Shot Types For Preliminary

180 degree rule- A rule that states that states when two characters are initiating in a scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other this helps orientating the viewer.  If you break the 180 degree line it can disrupt the scene. We will use this in our preliminary when the the antagonist who walks through the door sits down and initiates a conversation with the other character. The camera will change focus depending on whos speaking.

Cut- Sudden change of shot from one viewpoint or location to another. They occur very often because they change the scene, compress time, vary the point of view and build up an image or idea.

Matched cut- A cut between to shots which match graphically, the familiar relationships make the change seem smooth. We will show this is our preliminary by filming the character from behind walking to and opening the door then we will use a match cut and will have a frontal view of the character walking through the door.

Close up- This is a shot at very close range and focusing on something. We will do this by using a close up on the door handle when the character opens it.

over the shoulder shot- A shot taken in the perspective of the camera angle, this makes it third person. We will use this by looking over the shoulder of the antagonist walking down the stairs.

Font Research (Taxi Driver)

It is clear that if we can want to create a impressive Thriller opening scene it is important to include very effective opening titles.

I wanted to research some different ways other Thriller films create such unique fonts to fit and set the scene. So using the website http://www.artofthetitle.com I studied the film Taxi Driver as it has incredibly effective opening titles as the font matches the scene, it looks like it is straight from the Taxi.

In this films opening credits it begins with firstly, some very modern red wording displaying the main companies and actors involved in the film. Then it fades into a smoke screen that appears to have come from the exhaust of a taxi. It then begins to clear as a taxi reverses through it, this helps set the scene instantly, it displays what the film will be about. As the taxi continues to reverse out of the shot it reveals the title of the film. 'Taxi Driver' is displayed in a font that is clearly associated with taxi's, orange and like the font used on the top of a taxi to show it is operating. This is very effective as it links directly in with not only the screenplay but what the film will be about. The titles continue to roll displaying other main actors, the font is still in the normal taxi font but light up to add emphasis to them, this is very creative as it creates an animation on the text to draw attention from the audience to the names. What happens next is they include more bold orange fonts, with a blurry coloured background. This makes the sharper text on top stand out more from the more blurry colours in the background.

I think that it is important that when we have thought of an idea for our opening Thriller scene we relate the text to the story as it is very creative and sets a great scene just from the opening titles.

Font research

Getting the right font for the opening titles and the rest of the film is vital in its success. I decided to look at what font famous thriller films had decided to use in order to get a good perspective of what good opening titles looked at.

I first looked at Pulp Fiction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4SgQLgtQE8 although i think it is a great thriller, i found the opening titles boring and it didn't make me want to keep viewing. Although it stood out i found it glum and not very distinctive. It didn't match the music and I didn't see the effect in using a yellow font.

I looked further and found what i thought was a great opening title and use of good font in Se7en http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2gsEI34CE&feature=related i found their use of font effective because it seems a graphical font it also creates a sense of menace.They use very little colour and mainly keep it black and white effect and a flickering background effect like an old cinema reel makes it very atmospheric. It all builds up and uses layers and scratch noises which makes it foreboding. The whole trailer creates a very stark mood and leaves the viewer with a sense of uneasiness. The font
itself is quite basic but because they set it on a plain
background it has an excellent effect and creates a
good mood.

Psycho camera shot research

In order for us to get a clear insight into effective camera shots i though why not look at one of the most popular thriller films. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3-GlvKPcg. This is a moder trailer for alfred hitchcocks thriller Psycho.

Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock

The camera shots at the beginning are zooms on a victims feet, hands and the shower curtains ripping. This immediately shows how important it is to have  the right camera shot and angle. the close up on the feet in the bathtub drags the audience in as the film maker has tried to make it as intriguing as possible. carry on watching and there is a classic case of having too dark a lights for the audience to see however it is visible enough to see a knife. This is simple and effective as it gives the blacked out character a sense f mystery.

As you watch a little longer a establishing shot is used as the camera slowly gets closer to a old, dark house. The shot used is effective as it shows the audience that this house Will play some significance. soon a  similar shot comes up as there is a point of view shot from the driving seat of a car. this shot has been done during heavy rainfall and dark skies which is why it is so effective. the audience become more and more involved as the suspense builds.

A close up on a single piece of paper again shows the audience that it will have a part to play and the significance  of it. Another establishing shot of the haunted house. However this time it is in the dark and its from a window overlooking the house.

