Our 'Market Research' and Review of Our Idea

In order to see what people thought of our idea and to see what we could do to make it better, we interviewed some people of different genders and ages to get a wide range of responses.
       The questions we asked were:
1)What genre of film do you normally watch? Why?
2)What is your favourite film (especially thrillers)? Why?
3)What makes you want to watch the film (especically thrillers)?
4) Would you watch our thriller? Why/Why not?
5)What could we change that would make it better?
6) If the characters are more attractive, would this change your opinion?

From these interviews, it seems that our idea is appealing and that people would like to watch it. However, some said that they like the tension and mystery created in thrillers, making me look back at our opening sequence to see if there is enough tension or not.

Research into Characters in Films Similar to Mine

In our thriller, the main characters are the girl who has gone missing and was killed, the murderer and kidnapper as well as a detective who has to solve the case. I decided to look at thrillers that feature similar characters that are in similar situations to the ones in our thriller.
     'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' features two characters that are similar to the characters in ours. There is a journalist turned detective, Mikael Blomkvist who plays a similar role to the role of our detective. In this film, Blomkvist has to help solve the disappearance of a girl who has been missing for 40 years. The girl in this film is also similar to that in ours because both have been missing for a long amount time. This picture shows what Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) wears in the film, signifying that he is important as he is dressed smartly and looks official. This is similar to how the detective in our film should look. Daniel Craig is also a well-known, attractive actor and therefore this makes women want to watch the film. In order to get people to watch our thriller, we would have to take a similar approach and have a good looking detective.
     In the film 'Gone', both the Jill and Molly are similar to the girl in the opening sequence of our thriller. Jill has previously been kidnapped and in the film, there are several flashbacks showing the audience what happened. Molly is also kidnapped in the film and Jill believes it was the same person who took her. These characters are similar to the girl in our film as she too will have been kidnapped. Moreover, Jill is also similar to the detective in our thriller as in 'Gone', Jill helps to solve what has happened to her sister and this is the role of the detective in our thriller. Amanda Seyfried is an attractive actress, making the film more enticing for young men, and in our thriller, we will also use a pretty girl to make boys want to watch the film.

Costumes, Props and Locations

Changes to the Plot - Plot Update

We looked at our plot and decided that there are some more things we could add to make the film more interesting.

'A young girl named Hannah Williams was a young girl who moved to the UK in the hope for a better life than the one she leads back at home in Romania. When she arrived at the airport, she was kidnapped and held hostage for about 3 years in a normal looking neighbourhood, with nobody noticing. She had not been seen since the day she went missing, leading to the police presuming she was dead. One night, she manages to escape from where she was being held hostage, however, unfortunately her kidnapper saw her running away while he was driving home from being out, following her without her realising and kills her.
    Bradley Johnson, is a detective who happens to live next door to where Hannah was being held hostage and was visiting his neighbour (who happens to be the killer/kidnapper). He leaves the house and coincidentally follow the same route Hannah did the previous night before she was murdered. He walks into the park planning on watching his son play in a football match when he sees a black bag near the bushes.
    Unfortunately, he was seen standing around with the bag by some passers by and is accused of the murder of Hannah Williams. Bradley is determined to prove his innocence,  calling in favours from friends in the police department in the hope that this will uncover the mystery of who truly took Hannah and killed her. Bradley tries to gather enough evidence to put the real criminal behind bars once and for all, but, is Hannah the only victim? Will Bradley discover there is more going on than he realises?'

Changes Made to Our Opening Sequence Since Filming the Run Through

Since filming the run through we have made a series of changes to our storyboard as well as the characters involved.
     We have decided to use one detective rather than two as this will be more effective in creating a mystery about the character and it will be easier to give directions, however, what this character will do is more or less the same as before. It is also easier to cast one detective rather than two as not as many people will be needed.
      Instead of the girl falling over when she is running, she will have her hands tied up and she will drop the rope where she would have fallen over. We have decided to do this because it is much safer as we do not want the girl to hurt herself on the pavement when we are filming as she could end up with a serious injury that will effect our ability to complete the shoot.
     We have also added some shots to our storyboard. The establishing shot now incorporates a pan of the houses around it to illustrate the fact that this is a normal neighbour hood and that the girl was being held in a house near people who didn't have a clue.

Target Audience for Different Types of Thrillers

Research Into and Target Audience for Thrillers Similar to Ours

     

The Plot for Our Thriller

We decided that our original plot for our thriller wasn't clear or simple enough, so we decided to modify it, making it easier to understand whilst keeping it as similar as possible to our original idea.

