Preliminary Exercise

Before half term, sir gave us an exercise which involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.
A group can change this way of filming as long as they demonstrate that they can do:
- Continuity; where a character always looks the same to show smooth and realistic transitions between various shots.
- Shot/Reverse shot; where the camera capture two character exchanging dialogue to produce a conversation
- The 180-degree rule; When shooting a scene, the camera must always be in the same position so when editing everything from the characters to the background surrounding will be moving in the same direction in different shots.

Preliminary exercise (1)- By the time we began the exercise, my group wasn't in for us to practise. However Carla and Hannah allowed me to help them with their video. My role was to work on the camera in order to learn how it works and what i could do with it to establish different but useful effects. For example what distance i could stand at or what various positions i could change the camera into. We used many shots including; wide shots, over the shoulder shots (both in shot), close ups, mid shots, long shots etc. This allowed me to concentrate on the shot/ reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Whilst Carla and Hannah both dealt with the acting role; where they concentrated on the continuity of things. E.g staying in the same position, looking in the same direction, not adding any props that weren't in previous shots.

Preliminary exercise(2)- The week after my group was present and we were ready to shoot our video. Everything was going well with Neelam practising how to use to camera and myself and Samantha doing the acting roles until half way through we realised we didn't put the right tape in and therefore had to restart it all. However due to many interruptions and it being after school hours, sir told us to leave it for now and start again after half term.

Preliminary exercise(3)- Yesterday our group finally completed our footage. We decided to change the story line but keep our roles, Neelam on camera, myself and Samantha acting. For safety, Neelam shot us repeating our acting so when it comes to editing we can choose the best shot which will look realistic enough when it comes to joining it up with the next shot. It took us roughly an hour to do but in the time we achieved many shots including; wide shot, close up, high shot, mid shots,long shots etc.

We are now waiting to begin the editing.

Enduring Love

Currently in English we are looking at novel and film called "Enduring Love" which show aspects of a Thriller.

The plot: The Protagonist led an ordinary life but after a balloon incident was thrown into extraordinary situations when the antagonist begins to stalk the protagonist after he believes he is sent on a mission from God to share his love.

As the novel progresses, the antagonist shows signs of being in a mental state by following the protagonist and suspecting every action the protagonist pursues is done for the antagonist benefit.

The antagonist is finally diagnosed with de Clerambault's syndrome,a disorder that causes the sufferer to believe that someone else is in love with him.


The antagonist can become very violent by either hiring a hit man to kill the protagonist when the protagonist doesn't give the antagonist the time of day or when the antagonist holds the protagonist wife hostage.

Hitchcock

Our class of Friday did another analysis on one of Alfred Hitchcock's Thrillers called
Rear Window.(1854)

We looked at this particular one as it concentrated on themes of Voyeurism; which allows us to see how it is used and what kind of effects it gives.




-Music is digetic
-The opening titles gives a shot of the rear window to show other apartments (shows significance of name)
-Extreme long shot to mid shot (general to particular) of the court yard outside the protagonists apartment
-Pan shots and tilt shots are used to show each apartment from the rear window perspective
-Point of views shots of camera to the other apartment windows to show the audience what the protagonist may be seeing in his vision
-Close up of protagonist; sweating to show the temperature of the weather
-Pan shots of various objects to visually tell what kind of character the protagonist is:
-He is a photographer; pictures of car crashes- may hint he was in a car crash
-This highlights he has a thirst for danger
-Pictures of women; shows his interest in the opposite sex

Our first initial idea: Salad Fingers/ Se7en

Planning for our Thriller:

Sub genre's we may use: Horror/ Psychological Thriller

Idea: Creating an antagonist with ideas from films such as Salad Fingers and Se7en

Also instead of an obvious story line with dialogue, we are going to combine a variety of different shots to tell the story visually. This use of montage will shoot many props in relation to the antagonist character such as drugs. The antagonist may commit a murder under the influence of drugs without meaning to. We do not want to show the murder but the selection of clips would allow the audience to use their imagination.

Research

About Salad Fingers:


In the surreal cartoons, the eponymous Salad Fingers inhabits a desolate, sparsely populated post-apocalyptic world in which he revels in the delightful feeling of the textures of various objects on his "salad fingers". He enjoys rusty articles (especially spoons) and derives similar pleasure from experiencing pain
The characteristic foreboding in Salad Fingers' journeys portends to the main character's irrational, perhaps subconscious preoccupation with morbidity, death and fetishistic ritual. Much to the horror or perverse delight of the characters he meets, his mused and whimsical perambulations lead him toward a hopeless self-discovery in his own inert matter and helplessness, usually through his or the other characters' exploitation.

