Rough Edit Questionnaire Feedback

1. Could you estimate the time of day during the film?
   Morning: 7
   Noon: 4
   Evening: 9
   Night: 0
   We mostly got good results from this question as the majority of people who answered believed it to be evening which is what we were looking for although a moderate amount also believed that it was the morning but the amount wasn't enough to consider re-editing the film and moving it into Adobe After Effects.
2. Were there smooth transition between shots?
   Yes: 15
   No: 1
   Didn't Notice: 4
   We found that most of the audience did in fact think that the transitions were smooth which was great as one of our main concerns was that the 'bittiness' of the shots was going to come across as a lack of editing skill rather than adding to the effect of the movie. One person said that our transitions weren't smooth but when asked for a reason they simply wrote “Some panning shots are a bit”. So we looked at our panning shots and decided that after the fairly useless comment we wouldn't change it. And lastly 4 of our audience didn't notice our transitions which was okay as we know they aren't the most prominent feature of our film, also it is important to remember that we simply screened the film to a group of our peers and not film critics or experts so it's fairly normal to not pay complete attention to our transitions.
3. Did you find the opening effective in drawing you into the story?
   Yes: 18
   No: 1
   “Sort of”: 1
   Most of our audience found our opening did want to draw them into the story, for such reasons as they wanted to see what would happen next, there was a cliffhanger, the use of music was effective and it simply kept them interested. This was obviously great as Jack took a long time on the music making it work alongside the visuals, and we also took time to frame the shots well using the weather we had i.e. mist etc. One person said that it sort of found it effective in that it left lots of questions unanswered which was good but it was in fact too slow so therefore didn't draw them in.Lastly one person said no as it was they didn't really understand it. So we looked at our thriller and to perhaps make it more clear of the times that the videos were taken we put dates and times on the video of emily as a child and also of Liam cycling up the driveway. This also solves the problem of people thinking that the video is taking place early in the morning.
4. Do you think the ending of our opening was appropriate for a thriller film?
   Yes:17
   No:2
   'Kinda':1
   We found here again that most people thought that the opening was appropriate, reasons people gave were, there was a cliffhanger, it was mysterious, leaves questions unanswered and because you're completely focused on it. One person said yes and no, because of slight continuity errors such as when Liam gets off his bike then back on the go up to the house, we decided that perhaps it wasn't clear enough that Liam saw something then went up the house, but in all honesty we couldn't think of any way we could change this without re-shooting. So we decided to risk it and leave it a it was as it wasn't the majority who were concerned about why he got off his bike.
5. Would you pay to watch the entire film?
   Yes: 12
   No: 8
   Here we had the majority who would pay to see the entire film but also quite a few who wouldn't, while at no point am I trying to make excuses I think maybe the question should have been worded better. As it may have come across as “Would you pay around £5-7 to watch this 2 minute clip at the cinema” rather than “If this were made into a feature length film would you pay to see it”. I also think this as one comment was 'No, I wouldn't because it's 2 minutes long”
6. Do you feel this film is true to the thriller genre?
   Yes: 18
   No: 2
   With this question it's important to remember that not everyone in the audience would know much about the ideas of thriller genres, but I think it was important to see if the people who would be watching the film and paying to see it thought it was.
7. Which gender are you?
   Male: 6
   Female: 14
   This was just to see if there may have been a correlation between the amount of people there and whether it was the gender difference that made some of them like the film and others not. Stereotypically males would like thrillers more but here we saw that we got mostly good feedback even though the majority of our audience was female.
8. How old are you?
   15-16: 5
   17-18+: 15

Vacancy Opening Analysis

The introduction of Vacancy has been called one of the best and most effective thriller openings that has been seen, it's use of typography and colours is advanced for it's type of film, and has been studied by many different people over the yeas it's been around.


