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