nurturing my ideas two

nurturing my ideas two

 throughout this week I have watched a range of thriller movies for example I am legend, the A team and unstoppable and found that all of these thriller movies tend to use a range of camera shots, well mostly close-ups of the characters face, close-ups are often used as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, like the facial expressions to emphasize feelings and emotions. In other words it is very important that we employ not just random shots but a range of close- ups especially if it is at the beginning of a thriller by having a close-up shot of a persons face accompanied with the title sequence that should tell a story like Kyle cooper did with the thriller movie “se7en”. This will have the audience anticipating as they would want to watch more of it. We don’t only have to use close-ups but it would be ideal. maybe our plot should be about a young man who his is adoured by his naighbours and loves them back but, but he is controlled by some sort of device that anytime it lights up it shows a name of a target  and the address of were the target lives and he autimitically has to go and hunt this person down and kills him or her with a knife.

However the setting that we should choose to host our opening of our thriller movie plays a very vital part in making the thriller successful as it would set the mood. Our setting should determine characters, timelines, dialogue, conflicts etc in order to grab the audience. It should not be a places that are too predictable for an AS student therefore shouldn’t be in parks or any local public areas where it is highly densely populated as this would not set the mood but would be very boring for me and the audience. i was thinking more a having an interior which could be the mans house were the device is and the the exterior could be someones garden were the tradgedy will take place

Louisa our AS teacher had a word with one of my colleagues who is also member of the group 6 (GUSTAVO) and told him that we must be careful on the soundtrack that we use because “you could lose marks if its not your own” so it is best that we should make our own soundtrack that should build up tension maybe emphasizing the protagonist (main character) in the thriller opening. when listening to Jayne’s soundtrack of the scary Halloween music it was very good but lets remember people that it is not a horror movie opening that we are doing and the fact that the name of the soundtrack is “scary Halloween piano music” makes it feel and sound that it is not a thriller movie but horror.

also the use of props that Jayne mention makes it also sound like a horror which would be good if we were told to do a horror movie, I mean not all thrillers have blood or someone lying dead on the ground at the beginning of a thriller, the audience would know what its about as it could be easily established just with the blood and death, the foreshadowing events to come later in the movie if we do proceed to open the thriller like this. however its not a bad idead becuase we can use fake blood and death but its the mise en scene that will determine how it would all play out for example the muderer should not be dressed in full black and the target should not be by herself. The murderer should were causual clothing such as jeans and a shirt. thereofre he does not look to suspicous.

The title is another thing that needs allot of attention and should leave the audience filled with anxiety but I haven’t got to it yet as we cannot create the title of the opening if we have not even started shooting it, so I would leave that to later when we start production. considering that we are gooing to doa an action thriller, i have an idea on what our title should be, i was thing "LUCID" because it means a clear understanding of something which could link to our plot becuase when the man sees the device he autimitically knows what to do, he understands it.

christmas task over the holidays

The incredible hulk

The film that inspired me the most will be the thriller movie incredible hulk Louis Leterrier and stars Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner, who in this case of the movie is hulk. There are many elements employed by the producers that inspired me form example the use of allot of close-ups shots anytime when Bruce banner turns to hulk they always show his facial expressions which emphasize the pain and anger when he deforms into this big giant monster.

The character hulk himself also inspires me because he thinks that he is like everyone else, in a way this is true he does show feeling such as anger and love which all humans tend to show once in a while. He just wants to fit into the society but it’s the society that has made hulk because of the way people treat him for example they have swat teams and big helicopters with missiles  trying to catch him when his on the loose( all this just for one man). If society treated as if he is one of them then there would be no hulk as there is no anger.

The plot is basically about a transforming Bruce Banner who turns into the Hulk whenever he is angry or depressed and almost the whole nation is looking for him, for example the army is looking for him because they want to use him as a defensive weapon against other rivalry nations, whilst other people just want him dead. But Bruce banner believes that he is like everyone else in order to get the respect from the people (society) he must take action and violence and afflict it upon they. The genre for this movie is an action thriller as it has the audience anticipating throuout the whole movie in the event to come.

