Predator

Predator (John McTiernan, 1987)




Camera -  There are various camera shots which are from long range showing characters rapelling and also helicopter moving around which is so that people get a better perspective for what is happening, an also there are close up shots of characters facial expressions showing reactions to an something they have seen.


These type of shots then followed by what appears to be an empty shot of trees and vantage points suggest that there is something that the audience has not seen, which creates the feeling of the unknown and therefore creates the tension. Showing all the main characters in army clothing and holding guns shows that the main characters and indeed the protagonist is accustomed to violence, which is an important convention of a Thriller film.


Sound -  The music is the key focus for creating tension in the opening credits, brass and violin instruments are prominent in an orchestral piece in the opening scene, the tempo is fairly fast and there are intermittent Forte moments which help to build tension in the clip.  as well as lots of percussive instruments such as pianos and drums which add to the aggressive Forte style of the piece.


Editing -  Lots of the action scenes in this clip are in slow motion, this could be to give the audience a chance to think about what they may be running from, or also maybe because the tainted blue effect of the first scene may make background images hard to see, therefore the scene needs to be slowed down so the audience can actually make out what is happenening. eyeline matches that zoom in to high up tree branches foreshadow the type of moments that will occur in the film, where characters are looking at what originally appears to be nothing.


Mise en Scene -  There are lots of background shots of helicopters and characters rapelling with guns, and warrior paint on the faces, with different types of military style camouflage clothing on, which adds to the verisimilitude of an army style Action Thriller, because all of these images are synonimous to Action films. the dark blue tint to the whole clip, suggests a gloomy setting and the woodland areas depicted also suggest this, as dark woodland areas create tension because the associated with mysterious things.


Font - The font is all in capitals, like all of the other clips I have reviewed so far, this is so it is easily readable against the action in the background, it is a bold, white font which stands out from the night blue style background, the font is slightly curved and not blocked to make it look a little bit more futuristic.


The font starts blurred and then comes into focus after few seconds, the font leaves the screen in all sorts of ways instead of having one standardised form in which it leaves the screen, this makes it look unprofessional because it gives off the same impression that a powerpoint when someone has just selected every different text effect imaginable to make text enter and exit the screen. The text has no set place to appear on the screen, expect for the main credits like the production company etc. which is placed dead centre so it stands out, names of the characters tend to alternate between bottom left an bottom right with a shot of each character being placed opposite to each name. When the main title of the film appears, it appears on a black background and has completely changed colour, because it is orange, which makes the clip look more unprofessional because the colour scheme isn't continuous.
Opening Credits -

• 20th Century Fox Presents
• A Gordon-Silver-Davis Production
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Carl Weathers
• Jesse Ventura
• Music by Alan Silvestri
• Written by Jim Thomas
• Produced by Joel Silver, John Davis
• Directed by John Mctiernan
• Predator

Actual Clip -


 

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver  (Martin Scorsese, 1976)








Camera -  The first shot of action we see is a low light area, with orangey coloured lighting, shows a taxi going past before revealing the title of the film, this sets an inner city setting an instantly puts the audience into an inner city night time scenario, which has a negative stereotype for being a wrong place at a wrong time. The first appearance of a character, is an extreme close up of a mans eyes as he looks around, possibly thinking anxiously about something.


Sound -  There is no sound at the beginning of the clip, but then there is a full orchestra creating a piece which has both Piano and Forte sections, which then progress to a large crescendo when the taxi appears, deep instruments such as Oboes and Cellos are used in this section. Then the music changes quieter, softer woodwind instruments such as flutes, to create a a bluesy romantic melody, that is quite mellow, from when the first extreme close up of the main character appears all the way to the end of the clip, with a string section in the background, creating a soft bass tone to compliment the melody.