'A young girl named Hannah Williams was kidnapped and held hostage for about 3 years in a normal looking neighbourhood, with nobody noticing. She had not been seen since the day she went missing, leading to the police presuming she was dead. One night, she manages to escape from where she was being held hostage, however, unfortunately her kidnapper saw her running away while he was driving home from being out, following her without her realising and kills her.
    Bradley Johnson, is a detective who happens to live next door to where Hannah was being held hostage and was visiting his neighbour (who happens to be the killer/kidnapper). He leaves the house and coincidentally follow the same route Hannah did the previous night before she was murdered. He walks into the park planning on watching his son play in a football match when he sees a black bag near the bushes.
    Unfortunately, he was seen standing around with the bag by some passers by and is accused of the murder of Hannah Williams. Bradley is determined to prove his innocence,  calling in favours from friends in the police department in the hope that this will uncover the mystery of who truly took Hannah and killed her. Bradley tries to gather enough evidence to put the real criminal behind bars once and for all.'

Filming a Run Through of Our Opening Sequence

What I Have Learnt from Creating My Storyboard

Drawing the storyboard for our thriller was a difficult task because of just how specific you have to be, however, there are many  benefits to creating one.
    From doing this, I have been able to visualize what I want my opening sequence to be like. It has enabled me to put the idea that we can up with in words onto paper but in a way that we could see exactly what was happening.
    I have also been able to see that it is difficult to choose what camera angles we wanted to use and when we would use them. This was hard because we had to think about what would best illustrate to an audience what was happening in each cut.
    By creating a storyboard, we could organize the opening sequence into the right order. This was difficult to do because we want to cross-cut between the girl running and the police investigation. Making a storyboard allowed us to order the events into a suitable order.

Shot List

This is the list of shots and the order that we want them to appear:

Shot 1: Establishing long shot of the house
Shot 2: Medium close up of the door
Shot 3: Close up of feet running
Shot 4: Close up of different person's feet walking slowly
Shot 5: Mid shot of girl running - initially need to be front on and then move round to behind her
Shot 6: Over the shoulder shot as girl falls to floor
Shot 7: Mid shot of detective walking towards where girl fell
Shot 8: Point of view as detective gets closer to the stop
Shot 9: Close up as hand reaches out to touch blood
Shot 10: Close up of girls face as running
Shot 11: Close up of detectives face as walking
Shot 12: Mid shot of girl as runs into park
Shot 13: Mid shot of detective walking into park
Shot 14: Close up of detectives hands pulling away cover on body

Our Storyboard for Our Thriller

This is the storyboard for our thriller. We broke down each individual shot and attempted to draw out what we want to see as well as writing underneath what should be seen. We did this so that we could sequence the opening sequence for our thriller and see if what we wanted to do would work.
Initially, we drew out each individual shot and put them out on a piece of paper so that we could see what we wanted. We put the shots into categories (the shots of the house, the girl and the detective and police). This enabled us to see what we wanted to do with each character. By doing this, we were able to move around parts of the opening sequence until we were happy with the order and could finalize what we wanted. We then drew out the storyboard in the order that we wanted the events to occur.

This is the storyboard we created after finalising our ideas:

Research into Thrillers with a Similar Opening Sequence to Ours

The opening sequence to 'Sherlock' is similar to what we want to do because it involves someone running away from something at night and we want to have a girl running away from a house at night. Although the concept for the film is not identical to what we aim to do, it is enough to compare the two ideas.
       The close ups of the paving stones sets the scene, connoting that this film starts on a dark, dingy street. It sets the tone because the dark colours create a sense of mystery and tense atmosphere.
     The non-diegetic music playing has a an eerie effect adding the to mystery. It also helps set the tone for the film because it builds up in tempo and in volume signifying that the events throughout the film will all lead up to one big reveal. Additionally, the diegetic sound of the horses hooves as they gallop along the road also get faster as the opening sequence goes on symbolising that there is a chase taking place.
    The cross-cutting between the horse and carriage and the man running signifies that the man is running away from the people in the carriage. The close-ups of the men in the carriage shows them holding guns , getting ready to catch someone which further implies that the man is running away from them.
    This sequence is set on a normal street and so anyone could have seen what was going on. This film steers clear of the cliche 'running through a woods' and makes the audience intrigued to know what is going on as instead of running away from the house and down the street, the man is running away from what seems to be the police into a house.

The opening sequence of this film is similar to what we want to create because the both centre around the idea of a girl running from something and show the girl running through the streets rather than a forest.
     The use of the street for the girl to be running through is effective because it has the same, if not more thrilling an effect as a girl running through a forest. It creates a sense of mystery as it is unclear why she is running and if she is trying to run away, the audience may ask why she is running away in broad day light down a normal street.
    The close ups of the girl's face signify to the audience that the girl has been abused because she has a lot of scars and bruising on her face. This makes the audience wonder if she is running away because she has been through this and can't take it any more.
    At the end of the sequence, there is a long shot of the girl standing on the  bridge and then a close up of her face as she contemplates jumping. This is effective because it makes the audience aware of how unhappy she is and how she doesn't want to live like this any more.
    The difference between this opening sequence and the one we want to create is that although both characters will die, ours will be murdered by another person, whereas in this opening sequence the girl kills herself.

