Costume
From my research into thriller films i have discovered that most of the antagonists and main characters are dressed in black or dark colours as these are sinister and don't reveal much about the characters personality. Our main character will follow this trend and be dressed in a dark casual shirt and black jeans to show his care with his appearance and it will be perfectly ironed and cleaned to show his OCD tendencies. He will also put on a smart watch, which is where the ticking sound will come from and this will act as a prop but also be a part of his costume as it adds to the representation of his personality.
The girl at his door (the victim) will be dressed in normal clothes such as jeans and a /top to show the audience that she's just a normal person and this is a normal environment which will make them feel tense as even they could be placed in this situation without knowing it. This characters clothes will be her own and will be brighter in colour to show the contrast between her and the main character who will be dressed in very dark colours. Her clothes will also seem more informal than his and this could possibly represent that he has a set agenda whereas she is placed into this situation unknowingly.
Actors My group and I decided our main character will be played by Evan Jones, a tall, experienced actor aged 18. We believe is suited to the role due to his appearance and experience in other role similar to this within Alevel drama and also outside of school with independent theatre companies. Our idea has been discussed with him and he likes and agrees with the choices we have made to create tension which will help with the cooperation between acting and direction. He believes, as well as us, that he will do a good job in playing the role of this creepy man.
The girl at the door will be played by Emma Snow, a member of our group who is confident in front of the camera and is also well suited to the role of the victim. She has blonde hair and blue eyes which is often associated with innocence and will help with the representation that he is targeting ordinary girls. In addition to this her and Evan have a friendship outside of this task and so will be able to act well together and create a believable relationship.
Titles research
I conducted a questionnaire to find out some information which will help us with the presentation of our titles. Titles are important because they help distinguish a clip as an opening sequence rather than a random insert from the middle. From our research we found that the majority of people would prefer to see the titles appear over the action on screen in a sans serif font thought the whole clip rather than at either end. We found that, almost unanimously, the most popular name was Unorthodox and this was also the most popular name within our group and so this is what we will title our thriller. Unorthodox means contrary to what is normal. This is meant to represent our main character as he clearly deviates from normal social behaviour and lets the audience know, from the start that there is something unusual about him and they will need to keep watching to find out what.
Initial Storyboard
Below is our initial storyboard completed. This was a useful thing to complete in our stages of planning because although we will need to complete a more detailed version later on, it will be a helpful resource to refer back to.
Thriller films have become increasingly more popular over recent years due to the tension and mystery they provide to their audience. Thrillers have always been a genre of film, ever since film began but they started to become more popular in the 1980s. In the 1990s psychological thrillers became the most common type and had recurring elements of obsession and being trapped. They're named psychological thrillers because the conflict between the main characters is usually emotional and mental, including psychological issues and a lot of violence. They also play with your mind and make you really think about what's happening, even once the film has ended. These are usually rated at an 18 as some of the events and issues can be very disturbing, giving younger viewers nightmares and could leave them mentally unsettled for long periods afterwards. Research shows that women are usually most attracted to psychological thrillers because they like the intellectual side of strange psychologically challenging behaviour that features in these films. So this shows that our ideal audience would be a women over the age of 18. However, as it is only the opening scenes to a thriller it will be suitable for everyone as the story is only being outlined rather than going into depth.
This is the category of thriller that we have decided to make as it is popular with audiences and will be the easiest to film as it's usually based in an ordinary, day to day setting.
Audience response to idea
In order to see whether people liked our idea, we read out the narrative (which was published in a previous post) and asked them the following questions to gather information in to which aspects were liked and which bits needed changing or improving.
What emotions did this plot trigger inside you?
Person 1- 'It drew me in and made me want to watch more. It made me wonder who the girls were and why their faces were there'
Person 2- 'I thought it was sinister, intriguing, and gave me a chill up the back of my spine'
How this helps us: This shows that our plot has the desired effect we wanted and draws people into finding out what happens next and also fits with the genre of a thriller.
