All of our shoots will be filmed indoors in a big "rich persons" mansion. It will mostly be filmed in the sitting room, which will have three sofa's, a coffee table, fireplace(maybe) and carpets on the floor. We have decided to either ask a fellow student to film in her house or as a "back up"plan we will film in the Hurtwood interview lounge. In the sequence the lead character is having a posh cocktail party therefore the table should be full of cocktail and wine classes. There will be two waiters moving around offering people drinks and canapés, they will both be wearing waiter uniforms.
The props we will need for this are waiter trays, waiter uniforms, canapés and cocktail and wine glasses.
Moreover, as a posh company party there has to be some drugs, so we decided to make one of the actors sniffing the cocaine through a 50 pounds bond. As cocaine we will use flour.
In addition, our characters will lie in relaxed poses and smoke shishas and cigarettes. These things we'll order and also we'll be provided with a fake tobacco.
Charlotte - An extremely rich young women (aged 21) who has been successful in her acting career. She has a special gift, she is able to see when people are going to die by looking into their eyes. She has been traumatized by this ever since she can remember, she know tries to live her life avoiding eye contact with anyone she meets. Whenever she has a party or whenever she has a visitor they are requested to wear sunglasses. This character will be played by Isabella.
Jack - charlottes boyfriend, they have been going out for a year now. He finds it hard to be with her and have to wear sunglasses every moment they are together. He is a successful musician and met Charlotte while working on set with Charlotte in a music video. This character will be played by NJ.
Eva - A close friend of Charlottes who is her agent for acting jobs. They have remained close friedns ever since. She used to Charlotte's strange behavior and supports her in any situation. This character will be played by Daria. Beatrice, Elizabeth, Victoria, Nicholas and Joseph are Charlotte'sneighbours and sometimes when she's bored she invites them for a cocktail. They spend time dancing, laughing, drinking and taking drugs- this is how the elite young people spent their free time. Despite the fact that the party is at house the atmosphere is not homy, they all look posh and try to show off themselves. These characters will be played by Ksenia B., Carlotta, Laura, Mike and Habib. Santi and Simon are waiters, they also will wear sunglasses.
Our opening sequence will be filmed in thriller genre and the subgenre will be supernatural thriller. This genre is mixed in with tension and suspense in addition to also having unsuspected twist during the film. The main character usually has a supernatural gift. There are are several films which influence on the formation of our opening sequence. First of all the movie like "Jumper" made an impact on some of our ideas and we twisted a plot, we wanted to start with early years of Charlotte's life and show how she found out about her gift, but as we are compacted with time, we've deleted this part and left only the main scene of an young lady who already knows about her gift.
Her life has changed since she found about her gift and she earned money from it and raised her social status. This the audience can see from the surrounding: posh friends and posh house.
Also, the second movie is the "Final Destination". The plot is deferent to our's but the idea of knowledge that your death is close is very similar. So, we changed some ideas about how to present the gift and stopped at "seeing in eyes the date of death".
Isabella Woolger, Magan Havard and me started storyboarding for our thriller opening sequence 'Charlotte' . This process is very important because our project needs more broad ideas and we have to actualize them.Storyboarding is the process of drawing out shots we have to take, it's kind of a plan which helps us to put everything in order.
This way, we understand what props we need, who can star in and how long the thriller opening sequence will be. Also, we include the setting, shot type and what's going on in it- this is very valuable information because the sequence has to be fitted in timing and placement and we have to find these.
We didn't spent a lot of time thinking about the title and in 5 minutes decided that the
main character name will be Charlotte and the thriller will have the same name, to help the audience to concentrate all attention on hero. We have decided to make our thriller not very intense from the
beginning so first shots are very relaxed and there is no tension and the audience would not suspend anything.
However, the scene would be set in one room and people act in would wear sunglasses. This unusual detail will attract mainly all the attention of viewers. So, the plot would be not understand by the audience till the end of the sequence, they will guess and we'll make them think about the atmosphere in this room and these people in sunglasses by different types of shots. We' ll show that all characters are usual people, with habits and interests in life. The next detail which the audience will notice is that Charlotte, the main character doesn't wear the sunglasses and this would be the second guess. People would make predictions about the end which will surprise everyone by its queerness.