In the opening of 'The Silence of the Lambs,' a woman is seen running through a forest. Close-ups of her face connote that she is tired and the initial long shot enables the audience to see the clothes she is wearing. The woman is wearing a scruffy tracksuit, making it look like she doesn't  care about how she looks or that she hasn't had the ability to do this, The woman has her hair tied back, however, bits of her hair are falling out and she is dripping with sweat, which signifies that she has been running for a while.
    The fast pace, close up, tracking shots of the woman's face and shoes create a sense that she is running extremely fast as her face and feet become blurred. This symbolises that she could be running away from something or someone due to the speed at which she is running.
    In this film, the woman is not running away from anything, instead, she is an FBI agent training. This is both similar and different to our opening sequence. It is similar because we want to have a detective walking, following the clues left at the crime scene, but different because in this, the agent is running and training, but in our, they will be working on the crime scene.

Real Life Incidents Similar to Our Thriller

In the news recently there has been the story of a 13-year-old boy who managed to contact his mother after being held in a house behind a fake wall for the past 4 years. This relates to our thriller because the girl who had been kidnapped had been held in a house yet none of the neighbours knew anything about this until she had escaped.
    Madeline McCann went missing in the summer of 2007 whilst on holiday with her family. The young child was taken from her room while her parents were at dinner. The police case has been going on ever since and the police have unfortunately not been able to identify who took Madeline, why they did it or whether she is still alive or not. This can link to the plot for our thriller because like in this case, our thriller will involve the police investigation surrounding the characters disappearance and murder.
    Jeffery Dahmer was an American serial killer who was later was killed himself. One of his victims who had been kidnapped managed to escape and ran up to a man asking for help. Dahmer followed the boy out and told that man that this boy was his just his boyfriend and that they had just had a fight. Dahmer later killed this boy after taking him back into captivity. This relates to our thriller because the girl in our thriller will also be escaping from having been held hostage and she will also end up being killed by the kidnapper.
    Shannon Matthews was reported missing, by her mother, after not having returned from school. There was £3.2 million hunt for Shannon, however, about a month after the investigation was opened, it was discovered that the girl was in her mother's boyfriend's house, drugged but otherwise fine. Karen Matthews (Shannon's mother) was later sentenced to jail. This can link to our idea because in this case, not everything was as it seemed. We want the opening sequence of our thriller to simply make it look as though a girl had been kidnapped and was escaping, but in reality, there is more to the case than this.

Development of Our Thriller Idea

After listening to the feedback on our idea, we did some more research and developed our idea.

Our Target Audience

After looking at the target audiences for different types of thrillers as well as similar to ours, we have changed our target audience from 12-22 as we feel this is inaccurate and that actually 12 years would be too young to watch our film.
     Our research showed that more males watched and enjoyed thrillers similar to what we aim to create and so, we decided that both the primary and secondary target audience would be males, but, there will also be some females that would watch our film.
     Our primary target audience is males aged 18-24 because the research we have carried out on thrillers like ours as well as the interviews we carried out at school, we could see that people around this age group would enjoy watching our film. People of this age group like action as well as some violence and due to the fact that they are older than our initial target audience, they will be able to deal with the psychological aspects that will be involved in our film more appropriately.
     Our secondary target audience is also males, however, aged 25-40. This is because our research showed us that people of this age, particularly males watched these films. People of this age range will be more attracted to the psychological aspects of the film than the action because they are older and therefore have different interests.

Feedback on Our Thriller Idea

The feedback helped us a lot as it enabled us to see what needed to be improved about our idea for our opening sequence.

    One piece of advice we received was that while a forest location could work really well for our idea, this location is often over used and so is cliche for a person running away to be going. This made us think of alternative places we could use for our opening such as an alley way or even just a normal road.

   A few were confused about the opening sequence, asking who the characters were, why was the girl running and who from. We were able to answer these questions, however, it made us wonder that if our peers were unsure as to what was going on whether the same would be true for other people who did not have the chance to ask us questions. The general sense we received from this was that our opening sequence was far too complicated.

    Many were unsure of the significance of showing two characters and why we wanted to use a split screen. From this, we decided that this may not be the best idea and going back and forth between the characters was a factor contributing to the confusion. 

    The general feedback on the plot was positive, however, more of the girls said they would watch this if it was a film than the boys. The reason for this was that the main character was clearly a girl and so the story line focuses on her which is less appealing to males. We had to think of ways to make this film appeal to boys including what are their interests.

    Overall, this criticism has helped us to develop our idea further and think about other ways we can show the plot.

