thriller opening final

Evaluation draft deadline mon 22nd 9am, final deadline mon 29th 9am

Thriller Film Opening Sequence Evaluation - 1500-2000 words
PowerPoint uploaded to moodle

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?
What conventions of professional products have you used in your own film? (narrative conventions, character conventions, genre, camerawork, sound, editing, special effects, mise-en-scene? Use screen grabs of your own sequence to illustrate each example where you have followed conventions or gone against (challenged) conventions. Also use images from the films that have influenced you where relevant.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? (gender, age, ethnicity etc.)
Compare a character in your sequence to a character in a professional film (use images). If you have included a villain/victim character, does the character follow conventions of characters in professional films. For example, is your villain male? Is your victim female? Therefore how are you representing gender?

3. What kind of media institution would distribute your media product?

Discuss similar professional films and their production companies (use images of the films and logos). Which production Company do you think would distribute your film? (if it was professional and if you had made the full film).

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? (BBFC and target audience) Use images from a similar product with a similar target audience. Remember that target audience is not the same as classification.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Refer to Significant moments in your sequence where you have tried to generate a response from the spectator (a close up to encourage identification with a character, music that encourages the spectator to feel suspense, tense, visceral reaction etc.) What techniques have you used to encourage the spectator to want to see the rest of the film? (Clues about narrative, character, etc.) Use screen grabs of your own sequence.

6. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing your product?

(blog, camera equipment, editing software – Final Cut Express, istopmotion, Garageband etc.) Use screen grabs/photos of all these things. Be very specific about tools/effects/techniques learnt not just ‘I have learnt a lot about the software’

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product?
Discuss your second preliminary task that you did in a week before starting Thriller. Discuss what you have learnt since then about construction of micro elements in order to create meaning, how to use different techniques, practical skills etc. How have you built on your knowledge that you learnt from the prelim task? Use screen grabs of your prelim task and your sequence where relevant.

Planning Developments

We have made a few developments during the filming of our thriller opening:

• We have to use a different office scene because we realised that the camera was visible on the right hand side of the shot.
• We have cut one of shots so Dean is not visible when he shouldn't be.
• We have also decided to change some of the sound, to make it more in sync and to add to the atmosphere/mood of the scene
• We have changed the font and style of the opening credits.
• 
  

response to feedback

we have considered all problems mentioned in the feedback.

firstly, we will be adding news style titles and music to the beginning to emphasize the fact that it is actually a news reel. secondly, many groups mentioned that you could see Dean's character slightly in the news reel shot before he was mentioned and that this took away the effectivness of the situaion. as a result of these comments we will be cutting of dean from this part by cropping the shot. some goups also said that the background music was to loud. this was something that was going to be changed anyway aswell as the ticking in the music. Finally, one group said that the scene should be longer and we will try to drag the scene out a bit longer but we do think that this could take away some of the effectivness that makes the scene as fast as it is.

Feedback on Roughcut

- We can see the camera hooked up to the TV... Live news feed atmosphere ruined by it.
- The black and white framing for the terrorists was pretty well done, like the effects used.
- News feed could use a broadcaster company overlay with headlines (See BBC).
- News feed works well with terrorist scenes
- Good use of effects on titles
- Person being interviewed is also inside the building in one of the sequences.
p1-04:
The titles used fit in with the genre of the opening scene and are conventional of a thriller. The sound for the opening could have been changed so that the background noises could not be heard so much. There are a few problems with continuity editing.
P1-05
We liked the effects of the titles, this made it dramatic and added to drama of the hostage situation. The use of different camera angles was affective because it made the sequence much faster and created high suspense.
We thought that at the very start when you can see Dean slightly in the camera frame this made it a little less believable. But apart from that its brill mate.

P1-01
Very good editing and shot variation. The acting was again top notch!!! The titles were very effective. Also the use of voiceovers created an added element and made it more believable. The title sequences were clever as they created suspense. Needs to be made A LOT longer despite this...top notch!

Rough Cut of 21

we are very happy with this rough cut however there are some things that we need to add/ change. one thing that needs touching up is the sound of the news reel and the background noise in that. this will be changed to make the cuts less obvious and the sequence flow better. as well as this, the final title needs touch up because the style is not exactly what we wanted.

news report script

(camera pans down from top of building to having fred in the shot)

Reporter: I'm here at the government research building in London just as a hostage situation is breaking out. A small group of terrorists has taken 21 hostages and 2 are beleived to of been executed. Their aims are so far unknown but negotiations are taking place as we speak. Currently, all we know about the situation is that the hostages broke into the building between 6:30 and 7:00 this morning. Here to give us as much of an update as he can is Dean Holmes, the CEO of the goverment reserch facility. Hello Mr Holmes.

