'Thriller' is the term used to describe a film where there is fast pacing and frequent action. Usually thriller films contain heroes that try and thwart the plans of the villains. 'Thrillers' usually contain sub-genres as there are, for example, thriller/comedy, thriller/romance, thriller/sci-fi etc. The main codes and conventions are red-harrings, cliff-hangers and suspension. 'Thrillers' are designed to create a enthrawling atmosphere for the veiwer and are described as being 'scary' but not 'disgusting'.Characteristics of thriller movies:In most thriller films there are heroes and a villains, but this is not in all. Heroes in thriller films are usually ordinary people like police officers, lawyers that just happen to be drawn into daner and end up saving lives. In other thriller films the heroes may be spies or secret agents.Thrillers have been heavily influenced by pop culture, horrors and psychological horrors and the villain in some cases could be some sort of monster,supernatural being or even an alien in sci-fi/thrillers.Examples of sub-genres:
Action thriller: this consists of races against time, alot of violence and alot of action.
Crime thriller: usually an account of a suspenseful, successful or failed crime or commiting of a crime.
Drama thriller: includes elements of drama films and thriller films.
Psychological thriller: consists of mental and emotional conflict between characters, requiring the audience to really think, drawing them more and more into the plot.
Techno thriller: In which technology is the central part of the plot and the key points for the veiwer to focus on understanding and being drawn into the plot.
Famous Directors of thriller movies:
Bryan Bertino
Gary Fleder
Quentin Tarantino
Steven Soderbergh
Phillip Noyce
DJ Caruso
Famous And Successful Thriller Movies:
The Bourne Trilogy - Starring Matt Damon. Conspiracy thriller, with most of the thriller codes and conventions.
Phone Booth - Starring Colin Farell. Thriller about a selfish man.
The Dark Knight - Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger. About a derranged villain whose psychologically thrilling.
Face/Off - Starring Nicholas Cage, John Travolta. About conflict between an FBI agent and a terrorist. Sworn enemies end up swapping faces by accident.
Disturbia - Starring Shia LaBoeuf. Thriller about a peeping tom bored because of his house arrest.
Friday, 11 December 2009
shooting script
Setting: park, external, at night.
Samuel: so where are we going now guys?
Andrea: I remember this park… my mum used to take me here before it got closed down.
Alice: bla bla bla bla blaaaa, shut up, your ruining the birthday atmosphere!.
Andrea: I was just saying…
Alice: well stop talking and start walking, let’s go to the park.
Andrea: no, can’t you see there’s a closed sign on the gate. We aren’t allowed.
Alice: stop being a goody two shoes, who ever wants to go to the park say I!
Everyone in unison except Andrea: I!
Andrea: I heard from a friend that there was once a girl who died in this very park. Before the park got closed down, her and her friends came to this park just like we did, except she never made it out. Her friends dared her to jump into the lake; she jumped in around eight o’clock. And they say it took her ages to die. She was a great swimmer, but they say it was almost like someone, or something was dragging her down to the bottom of the lake.
Samuel: can you shut up, stop making stuff up!
Alice: that’s all she ever does.
Michael: no! Let her continue, go on Andrea.
Andrea: thanks Michael, (chuckles) her friends ran to get help but when they came back…
Andrea and Michael in unison: she was nowhere to be found.
Michael: yea, I have heard this story before, they say at nine you can hear her splashing and gasping for air and crying for help.
Samuel: its…nearly nine now.
Alice: you lot are a bunch of sissy. I’m getting bored and cold, and im tired of you love birds finishing each others sentences, its urgh!
Samuel: so what do you suggest miss know it all?
Alice: when in doubt, play truth or dare (chuckles) I will go first because it’s my game.
Michael: you guys, I will; be right back, I have a phone call.
(Michael leaves the scene)
Alice: Andrea truth or dare?
Andrea: I don’t really want to play to be honest, I jus…
Alice: ok Samuel will pick what you do. Samuel should Andrea have a truth or a dare?
Samuel: let’s make this interesting…dare!
Alice: it’s settled then, I dare you to….. Go and hide behind that bush for five whole minutes.
Andrea: I really don’t want to do this; I told you what happened in this park.
Alice: grow up! Michael thinks that you are a wimp, show him that you’re not; he will come and get you when the time is up.
Alice ( In a softer tone) he told me that he likes you, but your just too much of a wimp.
Andrea: did he really say that?
Alice: yes! Now go on, hide, quick.
(Michael returns)
Michael: my mums having the baby now, best birthday present ever right? (Chuckle) ive got to go, hey where’s Andrea?