Camera Angles/Shots and Editing Techniques and General Rules

CAMERA ANGLES/SHOTS

Pan - the horizontal movement of the camera from a static position and can be horizontal or vertical.
Tracking - when the camera moves or tracks to follow a subject at close proximity. It is created using a dolly or steadicam.
Tilt - when a shot moves up and down on the vertical.
Crab - the subtle movement on the horizontal.
Crane - when the camera is mounted on to a crane so can move dramatically up and down.
Handheld - the shaky movement that follows the movement of the operator.
Zoom lens - this creates the illusion of the movement by altering the lens length.
Close up - this is when there is a close shot
High angle - this shows the subject from above. This can make the subject look weaker, powerless and less significant.
Low angle - this shows the subject from below, and can make them seem more powerful, in control
and the dominant character.
Extreme wide shot - this shows the subject from so far away that it is invisible and so is often used as an establishing shot.
Very wide shot - the subject is visible but only slightly, so the emphasis is still on placing them in the environment.
Wide shot - this shows the full frame of the subject.
Mid shot - this shows part of subject in some detail while still giving an impression of the whole picture.
Medium close up - this is half way between a mid shot and a close up
Close up - this focuses on one part/feature of the subject that takes up the whole frame.
Extreme close up - this shows the extreme detail of one part of the subject,

EDITING TECHNIQUES

A cut -  a clean change or break between one scene and the next.
Parallel editing - cross cutting between two or more lines of action going on in different directions.
Eye-line match - the first shot shows a person looking somewhere and the second shows what they were looking at.
Match on action - two different shots of the same action together, making it appear to continue.
Shot-reverse-shot - two shots edited back and forth between two or more characters (often used in conversations).
Parallel action - a convention that cuts between two different places, implying that they are happening simultaneously.
Elliptical editing - this is shown through a jump in time, for example, if the audience sees a man get into a plane and then get off a plane, the audience will realise that person has been on a plane journey and time has passed.
Transition- the way that two images are joined together and can be achieved in many ways.
Dissolve - a gradual transition between one scene and the next with one image dissolving into the next. This can be used to change time or location and signify a link between the two images.
Fade in/out - a gradual transition from the image to black (or another colour). This is often used at the beginning or end of a scene to signify the start or finish of something.
A wipe - one part of the screen moves across the other.


GENERAL RULES

The 180° rule must always be obeyed to help the audience make sense of what is going on. This is the imaginary line that passes from one side to another through the actors, and when filming, you must stay on one side of this line (particularly during conversation) unless you show the move from one side to the other.

Research into the Opening Sequence of Thrillers

I watched two opening scenes for different thrillers in order to help me improve my own.

LILYA-4-EVER

This opening sequence to this film uses linear trajectory narrative in which the narrative flow starts with the end before going back to the beginning and working towards this point. At first, a girl is seen running through the  busy streets, often looking down to show she is nervous. There is a tracking shot from behind the girl and point of view shots to show this. The girl then stops and turns round with the girl zooming into a close up of her face to highlight the bruises and scars on her face which connote that she is in pain and has been abused. The non-diegtic music adds to the panic and sense of depression as well as the distress that we can see in the girl due to the tempo ans rhythm of the music. The pathetic fallacy with the weather connotes further depression as it is very grey and bleak. There is a long shot of the girl standing on the bridge as well as a close up of her face to show her facial expression, which represent contemplation as it is almost as if she is wondering whether to jump of not, particularly when there is a point of view shot showing the road below where she proposes to land. her facial expressions also connote that she has given up hope and her eyes seem to be tired and she seems not to be bothered by the action she is about to complete. The quick cuts in this opening sequence also tells the audience that this is a face-paced film as a lot of action seems to be happening in a short amount of  time.

THE SKIN I LIVE IN
This film starts with a long shot of a road which presumably leads up to a house with gates at the front. This connotes that there is something secret about what is going on in this house or that someone is being held in the house because the baring is like that in a prison cell and the fact that the house is hidden away represents that something is going on that possibly shouldn't be. Moreover, there is a shot of barring on a window which adds to the idea that something or someone is being held in this place. There is a close-up of a hand crushing up a pill and putting it juice which represents the idea that the person being held is possibly disturbed or has an illness that needs to be taken care of. A woman is seen sending food down to whoever is held hostage using a machine rather than delivering it herself which symbolises that the person is trapped and is allowed very little communication with other people. There is a focus on a woman in a skin suit as there is a pan across her lying over the edge of a sofa as well as meditating on the floor. This connotes that the personality of this character is not quite right and the fact that she is in an almost bare room suggests isolation. The skin suit highlights that this character is unhappy with her own skin and so is hiding it, however, the audience don't yet know why this is the case. There is a pan across several doll-like heads which have been altered which is followed by a close-up of a hand cutting skin like material and then sticking it to one of the heads. This connotes that the character does have a fascination with skin and possibly altering it, but it is unclear why.

HOW HAS THIS INSPIRED ME?
Lilya-4-Eva illustrated to me that you don't need to have a girl running through a forest to make the opening sequence thrilling. This made me think that we could use alternative locations that are equally as creepy or deserted like an alley way or an area that is fairly deserted.

