Research into other films on the market

The research conducted has helped give me an outline on what possible film competitors we will have to face in the film industry through various statistics and facts. The first research is extracted from the 'BFI Weekend Box Office Report between the 21-23 October' which helped me understand the different distributions of the top films as well as my given genre of 'Thriller' thus this will help my group figure out what distribution company we want for our opening sequence. The second research is extracted from 'Top 100 Action&Adventure Movies' from Rotten Tomatoes which helped me clearly see what are the top films in this genre as well as what possible code and conventions I can extract from these films to my own Thriller Opening Sequence. This research has helped us figure out on the importance of distribution, release dates as well as how we should dedicate our time to produce a better, more original work than the films in the box office right now and films that are going to be released the same time as us. There are multiple works(listed below) that will give us an idea of whether or not we want to conform to the stereotypes of any sub-genre listed here which will then enable us to figure out if we want a sub-genre or not. Thus, this research will help us greatly into what the audience generally likes and what we could do to engage the audience further.

Target audience and genre decision

After discussing with members of my group that who would we like our target audience to be and what genre we would like to pursue, we concluded that we wanted our opening sequence to be a psychological-thriller as this would be easy to construct and there are variety of codes and conventions that can be incorporated in our opening sequence. This decision was also made as this genre applies to everyone regardless of their gender or age for e.g. if our opening sequence was romance-comedy then it would only appeal to the female audience. Similarly, the reason why we did not pick the genre of action-thriller is because this would be difficult to construct and this also applies more to the male audience than it does with the female audience. As we did not want a disparity in our target audience, we wanted to appeal to everyone which the genre, psychological-thriller does.

In regards to our target audience, we wanted and believed the target audience of young adults and teenagers, with roughly around the age of 15 to 24, because we know their expectations and preferences as we are roughly around the same age. Also, with the research of psychological-thriller films, we found that they mostly have the age rating of '15' meaning they are aiming at young adults. As psychological-thriller tend to appeal to both females and males, we wouldn't need to alter the codes and conventions of the genre in our opening sequence as it appeals to both genders.

Mindmap

 First draft                         

Second draft- finalised copy- our idea listed here could potentially change but this is just a more realistic mindmap then what we did before. This mind map may be 'finalised' but it doesn't necessarily mean we will incorporate most or possibly all of these ideas to our Thriller opening sequence. 

Evaluation- what I learnt

When we first started putting our ideas in the mind map, we thought it would be enough and we would develop more ideas as our planning research progresses. But, this clearly was not the case as we didn't think logically and how much time it would to take to actually have a flashback in our opening sequence as well as not listing what we would have in the flashback. So, we decided to make a completely new mind map whereby it merely focuses on the technical side of the scenes we will have as well as their importance. Therefore, this second as well as finalised copy of our mind map will help us with our story board, shot list, cast list, any other planning and research task we are meant to complete as well as the evaluation of where we are meant to reflect on everything. So, it is fair to say that this mind map will help us produce the best, possible work. 

Shutter Island movie analysis- code and conventions found

Shutter Island(2010)- Psychological Thriller

Evaluation- what I learnt

This brief movie analysis of 'The Shutter Island' gave me a clear idea of how exactly films grip the audience, especially of a psychological thriller sub genre. It also taught me the importance of editing and sound which are clearly the most importance elements of film as they helped create the sense of uneasiness in the film. Therefore, I must concentrate on this element to help create an effective Thriller opening sequence and if I chose to pick the sub-genre of 'Psychological' then I would incorporate all the key code and conventions shown in the film into my opening sequence with the exact same feelings provoked in the film.

Preliminary task

Preliminary task

Evaluation
Our preliminary task has some strengths as well as flaws that let us down. We used various shots such as medium shot and long shot, which we asked to do and incorporated them all  correctly in our preliminary task so this shows a real understanding of what we were meant to do and enhanced our knowledge of these shots. We added tense music to create a certain mood, which was a very action atmosphere that was needed to be created was done fantastically as we had music to do so.

But, there were major significant drawbacks to our progression in this task. We failed to use one portrait orientation so this affected tremendously to the sequence of our project but the editing made this less obvious. The people who were shown in this project wore different clothes in the duration of the 2 minutes, which affected the mood of the project slightly and the intensity of the project. The major significant disadvantage was the clarity of the IPad as it made our preliminary task unprofessional and pathetic. But, these drawbacks can help us prevent situations like this happening to us in our final task.

