This is the first picece of my groups planning process. We sat in a group and discussed what we should focus on and what we should avoid we brainstormed our ideas.
THRILLERS ----> Stay away from physcological thrillers
---------->Stay away from a woods setting
We decided on this because it is too clique and too predictable. Also it wouldnt be individual and we would get less marks for creativity while planniung.
Next we brainstormed what hybrids there could be for thriller genres we noted these hybrids then we are going to shorten our list down to three where we will decide how we can incorporate and focus on different ways we can make it unique to the rest of the class.
-action -phycological -crime -Spy -Techno -Eroctic -suspense -legal -political -supernatural
-Disater -comedy -medical - Conspiracy.
Lastly in this session we looked at trailers and the openings of different sub-genres so we could get a good sense of how to layout and structure out opening. We watched 'Number 23'-mystery, 'Silence of the lambs'-Crime and 'The thirteenth floor'-Techno.
What we found out about all three was that
Saturday 30 October 2010
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Research of past coursework
We watched and reviewed past coursework to develop on what they had done wrong and how they could of imporved so that we knew how to do it when we came to post production. This way we can see the faults in past work and work on ways to make sure we dont fall in the same trap, also we can get ideas of how they shot their work and what effects they used and how they used soundtrack and mise-en-scene to make their openings good.
The first piece of coursework we watched was Room to Breath. This was a suspense thriller so kept the audience on the edge of their seat.
Sound- Romantic music at the begining was parellel to what was going on in the scene, the boy getting ready to go on a date. They had diegetic sound of the boy turning the tap running and him walking down the stairs. Diegetic sound can also be heard when the girl in is the metal cupboard we can hear her moving around and heavyily breathing.
Camera- Good use of close-ups on the girls face in the cupboard, showing her emotion and how scared she is being alone , trapped in the dark. There was also a good variety of long shots to see the boy getting ready for his date and walking down the strairs and him holding flowers for his loved one.
However to get a better mark the typhography was too fast , we couldnt quite see what the text said. Also to of given the piece more variety i feel the shot sequence should of gone:
BOY ----> GIRL------>BOY----->GIRL
I felt with the constant shot of her in the cupboard got tedious and boring which i doubt would of been good for a films review. Lastly i feel they should of had more tense music to accompany the cupboard shots. The only tense music was when someone walked through the door then opened the cupboard but the audience was bored by that point.
Unrequinted Love
Sound- Good soundtrack it engadged the audience, tense music that went with the vicous shots of scissors and red colors.
Mise-en-scene
Red nail varnish and a red table cloth dennoting danger, death or blood. This also dennotes its a thriller through the use of its codes and conventions.
Red text on a black backgorund made the typhography stand out it was also slow so it gave the audience time to read the text.
The scissors used in this piece was being used very vicously cutting up paper this also dennotes a thriler- the use of a weapon.
Editing
The fast paced editing kept the audinece drawn to the screen. She cut up paper then a extreme close-up of her lips showing heavy breathing/ panting showing her annoyance or anger with another character, which then reinforces the use of a weapon.
Root cause- Action thriller
This was a different sort of thriller it was a film noir. Which meant it was black and white and there was no talking.
The first piece of coursework we watched was Room to Breath. This was a suspense thriller so kept the audience on the edge of their seat.
Sound- Romantic music at the begining was parellel to what was going on in the scene, the boy getting ready to go on a date. They had diegetic sound of the boy turning the tap running and him walking down the stairs. Diegetic sound can also be heard when the girl in is the metal cupboard we can hear her moving around and heavyily breathing.
Camera- Good use of close-ups on the girls face in the cupboard, showing her emotion and how scared she is being alone , trapped in the dark. There was also a good variety of long shots to see the boy getting ready for his date and walking down the strairs and him holding flowers for his loved one.
However to get a better mark the typhography was too fast , we couldnt quite see what the text said. Also to of given the piece more variety i feel the shot sequence should of gone:
BOY ----> GIRL------>BOY----->GIRL
I felt with the constant shot of her in the cupboard got tedious and boring which i doubt would of been good for a films review. Lastly i feel they should of had more tense music to accompany the cupboard shots. The only tense music was when someone walked through the door then opened the cupboard but the audience was bored by that point.
Unrequinted Love
Sound- Good soundtrack it engadged the audience, tense music that went with the vicous shots of scissors and red colors.
Mise-en-scene
Red nail varnish and a red table cloth dennoting danger, death or blood. This also dennotes its a thriller through the use of its codes and conventions.
Red text on a black backgorund made the typhography stand out it was also slow so it gave the audience time to read the text.
The scissors used in this piece was being used very vicously cutting up paper this also dennotes a thriler- the use of a weapon.
Editing
The fast paced editing kept the audinece drawn to the screen. She cut up paper then a extreme close-up of her lips showing heavy breathing/ panting showing her annoyance or anger with another character, which then reinforces the use of a weapon.
Root cause- Action thriller
This was a different sort of thriller it was a film noir. Which meant it was black and white and there was no talking.