Samuel: she….had to go home…she said to tell you that she had a great time and….that she will catch up with you later.(he nudges Alice)
Alice: err… yea! She… said she…had to take care of something at home…anyway lets go, this place is well mingy…it’s giving me the creeps.
(Everyone leaves the park, except Andrea)
Andrea: (whimpers) ok guys; this isn’t funny, jokes over, hello? Michael…. Alice... SAM?
(Bush shakes)
Andrea: hello? Who’s there? Who’s that?
(Andrea try’s to get out but her foot gets stuck on a trees branches, she looks up, and sees. It.)
Film Treatment: TRUTH OR DARE
A group of friends who do almost everything together, find that their friendship is about to change when they play a game of truth or dare. Two girls one named Andrea and the other Alice and two boys named Samuel and Michael had been best friends since they were eleven and for Michael's seventeenth birthday they decided to go out. Andrea had a thing for Michael ever since they were the young naive age of eleven, but only Alice knew.
They were on their way home at night, when Alice, the forward and daring member of the group has an interesting idea, the idea was to play truth or dare in the dark park. After some negotiation everyone feels obligated to go through with the plan and play truth or dare.
Andrea who is very intelligent, always shy and feels inferior to the rest of the group begins to shiver and try’s to make excuses to leave but no one listens, everyone just teases her. She then tells a ghost story, hoping that it might scare everyone into leaving the abandoned park, sadly her efforts have the opposite effect and she is forced by the ring leader of the group, Alice to hide behind a bush for five minutes, and promises her that Michael will come and get her, while Michael is oblivious to the situation as he is preoccupied and is on the phone to his mother.
Andrea protests but goes anyway, and is very scared. Alice tells everyone that Andrea has gone home and that it’s getting cold, so everyone should leave the park. Andrea stays obediently behind the bush scared and almost in tears. She thinks that she is being watched and feels that someone else is present so she try’s to get away, however, her foot gets caught and she cannot escape, she looks up and sees…it.
They were on their way home at night, when Alice, the forward and daring member of the group has an interesting idea, the idea was to play truth or dare in the dark park. After some negotiation everyone feels obligated to go through with the plan and play truth or dare.
Andrea who is very intelligent, always shy and feels inferior to the rest of the group begins to shiver and try’s to make excuses to leave but no one listens, everyone just teases her. She then tells a ghost story, hoping that it might scare everyone into leaving the abandoned park, sadly her efforts have the opposite effect and she is forced by the ring leader of the group, Alice to hide behind a bush for five minutes, and promises her that Michael will come and get her, while Michael is oblivious to the situation as he is preoccupied and is on the phone to his mother.
Andrea protests but goes anyway, and is very scared. Alice tells everyone that Andrea has gone home and that it’s getting cold, so everyone should leave the park. Andrea stays obediently behind the bush scared and almost in tears. She thinks that she is being watched and feels that someone else is present so she try’s to get away, however, her foot gets caught and she cannot escape, she looks up and sees…it.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
My questionnaire
My group and I have created a questionnaire so that we get a better insight as how people feel about thrillers, our two main questions were: what they like about them and what they dislike about them. We then gave out our questionnaires to 15 people each and averaged out our results. Most of the people who participated in our questionnaire were aged 16 to 17 years, we found that most people liked thrillers and not only this, but they enjoyed them more than horrors, some said that they liked thrillers because of the suspense, while others disliked this factor about them. All in all, the questionnaire has helped us a great deal with planning our thriller opening, as we also asked if participants had a favourite actor or actress, this is helpful as we can now study some of the actors or actresses that were mentioned in order to make our thriller opening the best that it can possibly be.
Friday, 4 December 2009
mood board
This is our mood board, pictures symbolise the types of clothing that each character should wear, for example Andrea, the more shy character should be wearing either a pink or white top to symbolise naivety or purity and innocence, with perhaps a grey top which symbolises uncertainty. While on the other hand Alice the more mysterious character should be wearing more red and fiery colours, connoting danger, with perhaps a black coat, this connotes mystery. Both boys should wear plain clothing preferable colours white or grey so that the audience knows that both males are not main characters and are quite innocent and pure.
There are pictures of the types of scenery that our group would like to include, such as parks and the busses that may also be filmed. We have also included an actual picture of the location that we would like to use ‘Pymmes Park’. Lastly we have included different font types that we are interesting and could be used for credits.
There are pictures of the types of scenery that our group would like to include, such as parks and the busses that may also be filmed. We have also included an actual picture of the location that we would like to use ‘Pymmes Park’. Lastly we have included different font types that we are interesting and could be used for credits.