OUR IDEA

My Thriller Ideas

Different Types of Opening/Title Sequences

COMMON FEATURES OF AN OPENING SEQUENCE
In an opening sequence, you could expect the mood, tone and genre to be set in some way to help the audience identify what kind of film they are watching. You may also expect there to be some indication of who the main characters, however, this isn't always the case. The sequence may give some indication of the setting of the film, whether it is on some desert island or in a big city. Of course, the audience would expect to see the title of the film as well as other credits such as director, producer and the actors names.

DISCRETE
These opening sequences are like a mini film before the main film itself begins. It helps to set the mood of the film without giving away what happens in it, yet still identifying the tone and genre of the film. This type of sequence is discrete because it doesn't give much away. An example of this is 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', which show the title of the film and some related images, without giving away any of the plot.

TRADITIONAL
This type of title sequence gives the title of the film and the other credits, however, it doesn't show any of what will happen in the film. An example of this is '21 Jump Street'.

STRAIGHT INTO FILM 
Opening sequences like this jump right into the film without anything else happening before hand, like another sequence. 'Scream' is an example of this. Not only does what happen have little relevance to the rest of the film, but, there is non title sequence, the film begins with a girl in her house, straight in to a piece of action.

STYLISED
This is a mixture of discrete and straight into film. One example of this is Mersine.

Types of Thrillers

Mise-en-Scene and Sound in 'Speed'

MISE-EN-SCENE
In 'Speed' the opening sequence takes place behind lifts which creates a sense of mystery as this is not a place you would expect a film to begin. There are also two men, one in a suit and one dressed as a caretaker. It is obvious that the caretakers is fixing something but not as to why the man in the suit is there, creating suspense as the audience are intrigued to know why he is where he is. To add to the mystery, there is a bag lying isolated on the floor. This makes the audience wonder why the bag is there and whether it has something in it that could potentially cause harm to either character.

SOUND
The non-diegetic music is strong and heroic and is synchronous to the pan shot of the lift. This creates suspense and tension as the music builds up and the tempo follows the speed of the pan.
    The diegetic dialogue creates mystery as the audience can see and hear the man in the suit, however, initially, they can't see the caretaker, making them wonder who this voice is and where it is coming from. Moreover the caretaker says 'it's nothing personal' which is a disturbing thing to say, enhancing the fact that this character is possibly a bit disturbed himself.

Camera Angles and Editing Techniques in 'SPEED'

Editing the Prelim

After filming the prelim, edited the shots together so that the scene flowed and made sense.
     Once the footage had been uploaded to the computers, we used Adobe Premier to split this into individual shots, separating the mid-shots from the over the shoulder shots and high and low angle shots. After this was done, we used the storyboard to order shots on the timeline. We took the shot we wanted to use at each point, dragging it to the timeline and then using  the starting and end point tools to define where each shot would start and end. To make each shot join on from the next, we placed them directly next to each other to create continuity.
   We tried to stick to the storyboard as much as we could, however once we had split the footage into all the different shots, we realised that we didn't take all the shots necessary like close-ups of both people. This meant we had to change the type of shot used, so we used shots that were closest to the type of shot we were meant to use, for example, instead of a close-up, we used and over the shoulder shot as this was the most similar as this was the same level and shows the face in a similar way to the close-up.
    We used deep focus in our prelim so that you could see everything the whole time, as well as varying shot duration to fit what was shown on the story board. We used shot reverse shot during the prelim to show the conversation between the two people.

   There are many things I would do differently if I were to do this task again. This includes making sure that we took shots of all the angles necessary, for example, taking a close-up so that we could stick to the storyboard properly. Also, there as some points during the edited version if the prelim that you can tell that two shots have been put together, so if I were to do this again, I would make sure we found the precise end point of each individual shot to improve continuity.     During the editing, I took part in finding the end points of each shot from the footage. I also helped to select which shot we would use for each angle shown in the storyboard as we took a few shots of each angle. From this process, I learnt that it is actually very difficult to edit something as you have to be very precise about what shot is being used and when as well as what techniques you use. I realized just how accurate you have to be to make sure the scene flows properly.