When it comes to camera shots in the car it is fairly limited but this is used to good effect when paired with the pitch black of the rest of the screen, for instance when there is dialogue you are totally focussed on what the characters are saying and also their facial expressions to go with it. It also makes use of the 'thirds' rule, which is when it's said that you pay more attention to something in the left or right third of the screen, so in the majority of shots the characters faces are in the pitch black of the screen on either the left or the right. Also it works with the idea of being trapped being a convention of a thriller. It gives an almost claustrophobic feel which works well in focussing on the character and then you are brought back into the real world in the car. Also the idea of being trapped and not being able to see is a large part of a thriller convention and this works well as the only source of light we have is coming from the car headlights. In the opening titles a fast moving camera movement is used which gives it a really fast paced feel which almost 'pumps you up' for the first scene which is actually quite slow in comparison.


The main talking point of the opening are the opening titles at the very beginning, firstly the style of having the credits at the start of the film is something tat was a lot more common in older films, so this could be considered as the director Nimrod Antal trying to go back to the Alfred Hitchcock, Kubrickian times where it was believed real thriller/horror pictures peaked. 
The red text used could most easily signify blood, but it can also represent anger, hatred, violence or even love, which surprisingly are ideas that go hand in hand case in point Romeo and Juliet. The scratches could most easily be shown to represent a killers strikes upon his victim, and this paired with the quick camera movements could represent the killer moving quickly from victim to victim.
At the end of credits they all come together to form a maze which moves well with the next scene to which the main male protagonist has become lost. Also throughout the film the couple get stranded in a maze like system of tunnels, moving from room to room in and out of danger.     

Q Magazine

Q to me is the type of magazine that would appeal to people in their last year of college and upwards. the magazine is entertaining enough that it keeps a slightly younger audience interested while also catering for the older generations want for entertainment. One of the main advantages of this magazine is the variety of music it covers. It covers old bands, new bands well known award-winning bands and new up and coming bands.

This would appeal to people who love making music or just love reading about it, there are very few articles which are anything other than to do with music, this means that anyone who buys this must be fully committed to having music as a passion.

So for the majority anyone above the age of 16/17 would read this easily, they could be the sort of student types who may or may not play an instrument, are just starting to learn to drive etc. The sort of people who read this seem to be the sort that may watch the history documentaries on Channel 4 on some nights, co-incidentally studying for a History degree at Manchester University.
I make all these judgements based on not only what is in the magazine but by also the cover and the feel of it. It has a polished cover which is much more expensive to make and therefore also to buy, also the sheer volume of pages is massive compared to that of NME. To put it into more practical terms, Q and NME, and the equivalent  of FHM and Nuts Magazine (And yes there is a difference). It is hard to make judgements by what type of music is in the magazine especially as I pointed out earlier that it cover such a wide variety of music. But one of the safest bets I can make is that the main audience of people who buy this are probably upper-middle class working families or above.

No Country for Old Men - Scene Analysis

In No Country For Old Men (NCFOM) all of the items on screen move the story along in one way or another. this is known as 'mise-en-scene' which is another term used for everything in the scene.

In this particular scene the antagonist (Chigurh) stops for fuel in a gas station in the middle of the desert. He tells the store owner to call a coin toss. There are things in this scene that progress the story and change the appearance of the characters.

The peanuts Chigurh eats throughout the scene are the reason he went into the shop in the first place. This could be thought of as the Macguffin. This is something that moves on the story at hand, it could be small an insignificant or it could be a major part of the storyline. Similar to Marsellus Wallace's suitcase in Pulp Fiction.

Chigurh unnerves the audience, which is the same reaction that the store owner has, so this makes the audience empathise with this man's situation. His appearance also makes him him more like the antagonist of the story as he is wearing dark clothes and has dark hair, he has very little that would make him stand out of a crowd, this is the direct opposite to the store owner who wears a bright yellow checked shirt and who's portly appearance gives us the impression of him being friendly. This helps us recognise the characters for what they really are more quickly.