Dean: Hello
Reporter: Can you give us any information on any developments of the current situation?
Dean: No more than we all already know, other than the amount of terrorists in the
building are beleived to be around 4 or 5
Reporter: and how does this effect the situation?
Dean: well due to the position of the room that they are currently in, there are two entrances
to the room, which taking into consideration the amount of people in the room, makes
it very difficult to enter safely and without injuring the hostages inside.
reporter: do we know if the terrorist group is related to al queda?
Dean: that is one thing that we can deffinately confirm, the group is not related to al queda

Certificate

The main reason we have chosen to rate our film as a 15 is because of the potential themes and possible hostile nature of the film.
As far as language is concerned, the BBFC says that frequent use of strong swear words such as "f**k" However, aggressive and frequent use of these words are unlikely to be acceptable.
so BBFC goes on to say that no theme is prohibited as long as the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
Regarding Horror, the BBFC mention that 'strong threats and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.' However, we do not plan on making the film to purposly horrific.
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of suffering and that strong gory images are unlickley to be acceptible.

Target Audience

Our film is aimed at people between the ages of 15- 25 and older. This is mainly due to the content of the film and and is a target audience that follows conventions of previous existing films of this genre. such as;

Begining of filming

Yesterday we began the filming of the 'News report' part of the scene. This was done outside the cancer research facilities of Addenbrooks hospital. After asking one of the near by security guards we began filming and all went to plan.

-One problem we had was people in the background leaving and entering the building, taking away the illusion of having a secured building in trouble.

-Another problem we had was remembering what needed to be said and what had already been said as we did not bring a paper copy of the script. This made filming alot slower and less efficiant than it could have been.

- a future problem we may face is the continuity of having the 'News Report' playing on a t.v in the background of the shot.

reviewing another groups blog

P1-04's blog was good for several reasons:

We feel the main reason it was good because it was laid out really well, with examples in all the post and several different images so that the viewer has a clear idea of what the film will be about :)

Flashbacks

Flash Back One
Shot 1: Medium Black and white, Hand-held
Man Runs up stairs, Drone continues with fast ticking, News reporter continues talking over shot with drone and fast ticking


Shot 2: Medium Close up, Black and White, Hand-held
same man runs up to box and cuts something behind it
news reporter continues talking over shot, drone continues with faster ticking



Flash Back Two- Continues From Shot

Shot 1: Medium long, Black and White, Hand-held
Man runs down corridor, Pushes door with shoulder then kicks open
news reporter continues talking over shot, drone continues with faster ticking


Shot 2: Medium, Black and White, Hand-held, tracks back slowly
Kicks in door and walks through, Lifts gun
news reporter continues talking over shot, drone continues with faster ticking


Shot 3: Close up, black and white, focus on face, reaction shot, hand-held
news reporter continues talking over shot, drone continues with faster ticking


flashback 3: continues from shot

shot 1 flashback: handheld black and white closeup on man sitting down, to man standing up reaction
shot 2 flashback: handheld medium long black and white track forward, pushes man on ground, poits gun at other man.

equipment

This is the camera we used

Storyboard

Shot 1: Fade from black, Close up, track to medium
News reporter on T.V talking about a hostage situation
Drone begins- non diagetic
Shot 2: Over shoulder shot, Medium, hand-held shot
flashback of man running up stairs in balaclava, News reporter continues speak over shots
black and white Drone continues, Fast ticking starts
Shot 1: Medium, continue tracking out
reporter continues talking about hostage situation
Drone continues, ticking slows
Shot 3: Medium, Hand-held
Person in balaclava kicking through a door, News reporter continues speaking over shot
black and white Drone continues fast ticking begins
Shot 1: Medium, continues tracking out
news reporter continues talking about hostage situation
Drone continues, ticking slows
Shot 4: Medium, over the shoulder shot, hand-held
man in balaclava goes through doorway with gun shouting, people turn and put hands up, Black and White, Drone continues, ticking stops, drum beat starts, News reporter continues talking over shot "Everyone get the down!"

Shot 1: Medium continues tracking out
people come into shot, one man standing next to T.V, someone with bag over head kneeling on the floor. Track continues moving back and man pushes T.v to floor, News reporter continues talking untill T.V's on floor, man walks towards the camera and pushes a gun to kneeling mans head, "Shut the fuck up!" Drone with drum beat continues
Shot 1: Medium over the shoulder shot hand-held
two men talk to each other. possibility of a reaction shot after this.
Drone with drum beat continues "what are we gunna do!?"