The most important thing about making the thriller is the timing and shots types we have to use and pay a lot oaf attention to, and this would be easier to do if all the work will be done in group.
How does the sequence establish the tone of the film (generate suspense)?
The sequence's use of sound throughout gives the audience the first clues about the tone of the movie. It starts off very low, chordal and intense, then breaks into a heavy rock rendition of a rap song, with heavy chords and an urban feel. By listening to the soundtrack, I can tell the movie is going to be intense and modern, the opening chord creates the most suspense as it is mysterious and chilling.
How does the film introduce where and when the film is set?
In the first establishing shot, it shows a busy city skyline full of skyscrapers and buildings, which we know from various landmarks such as the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Centre. The shots of yellow cabs, which New York is famous for, anchors this, as well as the shots of busy streets full of people.
How does the sequence introduce characters?
The sequence introduces characters by focusing in on the character and following their movements for a few seconds. Most of the sequence is slightly unfocused, especially on the shots of people walking through the city, until a man in a black beanie hat and sunglasses is shown in slow motion walking into a subway station with a focused lens, which connotes his involvement in the film's main plot. We are then introduced to a man and shown a brown duffel bag and a badge saying 'MTA' with a broken nose, glasses and a hat standing on a subway platform. These shots are all juxtaposed, suggesting that these are important features that are useful clues to the audience.
How does the film use text titles to tell you about the themes of the film? (how do they move, what colour and font has been chosen?)
Here is the analysis of an opening sequence of a thriller 'One hour photo'. Next three blogs includes bullet points and my answers on questions for an accurate analysis.
How does the sequence establish the tone of the film (generate suspense)?
The title sequence opening creates suspense from the musical score. Tense, suspenseful, orchestral music plays in the background, with a drum beat and deep bass creating a tense tone to the film, steadily building up suspense. The music steadily increases pitch to a climax, which coincides with a camera flash going off, possibly showing that a this film revolves around danger, specifically involving cameras. The scene of the mans photo developing into the police shows that there is an element of danger in this movie.
How does the film introduce where and when the film is set?
The use of old technology, for example a large bulky computer introduce the time period; possibly between the mid 80's and the early 90's due to the large equipment that is uncommon today. The fact that the main character has his photo developed into the Evans County Police Department records gives the audience the area that it is set in, Evans County in Georgia.
How does the sequence introduce characters?
The sequence introduces the protagonist by revealing him using a computer screen, loading an image of his face. This shows he is in legal trouble for some reason. We learn that he has a connection to photography from his knowledge of the subject, for example asking the detective "do you guys have your own lab or do you have to send them out?" referring to the roll of film found in his bag. The detective is introduced as being professional but kind; firstly from the dialogue ("You do not have to talk to me if you don't want to") and also from the composition of the shots. He sits down, allowing a 2 person over the shoulder shot to reveal that they are at the same level, possibly suggesting their equality. The over the shoulder shot also presents the fact that the protagonist is being watched through the mirror screen.
How does the film use text titles to tell you about the themes of the film? (how do they move, what colour and font has been chosen?)
The titles of the film immediately tell us that this film
has a big theme of photography; each title is presented as a "slide"and disappears after it has exposed. The fact that the text turns red and then fades could represent danger or violence in the movie, creating tension for the audience, the audience pays more attention to the movie.
Genre (from French "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus; Greek: genos) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. movie, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued.
Usually films within a particular genre share things like dark humor or sarcasm, which makes the audience to pay attention more to what goes on. Also, each movie has a negative and positive character, so the audience can decide who is more valuable for it. The third thing which usually appears at any movie is an unexpected occasion which changes a whole point, so this makes the movie interesting to the audience because they want to find out the truth finally.
The thriller genre is different from most other genres because on the surface many of them look entirely different from each other. Let's look at two of them "Shutter Island" and "Deep Impact" in details.
First of all "Shutter Island" is a psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and "Deep Impact" is a 1998 American science fiction disaster film. So, the main idea of these two films is different to each other. The characters are different in age, so they act differently, as teenagers can't act as a middle-age person. Also, the setting of these movies are different, the action in "Shutter island" takes place in the hospital for criminally insane and " Deep impact" is filmed in normal school, where main characters are children and teachers.