As Chigurh approaches the counter he already gives off a bad 'vibe' as the counter and register are suddenly covered in shadow, darkening the room. He has turned a light friendly place into a dark and unpleasant one. also the cables behind the man also seem "noose-like" giving a subtle impression here this conversation between the two maybe going. Working with the idea of light and dark, one of the main sources of light is behind Chigurh  almost to give the impression that the store owner would have to get through him to get out which he knows wouldn't be an option. The way Chigurh carries on eating his peanuts also increases the tension of the situation as    it throws the shopkeeper off how this man can seem so intimidating and scary yet still be able to carry on eating.

the main piece of mise-en-scene is the coin, obviously as it's known as the coin toss. The coin could represent many things but I feel the main thing it represents is life and death. Both literally and metaphorically the right or wrong side of the coin may cause life or death.Another possible idea is that the coin has two sides just as there are two sides in this scene of good and bad, each character has a side and whose-ever side it land on will live.

The editing of this scene is fairly normal and doesn't vary between two over-the-shoulder shots. This could be misinterpreted as a lack of imagination but I think it boils down to have as little as possible to distract you from what is going on, for instance there is very little non-diegetic sound, if any at all, during the dialogue, this is one of the most tense scenes in all of the film, and I found that in all of NCFOM, scenes can go from quiet to loud very quickly, mostly with the aid of a gun. so the audience is very ready for this to happen again.

Disturbia

I) This is a dark mystery thriller about a teenage boy who has been sentenced to three months house arrest after assaulting one of his school teachers. Kale's father is killed in a car accident and and few months later his tutor comments on it and while Kale is under house arrest he starts to believe that his neighbour, Mr. Turner, is a notorious serial killer. One night, he witnesses what appears to be a murder going on in Mr. Turner's house. Kale becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind these murders but, after a few unsettling run-ins with Mr. Turner, it becomes a matter of life and death. The film is based on a story and screenplay by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth, directed by D.J Caruso, the film has 5/6 characters which reoccur throughout the story and these are Kale played by Shia LaBeouf, Ashley ('The girl next door') played by Sarah Roemer, Kale's Mother Julie played by Carrie-Anne Moss, Mr Turner, his next door neighbour, played by David Morse, also Ronnie, Kale's best friend, played by Aaron Yoo.

Lastly is Officer Gutierrez, the cousin of the teacher Kale assaulted but also the police officer that

Kale feels is out to get him. As most of the film takes place between two houses it was all filmed on

location in the houses of 6221, 6222 and 6227 Painter Ave, Whittier, California, USA. The film was very successful at the box office being nominated for 8 awards including 'Empire's Best Thriller' and winning 4 of them. The production company predominantly involved were Dreamworks and Paramount. The film was rated a 15 in the U.K. for sequences of terror and violence, and apparently 'sensuality' and from watching this film several times i can say that there is nothing which calls for it to be pointed out in the rating. The film did excellently at the box office quadrupling it's budget ($20,000,000) to gross at $80,050,171. 

II) The film can be reduced to an 'American Suburbs Murderer Neighbour' film. So this film could appeal to a large audience, the film is rated a 15 but as the storyline is fairly simple and easy to follow this is just because of the content, I feel that if the sole storyline was just the idea of there possibly being a murderer next door then this film could also appeal to an older audience, helped mainly by the presence of David Morse but for this they would have to sit through 40 minutes of Kale being sentenced to house arrest and him spying on Ashley the 'girl next door'. Most people would take this to be another american teen film which severely closes down the audience but actually this is a fantastic thriller that doesn't really focus on the teen romance side of it as a main storyline. I also believe that the film would appeal equally to males and females, basically because, stereotypically males may watch 'girly' films for the attractive females, similarly here the males would watch this for the action and (After asking several female friends) for Shia Labeouf's performance, but of course this is a stereotyped and speculative view to hold.


Looking at User Reviews Disturbia's IMDB page I found that with a rating of 6.9 this film has a 
largely successful following and I have picked one good review and one bad at random.

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Surprisingly Good!, 20 September 2007

Author: willpbudd from United Kingdom

I came into the movie theatre with no high hopes. I went in thinking it would be just another Hollywood thriller with regular Jump Scares and a weak script. Disturbia was really good. Its not an amazing work of art and will probably be forgotten in 4 years time. Disturbia is one to watch with your friends on a Friday/Saturday night. The casting isn't amazing and i did get sorta annoyed with Sarah Roemer. Shia LaBeouf is amazing in this movie and i think its maybe his best acting role to date. Disturbia keeps you going throughout and i rarely got bored. Im glad the movie didn't keep making you jump too much (like 1408). I give this movie 8 stars as its definitely my thriller of the year. So go buy your tickets!!!

