What is a thriller

As we would be preparing te opening title seqence of a thiller, I thought it was important to know what the actual meaning of the word thriller was. Therefore I searching into google asking what the long definition was and this is what came up:

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.

Having read this, it made me aware of some of the ideas that I should carry towards our piece. For example building excitement as well as tension. We should also aim to make the audience anxious and uncertain. We also need to make the villain obvious, in our case the villain is unknown and so therefore will exphasise the concept of a 'thriller' to a greater extent.

String trap idea

The idea of the string strap is basically hundreds of different types of string surrounding the tent in all different directions. It will then be attatched to a bell. The idea therefore is that if someone touched any one of the strings, it will trigger the bell so he will hear it and wake up. The eeriness of the trap also emphasises the potential mental illness this man could posses. This idea was largely influenced by a spider web and a lazer alarm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The positioning of the tent

We have discussed many potential places for the tent to be located, such as the hard shoulder of a motorway, in the middle of a field and also the idea of the tent balancing above the ground. Eventually we came up with the idea of the tent being in a hallway of a large house. We believed this would add mystery to the scene as it would be difficult to work out why he was sleeping in a tent when he was in a large comfortable house. It also would suggest to the audience that there could potentially be something wrong with him mentally. It could also suggest that there is something outside that he is scared of. This is supported by the fact that there will be a trap going all the way around the tent. This also shows fear.




This could be potentially what the hall way could look like and there would be a tent placed in the middle of it. It is important that the hallway is nice and looks like part of a nice house, this adds to the mystery of why he is sleeping in the tent.

Example of potential camera work

Here is an example of the potential use of camera we could use. It is taken from the end scene of  'The Long Good Friday'. This could be used at the beginning of our thriller when he is waking up in the tent. His facial expression is also helpful to us as he would be confused about the noise he had heard from outside the tent, he would also be showing fear.

The importance of building tension

There are 3 main ways in which tensions can be built within a scene, these include:

-Unfolding the action more deliberately
-Slowing down the scene
-Building stonger characters

In the type of piece we are doing, being a thriller, it is extremely important to build tension because it atracts the audience attention and makes them want to watch on. Our group idea was to mix the concept of isolation with that of tension. We did this because we thought the idea of being completely alone with no one around was scary in its self. We then thought intoducing some tension would be useful, one way we have done this is by using slow tension building music. This multiplies the feelings of the audience and makes it much more thrilling.

Examples of isolation films

Isolation Films

Taxi Driver

The Conversation

Repulsion

Rear Window

Sátántangó

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Diary of a Country Priest

The Passenger

Wendy and Lucy

Whisky

Sombre

A Scene at the Sea

The Other One

Blank

Mother and Son

El Otro

Barton Fink

The Shining

Persona

Rosemary's Baby

Sounds research

One of my tasks of the group was to reaseach what potential sound could be used. In our thriller, there is a scene in which the character hears a noise and wakes up. The sound is designed to build tension, so to find suitable music i searched into google 'tention building music'. I looked through a few but wasnt really happy with any of them. So i decided to type isolation into google and scrolled few some films, I then looked at the music for these films and this was much more productive. Eventually i found a piece from the film Satantango that i liked, I then showed the others in the group and they all liked it

Prop list

Mens clothing:
hoodie (dark)
trackies (dark)
leather boots (old and dirty)
contact lenses
fake scars

Others:
small tent
duvet
pillow
string
tea making stuff
cigerette and lighter

Character development

As we have an idea we are happy with, we wanted to focus on smaller things to add extra effect when filmed. Firstly we wanted to develop the Character. We had some specefic ideas that included:
-Facial injury, such as scar with a different coloured eye.
-A weapon, eg. an axe.
-Boiler suit, scruffy run down.
-Beard.
-Very scared and scared personality.
-Clever.

We wanted these aspects of our character to give off the impression as if he is being hunted by something and he knows how to fight it off, however he has been injured once as we can see through the facial injuries. We are still yet to decide on what is hunting him, however we are thinking something along the lines of a viral outbreak that has killed off a large population of the world.