But what makes these movies thrillers?
In the first one the audience with time realizes that something goes on in this hospital and till the end of the movie it can't understand the plot till the end, however in the second movie the audience has all information about the disaster which will happen soon and the way people deal with problem, which barriers they meet and how they avoid it.
Thrillers also have a lots in common because their main purpose is to make the audience to pay attention and concentrate on the plot and finally the plot has to challenge the audience with hidden meanings and terrifying predictions.
One of these things can be the impossible subjects ( can be aliens, huge sharks or even a meteorite), the main purpose is to frightened the audience, to shot it something outstanding, unpredictable and terrifying.
Due to the thriller genre being so diverse, there are a number of subgenres to categorise different types of thriller in, based on their traits. Below is a list of 5 of some of the most popular thriller subgenres and what the basic elements of them are, as well as examples of some well known films from each.
Crime Thrillers
Crime thrillers focus on failed or successful crimes on screen. More often or not, the film focuses on criminals rather than the hero and often has a psychological element to this genre as well. Films in this category include Reservoir Dogs and Inside Men.
Disaster Thriller
This particular subgenre usually follows a select group of people or a person that has survived either a natural disaster (hurricanes, earthquakes or volcano's for example) or a human made disaster (e.g nuclear warfare) in which most of humanity has been wiped to the brink of extinction. Movies in this genre include 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow.
Psychological Thriller
A psychological thriller plays with the audiences minds as it reflects the main characters unstable emotional states. It creates suspense through showing the mentality of the character. Some popular films in this sub genre are: The Shining, Black Swan and One Hour Photo.
Religious Thriller
The plot of this type of thriller connects religious institutions, holy objects, questions and mysteries. These film usually unravel the good and bad points about religion, particularly Catholicism. Religious Thrillers include: The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.
Supernatural Thriller
Supernatural thrillers usually involve an out-of-this-world elements, to which burdens or has a relation to the protagonist in some way, in which they must overcome. This genre is closely connected to religious thrillers, in the way demons or sprits can posses antagonists. Other common plots involve aliens. Films in this genre: The Others, Paranormal Activity, The Sixth Sense.
This week we started to work on some ideas for our synopsis and opening sequence. There are three of us: Bella, Megan and me but the greatest idea was Bella's and the name of it is "The gift", so here it is:
Charlotte has a rare gift, she can see numbers in only some peoples eyes, and she doesn’t know what these numbers mean. Until one day she finds out that the true meaning of these digits she sees in peoples eyes are in fact their death date. The story focuses on the day she finds out what the numbers mean that only she can see in peoples eyes. One day Charlotte is sitting in a bar at the age of seventeen when the man next to her begins to sob by himself. As she looks closer at him, she notices the numbers in his eyes, she takes no notice of the numbers because she has being seeing them in random peoples eyes ever since she can remember. The next day at home she sees on the news the man she was sat next to the day before in the bar, has committed suicide by throwing himself of a bridge, the date being the 18/01/14. She recognizes those digits because those are the exact same numbers she saw in the mans eyes. So she then realizes that the numbers she had seen in the mans eyes the day before had in fact been his death date. She tries to live her life from that day on without having to look at anyone in their eyes but one day while having breakfast is forced to look into her mothers eyes. Unfortunately she sees those deadly numbers in one of the people she loves most. Her mission from that moment on is to try and prevent her mothers fate, who is destined to die in a weeks time according to the numbers Charlotte can see in her eyes.
This is the original synopsis which is followed by the opening sequence:
The first scene is set in an airport where Charlotte is running towards her gate number for her flight back to England. She is late. The sequence opens with a close up shot of the flight board where we can see the current date. The scene then cuts to an establishing shot that trollies to the left as charlotte is running through the airport to her gate. She arrives at the gate, the shot cuts to an over the shoulder shot of her talking to the stewardess who is closing the gate. She asks if she can go through but the lady shakes her head and says it is too late. The camera zooms to a close-up of her eyes where we can see the numbers of that current date. 151213 (same in both eyes). Shot cuts to charlotte on the sofa drinking a can of beer, watching the BBC news. It opens with an establishing shot, the news is heard as a diegetic sound announcing that a plane crashed the day before. Charlotte drops her can on the floor in shock. The shot cuts to a close up of the TV screen with the news of the plane crash and then cuts to a close up of the beer trickling out of the can.
