Group Ideas for Thriller PowerPoint

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Denotation and Connotation

The Ring

Conventions of the HORROR/THRILLER FILM

In class we've analysed codes and convention of Horror/Thriller genre. Whilst looking at this genre film I have noticed many similar characteristics that run through all the films. These include


Death
Chasing
Violence
Masks
Isolated settings
Woods
Blood
Ghosts
Screaming
Swamps
Deserted Houses

MOOD BOARD

Darkness. The darkness frightens me, because my fantasy makes me think that for example a psycho could jump out of behind the three and kill me. Or for example I suddenly hear foot steps or any noises, which do not exist.

Clowns. Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns. The term is common, but is not commonly used in psychologyThe prefix "coulro-" comes from the Ancient Greek κωλοβαθριστής (kōlobathristēs), “one who goes on stilts”.Coulrophobia can also be said to extend to a fear of covering up one's face with paint—the idea of hiding recognisable features under a layer of face paint can also unsettle coulrophobia sufferers.

Sea. I’m scared of the sea, because whenever I swim I start thinking that something will pull me down, because it’s so dark and I can’t see what is under me.

Snakes. I have a phobia since I'm little, so it makes the movie even scarier when snakes are shown.

Children. I'm afraid when I see Children in a Thriller or Horror movie. Normally they are pure and innocent, but when they are seen within the context of a Horror/Thriller the children are either attacked or they are evil and subvert stereotype.

Psychos. Scientists in Germany believe they have discovered why some people are terrified by horror films.
In an article published in the journal Behavioural Neuroscience, researchers from the University of Bonn say that variants of the COMT gene affect chemicals in the brain that are associated with anxiety differently.
Those people who have two copies of a specific version were found to be more disturbed by unpleasant pictures, while those who had only one copy of the gene, plus one copy of another, were more able to keep their emotions in check.
This could be why some people were terrified by films such as The Exorcist and Psycho, while others laughed and were entertained.

Dolls.

I believe that this is a common problem. It's not the actual dolls themselves. I'm sure that the dolls in those shows are percieved differently as other dolls. Porcelain dolls always have a smile on their face. They look so human like. No human can smile for that long. Plus their eyes are very life like. It's like they are staring at you. I believe that your brain makes them out to be real people. Your brain might possibly expect them to move and talk to you, but they don't. All they do is sit there and smile at you, staring at nothing at all. You're brain might just be fearing the fact that they are not like how normal people are.

PRELIM POST PRODUCTION BLOG

Introduction:

Editing is the framework upon which the whole of film language is built. Within this editing controls time (fast/slow), it controls what we see and when we see it. It enables the audience to make sense of events so the plot fits together correctly and events take place at the right time. It also controls what information is shown and directs us (the audience) in how we are meant to think or feel.

It is important to follow a specific film language to ensure that only the relevant story points are shown, to manipulate time and space in the narrative and to force the audience to identify with the right characters. After we finished shooting our preliminary task, we had to edit it to make sure that the story line was clear for the audience to understand. First we opened the Final Cut Server were we then had to load up all the information by clicking the check out button and then changing the setting to Edit proxy. It then needed some time to upload everything. All our original shots were then placed in the rush bin. After that we watched all our clips, selected the best ones out, and placed them in our log bin. For example my group had a basic story line involving a conversation between two people and we adapted it to make it about a murder. We had a wide shot of person A standing near the victim, then suddenly person B entered handing a gun over. We had a separate shot were you could see person B coming trough a door. Our idea was to link the shots that you could see person B coming trough the door and then directly entering the wide shot were person B gives person A the gun. It was easy to edit the shots to a passage but at the beginning we had problems with the foot steps, because you could hear them in both clips. We then deleted the sound of the second clip and took the foot steps from the first clip for both. After listening to the same shot over and over again we finally made it that you couldn't hear a difference between the two shots.While we looked at several shots we found some we had to reject, because they were not focused well, we once broke the 180 degree rule or they didn't aid the continuity. There was too much jumping in the action and it didn't flow well, so we rejected some to make it semless.

