Friday, 4 November 2011 Research Task 2

Produce a spider diagram that illustrates an understanding of the typical codes and conventions of a thriller. Areas that I need to consider are:




Use of mise-en-scene

Use of narrative/story features

Use of enigma codes

Use of character types/motivations (Vladimir Propp)

Todorov's stages of equilibrium




With this task it makes us think about our thriller and what kind of structure we want it to have. Getting ideas together will help prepare us for when the task appears and we will be aware of what to do.

Wednesday, 2 November 2011 - Our Thriller

These are some ideas for our thriller opening.

Mise En Scene:


Lighting

dark.
dim/soft
artificial

     Make-up: Dark, Bloody, Creepy
     Blood
     Fake weapons 
     Cars

     Casual clothes for the victim

     Black clothes for the murderer
                             

     

Narratives/scene types: 
           Murder scene

           Crime scene

           Kidnapping scene

           Investigation scene

           Fantasy scene

           Chase scene

           Emotional scene

Sound:           
Shrieks/ Screams                                                                 

           Sirens                       

           Music - classical, dramatic,              

           Ambient sounds         

           Exaggerated               

           Natural background sounds

           Breathing

              

Loaction: 

          Forest

          Alleyway

          Town

          Village

          House

          Streets

          Park / Forest

          Warehouse

Friday, 14 October 2011- The Film - Seven

Due to the fact I dislike thrillers and things that make me jump, I must say that the film 'Seven' was brilliant to focus on and to observe. We observed only the first 2-5 minutes of the opening credits to write down every category of the 'Film Language' such as, lighting, camera angles, genre, editing and much more.
For the sound, during the opening, we discovered:

Police Sirens.

Radio & rain sounds, natural and recorded.

Dialogue between the investigators.

Car noises and effects.

Ticking noise enhanced and presented as a heart beat. -A metronome

Creepy uneven music creating tension.

Scratches, mechanical,wind effects, creaking, echo's, revving sounds

High pitched, ambient sound signifies a scream.

Upbeat, fast paced music

Lyrics

We also looked at the camera angles and movements included in the opening, We found,

Mid shot - To display the characters surroundings.

Close up shots for the characters expressions.

Tracking shot shows the setting and the place the characters are moving to.

Long shot gives an entire view of the person and location.
Extreme close ups were used for props such as, metronome, needles,books.

Friday 8th October - Groups

In class, We've made groups between us all to accomplish several tasks. I am joined with, Zoe Farrell, Abby Mayes and Connor Sams. 


So far in the group, We have made a continuity sequence although I was absent for the filming of this, so the shoot had to be carried on without me. The footage came out really well and we all had chance to edit on Final Cut Pro together as well as using GarageBand. 
The bonds in the group are really good so the filming for our two minute opening of the thriller should be really good.

Friday 8th October 2011 - GarageBand Programme

Throughout this lesson, We used a new programme that I'm not very familiar with, called GarageBand. It contains sound effects and music that can help enhance our continuity sequence. When the group and I started it, We realised it wasn't as simple as it sounds and as the teacher explained. There are layers and tones of choices of music as well as background noises, sound effects, recorded sounds like glass smashing. We picked one and decided to make a beat to fit into our clips, though this was complicated and fairly hard. We managed to make a short track in the end and save to our users. It we hadn't created a song/beat, the movie wouldn't be the same and there would be no tension during dramatic scenes.

Thursday, 6 October 2011 - Sub genres

We've been researching and looking into all of the different sub-genres of thrillers; here are a few:

Horror thriller

Crime thriller

 

Action thriller

Psychological thriller

Comedy thriller

During researching these, we discussed the mise-en-scene and the narratives behind the genres that occur in the film. Lots of different things including the make-up,lighting and props is never really thought about when your watching a movie, But during focusing on some thriller stories you realise how much is behind it all.

Whilst researching these, We had to expand our ideas about whether the stories were good or bad. This helped improve my knowledge of what the films are particularly about.