Questionnaire

In order for us to decide what would make our thriller opening effective, we decided to conduct a questionnaire to find out what aspects of thriller people like. We did this questionnaire on ten people, a mixture of males and females. The questions we asked are shown below.

1) What is your age?

          15-18  ☐

          19-23  ☐

          24-30  ☐

  2) What is your gender?

            Male☐

     

       Female☐

3) What do you like about thriller films?

 Suspense ☐

           Mystery ☐

      Confusion ☐

               Other ☐

4) What type of music do you think is best suited to thriller opening?

      Sharp sound ☐

                    Slow ☐

                Upbeat ☐

              Build up ☐

            Tensions ☐

5) What events do you think an opening of a thriller should start with?

                    Flashback ☐

          Ordinary day ☐

               Chase scene ☐

                           Death ☐

                    Other ☐

    Intimidating person ☐

6) What types of colour would be best suited in a thriller opening scene?

                    Red and black ☐

                   Blue and white ☐

       Black and yellow ☐

      Purple and Green ☐

                           Other ☐

7) What do you like about opening sequences of thriller films and why?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  

Thriller films comparison

In order to complete this mindmap, we watched several openings of different genre's of films, and I chose Insomnia and Fargo. I did this because although they may seem similar, the conventions they use are very different.

Original stills against our stills

This image is an extreme close up.

This image is a medium long shot.

This imagine is a medium close up shot.

This is a high angle shot.

This is a low angle shot.

This image is a medium shot.

This image is a close up.

OUR SHOTS

Close up shot 

Extreme close up

Medium long shot

High angle shot

Low angle shot

Medium shot

Our actual photos differed slightly to the original photos. Instead of an extreme close up of a mouth, we used an eye. It was still effective because the camera was the same distance away from the object being used. This was the case for most of our photos, apart from the medium close up. We kept this the same as we thought this was an effective photo. To achieve our shots, we used a higher platform for when we took the high angle shots, which was the stairs, and we filmed from there. Furthermore we used the tripod to achieve the low angle shots, as well as the medium, close and long shots. We did this because the tripod secured the camera, meaning we could move it any way we wanted to in order to achieve our shot. In our still of an extreme close up, we were worried that the focus would blur, but it didn't and we were able to control it. Also, we effectively used the zoom to achieve our different shots. In particular, the high angle shot. We wanted it to be an effective high angle shot, however we didn't want the people in the still not to be seen, so we used the zoom to achieve both things. Things that could have been improved upon is the steadiness of our hands when using the camera. This will take practice and possibly relying on the tripod more, to help us secure the camera. Also, I think we could be more professional when filming, and use more appropriate stills for each shot. In terms of camera, character and misé en scene, we tried to match the original stills as best as we could. For example, we found that close ups were often used for conversations between people, as they show people's emotions. We also found that extreme close ups were used for a certain object, as it goes into extreme detail of an important object. Therefore, in terms of characters, we used the original still, and used a boy and a girl for the medium close up. This is also why we used an individuals eye for the extreme close up, as you could see detail within it. We also realised that the best type of lighting for a close up shot is not too bright, but not too low key either. It should be in the middle, so as you can see the emotions clearly, but not too dark so as a low mood is set. There's no point in using low key lighting for a long shot, because you can't see any detail or perhaps any of the objects in the scene. We have learnt all of the above things and will take this into consideration when we film our preliminary and our real film.

Essay question on thriller openings.

Today we looked at the opening sequence of two thriller films. The films were Insomnia and Fargo. We were looking at the conventions in a thriller film. Our essay question was:


Analyse a thriller opening you have recently seen. What conventions does it use to engage the viewer?


There are many conventions in thriller films which help to engage the viewer. This is done through the use of music, lettering, images, colours and camera shots. They have different effects on a viewer, and can trigger certain emotions and feelings onto the viewer. Firstly, the use of soft, deep mellow music in Insomnia may create a tense atmosphere. It may also make the viewer feel uneasy, and feel uncomfortable in what they are watching. It sets the tone of the film, and sets up an important enigma for the film. The elongated notes may add to this atmosphere. Similarly, in Fargo, the music is soft and slow, and suggests a feeling of innocence. As the opening title progresses, the music portrays itself as more heroic, and as if the protagonist is going to play a huge part in solving the enigma that has been set up. 


Secondly, the use of lettering and credits helps engage the viewer. The two films differ in terms of their opening credits, the main difference being that one is substantially longer than the other. Insomnia has blotted writing for its opening credits, and the words blur into each other. The writing could also be described as a 'ghostly imprint', as they don't stay on the screen for long before they disappear. The words are positioned centre screen, and the credits in this opening sequence are never combined with an important scene. This is so as the words don't distract the viewer away from the important scene going on. In a less important scene, the credits appear on the screen, as not much is going on. The font is fairly simple, and varies between a black font and a white font. The colours are varied so as they match the background, which is effective as it makes the words really stand out. In contrast with Fargo, the background in Fargo is constantly black, and so has a consistent font colour of black. The font in this film fades, which adds to create a tense atmosphere.