Friday, 20 November 2009
"What is relevant to my film opening?"
The codes and conventions that are relevant in our thriller movie opening are codes and conventions taken from ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Blood’. “The Dark Knight” presents codes an conventions such as sudden changes in diegetic music, when a significant character is introduced to the audience, for example, “the Joker.” There is also a sudden change in non-diegetic music, when something which is potentially frightening happens, for example when the joker takes off his mask for the first time and speaks his first line: “I believe what ever doesn’t kill you, simple makes you stranger”.
Other thriller conventions presented to the audience is quick fast pace shots, extreme close ups and a point of view shot is shown of a significant object. Another thriller that presents codes and conventions in “Blood.” In the first scene of the movie a man is running and screams through a train. This is s classic sign of a thriller movie and is similar to “The Dark Knight”, when the hostages start to run and scream. Both films also include uses of weapons as a sword is used in “Blood” guns are used in “The Dark Knight”.
Heavy breathing is also a diegetic sound that’s used in ‘Blood’ to create a sense of tension and this is also a very effective use of conventions. A technical code in both thrillers is when there is subdued lighting, as the audience cannot clearly see and lighting is dimmed. This helps audience to get in the mood and settle down fore the movie. In ‘Blood’ there is a significant point, where the music is especially eerie. We can hear the music but cannot see when it is coming from making it non- diegetic. This adds mystery to the film. This also adds a negative feeling and also a cold feeling there is also a good use of flickering lights. This is eerie and scary and denotes bad luck and perhaps instability.
Lastly the credits at the beginning of the thriller ‘Blood’ pop up slowly and the background is red. The credits then fade out into an establishing shot. This may be used in our thriller opening to help bring tension at the beginning of our thriller.
Four things that we have decided that we might like to use in our opening scene of a thriller movie are;
Non diegetic music,
Running and screaming,
Flickering lights and other lighting and
Quick shots
We feel that each one of these will add a great effect to our piece, the same way that ‘Blood’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ have used certain codes and conventions to make the opening scene brilliant.
One thins that we do not think we will use in out thriller opening will be use of weapon as we feel that we can get tension across without the use of weapons.
Other thriller conventions presented to the audience is quick fast pace shots, extreme close ups and a point of view shot is shown of a significant object. Another thriller that presents codes and conventions in “Blood.” In the first scene of the movie a man is running and screams through a train. This is s classic sign of a thriller movie and is similar to “The Dark Knight”, when the hostages start to run and scream. Both films also include uses of weapons as a sword is used in “Blood” guns are used in “The Dark Knight”.
Heavy breathing is also a diegetic sound that’s used in ‘Blood’ to create a sense of tension and this is also a very effective use of conventions. A technical code in both thrillers is when there is subdued lighting, as the audience cannot clearly see and lighting is dimmed. This helps audience to get in the mood and settle down fore the movie. In ‘Blood’ there is a significant point, where the music is especially eerie. We can hear the music but cannot see when it is coming from making it non- diegetic. This adds mystery to the film. This also adds a negative feeling and also a cold feeling there is also a good use of flickering lights. This is eerie and scary and denotes bad luck and perhaps instability.
Lastly the credits at the beginning of the thriller ‘Blood’ pop up slowly and the background is red. The credits then fade out into an establishing shot. This may be used in our thriller opening to help bring tension at the beginning of our thriller.
Four things that we have decided that we might like to use in our opening scene of a thriller movie are;
Non diegetic music,
Running and screaming,
Flickering lights and other lighting and
Quick shots
We feel that each one of these will add a great effect to our piece, the same way that ‘Blood’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ have used certain codes and conventions to make the opening scene brilliant.
One thins that we do not think we will use in out thriller opening will be use of weapon as we feel that we can get tension across without the use of weapons.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
thriller anaylasis two
The movie starts with a upward tilt shot on a woman. Showing dominance the audience heard heavy breathing. The scenes are very fast moving and so are the shots. This makes is hard for the audience to see and makes everything blurry, adding to tension. It is dark and looks quite cold. However our character is wearing a grey dress and doesn't seem to be at all cold. Her grey dress connotes coldness and fatigue, and her red gloves could connote danger or hazard.
An establishing shot shows a Small hotel and then a long shot of the woman walking into the building, she is calm and collected she also has a sword in her back pack denoting blood shed. The woman then takes out her knife, this makes the audience tense as we know that she is about to use it.