Sunday 10 October 2010
Conventions of a thriller genre
Thriller is a genre of litrature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitment as the main elements. Thrillers are mostly created with an atmospthere of menace, violence, crime and murder. Thrillers show society to be dark, corrupt and dangerous, though often present a happy ending in which villians are killed or arrested. Thrillers promote moods such as anticipation, adrenaline rushes, expectation, uncertanty and anxiety and sometimes even terror.
Characters
Commonly the characters in thriller movies appear in smartly and well dressed with dark colours in spy based thrillers e.g. James Bond. However dress codes differ depending on the context of the plot. As there are many different types of thriller the dress codes are familiar to the type of sub genre within the thriller e.g. Die hard, Bruce Willis wears casual/mascuine clothing which helps empower his characters appearence.
Often in thriller films, there is one character who plays a defencless female in need of a rescue. This then changes by the end of the movie when she becomes brave enough to aid/save the male protagonist. Therefore there is normally a male protagonist who defeats the residing evil of the situation to allow good to prosper. The antagonist of the film can range from a scary monster to a twisted neighbour. However there are some common characteristics in thriller films such as
-Revenge
-Anger
-Or a skewed view on events as well as bad social skills and understanding
Themes
Themes are commonly based fears and worries. They can be isolation, murder, pain, terrorism or entrapment.
Narrative
Thrillers are normally only shown from two characters point of view. The first character who is first observed is the protagonist which involves the audience in more events and creates empathy for the character.However occasionally the story is told from the villians point of viewwhich can lead to empathy for the villian also to thier twisted ways and perhaps their demented past that has led to the future. Lastly the story can also be told from the point of view from an onlooker, detaching the audience from the events s they can be more obsevervant.
The storyline has a series of events to enable the film to progress, and enable the audience to make predictions as to what might happen next. In many films this adds to the suspense and more on the edge. In thrillers the dialogue never contains a complete explanation of events or plot, to give it place, and maintain the mystery, which is essential in building up suspense.
Iconography
Setting: Can be urban, cities or quiet country villages.
Mise-en-scene:Normally dim lighting hiding parts of a character, large threatening weapons for props e.g. guns, knives etc. Colors are used to signify differenct emotions e.g. red-anger, green-jelously, blue-cold,mystery or death. Camera shots are normally P.O.V shots, frames within frames, or close-ups.
Characters
Commonly the characters in thriller movies appear in smartly and well dressed with dark colours in spy based thrillers e.g. James Bond. However dress codes differ depending on the context of the plot. As there are many different types of thriller the dress codes are familiar to the type of sub genre within the thriller e.g. Die hard, Bruce Willis wears casual/mascuine clothing which helps empower his characters appearence.
Often in thriller films, there is one character who plays a defencless female in need of a rescue. This then changes by the end of the movie when she becomes brave enough to aid/save the male protagonist. Therefore there is normally a male protagonist who defeats the residing evil of the situation to allow good to prosper. The antagonist of the film can range from a scary monster to a twisted neighbour. However there are some common characteristics in thriller films such as
-Revenge
-Anger
-Or a skewed view on events as well as bad social skills and understanding
Themes
Themes are commonly based fears and worries. They can be isolation, murder, pain, terrorism or entrapment.
Narrative
Thrillers are normally only shown from two characters point of view. The first character who is first observed is the protagonist which involves the audience in more events and creates empathy for the character.However occasionally the story is told from the villians point of viewwhich can lead to empathy for the villian also to thier twisted ways and perhaps their demented past that has led to the future. Lastly the story can also be told from the point of view from an onlooker, detaching the audience from the events s they can be more obsevervant.
The storyline has a series of events to enable the film to progress, and enable the audience to make predictions as to what might happen next. In many films this adds to the suspense and more on the edge. In thrillers the dialogue never contains a complete explanation of events or plot, to give it place, and maintain the mystery, which is essential in building up suspense.
Iconography
Setting: Can be urban, cities or quiet country villages.
Mise-en-scene:Normally dim lighting hiding parts of a character, large threatening weapons for props e.g. guns, knives etc. Colors are used to signify differenct emotions e.g. red-anger, green-jelously, blue-cold,mystery or death. Camera shots are normally P.O.V shots, frames within frames, or close-ups.
'15' movies and criteria
For our Thriller we will be targeting 15 year olds and above. The criteria for a 15 movie is slpit into 9 sections:
-Themes
No theme is prohibited for a '15' rated movie
-Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail, there may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour. However strong references are unlikley to be acceptable unless justifyed within context.
-Violence
Violence is acceptable however strong reference to sexual violence is unacceptable without contextual justification.
-Drugs
Drug use may be used in films however must not promote or encourage the use of drug misuse.
-Nuditity
Nudity may be used without strong reference.
-Language
The strong terms of swearing e.g.' fuck' may be used and repeated with justifcation however the strongest terms may be used if justififyed by context.