Thirdly, images help to keep the audience engaged. The most effective images are used in Insomnia. There is a denotation of blood in the opening sequence. There are many reasons as to why this is effective, and one of the reasons is because it connotes an enigma. It creates questions by the reader such as "who is that?" and "who's blood is that?". This is a main convention of thriller films, with the problem being shown at the start of the film, and then usually solved by the end of the film. It looks as though the blood is fresh, and so this adds even more suspense to the viewer, and makes them wonder what is happening. The theme of voyeurism is also introduced at this point, reinforced by the camera angles, which I will talk about later in the essay. As well as introducing this, it also suggests that the protagonist is fallible, and that his weakness is that he has done something he's ashamed of and feels the need to hide it. This makes the viewer even more engaged in the film.


In addition to images, colours are also used to help engage the viewers in the opening scene. In Insomnia, a lot of dark, dreary colours are used in the opening sequence to help set the mood of the film. The fact the font colours alternate between black and white helps the viewer to see the writing more clearly, as well as setting a mood of seriousness and intensity. Also, the fact that red is used in the opening sequence (not the blood) portrays a feeling of danger and that something bad is going to happen. Also, the man in the film is wearing a white shirt, which not only helps the blood to stand out, but it triggers a lot of questions within the viewer. If a man is seen wearing a shirt, he seems like a formal, respectable, smart man, however the fact he is cleaning blood off his shirt triggers questions about his status and what he is doing. However, on second viewing, I realised that the blood actually drops onto his cuff, which is what he was trying to clean blood off later on in the opening sequence. Similarly, in Fargo, the colours help to represent a certain feeling or emotion. The blue background denoted in the opening sequence connotes a 'cold' feeling, as blue is usually associated with a lack of oxygen or coldness. This can help establish an enigma as it suggests the storyline may be eerie and so makes the viewer want to keep watching.


Finally, the use of camera shots and angles help keep the audience engaged, and are probably the second most important way in which the audience is kept interested. In Insomnia, there are slow camera angles used, such as a slow pan effect when the camera is moving across the mountains. It suggests that the viewers are 'following' the protagonist as he's going to be the hero in the film. Subsequently, a close up of the protagonists face is shown, but at first just his eyes. They look tired- linking in to the title of 'insomnia'. It also makes the audience think that maybe that was the man who was cleaning blood off of his cuff, and that the audience may possibly feel sorry for him. 


Before this, a medium shot was used, showing the man's back to the camera. These micro elements give the audience a snippet of information about the characters and the film. The fact his back is to the camera connotes that he is ashamed and that this is the protagonists main flaw. There are a lot of high angles used in this opening sequence, possibly making the characters feel small or vulnerable. However, unlike Insomnia, Fargo uses a lot of long shots. For example, the car at the start of the sequence is coming towards the camera, and shows a shot of it pulling another car. This triggers questions within the viewer such as "why is the car being pulled?". The fact the car slowly eases into the picture through snow makes the audience almost squint to see it, possibly suggesting the film will use subtle techniques to show an enigma. 


In conclusion, the music, lettering, images, colours and camera shots all work together to help the viewer stay interested into the film. It helps portray important messages about the enigma of the film, and also important information about the character of the protagonist, and on occasion, the antagonist. The theme of voyeurism is very effective as it may evoke feelings of guilt in the viewer- the feeling they shouldn't be watching, and sometimes shows the protagonist as a fallible character. 

Preliminary task planning

In our first lesson back, we were told what our preliminary task was going to be. The preliminary task is to film a simple sequence of actions (someone walking in a room, dialogue with another character, walk out). This is the task we must do before our actual film. We were told our opening sequence was going to be a thriller, and so got to work on researching different themes and how they compare with each other. We watched the openings of Casino Royale- an action film, a thriller- Fargo, and another thriller and romance film. We drew a Venn diagram showing the main differences between the opening sequences of the different genres. This allowed us to analyse the different things we could use for our opening sequence of a thriller. We also watched other A-level thriller openings to help us understand the type of things that would be acceptable.

Another way in which we started to plan for our preliminary task was through the use of storyboards. We received a sheet with eight gaps in order for us to fill in with annotated diagrams of what our preliminary task was going to be like. In the boxes, we drew rough sketches of the sort of camera angles we are going to use, and the compulsory sequences (match on action shot, conversation/shot reverse shot, and somebody walking in and out again. We will follow this for when we shoot our preliminary task so as things run smoothly. Furthermore, in order for us to establish what shots we may use in our preliminary task as well as our real task, we filled in a sheet which contained various types of camera shots with the definition filled in- our job was to write down the effect of each shot. This was to help us establish when we should use a certain shot and what effect it would have on our piece.

Introduction

This is my AS Media coursework blog. I am doing film. and my objective is to make a thriller opening, so this portfolio will contain planning work for the film, the actual film, any changes we've made, and the evaluation.