I think what this film struggled with most was that people would go into it with low expectations (as this review highlights) but this does mean that with most of the reviews I saw a lot of people were surprised with the quality of the acting from LaBeouf who still saw him as Louis from Even Stevens which while critically good, did portray him as an immature naive character. The reviewer liked that way the film didn't classify itself strictly to the horror or crime genre, for instance they liked the way the film wasn't just 'jump scares'. But then again it wasn't 'tame' when it came to jumping either.

Here is another review:

30 out of 46 people found the following review useful:
I am outraged that this trash has gotten good reviews!, 7 August 2007

Author: Shelly Alexandre from Seattle, Washington

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I hated this movie! I don't care what kind of star power you have ( if you can even call the kid from "Even Stevens" a star), how much money you have, or how well your movie is made, if the script is bad you have nothing. Disturbia is a stylish, highly-polished thriller. Everything looks good, it is well-directed, well-acted, and has an authentic, modern-suburban feel to it. However, once you get past the impressive first five minutes, the film falls completely flat! Without giving anything away, the movie has absolutely no surprises. In fact, Disturbia is so formulaic that anyone over the age of 10 should be able to predict exactly how the movie ends, including what happens to every single character. The dialogue is cheesy and ridiculous, every character besides the main kid (Kale) is completely one dimensional. By the time anything that is supposed to pass for scary happened I was so bored I didn't care who lived or died. This movie had absolutely no emotional resonance. I watched it alone, late at night, in the dark and was not scared once! I have worked in video retail for almost six years. Maybe I've just seen so many great movies that this one just seems especially bad. It is a mediocre film at best. There are good performances, but the actors really had nothing to work with. David Morse's suspected killer is a complete waste of his talent. I am happy I have a job where I can directly influence what people are renting (at least in one neighborhood of Seattle). I am going to make it my personal mission to keep Disturbia out of as many hands and homes as I possibly can!!!

This reviewer was the same as the last but came in with low expectations but believed that the script was awful and the the most prominent acting came from LaBeouf, who is the reason in fact why many people wouldn't give this film a chance. Most of the criticisms come from the script in this case, she even says that ' Everything looks good, it is well-directed, well-acted, and has an authentic, modern-suburban feel to it'.

III) Technology is rife in this film whether it's a prop or even the ways in which it was used in production and throughout it's release. Firstly, the film was brought out in 2007 which means that the production team had access to all the of the equipment that we have at the moment (for the most part). The Film has it's own official website, when you open it you are greeted with a similar but different picture from the front cover of the DVD, later the trailer automatically plays which automatically will make whoever is watching scroll down and watch it.  Finally underneath that is the cast list and a synopsis of the film which is something I have never seen before. The trailer itself doesn't give the best impression at the beginning with the few couple of minutes being american Pie style humour, which involves looking at girls in bikinis and hanging out with your friends but later on the mood all changes and becomes much darker and suits the film much more in my opinion. they should have just kept that last two minutes of the trailer to have a real impact. Once you enter the site you are greeted by Kale's room and the objects lying around also act as links, for instance the video camera on the floor links you to clips of the film and other trailers. Being online also opens up its audience to much more people who may not have seen the television advert, or maybe use web services such as rotten tomatoes or IMDB more to find the films they would like to watch, they were also able to read up fully on the film before watching and able to see who directed and who wrote it which is very popular. 

IV) I'm now going to analyse the trailer of Disturbia mainly because there aren't many moments in the actual film which show off both sides of the films feel. (Note: This is not the same trailer I commented on earlier).

