The final idea for our film has now been decided. We have done a lot of brainstorming and have come to a decision we are happy with. I have included the idea for our film in the rest of this post.
We plan to create a psychological thriller, however we will also include some elements of a mystery thriller.
We will begin with a girl, looking fairly battered, bruised and lifeless, standing in a dark room, with some source of light shining on her. She will start to tell her story, but after each sentence, the camera will cut to flashbacks The flashbacks inbetween her explanation will be the titles for our film, however they will also kind tell the story and trace back to reveal events that have happened to the girl. After she has finished explaining, she will scream and we will then include a graphic match. The girl will chase after her boyfriend who has driven off without her and we will have lots of different camera angles to show the action unfolding. We will have a lapse of time, and the girl will then wake up the next morning, for this part of the film her face will not be seen at all until she enters the bathroom and looks in the mirror. Before entering the bathroom she wakes up to a call from a withheld number. After going to the bathroom and discovering her bruised face she will attempt to call her boyfriend, friend & mom. However, all of the calls go unanswered. The viewer will then be left on a cliffhanger as to what has happened...
Our film is going to be called: Withheld.
The idea that we have for the first part of the film where she is explaining, is to have the shots very fast paced, almost like 'subliminal messaging' to hint to the audience what we are getting at. Conveniently as we came up with our idea, Coronation Street released their advert for the 50th Anniversary Tram Crash. I have posted the video below to give a better idea of what we hope to achieve.
We also had a very good idea of what we wanted out girl to look like. This was because we remembered the advert Alton Towers released for their ride '13'. I have posted the video below to show that this is the kind of look we would like to achieve. We want this part of our film to be fairly chilling as it is in the advert below.
I understand that our idea may sound confusing when written down, so I have already included our pitch for our film and I will soon be including our treatment, treatment feedback and script in order to hopefully make our idea more clear.
As part of 'Cam Raw! Productions' I can now reveal that my group & I have come up with the idea for our thriller. Below is an audio file containing our pitch & feedback from the members of our media class. The research that myself & the other members of 'Cam Raw' did, helped us to come up with our idea & decide what conventions to include/challenge in our thriller.
Basically, our pitch was to explain our idea to other groups in order to gain feedback & advice. I feel that this session helped us to expand & improve on our idea. From this session I found the following pieces of advice useful & I will be using them when we are planning, filming & editing our final 2minute opening.
- 9minutes, 45seconds: Mr Hood points out that we need to make clear to the examiner that the girl is going to be in a white dress in order to portray her to the audience as the victim. - 11minutes, 20seconds: Mr Hood suggests that we use Prezi in order to film the credits which include the polaroids as this could help us overcome any camera problems we may come up against. - 12minutes, 12seconds: Mr Hood points out that the condensation could be tricky to film as camera's & water don't really mix together very well. Suggestions for how to overcome this followed later in the discussion. - 13minutes, 17seconds: Mr Hood makes the point that we need to experiment with the make-up before hand as if we get it wrong then it could look more comical than 'thriller-like'. - 13minutes, 40seconds: Mr Hood tells us that we could have problems with the condensation shots because we could either write the writing backwards, or the writing will not be legible. One of the other problems we could have is that it might run before we get the shots of it. To overcome this he has suggested that we test out some shots before the real movie, in order to give us time to come up with a different idea. - 14minutes, 35seconds: Adam suggests that we could fade the shot & colour the text in order to make the condensation readable for viewers - 14minutes, 49seconds: Mr Hood agrees that this is a good idea & suggests that we might need to experiment with Motion if we can't find another way - 15minutes, 30seconds: Final point! Mr Hood picks up on the fact that before our pitch their was slight tension between the members of our group, which has since been solved & all group members are 100% on board with our idea.
I have looked at how films are rated using the British Board of Film Classification website. I have also used this website to decide on what age rating we should possibly give our film. Based on the guidelines set by the British Board of Film Classification, I have come to the conclusion that our film would be either a 15 or an 18. Below I have included the possible age ratings and a brief description of each:
Universal - Suitable For All;
'U' rated films should be suitable for all audiences aged four years and over.
Parental Guidance;
'PG' films should not disturb any child around the age of 8 or older and unaccompanied children of any age may watch it.
Suitable For 12 Years Or Older;
The 12A category exists only for films in cinemas and it means that no one younger than 12 can see a 12A film unaccompanied by an adult. Violence, imitable behaviour, language, sex and drugs may be shown but must be brief and not be in detail.
Suitable For 15 Years Or Older;
'15' rating means that no one under the age of 15 can watch this film in the cinema. Once again, violence, imitable behaviour, language, sex and drugs can be shown, not in detail but in more detail than in a 12/12A rated film.