What could be changed to make this opening scene more effective?
Person 1- 'Dramatic music such as classical could be added to build tension and make your heart beat quicker'
Person 2- 'You could experiment with different colours such as black&white or colour, either keeping the clip set in one or switching between the two'
How this helps us: This helps to consider and think about the specific choices we make in editing through the sound and the over all presentation as this could considerably help build tension.
Would you be interested in finding out what happened in the rest of the film?
Person 1- 'Yes, i would be intrigued to watch it'
Person 2- 'Defiantly'
How this helps us: It confirms that the idea is good and that this plot, although it may change slightly in more detailed planning, will be effective in creating tension as a thriller.
How do you feel about the characters involved in this scene?
Person 1- 'The man seems quite threatening because he seems quite sinister in the way he moves and i feel sorry for the girl'
Person 2- 'I think the male character is very sinister and seems to be suffering from some sort of illness, mentally or physically which is making him dangerous, especially to female characters and this makes me feel tense and want to warn the girl to turn around and run away'
How this helps us: It shows us that we have portrayed the character of the antagonist as mentally unstable and creepy and the girl as an innocent victim which is what we aimed to do and so we can now proceed to emphasising these roles even more to add effect.
Who would you expect the girl at his door to be?
Person 1- 'A prostitute who would be his next victim'
Person 2- ' I imagine it to be a young student, around 18/19 who would be a victim'
How this helps us: It helps us to think more about who the girl at the door is and why she's there. It may also help us with the exchange of dialogue at the end as we aren't yet sure of what they'll say as its heavily context dependent.
The narrative After disregarding our idea based in the woods, today we began to plan a different idea. This time we decided that an effective setting would be a normal house/room but by making the characters and actions creepy and abnormal this would add tension and make people uneasy, leaving them on the edge of their seat wanting to watch more.
The main antagonist will get out of the shower (in a dressing gown or towel) and walk over to a mirrored cupboard in the bathroom. He'll look in the mirror and an over the shoulder shot will allow us to see his face. He puts on a watch and we hear the ticking, loudly. Inside the cupboard there will be rows of pills in bottles and needles and he'll take one off the shelf and swallow it. The ticking sound will then become more muffled and it will represent the noises in his head being tamed by the medication. He will proceed to get dressed into a suit and in getting ready will put on unusual items maybe including a weird ring. He will walk into his bedroom where the whole of one wall will be covered in pictures of girls, newspaper clippings and articles of missing person cases. The rest of his room will be immaculately clean and tidy, like he had OCD, however this wall will be busy and draw the readers attention. He will slowly walk alongside the wall, running his hand along side it over the peoples faces and this will be slowed down in editing for effect. In the background we will hear news reports of missing girls, including their names, and this will cut to a flashback of a cross being drawn over that girls picture then return to him stroking the wall. The sound of these reports will be slightly muffled and sound out of tune at the end to give it a retro feel and like it isn't working properly. Finally he will finish at the picture of a girl and smile (in a creepy way at it) and trace is finger across her cheek. Hearing a noise outside, he'll cross the room to the window, look outside and we will see the girl in the picture outside of his house. The camera will follow him through the house until he reaches the door and opens it for her. There will be a brief exchange of speech and the scene will finish.
We developed our plot by starting to write out each stage of the clip point by point. We also started to make a visual representation of our thriller by creating the start of a story board. This starts to indicate specific shots, positionings of characters and objects and sounds within each part and this allowed us to look into the finer details.
First plot idea
1) The first idea we have come up with is situated in a forest and a childrens playground and will be edited together through parallel editing. In the forest we will have a worried looking man running down a path surrounded by trees. He will keep looking behind him to see if he is being followed and we will insert prerecorded sound of heavy breathing to emphasize his panic and hurry. In the playground there will be a sinister looking character dressed in all black, starting far away from the camera but as each shot cuts back to the play ground he will appear closer and closer. At their meeting point they will come face to face as the man appears out of the forest. A straight cut shot will make the sinister looking man disappear and the other character will look very stressed and unsettled. The screen will cut black and the audience will hear a scream. The final shot will be a close up of the sinister mans face as he smiles then the screen cuts black and the titles appear.