In the hulk and abomination fight scene there are many microelements that are employed in this scene to make the audience want to see more for example the use of mice en scene, mice en scene is the expressions used to describe the design aspects of theatre production and film production now the setting of the big brawl took place in a city that had allot of street lights, cars and people there were fires spreading and cars were burnt. Without being said the audience can already identify the regional identity of the film, regional identity is the identification of a specific geographic region of a nation it is set in America possibly in new York as there are big billboards, taxis and allot of people. The music that was used was done by editing therefore this is known as nondiegetic, it was very dramatic as it built tension especially when hulk and abomination where going into combat. the volume, intensity and of course the pace of the action increases as the fight continues to progress. The lightning was sort of dark and orange emphasising the flames the destruction that these two beasts have created and it also emphasises the hate and anger between these two not as monsters but humans.

The use of props was by far the best prop used in an action thriller film ever made as hulk reaches for a car breaks it into two halves and uses it as a boxing glove against abomination

   

The body language between these two beasts in the fight scene was very dramatic they were both standing aggressively taking deep breaths and scrunching up their fists as if they both knew that this was going to happen, they were expecting each other. The other use of microelements apart from mice en scene was the use of editing there were many jump-cuts that took the audience by surprise for example when hulk clapped his hands together and because of the strength of this beast he was able to stop the flames from spreading in a helicopter when it crashed due to the abomination (who is another mutant villain) therefore saving all the passengers. Let’s not forget the use of cross cuts which cuts from one scene to another for example when hulk and abomination are fighting it automatically took us inside the helicopter and showed us the people who were on the helicopter watching the fight and there view of it.

Analysis of the conventions in an existing thriller opening.

Previously, I have been studying conventions commonly used in thriller openings. Therefore I have decided to choose a specific opening sequence to a film to analyse which is from the film called “The Dark Knight” made in 2008 directed by Christopher Nolan. Below I have attached the link to the sequence that I viewed on YouTube. I specifically looked at the first one minute and thirty seconds of this clip as I believe that this was an appropriate length of time in order to study the conventions of the opening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuaUcGr32SM

The very first thing the audience see is the production company details and in some cases the distribution company details may be featured as well. “The Dark Knight” was produced by “Warner Bros” which is a very well known and highly respected production company. It is very important that these details are featured at the beginning of the film as the audience needs to know who the film was created by. This is a standardized process used as credit must be given to the companies who were vital to the making of the film. The audience have come to expect to see the names of the companies as it is a standard thing that they are featured. Below one will see a screen shot I have taken from “The Dark Knight” of the logo of “Warner Bros” that is displayed before the film begins.

Secondly, after the production and/or distribution company details have been shown, as the film begins to play the first shot we see is an establishing shot. This is a common convention that is used in films as it sets the scene for the audience. In “The Dark Knight” the establishing shot is an aerial shot of a cityscape. This shot allows the audience to take in the location and helps set the scene of a busy diligent city. The tall buildings seen could be offices which may show the audience that this could be a key place in which the film is going to be set.

Next, after the establishing shot has set the seen for the audience we are introduced to the main characters. This is also a common convention used in all films as it is extremely important that the main characters are introduced at the beginning so that the audience will know from whose perspective the film is going to revolve around. In “The Dark Knight” the camera zooms in closer to one of the buildings windows and then takes us inside to see two characters. Immediately we assume that these characters are vital to the plot of the film. We are lead to believe that perhaps they are villains as they seem to be trying to escape from the building. They succeed in escaping by sliding along a zip wire to the building opposite. This also suggests to us that they are villains as they are not leaving the building in an ordinary manner, it seems like they are trying to leave as quickly and discreetly as possible without anyone from inside the building knowing that they were in there. Other films may introduce their characters in a number of various ways, however I feel that this is an effective way to show to the audience who the ‘bad guys’ are at the beginning of the film.