Preliminary task Evaluation

The location we decided to film in was the film studio. We filmed there because we felt that the lighting was good and we had all the equipment available. We liked the idea that it was a large space and so we could prepare for our thriller in January. We devided the tasks into different roles:

• director
• camera man
• lighting
• someone who took charge of the actors
• and someone who took care of the different props we used

First I was responsible for actors and props and then I did some of the camerawork. We had a basic story line involving a conversation between two people and we adapted it to make it about a murder. I had to shot a scene about a gun handover and we came up with the idea to just film their shadows. For this our lighting was very bright, to create the effect of shadows. We had problems because you then couldn't see the shados well, so we decided to change to a shot reverse shot and just take one shot of the shadows where you can see the gun.

Filming
To begin before filming we made sure that we set up the camera properly.
We had to check the white balance, the focus, that the tripod was level in each shot, that my fingers weren't over the lens, that lighting equipments weren't in the scene..We also had to make sure that the camera was properly framed. The first time we I did it wasn't good so I had to make sure that everything is in the scene. Another thing you have to be aware of is the rule of thirds. We planned the sequence to start with an establishing shot, we filmed the whole sequence and then moved over to a middle shot and repeated it by filming everything from different angles like close ups and over the shoulder shots. What is really important is that you never break the 180 degree rule. Once a shot is established, we should stay on that same 180 degree side. If we break the 180 degree rule, it will make the audience believe that the subjects are facing the same way and not at each other. If you want to move the camera over 180 degrees, you have to use a tracking shot.
 To make sure that everyone on set knew what was going on on stage we appropriate terminology. The director says "standing by" then the camera man answeres "stand by", after that the director says "roll it" and the camera man says "rolling" and has to start recording. After some seconds the director shouts out "ACTION".

Film Language

Over the past weeks we went through the film language.

1.    MISE-EN-SCENE

2.    SOUND

3.    CAMERAWORK

4.    EDITING

1. The Mise-en-scene refers to everything within the scene. A useful way to remember this is CLAMPS. This stands for:

·        Costumes

·        Lighting

·        Acting

·        Make-up

·        Props

·        Setting

2. We distinguish between:

·        Diegetic: Sound that exists within the world of the film. To enhance realism and maintain audience involvement. Sound effects can be diegetic and are supposed to be prt of the diegesis.

·        Non-diegetic: External music for the audience. Exists outside the world of the film, e.g. film soundtracks.

·        Diegesis: The film world

·        Ambient: Background sound (birds, breathing,..)

·        Synchronous: Caused by some event on the screen so that sound matches the action (creeky!!!!!!!! Door)

·        Asynchronous: Separate from the visuals, such as a voiceover or dialogue from another scene.

3. CAMERAWORK:

·        Angle

·        Movement

·        Position

·        Composition

·        Depth of field

Basic Camera Shots:

Establishing shot or extreme wide shot: Sets up or “establishes” the setting of a scene. It is typically at the beginning of a movie or scene.

Close up shot: Tightly frames a person or object to show detail or emotions.

Medium shot: Generally shows more body language and less specific details.

Long shot: Shows the entire figure or object often in relation to it surroundings. Typically filmed “far” from the object.

Tracking shot: Follows the action at a constant distance. It keeps the subject on screen.

Bird's eye shot or crane shot: Shot from a high position looking down.

Dolly shot: The camera is placed on a dolly and moves at a constant rate. It does not necessarily follows the action.

Handheld shot: Filmed from the cameraman’s own hands.

High angle shot: The camera is located above the subject and films down on it. Sometimes used to show which character is more powerful.

Low angle shot: Film is looking up.

Reverse angle: Two shots that have the same relationship are joined together.

Point of view shot: The camera shows the scene from a character’s perspective. You see trough the character’s eyes.

Over shoulder shot:

Two shot: A shot of two people.

Movement:

Pan: Horizontal movement of the camera from a static point.

Tilt: Subtle movement up/down/side.

Crane: Camera mounted on a crane so that it can move dramatically up or down and from side to side.

Handheld: Helps to create realism.

Position:

The distance between camera and subject.

Composition:

It’s the framing of a shot to convey important information.

The rule of thirds:Eye line should always be at the top horizontal line.

Depth of field: When a frame shows everything sharp or in focus, this is called “deep focus”.