Story Board

LOCATIONS

Planning

Planning

PROPS:

• Fabric bags/pillows
• Balaclavas
• Dirt
• Tools for breaking in
• TV
• DVD Player
• Gun
• Microphone
  

COSTUME:

• Black clothes
• Balaclavas
• Suits-Gucci exclusively
  

LIGHTING:

• low key lighting will be mainly used to get across the mood and attitude of the sequence.

• in the office building at the end there of the sequence there will be a slightly darkened room where the hostages will be kept.

LIST OF EQUIPMENT:

• camera
  
• tripod

TIMES AND DATES WE WANT TO FILM:

• next week

LOCATIONS WHERE WE WILL BE FILMING:

• addenbrookes hospital will be used for the backdrop of the news report.
• for the office building that we will be using to break into we will be using the G block in college, in particular the staircase around the back.
• wills house will be used for the part at the end where the television is broken.

ACTORS:

• dean, fred, will, lewis.

thriller idea props

Planning for Filming

-Props
-Costume
-Lighting(design/effect/equipment)
-make up/hair
-list of equipment
-times+dates you want film & back up plan
-locations(maps? permission? photos?)
-Actors (photos + suitability)
-Production roles-assign role to each member of the group:

• camera person, director/s, producer, production coordinator
  
• Provide definitions of of each role and each person's suitability for that role-experience? roles?

Thriller Ideas-COSTUME

For our Thriller opening scene, we have a group of ex-military soldiers who take a government building and its people inside hostage. My idea for the ex-military hostage takers in the scene is to wear a predominantly black outfit, with black trousers and shirts, topped out with them wearing black balaclavas. This is to add mystery to the characters because you will not be able to see their identity, and also because this stereotypical of what kidnappers would wear.

The other characters in the opening sequence are the hostages themselves. As these characters are in a office building, they will all be wearing suits and be smartly dressed. However, as they are hostages they will have black bags on their heads and will be kneeling on the floor.

Saul Bass Opening Sequence-Psycho

This is an opening sequence by Saul Bass for the film

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock-1960).

From this opening sequence, the audience know

straight away that the film is a suspense thriller,

because of the fast paced music. This high pitched

droning is stereotypical of the film Psycho, and clearly

represents the thriller genre. This music continues

throughout the whole opening sequece, therefore

suggesting the film is full of suspense throughout.

The audience also know that the film is thriller and the

film is not of the ordinary, because when the film

name; Psycho, is presented,

it distorts, therefore showing the plot and theme of the

film is distorted and not clear or strange.

The appearance of lines throughout the opening

sequence, which segment the screen , show that the plot

line may be broken up or not that of a normal film.

The appearance of actors, actresses and other

peoples names seem to fall into place when the appear,

and reveal the name clearly. This maybe shows that

during the film, the plot line will also fall into place,

and will also become clear to the audience.

Influences

We feel that this opening scene of the film Munich lends itsself very well to the style of our opening sequence. Both films have a similar plot line involving terrorists and hostages, and the convetions in Munich fits very well with the action/thriller genre. The use if hand held camera is apparent which creates a very chaotic and paniced atmohsoere. Additionally, the sheer variety of shot type creates a sense of confusion to the for the viewer.

dean holmes

pitch lesson

what will you do as the result of the feedback received?

from the feedback that we received we will try to make the opening sequence of our thriller film shorter, but still managing to include flashback scenes and a conversation scene between the hostage (ex-military) takers.

Has the feedback made you consider things that you hadn't before?

we have decided to try to not make our thriller too complicated and also not too long to be able to film. We have also needed consider where our setting will be and the costumes our characters.

Actions points-How will you now develop you idea and plan for production?

the first thing that we will do is to make a story board including all of the different camera angles and shots. it can also include the the settings where we will be filming our seqeunce for instance and office block ' i.c.t rooms'

Thriller Ideas

idea for entire film:

narrative:hostage situation

we believe that this would be a good idea for our thriller opening because it is a quite conventional idea and



character: there could be one main character as the hostage negotiator or policeman. sub characters could be the criminal hostage-takers or the innocent hostages themselves. These characters would conform with that of the usual thriller genre; this would be to act hysterical and scared, and for the part of the criminals; would be fearsome and quote dean; "EX-MILITARY!!"

atmosphere: tense, full of suspense. We will aim to keep the audience, quote fred "ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS!"

Sub genre:
We feel, as a group and a team, that an appropriate sub genre for our thriller film opening sequence would be a psychological action thriller--hybrid.