A key feature that is crucial to any film in order to help set the seen is the mise-en-scene, for example props. The main prominent prop seen in “The Dark Knight” is the masks that are worn upon the villain’s faces and is also seen in someone’s hand after the shot of the villain’s escaping has occurred. The masks are perhaps worn to hide their identity so they cannot be recognized. However, the way they look may be seen as preposterous as they almost look like the faces of a clown which is something childlike, this is contradictory to the situation that is occurring as breaking out of a building is far from a situation that a child is likely to be in. The masks may be something important to the rest of the movie because they are shown to the audience almost immediately.

Overall, from analyzing various different conventions of thriller openings I have found it very helpful and useful to me because now I am able to pick them out easily when I have watched an existing opening to a movie. Therefore I believe that this will help myself and my group when we begin to create our own thriller opening as we will understand the conventions of thriller openings, why they are used and how to use them sufficiently to our own advantage.

Copying "The Killers" shot by shot remake.

Today we filmed the storyboard we made of the clip from "The Killers".

We focussed on the type of shots and camera distance etc. when trying to copy the clip. Here are some pictures of us at work! :)

Gustavo is making "the look".

Perspective shot. Unfortunately for Jayne, it was very cold outside!!

 And finally, editing the clip :)

Overall, we think we did quite a good job. Here is the end result:

Difficulties that we face during the remake.

We had to delete two setups because we do not have enough people to recreate the shot number 1 in the story board.

As the location was not very appropriate so we change the actions of the characters. In the original "Killers" the characters are sitting however in the remake the characters are standing.

We did not have the appropriate prop as int he original is a book and we use a newspaper instead. 

The time was a problem because even when we do have the storyboard previously prepared, setting up  the camera was complicated for each shot.

From creating the remake we have learnt :

1. A variety of new skills as the use of the rule of third, how to use the manual focus.
2. How to follow a storyboard.
3. We learnt that is important to be aware the positions of the characters.(180 degree rule)

convetions of film openings

conventions of film opening
The film that I will be analysing is a thriller film called "superman returns" this thriller film in terms of its opening is  also like a sequence that turned the viewers to the right,because it tells a story from out of space (at the begining) and also forshadowes the evnets to come in the movie.

in the begining of the film we notice the production comapies name that produced the film "warner bros"from there we then see another companies name "legenday pictures" who partnered with warner bros to shoot this movie.

you will also notice that becuase superman man is a DC character the production comapny had to put the name of the comic production superman came from therefore prevent any copyrights from going on.you will also notice the use of dramtic music that was done by editing therefore it is non-diegetic and how they also paid tribute to two key people (possibly people that gave the production company some inspiration) the use of naration played a key part withing this opening as it again tells a story to the audience, it keeps them interested.

notice the use of repetition between the legendary pictures and warner bros they mentioned these names twice in  the openign to emphasis that they are the ones who produced the film.the title is also introduced "superman returns" accompanied with its comic soundtrack and thus introducing the cast that will be starring in the movie. however the way the comapny introduced the cast was very good, they make the names seem as if they are flying, they all have there own individual powers, possibly trying to emphasis the fact that superman has many powers.

nurturing my ideas

Nurturing my ideas
After watching a range of thriller movies over the weekend i have came up with the best solution on how we should start our film. I got many of my ideas from the thriller movie” seven” for example this thriller movie didn’t do a normal (boring) opening they had a title sequence employed by Kyle cooper that told a story we could see people doing things even when the production company name and credits were shown there was something going on at the background.

By us employing this sort of method accompanied with Jayne’s scary Halloween piano instrumental music as the background, we will capture the audience by creating a story also foreshadowing the events therefore creating a mini story in the opening. Obviously we wouldn’t want to make it seem that they will know too much or too little.

Story boards for The Killers

Our group was set a task to remake a shot by shot sequence from a film. The film that we have chosen is called The Killers made in 2010 and the sequence we have chose to remake is about a minute long. Before we begin to shoot we decided that it was very important to plan before hand, therefore we have created a story board that shows shot by shot exactly what we are going to do. We studied the sequence and sketched out what each frame looked like and this will help us when it comes to filming it. Below there are our story boards...

