Thriller Conventions from my research

Contingency Plan

Contingency Plan Name: Seyi and Michael Production:

Potential problems and how to overcome these problems: Things on the floor- To overcome this we would check the area were the chasing scene would to avoid injury. Bad weather- film during a time when the weather is suitable for your film. Others walking while filming- look for a place to film that is more likely to be quiet and less people there.

Costumes and Props

Costumes and Props

Character Name: John
Costume:	Props:
Character Name: Business Man.
Costume: Suit, Tie, Shoes.	Props: Bag, Phone, Coffee and Tea.
Character Name:
Costume:	Props:

Shot List

Shot List
Scene	Shot Number	Description
1.Close up of café. 2.Inside the café. 3.Close up on the bag. 4.Medium shot of John sitting down and taking the business mans bag. 5.Long shot for some of the chase. 6.Red herring close up for when the worker taps John.	1 2 3 4 5 6	1. We are going to do a close up on the café in the beginning. 2.We are going to how a camera view of the café. 3.The props will be using is the bag and is the important prop to make the thriller exciting. 4.We are going to have a medium shot of john sitting down because its also important to make sure this thriller. 5.We are going to have a long shot for the chase which would make it more interesting instead of having a lot of close up shots. 6. The red herring will be close up so we make sure the examiner knows what we are doing.

Production Schedule Location Visit Sheet

Production Schedule Location Visit Sheet Film Title: Lost And Found Producer: Director: Seyi And Michael Date: 20/11/12

Rough Sketch/Explanation of location and key points to note Access to location via: To go there you could just walk or take bus 150,128,173,175 Name and number of location contact: fiddlers cafe-686 Becontree Avenue Becontree Dagenham RM8 3HD‎ 020 8984 1122

Health and Safety Issues to note: ●      Keep all wires away from others ●

Potential Filming Problems : ●      Others walking while filming ●      Not being allowed permission to film in places ●      Bad weather Things on the floor.

Additional Notes:  (map of area/weather forecast etc)

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Day	Scene	Location	Equipment	Costumes	Props	Cast +Crew
Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four	Cafe Shop	Dagenham ,Essex Cafe	Camera Microphone Tape Tri Pod	Suit-shirt and ties.	Business bag, Phone Coffee/Tea Food	Seyi Michael and others.

Animatic

These were drawings which showed what will have in out thriller.

First picture: A picture of the cafe and the business man with the other main character

Second Picture: Business man has left his bag

Third Picture: The other man character's bag left at the cafe.

Fourth Picture: The other main character has the same bag and puts it on the table not realising theres another bag which is the same as him.

Fifth Picture: there is a chase scene, with the the man with the bag being chased

Sixth Picture: The man with the bag is found but cant get away as there is no way out.

Survey Analysis

                                                                 Survey Analysis



1) Do you know what a Thriller is?

The proportion between the amount of people who knew what thrillers were and who weren't too sure was the same with 42.9%. Not many people didn't know what a thriller is. The percentage was 14.3%.

2) Do you like thrillers?

Most people kind of knew what thrillers were with a percentage of 57.1%. Second was that people did completely know what thrillers were with 42.9%. No people voted that they did not know what thrillers were.

3) What do you think makes a good thriller?

Fast pacing action was the clearly the most voted with 57.2%. The second two most voted were non stop violence and a contrast of more than one thriller.

4) What thriller sub-genre do you like?

The majority of people voted action thrillers with 66.7%. 16% of people voted for horror thrillers and another 16% voted for science fiction thrillers. This has helped me realise that we need our thriller to be an action thriller

5) How often to you watch thrillers?

Most people said that they watch thrillers once a month. Second most voted was once a week.

6)what's the worst thriller you've seen?

Most people voted for Mission Impossible. This could be because mission tends to go over the top with action. This has also helped me understand that in my groups thriller, we shouldn't put too much action into the thriller.

7)Whats the best thriller you've seen? 

Most people voted for the batman films. This could be because batman films might give more of an excitement and thrill to the audience.
  

Survey Results

Survey Results

Focus Group

Idea One: Lost and found:
2 Members of the government are chasing a teen which holds important secret information in a usb which has been lost by the two government members. The two members of the government are willing to go through desperate measures to get the usb back in safe hands.

Idea Two: Lost and found

This adea is very similar to the first one but the series of event happen from the present to the past. Two members of the government are about to catch a teen who has found their usb. Then the scene cuts to how the teen found the usb.

We asked the group a few questions.
  Which idea do you think is better?
do you think it would be good if we use a cliff hanger?
do you think it would be better to film in day time or dark?

The people felt that it would be better to record in day time. This was because they felt that if you film when it is a little dark, it will look very dark in the film. They felt that the first idea was better because it makes more sense and we will know what one of the characters are after. They also felt that it would be good to do a cliff hanger because it will make people want to want to carry on watching the film.