Editing -  The lighting of the main characters face in the first scene of action suggests he is travelling in a car because the lighting is intermittent, suggesting he is going past street lights, then the shot fades to an angled, obscure windscreen where the rain has blurred out objects in the distance such a lit up signs, coupled with the slow music, the slow fade suggests a relaxed feeling in the scene or possibly a negative, sad feeling. The rest of the opening is dominated by a shot through a windscreen which is in slow motion and is blurred, this could be a point of view shot, possibly suggesting drug use, it also could be used to create a feeing of the unknown, the audience cannot establish where they are therefore they do not feel comfortable in their situation.


Mise en Scene -  There is a lot of smoke used to shroud the scene in mystery and a create feeling of the unknown, this coupled with the orange tinted street lighting effect, that is dim, and alerts the audience that it is a night time environment, which creates a feeling of anxiety because night time is associated with bad things, such as gang crime and mysterious happenings


Font -  The font used in the opening title is bold orange and in capitals so it is easier to read, with then main focus of the text, eg, the production company, distribution company, and other subtext, such as, 'presents' being less so important. this is done by changing the size of the font to make one part stand out, the text is also placed directly in the middle, making it the centre of attention, in a way that makes it stand out and be bold, so that people acknowledge it, this may also be because at this point there are no other points of interest on the screen.

After this section of the opening credits, the font starts to move around the screen, it taakes on a fluorescent glow to make it stand out a little more from the background scenes, because the scenes behind the text are in low lit lighting. The names fade in and fade out again, placed around the screen mainly so that it allows room for another actors name to appear somewhere else, as they tend to overlap a lot.



Opening Credits -

• Columbia Productions Presents
• Robert DeNiro In
• Taxi Driver
• A Bill/Phillips Production of a Martin Scorsese Film
• Starring Jodie Foster
• Albert Brooks as Tom
• Harvey Keitel
• Leonard Harris
• Peter Boyle as Wizard
• And Cybill Shepherd as Betsy
• Music by Bernard Hearmann
• Supervising Film Editor Marcia Lucas
• Film Editors Tom Rolf A.C.E, Melvin Shapird
• Special Make-up Dick Smith
• Visual Consultant David Nichols
• Creative Consultant Sandra Weintraub
• Director of Photography Michael Chapman
• Written by Paul Shrader
• Produced by Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips
• Directed by Martin Scorsese

Actual Clip - 

Lost Highway

Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)

Class discussion

• The opening credits are shown on a highway, the vehicle is travelling very fast along a highway, but can only see whats in its headlights, and the rest of the screen is black this creates a feeling of the unknown, as the audience cannot see anything that is coming towards them until the last second. the car is positioned in the middle of the road which creates the sense of vulnerability and lack of control
• The text comes towards you from the centre of the screen, appearing only when the headlights shine on it, the text stays for a few seconds and then moves towards the screen again before disappearing, this works well with the idea that a vehicle is travelling very fast down a highway
• The font is the same shade of yellow that is used for the road markings in the opening credits, which ties in with the highway theme, the text shows the keys characters in the film and also the companies that worked on it, but it doesn't show anything else, such as producers and people behind the scenes, which are conventions the ending credits
• The music is light and fast paced, but there is also a dark bass undertone, which is possibly foreshadowing the theme of the film, the music fades out at the same time as the screen blurs
• The next shot is a close up of a character, which only takes up part of the screen, there is an idea of the unknown, and there is some narrative enigma, as you instantly ask the questions; Where is he? What is he doing there?
• An extreme close up is then used to show a cigarette in the mans hand, and because we do not get to see the rest of the film, the significance of this is unknown, because the shots do not fill the whole screen there is a sense of secrecy, like you don't get the full perspective
• The various camera angles make the scene disorientating, and then you can hear faint sirens in the back ground as the character slowly paces round the house, with a distinct sense of tension in his movement, an eyeline match with the buzzer speaker, is used to show his emotion, he is expecting someone, or possibly hiding from someone, at the point when he looks out of the window, his reflection is shown, which is the mirroring effect, a common convention in Thriller films

Fargo

Fargo (Coen Brothers, 1996)

     Class discussion

• Camera - There is large use of over the shoulder shots used in the bar scene, and the constantly cut between each other, this works well to create tension in the scene between the main characters, also there is pre-figured aggression in the gestures that are made and also in the dialogue.