If that doesn't work, the link to the video is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r11EplJkPQc&feature=youtu.be

Questionnaire analysis

Evaluation- what I learnt
This questionnaire and analysing the answers we were given made us realise what exactly the audience wants. Therefore, as the audience are gripped by the plot, we must wrap all the answers given by this questionnaire around our plot to satisfy the needs of the people we asked as well as the wider audience by producing an excellent sub genre within Thriller of Horror-orientated(as well as other sub-genres of Thriller) opening sequence through everything the audience wants.

Questionnaire with commentary

Commentary
Our group had to create a questionnaire as it was a vital part of us knowing what we are going to do for our opening thriller project and we need to know how to interact with our age group in our film opening. We chose these questions specifically as they are easy to answer and they are the basic fundamental of our group developing our project as a whole. The questionnaire has enabled our group to know exactly what our story plot will be and how we will be able to interact with our target audience, and everyone as a whole.

Poster analysis

Thriller movie poster analysis

This poster has been printed using desktop publishing. The portrait movie poster of 'The Third Man' draws the audience's attention by it's eye-catchy, colourless title graphics because a colourless poster emphasises the darkness of the movie and tells the audience what the movie's genre is, just by the colour used in this poster, a thriller. The title graphics are 3/4 white and 1/4 black. Black symbolises evil, sorrow, death whereas white symbolises good, joy, life. The title graphics foreshadows the movie will portray good and bad fighting against each other and the amount of colours been used on the title graphics shows how much times good or bad side will win. The target audience is mostly likely to be adults, preferably middle aged adults on wards rather than other age groups because they are attracted to the tense, the thrill of the genre.

The key images been used on the poster is a man with a hard expression in his face. The colours been used in his face are black and white and there is a significantly more about of black on his face than there is white. This could tell the audience that he's 'The Third Man', the person who seems to be the villain in the movie that cannot be trusted. This image is been used because it's made to confuse the audience to thinking this person been used on the poster is the bad guy. The poster wants people to think differently to what will actually happen in the movie, the poster wants to draw the audience in by exaggerating what will actually happen in the movie, which will create tension in the audience's mind as into what will actually happen, which is a thriller code and convention.

The purpose of this poster to be presented into this way is to make the audience think the movie is scary, intimating but in reality the movie story plot could be completely different from what the poster portrays. The most important colours and the only colours really that are used in the poster are white and black. These colours are significant because it tells the audience that they'll be a constant fight between the force of good and evil throughout the movie. They were chosen so the audience knows more about the movie without giving too much away by displaying neutral colours. The poster makes me think the movie,by judging by the character's emotionless facial expression and titled head, will be about a man who has gone through some trouble and is tracking down the person who had done so. 

The positioning of the character seems to be slanted and his head is diagonally opposite the edge of the poster shows that he feels scared and intimidated in some way. There is probably something right in front of you that he is trying to hide from or someone he is going to kill that happens to be close to him. There isn't an enigma being presented in the poster.This picture has two pictures made into one, the first picture is the picture at the back and the second picture is the picture of the man. The background picture looks very spooky and makes it seem more horror like, like there is someone inhumane coming to get him and the second picture is the man himself. The man, who happens to be the main character of the movie(all posters display main characters or the most significant main character in the poster). The key image is a still image from the film, it is part of one of the most intense scenes in the movie, which is most prominent in the thriller genre.

This poster tells us there will be lots of action, the genre is thriller and the attitude of the film will be very negative, all of this came from the colours that was used in the poster itself and the character's facial expressions. There isn't a catch or tagline in the poster. The poster didn't list a website because it has made in the 20th century and websites didn't exist then. There isn't a certificate. The poster includes the credits and information. The poster displays people's names in the right hand side going down with a white font as it shows these are the good people in the movie who fight the bad. The written text does indicate the target audience by the font of the writing of 'The Third Man' is very organised and neat, which adults normally are. But if it was suitable for children then the font would be messy and unorganised.

The visual hierarchy is our eyes are drawn to the straight lines. The main image is the man's eye the audience looks directly at the eye first. The credits and production is at the bottom of the poster. The actors' names are at the top left hand side, going vertically down.

