Monday 31 January 2011

initial ideas for opening thriller

Our first idea was set in a derelict building, where two protagonists are provoking each other's weaknesses. However, we had a few problems with this idea. For example, we found out that the safety of this idea was probably not that good, and that it would be hard to find an abandoned building.

Another idea is the thriller of "Paranoid". The thriller would be set around a protagonist who has paranoi and therefore thinks everyone is out to get him. We would introduce a antagonist to fully explore the protagonist's weakness. The opening would contain the protagonist walking through a busy shopping centre, whilst the camera is distorted and abstract to create a panicked atmosphere.
We thought though, that it wouldnt be possible to film the shots we needed without being told to leave so this idea was scrapped and we brainstormed some more of our ideas.

In the end, we settled with the idea of being obsessed with someone because we had many different thoughts as to how we could film it, what our mise en sene would be (like our polaroid pictures) and how we could leave the audience answering questions after our opening sequence, like why they are obsessed and who is the one being followed.

Script - Stage 1 of planning

We a start off shot of a dark room, and a match is struck which in turn lights up the ladies face. It is then blown out and screen is black again and the name of the film then appears.

Woman picks up torch and the surrounding area glows up. The torch is then guided past the photos that are hanging up, which the woman has previously developed with the surrounding photography equipment. These photos are of 2 women throughout key stages in their life. After 3 photos have been revealed, the woman's red lips are shown just before she clicks the torch off. Fades to black and credits appear.

Opening resumes in different setting: smaller, light room with white walls. There is a picture on the central wall that has one of the previous photos, however one of the faces has been scratched out with a marker pen. The women then puts the photos she has just developed up on the wall with the rest and begins to scratch out faces on these. The picture is then torn off of the wall, rolled into a ball and then thrown into the bin.

(Location photos) - Stage 2 and 3 of planning



This is the dark room in Long Road Sixth Form. We thought it would fit into our opening sequence very well because of the lighting, which is red and symbolises danger, and also because it creates an eerie setting. It also fits in with the plot as we centre around photographs, because of the stalker. We found very limited problems with this setting. One of the only problems we encountered, was the fact that within the dark photography room are a number of heat sensors, and so this meant we couldn't light our match within the room itself. However, through extended planning, we have worked around it and will light the match in another room with similar lighting, and also use a torch to highlight the hanging pictures in the room instead.




This is a possible setting for our second part of the opening, where the stalker has a room dedicated to the person she is obsessed with. We thought this wall was good because it is in a scary setting, an empty locker-room, and it is a central wall with a dreary, off white colour. Again, we found hardly any problems with this location. The only possible problem we found was that the location does look a bit like a school, because it is in a school, and therefore softens the eerie atmosphere. To solve this problem, we are looking into using another possible location for the second part of the opening sequence.




This is one of the test shots that we took to get an idea of what the shot would eventually look like. This is in the second part of the opening and shows the part when the stalker enters the room full of photos.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Past Thriller Work

Analysis of The Return
The first convention used in this student's work is that it seems that the opening sequence centres around some sort of crime. This is because parts of the sequence are filmed from a CCTV camera's point of view, which hints that the action in the scene is focusing on a criminal. Also, people are seen to appear and then disappear suddenly and there is a part where a boy in a hood is running away, which again both hint that something isn't right.
The sound, editing and mise en scene are all used as well to create suspense within the opening sequence, which is also a generic convention of a thriller. For example, the scene has been edited so that things appear and then disappear, creating an illusion, and the sound is eerie, which creates suspense as to what will happen next.

Analysis of Piece by Piece
One of the conventions used in this thriller opening is the distortion of an everyday action. For example, throughout the sequence, someone is seen to be playing chess, which shows that the thriller is going to be a game between 2 people. It also hints that there will be a protagonist and an antagonist. Through the use of the 4 micro-elements, this student group create suspense as through sound, and use close-ups of the weapon to show violence and a threat that the film will end in tragedy.

Initial Ideas for production companies



This was our first idea for our prouction company logo. The idea of 'Twenty 11' at first seemed up to date and simple. We thought it was short and snappy, but we soon realised that it wouldn't really mean much after the year of 2011. It would quickly become outdated.





We then came up with the idea of Skyline Productions. This is our initial idea for the logo. We thought that the the seperate letters had a good effect as it emphasied our production name, making sure the viewer was drawn straight to our company name. 