V for Vendetta - Opening Sequence Analysis

The opening sequence of this film establishes the tone for the rest of the film. The diegetic voice of the news reporter along with the dystopian music connote a serious tone as well as revealing that many things have gone wrong. The tone of the news reporters voice further emphasises the serious nature of this thriller. The fact that the film begins with a reverse zoom of the news reporter speaking signifies that what he is saying is of importance in the film as it is the first thing the audience hear and will therefore help them understand what is going on in the film. Additonally, both the characters that are shown in the opening sequence are listening to the same news report which shows the audience that everyone is interested in or impacted by what is being said. As what is being said by this man grows more intense, there are more cuts back to the report and close-ups of his face, connoting that these are the pieces of information that the audience are meant to pick up on and pay attention on most.
     The woman is shown putting make-up, paying little attention to what is on the news which symbolises her vanity implying that she cares more about what she looks like than what is going on in the world around her. However, towards the end of the opening sequence, it appears that her interest grows as she glances at the TV more and more often, however, right at the end, she turns of the TV and says, 'that's quite enough of that,' which signifies that she disagrees with what is being said and doesn't want to hear anymore.
    The person putting on the mask appears to be starting something like a revolution as he/she is trying to hide their identity by wearing this mask and putting on black clothing. This is the complete opposite to the woman who is putting on make-up to draw attention to her identity and appearance. Moreover, he puts on a belt full of swords around his waste and there is a close up of the swords to show the audience just how many swords this person is carrying. This is done to make this character seem as violent as possible.
     The use of cross-cutting between the two characters doing almost the same thing signifies to the audience that these two characters will meet. This represents a typical convention of thriller/horror films as there is one masked, mysterious person who appears to be the one who will cause harm and a pretty girl harmlessly putting on make-up. It becomes quite clear that like many other thrillers/horrors, the masked person will kill or attempt to kill this woman. The dark colours also add to the sense of danger in the film, adding to the serious tone presented and are also another common convention of films of this genre.

Kill Bill - Representation of the Bride in the Two Different Scenes

In the first scene, the bride is presented as inferior to the man who is burying her alive, automatically making it seem like he has the higher status. The low-angle shot of the man looking down at the bride shows how inferior the bride is as it is showing how she is forced to look up at him. These shots are from the bride’s own perspective, and so, they show us exactly what she would be seeing in the situation. There is a low angle shot when the man gives the bride an ultimatum which clearly shows how he is in control of the situation, and portrays the bride as helpless. The constant close-ups of the bride’s eyes illustrate her fear as she is going to die. The audience sees close-ups of the bride’s face while she is inside the coffin which helps us see the panic she is expressing as present her as scared but claustrophobic. The close-ups of the nails being hammered into the coffin show that for the bride, there is no escape as she is being ‘locked’ inside the box. There are no shots of the coffin other than near her hands and face, showing just how small the coffin is but also represents how little hope she has as it is like the box is closing in on her and squashing any sense of optimism she has.

    The funereal, non-diegetic music gives the impression that the bride is going to die and shows how she is almost going to her own funeral. This makes her seem weak because there is nothing she can do to prevent this situation. The non-diegetic whistling contributes to the funeral-like setting and is eerie, making the audience think that the bride’s end is near. The synchronous sound of the woman panting and her heavy breathing each time mud is poured on to the coffin or she is lowered presents the bride as scared, in particular in when the screen is completely black, the audience have to rely on this sound to tell them how the bride is feeling. Additionally, the sound of her grunting and the synchronous sound of her banging on the top of the roof present the bride as desperate but also show that she has no luck as eventually, this stops, showing how she has lost all hope. Furthermore, the faint sound of the car driving away shows that no-one is around to help her and represents the fact that the she is now her only help.

    The lighting is very dim and minimal while she is in the coffin, again showing how little hope she has as it is like she can’t see ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’ as her life may end. This also makes the scene more horrific as the colours used in this scene are black and white only.

    In the second scene, the bride is presented in a different way. The high angle shot of the coffin makes it look bigger and so do the panning shots of her body in the coffin. This portrays that bride as once again having hope and being more positive. Moreover, the close-ups of her hands and boots show us that she now has a plan about how to escape.  The close-ups of her eyes no longer show her fear but instead, they show the brides determination to escape as the focus in her eyes is clear.  Although this shows how the bride is being shown in a different light, the audience is reminded that she is in the exact same situation as before through the use of a crane shot over the grave yard and the pan over the mud, reminding the audience of the bride being buried below this.  When the bride finally escapes, the close-up of the mud when her hand reaches up portrays the bride as almost zombie like because she is almost being brought back to life.

     The synchronous, diegetic sound of the bride punching the roof of the coffin is steady, presenting the bride as calm and as though she has a plan in comparison to earlier where she was just punching in desperation.  The non-diegetic music is more uplifting, showing that the bride is now the hero suggesting she will succeed in what she is doing. The music also picks up in tempo the closer the bride is to escaping, and it reaches its climax as she reaches the top which foreshadows the fact that she will escape.  The music also gets more peaceful, fluid and is more calming, reflecting the fact that the bride is calm, collected and knows she is doing.  When she finally escapes, she gasps for breath for a few seconds, showing how she was being suffocated underground, however, after this there is silence with the diegetic sound of crickets in the background which suggest that her struggle is not over as this contrasts to the fast, heavy breathing in the first scene and the sounds she made while attempting to escape earlier in this scene. The deigetic shuffling as the bride tries to escape is synchronous to her movements, showing how she is in control of the situation. It is also slow and steady which suggests that she is calm and is calculating her next move carefully.

    Light is used more in this scene as the bride uses the torch she has to light up the coffin. This shows how once again she can ‘see the light’ and is more optimistic. The use of more lighting and the fact that this scene uses colour show the bride as more heroic, stronger and more determined in her escape. The bride shine the torch on her face which really allows the audience to see the determination in her eyes.

