Friday 26 February 2010



During the trailer, there is diegetic sound being used throughout enhance the audience's relationship with the actors. This ultimately makes the audience immediately want to go and see the film, but the music is constantly playing throughout the trailer.

The music also represents the era that the film is set in, during the second world war. As the camera cuts between the clips, so does the music and it shows the audience how the trailer is becoming increasingly intense.

Quantum of Solace trailer analysis



The music whilst James Bond is walking around is quite and sinister to create suspension and to represent the thriller theme. When he is in combat and there are action scenes, the music gets a lot more dramatic and picks up a higher beat which represents the action side of the thriller. Furthermore, as there are jumpcuts in the trailer, the music follows the same pattern with jumping between different beats. The music is synchronised with the edits for example, when James Bond kicks an enemy, the music gets a lot louder and intense to fit in with the fight.

In addition, the trailer uses diegetic sounds when the characters are speaking and also when James Bond is on the motorbike, this adds an effect to the audience to entice them to watch the film as it contains action such as chases and stunts using a motorbike.

analysis of thriller posters.



We can see from this poster that it is representing a thriller film by the font, colour, mise-en-scene and the actors used.
Firstly the fact that it is Pierce Brosnan (James Bond) film we know it is a thriller because the James Bond theme is action thriller, the poster also shows this through the mise-en-scene e.g the guns.
The antagonist and protagonist are clearly shown in the poster, the protagonists (Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry) are show as bigger and in control as they have weapons this shows they are the prdominent force in the film. The antagonists are shown as little pictures almost like mugshots that criminals have after being convicted, they are also behind ice representing that they are cold caracters that show they are the antagonists whereas the protaganists are breaking through the ice.
The font colour is red representing danger, which is part of a convention of a thriller film it also could represent passion and love which is also always a part of a James Bond film.

Blog of the Week

Blog of the Week for this week was awarded to Group P1-04
We think that they got awarded blog of the week because they met all the criteria that was needed of them and they had relevant pictures and details that provide the reader with extra detail and information.

From this blog, we can learn that we should be on task and a lot more committed to the blog, for example we could post from home and communicate with one another on a daily basis regarding the blog.

Tuesday 23 February 2010

GarageBand Soundtrack

Today, we have used GarageBand to start a trial soundtrack, we used many different instruments such as; an Electronic Drum Beat, Techno beats, a Dance Floor Pattern and a Chordal Synth Pattern. This will relate to our film as it gets across to the audience as quite tense and dramatic.

Monday 22 February 2010

evaluation feedback post

We disagree with a few comments made about the camera shots being tricky as we have practiced the camera shots and seem very comfortable using our chosen shots. Our structure is very clear and the timing is clearly shown which you can see will hopefully be in time with the action.
We will take on board a comment about conventions, we haven't included many camera shots in our finalised idea but we are planning on using many of them such as, a reaction shot being used to show the characters facial expression etc.
Overall, we need to expand on our camera shots and add more detail about the whole opening sequence. But our group believes we can make all the camera shots etc work in order to create a good final piece.

Feedback from s1-21

This ten second breakdown is simple and easy to read, although this is good and described well, they need to explore their ideas more. They have good inspiration and the storyline is well represented. Overall they need to include locations more and possibley have screen grabs of the were abouts.

:)

Feedback from S1-23

There is not a lot of detail. There needs to be an addition of an ident at the beginning and a mention to sound would be a good idea. There was a good structure of how the shots were going to be timed.

Describe how some of the shots will go with the conventions of the film, it will help you know how to do the scenes when you film.

feedback s1-24

the blog post was well described with a lot of details about each ten seconds intervals.
would be better if more of the mise-en-scene would be included for example what the characters are wearing.
the typical conventions are used by using the dark lighting and the tense music to build the suspense. the credits sound like they will fit in with the thriller conventions, however it sounds like it would be tricky to shoot. more details would be useful on the credits like when they will be shown during the clip.

S1 19 Feedback

We at S1 19 feel that your finalized ideas were very clear and well constructed which should hopefully lead to a good thriller opening.

However to ensure your Opening Thriller is as good as it can be try and add more detail to some of your 10 second sections this will make your work higher quality.

Friday 12 February 2010

Chloe and George's top tips for filming :)

  1. Always keep focused and on task.

  2. Make sure you can hear all speech and that your actors speak clearly.

  3. Watch back your footage to make sure you have everything you need.

  4. Film scenes more than once to increase your chances of getting a clean shot.

  5. Treat equipment with respect and care.

  6. Take care when filming in dangerous places.

  7. Make sure you have permission to film in your chosen location.

Call Sheet

We are going to film our piece over the course of one day, on Monday the 1st of March.
Chloe will be collecting and returning the camera and tripod.
We will be filming at Julian's house near the centre of Cambridge. We may film some parts at Alex's, if we can't find a suitable location for our dark room scenes at Julian's. We chose to film at Julians as he has a large house with enough space to film. We intend to get there by bus and on foot. We will be filming at a private location, but we may need to film at some public locations if we cant get the correct shots at julian's.
We will be filming during the day. For our scene in the room with the television we will use diagetic lighting, like table lamps and the light off the tv. Whereas in the scene in the dark room we will be using non diagetic lighting, to light up the room enough for the film to be clear.
George, Julian, Alex and Dave will be acting
George will be playing the role of a kidnapper, as will Julian.
Alex and Dave will play the couple being abducted.
Chloe has written a script, and the actors will need to learn it before the filming process.
Chloe will be directing and filming the piece, with help from actors not in the scenes at the time.
All of the props we need are available at Julian's. Each of our actors are providing their own outfits.
Weather should not affect our filming as we will be based indoors.
We are planning on filming all of the shots on one day, but if we need to we can film another day to finish off.
We need to record the speech from each character and create a soundtrack in garage band, and some non-diagetic sound effects for certain scenes.