Character research

The Blonde Girl

Is an absolute must have if your film is a low budget horror film. the blonde girl is almost always killed due to her own stupidity. The dumb blonde character doesnt feature for many minutes as they are soon killed by the scary killer.

Typical Films
Horror films or parodies of horror films. they are almost always the victim and as said earlier usually die within a few minutes of first being part of the film.

Always seen:

• Wearing hardly any clothes
• Falling over just as they are about to get away
• Asking stupid questions

Typical quotes:

• "i don't know what to do"
• "what do i do now"
• "whats happening to me ?"

The reason why i am researching different characters is because we are coming to the stage when we need to know as a group what kind of characters are going to be in our film. The dumb blonde research has given me an insight into why it's important to have a specific range of characters based on the kind of film yours is going to be. So our film is giong to be a psychological thriller  so therefore it's useful to know some of the things that a psycho killer would act and do.

Research evaluation for the title

From are research we can tell that 3:13 is by far the favourite. This is why we have decided that this will be the title for our film. From our research we can tell that 3:13 is the favourite due to the fact that its intriguing and is unique. As well as having a superstitious element about it

They liked it because it makes the audience feel a sense of mystery. From almost everyone we found out that just seeing the title 3:13 they wanted to watch the film.

From the following question we found out that 3:13was the preferred name for a thriller film,the believed that 3:13 was the most related to a thriller as it makes the audience want to watch the film as it is a number makes it very intriguing.

Title Questionnaire

Which title do you prefer (put a tick next to your favourite)

3:13
The runner
Criminal
No surrender
The lock-down

Why do you like it?




Which one do you think works best for a psychological thriller?

Rear Window Alfred Hitchcock

We looked at rear window in the class and i thought that it was a good thriller opening. This is because it is very different to all the other thrillers because it isn't mysterious and tense like the other ones we have looked at it is more happy and jolly.

The film starts off with the titles rolling right at the beginning so the characters and the the director Alfred Hitchcock it also shows that Alfred Hitchcock is one of the main people in it because his name comes up last but this could also be the case because he has directed other great films in his life. Then it goes into an American city and you can tell that its the morning because they use light tones and you see people getting up from there bed. Also it is a bit mysterious because you see a cat go up the stairs and this could mean that there has been bad luck happen to someone or is about to happen. The camera scrolls round on a lot of people and how that get up in the morning so two people sleeping on a balcony and a girl is in the shower. Then the camera focuses on a man in a wheel chair that has a broken leg and on his cast he has written "here lie the broken bones of L.B Jefferies" this seems comical and not something people would associate with a thriller. then the camera focuses on a broken camera and lots of pictures that seem to be taken in dangerous positions and it makes the consumer wonder if it was something to do with the camera for why he broke his leg. After that there is a match cut for when the man is awake and he is talking on the phone they had shot this seen well i think because when the man is talking on the phone but then he gets distracted by the girls in the windows and the consumer only hears the first part of the conversation then you keep getting distracted with the girl dancing in her window which gives the consumer the same effect that the actor is playing.

There are a lot of camera shots in this film it starts off with a establishing shot of a city and that straight away tells the consumer where they are and what surroundings there in. It then goes into a closeup on the cat this could show that something mysterious has or will happen and it gives the audience that tense feel. It then does a closeup on a man who's asleep and it focuses on his forehead because he is sweating a lot this could mean that he is very ill or has something on his mind then it says that it is just very hot in the room because it does a close up of the thermostat and it shows that it is very hot in that room. It the does a few one shots and two shots of people getting out of bed and this gives the audience the feeling that it is morning and that everyone is just getting out of bed or getting ready for the day that lies ahead. Then it follows onto a few closeups on the cast a man has on with the comical words written then it starts to zoom out and you can tell it was the man from earlier with all the sweat. After that it focuses on the camera that is all smashed up this could show that this is a very significant piece in the film and closeups of all the pictures his taken may suggest that he is a photographer. It then moves into a one shot of the man picking up the phone speaking to someone then the camera turns and shows people again this time the cameras tilted to show the scale of the buildings so if the camera was tilted up he would be looking up and if the camera was down he would be looking down. it then moves into a one shot of a woman getting ready and it stays on her for a long time so u can tell that shes significant to the man in the wheel chair. then the camera tilts down to some one who lives bellow the other woman an the woman is looking up.