Opening sequence- Donnie Darko

Thriller opening- Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is about a troubled teenager is plagues by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident. This film is based on a scientific concept of tangent universe. The introduction focuses on our central protagonist, as in most films, with only slight indications of other key characters or events.

Code and conventions

The use of pathetic fallacy is used to strengthen the gloomy and ominous atmosphere of the opening sequence. For example, when Donnie was looking at the sky and the sky was very dark; which could foreshadow what will happen next and also more importantly how the story is like.

Usually in psychological thrillers, the most significant code and conventions portrayed continuously is the protagonist's reality, perception, mind, existence, identity and death. So far, we can see Donnie Darko's perception as he's looking around his surroundings like he's trying to search for something.

Sound

The opening sequence was mainly effective due to the extensive intense sound used. The sinister, orchestral music clearly emphasises the story plot. This non diegetic sound enables the audience to realise how isolated the protagonist is and the way he is acting is conveying his vulnerability extremely well. This is also conveyed through the addition use of a new setting showing where Donnie's occupation is and he is surrounded by lots of people; the use of rock, depressing song emphasises Donnie's mood.

Transition/editing

There are multiple fast and jerky edits used in this thriller opening and are often placed in non chronologically; which emphasises the protagonist's mentality. But, there are some slow edits used especially when Donnie is looking at the scenery; which could show that Donnie is astonished by the scenery the same way a child is thus showing how severe his mental state is; this creates enigma. This can often confuse the audience whilst simultaneously keeping them in suspense as they want to know more about the character thoroughly. There is a clear transition when the light is used to change the setting

Camera angles/shots and movements
In most thriller psychological opening sequences , they want us to have  a brief understanding of the main protagonist, which worked effectively through its camera angles and movements. The camera movements used thoroughly in this opening sequence is Pan(horizontal movement, left and right), which conveyed Donnie Darko's emotions and feelings. For example, the camera goes towards the tree and then we can see a helpless person laying down on the ground, which makes the audience question whether or not the person is dead, so already 20 seconds of the opening sequence has created tension. The other camera movement used is Follow(the camera physically follows the subject at a more or less constant distance). For example, the camera goes towards Donnie(very fast paced to low paced), which makes the audience wonder why he's on the floor thus automatically creating suspense and tension. After this, it goes around to convey his feeling. The shots that are used firstly is very blurry then becomes more visible. The long shot becomes closer to Donnie Darko. The over the shoulder shot is to show the audience what Donnie is looking at then automatically goes to a close up to convey his emotions and feelings about the scenery. There are some POV shot to give the audience a view on how Donnie is feeling
Mise en scene
Tension has been built mostly using the mise en scene. I will display different ways mise en scene has been conveyed to grip the audience's attention and undoubtedly leave them in a cliff hanger.

This appears to be in the middle of nowhere as there are no cars, houses or people nearby the person laying down the floor. This is the starting of the initial location of the film. This shot automatically creates tension because the audience are probably wondering why there is someone laying down on the floor in the middle of nowhere.

This shows Donnie is wearing his pyjamas and his bike is laying down the ground thus showing he wanted to get away from his surroundings. The sky shows that it is early in the morning(sunrise) therefore Donnie must have been away all night, which captivates the audience's attention into what drove Donnie to get away.

Donnie is familiar with his surroundings that is why he is smiling so secretly as his memory to this certain place is coming back to him, which makes the audience wonder how Donnie is like as this particular moment only gives a small portion on how Donnie is like. The scenery also gives some sinister feeling as the colour of the sky is purple; and purple usually represents evilness, which could in a way make us wonder if Donnie is the antagonist in the film. But it could be argued the reason why Donnie is smiling is because he possibly thinks that it is normal to be there- if this was a normal person, they would be wondering how they got there and this would be shown in their facial expression therefore the effect Donnie's expression gives to the audience is it makes them want to know more about Donnie so their worries about him is answered. 

This place is familiar to Donnie Darko because he is riding fast in these surroundings . This scene could be used as a wake-up call to Donnie's reality as the other scene was him relaxing whilst this is a very homey, busy place where routines are always the same.