• Sound - Strange music created with a string section(to create tension) is used and appears to be a very traditional style of music, the music is repeated throughout the first part of the opening before going into a crescendo when the object, which turns out to be a car towing another car, pulls into a populated area. The music when the main characters meet in the bar is very typical country and western which adds to the verisimilitude of the film.

• Editing - the shot reverse shots are fast cutting and therefore this creates tension amongst the dialogue the figure which is distorted and in the background but then which moves to the foreground and becomes the main point of focus in the opening credits is used to good effect to create the feeling of remoteness in the scene

• Mise en scene - A misty background is used which creates an idea of the unknown, the screen is not completely white, but a murky, blue/white colour, you can see a figure appearing on the right third line, but you can only see the outline and not what the object is until it gets ups close.

• Font -

The font is bold dark blue, and all in capitals, this makes it easier to read because of the similarity in the colour of the text and the background, the font is fairly small to show the expanse of the background and is closer to the bottom, so it doesn't draw full attention away from the action in the background (the strange object coming into focus). When the actors name appears, the last name is spread out, this may be to make the text more interesting instead of having all the text bunched together, it also gives each letter a feeling of loneliness, which also adds to the idea of being lost in an unknown expanse. each bit of text fades away after a few seconds, which works well to add to the idea of fog in the background.

List of Credits used -

• Polygram Filmed Entertainment - Presents
• In association with Working Title Films
• Frances McDormand
• William H. Macy
• Steve Buscemi
• Harvey Presnell
• Peter Stormare
• Fargo

Hyperlink -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI_4wvBHkrw

Things to Avoid

Thriller openings to avoid -

• Hooded stalker following victim
• Victim tied up in shed
• Gangstas playing cards
• Wake up and morning routine
• A 'Se7en' style opening
• Flash forward/Flashback

These are all Thriller openings to avoid because they are very common and do not show a very creative side. A thriller opening must not tell the whole story, and it also must not be like a trailer, as sometimes it can be an easy mistake to create a clip in which themes used in trailers are also used, credits must be shown at the beginning of the clip only and not at the end.

Conventions of a trailer - 

• A montage is used
• Titles are at the end
• lots of close-up midshots are used to show main characters
• release dates are included
• corporate branding is used
• There are voice-overs
• The general storyline of the film is shown
• Key dialogue from the film is included, E.G. catchphrases

These are all themes which must not be used in the opening scene of the Thriller film I create because they will make the clip seem as though it is a trailer and not an opening.

Convetions of Thrillers

Conventions of thrillers

The genre of Thriller is very hard to define, it can be interlinked closely with many other genres, for example; Sci-Fi Thrillers and Action Thrillers. the general consensus for a thriller film, is the feeling of the unknown. Narrative enigma is very important in Thrillers because Thriller films always want the audience to keep guessing, and the always want the audience to have an unanswered question.

The narrative structure is very complex and includes themes such as crime and violence, The structure is loosely based around Todorov's theorem that there is equilibrium, followed by a disequilibrium, followed by a return to the equilibrium, but a Thriller's narrative structure is more complex than this because there are lots of side stories, and lots of points of disequilibrium throughout, such as making the protagonist seem as though they are in a helpless situation and they are doomed. The Protagonist is often accustomed to violence, solving crime/problems and feeling dis-empowered at some point in the narrative. the setting for a Thriller is often a real life situation or environment, such as a city or a suburban area, this is so that the film has a certain verisimilitude to real life.