4.Edting:

Editing is the framework upon which the whole of film languages is built.

Editing comprises of three key factors:

·        Shot choice

·        Order of shots

·        Pace

Within this editing controls time (fast/slow), it controls what we see and when we see it. It enables the audience to make sense of events so the plot fits together correctly and events take place at the right time. It also controls what information is shown and directs us (the audience) in how we are meant to think or feel.

Continuity editing:

Continuity editing is a mixture of techniques such as the 180° rule, the establishing shot and the shot reverse shot.

180° rule: Once a shot is established, we should stay on that same 180° side.

If we break the 180° rule, it will make the audience believe that the subjects are facing the same way and not at each other. If you want to move the camera over 180°, you have the use the tracking shot.

Jump cut: It’s an awkward cut that enables a slight jump in the action.

Eye-line match: Equals for example a character looking at something and in the next shot we see what they are looking at.

Match on action: To avoid confusion about special to the viewer.

E.g.: We see someone open the door, then we see them coming trough.

Shot-reverse shot: When the camera cuts from one subject to another.

Montage: A series of shots that are edited into a sequence to condense narrative.

Kuleshov effect: The way film editing evokes emotions from a viewer.

Denotation - Connotation

In our first lessons we learnt different elements/words, which should help us to analyse work. For example we looked at the poster of  ”The unusual Suspects”.

We then talked about DENOTATION and CONNOTATION.

                                        

Denotation (D): to discuss a text at a denotative level. You describe what you see.

Connotation (C): after this you describe what these elements may mean- or signify.

1.

D: Five men in a police line.

C: Crime has been committed.

2.

D: The one in the middle has a red blouse.

C: Red represents=> blood =>danger.

3.

D: One is wearing a white cream suit.

C: Could tell us that he is hiding something or innocent. But he could also represent the hero or protagonist in the crime.

4.

D: One is wearing a leather jacket.

C: That could represent that he is more aggressive.

5.

D: The man on the right holding his hand.

C: Could tell us that he is innocent, weak, and vulnerable.

6.

D:  The guy on the left is wearing a Porsche jacket.

C: Tells us that he is working (with cars probably).

7.

D: They all have different heights.

C: Represents the difference between the characters.

8.

D: The tallest is in the middle.

C: He could be the protagonist.

9.

D: It seems like the one in the middle separates two sides

C: The characters on the left side look more aggressive and the other two. Good side, bad side.

10.

D: The title is written in red.

C: It’s signifying danger.

What is a Thriller/Suspense film ?

A Thriller is a type of film known to promote intense excitement, suspense, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension.  They are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.

Tension usually arises when the main character(s) is placed in a threatening situation or mystery, an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the main character is involved in a deadly or dangerous situation.

There are lots of different thrillers:

·        Action- or adventure- thrillers

·        Sci-fi thrillers (such as Alien)

·        Crime-caper thrillers (The French Connection)

·        Western-thrillers (High Noon)

·        Film-noir thrillers (Double Indemnity)

·        Even romantic comedy-thrillers (Safety Last)

Another closely-related genre is the horror film genre. The horror is also designed to create tension and suspense, taking the viewer trough agony and fear.

Thrillers come in all different shapes and forms: murder mysteries, private eye tales, chase thrillers, women-in-danger films, courtroom and legal thrillers, erotic thrillers, surreal cult-film soap operas, and atmospheric, plot-twisting psychodramas.

Characters in the thriller: convicts, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims, prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters and more.

The themes in thrillers include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

Introduction to photography

Composition:

Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.

Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.

ME

My name is Helena,

I’m 18 years old and I was born in Bolzano, a little town in the north of Italy. I came here especially for the media department but I’m also very interested in theatre, dance, psychology and languages. So far I made my first experiences with media in Scotland in the year 2007. For one month, I took part in a film course where we made our own little movies and explored a little of the diegesis. Since then I am very interested in this subject. From this subject I expect that I develop my skills in the Media department. I hope I can work on my creativity, camera knowledge, learn how to edit properly, find out more about the whole film world , make my own little videos/films and just enjoy doing all of this. I hopefully can carry on with media at Uni after those two years at Hurtwood House.