Scream - Opening Sequence - How was Tension Created?

The mise-en-scene helps to create tension because we see a young, blonde girl in a house that is isolated in a forest. This immediate creates tension as it is clear that her isolation makes her vulnerable  to attacks, no-one is nearby to save her if she is in  danger. The girl is also dressed normally, in casual clothes, and the inside of her house is like any other, creating a sense of familiarity, making the tension greater as although the audience know something will happen in this film's world, it creates tension within the audience's own home because they wonder if something similar could happen to them there.
    At first, the camera only shows us the inside of the house, suggesting that she could be anywhere. However, a slow crane shot from above the trees down to the house, gives a clear shot of the house and the vast forest surrounding it. This illustrates how the girl is separated from the rest of the world as the pan is from the world line, showing no signs of other houses. This shows how the film is a thriller because there is tension created as it becomes clear that something will happen to this girl, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats until this happens., The camera also follows the girl around the house, highlighting how isolated she really is, as it appears that no-one is home, creating tension as you feel as though someone could jump out at any moment. The close-ups of the girls face show her fear, adding to the tension, showing once again that this is a thriller as the audience are waiting for her to 'scream'. The close-ups of the popcorn further contribute to the tension as it is obvious to the audience that when the popcorn explodes, the bad thing will happen, again showing how this is a thriller as the audience is kept on the edge of their seats waiting for this to happen, taking them by surprise when it does. The shot of the car pulling in to the drive create suspense as it distracts from the real action, making it even more scary and shocking when the man in the mask jumps out.
    The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds also create suspense. From the moment we hear the diegetic sound of the phone ringing which only ends when the girl answers it, we know something will happen to this girl. The fact that we hear both sides of the conversation but we can only see the girl. This creates further tension because we don't know who the person on the other end of the line is, creating anticipation from the audience and tension until they are revealed. Thus, contributing to the fact that this is a thriller because the audience are on edge wondering who this creepy person is. The mysterious non-diegetic music that begins when the voice says 'who I'm looking at' builds up in tempo and in volume as the scene continues creating tension. The steady beat of the popcorn popping, even though it increases in tempo, creates tension as we know when we hear it explode, the real danger begins. This shows that it is a thriller film as the increasing tempo creates tension of its own which could exist without the use of video footage. Similarly, there is a heart-beat like sound which picks up as the girl runs frantically around her house which further adds to the tension created.
    The lighting only adds to the tension. The use of the bright light at the beginning of the film around the house suggests that the girl has no fear. This is because nothing bad has happened yet, adding to the tension, and the fact that it is a thriller as the audience is just waiting for something to happen. As tension builds, the lighting becomes darker and during the time the girl is panicking, her boyfriend is kept in the dark until a sudden spotlight is shone on him, showing what the man had done to him, which adds to the thriller effect because the audience wonder how much worse violence and horror is going to get.

Pulp Fiction - Poster Analysis

Shutter Island - Poster Analysis

Children of Men - Poster Analysis

I didn't think that there was much you could tell about a film just from the poster, but I was wrong. All though it just looks like  a promotional poster, it does give a lot of information about the film, including the films genre and what it's about.

    Children of Men is a film set in a dystopian future and the fact that it is set in the future is immediately obvious because the poster says 'The Year 2027' in large, red font, which catches the eye. Under this, it says 'The last days of the human race. No child has been born for 18 years.' This tells me that this is a dystopian film because is is clear that something has gone wrong and it not quite right as the poster states that this is 'the last days' of humanity and that no children have been born for '18 years.' Although this is written in the top left hand corner, it is still eye-catching as the date stands out, being a larger font than the rest of the text. The fact that this is written  in red may suggest danger as often whenever danger is presented, red is shown. This highlights again the genre of the film. 

     The title of the film is printed in large, white font, however, some of the letters seem to be tarnished. This could suggest once again that the future presented is damaged just like some of the letters are. The contrast of these white letters against the black background also make it stand out, separating it from the dark background. The use of the colour white may also symbolise hope as white its the colour of purity and hope which contrasts with the red font used for the rest of the font on the poster.

    The big picture of Clive Owen also tells us that he will be playing the main character. Only his face is shown, looking rather rugged. His face is also framed by some sort of broken glass. This once again highlights his importance throughout the film. The red writing next to the poster also states that 'he must protect our only hope,' showing that Owen will play the hero, however, even from the poster, we can tell that Owen is an anti-hero from his rugged look, his unshaven face, rugged brown collar and messy hair. The stern look on his face makes him look serious, like a hero and makes it seem as though he is taking his responsibility seriously. He is looking right down the camera, making it seem like Owen is looking at you personally.

    The red and black eye with the small image of the baby as the pupil and a red tear dripping down can also suggest that there is something that is not quite right in this version of the future. It makes me think of an ultrasound showing a baby in a womb, which could suggest that there are problems with fertility in this film (although the poster has already told us that a child hasn't been born in 18 years), but it can also suggest that in the film, these problems could be fixed. The tear could signify the loss of hope of the people and how upset they are about what has become of the world and the issues they face. 