This is the final company logo. We chose the name Skyline Productions because it is modern and is also quite futuristic, due to all the large buildings. Cities are sometimes the setting of thriller films, which also ties in with the Skyline idea. The image comes across as a big, 'blockbuster' logo, with high budget, up  to date technology and experience in the film making world. 

Monday 24 January 2011

Walt Disney Pictures

The Walt Disney Pictures Logo is effective because it is clearly linked to the genre of childrens fairytale/fantasy style films. This is because you associate the castle with the fairtytale genre, which is very stereotypical of this style of film. 

Thursday 20 January 2011

Opening sequence to 'Insomia'







The sequence begins simple but effective. The beggining is abstract in the way that it swaps between what apepars to be blood seeping through rope and deserted ice caps. The intense music that accompanies the images gives off a thrilling and uncomfortable feel. By repeating the clip of the blood coming through the rope (which gets further away each time) leaves you wondering the meaning behind it and if it is symbollic to the events in the film. Also when the camera is panning over the ice caps, they then become blurry before more credits appear, this makes the audience feel disorientated. 

This film is rated a 15. This because there is frequent strong language. There is also some strong references to sex and moderate violence. Aswell as grisly images, such as near the start you clearly see the dead girl's body. Also, the story is primarily based around a grusome murder, which sets in the readers mind the themes that will continue throughout the film. The target audience would be aged 15 and above, this is mainly because the story follows quite intense events, that would not be suitable for younger audiences and they also may not understand. Also, the actors appeal to an older audience as they can relate to them, where as children couldn't. All 3 of the main actors are also award winning, meaning they are well known, making the film appealing to many people. 

Budget
$46,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend
$26,068,419 (USA) (27 May 2002) (2,610 Screens)
£1,159,754 (UK) (1 September 2002) (264 Screens)
€1,150,763 (Italy) (10 November 2002) (221 Screens)
€1,055,310 (Spain) (13 October 2002) (258 Screens)

From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/business  

Also, the 3 main actors have achieved:
Al Pacino- Best Actor, Scent of a Woman
Robin Williams- Best supporting actor, Good Will Hunting
Hilary Swank- Best actress, Boys Don't Cry 




Wednesday 19 January 2011

Past Student Work

'Out of the Loop'

This opening sequencehas some typical elements of thrillers. Firstly, it is clear the film is going to be based around the murder of the character at the start. There is also an enigma, as we don't know why the man has been shot or why the first character was looking for him. This leaves unanswered questions in the audience's mind which helps to draw them in for the rest of the film. Micro-elements also help to create a tense atmosphere. The non-diegetic sound is quite modern and robotic feel and also links in with the 'spy' theme, with the briefcase, sunglasses and gun etc. The sound also became faster and more intense  as the action unfolded. Props such as the briefcase suggests the character is hiding something and also that something bad could happen. However, one thing that lets this opening down is the gun that is used because it looks very fake, it would look better if they used a black gun or something less toy-looking.

http://03thriller10.blogspot.com/2010/03/out-of-loop-final-cut-upload-version.html

'Hush'

This opening had an enigma, that we didn't know who was holding this man hostage or why. This automatically sets up questions in the audience's mind and gets them gripped. The credit font was also quite conventional of a thiller and the way they shook added extra effect. The non-diegetic soundtrack was also quite fast and edgey, which fitted in with the tense atmosphere that was being created through the action. Props such as tape over the mouth and the spotlight made it feel realistic, which makes the audience feel even more uneasy as it is something that could happen in real life. The extreme close up of the pages on writing were distorted and also the extreme close up of his eye added to the thriller theme more.

http://57thrillerproject08.blogspot.com/

Monday 17 January 2011

Review Writing- Memento

Christopher Nolan is the director of Memento, released in 2000. He is a British-American film director. He also produces and does screen writing. Nolan is the founder of Syncopy Films, which is a production company. He and his brother and screenwriter, Jonathan Nolan, often collaborate with each other . He also works with his wife, who is also his producing partner. He was born in London in 1970. His father was an advertising copywriter and his American mother was flight attendant. Nolan is a dual citizen of the UK and the US. He is most well known for his films Inception (2010), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), Insomnia (2002), The Prestige (2006) as well as Memento. The main genre of his films are thriller.