Evaluation- what I learnt

I learnt the importance of shots, transitions, sound, mise en scene which help reinforce the code and conventions of the genre(in this aspect it is 'Thriller'), the atmosphere and could perhaps foreshadow what will happen further on the film. This analysis of the opening sequence of the film 'Donnie Darko' helps me understand what is needed in an opening sequence as well as giving me a rough idea of whether or not I would like to help explain the narrative of the film(or make it ambiguous- make the audience figure out what the narrative of the story is). Therefore, every single thing shown or heard in the opening sequence has to have a significance as with the Donnie Darko opening sequence.

Gender Representation in Thriller films

A study on gender representations in thriller films with analysis
In thriller movies, there is a clear division between male and female. In most thriller movies, men are the main protagonist that helps save the helpless woman whereby he is strong, protective, good-looking and he's allowed to look at women as an object for e.g. James Bond movies. Whereas, the woman are not independent(they need a masculine figure to survive), they are always the heroine, they are always pretty so they can be used as a object by the male. I will outline the gender representations in different thriller movies.

Firstly, the movie 'Brick' clearly emphasises the stereotypical view of how woman and men should be presented. This is shown at the start of the Thriller opening when the protagonist is praying with his hands clanked together tightly whilst this helpless, dead young female is on the floor, which shows that he feels angry that he failed to protect her perhaps is desire went before his protection for this girl. Similarly, the movie 'Drive' presents the protagonist to be dominant and has all the ultimate power through voice over and very intense music. The car mechanic refers the car as a 'woman' as the car is the protagonist's possession thus emphasising how woman are objects and are men's property.

Moreover, the thriller opening of the movie 'Heat' presents the protagonist to be mysterious as the audience is left with doubts in our mind what he is trying to stop due to the intense music. He obviously has the ultimate power through his gait, facial expressions and body language. This character is known to be one of the typical characters presented in thriller films.  Similarly, the
film 'Leon' presents men to deal things quickly through violence and terror, which inevitably makes them evil and dominant. These two movies haven't included women in the Thriller opening sequence, which shows the gender division of roles(Murdock)

Millers Crossing also presents the protagonist to be obsessed with money, and if anyone disrupts their money they would fight back through violence. In this movie, men are presented to be untrustworthy as business deals never has a finished solution but rather one benefits and the other doesn't. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy also presents their protagonist assessed to finish another man's business through a mission and conspiracy. It presents woman to be helpless as a young woman with a child gets shot but her baby is still alive, which makes us question why.

Whereas, Donnie Darko doesn't have any gender representations in the opening sequence as it presents the main protagonist, which is a male, to be helpless. He is unsure where he is when he is riding his bike but soon becomes more confident like any other person during his journey. This thriller movie opening takes away the stereotype of only woman to be seen as helpless. This movie thriller opening could be compared to 'Brick' as both Donnie Darko and the helpless woman were on the floor, which presents their status in society in some sense or even their authority in society.

Most of these movies identify men as being dominant, strong, brave and intelligent when comes to scenarios that occur. But in my thriller opening sequence we want to break the stereotype however this stereotype must be applied at our thriller opening to give the audience a clear description of how the main protagonist is like. The movie that gave us most inspiration for our thriller opening sequence is Donnie Darko as the main protagonist is helpless and meek but gains his confidence after, which in some sense, is the same for our main protagonist.

The movie Se7en presents male to be helpless and unworthy in the opening sequence through Morgan Freeman's fragile body laying down on the bed whilst he slowly flicks an arrow on a timer that creates tension, whether or not he is worthy of anything. Similarly, the thriller opening sequence of 'Bourne Identity' presents the main protagonist to be worthless and helpless as he is relying on men who bet occasionally to help his health gradually function properly, which makes us question men could be worthless as well as females.

The Thriller Opening Sequence 'The Machinist' presents the main protagonist to be strong, dominant and ruthless as his many scars and cuts in his face or in his body convey this stereotype of male characters being so. However, the opening sequence of the film 'The Silence of the Lambs' presents the female protagonist to be dominant and strong, which most movies do not present thus making the audience wonder why.

These movies from my own research helps me identify how our antagonist in our thriller opening sequence should be like. However, these movies have a clear distinction of the different ways of how men can be seen as dominant. The thriller opening sequence of 'The Machinist' and the 'Silence of the Lambs' give me a clear overview of how our killer, a peculiar antagonist should be presented however the characters don't know who the killer is but we, as the audience, know who the killer is as the killer presents itself at the end of the Thriller opening sequence.