Audience feedback
By discussing our ideaswithpeers, family and teachers we decided that we wern't going to use this idea as it was too standard and predictable and we wanted to develop a more unique and effective idea. We therefore took ideas from this, such as a sinister looking main character and possibly a parallel timeline and decided we would incorporate this into our main idea and plot but that this plot wouldn't be used for our thriller.
Initial brainstorming
We first started to brainstorm ideas by looking up typical attributes of thrillers and this helped form the basis of our first ideas. Setting
- A forest
- A playground
- A family home
- Local environment
- Shed
- Garage
- Shower/bathroom
- Either very messy or very organised room to show its at the top of either end of the spectrum and this will show the aduience that it isn't normal.
Props
- Dolls
- Pills
- Needles
- Equiptment within a playground
- Equiptment within a garage/shed
We also decided that our main character was going to be a
young adult, male as the progagonist in thriller films are usually male
and by dressing him in unusual clothing and giving him make up which
presents him as tired and angry this will help the audience to establish
the genre.
A really good example of an opening to a thriller is a students work titled 'TORN'. They use a wide range of camera angles which gives different perspectives of the situation. The quick inserts of dolls that appear on screen create tension as we have no idea what's happening and keeps us wanting to find out more. I found that this was the most effective part of clip because the situation seems to be normal but with the contrast of something out of the ordinary happening and this makes you feel uneasy and i will be incorporating this technique into the opening sequence to my thriller. The opening has been edited to a high, professional standard and flows very well, including the way that the titles appear on screen. The lighting used is dim inside but you can still see whats happening and creates a mysterious mood. The only weakness of their clip is that at the very beginning when the images of dolls flash up they're very brief and so you can't tell what they are until later when they're shown for slightly longer
An average example of a students opening sequence is 'The Search'. Something they do very well in this is use sound to create effect. The music is creepy and unsettling which makes us feel uneasy as its paired with images of a baby which you wouldn't expect to see. The titles are also very well edited as they appear and leave the screen in a sleek way and this adds professionalism. A criticism of this piece is that it feels more like a trailer than an opening sequence as the stories plot seems to skip from the child being recorded to her going missing. There is also a voice over and it leaves us on a slight cliffhanger which are both typical attributes of trailers. This means that although the piece is well edited and filmed it doesn't fulfill the brief and is therefore limited in the amount of marks it can get.
This persons work, titled 'The search' is a poor example of an opening sequence to a thriller. It is quite unclear as to what was going on in the scene and not in a good way which creates suspense and mystery but it seems random and unorganized. Their lighting is inconsistent as it starts of in normal day light and finishes in the pitch black which shows they organised their time poorly and didn't account for how the light would change throughout their time for filming. A good point to note is that they used a good variety of camera angles, including establishing shots to set the scene but this alone wasn't enough to boost their marks which shows you need to be consistent with the level of your work in all areas to achieve a good grade.
Preliminary Task - Evaluation Overall I am pleased with our final short clip. I feel that the editing went generally well and where it didn't, I learnt how to overcome problems that I would be able to replicate when it comes to our final project.
Problems I faced included not knowing how to inset titles but I now know how to do it and this will help create my opening sequence for a thriller. Something that could be improved was our filming. The lighting didn't work very well and it points the actors were unsure of what to say as we forgot to bring the sheet with our dialogue written on so had to improvise slightly. This has taught me and my group that it is essential to be organised and keep on top of what needs bringing. Another thing that went wrong was that when the video was uploaded to YouTube the end has been cut off and so you don't see the main title -'The delivery' appear on screen.