Extension Exercise

1. Thomas Sutcliffe is trying to say that the film has to persuade the audience to continue seeing the movie defeating other distractions and not falling in being boring.
2. If you start very strong there is no where else to go. According to Director Jean Jacques Beinex, the feelings, the action have to be given regularly through the film as they are growing with plot. If you give everything at the begging you will find yourself in a bad position to develop the story.
3. The opening has to give enough information to involve the audience in the story and to arouse curiosity in the viewer making him wish know more.
4.  The film began with a establishing shot on a city, then a close up of a building, then goes in the building trough a window, passing the receptionist to a private office and there is the actor. This opening works  because it tells where the actions is taking place, is telling he occupation of the hero and is tell the organization of the world.(It is rational and expected)
5. It says how the film is going to be straight away, waking up the audience and it feels like part of the movie. It becomes the first scene of the film.
6. He tried to present his opening without credits and without tittle music, he wanted to introduce the audience into the story without giving them time to prepare themselves. The studio put the credits and the music. They were more cautious.
7. Start with the end. The tick is establishing a destination with the opening more than a depart point.
8. The camera pursues the car as a predator, higher from behind. The shot is spectacular giving a beautiful view but remain fix in that tiny object, telling us that the car is being driving to the wrong direction.

Analysis of a film opening.

The film opening that I am going to analyse is "The number 23"  a thriller made in 2007.

The production company appears at the begging together with the distribution company. The music is fast, the volume and the intensity of the soundtrack increases as the opening continues and more numbers and names are showed.This can connote that while we more know, the situation becomes more tense. The music is accompanied with the editing as both work together. The editing in this opening is trying to direct the audience  think in the importance of numbers giving undercover  messages in the transitions effects.

The use of numbers in the opening are emphasising in the fact that they are important in the story, specially the number 23, as in the opening of "Psycho" they use of the cut letters emphasis in an important issue of the film.
The font of the letter, the inaccurate handwriting connote the fact that has to be written very quickly or something can happen building curiosity and tension in the audience making them wonder why has been written in this way.

In this opening none characters are shown but the numbers are put in a position of highly importance thanks to the editing.

The conventions of the opening works very well to present the plot of the film and as a thriller the conventions are building the tension which is the purpose of the opening. The most important technical element that the opening has is the music, this feature takes the tension to another level. 

health and safety tutorial

Health and safety tutorial
On Mondays lessons 5th of December 2011 we were introduced into what is called a health a safety tutorial. Before we began our blogs our teacher Dan showed us how to use the cameras such as how to slot in the battery and the memory card into the camera, thus resulting in us doing abit of practical work on how to do this. This was very helpful as I found it difficult to use these sorts of cameras due to its size and let’s not forget it is very expensive. Our teacher Dan went around the class looking at how we would insert the battery and the memory card into the camcorder. We all had to sign a contract and all had to have our media cards with us by doing so we were able to gain access to the cameras and were able to use them not just in school but outside. We also were given warnings
Such as:

1). If you break the camera you will have to pay for another one

2). If the teacher or any member of staff sees misusing the camera then the teacher or staff will automatically substitute you to do coursework as an alternative

3). You must always have a spare battery with you



This is the type of camcorder that my group will be using in the production of filming to come.

