viewers to feel a chill. The point of view shot gives the audience a perspective of the house and what is inside it. It also could be a handheld camera which takes us back to the enigma and to who the mysterious camera belongs to. The element of mystery creates an essence of suspicion within the audience which 

                
There were a variaty of edits used during the opening scenes one of the edits used was a fade in towards the beginning and then the scene finalised with a jumpcut from the point of view shot on the parents. This point of view shot creates a sense of mystery leaving the audience in an enigma as to what might happen the following scene.

The different sound techniques were a contributing factor to the idea of creating a thrilling atmosphere. For instance the opening sequence began with a non diagetic soundtrack which is conventional to thrillers as it is prepping the audience for the horrific events about to take place. The following sound was most effective as if had a spooky element, the off screen sound was of the children chanting a halloween poem, this specifically increases the tension and gives the audience a chill. The use of silence after the off screen sound was most useful as it is creating a climatic atmosphere and make the viewers extremly tense.
Erie music is used throughout which is made parallel to the sound of the footsteps. The increase of the pitch throughout the sequence is a constant ringing which is a good combination with the sudden piano tune. This is creating anticipation through the clip and sound makes every movment of the characters even more bold and

Research into sound - Miss Miller

Sound

There are many sounds that are used to represent meaning and represent characters. These include: diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, on-screen sound, off-screen sound, parallel sound, contrapuntal sound. All of the different sound types are important in a film as they create the effect on the audience, for example if they hear a fast paced non-diegetic sound, then they will be excited and the rate of the scene will move quick and make the audience wonder what is going to happen in the scene.

INSTERT CLIP

In a certain scene from Saw 4 the sound that is being played or that is being heard from the audience is on screen sound. The trapped victim is tied up in chains with his hands tied up to the side of a railing, so all his body weight is hanging on his arms, the sound coming from that is the chains rattling and shaking as the victim is trying to escape but the audience cannot see this yet. This relates to a thriller movie as it keeps the audience in suspense, the reason to this is because their is no background music being played in the scene and the only sound the audience is able to hear is the sounds coming from the victim. This is conventional to a thriller movie firstly because the audience cannot see the victim yet, so the on screen sound is enabling the audience to create images of a trapped victim.

Analysis of thriller clip - Miss Miller

Se7en Analysis

Se7en is a brilliant example of a hugely successful thriller which has all the essential conventions a thriller needs, in order to be successful.

It throws you right into the action with the title sequence. The titles themselves flash and twitch in and out of the screen and have a font type which makes them look handwritten. I think this effect has been used to make it look more childlike and reflect the simple mind of the unknown protagonist.

Camera angles are effectively used in this opening. They don’t use any wide shots or mid shots which could possibly reveal the killer – by keeping the mystery of who the person is, it intrigues the audience and makes them want to carry on watching. The use of both close up shots and extreme close up shots ensures we focus on the important and disturbing aspects of the scene. This builds up intrigue within the viewer. The editing of these clips is very fast-paced and uses lots of transitions and effects. This is to give the impression of chaos and that his state of mind is disjointed like the imagery shown.

Mise-en-scene is quite important in this opening scene as it gives you a real glimpse of how the plot line will progress. This is the first time we get to see the killer and gives us key clues as to what he is going to do, his type of personality and who he is. The opening credits shows the man carrying out actions like, writing, developing photos, reading etc. This suggests that he is planning something thoroughly and from the way it is presented it implies that it is something bad. These images are surrounded by lots of black, which darkens the whole atmosphere implying that it is sinister. The colours used in these clips are very bland and no vibrant colours have been used. It almost looks as though a sepia affect has been applied onto the clips. The only bright colour to be shown throughout the opening credits is red. This may be to represent blood and ultimately death. 

 One of the more graphic scenes shows the man slicing off his fingertips. This suggests that he is going to commit a crime and doesn’t want to leave any evidence behind. It is not too much of a gory image, but it is very horrific which makes the audience feel much more tension. By cutting off his skin it indicates that he is very committed to what he does. He is willing to put himself through pain just to carry out these acts of crime. It also suggests that he is experienced as it is seems planned and that this is not just a one off killing. This keeps the viewers attention as they want to know what he is going to do next.

All the aspects throughout the short introduction illustrate it as very disturbing and horrific. This gets the audience right into the action and shows them immediately what the plotline and film is going to be like.

The music used is a remix by Nine Inch Nails called ‘Closer’. This sound has a gritty effect, and again sounds quite dysfunctional again to reflect the killer’s mindset. This builds up suspense and tension within the audience as the intensity of the music builds throughout the scene.

This is a successful thriller, because it uses all of the conventions which keep an audience interested and excited to see more.