-Horror
Strong threat or menace are permitted however not if sadistic or sexualised.
-Imitable behaviour
Dangerous behaviour such a slef harming, sucide or hanging may be used however not to be dwell on detail which may be copied.
-Discrimination
The film as a whole must not endorse discrimination.
No one younger than '15' may see a '15' rated movie, nor buy or rent films rated '15' or above.
This research helped with my coursework because as we are rating our thriller '15' it is useful to know the criteria so we can work around the areas we can include and broadens or brainsorm of ideas for when we start planning our opening scene and work with the criteria so we know exactly what we can use and how we can use it.
I got this research from the BBFC offical website on film criteria. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2
-Themes
No theme is prohibited for a '15' rated movie
-Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail, there may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour. However strong references are unlikley to be acceptable unless justifyed within context.
-Violence
Violence is acceptable however strong reference to sexual violence is unacceptable without contextual justification.
-Drugs
Drug use may be used in films however must not promote or encourage the use of drug misuse.
-Nuditity
Nudity may be used without strong reference.
-Language
The strong terms of swearing e.g.' fuck' may be used and repeated with justifcation however the strongest terms may be used if justififyed by context.
-Horror
Strong threat or menace are permitted however not if sadistic or sexualised.
-Imitable behaviour
Dangerous behaviour such a slef harming, sucide or hanging may be used however not to be dwell on detail which may be copied.
-Discrimination
The film as a whole must not endorse discrimination.
No one younger than '15' may see a '15' rated movie, nor buy or rent films rated '15' or above.
This research helped with my coursework because as we are rating our thriller '15' it is useful to know the criteria so we can work around the areas we can include and broadens or brainsorm of ideas for when we start planning our opening scene and work with the criteria so we know exactly what we can use and how we can use it.
I got this research from the BBFC offical website on film criteria. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Altman and traditional theorists
Genre according to altman is usually defined in terms of certain signs. This is called semantics, the study of signs and symbols and thier realtionship with eachother. Altman argues that the realtionship between the two links to how we can understand genre evolution and hybridisaton.
Hybridisation is the cross of genres in one film e.g. Guys and dolls a traditional gangsta movie is a cross between gnagsta and a musical. For science fiction and other genres maybe, it can be argued there is only a set of semantics and no syntactival framework due to so many sub genres and the dhift in ideology and technical advances.
Genres begin with the semantic and over a period of time, evolve into 'genre' after a variety of themes, issues and plots have been explored. This can take a while. What limits this is the shifting social ideologies that can affect themes, issues and ideas.
Altman is highly critical of the fact that genre theorists have tended to talk about the history of genre in a specific way. Catergorsing genres e.g. Horror, comedy, romance
When outlining the history of genreand looking at the way it evolves, traditional theorists such as Thomaus Schatz and William Wright have tended to look at genres as being entirley seperate from eachother. Hence when ooking at genreic evolution, later genre films are assumed to build on earlier films of the same genre and no others.
Syntax- This involves the plot and theme. These two areas form the grammer of the text.
Hybridisation is the cross of genres in one film e.g. Guys and dolls a traditional gangsta movie is a cross between gnagsta and a musical. For science fiction and other genres maybe, it can be argued there is only a set of semantics and no syntactival framework due to so many sub genres and the dhift in ideology and technical advances.
Genres begin with the semantic and over a period of time, evolve into 'genre' after a variety of themes, issues and plots have been explored. This can take a while. What limits this is the shifting social ideologies that can affect themes, issues and ideas.
Altman is highly critical of the fact that genre theorists have tended to talk about the history of genre in a specific way. Catergorsing genres e.g. Horror, comedy, romance
When outlining the history of genreand looking at the way it evolves, traditional theorists such as Thomaus Schatz and William Wright have tended to look at genres as being entirley seperate from eachother. Hence when ooking at genreic evolution, later genre films are assumed to build on earlier films of the same genre and no others.
Syntax- This involves the plot and theme. These two areas form the grammer of the text.
Genre
Genre is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other form of art.
Genre is a critical tool used in films as to how they establish conventions within the film and its genral stroryline. For a genre to become established, certain conventions need to become identifiable in the genral consiousness of the audience. It is neccesary to catergorise films, tv programmes etc.
The following factors should be analysed to identify familar conventions:
- narrative structure
-Use of specific actors/directors
-Locations
-Iconography
-Characters
-Themes
Use of lighting and stylistic elements
Genres function according to sets of rules and conventions they respond to rules and conventions by developing formulas and patterns.
Genre is a critical tool used in films as to how they establish conventions within the film and its genral stroryline. For a genre to become established, certain conventions need to become identifiable in the genral consiousness of the audience. It is neccesary to catergorise films, tv programmes etc.
The following factors should be analysed to identify familar conventions:
- narrative structure
-Use of specific actors/directors
-Locations
-Iconography
-Characters
-Themes
Use of lighting and stylistic elements
Genres function according to sets of rules and conventions they respond to rules and conventions by developing formulas and patterns.
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