watching documentry and answering questions

1) What Thomas Sutcliffe means when he says the film needs to seduce their audience into a long term commitment is that the film needs to draw the audience in for a period of time (possibly the whole movie) . seduce is a term that we use as another word for saying persuade
2) There are many risks of instant arousal according to jean jarques beineix l for example the audience demand to much and you have to deliver quickly, he compares it as being quick as delivering a pizza. you also need to deliver emotions, satisfaction and immediate gratification(wanting it now than later) to the largest number of people, in other words production companies will have to squeeze all the juicy bits at the beginning of the film but beineix claims that this is wrong first you must nurture you desire from there you get satisfication from the audience .
3) “a good opening must make the audience feel that it doesn’t know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn’t know too little” in my opinion I belive that what this means is that film producers do not want the audience to know too much about the film because if they do then they will not be surprised they will already know what to expect. however film producers don’t want the audience to know too little because this could end up in the audience getting confused.
4) Stanley Kauffman describes a classic opening as an establishing shot of new York city usually seen from the east, close-up of a building then the camera went up the building to a window then it went into the window then past the receptionist desk to the private office, this works in creating a classic opening as you are told in this process where is the film taking place, what are the occupations of the hero.
5) Kyle coopers title was very effective in the film seven because it was like a sequence that turned the viewers to the right, because it told a story of what was going on in the film and also foreshadowed the event to come within the movie lets not forget the use of dramatic music used to emphasis the beginning of the film.
6) orsan welles wanted to achieve in his opening to the film “a touch of evil” no credits or title music he wanted to plunge the audience into his story. However universal studio on the other hand was far more cautious in the end the studio one the battle as they still kept the title music and credits.
7) Well a favourite trick of film noir is when the beginning of the film is like an ending, it’s not a beginning at all.
8) in the beginning of the film “shining” already creates suspense as it is nearly picturest, there is an easily uplifted helicopter shot but on the second screening you can see that the trees are fall of almonds, the camera pursuits the car like a predator high up and from behind already emphasizing that the person who is in the car is travelling the wrong directions. this creates allot of suspense to the audience as they will get an impression that this person is driving the wrong directions and that something bad will happen to him or her, again dragging the audience.

Thriller opening analysis

The aim of an opening to any film is to present it which is done through introducing the plot and characters ect and setting the scene for the audience. Usually the first thing that one will see at the beginning of a film is the production company details and sometimes the distribution company as well. Below one can see a screenshot taken of a production company logo that appears before the film begins. It is very important to show these details at the beginning as the audience need to know who the film was produced by.

Next, we will see the title of the film and the credits. Below one will see a screen shot taken from a film called Psycho made in the year 1960. As you can see there is a dark background which may be common for a thriller film as the colour black connotates mystery, fear and uncertainty. The font will be clear and legible for the to audience to read. As the film begins we then may see some of the actors/actresses names appear on the screen and also the names of people that were vital for the making of the film.

As the film begins the first shot that we will usually see is an establishing shot. This can be a pan around a room to show the audience what is in it or like in the screen shot that I have taken below (The Taking of Pelham 123, 2009) an aerial shot. This is used to show the audience where the film is located and to set the scene.

During the opening we will be introduced to the main character/s. It is very important that they are immediately introduced to us so we know from whose perspective the film is going to revolve around. They may be presented to us in various different ways, for example in the film Trainspotting made in 1996 the main characters are first seen running along the street away from someone. From this opening shot of them we may be able to infer that these people may be trouble makers as it seems like they have done something bad and are trying to get away from the situation as fast as possible. Here is a screen shot of when we first see the characters running.

Another feature that is instantly recognizable in an opening to a movie will be the soundtrack. The music played is vital in any movie especially in a thriller as it is used to build tension which is essential. I have watched the openings to a few thriller films and a recurrent feature that appears throughout each of them is that the soundtracks are predominantly sinister. The soundtracks are non-digetic and they set the mood for the audience creating tension and suspense where necessary.

During the opening there will be appropriate mise-en-scene for the mood of the film. For example, the lighting is a crucial part as it reflects the ambience of the scene. If we were to see a dark setting this may reflect the impending evil that may be about to occur. Also appropriate props will be seen, for example I have taken a screen shot which can be seen below from the film One Hour Photo made in 2002. The image shown is of a camera which is a vital part of this film.

Finally, the camera shots and editing will also be important for the opening as they are used to create the mood and build suspense where it is needed. Overall, from studying openings of thriller films I have learnt that there are a great number of features that are used in order to present the film in the correct way that the producers are trying to achieve. I feel that looking at the openings is a very important thing to do as it will give myself and my group inspiration and will help us understand the key features needed in order to create a good opening to a thriller film.