Change of idea / Treatment

In class me and Seyi went over our focus group and thought our idea was not good enough so we thought that we would change our Idea. The idea we are currently doing is below.

Treatment

Group Roles Cinematography: Seyi Mise-en-scene: Seyi Sound: Michael Editing: Michael

Title: Lost And Found Tag Line:

Synopsis: A business man is in a coffee shop he then drinks some coffee before he goes but then realises he is late so then he forgets his bag. Then john mistakes his bag for the other business mans bag. Will john will be able to get away from the business man even though the guy is willing to go though desperate measures.

Key Genre Conventions: Red herrings- a random person comes us to john and saids that he forgot his pen but the thinks that the person is back to collect their bag. Actions scenes- there will be lost of fast pace action when the business comes back for his bag.

Recipie for James Bond thrillers

                                               Recipie for James Bond thrillers

• There is always a sexy secret agent
• There is always a very powerfull villian
• There are also a lot of women james bond will make love to
• Parts of the film are always set in an exotic location
• There is always a massive stunt, which would be very unlikely to tappen in real life
• There is always the John Barry music
• A pop song which is well known so it could promote the movie
• James Bond going on his mission with his gadgets
• Fights and car chases
• Bond being trapped but somehow gets out of the sticky situation (normally towards the end of the film) 

 This video shows fast pacing action nearly through the whole clip as the James Bond is chasing Sebastien. The music even has a very fast tempo, this gives the audience an extra sense of thrills. We could sense from Sebastien's acrobat and free running skills, that he is the villain because we can see that at the moment, he has a lot of power. In the last minute of the clip, Bond is in a very tough situation. There are a lot of soldiers about to kill Bond. Bond somehow gets out of the situation and injuring the soldiers. As we see all the officers aiming their Rifles at Bond, there is suspense for a few seconds, were scared that he might not make it, but just like every other Bond film, he stays alive and gets away.

Past Opening Thrillers

                                                               Past Opening Thrillers

I have been watching past openings of thrillers. The first one I watched was "The night walker". This opening of a thriller showed a good low shot showing someones footsteps and another persons footsteps following them. There was also a good high shot showing the girl going in to the alleyway. There were also things which weren't good about the film. The font type on not original. A lot of groups used the same font.

Another thriller I watched was called "Hide And Seek". There were things that were really good about the thriller. One thing was that in one scene there was a woman in black on the stairs while the other character was on the ground. By the woman in black being in a higher position it showed that she had control of the scene. There were also things in the thriller that weren't so great. For an example near the end the main character and the woman in black were face to face, then everything turned out to be a dream. The thriller would have been better if it ended as the two characters being face to face as a cliff hanger.

Another opening thriller I watched was "The Betrayal". There were also things which were very good in this opening thriller. For an example, When one of the characters slowly start walking down the stairs, the tension builds up because the audience might feel that something very drastic could happen. And then it ends with a cliff hanger which also builds suspense. Even though there are good things, there are also things that are not so great. For an example, the lighting during the scenes at the girls house were not good, the lighting was black and white. This lead to those scenes not being as clear as the rest of the thriller.

The Preliminary Exercise

             The Preliminary Exercise

During this exercise we had to show the following types shots. the shots were:

• Match on action

• Eye Line Match

• 180 degree rule

Match on action: We see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue in the next shot.
Eye line match: We see a character looking at something off screen and then cut to a shot of what they are looking at.
The 180 degree rule: A basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. If the camera passes over the axis, it is called jumping the line or crossing the line.

In our preliminary exercise we did include all these things. But because this was one of our first encounters those types of shots. This inevitably made the shots look a little rusty. For an example, for the eye line match we showed a character looking at a magazine and in the next scene we showed the magazine he was looking at but it wasn't very precise and accurate.

Sound Editing Exercise

                                                              




During this task we had to focus on the sound of editing. By taking part in this task I have learnt that when the scene changes to a different characters perspective or even a complete different type of shot, the sound needs to be the same so the scenes would match. Therefore the continuity should be smooth.

Brighton Rock

                                                                      Brighton Rock

The director and writer of this film is Rowan Joffe. Brighton rock is first suspected romance film but soon opens its true identity which is a thriller mafia movie. It is based on Pinkie Brown who is a small-town hoodlum whose gang runs a protection racket. When Pinkie orders the murder of a rival, Fred, the police believe it to be suicide. This doesn't convince Ida Arnold, who was with Fred just before he died, and she sets out to find the truth. She comes across naive waitress Rose, who can prove that Fred was murdered. In an attempt to keep Rose quiet Pinkie marries her. But with his gang beginning to doubt his ability, and his rivals taking over his business, Pinkie starts to become more desperate and violent.

"Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing action". one example of this in Brighton rock is when pinkie was recklessly beating a man to death. Another example is when the acid spilled on pinkie's face and he fell off the cliff  because of the uncontrollable pain he was trying to bare. Normally in thrillers there is a "resourceful hero who must thwart the plans of more powerful and equipped villains". In the case of "Brighton Rock" this is true because Ida and Dallow are the heroes stop pinkie the villain continue his plans of getting Rose to commit suicide.