Plot narrative

Thriller opens with shot of man in tent sleeping, from his facial features, scruffiness and clothing we understand that he has been hiding in the tent for a while. Outside the tent there is a series of strings everywhere that is a trap. The man then hears a noise coming from the trap and wakes up to go and check it out, outside the tent he picks up an axe. We see he has a facial scar and something wrong with his eye. He walks to where the noise was coming from and stands by a door, as he puts his face to the door the noise stops and he raises his axe slowly. Big bang on the door followed by a blackout.

Shots

We then decided to develop each point and put a camera shot that suited it.

• The man is sleeping in the tent and a close up of his face
• A sound makes the man stir and wakes him up. From a close up shot fear is shown within his eyes
• Shot of the trap consisting of all the strings and one of them vibrating signalling there is something there
• Shot from outside the tent, his shadow being shown and we can see him picking up the axe
• He unzips the tent, close up of the tent zip
• As he stands up with the axe in his hand there will be a close up of his face showing facial scars and an odd eye (different colour) indicating he has been attacked by something
• He slowly approaches the door the bang from the door getting louder
• Close up of the mans face showing fear as he walks towards to the door
• Long shot of him walking towards the door
• Over the shoulder shot of him standing by the door waititng
• Extreme close up of reaction face when the noise goes off.

Storyboarding

In the last few lessons we have began to storyboard. This process consists of planning out each step of the sequence, this includes; the shot number, location, action, shot/movement, sound, lighting and edit transition. It also leaves a space for us to draw a small image of what is happening, this will give us an indication of time. After completing an initial draft, it came to our realisation that there were many fundamental parts in which we had missed.  This was helpful to us because it allowed us to creat a complete storyboard with no gaps. The next step for us was estimating the time each shot would take, this was important because the recommended length was between 2-2:30. Storybarding also helps you to select the pace of the action. This is because the climax of the sequence needs to be at the correct point, this needs editing.

Potential tension building sound

This soundtrack could be very useful for our thriller. I found it by searching 'isolation films' into goole and watching clips from the films that came up. This is one I found.

Analysis of 3 opening title sequences (part 3 Titanic)

Titanic

Info

Paramount pictures
Twentieth century fox
A Lightstorm Entertainment
Title

Action

Shows family and friends waving at titanic
Close up of those on the boat waving back
Shows the still waters

Analysis of 3 opening title sequences (part 2 inglorious basterds)

Inglorious Bastards

Info

Universal pictures
The Weinstein Company
A band Apart
A Zehnte Babelsberg Film GMBH
Quentin Tarantino
Title
Starring actors
Co-starrers
Guest starrer
'Chapter 1'

Action

Nazi enters house
Nazi asks whether he can smoke his pipe
He convinces the farmer to tell him where the family is
Farmer admits to be 'sheltering enemies of the state'
Farmer begins to cry
German soldiers enter
Open fire on floorboards as the farmer tells them they are there

Analysis of 3 opening title sequences (Part 1 Pulp fiction)

Pulp Fiction

Info

Miramax films
A Band Apart
Jersey Films
Quentin Tarantino
Title
Starring actors
Co-starrers
Castimg crew
Music supervisor
Costume designer
Production designer
Editor
Director of photography
Co-executive producers
Executive producers
Stories
Producer

Action

Opens with image of woman in cafe pointing gun
Man lights a cigarette in cafe
Discuss possiblility of robbing a bank
Discuss robbing the coffee shop
Gun on the table and they kiss
Man stands on the table and points his gun and shouts 'Everybody be cool this is a robbery'

Prelim write up

I found the Prelim exercise quite difficult due to the fact that I was absent from the lessons on camera work. This meant that I was unaware of the different possible shots that and angles that can portray different moods and themes. I did the task with a girl who had missed the prelim at the beginning. Due to my lack of knowledge on cameras, we decided it would be a better idea for her to be the camerawoman and me to be the director.

It also helped us both that we had very co-operative actress' who already knew the script from doing it previously. One of the media teachers was also there to teach me the basic camera skills that I would need for any filming in future.