Suitable Only For Adults;
No one younger than 18 may see this film in a cinema. In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment.
Restricted 18;
This rating is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works containing sex or strong material involving adults.
(I wasn't too sure whether or not to include this rating, however as it is listed on the BBFC's website, I decided that it was still a necessary piece of information to use).
Aswell as age ratings, we also need to consider the type of person who would like to come and watch our film. For example, a male may be old enough to go and watch a chick-flick, but just because he can doesn't mean that he wants to. This means that our film will be aimed at either 15+/18+ year olds (depending on which age rating our group thinks best), males and females as this would be a good film for couples to go and see together and other people their age who just love to go to the cinema. I feel that with the lead role being an attractive young female, our thriller would appeal more to males than females, because they will not only be going to watch the film, but also to check out the actress on screen. However, the mystery element in the film would hopefully appeal to more middle aged people aswell because they get to go on the journey with the actress piecing together what happened to her and her friends.
I have looked at the openings of films in order to get ideas for our titles. I have looked at thriller openings, but also openings from films of different genre's in order to see if there is anything different about the titles used. I hope to use my research to help my group & myself to add some appropriate titles to our thriller. Carry On Camping (1969) The titles for this film reflect the comedic contents of the film. They are the first thing the audience sees & the opening of the film follows after them. The colour scheme has been chosen to match the title of the film, green background as green is associated with nature therefore with camping. The comedy sketches which feature on the background with the names show the audience that it is aimed at, which is older people, probably older than 18 & also probably more towards the male gender than females. The music is classic 'Carry On' and so is the writing that is used, whenever that writing or music appears, those familiar with the 'Carry On' films know immediately what it is they are about to watch.
The Aristocats (1970) The titles of for this film immediately appeal to the target audience (children) because of the colourful background with scenes over the top which look like pencil sketches. These engage the viewer as they never stop. The music which has been paired with the titles is sung by a French male which not only sets the scene but also quotes the title of the film in the lyrics. The end of the titles is nicely done because the kitten is painting the opening scene onto the canvas which means that the transition between the titles & the beginning of the film flows nicely into one.
Grease (1978) The titles of this film lets the audience know straight away that what they are about to watch is going to be a fun, lively, trendy musical. Before these titles are shown there is a short scene between the two main characters which sets up the plot of the rest of the movie. At the beginning of the titles the word 'Grease' is squirted from a tube of hair grease which a play on the film title & also links everything in the film together. The comedy sketches of the actors help to get the sense of fun across to the viewer. Everything in the titles relates to the time period which the film is set in & the music which they are put to fits the film & also mentions the film's title. At the end of the titles a good graphic match is used to link the cartoon titles nicely into the beginning of the movie.
Psycho (1960) The opening titles of this film immediately let the viewer know that they are about to watch a film which is going to have them on-edge.The main thing that does this is the music because of the shrillness of the strings which are used, the music links to the film because the same piece is used later on in the actual movie. The graphics used also add the effect the film has on the viewer because of the harness of them. I also find it interesting that the name of the director is more important than the name of the film. I would like to add the titles here as a video link as I have done with the other films I have chosen, however the embed code is not available so I will instead add the hyperlink to them; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tek8QmKRODw
The research which I have carried out into thrillers has helped me to understand them better & make a list of conventions which my group & I will consider for use in our own thriller.
Conventions of a Thriller
Female victim
Male villain
Male hero
Secluded setting
Colour conventions
Alot of the time titles do not appear over the top of the film but are shown before it begins or after a short amount of film
Chilling music (often piano or strings)
Graphic match (featured in Psycho)
Sense of being followed/stalking
Watching
Fear of the unknown
Colours tend to have a meaning eg. Red = blood, White = innocence
Gun/knife
Slow paced editing to lull the viewer into a false sense of security
A thriller is a genre of literature, film and telivision which uses tension, suspense & excitement as it's key elements. For my media project I am going to be looking first & foremost on films and I will be using the information which I find out about thrillers to help myself & my group to film our own thriller.
The primary subgenres of thrillers are, crime, mystery & psychological thrillers, however, political and paranoid thrillers have become more popular. The other subgenres of thrillers include: conspiracy, diaster, legal, medical, religious, supernatural and techno thrillers. The thriller genre can also link with other genres too, such as the horror, spy & action/adventure genres.