Comparison of the Manchurian Candidate 1962 & 2004

                                      Comparison of the Manchurian Candidate 1962 & 2004

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) was made by John Frankenheimer. The thriller is based on politics about a son in an upper class family embraced in politics who is brainwashed unknowingly to an assassin for the communist party.

In this clip of the film, the non diegetic sound has a  very low pitch and changes rapidly to to a high pitched non diegetic sound give thrills to the audience.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004) was made by Jonathan Demme. This version of the thriller is also based on a man who is brainwashed to being an assassin. But instead of the cold war this the man in his troops get kidnapped during the gulf war.
This is when their process of being brainwashed begun.
During the beginning of the film the is a flashback to when the troops were in kuwait for the gulf war. The modern film has more of a believed battle than the war on the older film. This was because in the new film there was explosions, and even night vision.

The use of non diegetic sound is used more productively in the new version than the old version.One example of this is when the music sounded like blood was pumping around the brain in the flashback scene.

Psycho(1960)

                                                                          Psycho(1960)

The director of this film is Alfred Hitchcock. the writer of the film is Joseph Stefano. The film is about a young woman who steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother. 

In this movie the external threat is from a mad man. A man who is degranged. " thrillers are characterised by fast pacing action. One example of this in "psycho" is when the blond woman was in the shower and she was repetively stabbed to death by the motel manager pretending to be his mother. Another example is when the detective albergast was rapidly stabbed to death and imidiatly was in so much shock that that he fell down the staires.

In thrillers, normally there are "resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful villains. I think Sam is the heroe because he stopped the motel owner (villain) from killing the sister of the woman who was stabbed to death. This lead to him being caught of all his other murders and him being put in prison.

The birds (1963)

                                                    The Birds (1963)

The director of this film is Alfred Hitchcock. A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness. 

In this film the external threat is from nature. Thrillers are characterised by fast no pacing action. An example of this in the birds what's when the children came out of the school and they ran as fast as they could to get away from the birds which were chasing them. Another time was when Melanie was at mitch's house and the birds rapidly tried to penetrate the baricades and break into the house.

Normally in thrillers " resourceful heroes my thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains". In this movie I think that this is not true because ultimately the hero or the villain didn't win because the film did not have a dead end. In had a clif hanger instead.

survey

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Alfred Hitchcock

                                                              Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was an english film director who was born on the 13th August 1899 and died on 29th april 1980. Some examples of films alfred Hitchcock has made are "Psycho", "The Birds", "Vertigo" and "Rear Window". Alfred Hitchcock liked to be in most of his movies.


The filmography of Alfred Hitchcock encompasses the earliest silent films on which he worked as a title designer through to his last directorial effort in 1976. Hitchcock started his illustrious career in his native Britain, and after achieving success there, he moved to Hollywood, where he made most of his most famous and popular pictures. In 1972, Hitchcock returned to Britain to make frenzy. Some of his work has been compiled into collections, such as the DVD and Blu-ray set The Masterpiece Collection. 

In these early films, Hitchcock was usually credited with the role of title designer. All are now lost films, and all works are in public domain.

These are the films he directed which were british

speed of editing

                                                                Speed of editing

Scenes at the beginning of a film as it begins to tell its story, it must be long enough for us to be able to understand where we are and what is going on. It also slow to introduce the main characters. As the film progresses scenes may become shorter as the editing cuts between different scenes.

Style of editing

• how shots are linked together
• The movement from one shot to the next is called transition

not finnished

Sound

                                                                       Sound

There are three main elements or sound in a film.

• Dialogue - e.g A person speaking
• Music - e.g a instrument playing
• Sound effects- e.g Footsteps or door slamming

There are two key terms to divide sounds in film:

• Non Diegetic sound - Sounds from outside the world of film. The characters can't hear the sound.
• Diegetic sound - Sounds from inside the world of film. The characters can hear the sound.

I watched a small clip of a film called "Slumdog Millionaire". During this film I seperated the Diegetic sound from the non Diegetic sound.

Diegetic sound

• Splashing of water
• Breaking of glass

Non Diegetic sound

• Fast tempo of background as the children were running
• Sound being muted as the child was under water
• Women being hit (one of the loudest sounds because that was a main event, children seeing their mother being killed)

Recipe for Thriller (part 2)

                                                          Recipe for Thriller (part 2)

Some examples of resourceful heroes are Harry Potter, Spider Man and Batman. Some examples of powerful heroes are the joker (The Dark Night Returns), Voldemort (Harry Potter), and Pinkie (Brighton Rock).

Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are extensively used. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby the presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is flexible and can engage the audience through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social and political tensions. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience "to put there toe in the cold water to fear to see what it's like.