Final Preliminary Exercise

We filmed our preliminary exercise and edited it in Final Cut Pro. We once again used Soundtrack Pro to add additional sound effects such as the ambient sound of the prison and the warped sounds within the interrogation room. 

We changed and added several shots that we didn't originally include in the storyboard. This was done due to circumstances, timing and artistic licence. We feel this was beneficial to our final product as it became more appealing to watch and included better cinematography.

All in all, we were happy with our outcome and have picked up some useful skills and tips for our future thriller opening.

Preliminary Exercise Pictures

Match Cut Exercise: Video Diary

Sub Genre and Target Audience

The use of sub genre can be shown through the promotion of the film.



For example, by focusing on Naomi Watts it can be determined that she is the main protagonist in this film, appealing to women. The tag line 'Wife. Mother. Spy.' suggests that this film is targeted at women aged 21-35, but the thriller aspect still attracts a male audience.

 

This political thriller appears to be aimed at older men, around 25-45 as it includes well known mature actors and a more mature subject matter.

 

In Time is advertised as a romance thriller. This is shown through the use of positioning and props. The two characters appear to have romantic attachments, but a gun and city scape can still be seen. The target audience for this film is both male and female age 16-25. The romance element and the use of Justin Timberlake draws in a female fan base, whereas the action draws in the males.



The sub genre used in Tower |Heist is comedy. This is evident through the choice of actors starring in it. Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy are known for their comedic appearences in other films. The tag line 'Ordinary guys. An extraordinary robbery' promises laughs and excitement. This suggests that this film has a somewhat younger audience, predominantly male aged 15-21

 

The poster for this film hides the thriller genre well, suggesting it is more romance than thriller. This poster itself appeals to a female audience of around 21-35 as it features many romantic elements.



Preliminary Match Cut Exercise: Animatic

We were given a brief to film a match cut sequence. It must include a character walking through a door, sitting down and having a conversation with another. We must follow the 180 degree rule and include over the shoulder shots and shot-reverse-shots.

We based ours loosely on the psychotic elements of Se7en and the hard hitting action of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

This is the animatic for our Preliminary Match Cut exercise.

A blindfolded convict is dragged through the corridor of a prison and pushed into an interrogation room. Inside the room is the chief of police. The audience never sees his face. The convict is shoved onto a chair infront of the chief by a guard, who is then asked to leave the room. The chief begins lecturing the convict, becoming increasingly angry. He then stands up and rips off the convicts blindfold. The scene ends with the convicts horrified reaction.

FDA Yearbook Questions

1) Suspense films released in 2010: 38
2) Gross for suspense films: £42million
3) Highest grossing genre of 2010: Action/Adventure took £265million
4) Highest grossing family genre 2010: Animation

5) Amongst the 38 suspense movies released in 2010, Shutter Island, The Town and Wolf Man were amongst the most successful, for a genre that grossed over £42million. Action/Adventure proved to be the most successful genre of 2010, with an intake of over £265million. Suspense films proved less successful as the genre of Action/Adventure as it encourages audiences to be more focussed on trying to work out why the situation in the movie is occurring. In contrast, the genre Action/Adventure more explicitly provides moments that make the storyline clear to the audience, therefore engaging them easier.

Foley Sounds

My group and I had to create the sounds for our thriller opening remake of Arlington Road. We went outside to pick up sounds that involved the opening of a car door, footsteps walking unsteadily, running, heavy breathing, and cries for help. We then used this sounds whilst editing our remake, with this process also making us cut out unwanted sounds that we had picked up. Creating foley sounds will benefit us for our final piece, as it is an effective way of creating sounds that may not have been picked up during filming.  

Our Work So Far

Student Opening Analysis: Violet

12. Erika, Nathan, Poppy, Charlene from 283goswell on Vimeo.

I picked this student opening because I feel it was successful. I like the editing style, the handheld camera work and the choice of music. However, I feel it weakens towards the end, and it could be said that too much is given away for it to be an opening. 

I liked the effect added to the investigation shots. I think it made for an interesting contrast.

I particularly liked this overlay effect

This font works really well and I love the simplicity and subtlety when it turns from white to violet

This over the shoulder shot caught my attention. I thought it was well framed and clear.

I liked their display of Psycho intertextuality. I thought it was shot really well.

The weakest shots for me were the ones shot in dark rooms. Lighting was an issue. That's something we should be wary of.

Student Opening Analyse

The Paper Trail. I chose this student project as I thought it was well filmed, Its opening was simple but affective, they didn't go over board on the affects or pace of editing. 

The type of font used was also affective as it looks like crumpled paper

The fly caught in the web was an interesting shot to me.

The river looked at through a dirty window adds to the atmosphere.

FDA Yearbook

1)     How many suspense films were released in 2010?

38

2)     In total, how much did these suspense films take, gross, to the nearest million?

£42 million

3)     Which genre of film had the highest gross in 2010?

Action/Adventure (£265 million)

4)     What was the most popular family genre in 2010?

Animation

      In 2010, 38 suspense films were released, the most popular being Shutter Island, The Town and The Wolfman. Suspense films grossed £42,441,123 in total, 4.2% of the year's box office. In comparison, the highest grossing genre was Action/Adventure at £265,785,158, 26.4% of the box office with 71 films released, and the lowest grossing genre being Musicals at £256,847. 0.03% of the box office with just 3 films released in 2010. This shows that suspense films are currently fairly unpopular in the UK being the 8th highest grossing out of 11 genres. However, annually the gross percentage has risen suggesting that the popularity of suspense films is on the increase. Research shows that the target audience for such films is males age 16-25, but it often depends on the use of subgenre. Films such as Se7en and Memento could be considered more mature as they use the crime subgenre whereas romantic thrillers like Mr and Mrs Smith and Fatal Attraction target a more female based audience. 