    The shattered glass could symbolise the shattered, broken future that is portrayed in this film. It also makes things seem dangerous as the sharp, point of the glass pointing to Owen's face could hurt him. This could show that what he is doing could potentially cause him damage. The fact that the glass frames Owen's face, not only highlights him as the main character  but it makes it seem as though he has broken the glass, suggesting that something he will do will  shatter the barrier to infertility (like the solution is trapped in a glass cage) and that he will set the people free from this dystopian future, once again, presenting Owen as the 'savior' of humanity.

Filming the Prelim

I was really excited to be using the camera to film a preliminary task. This was the first time, we had actually got to use the camera to film an actual scene.
     After setting up the camera (fairly quickly I would say - that practice at setting it up really paid off!), we got to work, looking at the storyboard, getting to know it and working out what we needed to do, this was the easy part. We worked out who would stand where and where the cameras should be positioned for the first take.
    We started to film, completely forgetting to set up the white balance, and it was only after we got halfway through filming that we realized that we needed to set this up. Of course as soon as we realized, we set it up easily using the white section of the storyboard to do so. We decided we would observe continuity and film the entire scene from one angle first (whether it be a wide angle shot or over the shoulder) and then from the next as we would edit the film to fit the story board later.
    We were told before we started that we had to obey the 180 degree rule which looked harder to do that it really was. All we had to do was remember to stay on one side of the line or it will look like the 2 people are standing next to each other rather than opposite one another.

    Our acting wasn't brilliant, we couldn't find anyone to be in the film, so I stepped in along with another group member. We weren't the best actors (and that's being kind) but we made it work, even if it meant that we forgot our lines a few times! The main problem was getting the camera and tripod high enough to do a low angle shot from above my head - they should of chosen a different actor! Generally, it went well, I had the easy part, just repeating 'I can't' and 'I know' a few times. 

    Other than acting, I gave directions to other group members on what we should do and how we should do it, I even helped my fellow actor with their skills (although my advice probably wasn't very good). I helped to set up the camera and tripod, and positioned it where it should be and when. 

    There are many things I would improve about this would be to do the white balance right from the start as this will make a big difference to the colours shown on  screen. I would also make sure that the actors were standing in the exact same position the entire time as we did move around the room between takes. 

Using and Setting up the Camera

How do you set up a camera? Well, we had absolutely no idea, and so, we were just staring at the equipment blankly. But, after being shown what to do it was our turn to set it up.

Step 1: Set up the dolly. We pushed the buttons on the back of the dolly to swing the arms out. This was to be used to  move the tripod around (but seeing as we didn't need to move the tripod just yet, we put the brakes on).

Step 2: Set up the tripod. We unscrewed the blots to extend the legs, and then put these into the dolly and secure them using the locks. There was a spirit level on this tripod, so we made sure that the tripod was level by checking that the small bubble was inside the big one.

Step 3: Now we could add the camera itself.  We flipped and pulled down the red lever under the base of the tripod and slide the camera on. We put the battery in the side of the camera and turned it on. We were now ready to go!

Now all that was left was to know how to actually use the camera. We were told that the camera has 2 modes, manual and automatic, manual meant we could play around with all the functions a lot more. We quickly found the zoom (smaller) and focus rings at the front of the camera near the lens and played around with these for a bit to get used to them. We also looked at the iris control and saw how to make images brighter and softer. We also learnt how to use the white balance and we were told that we needed this to ensure that the white colour we see seems natural. Then, we could finally practice filming with the camera, using this pan and tilt mechanisms.

About Me

Who am I? Well, my name is Miriam Kershaw, my midd and I'm 16 years old. I started JFS School in year 7 and I am currently in JFS Sixth Form. For my AS levels I chose biology, chemistry, French, dance, and of course media! I know, I'm taking 5, all my friends say I'm crazy.
     I decided to take media for A-level because it looked really interesting, and after having studied dance in years 10 and 11 where I had to look at different aspects of performance, including costume, accompaniment and lighting. We had to answer questions like what does the costume add to the performance, and why was this specific lighting chosen? I already knew that these were aspects that are part of studying media, along with camera angles, sound and the dialogue itself. I like to be behind the camera, I think it's because I like to be creative, I enjoy creating something from nothing! Its fascinating to see what goes on behind the camera as we only ever get to see the finished product, with all the effects added. Watching films is fun but being behind the camera is a new experience that I can't wait to have.
    I love to dance and in my spare time, I take ballet classes. Dance is another way I like to be creative and express myself.
    My favourite film is 'Edward Scissorhands' (directed by Tim Burton), and when I watch it feels surreal, and Depp really makes you esmpathise with the character.
I'm a big fan of boy bands (as cliche as that is) but my favourite band is 5 Seconds of Summer! I think they are a good live band who know how to put on a show.