Salad Fingers appears to suffer from psychosis, and is unable or unwilling to distinguish between living beings and inanimate objects, and is frequently found talking to various inert articles

Analysis of video:





-Music: The eerie music featured in the background is the tune "Beware the Friendly Stranger" by Boards of Canada. The dark music in the soundtrack that appears when Salad Fingers is scared is actually Firth playing the guitar, slowed down and reversed
(other description)
-Dialogue is very subtle/delicate and so quite difficult to capture so subtitles in a flicker movement are used. The dialogue instructs his weird movements such as stroking spoons, pushing/stroking a red button, "caressing" kettles. (establish his fetish for stroking different textures)
-Close ups of his face captures his insanity- wide eyes, red iris, shaking.
-Hypnotising backgrounds/swirling effects, blotches, stratches,spider webs highlights his madness
-Length of shots are very long
the framing captures his fingers to show the significance of the title
-Long shots when he walks to show where he is going and to establish where he lives
-Walks very slowly but unsteady
-Other characters are in very bright primary colours so they are easily recognisable against the dreary, dull background colours.
-Fade out to show time and going into a different setting

About Se7en:


David Fincher makes dark movies, and Se7en is no exception. Se7en follows tow homicide detectives in the Los Angeles Police department. William Somerset is a veteran whose experiences with every form of death have left him tired, jaded, and ready to retire. David Mills is a brash, young detective who has wanted to work in L.A. homicide above all else.

The two unlikely companions are brought together under grisly pretenses. A killer has begun a rampage and leaves a disturbing calling-card. He kills his victims in a way that reflects the Christian seven deadly sins. Mills and Somerset must try and sort through the killer’s clues and cryptic methods in order to catch him before murder number seven takes place.

Se7en shows very grue some and violet scenes including a man who is forced to eat himself to death and another must slice a pound of flesh away from his own body. However, Se7en is not Saw, the killings do not play out actively, but through crime scenes and photographs.

Analysis of Video




The opening sequence demonstrates the antagonist state of mind. It includes many techniques to show this, such as

-Dissolves (represents time)
-Jump cuts
-Close ups of handwriting and hand
-The flicker of the titles
-Flashes of different shots
-Parallel sound
-Distortion of music

Both of these sequences are useful and very effective examples to help our group consider what types of elements and techniques we could use in our Thriller to portray a character with a psychological disorder

Derailed

I analysed the opening from the film "Derailed" and in particular it's film language in order to show how it has a thriller/drama genre.



Editing:
Speed is long and slow
Style has many straight cuts to show the harsh lifestyle of prison life. Theres only one dissolve as it goes into the beginning of the story in a suburban setting.

Lighting and Colour:
High key lighting- Shows day time and the ordinary lifestyle
Low key lighting- In cell, highlights and distorts the shadows of the bars.

Sound:
Digetic- inmates playing outside, the cell doors opening, men shouting
Non digetic- Music begins when the inmates are released
When the Protagonist is talking when writing (voice over)
Parrallel- Begins energetic when inmates are released but gets more distorted and eerie when showing the protagonist's cell; establishes his mood.

Use of Camera:- Framing;
Long shot and mid shot- Of cells to establish setting
High shot- When outside prison to show the surroundings
Close ups- On the Protagonist to show his significance; of lighting his ciggerate, writing in his book (establishing this is the introduction of the story)
Low angle- Only shows lower body to hide Protagonist identity to leave the audience hanging on
Movement;
There is no movement at first when filming the release of inmate to show no action.
Pan shots- when men are outside playing and exercising. Also when shooting across each empty cell until it gets to the Protagonist writing in his cell.

Mise en Scéne:
Setting- Prison, cells, outside the Prison
Props- exercise equipment, ciggerate, basketballs, book and pencil, mirror
Costume- prisoners uniforms, basic and dull
Hair and Make up- ordinary, day to day
Lighting and colour- Lighting in cell is dark and mysterious to hide the protagonist identity.
The colour is a mild blue t show it's a calm but cold atmosphere.
Positioning of Characters within the frame-The protagonist is in the middle of the frame to show he is an influential and a main character but he is also on his own and isolated.

Sub Genres/ Alfred Hitchcock

I started to look at the potential sub-genre/s i could combine with my thriller. Research from Wikipedia.org has shown me many; including;

Action thriller - In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place.
Films that include action thriller are;
-James Bond films
-The Transporter

Crime thriller- Offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.
Films that include Crime thriller are;
-The Killing
-Seven
-The Godfather
-Inside man

Disaster thriller- In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster.
Films that include Disaster thriller;
-Stormy Weather
-Earthquake

Horror Thriller- In which conflict between the main characters are mental, emotional, and physical. The main character(s) is not only up against a superior force, but they are or will soon become the victims themselves and directly feel the fear that comes by attracting the monster's attention.
Films that include Horror Thriller;
-Saw
-28 Days later
-Psycho
-The Silence of the Lambs

Psychological Thriller- In which the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.
Films that include psychological Thiller:
-The Alfred Hitchcock films such as Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt and Strangers of a Train
-Blue Velvet
-The Sixth Sense
-The Talented Mr.Ripley

Supernatural thriller - In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers.
Films that include Supernatural Thriller:
-Carrie
-Unbreakable
-Torchwood

In yesterday's Media lesson, the class and i analysed selective opening sequences from Alfred Hitchcock's films.