Long shot in the movie 'Brick', which emphasises the different characters' dominance in society and what it resulted to. However, this shot also presents the young man to be helpless as the dead girl on the ground.

Long shot in the movie 'Drive' conveys the main protagonist to be a typical masculine character as the mechanic refers his car to a 'she', which clearly displays the distinction between male and female. This could also mean this reflects women's role in society as being possessions whereby this film clearly is effective in doing so through referring cars as 'she'.

Extreme close up of the movie 'Leon', which the antagonist is showing his colleague who he wants him to get killed and the constant close up and reserve shot of the two characters and this man creates suspense as well as tension.

Medium shot of the movie 'Millers Crossing', which this man is desperate to get help from his friend so he can deal with his business enemy. His bodyguard represents his status in society and how much people feel intimidated by him in some aspects.

Long shot of the movie 'Donnie Darko, which makes the audience wonder if the person laying down on the floor is female or male as well as are they alive. This shot presents us lots of doubts in our mind which shows this shot is effective as it clearly shows that we are engaged in the film through the use of this shot.

Medium shot of the movie 'Se7en', which presents this character to be very fragile and helpless as he is unable to function properly or move things to a sufficient speed which makes the audience feel sorry for him and feel empathy for him.

Close up of the movie 'The Bourne Identity', which presents this main protagonist to be nearly dead or perhaps dead thus presenting men to be helpless and dependent(subverts the gender stereotype thus this clearly shows that men can be vulnerable too not only women).

Close up of the movie 'The Machinist', which presents this character to dominant as he threw someone that he supposedly killed but his scars make him seem helpless in a sense as someone must have punched him thus he is a innocent character. 

Medium shot of the movie 'The Silence of the Lambs', which shows this female is not intimidated by these men and she looks a bit manly through her sweatshirt with sweat covered on it.

Long shot of the movie 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', which the main protagonist gets shot for his betrayal whilst the main antagonist's wife or lover gets shot so he automatically runs for her for his loss- the shots conforms to the stereotype whereby women need to be protected.

Evaluation- what I learnt

From analysing this film, I learnt how men and women tend to be perceived in thriller films and the significance for this. Before I started AS Media, I noticed the stereotypes shown between men and women but I tend to be an 'passive'(Hypodermic needle theory)rather than 'active'(Encoding/Decoding model of communication- Stuart Hall) as I never question what are the implications of this representation in the wider society.

Psychological Thriller Genre

Evaluation- what I learnt
From this task, I learnt the essential components of the Psychological Thriller as well as their progression whereby from this what I personally think this sub-genre will progress. This also taught me what specific shots help create this type of feeling which I need to take forward when producing my own Thriller Opening Sequence. As Psychological Thrillers are now based on one's own mind, this is one theme that my group has considered of doing therefore this task has helped us with a clear insight of how Psychological Thrillers focus on that theme and what makes them so effective.

Action Thriller Genre

Evaluation- what I learnt
This research has helped grasp the fundamental basis of Action Thrillers and I hope to incorporate the feelings that Action Thrillers give to the audience to my final edited Thriller Opening Sequence. At this stage, I haven't really figured out the denomination of my Opening Sequence but hopefully the mind map completed by my group will all give us an insight of what we hope to achieve in our Thriller Opening Sequence through what we want the audience to feel as whether or not we want a 'passive' or 'active' audience in particular moments in the Opening Sequence.

180 degree rule

180 degree shot, which sometimes the rule of cross-lining is regarded as, is keeping the camera position within a field of 180 degree. If this is over the line then the shot disorients the audience and it will leave them confused throughout the duration of the shot. The only time it would be suitable for the rule to be broken is 'for effect' such as scenes where it involves chases, conversation or sports, where these scenes are vibe up by this.

A good example of 180 degree shot is from the thriller movie 'Pulp Fiction', which shows the stable relationship between these two characters which could convey emotions. The shot itself makes us immediately judge their relationship by their facial expressions and emotions they present in the shot as we can see in this image we can see both of the characters are acknowledging their food's presence more than each others. 180 degree shot also helps people understand where everything in the scene is by making sure the shots are not ruined and intertwined with each other.

Evaluation- what I learnt
As one of the typical code and conventions of the Thriller genre is chases, this is a clear cinematic rule to consider if I would rather want to include this as it helps behold a basis of the narrative of our Thriller opening sequence. Therefore, in order to not cause any complications if I want to do this, I will have to perfect it through watching "Film making tutorials on 180 degree shots" on YouTube and implementing this by trying it out which my perfections of this and failures will be put on blog. This will all happen if we choose to implement this film technique in our Thriller opening sequence.