Structure of a Thriller Opening

A Narrative Opening:

The story begins immediately, and the credits appear over the top of the action throughout. Narrative can be anything from setting the scene to a phone conversation.

A Discrete Title Sequence:

The opening credits appear separate from the rest of the film often in their own specially edited sequence.

Titles Over a Black Screen:

The opening credits appear before any action starts and is often followed by the narrative. 

        

Stylized Editing:

The opening credits are edited in a very stylized way, incorporated somehow into the action. They are most likely accompanied by upbeat or fast paced music.

Arlington Road

We ordered pre-shot clips of the Arlington Road opening and arranged them into the correct order on Final Cut Pro. We then added opening credits. It may have been more effective if we went step by step, putting in the correct credits one after another, instead of choosing positioning and timing of the credits at the end, after they were already edited into the clip in random timing/positions. This is something we need to consider for our opening.

Thriller opening ideas (TITLE DISPLAY)

For the opening title reveal, I was inspired from such films such as Marathon Man, where the title of the film interacts with what is on screen. In Marathon Man the title is seen next to one of the main characters while he jogs, mimicking his movements. I thought something similar to this might be affective.

Although not completely the same concept as the Marathon Man's title reveal, these mocked up stills illustrate some rough concepts of what I am trying to duplicate.

The wide angle shot appeals to me as it gives the affect of intimidation or importance, it is impossible to not notice the title of the film as it becomes the main feature on screen.

More examples of intertexuality

Some movies don't just borrow aspects of certain scenes but instead use the original framework in its entirety, then adding in their own flair during the process.

Ali G Opening

Simpsons

Example of Intertextuality

Matrix (Original crane kick)

Shrek (Matrix reference)

Scary Movie (Matrix reference)

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term to describe the visual referencing between films. Quite literally. films 'borrow' from each other, and you, the audience, may recognize certain camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing in some films that you have seen in others.

For example, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho has been referenced numerous times through out the years, with the classical shower scene featuring in multiple films in a variety of executions.

We can tell that Fatal attraction is referencing Psycho based on numerous features they both share, examples include:

Mise en scene: 
Set of the scene being a clinically white bathroom
Use of knife as the murder weapon
Shower curtains
Bathrobes
Bloody water

Camera Angles:

Close up on ladies eyes after the murder
Close up on victims face during the struggle
Close up on knife during the attack

Editing:

Both scenes feature numerous amounts of jump cuts during the struggle between the attacker and victim, after which the editing slows down, increasing the time the camera focuses on a single shot.




                                                                   PSYCHO

                                                           FATAL ATTRACTION

                                                                 PSYCHO

                                                          FATAL ATTRACTION

Genre & Sub-Genre

Genre is the primary type of film style a film is designed around, such as thriller, drama, comedy or romance. Sub-genre is the principle of attaching a secondary film type within an established genre such as Thriller/Romance or Sci-fi/Horror . This tactic of implementing elements of other genres allows film makers to attract a wider audience, ones that would usually not watch a certain genre of film.

 Axl- "The most inspiring type of thriller to me is supernatural thrillers, as it allows for a viewer to be taken out of reality and into a situation you are completely unfamiliar with., something that breaks the boundary of normality."

A movie representative of a supernatural thriller is The Adjustment Bureau. It also includes elements of romance as well.

This can influence our film opening as it can allow the creation of a more surreal opening segment, something that may usually be found in movies of other genres.

Joshua- Sub-genre can influence our work and our film opening as it allows us to think creatively about a way in which we can leave our audience shocked and surprised at what they're watching.

"The thriller sub-genre that I prefer is Drama/Thriller, as it enables the audience to view a story that contains a shocking twist in it, which then catches us as the audience by total surprise".

An example of this would be drama/thriller 'The Stepfather'.

Genre and Subgenre

Genre is the main category a film falls into, for example thriller. All thriller films have specific components and characteristics to attract a specific target audience.
Subgenre is the use of another less obvious genre to attract an additional target audience, for example romance. Romance is often used as a sub genre to attract more females to watch otherwise male orientated films.

In Time trailer (Thriller/Romance)

Tower Heist trailer (Action/Comedy)



Title Sequence: Conventional Order

We learnt about the conventional order of a thriller film opening credits. It follows the hierarchal structure of having the most important roles intergrated into the beginning of the opening credits and at the end. The order it generally follows is as such: 

• production ident
• production
• film by
• cast (major)
• title
• cast (minor)
• casting by
• costume designer
• music by
• co-executive producers
• editor
• production designer
• director of photography
• executive producers
• producers

Title Sequence Analysis

Bomb Theory

Bomb Theory
Bomb Theory is a phrase that was created by Alfred Hitchcock explaining how suspense is created in a cinematic atmosphere.
Bomb Theory is when the audience are aware of a situation that the characters involved are unaware of. An example of this was found in the film The Stepfather . The mai character was a ruthless murderer, which the audience finds out at the start of the film. He joins his victims' families playing the loving role of 'stepfather', then kills them all after gaining their trust. The family he joins is unaware of him being a serial killer, although the audience is aware of his awful intentions. 

False Plateau and Bomb Theory