Preliminary Task (Mystery Man)

We have planned to do the task in the courtyard outside reception. We have planned to film they walk through the room and we will film then from both sides of the rooms door to create a match cut. We will then make sure one of the characters walks up to the other and sits down on the bench next to them and then we will create a dialogue for them. We will use the 180 degree rule here so that the audience get a clear perspective of what the characters are saying/doing and their reactions. To make this feel more like a Thriller we will ensure the character who is walking is looking round as if he is a bit paranoid, this will give the scene a sense of tension and elements of suspense.

Dialogue:

*Shake Hands*
Man 1: Whats up man? You got the gear?
Man 2: Yeah but it's in my bag,
Man 1: Well... could you go get it?
Man 2: ...No!

*END*

The shots we will use include:

a pan as he walks across the room
a close up on his hand on the door handle
a second pan as he walks out the door into the courtyard
180 degree rule of conversation on bench (close-ups)

Match Cut

A Match Cut is a type of editing in a film. it can cut between to different objects, or two different compositions. This helps to establish the scene in a film. 

This picture shows that if someone was at the bottom of the stairs and they started to walk up first of all you would see the back of the persons head then it would flick so then you will see the person face walking up the stairs. This shows a match cut has taken place.

Drafting Titles/Opening Credits

We thought of a few different title names for our opening Thriller scene, heres what they were:

- Criminal
- No Mercy
- Unforgiven
- Vengeance
- Armageddon
- Invasion
- Whiplash
- Crusher
- Inhuman Carnage
- The Ripper
- Final Resolution
- Impact Zone
- No Surrender
- The Lockdown

These were just of few of the titles we came up with. Also we took into consideration thinking about opening credits, we thought it was important to make clear the names of specific contributes to the film:

- Director
- Producer
- Writers
- Distribution
- Main Actors
- Companies Involved

Others that may be included:

- Editors
- Soundtrack
- Prologue

180° Rule

The 180° rule is a rule that demonstrates the effective technique on moving the camera in only a 180 degree area. This is often used to focus on one individuals face then move around 90 degrees with this semi-circle to focus on the other individuals reaction. It is often used in a dialogue scene between two characters, it is a sufficient way to view the characters reactions and facial expressions with quick cuts that aren't to jumpy or sharp that just quick and smooth and an effective way to switch between characters. The image below shows the camera that can move between the 180 degrees, focusing on the two different characters. The 180 degree rule in motion.

Goodfellas Analysis

I have chosen to analyse the Goodfellas. This is a typical thriller because it starts off with a murder. 

the film starts off with three people travailing in a car and they hear a noise. they open the boot and you see an injured person lying there then a man walks up and stabs him then another guy shots him. This kind of shows that there in a gang. Then it goes into a narrator voice and a man who could be the main character is saying how he has always wanted to be a gangster and how he finds it better than being president.

The camera has a lot of different shots in this it starts off with a tracking shot of the car when it is moving along. it then goes into a close up of the three characters in the car but the closeup more focuses on the person who's driving so you would normally think the film is about him. it then does a closeup on the boot where the banging is coming from. after that it shows a close up of the person in the car getting stabbed which could mean that this is important. then it goes into a close up of someone standing in the window with a tilt on the camera this could show importance then theres another close up on the hand of the of a man shutting a car door and he had rings on his fingers this could show importance in a gang.

it starts off with a match cut of when it goes from the outside of the car and then the inside. then it moves into another jump cut when they are out the car and about to stab someone. then they use a final match cut when then man is looking down on the other man.

They use very posh clothing and this shows that they are from an upper class background because there wearing suits and you can also tell that it is very old because of the type of clothing they use and the props they use in the scene.

The sound in the clip starts off with hearing cars in the back ground this sets the scene that there on the motor way. they also use very good sound effects when the guy is stabbing the other guy. then when the titles are rolling they use jazz type of music which also sets the scene that its an old film. the old song just follows in for when the action starts which carries on setting the scene.

'Psycho' Character Analysis/Breakdown

The normal 'Psycho' character that is portrayed in a Thriller film is often the villian. He/she is also quite often the killer or murderer of the film, they are associated as the unusual and strange character with either no real motive, to represent just losing it, or with a very specific motive like revenge. They are considered as crazy and often are the backbone of a successful Thriller film. They may also be a criminal, with some sort of disturbing background that could lead to why he/she is now the psycho. The character also sometimes has some kind of mental disabilities again leading to the way he/she acts and sometimes, depending on the brutality of the film, a specific psycho character will have a weapon that is a trademark weapon to them, they are associated with that weapon. A few examples of this may be an axe or a chainsaw. This in some ways represents the average Thriller psycho and what they may appear as and actions that they may take to give them a sense of unusualness and strangeness. Here are two well known psycho characters from big films.