Preliminary Task - Editing When it came to editing we had to look at the different components within editing such as adding in non-diegetic music and sound effects as well as transitions and straight cut editing to bring the whole clip together. I faced a few problems when editing my part of the film as it was my first time editing and so I wasn't sure what to do but with guidance from my teacher and initiative I manage to get to grips with it and it has prepared me well for when we come to edit our final task. On reviewing our footage, we saw that the lighting we used was way too dark in parts and some of the handling noise from the camera spoiled the effect of the clip so had to be removed. Although this made things slightly tricky for us now, it was actually a good thing for the long run as we were forced to deal with these problems and it gives us an idea about which lighting works and doesn't work and how to remove and insert sound but also teaches us to take care with any excessive noise when filming.
Preliminary Task - Filming On our day of filming, we had a limited time frame in which to gather all of our clips and so we had to be organised and efficient with our time. I took a main role in filming while the other two members of my group acted and we all helped to direct and decide which shots and camera angles would be most effective.
We tried to be as organised as possible in our planning before hand so that we didn't waste time on the day making decisions, although there were some things which were only possible to do at that time such as setting up the scene in the room, sorting out the lighting, choosing an appropriate background to fit with the lighting and getting together props.
Overall the filming went well and we gathered more than enough footage to edit with later on which gave us flexibility. The only problem we faced was noise from other students whilst we were recording certain clips but we solved this issue by asking them to be quiet or moving ourselves to a different location.
In our initial planning we established that we wanted our clip to fit into the genre of a thriller. By planning, filming and creating a thriller now, it will act as good practice for our final project. We originally wanted to create a clip which revealed an anti climax as we believed this would be a good creator of tension. However, we then reviewed our ideas and decided that the plot would become too complicated for such a short and simple task. Once we had simplified our story we started to brainstorm ideas on a piece of paper including ideas for camera shots, assigned roles, dialogue and other components for the footage.
Next we created a simplistic story board outlining the plot and movements of the scene and this helped us to visualize what our clip was going to look like and how the plot would fit together.
This was the first of our two story boards as it was important to create an initial one so we could then add to it and improve it's appearance, creating a final version of our planning summed up.
Finally we created a more detailed story board including types of camera shots and some ideas for sound effects for within each shot. This was naturally our next stage of planning as we started to look at the finer details which were necessary to plan before we started shooting the footage.
Psycho - Opening scene analysis Titles (in order of appearance)
Starring - Anthony Perkins ,Vera Miles, John Gavin,
Co Starring - Martin Balsam, John Mcintire, Simon Oakland, Vaughn Taylor, Frank Albertson, Lurene Tuttle, Pat Hitchcock, John Anderson, Mort miles and Janet Leigh.
Screenplay- Joseph Stefano
Director of photography- John L. Russell
Art Direction- Joseph Hurley & Robert Clatworthy
Set Director- George Milo
Unit Manager- Lew Leary
Titles designer- Saul Bass
Editer- George Tomasini
Costume Supervisor- Helen Colvig
Make-up Supervision- Jake Barron & Robert Dawn
Hairstylist- Florence Bush
Special Effects- Claerence Champagne
Sound Recording by- Walson O. Watson & William Russell
Assistant Director- Hilton A. Green
Pictorial Consultant- Saul Bass
Music by- Bernard Herrmann
Director- Alfred Hitchcock
Titles
A sans serif font is used to show that the film isn't fancy and happy but blunt and indicates to us that the film will have a level of sincerity to it. The important cast and crew members appear on screen by themselves where as the less important role appear together and this is to show who was most important when making the film. In between the titles, grey lines of different lengths appear covering all or sometimes half of the screen. They appear from all different angles of the screen and this shows that nothing is following a routine order and this prepares us for the unexpected in the rest of the film.
Camera
An establishing, panoramic clip is used as an opening shot to show the audience where the film is taking place and familiarize us with the general setting. By scanning across the city we aren't sure where exactly the action will be taking place and so keeps us wanting to watch more and find out. The shot zooms in on a window, opened only a few centimeters. The lighting inside the window is dark and so we can't see what is happening inside. As the shot zooms in slowly this builds tension as we don't know what to expect from inside the room and if something is suddenly going to happen.