Sound

There are five main sound terms that are the basic fundamental of the media industry, which are used to make us feel a certain way. It brings a certain atmosphere to the movie or makes us feel a certain way in the movie by using these five essential sound technical elements in films. They could also be used to bring tension or suspense to exhilarate the audience's mood as a whole in that particular scene, moment or it could be during the whole season of the movie.

Dialogue is the words and conversation spoken by characters. The dialogue tends to vary depending on the movie genre, the plot of the movie, the characters and scenes in the movie. The language, tone, accent and volume are all equally taking into consideration when we want to get the mood from the dialect. The most famous dialogue between two men, who seem to be in a very difficult situation deciding whether to leave their country as they feel are oppressed in their current occupation is "Get busy living, or get busy dying" from 'The Shawshank Redemption'(3:00 - 3:04)

Voice over is the sound that is spoken by someone off screen. It could be used to narrate a story. It gives the audience some background information or essential background that hasn't been explained by the characters. The voice overs used tend to be the main character, themselves used for that purpose to express their thoughts and feelings, which make the audience feel empathy immediately- voice overs are deliberately used to make the audience feel a certain way. The best use of voice over in a film is Red's(Morgan Freeman's)narration of the first night from the movie, 'The Shawshank Redemption'. Red's soothing, relaxing voice makes the audience know 'The first night is the toughest', which makes us feel sympathy for people who are going to experience the first night and we also feel incredibly sorry for Red experiencing the first night as well despite the fact he's in prison, and people in prison should repent for their actions by experiencing pain.

Sound track is music used in a film or a TV Drama, Some sound tracks are specifically composed, produced, and played specifically in that specific production. The purpose of a soundtrack is to make the audience feel a certain way immediately by them listening to the soundtrack during the timing of the film. 'The Shawshank Redemption' best emphasised what mood they want the audience to feel. The sheepish, powerful and contentful soundtrack is used throughout the whole duration of the movie to make the audience resent for the people who trapped Red and Andy as we feel like we have a emotional, personal relationship with them as we got to know them more. 'So Was Red' song used in the soundtrack is by far the most heartful compared to the rest, from the composer, Thomas Newman.

Incidental music is background music that adds atmosphere. It usually starts with a low, ominous tone, which suggests an startling scenario is occurring or the scenes that have already been shown are going to be affected as something major is going to happen. Usually, at the start of incidental music, either something bad starts to happen then it comes better or it's the other way round. 'The Shawshank Redemption' most effective incidental music is during 'Brooks Was Here' scene. This scene is when Brooks comes out of prison and he should feel happy that he's out but his life is oppressing him tremendously. At the end of this scene, he kills himself to take away his misery. This incidental music is used during his monologue, which makes us think what will happen. The sad incidental music reflects Brooks' emotions. The incidental music slightly fades away when he has killed himself and comes back on when Andy has a letter, which emphasises that this was used to bring tension in till it reached the peak(in this case, the highest peak is when Brooks killed himself by hanging himself.

Ambient sound is sounds present in the background of a scene. It allows shots to continue consistently by the continuity of audio. Ambient sounds usually establish or reinforce a mood in a scene so the volume, tone, complexity of the sound enable the audience how to feel just by the set-up of the sound. 'The Shawshank Redemption' makes the audience feel very awkward and amused by 'The Opera scene' as Andy broadcasts opera music throughout the whole prison and locks the door so the prison officers don't get in. This makes us also wonder how Andy has got in trouble already when he just recently joined the prison. Opera music is used deliberately in this scene because opera music usually makes people fall asleep due to their boredom, which suggests Andy broadcasts opera music is show how pathetic the music is as well as he was bored that's why he decided to broadcast it. These analogies between opera music and Andy shows he's a difficult one to deal with as opera music is usually loud, which could be compared to Andy's obedience and personality.

Evaluation- what I learnt

These examples of different type of sounds all enforce different feelings to the audience whereby this makes me realise how significant sound is in the film industry. The sheer fact that we are doing an opening sequence of a Thriller film has to make the audience want to watch the movie after they finish through the code and conventions of 'thrill' so we must make sure sound plays a big role in the audience's thought process of what they think of our opening sequence.  