Sequence:
For our opening sequence; we want it to start in an office room or government building. Suddenly, four, quote dean; "EX MILITARY!!!!", burst into room and take the occupants hostage. the motif of the hostage takers is inside the government there is records of their past military which is dark and disturbing, which they are out to clear, and 'sort out' the people who were responsible. This will then lead to a police gun fight/raid quote dean; "BANG!BANG!". with some of the hostages being killed because quote will; "HE IS A NUUUUUUUTTTTTEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!"

dark knight analysis

marking another students project

we think that this project deserves to be given a level four due to all the sections in the marking criteria being filled appropriately. we think that the variety in shots and quick changes in atmosphere lead to a much more professional feel to the opening. In addition to this, there is a good variety of shot types going from steady shots on the red smoke/water, to hand held in the short flashback style sequences of the man and woman.

We will use the criteria to our advantage by making sure we have covered as many of the point in the criteria as possible when looking through our work. We will stick to thriller conventions closely, meaning we will make sure mise-en-scene is all related to the plot of our film and the imagery used in the sequence will follow our narrative appropriately.

Student Thriller Example P1-02

man with the golden arm analysis on narrative

the title sequence to The Man With The Golden Arm by Saul Bass gives no clues what so ever to the narrative of the film or to any story. The only part of the sequence that displays anything other than white lines dividing a black background is when the white lines create an arm and a hand. Even still, this does not give away any more of the narrative than the title of the film does. However, as the film is a thriller, this could be seen as quite an effective technique by not giving away any part of the story. The sequence does not follow any classic conventions of a thriller and therefore confuses the viewer and makes them question the film more.

One of the only things that remotely links to the narrative is the music which does follow conventions of thriller/mystery music, leading the viewer to believe that the film could be something to do with a mystery as the main plot as this is the only thing obviously relating to the story during the title sequence. When the white lines join together to create a hand at the end of the sequence it could be hinting that all random parts in the story all add up and make sense at the end. The title sequence is overall very confusing but it think this has been done purposely to make the viewer keep questioning the narrative of the film untill the very end.

soul bass thriller sequence analysis

the human factor by soul bass

character:

the sequence represents the character in a very tense and dark way. firstly the colours that have been used are black which is a very negative feel and also the red which can link to blood and danger. at the start of the seqeunce the camera seems quite shakey, which could relate to the characters personality of being nervous and not incontrol. the character is also shown as being alone because the image of the phone being left off the hook and nearly broken. the music dosnt fit in with the whole thriller idea which creates a strange feel to the sequence because everything is separate and dosnt link with each other which makes you wonder what his charater is like, is it a mix of everything in the clip or is it completely different.

analysis of a soul bass thriller sequence

Dark Knight Analysis

how does the sequence follow generic conventions?
micro and macro.

how does it make you feel? h

Cape Fear Analysis Notes

Atmosphere:

Transparent red placed over the rippling water. -> shows death or danger

Music --> shows suspense...penultimates at film title.

WATER--> distorts image-shows mystery-canted angles

Blood--> shows death and danger



Narrative:

water ripple--> goes up + down--shows that story line wont be equal and distorted.

Bird swooping--> death--being caught--shows death


Character:

man--> in negaive--mystery

The Jackal Trailer

The Bourne Identity Trailer

White Noise Trailer

Thriller subgenres

within the thriller genre there are lots of different types of film, inclding hybrids. For example there are:

Action thriller
Conspiracy thriller
crime thriller
disaster thriller
drama thriller
Physcological thriller
Legal thriller
Political thriller

Psycho Theatrical Trailer

Seven opening sequence analysis

The opening title sequence of se7en very closely follows conventions of a thriller, mainly with the images shown and the sound and music. The images are almost all close ups of sharp, razor blade like objects. This tells the viewer a lot about the rest of the film and what they can expect from it. the metal object and sharp sounds also gives the impression of a hospital, provoking a subconscious fear within most viewers.

Analysis of "seven" opening sequence

Both the detectives in the sequence seemed to have certain character flaws, for example, Morgan Freemans character Detective Sommerset came across as too caring compared to the other detectives on the scene. An example o this is when he says "did the kids see" to which another detective tells him that he should not care about that, and to just get the job done. Another example is of Brad Pitts character Detective Mills who seemed to be easily distracted by things, and doesnt take his job so seriously. I noticed this when the two characters were walking down the street and Detective Mills was constantly looking at women in the street, and not fully listening to Detective Sommerset.

In addition to this, the lighting throughout the sequnce was low key. This is particulary noticeable in th crime scene itself, and gives the scene a very eerie and unfriendly feel. Furthermore, there seemed to be a grey or blue filter used in the scene which gave it a much more gloomy and depressing feel. Particulary in the scene where Detective Sommerset is doing something in the kitchen at the beginnig of the sequence. In relation to this scene, there was an interesting use of camerawork as there was a long shot on the character with a bit of blurred foreground. This made the scene feel as if it was from someone elses perspective like someone was watching the character. This also gave it a sense of voyeurism and an uneasy feel.