Sound
The Sound throughout the title sequence and into the main feature is the sound of high pitched violins which don't seem to be playing a particular song but are used directly to create tension and let us know that the genre of the film is a thriller. There is no lower tones to the non-diagetic music and this high pitch is jumpy and creates suspense, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. The ambient sound of cars is used to add to the verisimilitude. When the camera zooms into the room the music softens and this allows us to rest easy and signifys to us that there will be no high drama taking place in this first scene.
Mise En Scene
The first shot of the characters we see is of them in the bedroom. After having just listening to suspense building music throughout the title sequence, something is needed to transition the audience into knowing that this scene isn't a typical thriller scene and starts off in a softer way. A mid shot is used but the characters are positioned specifically so that you can't see the nature of their relationship, whether he is holding her captive or if they are intimate. We only see the bottom half of him and she is lying down. He is dressed in black, including hair and clothing which could suggest to us that he has a dark side and maybe isn't trusted. In contrast to this, she is blonde and is in white underwear which signifys she is good and more likely to be pure.
Editing
The main transition used in this extract is a fade. This links each clip together naturally and eases us in to the main feature of the film. As well as the text during the title sequence, the words 'Phoenix Arizona' and 'Friday, December The Eleventh' appear on screen to help set the scene and let us know where and when the film is taking place. It then, much like the titles wipes left off screen, leaving only the shot of the city in frame. This is effective because it helps us learn more about the context of the film and helps us to place ourselves within the extract.
To analyse this clip i had to use two extracts as i was unable to find an extract long enough in itself for the opening of this film.
Se7en- opening scene analysis Titles
(as seen on screen)
Cast-Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard
Roundtree, R. Lee Ermey, John C. McGinley, Julie Araskog, Mark Boone Junior,
John Cassini, Reginald E. Cathey, Peter Crombie, Hawthorne Jones, Michael
Moussee, Leland Orser, Richard Partnow, Richard Schiff, Pamala Tyson
Co-producers- Stephen
Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panitch
Co-executive producers-Lynn Harris, Richard Saperstein
Executive producers-Gianni Nunnari, Dan Kolsurd, Anne Kapelsun
Written by-Andrew Kevin Walker
Producers-
Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle
Director- David
Fincher
Titles
The opening credits are very strange and disorientated, adding atmosphere to the film. The titles flash up and random times, with no particular time structure linked to their appearance. They're typed in white writing usually on a solid black background, although they then continue to appear on screen while the action is taking place in the background. Due to the fact that they flash and move around on screen this leaves us feeling uneasy as we aren't certain of what's going on. Nothing is staying in one place which suggests to us the fast paced nature of the film and prepares us for whats to come .
Camera
The most common and repeated shots in this extract are close ups or extreme close up shots which is a very typical attribute of a thriller and helps the audience to establish the genre. These close up shots are mainly of objects and the only part of a character we get to see are their fingers. This is effective because it shows the objects in the extract play an important role in the film and we will then look out for them later in the film to see if any of them reappear and we may find out their significance. This focus on inanimate objects also leaves us feeling uneasy and builds tension as we are put in an unfamiliar situation of not knowing who is interacting with the objects and so we don't know whether they are a trustworthy character or not.
Sound
The main sound in this clip is the repeated sound of low pitched drum being hit in a slow and suspense building rhythm. The sound has connotations of tribal sacrifice and doom. Overlapped on top of this are a weird array of unsettling sounds, inserted at random points. Because they don't fit in with the base of the drum it leaves us feeling unsettled as things aren't in their correct place. One of the noises, in particular, is a high pitched scratching sound which mimics the sound of a scream. This is unnerving and makes the audience ask questions about if this is an actual scream, who it is from and why they are screaming, adding suspense and tension to the situation.