Thriller Screenshots Analysis

The first screenshot I am analysing is a scene for the film The Dark Knight. It is one of the most famous scenes from the film as the Joker character walks away from an exploding hospital. I find this shot so effective as it is a very psychotic looking character covered in face paint walking away with a highly emphasised sign saying 'Emergency' behind him. This is a wide-range, one shot, displaying a intense focus on the main character and his surroundings. As for Mise En Scene, the character, the Joker is very contrasting, this is because he is dressed in a hospital outfit that symbolises help but he has very unusual and somewhat disturbing face paint on, representing evil/villain.

This screenshot is taken from another well-known Thriller title, Pulp Fiction. It is of two men dressed very formally, which gives them elements of authority and makes them appear very important, they are also carrying guns each. This implies that they are maybe the undercover good characters, perhaps the police. The shot used here is a two-shot, it is used simply to focus on the two characters, to show the level of their importance and that they are the main characters to the audience.

This final screenshot is taken from the film Inception, it is of one of the totem's used in the film to define real life or dreams. This shot is a close-up on a specific object. This is maybe used to display the action of the object and to demonstrate the importance of the object. From my own knowledge I know that this playsa significant role in the film.

Pulp Fiction Analysis

I have chosen to analyse the beginning of pulp fiction. Pulp Fiction starts of with a scene of two people sitting in a cafe and there talking about a robbery that has taken place and how easy it was. then they talk about there own experiences of robbing licker stores and the man of the two people sitting down says that he dosn't want to rob licker stores anymore. The way they talks about the robbery it seems a bit comical and they take it as a joke. after that they start to talk about robbing the cafe they are sitting in and how no one would stop them and how there insured so it will be very easy. so it kind of follows a thriller type of film because there is a crime about to happen. then it roles into the credits.

i will know explain this in more detail i will start off with the way the opening scenes use the camera shots in the first few minutes of the film. it starts off with a two shot of the male and female just sitting there they use the 180 degrees rule where they switch back and forth between the two characters talking. Then it goes into a close up of the waitresses face and her smiling this has the effect that she dosn't know whats going on and that she seems a nice person. that also goes into a close up of the female robber showing that she is happy and is trying to act normal. after that it moves into an over the shoulder shot just to show the male talking. then it goes into a closeup of the two robbers and this makes it so that your more focused into what they are saying and its more in depth. it also goes into a closeup on when they kiss this seems to be significant so it could mean that there in a close relationship. finally it goes into a shot were there are the two main characters in the shot but it more focuses on the female this could mean that she is a more dominating woman.

There was not much on the editing of pulp fiction they use a match cut when the waitress offers the female coffee. There re only a few other cuts and that is when the two robbers are talking about robbing the restaurant. this creates the effect of showing how the people react and the also use slow cuts so it dosn't build up the suspense of the film. Then they use a freeze frame to show that the action is just about to begin.

The Mise en scene of this clip is that they are wearing american type of clothing with the open Hawaiian shirt. it is also american with the diner because it is designed in an old type of american diner also it seems that it was set in about the 80s because of the fashion trend then and the clothing type.

The sound in the clip is only when the credits role they have chosen two recent songs and this is good because then it appeals more to audiences because they can relate more to the songs and it keeps the audience interested.  But it is a very odd song to play in a thriller because you normally think of the song to be more mysterious but the song is upbeat and happy.

finally the credits of the film are very plain and in bubble type of writing but they play all the main characters in a slow pace but the co actors scroll threw very quickly this is because they are less important then the main characters. also the have the main title going off in the background as all the famous actors flash up on the screen.

Statistics Research (Inception)

Inception Statistics

I wanted to gain some more information about the film Inception because it was one of the most discussed Thriller titles in our questionnaire. From the statistics taken from the Inception trailer on youtube, it is clear that the audience is young male adults. This information is gathered from where the statistics show the audience that this particular video is most popular with. The video is very viewed by America, Russia and the UK, this information coupled with that taken from the main age group/gender can determine the target audience for the Inception film. This helps our group as it informs us and gives us a better idea on who our target audience should be for our opening Thriller scene.

Results of focus groups

As a focus,what do you think of when you hear Thriller film?