 Music: From the start there is a low 'chanting' which immediately gives the film a 'wary' sort of feel. the music progresses to when Kale is measuring out how far he can go in the garden, where it changes the tempo up slightly to give it a more paced feel, as if something is going to happen. This stays the same for a while with Kale's voice-over playing on top of that, he sounds excited and happy at first until it stop and the music gets more fast paced and then the colours seem to dim a little  while the darker side of the story starts to unfold. Kale's voice (and other character's too starts to become lower which makes them sound nervous and uneasy. the music then goes down to a hi-hat, which while allowing the tension to build, keeps a sense of pace. Finally there is the sound of wind rushing past as we see the antagonist brandishing a knife.

Colours: At first the colours are all bright, this is similar to the film in which the scenes where Kale is at home and before his dad's death are all rich is colour. Whereas in comparison to the second half of the film (and therefore the trailer) everything has been dulled down, this shows you that along with the music the mood has changed, so going through this film all of the areas where things are okay in Kale's life such as fishing with his father and just doing what he wants at home, everything is bright, but as soon as he starts spying on his neighbour and seeing strange and unexplained things it all becomes dulled down.

Editing: Shot lengths at first are short and snappy changed with each bar of music, there are times during certain sections early on where the music picks up pace and the shots rapidly change to keep in time with the music. As the trailer moves on shots become longer and longer so as to build up tension and just when it's gone on just too long the trailer ends.

V) when it comes to social groups, there are only one or two subtle references to this, firstly there is the stereotypical view that Kale is living in a 'perfect little suburban bubble' which is broken by the idea of a murderer living next door, this is almost an attempt to break the stereotype. the second could be that it just so happens that the teacher that Kale punches was of Spanish decent and therefore it could be that a part of the violence in the film could be racially caused (Obviously it isn't but this could be subtle hint from the film makers). Lastly women in the film for the most part seem to be shown as a little 'ditzy' and unaware, for instance all of the victims in this film are female, which gives the impression that it seems females are the only ones whom are easily captured, similarly the main female character was not permanently captured but she was the only main character to be isolated by the antagonist.

Thriller conventions: The main point of this film is about a boy who is 'trapped' within his house which is obviously a main convention, also the idea of him not being able to escape. There are red herrings throughout such as the deer which the antagonist claim to have hit with his car which the protagonist originally thought to be a body, as for characters there is the psycho (Mr. Turner) the detective character (Kale) and an authoritative police character played by several people (The judge, Officer Gutierrez, the woman who fits Kale's ankle bracelet). The entire of the last fight sequence takes place hidden under the house in a water filled ditch, with water being one of the main thriller conventions, the fact that it's dark and a torch is used highlights the shadows (another convention). The street is also full of street lamps, and their dull glow also gives off dim shadows too.   

Layer Cake

I: This is a crime drama thriller about a successful drugs dealer who is going straight after one big final payout. A gang of men led by 'The Duke' steal one million ecstasy from a Serbian Syndicate who are out for revenge. And now our drug dealer is charged with selling the pills the syndicate is also after him. Layer Cake is based on a novel and screenplay by J.J. Connolley who also played "Barry the Bookie" In Mean Machine (2001). The book was published in 2001, the movie was greenlit and made three years later. There are five main characters first off is our drug dealer whom we only know as 'XXXX' played by Daniel Craig, Morty played by George Harris, The Duke played by Jamie Foreman, Jimmy Price played by Kenneth Cranham and finally Eddie Temple played by Michael Gambon. It was filmed completely on location in the U.K. It was successful at the awards and was nominated for 8 awards including the Empire award for Best Director and won that two others. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn and the production company mainly involved was Song Pictures Classics. The film was rated a 15 in the U.K. for it's strong and brutal violence, references to torture and drugs content. The film did well at the box office with a budget of £4,000,000 and an opening weekend take of £1,090,561in just the opening weekend.


II: The films plot can be reduced in it's most simple terms to a London Gangster Drugs film, so the target audience will probably for the majority be males, the film is rated a 15 and I agree as the film in itself is quite complicated and could be hard to follow for anyone younger than 15. At first I thought that the film wouldn't appeal to an older audience because of the movies plot line and the actors. But having watched this with my parents (50 and 52) who both thoroughly enjoyed it I can say that a wide range of ages will enjoy this and interestingly enough a large part of them enjoying it was Michael Gambon appearing as Eddie Temple. Although with a lot of gangster films there is the problem of sexist language and behaviour throughout which may alienate a female audience but Layer Cake is the exception that proves the rule as it has very minimal occurrences of this type of behaviour, which means that while not specifically aimed at women they could happily watch it. 
Looking at User Reviews Layer Cake's IMDB page I found that with a rating of 7.4 this film has a 
largely successful following and I have picked one example of a review at random.

