Lighting Practice

Today, we began to use lighting effects to show the use of lighting and its uses in film. We did so by taking photographs and using a mobile phones' light in different angles to create different effects. Every had an opportunity to use the camera, the lighting and act to get a feel for each role.

Firstly we used artificial light looking upwards at Andreas to show the mood of possible confusion or sadness, this is shown by the light focusing more on his mouth and above his eyes where sadness is shown most on the face.

We also took the shot from above to make Andreas look more intimidated as the light is shown more when the photo was taken at a higher angle.

We used two artificial lights for this picture of Max, one was placed on the left part of his body and one was placed above his head but to the left to make the whole left part of his head brighter than the right side. This is shown to make Max look happy, as the light shines on his smile and it makes him show a curious/happy face.

We also took this shot from above to make the light show more and that Max shows a larger smile when his head is leaning backwards to make him look upwards. In addition to this, we used the high angle shot to show Max's glasses reflect a shadow onto his face which show a good effect of making his face look secretive.

The use of sideways light is also useful in showing a sinister expression shown in the photo of me. We used artificial light in the photo, one light was placed to the left of my face showing one half and the other light was placed to the right of his head lighting up the background to make the other half of my face darker and to contrast the light.

This is used to create binary opposites in where the dark and the light meet and to create an effect to make my look more evil and to make the audience believe (or think) that he is a protagonist just by using the light and his facial expression.

In this photo of Max, we used the natural light seeping through from behind the blinds to attempt to make an effect. There was one artificial light placed next to the camera aiming at me but in this photo it did not come out in a good quality.

The light from behind is supposed to show that there could be something else in the shot to look at apart from my head. This is useful to make multiple things happen at once during the shot.


In this image, we used the natural light in the room to make Andreas' head stand out to the background. Even though the light in the background is fairly similar to Andreas' head, his hair appears to stand out due to lighting from the background emphasising his face and hair.

J.J. Abrams Study

We created a Glog to show my case study of my chosen director (J.J. Abrams). His use of lens flares and other trademarks to do with mystery plots has given me and my group ideas on what to add into the narrative and post-production of our thriller opening to make it more engaging and effective.

Abrman's Glog.

Initial Ideas for the Main Task

We started to talk about the ideas we had for our main task.
We kind of like the idea of killing Andreas off so we stuck with that but then we thought "what if someone were to witness the murder?"
Then that kind of spun off into a plot about trying to solve which is reality and which is fiction, because the murderers all wear masks to disguise themselves, and they could just be a figment of the main character's imagination, posing the question to the audience "is he insane or not?"
We wanted to keep the film both in content and in lighting so we decided to use the evenings (which are not really late during the winter) to keep the atmosphere which is needed for an effective thriller movie.
Our age rating is aimed at being a 15+ so our content can't be too over-the-top but we weren't planning being too visually gory and contain much explicit language or any erotic content.
We did consider using the horse mask for a time but this turned out to sound more like a comedy than a thriller, and because comedy thrillers don't exist, we couldn't continue with the idea.
The masks caused a few problems in other areas as well. Because the horse mask would be too comical we decided on the mask from "V for Vendetta", but as it turns out these masks are slightly under copyright issue and because we cannot use copyrighted content in our film we were advised not to use them.
We also considered the concept of a spy/action thriller that would we would try to film in school and try to make it look a little like an official spy building but this was deemed a little too impossible seeing as the corridor walls are littered with Shakespeare and Pythagoras Theorum.
In the end our plan was just to try and expand on  our preliminary task by making it more open with more time an use the skills we tried to use before to better effect now that we have the experience with the equipment.

Comparable Products Analysis

Today, we looked into other title sequences from other thrillers in order to get an idea of what an opening to a thriller should be like. One thriller we looked at was 'Splice'. This was a medical thriller about a baby in a womb, and was shown quite early this synopsis from the title sequence itself. The titling itself got its own section, accompanied with eerie music, to set the tone of the film quite early to be quite gruesome; shown from the titles. While we aren't doing any kind of medical thriller, the way in which the text was used to set the tone of the film was very informative and useful.
Splice title sequence

Another opening sequence we looked at was 'Psycho'. This is a psychological thriller; an aspect we may plan to use in our film. It uses black and white colours to emphasize the psychological aspect as the two colours are of opposite ends of the spectrum. The lines crossing through the title show that there is some form of 'elimination' as a theme; the crossing out showing removal and potentially deaths. This was useful as we may plan to add psychological aspects into our thriller, and the connotations of a psychological film would use.