Memento is a thriller, based on the short story, Memento Mori written by his brother Jonathan Nolan. It follows Leonard Shelby, who suffers short term memory loss of 15 minutes. The film is a sequence of events that are in reversed order, but this does not become clear to the end.  Leonard had an 'incident' that caused his short term memory and also we are lead to believe his wife was raped and murdered. He has covered his body in tattoos to try and solve who murdered and raped his wife so that he can kill them. Along side the reversed sequence of events, there are multiple 'flashback' scenes that eventually help to solve the story. In the end we find out the man who Leonard murders at the start is infact not the killer, it was just someone who Leonard had decided he was going to murder. Th man, Teddy, was a police man who was trying to 'help' Leonard but was also using him to get rid of drug dealers etc. In fact, Leonard had already killed the men who tried to kill his wife. We also find out the story that is being told in the flashback images about 'Sammy', is in fact himself, meaning that Leonard had actually killed his wife accidently through an insulin overdose.

The opening sequence of Memento it is clear that someone has been murdered. There is a hand holding a polariod picutre that he then shakes until the picture dissapears. From here the sequence runs in reverse as we see a man being shot. There is non-diegetic background music which creates tension, as we don't actually know what is going on as there is no speech. We can only tell through the action, which is confusing anyway due to it going backwards. This is key however for the rest of the film, as it is in reversed order. The opening scene is quite abstract to begin with, which is quite typical in thrillers. It also shows that there is some kind of murder involved, which is once again very typical of a thriller.

Key scene 1- Revealing of the 'Never answer the phone tattoo'. This scene is very tense, as there is an ordinary situation of answering the phone. However, this becomes something that Leonard shouldn't be doing. The fact that he is revealing a lot of personal information over the phone to someone he doesn't know creates a lot of tension in itself. This is added to even more when he lifts up the plaster to reveal a tattoo that says 'never answer the telephone'. We now feel on edge as the audience because we know that he has been telling someone that he shouldn't be a lot of information. We automatically assume this will lead to something bad.

Key scence 2- Leonard hits Natalie. This scene shows Natalie coming into the house after being hit. She explains to Leonard that it was Dodd who had hit her after doing what Leonard had told her to do. However, as the scenes run in reversed order, it then reveals that Natalie had actually been winding up Leonard calling him stupid etc. leading him to hit her. We now know as the audience that Natalie is using Leonard, so that he can kill Dodd. Leonard 'Achilles heel' is being exploited by Natalie, which is a typical convetion of thrillers.

My opinion of Memento is firstly that it is confusing throughout and you need to keep close attention the whole way through, or you will not understand. However, what I did like about this film is that at the end, when you finally put all the pieces together and work it out, it makes you realise that the film is actually extremely clever. I also thought that the flashback scenes were really good at keeping the film tense and kept me gripped as a viewer. This is because there is witheld information to us, we don't know who is actually on the phone and who he is revealing so much information to, making us feel on edge for Leonard.

Thursday 13 January 2011

Memento Review Writing

Christopher Nolan is a famous British film director, screenwriter and producer. The main genre that he works with is thrillers, and he frequently uses famous actors such as Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Larry Holden. Some of his other work includes thrillers such as Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige and the Batman series. He has previously won many awards including AFI awards and also Critics choice awards.

Memento features the main character, Leonard who has a 15 minute memory loss from an injury in a robbery, as he tries to find who murdered his wife. The storyline starts at the end of the happenings and moves backwards, where key clues are uncovered as the plot  is revealed. In the end, it turns out that his wife didn't die when Leonard "remembers", but however died due to an insulin overdose given to her by him. Teddy plays the role of the investigator trying to find out about how his wife died, and in the end the audience discover that he was just using Leonard for his gain, just like Natalie was to kill a drug dealer that was harassing her.

The opening sequence starts with a polaroid picture of a bloody murder scene, with a close up of a man's hands shaking it to get it to develop. However, gradually, the picture begins to disappear until the polaroid is blank and it becomes evident that the scene is moving backwards. This is important as it hints to the audience that the events unroll backwards. The person who has been murdered is then revealed to be a man, who we later learn is Teddy/ John G. This introduces the thriller genre because the beginning is planned around a murder, which is a convention of a thriller. Also, after the murder scene, it cuts to a hotel room where the non-diegetic voiceover makes it clear the the protagonist Leonard has no idea who he is, or where he is.