The woman then looks into the camera, and the audience and the character lock eyes, this shows interaction and gets the audience More familiar with the character. We then have a long shot of a door flying open and the female protagonist standing in the door way.She walks towards the camera and we are then introduced to another character. He is wearing a black suit and is sitting in a seat the black suit shows that he is a mysterious man and looks Wise, There are also a lot of book behind him showing perhaps that he is an intellect. Dialogue tells the audience that the man was waiting for the woman. We then see a close up of the woman's gold locket, this tells the audience that it is important and perhaps old.
We then have an extreme close up and a reverse shot as dialogue progresses. The man then tries to get away from the woman as she points her sword at him. He tries to run. He also screams. This shows that in this case, woman are more dominant. It is also ironic that the man is the character who is screaming, and the woman is calm.
The male picks out his sword from behind the chair and charges at the woman. After charging there is a pause and everything goes silent. This adds tension because someone has been hurt but no one knows who. Non diegetic sounds of fast music also adds to the tension and makes the scene seem busy. There is then a black out and then a fade out. Leaving us unaware of who has been stabbed and who is hurt. This adds tension because the audience want to know.
An establishing shot shows a Small hotel and then a long shot of the woman walking into the building, she is calm and collected she also has a sword in her back pack denoting blood shed. The woman then takes out her knife, this makes the audience tense as we know that she is about to use it.
The woman then looks into the camera, and the audience and the character lock eyes, this shows interaction and gets the audience More familiar with the character. We then have a long shot of a door flying open and the female protagonist standing in the door way.She walks towards the camera and we are then introduced to another character. He is wearing a black suit and is sitting in a seat the black suit shows that he is a mysterious man and looks Wise, There are also a lot of book behind him showing perhaps that he is an intellect. Dialogue tells the audience that the man was waiting for the woman. We then see a close up of the woman's gold locket, this tells the audience that it is important and perhaps old.
We then have an extreme close up and a reverse shot as dialogue progresses. The man then tries to get away from the woman as she points her sword at him. He tries to run. He also screams. This shows that in this case, woman are more dominant. It is also ironic that the man is the character who is screaming, and the woman is calm.
The male picks out his sword from behind the chair and charges at the woman. After charging there is a pause and everything goes silent. This adds tension because someone has been hurt but no one knows who. Non diegetic sounds of fast music also adds to the tension and makes the scene seem busy. There is then a black out and then a fade out. Leaving us unaware of who has been stabbed and who is hurt. This adds tension because the audience want to know.
thriller anaylasis one
The movie starts with a quick narration in a low voice, this introduces up to the history of the movie. Slowly the credits also pop up onto the screen, this adds tension. The back ground is red this connotes blood, danger and perhaps war. This then fades into the establishing shot of a building and this then fades out, This adds tension because we get an eerie feeling.
We then see panning of the train on a track and are then introduced to a young woman. We see her at mid shot and we see that she looks almost inhuman, with pale skin and rouge lips. She wears black clothes and she has very long jet black hair. Showing that she is a mysterious and quite a cold character.
We then see another establishing shot of inside the train. and we see a point of view shot, this gives the audience an uneasy feeling as we know that someone is lurking about. We then have a close up shot of a newspaper someone is hiding their face behind the paper and this gives the audience a scene of tension because we are not familiar with this new character.
Dark lighting gives a negative feeling and also a cold feeling. This light then bursts, connoting danger. We then have more panning of the train, and a close up of our main character, letting us get more familiar with her her eyes flash red (CGI) this is a great effect because it shows us that she is not human and confirms our belief.
Both characters share a moment and look at each other. We then have an extreme close up on the mans forehead and sweat beads. This shows the audience that the man is nervous and this also makes him seem almost nerdy and makes the audience care for him. The mans anxious eyes dart around the train. All of the lights then flicker on and off. this is eerie and scary and denotes back luck and perhaps instability. We then have the man running and there are fast moving scenes and quick shots. Making it hard for the audience to keep up, and adding tension along the way.
We then see panning of the train on a track and are then introduced to a young woman. We see her at mid shot and we see that she looks almost inhuman, with pale skin and rouge lips. She wears black clothes and she has very long jet black hair. Showing that she is a mysterious and quite a cold character.
We then see another establishing shot of inside the train. and we see a point of view shot, this gives the audience an uneasy feeling as we know that someone is lurking about. We then have a close up shot of a newspaper someone is hiding their face behind the paper and this gives the audience a scene of tension because we are not familiar with this new character.
Dark lighting gives a negative feeling and also a cold feeling. This light then bursts, connoting danger. We then have more panning of the train, and a close up of our main character, letting us get more familiar with her her eyes flash red (CGI) this is a great effect because it shows us that she is not human and confirms our belief.