Finally, we looked at the action/horror thriller 'Final Destination 3', a film about unique ways to die in peculiar circumstances. As our thriller is to involve a killing - possible multiple in the full version - we thought this was a good one to look into. It also had action, which is going to be prevalent in our film. It had eerie music to indicate it was a thriller, (most likely involving death), but it used bright light of a fair in contrast to this. This is peculiar as it is unique, but also could mislead some people. The film has 'unexpected' deaths - what the series is known for - and this may have be their way of luring in new viewers to the franchise. It was also an interesting use, as the screaming of people can be heard through the sequence. This may indicate the death that is prevalent in the film; covered up initially by the fair. This was an incredibly clever opening, and while we cannot use a fair in aid of our thriller, the hidden connotations within the opening is something we have begun to think about.

Overall, the title sequence can reveal much more than we first realized, and can set the tone for the film in just two minutes. Music is key in these openings, while keeping the audience interested with relevant shots that are mysterious and misleading.

Paramount Pictures

Today, we have begun my case study on the company 'Paramount Pictures', and what kind of films they produce in which are popular.

Paramount Pictures was founded by Adolph Zukor, Jessie L. Laskey and W.W. Hodkinson in 1914. The film company has made many famous franchises' films, such as Transformers and G.I. Joe. It is seen as one of the 'Big Six' of Hollywood, producing entertaining films, often more-so aimed at males. They aim to make much more action oriented films using digital effects to maximize their special effects and potential realism; not producing an animated film yet. Many of the films are fictional, but have a base that has been worked off, such as the Transformers' films and Titanic being based off the true story.

One of the main type of films that Paramount have made that is popular is psychological thrillers. Examples of these are 'Shutter Island', 'The Conversion' and 'Rosemary's Baby'. These are all popular as they have induced their audience within the films, and made them enjoyable overall. I have looked into reviews from the following websites.
Rosemary's Baby Review
Shutter Island Review
The Conversation Review
These reviews all have some things in common that they talk about. One of which is an interesting protagonist. This is done by giving them a niche feature, such as in 'The Conversation' where the protagonist is bad at their job, but is quite an important job. This is important as the protagonist has to be interesting to watch, or the audience may not enjoy the film.
It was also common to hear about an interesting plot. The plots of each are well written and, while not all original,(Rosemary's' Baby is quite similar to Psycho), it still has a reason to watch. In the case of 'Rosemary's' Baby' it was still different to 'Psycho', even if both protagonists were widows.

One complaint I saw from 'Shutter Island' was that is was too 'classy' for it's setting. This is important as the props and background had to be considered, but quite new and classy furniture was around on an isolated island full of mental people. The use of mise-en-scene is key to thrillers, and wasn't used as effectively as others.
There were also many other thrillers that we looked into as well.

The Film "Zodiac" was based on a true story that revolves around the "Zodiac Killer". The people that are more aware of the Zodiac Killer will already be more aware of the real life event and so will be a little harder to impress but for the newer audience you need to feed the story in a way that everyone would enjoy.
"The whole story is very chilling and kept you going. The Zodiac Killer is a case that forever will remain a mystery and it was a great idea for a film" one public reviewer stated on the IMDb website, and the film gained an overall rating of 7.7 on the same website.
It seems as though the film was a very effective thriller and was received very well by critics. The look of the film was largely revolved around the real 1970's case, so it is filmed in an aspect that would be similar to the movies seen in the 70's. This helped to create more of an atmosphere because you were made to feel as though you were looking into the past.
 Psycho (1998) is a fictional remake of a horror thriller of
the same name about a woman who is murdered in a motel and her sister, boyfriend and a private investigator try to find her (because they don't know she was murdered).
The film received a review score of 4.6 on IMDB and many or the reviews question why the remake was actually made because the original Psycho was a classic film.
"My biggest question is "Why did they re-make a classic Hitchcock movie?" It's a "no-win" situation", one person said.
The film did not receive very high review scores wherever you look and thus was a very unpopular movie.

These were some of the top films on the following website.
Paramount Pictures Top films

Brief History of Thrillers

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppy8d0fbbe2p0if/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20Thriller%20Films.wmv?dl=0

This is our work on the history of Thrillers.

Titling practice

I had the opportunity to use premier pro recently to try titling a film. The video here has the video produced. While I only messed with the simple parts, I have a feel towards the titling and will help in the main task. I also had another opportunity to practice editing in this task, inserting images and videos into the piece. This may be useful in the main task if videos want to be overlapped for certain shot types.

Se7en opening analysis

There is a lot of mise-en-scene in the opening of se7en. One of which is the costumes worn by the characters. Freeman dresses smartly in a suit in black and white; colours often associated with a thriller. He appears professional, unlike Pitt, who wears a leather jacket and is not as well kept; an indicator for lack of experience compared to Freeman. The comparison between the two characters can continue by the way they walk down the street. Pitt bumps into people continuously while Freeman does not. Pitt also appears to be smiling and trying to control the situation, however Freeman appears very serious and has the situation under control as he knows about the area better. There is a lot of paper in the title sequence, and some of the text covered over in black marker to appear 'erased'. This can indicate the genre of the film being a thriller with important details often not shown until the end.