A thriller has conventions, just like any other film genre. Firstly the narrative of a thriller is often shown from the points of view of two characters, these characters are normally the protagonist who is shown to the audience to gain empathy for this character, the other character is normally the villain who is shown to the audience in order to show them what has led them to carry out their actions. Most of the time, the storyline of a thriller will include events which will cause the audience to guess at what is going to happen, this adds to suspense as the audience is quite often wrong about this. The characters in a thriller often include a vulnerable female, a slightly psychotic/troubled male & a male who will save the day, as standard. However the female can quite often find courage from somewhere when she needs to fight back again the antagonist or if she needs to help her hero. The costume in a thriller can depend on what subgenre the film is, although most likely the female may be dressed seductively in order to lure in the hero who she is hoping will save her. He will most likely be a well-dressed, attractive male who will then fend off the villain, whose appearance depends greatly on the type of subgenre category the thriller belongs to. The setting of a thriller is more than likely going to be an isolated place, like a quiet little village or an abandoned apartment block. Mis-En-Scene of thrillers include weapons like knives & pistols, dim lighting which adds to the tension & suspense, colours can often play a part in the mis-en-scene of a thriller as the colour is shown throughout the film & connects scenes together, music helps to create tension & suspense and it can either be diegetic or non-diegetic music, the choosing of which to use is very important as it can create a better atmosphere. Camera shots range from close-ups to point of view shots & establishing shots which are most commonly used when setting the scene. Finally, the themes used in thrillers are often related to the fears of society at the time the film is released, this is to create better effect for the audience.
There are many, many thrillers which I could talk about, however, I am going to focus on just three of them. I am going to be analysing them & listing the conventions of thrillers, which I will then look at with my group members to get idea of which ones we can include in our thriller. The thrillers I will be analysing in this blog post are Psycho, Jaws & Awake. Although I have chosen these three films, I could've chosen from many more such as Rosemary's Baby, The Hitcher, The Silence Of The Lambs, What Lies Beneath, Hannibal, Open Water 2: Adrift, Angels & Demons or a long list of others. I have chosen to work with the 3 I have because I would like to look at the contrast between them as they are spread across a period of nearly 50 years, I have also tried to choose a variety of different types of thriller.
Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho is probably one of the most popular thrillers of all time, despite it being one of the earliest. Psycho follows the obvious character set-up aswell as a fairly obvious narrative, but the way in which it was directed & filmed made it a success.
Marion Crane, fed up of being treated badly by life decides to run away with the $40 000 cash which has been given to her in order for her to bank it for someone she works with. She drives fearfully, constantly checking her rearview mirror worrying that she has been found out. Not wanting to drive in bad conditions any longer, she pulls in for the night at The Bates Motel, owned by the seemingly harmless Norman Bates. However, Bates' mannerisms soon change & it is revealed to the viewer that maybe he is not as shy as was first thought. After sharing supper with Norman, Marion returns to her motel room to shower, which is the last thing she ever does. Her lover comes looking for her however, he doesn't make it very far either. The question which remains for the viewer is "who-dunnit?" Perhaps the reason why Psycho is & has remained popular.
Above I have included a clip of the most famous scene from Psycho. I feel that the most effective part of this scene in the music which is used as this is what really makes this scene tense. The shrill violins really build up the tension & add to the effect which the viewer can see on-screen, however if they were to close their eyes they would know that something dramatic & shocking were happening. Alot of quick shots are used when the victim is being stabbed to show the pace of what is happening, however the close up which zooms out from the victims face is drawn out to give the viewer time to focus on her lifeless face & I think that the trickling water which is heard is used in the background to try to restore some calm & piece after the event that has just taken place. The graphic match which is used is a nice smooth way of linking from the water trickling down the plug hole to the shot of her eye zooming out the medium shot of her face/body.
Although this is one of the oldest thrillers it is still a timeless classic in its own right. Presumably black & white film was used because it was cheaper than filming in colour in 1960, however, I still feel that it works best for this film as it adds to the effect & mood of the thriller.
Jaws (1975)
Directed by Steven Spielburg, Jaws is another thriller which remains popular with viewers. Although now-a-days it probably doesn't have the same affect as what it once did, as the special effects are no longer seen as being the highest standard. However, just like Psycho, Jaws was a first for viewers. The difference is that Psycho was a never before done genre & shocked viewers, whereas Jaws was bang-up-to-date with the special effects which it used. So although viewers today now look at it & automatically recoginise it is a plastic shark, viewers in '75 would have been terrified by the realness of the creature.
Jaws is the story of a great white shark which begins to menace a small island called Amity. When it attacks some young party-goers the police chief watches & waits for it to strike again. After a few more shark attacks, the police chief, a marine scientist & a fisherman set off to put a stop to the killings by finding the shark responsible. They kill a shark which they believe to be Jaws, however, now we can not help but wonder if they did get Jaws because of the follow on films Jaws II & Jaws III.