Both characters share a moment and look at each other. We then have an extreme close up on the mans forehead and sweat beads. This shows the audience that the man is nervous and this also makes him seem almost nerdy and makes the audience care for him. The mans anxious eyes dart around the train. All of the lights then flicker on and off. this is eerie and scary and denotes back luck and perhaps instability. We then have the man running and there are fast moving scenes and quick shots. Making it hard for the audience to keep up, and adding tension along the way.
Monday, 12 October 2009
Horror:
Lighting-dark connotes bad luck and danger.
Mise en scene- dark alley and blood.
Costume- torn clothes, dirty, showing there has been a struggle.
Expressions- anxious and scared denoting danger.
Camera angles- over the shoulder shot, so that we can see what the girl can see and adds tension.
Sound-non diegetic low drums adding tension, diegetic screams.
Romance:
Lighting- dim, connotes romance intimacy
Mise en scene- bed, half clothed indicating love making letting the audience know they are a couple.
costume- woman dresses in a red and black dress symbolising perhaps dangerous love denoting promiscuity.
expressions- happy excited as the male gets on one knee showing true love.
camera angles- close up on kiss emphasising love and meaningfulness of the moment.
sound- non diegetic violins and narration telling us the couples story.
Comedy:
Mise en scene- man walks down the road and zombies follow him but he cannot see them.
Costume- plain shirt symbolising calmness- this is funny because he should be very scared.
Expressions- we pass a sign on the road saying "look out" this denotes that the characters should be on the look out for zombies but their facial expressions are careless and which is also funny.
Camera angles- panning long and mid shot. so we can follow the male protagonist on his journey.
Sound- diegetic, moans from zombies but the silly man doesn't pay any attention.
Cowboy:
lighting-light and sunny emphasizing the desert and heat.
Mise en scene- desert sand, sun, cowboys and horses.
costume- cowboy garments including guns.
camera angles- long shot showing us all of the cowboys and their surroundings.
sound-gun shot, connoting violence and blood shed.
Siefie:
Lighting- dark outer space
Mise en scene-stars, night sky, moon, space ship,rocket- astronaut.
Costume- astronaut, denoting outer space and perhaps riskiness, the costumes are also white showing pureness and perhaps heroic.
Expression- anxious showing that the men are about to so something extraordinary
Camera angles- close up showing facial expressions.
Sound-non diegetic sounds, classical important music.
Lighting-dark connotes bad luck and danger.
Mise en scene- dark alley and blood.
Costume- torn clothes, dirty, showing there has been a struggle.
Expressions- anxious and scared denoting danger.
Camera angles- over the shoulder shot, so that we can see what the girl can see and adds tension.
Sound-non diegetic low drums adding tension, diegetic screams.
Romance:
Lighting- dim, connotes romance intimacy
Mise en scene- bed, half clothed indicating love making letting the audience know they are a couple.
costume- woman dresses in a red and black dress symbolising perhaps dangerous love denoting promiscuity.
expressions- happy excited as the male gets on one knee showing true love.
camera angles- close up on kiss emphasising love and meaningfulness of the moment.
sound- non diegetic violins and narration telling us the couples story.
Comedy:
Mise en scene- man walks down the road and zombies follow him but he cannot see them.
Costume- plain shirt symbolising calmness- this is funny because he should be very scared.
Expressions- we pass a sign on the road saying "look out" this denotes that the characters should be on the look out for zombies but their facial expressions are careless and which is also funny.
Camera angles- panning long and mid shot. so we can follow the male protagonist on his journey.
Sound- diegetic, moans from zombies but the silly man doesn't pay any attention.
Cowboy:
lighting-light and sunny emphasizing the desert and heat.
Mise en scene- desert sand, sun, cowboys and horses.
costume- cowboy garments including guns.
camera angles- long shot showing us all of the cowboys and their surroundings.
sound-gun shot, connoting violence and blood shed.
Siefie:
Lighting- dark outer space
Mise en scene-stars, night sky, moon, space ship,rocket- astronaut.
Costume- astronaut, denoting outer space and perhaps riskiness, the costumes are also white showing pureness and perhaps heroic.
Expression- anxious showing that the men are about to so something extraordinary
Camera angles- close up showing facial expressions.
Sound-non diegetic sounds, classical important music.
Friday, 2 October 2009
codes and conventions
Today we watched Psycho. I actually enjoyed it. We picked up a lot about codes and conventions and I now see movies in a totally different light and I now see that directors jobs are actually harder than I thought, as you have to include denotations and connotations... Including other things. I like media a lot more than thought I would and I hope to achieve a good mark in it in my January exam.
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