Camera shots are used effectively in this opening. For instance, there is use of a tracking shot as Freeman and Pitt walk down the street. It is also slightly low angle to show the characters' importance early on. However, Freeman appears in front of Pitt, showing the dominant character in the scene. A wide shot is used as Freeman lies in bed. This shows the room quite well, and give an insight on Freemans' life; such as the fact he slept on the right side of the double bed, indicating he had a partner who he used to sleep with.

Sound is used somewhat in the opening scene, though it is mainly dialogue between the two characters at the beginning. However, when Pitt tries to take over Freeman in conversation, he is cut off by Freeman who lets Pitt know who is in charge by telling him blatantly. Other uses of sound are the sirens of the cars made in the city while Freeman and Pitt walk through the city. This was to indicate the kind of area the characters were in. However, Freeman does not appear affected by the noise, where as Pitt appeared slightly annoyed by the constant stream of noise; showing the expert in the situation. There is also the metronomes' ticking. Once it began ticking, all other noise was cut out; showing the impact of repetition to Freeman. Lastly, there was the use of the non-diagetic music playing over the opening credits. This was rather unnerving and set the tone for the film quite well, as it was quite distorting and, in general, weird.

Finally, editing was used in the opening of Se7en. It was mainly in the title sequence of the opening. The text used for the titling was quite scraggy and rough, almost wrote in a way. This can express desperation, and show the genre of the film still early on. The text also jumps around quite a bit, allowing the viewers to see the thriller aspect of the film.

Conventions of the Thriller Film Genre.

There are many conventions of a Thriller. One of these conventions is that they appear on a grand scheme.  The stories in which these films are set, (often including a 'based on a true story' at the beginning), have a large, set up story that intrigues the viewer. These can often include government scandals, mass murder and assassination. These are done to thrill the viewer instead of having a simple, bland plot.

Another convention of these types of films are the odds against the protagonist. Most thrillers have a protagonist and an antagonist, but the antagonist appears much more powerful a lot of the time; often being in control of an entire corporation. This makes the audience want to know how the protagonist will overcome the odds in order to defeat the antagonist, and want to watch the film.

Another convention of thrillers is a complex narrative structure. This can include red herrings and be quite misleading, which can deter the audience from what they may be missing and have a more surprising conclusion. This is a commonly used feature, and is done so the audience enjoys the ending further.

Finally, a convention of thrillers are the themes of identity, mirroring and voyeurism. These themes are often used to keep something hidden, such as an identity. Mirroring can be used for suspense and unease at times, and are mainly used in horror thrillers to be quite mysterious. Voyeurism is often associated with spy thrillers as sexual content is often associated with rich spies, and is often done so to further set the audience into suspense as what is to happen next.

Main task introduction

I have begun to start my research on my my main task. This task is to make an opening sequence for a thriller film. The whole film plot is to be planned as it will help us to make the title sequence. The piece is to last as close to two minutes as possible.
Our group consists of four people. This was not originally advised as it could be overcrowded. However, we have realised we all have qualities that help the group progress and achieve a high grade. These consist of editing skills, camera skills, comfort on camera and other research skills. We also know that the four of us are hard workers that can help each other.
The task will be difficult, combining the research amount and planning with the recording and editing. But it will be fun never the less.

Barthes' narrative codes

Roland Barthes came up with a theory of certain codes that can be used to describe the narrative of a story known as the 'narrative codes'.

One of these codes is the action code. This is where an action takes place to indicate what will be the next step. An example of this is the starting of a car engine. This makes the audience believe that they know the next step; this being that the car would drive away. I managed to include the action code in my preliminary task. This is where the character looked at the door beforehand, and walked through the door afterwards.

 

Another narrative code is the mystery code or the enigma code. This is where the narrative is controlled by the amount of information that is given to the audience, grabbing the audiences attention and intriguing them. This was used in my preliminary task slightly, by being vague about the story specifics. However, a general idea of the story could be gotten by the dialogue.

 

A third narrative code used by Barthes was the semic code. This is where signs or symbols are used to give an idea about the narrative by using these symbols that are commonly associated with certain ideas. For example, a gravestone symbolises death. I did not manage to include this code in my preliminary task as I did not know about these codes before this time.

 

Another narrative code is the cultural code. This code is where the narrative makes the audience aware of the social and cultural setting of the piece. An example of this is dusty towns and horses for an old western film. I managed to use this code to an extent in my preliminary task by showing using the establishing shot to show a building and the characters clothing to show a lower class.



 The final narrative code is the code of opposites. This is where the narrative relies on binary opposites or complete opposites to explain the character. An example of this the protagonist and the antagonist of a film. I did not use this effectively as there was no opposites and there was very little difference in the characters.

Overall, while I managed to include some of the narrative codes such as the action code and the cultural code, I failed to use the to use the semic code and the code of opposites. I will do my best to include these codes in my main piece.

 



 

 

 

 



 

 

Preliminary Task Evaluation