Above, is the Jaws trailer which gives a brief overview of what happens in the thriller. Just as the music played an important role in Psycho, it is also a key feature in Jaws. The most affective musical device used in this thriller is the leitmotif which is used throughout the film, this helps to build tension as the viewer hears this piece of music & knows that the shark is on its way. However, sometimes the music used is similar to the leitmotif which makes the audience second-guess on whether or not the shark is going to appear. The character set-up in the film is pretty obvious as it is females & young children who are the main prey for the shark, and the males set off to try & save the day. I feel that the setting of Jaws is very important, this is because it is at sea/in the ocean which is a very wide-spread place & is almost never ending. The murky water gives a sense of the fear of the unknown as people don't really know what's lurking in its depths. The camera shots used also help to build the suspense in the thriller because when the main bits of action are going on they are often fairly drawn out, but never show the shark which is again, hiding the antagonist from the audience. Close ups are used on the victim's faces, however, rarely on the shark, most likely because the crew had to be careful not to reveal how poor their fake shark actually was as it would ruin the affect for viewers.
Awake (2007)
Directed by Joby Harold, Awake is one of the best thrillers of the 21st Century in my opinion. I think this is because it focuses on one of the worst fears a person could have & it is a real issue, which makes it all the more terrifying for an audience to watch. I think that this is the main difference between my first choice of thriller, Psycho & this choice, Awake, my first choice focuses on something which is almost definately fiction, as opposed to Awake which deals with a real life, important subect called 'anesthetic awareness'.
Clay Beresford is the chief of a capital-investment firm who is in a relationship with a girl called Sam, however this relationship is being kept secret from his mother. When he has to have heart surgery which is to be performed by a surgeon & his good friend, his mother tries to dissude him from going through with it until he can find a better surgeon, however he ignores her pleas. During the surgery Clay suffers from anesthetic awareness & is still able to hear and feel everything which is going on so tries to focus on having an out-body experience & focus on Sam, now his wife, however, in doing this he also uncovers a murder plot against him. His mother eventually works out that the surgeon & Sam have planned to kill him & manages to save her son & the two are arrested.
The clip above is of the trailer for Awake, which contains some key scenes from the film. The music once again plays an important part in creating an atmosphere in this thriller. The music in this trailer is a piano piece which is quite chilling & does help to create some tension. The thing I find interesting about this film is that the character set-up has been swapped; instead of the victim being a vulnerable female, it is a male & the bad guy is a shared role between a female and a male, however it is slightly more the female in this instance. The setting is relevant to the story plot of the film & a hosptial is also a good choice because it is a place which many people do not like to be in as they associate it with gloom & misery. The quick pace which the camera moves at shows how quickly the drama is unfolding & builds up tension because the audience gets a sense of it not slowing down anytime soon.
Our group are going to be making another film, but firstly this time we need to do some research and planning. The first thing we have done is decide on a genre, we have decided to produce a thriller. There are many reasons why we have chosen a thriller over any other genre, however, the main reason is that it is going to be the easiest to make. This is because we have the equipment and most importantly, the money, that we need to produce a thriller. Whereas with a Sci-Fi film we would need a massive budget for loads of special effects or for a Comedy film we would need a amazingly funny script writer, which we don't really have at our disposal!
This makes a thriller our most popular choice, however we still need to be careful about what sub-genres we are going to include to make sure that we once again, don't make our task impossible.
Soon, I am going to look more closely at thrillers, their sub-genres and conventions.
The video which I have uploaded below is the Preliminary Task which we were set a couple of weeks ago. The task stated that we had to include; a match-on-action shot, a shot-reverse-shot & at least a couple of lines of dialogue. I feel that producing this video has given us some of the basic skills we need in order to make our future films good quality and fairly professional looking.
We enjoyed filming and editing this video and learned many skills which we will find valuable on our journey through our film making. We have learnt how to successfully include a match-on-action and also a shot-reverse-shot. We will however be more careful with continuity next time as we have found an error we were not happy with. At first we had a problem with some sound in the video because it wasn't quiet on set so we needed to bring our music in sooner to cover this up, so we have learnt to make sure it is silent on set before we film in future. Overall, my group & I were pleased with our end product and we hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
The other members of my group are; Josh Clarke, Matty Wallis & Sam Beckett. I have included links to their blogs on the right of my page. We have finally decided on a name for our production company after changing it multiple times already in the short time we have been working together, we are now called CAM RAW, however were previously known as 'I'm Always Right' or 'TIAB'. Hopefully 'CAM RAW' will be the one that sticks. We hope you enjoy watching the films that we produce in future as much as we enjoy planning, filming, editing & uploading them!