• Suspense
• Tension
• Fast paced 
• Action
• Psychological
• Death
• Intense 
• Bloody
• Murder
• Fast cutting
• Confusing
• Twist in plot
• Mystery

What is your thriller film?

• Inception x4
• Dark knight x2 
• Pulp fiction x2
• Da vinci code x2
• Se7en 
• Psycho
• Black swan 

What do you expect in the firsr five minutes?

• Murder
• Killing
• Introduction of character
• Suspense
• Fast music 
• Tense 
• Insane 
• Set the scene

Questionnaire Results

 

After doing research through 20 Questionnaires, it showed that the majority preferred Psychological Thrillers, and would rather go to see them over Action-based Thriller films. This helps us, as now we are sure that people would rather see Psychological Thrillers so when we are in the process of creating our opening 5 minutes to a Thriller film, we will be sure to focus more on developing it around a more Psychological base, than an action base.

This question told us what people want from a Thriller. There is no greater knowledge than the knowledge from audience, being aware of what they look for and more importantly what they want in a Thriller film. The results in the graph show how many times a specific feature, for example 'Suspense' what circled. From this information we can gather that everyone we asked voted for suspense. This tells us that in our opening Thriller scene we make, has to involve some elements of suspense. There is no way that after gaining this information we are positive that under no circumstances we can miss out suspense. From analysing the results we can also find out that a good plot and soundtrack are important, so we will consider this also in the creation of the opening Thriller scene, to add some good sounds/music and a twisted, sinister-like plot/story.

In this question, we asked people to put these genres of films in order from best to worst. We then looked at the data and if an individual were to put say 'Comedy' as their top one, comedy would gain a vote in this pie chart. We can tell that comedy is the most favorite genre, this came as no surprise. Although we were shocked to find out that thriller was a highly voted genre as well. This was good for us as we could compare the results from someone who put thriller as their top genre, and others who put a different genre as their top and see what they preferred and liked in their films. This meant we could incorporate it into our opening thriller scene.

Define A Thriller:

The majority of people found it difficult to actually identify what a Thriller is, this may be because it is not one of the most popular film genres out of the genres we investigated. Also all terms that were bought up were similar showing that people are unaware on how to define a Thriller. This is important to us because this shows that we can exploit the situation and create all new ideas and use the other feature mentioned to create a effective and creative Thriller opening scene.

What Do You Expect In The Opening Of A Thriller Film:

Our audience told us that some key ideas they would visualize whilst thinking of the opening scene of a Thriller film include: elements of suspense, elements of tension, they also would think of a murder scene, some fast-paced music building tension/suspense a lot of fast match cuts, a lot of sharp close-ups and also for lighting to be very dull and dark to create a Thriller scene. What we can learn from this is simply that we can include all these ideas or at least take them into consideration whilst making our opening Thriller scene, this will help us include not only great ideas that will make the scene better but also ideas that our target audience want to see.


Favourite Thriller And Why:

The main Thriller voted for where Inception, The Dark Knight and Pulp Fiction. This is alone good for us as we can now be sure to research these films in the near future so we can analyse how their opening scenes are made so effectively to set the scene whilst including the main elements of Thriller, suspense, tension and mystery. We can learn a lot from researching these films about our target audience. As for why the people claimed they liked these films were all ideas revolved around a good story/plot and a good sense of suspense/tension. This is good because we now know what our audience want, and that we have to try and include these feature into our opening scene to make it interesting and what our audience want to see.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was born on the 13the august 1899 in Leynstone in England.Alfred was the son of East End greengrocer William Hitchcock and Emma. Alfred was raised as a strict college. His first job outside the family business was as an estimator for the Henley telegraph and cable company, This was when he first discovered his interest in film making. It was said that he frequent visited the cinema.His next job was as a title designer, he had managed to get a job in a studio in London where he spent the next two years designing titles.His first shot at directing came when the director for 'always tell your wife' became ill and Alfred had to step up. the management were impressed and from there on Alfred Hitchcock became one of the most famous directors ever due to his ability to produce great thriller films. Alfred Hitchcock is most famously known for his ability to make great thrillers by picking on mysteries for example the number 13 and black cats. Also know as the master of suspense due to his ability to create famous films acknowledged to be great thrillers. The three films he is most renowned for are 'Rear Window', 'Psycho' and 'Vertigo'. these three films were seen as masterpieces by everyone who watched them Take Psycho for example is a film famous for its murder scene in the shower where Hitchcock has used simple cuts and shots to make it very effective.