Research into the history of thriller films - Miss Georgiou

Thriller Genre 

Thriller is a vast genre which is used in film, literature and television programming. The characteristics of thriller genres are suspense,tension and excitement. This particular genre stimulates the audience's mood giving them an immense level of anticipation and heightened expectation. The fast pace film releases adrenaline in the audience making it extremely rousing and tense. Thrillers were immensely crowd pleasing throughout the years. For example well known thrillers in film , Television and literature would be red riding hood, jack the ripper and the godfather. All these films have the key elements which are conventional to thrillers. Directors and writers have all developed the thriller genre over the years which we will see in the description.

1920-1930
This period of film was most memorable as Alfred Hitchcock introduced a set of films which were extremely popular with the audience of the 90's. The 39 steps was the most crowd pleasing in the sense of mystery and crime. From then on films began developing into a similar style. In 1936 sabotage was released in cinema which's plot described a scotland yard detective discovering a mystery so from this we can see that Hitchcock's the 39 steps resemblance and from this he slowly began making the thriller's darker and more gory.

 The thriller genre has developed in the last 30 years, mainly because there is new technology which is more advanced and up to date.
The thriller movies created between the 1970's - 1980's were more psychological and were mainly based on the audiences fear which created a real relationship between the audience and the movie, whereas now, there is so much blood and gore, movies in the 1980's were more scary without being disgusting.

1970-1980's Movies:

2008-2012 Movies:

For example the film, 'the untouchables' (1986), keeps the audience in suspense and in tension as the film is set out in an ordinary modern setting which reinforces the thriller genre to be more 'realistic', the on screen sound helps to produce the effect of suspense and tension,which also reflects back on the audience's fear which is 'realistic'.

By comparing the film 'the untouchables' and the film 'saw' you can see a huge development between these films, as the untouchables does not show a huge amount of blood, the blood and violence is very minimum, whereas a latest film 'saw' has an extended amount of blood being portrayed, which reinforces my point on todays films having so much more blood and gore, this is a reason to why there are many different thriller sub genres.

Conspiracy Thriller

In this sub genre the protagonist must confront a large, powerful organization whose threat only he sees. Usually he must do so alone.

Crime Thriller

This sub genre focuses on crime, and is usually from the criminal’s point of view. Physical action and eluding the police take the place of gathering evidence and trying to discover the criminal.

Disaster Thriller

In this sub genre usually a natural disaster is taking place, and the antagonist is either trying to stop the disaster, the extent of the disaster, or just save themselves before time runs out and the disaster has run its course.

Psychological Thriller

Elements that are related to the mind or processes of the mind; they are mental rather than physical in nature. Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflicts with their own minds. Usually, this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them. These conflicts are made more vivid with physical expressions of the conflict in the means of either physical manifestations, or physical torsions of the characters at play.

Action Thriller

An action thriller movie is mainly focusing on the action which takes part in the film but has thriller elements within the film.

The BBFC - Miss Georgiou

The BBFC.

What is the BBFC?

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-governmental body. The BBFC classifies films, videos/DVDs and some video games, advertisements and trailers according to its Classification Guidelines, with ratings ranging from ‘U’ for Universal to ‘R18’.

Age Certificates 


15.

No one younger than 15 should be able to see this film. It may involve scenes of drug use however it cannot encourage this misuse of drugs or any other dangerous substance. Nudity and sexual activity is accepted but not in strong detail as it is too inappropriate for people under the age of 15. Serious crimes may be used in a film but not shown in too much depth. Violence can be involved but there cannot be too much attention drawn to the pain or misery of the Act. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language, for example the work f***. Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms for example C****. 

An example of a movie with the age rating of 15 is shown below:

Paranormal Activity. Age rating: 15

18.

In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC's public consultations, at '18' the BBFC's guideline concerns will not normally override the wish that adults should be free to chose their own entertainment, within the law. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas: where material or treatment appears to the Board to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – e.g. any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which is likely to promote the activity.

An example of a movie with the age rating of 18 is shown below:

Kill Bill. Age rating: 18

U.



The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for
audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict
what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range.
The BBGC rate films and videos aimed at very young viewers, such as Chuggington, Teletubbies or In The Night Garden, U. However, the BBFC give them special BBFCinsight stating they are ‘particularly Suitable for pre-school children’. Films or DVDs with this BBFCinsight should raise no significant issues in terms of discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, theme or violence.

An example of a movie with the rating of 'U' is shown below:

PG.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children.

In a PG work, illegal or antisocial behaviour, such as bullying, will not be condoned or seen to go unchallenged. Smoking and drinking will not be promoted or glamorised and if child characters are seen smoking or drinking, there should be a clear message that this is bad. If drugs are mentioned or seen, a PG work should emphasise that they are harmful.


12.

12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. Children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult (eg someone over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them.
An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. To help adults make this decision, we provide BBFCinsight for all films.