Type of shots

Close up picture from the movie

Les Misérables, the person who is focused is Anne Hathaway who is playing Fantine

The significance of the picture being close-up is that we can see the emotional state of the character as we are drawn to their personal space and we want to know how she is feeling. It also shows detail of the character's emotions but close-ups usually exaggerates the character's emotional state by blurring the background or darken it, which usually emphasises the character's mood. We can see Fantine is crying, her eyes are squinted slightly, she has forehead wrinkles and she has red marks on her face perhaps it is something dirty on her face or dirty, old blood.  The background is also black, which could show she is either mourning or she has just had a mental breakdown but if the background was light, this would distract us and we wouldn't have our attention on the character, which the shot is supposed to achieve.

Long shot picture from the movie Irreversible;
 the person who is walking is the rapist's victim, Alex M

The importance of this particular picture being long shot is that we get an idea of the character's environment. Long shots usually introduces the beginning of every scene, which set in motion the audience's perception of time, place and logical action of the scene that is about to be revealed . We can see the victim in the movie has been attacked as she's walking outside in an alleyway at night with her night gown on. The colours in the alleyway are black and red which are the colours that symbolises danger, death, darkness so this foreshadows that the transition of the scenes will be gory, destructive as this shot symbolises this and the character herself is a symbolism for this also. This shot usually helps the audience get influenced by the way they think just by this shot itself.

Medium shot picture from the movie Forrest Gump;
 the character who is being focused is Forrest Gump

The importance of this specific picture being medium shot is that we can clearly see the character's expressions and movement without it dominating the screen, which allows us to concentrate on the character's body language& dialogue. Medium shot, which are usually used after the transition of scenes by long shot, are the continuation or the further development of the story. We can clearly see that this character is feeling down as he must of recalled a memory or story that captivated him so much that he is no longer upbeat but rather emotional. From this view, we are facing directly opposite Forrest Gump and this creates questions in our mind as we wonder why his eyebrows are lowered down, his face hardened, his mouth set in a straight line. So medium shots usually contain all the action and we can see this is creating tension already.



Extreme long shot picture from the movie Harry Potter; all the characters are on the boat reaching Hogwarts

The importance of this certain picture being extreme shot is that the audience has an idea of the scene setting. It also foregrounds an environment where the characters, including the main characters find themselves in or was from originally. We can see Harry Potter and his fellow peers are on the boat to their new school, Hogwarts. The background and the colours used in this shot are rather dark, dull and spooky which suggests their experience at the school will be inhumane, unusual and the colours overall used itself shows the spookiness and mystery of the school. There is little detail of this picture which is meant to give a general impression than a specific one. This shot is effective because it makes the audience they are actually there.

Ariel view from the movie Jurassic Park;
this is the setting of the movie at the beginning of the movie

The importance of this picture being shot by an Ariel view is that the audience gets a sense of direction of where the movie is set in and movement as Ariel views are usually shot at the beginning of the movie. We can see in the shot that there is lots of greenery, fertile, thick land, which shows the genre of the movie will be action- adventure. The house or shelter in the middle of all the greenery symbolises that there will be an obstacle in the movie that will sabotage people's lives and this thing is flowing in the middle of the greenery shows it will be an on-going process or it will cause lots of destruction in the movie to go on.

Point of view shot from the movie The Gallows;
one of the victims is going to be savaged by a killer.

This effectiveness of this picture being taken by an point of view shot is that the audience are looking directly at a specific character. It gives the audience a chance to see how it really is to be directly opposite someone in a movie so it makes us know how it feels to be in the passive bystander's position. We are looking at the killer's victim therefore we are in the killer's position at this moment as the character is looking directly at us. This character is traumatised of what she saw in front of her, in this case we, the audience is what she is screaming of agony for. This shot is effective because it makes us want to know more about what will happen in the movie, and it draws our attention more. Shots like this are usually used in horror movies to shock the audience more as that is what an horror's aim is. This is used to build suspense in the movie as we want to know who the killer is.