Mise En Scene
This clip is dimly lit with mainly mono-chromal shades and shadows present. This has connotations of horror and danger, situations lit in this way usually have something bad happening within them. This puts worry and questions in the audiences mind as they don't know what sort of bad activity is taking place or will take place. The only image of a human we get is the brief picture of somebody's dirty fingers. They are cut and split, some with plasters or grubby bandages on. In one short picture we see them cutting skin off their finger with an uncleanly blade which is not usual behaviour. This makes us feel tense as he/she don't seem to be a normal person therefore we can't empathize with them and this makes us feel on our own. All of the objects shown seem dingy, strange and not what we are used to seeing in a normal situation. This lets us know it is out of the ordinary and adds tension as we learn to find out why.
Editing
The editing used n this clip doesn't follow the usual pattern of editing in a film or any media. The sequence doesn't seem to follow any time line and therefore it isn't continuous and cross-cutting is used to show different things happening. Unlike most opening sequences it gives no real indicator of plot line and so we have to guess what the film is about through the objects and the mood of the film is shown through sound and editing. Very short takes are used with straight cut shots as transitions and this is effective as nothing is on screen long enough for you to make proper sense of. By doing this they add tension and leave the audience on the edge of their seat.
Camera
The first two shot in the opening scene of the Bourne Identity are long shots which help us to get an initial view of what is going on. We see a shot from underwater of a body floating above which automatically brings to mind multiple questions and draws us in to continue watching on to find out who the body is and how they ended up in the water.This element of mystery adds tension and sets up the start of the film as a thriller nicely.We also see a long shot of a boat which shows us where the main setting for this scene will be. It is effective because it helps us to visualize the scenery when action is filmed indoors. Mid-shots are used frequently throughout the sequence to show what is happening. By using a mid shot it allows us to see the body language and interactions of the characters but also their facial expressions. This is effective because we can see the panic and uncertainty on their faces which lets us know they're in an unfamiliar situation and what is happening isn't what they would usually have to deal with. This keeps us on the edge of the seat as we see how they decide to respond as it happens.
Sound
The sound effects of thunder and heavy rain are used as pathetic fallacy to help set the mood for the scene as uneasy and potentially dangerous. This mood is also reflected through the non-diegectic background music. The men inside of the ship are happy, laughing and playing cards and seem to have no idea what is coming so the music is our main indicator that something bad is going on outside of their situation. That paired with the images of the man floating in the water foreshadows what is going to happen.
Mise En Scene
The setting of the boat on stormy seas presents a stressful situation as it is well known that many ships sink or crash when the weather is stormy so that lets us know that there will be an element of danger and risk to the film. The low key lighting also helps with this as its dark and so difficult to see what is happening and scenes from thrillers are often shot in the dark so it helps us establish the genre of the film. The mysterious man thats floating in the water is dressed in back from head to toe which gives us very little information about his character and creates mystery as we, and the other characters in the scene have no idea who he is. This helps to build tension as we don't have any clues as to what will happen and if he's good or bad.
Editing
The whole extract uses straight cut shots to set a fast pace to the film and create tension. As the shot switches quickly from one viewpoint to the next you can't always make out exactly whats happening so your full attention is drawn to the scene to make sure you can make sense of all the details given to you. Straight cut shots are a typical feature of thrillers as its a good creator of tension and suspense. Ellipsis of time is also used when the sailor goes out onto the deck to see what is happening. This is used because there is no need to show him walking and is effective because it shows us only relevant images are being shown to us, making us focus as everything shown is important.
Costume
The girl at his door (the victim) will be dressed in normal clothes such as jeans and a /top to show the audience that she's just a normal person and this is a normal environment which will make them feel tense as even they could be placed in this situation without knowing it. This characters clothes will be her own and will be brighter in colour to show the contrast between her and the main character who will be dressed in very dark colours. Her clothes will also seem more informal than his and this could possibly represent that he has a set agenda whereas she is placed into this situation unknowingly. 