Background info: Was a british film maker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genre's. Hitchcock had a successful career in the United Kingdom with his silent films. He directed more than fifty feature films and remains one of the best-known and most popular film-makers of all times.

Films (highlights):
Hitchcock rebounded in 1926 and made his debut in the thriller genre with the film, The Lodger: A Story of the london Fog. The film was a major commercial and critical success when it was released in January 1927 throughout the United Kingdom.(this film was influenced by Expressionist techniques that Hitchcock had witnessed first-hand in Germany)
Blackmail(1929) began the Hitchcock tradition of using famous landmarks as a backdrop for suspense sequences.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), was a success and his second, The 39 Steps (1935), is often considered one of the best films from his early period. This film was also one of the first to introduce the concept of the "Macguffin", a plot device around which a whole story seems to revolve, but ultimately has nothing to do with the true meaning or ending of the story.
Hitchcock's next major success was in 1938 with his film The Lady Vanishes.

Hollywood(1939)
Hitchcock made his first American movie, Rebecca (1940), won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Hitchcock's second American film, the European-set thriller Foreign Correspondent,was also nominated for Best Picture during that year The movie was filmed in the first year of World War II and was inspired by the rapidly-changing events in Europe.

Other films from 1940's,50's,60's;
-Shadow of a Doubt (1943)...(Hitchcock's personal favourite)
-Suspicion (1941)...(marked first film with Hitchcock as a producer and director)
-Lifeboat (1944)...(Hitchcock adapted John Steinbeck's script)
-Notorious (1946)
-Rope (1948)...(first coloured film)
-Stage Fright (1950)
-Strangers on a Train (1951)
-The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
-The Wrong Man (1957)..(final film for Warner Brothers)
-Vertigo (1958)
-North by North West (1959)
-Psycho (1960)
-The Birds(1963)


The 3 opening sequences of Hitchcock's films

Shadow of a Doubt: Antagonist "Uncle Charlie"

The opening titles music is called "Merry Widows" where there is a sound bridge that goes into an industrial scene (long shot/dissolves)
This highlights the urban poverty where the camera shoots homeless men and burnt out scraps from cars near a polluted river.
The music changes into a more dramatic tone which goes into a long shot of a rundown street. There are dissolves from the street,to house, to window as music rapidly changes. Audience are told the story visually without any dialogue.

The character is weathly by the suit he wears to his immaculate hair and the cigar he smokes. The room is in a low key lighting to show the contrast from the darkness where he lays to the lightness from the blinds. The camera shoots a variety a shots around the room to focus on the props around the character. In particular the camera focuses on money which represents his wealth. However it also shoots some money lying on the floor indicating his carelessness about his wealth.
The misé en scene shows his body language which is calm and seemingly unconsicous. It shows a comparison of life and death. The colour is black and white; in connotation terms the character is wearing a black suit which hints that he has a dark side.

The music changes when the blind goes down and the character rises from the bed (this shows an aspect of a vampire). The music becomes sinister which highlights that he is the antagonist. The prop he uses is a glass which he smashes into pieces which shows he is very violent and bad tempered. The music builds up and becomes dramatic.
There is a close up of his face when he walks outside so the audience can examine his expressions. The piano music builds tension and high shots are used to establish the run down destinations and make other character seem small and powerless compared the the antagonist.
This is all been done visually and transmitted to the audience.

Introduction of the niece: "Charlie", mirroring her Uncle "Charlie"

The setting, Santa Roso, is more modern with nicely built buildings with wealthly and happier characters. This highlights the perfect suburban lifestyle.
The music is lighter and cheerful.
There are,again, another set of shots from house, to window to Charlie on her bed in the same position as her Uncle. These are mirro images from the lightness of the niece in comparison to the darker side of the uncle.

Vertigo-1956; "Fear of heights"




This film depends upon the central charcter fear of heights. This is all done visually apart from the non-diagetic background music.
Significance of the opening titles:
-extreme close up of a woman in which the colour changes to red. The connotation shows danger and passion.
-Swirling effects to represent dizziness the protagonist suffers from his fear. They go from long shots to close ups.
The close up of the woman's eye to the circular effects are a graphic match.

The music becomes faster and more dramatic as the character are running/ the protagonist realises he has Vertigo (still no dialogue) which is shown visually by a reverse zoom shot.The music switches from harps as the protagonist looks down in point of view shots and close ups of his expressions.

North by North West- 1959




This thriller is an example of ordinary characters thrown into extraordinary situations. The protagonist career is working in advertising.
There is a graphic match from the green background and blue horizontal and vertical lines where the titles come up into the same shape of a building. The building reflects the objects of cars highlighting the ordinary lives.

The Crowds of people walkin in different area's suchas as up and down stairs , buses and on pavements indicates the hectic lifestyles. The protagonist is always in the centre of the frame amongst the crowd. There is alot of dialogue and the protagonist talks very fast showing his is a very busy man.
His character is confident, cocky and shows he enjoys seducing women with his charm and money. He is shown as wealthy by he closes and business like by his body language and seems to have a very stong relationship with his mother.