Over the shoulder shot from the movie The Titanic;
Jack is facing directly at Rose, his secret lover

The importance of this picture being taken by an over the shoulder shot is that it establishes the position of each character and to be in each character's shoes from looking at each other. It cuts the conversation the characters had in the movie, alternating the view between the different speakers. We can clearly see that from Rose's perspective that Jack is telling her something very important as his face is very emotionless, his eyes are looking directly at her, his mouth is forming a line and he has some stretch marks. But we can't see what Jack's perceptive is so maybe he is confronting her about his indeclinable love for her. This shot is effective because it reminds us how affectionate Jack is over his love for Rose is, which makes us love Jack more than we did before. Over the shoulder shots are usually taken when something important is going to be told and the audience will be more gripped to the movie if the person who is going to be confronted has their facial expressions unseen. So over the shoulder are deliberately used to gain the audience's attention more. Over the shoulder shots are usually used in romances to bring more tension

Birds Eye View from the movie The Avengers;
Hawkeye is flying in mid-air with his bow

The significance of this picture being taken by birds eye view is that the audience is put into a higher level to the object or person it is looking down on. It could also make people feel insignificant, ant-like and part of a wider scheme of things. This unnatural, weird shot creates a dramatic effect as for showing a different spatial perspective. We can see in this picture that this character has jumped off the building, in order to save himself from the explosion on top of the building. He is going to shoot his grappling hook to save himself by getting on top of a building and fly through the window. This shot is effective because the audience can see Agent Barton in slow motion during his perfect shot to survival, which reminds us of his insane, inhumane abilities. Birds Eye View shows a summary of the scene and the overall perspective of a scene. Birds Eye View are usually used in action films when there is a new location is introduced.

High angle shot from The Avengers;
Thor and Captain America are looking up to Thor's Brother(Loki)

The importance of this picture being taken by a high angle is that it enables the audience to be aware the characters are looking are up with blank expressions as they feel lowered of power. The positioning of the camera above the camera gives the audience an idea of their vulnerability in the situation. We can see that Thor and Captain America have defeated their enemies but their facial expressions clearly show that they haven't defeated their main opponent. Captain America's slightly open mouth shows that he is dumbfounded as he thought they were 'finished defeating their enemies' but there aren't finished yet.  This shot is effective because it shows the lack of power of these characters, which this scene is supposed to portray.

Low angle shot from Inglorious Bastards;
Lieutenant Aldo Raine and Sergeant Donny Donowitz are man-slaughtering their enemy, the Germans

The significance of this picture being taken by a low angle is that makes the audience feel vulnerable and small by looking up at the characters. It is opposite of high angle as it makes the characters look more powerful. The position of the camera empower the characters into courageous, sinister characters even though they are actually not they are heroes. We can clearly see that Lieutenant Aldo Raine and Sergeant Donny Donowitz are killing their victim with their blunt facial expressions that make the audience slightly frightened of the characters and en gripped to this scene even further. Aldo Raine's facial expression makes the audience question why he looks satisfied with the manslaughter that is going to take place, which makes us make him inhumane. This shot is effective because the responder feel empathy if they are viewing the frame from another character's point of view.

Extreme close up from the movie The Blair Witch Project;
Heather Donahue is crying for her sanity

The importance of this picture being taken by a extreme close up is that the audience would be able to see detail in depth and it allows the audience to invade the character's personal, intimate space by revealing their characteristics and emotions, which usually get unnoticed from afar. The positioning of the camera makes the character look very vulnerable and intimidated and the character's features look more apparent. We can clearly see that the characters is frightened of what will happen to her, suggesting this 'thing' that is frightening her is making her have a last sermon with herself. This emphasises the dramatic importance of the scene, which makes this particular shot more significant with respect to the movie as a whole. This shot could be considered as the 'revelation' scene. This shot is effective because it allows us to feel sympathy for the character, and establish a connection with, the character in question as this shot intensifies the character's emotions.

Why is angling important?

Angling is important because it demonstrates setting, characters and themes of the plot. They also reflect mood and tension, to create power relationships with your subjects and environments. Angling determines how a film is going to be represented to the audience. But angling types should be varied as much as possible as the audience might find an unusual view add interest to the movie that they are watching. Angling represent or reproduce a character's perspective on an environment or event.


Evaluation- what I learnt
All these shots analysed including their importance as well as why angling is important have to be thoroughly considered during the pre-production and the production process. If I choose(including my group) what I would like to do via whether or not I would like an denomination of the Thriller genre or the opening sequence is pure Thriller will be discussed thoroughly.