Test Footage



Here is our test footage that we created. We used a handheld shot at the beginning with the trolley, to make it look more realistic to what it would be like if someone was really in the trolley. This will help us with our own thriller as we will be using handheld shots during our fight and abduction scenes.
The slow motion we used when Julian and George are at the vending machine will help us as we will be using it after a fight scene as a character falls to the ground in slow motion after being beaten up.
The shot of George walking back from the vending machine, is shot from a low angle to show dominance and power. This is how we would like our shots of the kidnappers to be shown as they are more powerful than the couple being abducted.
We have a close up of George to show his facial expression, we would like to achieve this in our final piece with the couple being abducted to show the fear and anxiety on there faces. Also, we will use close up's to show the kidnappers eyes, which will keep the audience unaware of what the abductors look like, but still show their expressions.
The shot of Julian throwing a sweet, uses fast motion. We will be using a lot of this during our fight scenes, to keep the action quick and sharp.

Monday 8 February 2010

Finalised Idea

0-10 seconds - Firstly there is a medium shot of the man putting a blu-ray DVD in the PlayStation 3. On the blu-ray DVD there will be some sort of scary film such as 'The Ring' which will be playing in the living room of Julian's house. In the room there will be two people and there shall be ambient lighting that fits the scene of the movie.

10-20 seconds - There is a medium shot of the two people watching 'The Ring' on the PlayStation 3 in the living room with ambient lighting.

20-30 seconds - The lights then flicker and the television goes fuzzy. The people get up to see whats wrong with the television, they take the plug out but the television is still on in the living room.

30-40 seconds - The people then light a candle to create some light in the living room, there is a bit of panic and the woman gets scared.

40-50 seconds - During the blackout, people break into the house, and attempt to kidnap the people in the living room.

50-60 seconds - There is a struggle in the living room with the candle light as the only source of light. There is also music used to create tension that will be non-diegetic and created in GarageBand.

60-70 seconds - The kidnappers manage to take the people, and there is then a black screen.

70-80 seconds - After the kidnapping, there is a fuzzy handheld camera view looking round the room as the person wakes up. The person wakes up in a dark room. There is a speaker in the corner of room, and the people that were watching the DVD are tied up on chairs in the room.

80-90 seconds - The kidnapper comes into the dark room and talks to the tied up people.

90-100 seconds - The kidnapper then hits one of the people tied up on the chairs and beats him up in the dark room.

100-110 seconds - The people in the dark room manage to untie one another's ropes and the person that got hit falls down on the floor.

110-120 seconds - The person on the floor is bleeding and credits are written in blood.

'Panic Room' analysing credits



The opening credits of 'Panic Room' fit in with the background and scenery of New York City as the titles fit in with the building structures and their colour scheme. Also, the titles reflect off the different buildings and their windows to give it a realistic effect as if the writing is there in real life.


The non-diegetic music creates an atmosphere of tension that insets the feeling that something big is about to happen, which is replicated by the title 'Panic Room'. Furthermore, there is diegetic music which is in the form of traffic and the noises coming from the vehicles. Also, there is a constant ticking noise that suggests panic and that there is a lack of time remaining.

Friday 5 February 2010

'Six Feet Under' analysing credits



The opening credits are effective as they blend in with the background and the non-diegetic music. The credits create a mysterious atmosphere as the music is very soothing but comes across as very mysterious at times which almost gives the audience an indication of the genre and style of the drama thriller.

Our credits will be in the form of blood and appearing in the surroundings such as in the blood when somebody gets punched and in the rope being used to tie someone up. Our credits may be able to be as creative as this only if we can find the time to produce them on photoshop and other programs, although we wouldn't have as many special effects and the experience of them.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Why "Thrillers" Thrive

The reason why 'thrillers' thrive is down to the way in which the story is portrayed on the screen, whether it be in the comfort of your own home or at the cinema, the thriller shall always draw the audience into the thriller as if they themselves were in the film, "Watching a well-made film, we don't sit by as spectators; we participate."

During a 'thriller' film, there is always a sense of reality that the audience would want to be a part of, for example, their "same life but with a difference." The 'thriller' can capture the emotions of the audience by using different shot types such as emotional shots, action shots and revealing shots e.g. "We see hi face - grim, tense, even horror-stricken - as his plane swoops down. Then we are transferred to the pilot's seat, and it is we who are hurtling to death at ninety miles an hour; and at the moment of impact - and blackout - a palpable shuddering runs through the audience."

The main competitor to the 'thrillers', is the 'horrors'. However, the 'horror' films are now coming to a abrupt end as the audiences can't imagine themselves living in a 'horror' film. The main reason why 'thrillers' thrive over 'horrors' is that they are a lot more exciting and fulfilling for the audience, for example "The cinema can leave the spectator with a subconscious assurance of absolute safety, and yet surprise his imagination into playing tricks on him." Furthermore, the 'thrillers' attract the audience in a way to absorb them into the film and try to get them to perceive the storyline from the perspective of the characters involved.

Overall, 'thrillers' will live on as the producers can keep on creating exciting, intense storylines with protagonists and antagonists always going against each other in different types of stories each and every film. 'Horrors' shall not carry on much longer as producers can't think of any ideas that have already been done in previous films, therefore 'thrillers' are the way forward as they shall "live and thrive".

Monday 1 February 2010

Storyboards + Shot lists

Storyboards

these show what we have planned to happen in our thriller, we have put what will happen and drawn a still to give an idea of what will be in the scene.

Shot Lists
the shot lists show what type of shot we are going to use along with what will be in the frame, this relates to the shot number we have put on each scene of the story board.