We've presented this idea to Matt and he criticized it in ways of
filming in airport is a big problem, so we need to change the place, overall he said to avoid public places like train station, cafes, clubs
the idea of the opening sequence is a bit similar to the plot of the movie "Final destination", so we need to change the surrounding and the situation in which Charlotte finds out about her gift.
Genre is a quite an abstract concept and it is easiest to explain with examples. Sone common genres include western, film noir, horror, love stories, comedies, bio-pics, rites of passages, science fiction, war film and etc.
Each of them has its own characteristics so it is easy to realize which of them it is.
For example, in horror genre the central character is usually a victim, religion and belief are significant, conflict is often between good and evil, children are usually significant and have special powers or insight and the location is usually very important.
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced.
A thriller provides the sudden rush of emotions, excitement, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace. It keeps the audience on the "edge of their seats", akin to a sensation of hanging from a cliff, as the plot builds towards a climax. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.
Common subgenres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. Another common subgenre of thriller is thespy genre which deals with fictional espionage. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The horror and action genres often overlap with the thriller. Thrillers tend to be psychological, threatening, mysterious and at times involve larger-scale villainy such asespionage, terrorism and conspiracy.
Here is an extract from Alfred Hitchcock movie "Birds".
Last week we were shortly introduced to the editing program so this week we also spent one lesson continuing our work on prelim editing. After a short peer review of each other's work, there was an introduction into thriller opening and title sequences as an example we watched an opening sequence of "Leon". This was made to get us thinking about the opening of the thrillers as an epilogue/precursor to the main body of the film.
Finally, we made our first prelim and post it on Youtube.
Using the footage shot last week, we were introduced to the Final Cut Pro, this is the program to edit prelims and other types of videos also we learned how to check in and out work correctly in Final Cut Server. When this was done, our group was told how to make new "Bins" in this program to organize the new footage. Afterwards we placed it on the timeline and using tools like Trim Handles, Blade and In/Out Points and cut to make a clean, smoothy contunuity edit.
The most important lesson during this week was a preliminary lesson. We were again in our groups and filmed a basic storyboarded scene which must be done in at least in 5 different types of shots. We had an opportunity to change scenes and play with emotions but the main target was to make as much as possible good shots for future editing and making a prelim after this. We've done some wide shots, then series of over the shoulder shots, close up and finally the reverse of these two shots.
This week we found out about a simple method for shooting sequences on a single camera. We learned several definitions like mid-shot, long hot, medium hot, over the shoulder shot, point-of-view shot and the big close-up shot and then used them during the filming. A technique which Jason taught us ensured that the action flows together nicely in the edit, without any gaps.
First week of studying Media we had camera lessons. Learning the basics of how to use the camera was not so difficult as I expected and we also had time to cover exposing and white balance, touching on the difference between indoor and outdoor light tempreture.
Moreover, we did some filming in our groups. We had to set the tripod, bubble and rebalance it afterwards and finally we acted a little bit.
I study Media in Hurtwood House and I really enjoy it because I'm keen on watching movies and the ability to learn how to criticize and describe the scenes of any kind makes me gladsome.
I really love Tarantino's movies maybe it sounds mainstream because he's the only famous all around the world director and its a usual phrase "I love Tarantino's movies"but I love how he films and acts, how he writes scenes, he has his own way of representing the idea of the plot to the audience .
The aim of study is to understand the requirements of the course and be able to apply media theory to a variety of images.
Last two weeks we studied textual analysis, analysis of the opening sequence of thriller films and also we find out how representations are used to manipulate audiences and create meanings.
We looked at some movie trailers and opening sequences like "Usual Suspects".
My name's Daria Zhukova. My motherland is Russia and I live in Moscow for about 10 years.
I travelled a lot but I still believe that Moscow is the most beautiful city in the world, the life in Moscow goes furiously fast and exciting so you will never be bored.
There are many different ways of spending evenings in Moscow. You can go to the cinema, to the theatre, opera, philharmonic or just relax in the café with friends or family.
My mother and I love movies and theatricals so Media Studies is the best choice for me what to study as the fourth subject in Hurtwood House.