218 out of 259 people found the following review useful:
In short, see this film., 7 October 2004

Author: matt_cub from United Kingdom

After being cast as Bond, Daniel Craig's back catalogue is now much sought after. Although Craig came to most of the UK's attention with a stand out performance in Our Friends in the North, it's Layer Cake that showcases why he got the Bond audition. Perhaps now, this strong contender for the best thriller of the year may find the audience it deserves. Mis-sold as a more art house friendly addition to the Guy Ritchie school of crime films, Layer Cake is a unique and remarkable experience.


The plot is deceivingly simple and would wrongly be placed in the gangster-wanting-to-retire-peacefully cinema staple seen frequently in Al Pacino movies. It is a much greater accomplishment that the audacious visual style, superb script and excellent performances make easy comparisons to this film pretty difficult. If anything it is closer to Schrader's 'American Gigalo' where the morally questionable hero is engulfed in a situation going on around him. The predominantly male cast is faultless with everyone from Dexter Fletcher to Michael Gambon putting in superb turns to give the characters justice. Far more human than the cartoon stereotypes we've come to expect after so very many Brit gangster flicks. Craig has never looked in better shape for taking on Hollywood.


Hats off then to Matthew Vaugn for filming Britain as it can look. Grimy in places but every bit astonishing in locations as our Stateside cousins. We've grown too used to seeing rain pouring and hackneyed clichés that have represented this country on celluloid. It's not foppish. It's not Bend It Like Beckham. So there really is no excuse left not to see it (aside from the awful trailer). Layer Cake deserves a wide audience and there's more than enough of everything for everyone to enjoy. At times hilarious, astonishingly frank and incredibly concise the whole film is a pure joy and clearly made for people that love film. Makes you wonder why they can't all be as classy as this.

As you can see the review very much enjoyed the film hence the 10/10 stars. He specifies that the film is NOT like every other 'gangster-want-to-retire-flick' and compares it to the quality to Al Pacino's 'Heat' starring Robert De Niro. He also highlights how he believes that this movie is the reason Daniel Craig got the chance to audition for James Bond, which is the role that really shot him into stardom.
Overall it looks like that this film was very popular with it's audiences but from what I saw in the rest of the reviews that it could be difficult for Americans to understand simply because of difficult terminology.


III) When it comes to technology the film was only released not too long ago in 2004 so technology was easy to use but still more advanced than in previous years for instace the film has its own website which contains trailers and character profiles which really opens up its audience to much more people who may not have seen the television advert, or maybe use web services such as rotten tomatoes or IMDB more to find the films they would like to watch, they were also able to read up fully on the film before watching and able to see who directed and who wrote it which is very popular. This may also be a good addition for those who were a fan of the book on which the film was based. Although the trailer which has been brought out has been given criticisms (Which in all fairness I agree with) the film has still taken full advantage of all the resources that are available to it.  


IV) I am going to be analysing what I believe to be one of the most prevalent scenes in the film which is in fact the opening one and sets a basis up for how we see the main character. for instance in a lot of films the drug dealer character is one we mostly view on negatively, but Layer Cake changes this so that we take a shine to Daniel Craig. Click Here for the copy of the opening scene I am analysing.

Music: For the first 15 seconds there is no diegetic or non-diegetic sound other than Daniel Craig's voice-over. So there is a feeling of calm through the beginning of the scene. This is continued as throughout the scene a calming melody of synths is played and is kept the same throughout the opening. For instance even when some van doors are blown off. Which makes the two in stark contrast to each other therefore helping the viewer look at what's going on on-screen but also listening to the voice-over. The music starts to get louder and lyrics are heard as soon as the scene comes into the present day which highlights how Daniel Craig says "Drugs changed everything".