As director, there were many decisions I had to make such as the positioning of the actors and the position of the camera as well, and the amount of zoom used in the scene. I leant how changing the use of the camera can add all sot of effects for example, doing a close up of the rubiks cub shows that it has extreme importance and relevance to the scene

Favourite film opening title scene analysis

Catch me if you can

Info


Dreamworks pictures
Kemp company
Splendid pictures
Parkes/Macdonald production
Stephen Spielberg
Actors
Casting
Co producer
Based on a True story (Frank W Abignale)
Titles
Music
Costume designer
Editor
Production designer
Director of photography
Co-executive producer
Executive producers
Producer
Screenplay
Director

Action

Shows air hosts comin off a plane
He climbs off falling stair quickly
Plan takes off with him on it
Shows taxi pulling away from 2 following cars
Shows him in a pool bar hotel
Shows him as a doctor in a hospital
Woman on a typewriter (cheque writer)
Shows him sliding down some rope

Prelim Storyboard

First Pitching of Our Ideas

During yesterdays lesson, Mima, Frankie and I had our first oppertunity to present our 2 strongest ideas to Matt and Adam (media teachers) to see what their opinions on what we had come up with were. Our 2 ideas included a young child being babysat by a teenager, our second idea included a camper with a hint of mystery about whats on the other side of it.
The Babysitter

The idea of the babysitter included a small girl who's parents have gone out for the evening and left their child at home with a teenage girl aged approximately 16-17 years. The teenager is watching TV on her own whilst the small child is sitting at the kitchen table doing her artwork and finger painting. There is then a power cut in the house and the teenage girl doesn't know how to react. She tells the child to wait downstairs as she goes upstairs to try and fix the problem. She fails in her attempt but manages to find a faint lighted torch. As she slowly makes her way downstairs she starts calling the child's name but to her surprise there is no reply. She then uses her torch to shine to where the girl was originally sitting but sees no child. She then sees the child's fingerprints on the wall. The teenager followed the tracks of where the fingerprints and they led into a bathroom where they stopped at the mirror. She then shined the light at the mirror and saw the child's face behind her in the mirror with cuts and bruises all over her face. Making her look possessed.

During our meeting with Adam and Matt, as a group we learnt a lot. They both liked the idea of the fingerprints leading somewhere the child had been but the idea of seeing face in the mirror hey didn't like. We were expecting this and hesitant whether or not to include it in our meeting as we knew it could be considered slightly cheesy and cliche. Having discussed this with Adam and Matt we managed to build some new ideas and learn which parts to keep and which parts not to.

The Camper

The idea of the camper is possibly the more likely of the 2 to be continued. The idea started from a Duke of Edinburgh camp with a group of children going missing during the night. This developed to just one man on his own camping. There was then more emphasis on the tent itself. The real mystery that we were trying to work out as a group was what would be on the other side of the tent zip. Many ideas were going through our heads, these included waking up in a field, in a living room or simply in a classroom. Our next stage must be developing a feasible idea which we can work on to create the perfect opening sequence for a thriller.

Our meeting with Adam and Matt was very beneficial, we all had a discussion and decided that the Duke of Edinburgh idea wasnt very good and it would have been obvious that it was done by some school kids rather than look professional like a Hollywood film. We also decided that the location of this man in his tent needs to be crazy and unexpected, to move the audience. The next stage is thinking of a suitable place and developing our ideas to the next lesson so we would then be in a position to start filming.

Hi my name's Owen, Im from Kingston and have joined Hurtwood from Epsom College. My other subjects I am studying are Business and Spanish. I have always had a large interest in films, My favourite genre being comedy and action films. My favourite director is Quentin Tarantino as I think his films by using gory sickening images and mix it with comedy, 2 examples of this are 'Pulp Fiction' and  'Inglorious Bastards'. My favourite actors are Leonardo Dicaprio and Brad Pitt. One example of Dicaprio's brilliance is in the film 'Catch Me If You Can', as he has to act in many different roles, staying in character the whole time. My favourite Brad Pitt film would be 'Fight Club' he perfectly fools the views with his mental condition. My favourite film of all-time is 'Usual Suspects', I think the film builds up really well and gets the viewers scared and anxious about the character of 'Keyser Soze', but at the end of the film the controversy of it being one of the main character is very surprising.