Brainstorming Ideas

I've been further thinking about ideas that we could use for our thriller opening. After viewing a few various openings to some popular thrillers, I have decided myself that jumping straight in with an image that immediately causes suspense (a shocking image etc.) is more captivating, and so I was thinking that our group could use this technique. I've also noticed that blood or death in the first scene makes the viewer go, "what?" which successfully starts the movie off as a thriller, which is what our group hopes to do. Here's a quick sketch of what I had in mind. It's nothing pro, but it's an idea.:

 

Also, suspenseful music, but not a full on song, seems to be more effective when creating suspense. A simple piano tune in a higher octave seems very successful. For example:

  

Hopefully, my group likes my idea, because then we have something to base our opening off. :)

Group project - camera shots

Today, we checked out equipment and got used to using it through various shots. Here are some photos of us practising:

Close up out to wide, out to perspective shot.

What makes a good opening.

After viewing a few openings of thrillers on http://openingsteaching2012.blogspot.com/Teaching Blog, I discovered many basics, in order to make a classic, or just simply necessary opening to a thriller movie.

1. Before anything, there is a production/distribution company showing.

                                             


2. Sound and music with credits to set up the mood and build the tension and suspense. This music is generally "creepy" or evokes a certain feeling in which to establish the feel of the movie. For example, the opening of the thriller "One Hour Photo".







3.The title. The title is the next thing to appear, and the text always accompanies the movie. Usually, this text is on a plain black background, to bring focus to it.

4. The next thing visible is some sort of important image or scene that establishes the movie, for example, in one hour photo, the first image after the title sequence is a camera, which is a crucial part of the movie

.
Through techniques such as these, our group hopes to successfully make a convincing opening to a  thriller movie.

thriller opening

Thriller opening
There are many things that are employed in a thriller to give it such a dramatic and excellent start for example we often see the name of the company’s such as distributors and Productions Company’s name and key people who were involved in the production and distribution of the film, for example

The cast that will be featured in the movie will also be seen at the beginning of movies as well as the credits all in a list. Even the name of the title could be used by many production companies at the beginning of a film to illustrate horror for example if your title said "BEWARE" or something along the lines of horror and the font was dripping in red emphasizing blood then this would create a strong image intact a very vivid impression in the audience mind that they are in for a real horror movie. An Example In the film psycho 1960 in the beginning of the film when they are introducing the names, all the names were cutup emphasizing that there is allot of people possibly in the movie that are getting sliced by someone (a murderer). in most cases if the production company’s director has made other successful movies then they will mention things like from the creator of what ever the other films the producer has made. The use of dramatic music of non diegetic will play a key part at the begining of the film this could create suspense and will really draw the audience in as this brings allot of tension to the table.

Thriller opening

The meaning of the opening is to present the film. The soundtrack that usually is a non-diegetic music sets the mood to the audience, building the tension for the movie.

This clip is the opening of "The stepfather" a thriller made in 1987. In this clip is clear how the music is presenting the story creating suspense and building fear towards the character that we are seeing on the screen. The camera will set the story, in this particular case the camera shows the house with close ups of family pictures setting the story in a family house.

The main character will be usually presented with a misce-en-scene which will develop the character allowing the audience linked the props with the character and connects the props with the story.

The image is from the same film and is showing how the character is changing the way he looks making the props a main point of interest as the audience is wondering why he has to use these eye contacts, building the character.

The credits will appear as the opening is rolling written in a font that emphasis in the theme of the film.

This image is from "Psycho" a thriller made in 1960. In the opening we can see how the credits are presented to emphasis in the fact that the killer cuts his victims as the letters are cut for the middle.

As the credits appear the production company name also will appear on the screen and in some occasions the distribution company as well. The editing will present the use of effects and transitions that  builds the tension this will be different for each film depending on the intention of the opening and how the film wants to direct the audience.

In psycho the editing is more subtle while in "The number 23" the transitions are more clear.