Colours: Throughout the majority of the opening the colours are kept as dark blacks, blues and greens. These are especially suitable for when there are prison scenes or robbery scenes of which there are in the opening. An interesting point is that the only scene where there are bright colours is the scene where people are smoking what is supposedly hash. This could be a reference to the way that drugs affect you and make you feel. The colours are in stark contrast to the darks colours which could represent the divide between the drug affected world and the 'real world'.


Editing: Most the shots area combination of tracking and panning shots that give the impression the camera is simply going around the room through all of the different locations. All of the shots themselves are at the same height although in one section it can be ad sitting level ad another at standing level. The transitions for all of the shot are quite simple and are that the camera moves past what looks like a wall and emerges on the other side in a new year or place.   


V) when it comes t social groups the film itself only references to these a few times. For instance there is a murder and when a black man volunteers to take away the body the man telling the story says that "Back in those days being black was worse than being Irish". This si the only real mention of racial disharmony , especially as two of the main characters are both black and Caucasian. The only other mention of any social problems are the representations of women. There are only three female characters in the whole film and the first one played by Sienna Miller immediately proposes to have sex with Daniel Craig, and the second is simply a trophy wife/girlfriend for a low-level drugs dealer. and the last is the daughter of a very wealthy high end kingpin drug dealer, but she is addicted to crack cocaine and also living in a crack house. Females are definitely shown as the less dominant of the genders as the cast is largely male in comparison to many other films, but not when it comes to this genre of films (London Gangster).

Thriller Opening- Conventions

In our opening we aim to incorporate many of the conventions of the thriller genre. With only the opening to go by, the girl could be a choice of characters, she could be a victim, in that she could have been killed and merely wants people to understand her and help her. But also she could be evil, a criminal in that in the opening she seems quite vicious and it looks like she aims to harm the other characters, so she may be a killer.

We also aim to make sure the narrative conforms to the conventions of a thriller, we are going to attempt to get across to the audience that someone is being watched i.e. the pizza delivery boy, also death is shown in the opening, both by the dead body in the swimming pool in the implication of death when the girl is standing behind the father, with her body language showing sinister intent.

In addition, we aim to include the usual themes of the thriller genre, one of which being revenge, at least that is what could be suggested to the audience in that we see the girls body and then she seems to be out to make someone suffer when she is suspiciously standing behind her father in the shadows. Linking in to that, shadows is part of the thriller iconography we want to use, this helps to create suspense and tension, it also adds to the malice of whatever is in the shadows, in this case the girl. To help with the darkness we plan to edit our filming on a computer so that it has a night time effect. This is easier, and leaves the film with better quality, than filming in quite dark conditions.

Following on from the shadows iconography, we also plan to use water in the film, both by the swimming pool and rain, which, unless raining anyway, we plan to use a hose to create.

All these things we have decided to include I think will help us greatly in creating an effective thriller.           

Thriller Storyboard

Click Here to see our first storyboard for our Thriller Opening. This is mainly just a preliminary storyboard but we will hopefully do a more detailed one involving shot times which will let us check how long our film will be and whether it will be within the time limits.

Panic Room Opening Analysis

Institutions: Directed by David Fincher and starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart and Forrest Whittaker, Panic Room was  Columbian Pictures Corporation film which was released in the 3rd of May 2002. With a budget of $48,000,000 it gained $30,056,751 profit in America and £2,022,582 in the U.K.


Sound: The first sounds we hear are deep horns which usually are used in situations where tension is building and something is about to happen. For instance deep horns are used in Jaws for when the shark is about to attack. We can also hear what sounds like police sirens in the distance, the fact that they fade away could either signify that they are going away from you which of course in a bad situation is not good, but it also could signify just how lost you can get in the big city whether it's metaphorically when it comes to you being in trouble or just generally. The next prominent instrument featured are the violins (or cellos) which up the tempo of the music, this could be to signify that whatever tension was building up is now almost about to commence, the music also draws you into the otherwise almost 'bland' visuals. Lastly we hear the original horns but accompanied with cymbals which build up the energy of the introduction and exposes all of the tension thathas been previously built up.