A key scene in Memento is the scene where Leonard finds a tattoo explaining not to answer the phone, whilst he is revealing personal information on the phone - clip above. A thriller convention in this clip is that an ordinary situation of answering the telephone is turned into something with tension and suspense when the line goes dead.



Another key scene is when the audience sees the character Sammie, and realises that Sammie is in fact a made up person that Leonard created, to hide the that he infact killed his wife with insulin shots. The conventions in this scene that make it a thriller is the made up identity in order to convince himself later on, when he had forgotten, that he didn't kill his wife.

My opinion on Nolan's "Momento" is that it is a good thriller as it has many of the main conventions, and holds the suspense throughout the film very well, due to the story being told in non-chronological order. However, I think someone watching a thriller for the first time would be put off them for life, as the plot is very confusing and twists a lot, and takes a lot of thinking to work out. I would recommend this thriller, however to an audience that would appreciate having to think to work out the story. 
Christopher Nolan- He was born in London in 1970 but later moved to america with his family. He had a love for filming from the age of 7 and pursued this when he was an adult when he became the founder of the production company Syncopy Film and is a director/producer of many hollywood blockbuster thrillers such as The Prestige, which made $109 million worldwide box office and also Inception which are all critically acclaimed. His most well known film and making $158 million was The Dark Knight and set the record for the making the most amount of money in the first week aswell as it becoming the 3rd highest grossing film of all time.



Summary of events- This is a film that starts at the end and goes through to the beginning of which the answers the audience need becomes clear and the puzzle is put back together. Momento revolves a guy called lennie who has a 15 minute memory after getting head injuries from a robbery and he cannot capture any long term memories after this event. Lennie believes that his wife was murdered and raped, in the incident of which made him have memory loss, so is out to find them and seek revenge. You see the death of a detective, Teddy, at the start after Lennie shot him, believing he was the killer but in actual fact was a detective that was trying to help him. Lennie is infatuated with a story about a man called sammy who had the same condition and whos wife made him repeat her dose of insulin to see if in fact he was faking his disorder. The overdose killed his wife and later facts show there was no 'sammy' but instead this was lennies own personal story that he was battling.

How did the opening sequence introduce the thriller genre? 
Straight away you are incaptured by the polaroid picture of a dead body, showing that some mystery/crime has happened and the film will be revolved around murder somehow by the way in which the camera is focused on this item, and this item only using an extreme close up and this is also used when seeing Lennies eyes, to show emotion that he is going through . It also leaves questions unanswered due the audience not knowing why he is holding this picture,who the man may be and what events led up to this man being dead in the photo which is one convention on a thriller. The somewhat soothing yet dreary non-diagetic sound over the top makes it much more intense which is needed for a thriller in order for the audience to be captured by whats unfolding. Although it doesnt give the impression of 'something is about to happen', it makes the you feel very uneasy. 


Thoughts about the film?
I found it a hard film to get my head around at first, with it being played backwards and also the flashbacks (in black and white) being played , so it was alot to think about, ecspecially compared to other films i have previously watched but i was suprised i enjoyed the film as much as i did . The story itself also had many twists and turns that i wasnt expecting meaing i was never 'bored'. Overall i would recommend someone else to watch Momento but if i was to make one critisism, it would be that the ending finished abit suddenly and it didn't go out on a high.

Monday 10 January 2011






From the opening of The Prestige it appears that the film is going to be based around a murder.

Both characters in the film play the roles of the protagonist and the antagonist. There is an aristocrat and a commoner who are both magicians, the roles of protagonist and antagonist keep switching. We are made to believe that one character is good and the other is bad, this then swaps over. This helps to keep the audience interested and questioning everything that the characters are doing.

Sound- there is a non-diegetic voice over that runs throughout the opening. This voice over is quite symbolic. It links into the theme of the film really well, but it is clever as at the same time as it is giving an summary of the narrative.  It explains the stages of a magic trick. There is quiet background music that seems quite eerie, it helps to add tension.

The mise-en-scene also helps to add to the theme and create tension. There is a contrast between the man showing a magic trick to the small girl. This is made to appear quite light-hearted. However, at the same time it keeps switching to the big magic trick, this is made to seem much darker and intense. The black hats on the floor of what appears to be a wood at the start seem to suggest some sort of darkness also, which to the audience suggests that something negative has happened previously.

Quick cuts are used to grip the audience and show the panic of when the man is stuck in the tank.