There are often themes of mirroring in thriller films, such as antagonists showing similar characteristics to protagonists, or just showing shots of a mirrored character (E.G. in a mirror, or reflection in a mirror). Themes of voyeurism are also shown in Thriller films, such as a stalker following a victim or a protagonist watches a criminal, and other such interactions between different characters.

Preliminary Task Final Edit

Preliminary Task Evaluation

We evaluated as a class, all the clips that had been created, we found that the other groups clip, was very good at using the 'thirds' rule, and made sure they stuck to the 180 degree rule, however they could have used a greater variety of shot-reverse shot, camera angles during the dialogue in their clip. the lighting they used for the clip also caused problems, because a camera cannot cope with artificial lighting, unless the lighting is professional. This meant that when they tried to film a scene with a low light style of lighting, you couldn't really make out the faces, and their for the facial expressions of the characters in the scene, which could of made the clip look unprofessional. When analysing the original edit of my groups clip, we found that we had not stuck to the 180 degree rule when filming. one of the over shoulder shots was from the wrong angle, we found that this was because we did not pick a particularly good angle to position the characters, which meant that we could not get the angle we wanted to capture the scene, and therefore reverted to an alternative option, but this option was a bad idea, as it made the clip look unprofessional. however, we did find that our group used a wide variety of camera angles when filming the dialogue.

Preliminary Task Editing

For the editing section of the Preliminary task, I was unable to make the original lesson and therefore have a go at editing a clip together myself. In a different lesson, I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit together clips from the HD Camera which were saved in a file on the computer. The clips came up at the side of the software, I would then be able to drag each clip that I needed into place on a timeline, there was also two viewing boxes in which one was for the entire clip, and one was for the specific clip I was editing at that point. I could edit out the parts of each clip that I did not use by using the tools section at the side of the page, there were many different types of tools, but the most commonly used one for me was the 'Cut' tool which allowed me to cut clips into two sections and then delete the section that I did not need. I needed at least four shots of dialogue for the clip to be valid, and I needed to make sure that I stuck to the rules of editing, such as the 180 degree rule.

Preliminary Task Planning pictures

Finishing Planning and Beginning Filming

• Today Me, Matt, Tom and Liam finished off the script for our 30 second clip and created a storyboard showing which camera shots we were going to use in different parts of the clip. We then moved on to actually beginning to film our clip using a video camera and a tripod
•  We learnt that there are certain things that need to be done when using a video camera, such as how to attach the camera to the tripod, how to clean the lens with a tissue, making sure the screen was set to 16:9 (wide screen)
•  When recording clips we needed to make sure that we recorded 5-6 seconds of ambient sound to use in our clip, as well as using the 'rule of thirds' to make the camera angle more interesting; this is where you split the camera into thirds horizontally and vertically in order to film characters and locations as such, from different points on the screen instead of just centrally
•  The last part of our filming was to make sure that we used a white sheet of paper directly in front of the screen and selecting the white balance button on the camera so that the white balance was correct and our clip had continuity

Preliminary Task Planning

13/1/2012
My group for the preliminary task is Matthew, Liam, Thomas and me, Christian. The first part of our task was to brainstorm ideas for what we needed to do to complete the task using a variety of different camera angles, lighting effects, locations, actors, costumes and themes. We decided to base our short clip on teenage pregnancy, using dialogue between a male and female character, in which it is established that the boy got the girl pregnant at a recent house party.Then we began to map out a detailed narrative and script on how the girl was going to break the news, and how the boy was going to handle such news.


The Script

Charlotte walks to the door pulls down the handle and enters the room

Charlotte- I'm going to get right to it.

Matt- What?

Charlotte- I'm Pregnant.

Matt turns away then turns back

Matt- Who's is it?

Charlotte- Why else would i be here?

Matt turns away and sighs

Matt- I thought you were on the pill?

Charlotte- I lied.

Matt looks at Charlotte shakes his head and leaves the room

After this Charlotte looks into the distance and looks glum