Credits: The type face used in the credits is large and 3 dimensional, ithas a 'grand' feel to it which gives off the impression that this isn't just a quickly put together robbery film, it is a well crafted and almost important film. The credits are also floating above the city ground level almost making them seem more important than the rest of the world.


Mise-en-scene: With in the large building coming up all around you there is a sense of entrapment which is a classic thriller convention, they also make you feel small and insignificant in comparison to them. This is only highlighter by the large shadows which are thrown off by the buildings, which makes them look as if they are bearing down on you. The opening also introduces the location of the entire film. Which gets the audience more immediately involved in the film. 


Semiology: The buildings themselves are very straight-edged which when teamed with the shadows gives off the impression of bars, which again is another convention of a thriller. This is especially appropriate as obviously the film is called Panic Room. The level in which the camera is set makes sure that you are surrounded by huge building which all look the same give a feeling of anonymity within the skyscrapers. That you cold do anything if you were a criminal as you could just blend together. Even the title of he film gives off the impression of being enclosed in a small space and being closed off from the rest of the world.

Blog Labels

Only just realised I haven't added labels to any of my blog posts so this is very overdue.

Our complete Thriller Plot

There is a general plot for our thriller which is the idea that after being told that his dead daughter is in the house the man tries to find her but to no avail, later in the movie it is found that many people see the girl in various positions of danger for instance the delivery boy sees the girl drowned in the pool. But later on all of the people that claim to have seen her all are found dead in the ways that thy claim to have seen the girl die, for instance the pizza delivery boy is found drowned in a pool. The father is first suspected and it his job to prove his innocence while not getting caught in the process.

Thriller Opening Synopsis

Click here to see the opening synopsis for our thriller. We realise that the amount we plan to film seems like a lot but after we finish our more detailed storyboard we will be able to look at shot length and see if we can fit it all within the two minute time limit.

Thriller Location

We have sourced a location which is a large house with a long driveway which will be good for building up the tension and for getting plenty of footage on. Click here to see the blog with the pictures of the location from Google Streetview. We will also later post more detailed pictures not just from google streetview which go all the way up to the house to get a better idea for the landscape.

Thriller Character Posts

I think the casting of the characters helps the thriller effect and the realism of it. Liam is cast as the pizza delivery boy because the height difference between him and the father (me) of the supposedly dead daughter is quite large, emphasising the youth of the pizza delivery boy, and with youth can come vulnerability, so any danger shown in the film holds special presence when the boy is involved. The audience is also likely to be more emotionally involved/in tune with the younger character as because of his age he is at more of a similar level to our target audience. 

Profile
Male
16 Years Old
Friendly
Innocent, just trying to get his job done



Emily is cast as the daughter of the owner of the house, we chose to use a young girl character as it is a common character in thrillers, as it can be scary. So we chose Emily as of course she is a girl and she is quite small, helping to show how young the character is. We could have used an actual young girl (Jack's sister) but we thought it would be easier to have someone who has the look of a younger girl but can follow instructions and understand the concept more accurately.  She is first spotted in an upstairs window, and again behind her father looking as though she is about to harm or shock the other characters. This character is very significant in the film in helping to create tension and suspense.

Profile
Female
Very young, about 7 years old
This is a ghost of the dead girl, haunting her house and seems intent on harming somebody, possibly in revenge for her death


I play the father of the girl. As I have a larger build I am best suited to play an older, father figure, again to emphasise the age difference between the three characters and the contrast in height with the boy adds to the boy's vulnerability. I also decide to wear a shirt and tie to make me seem older and more sophisticated; somebody living in such an expensive and large property would take pride in their appearance, this is shown in the well-kept gardens. Also the formal dressing draws more attention to him in this context which later comes into play where if the actual film were to be made fully he would be seen as the lead character. 

Profile
Male
About 45 years old
Living alone after his daughter died, quite vulnerable
Intelligent, polite and friendly

Our Thriller Opening Song Idea

We are looking for something that isn't necessarily scary but that builds tension in the video. We found a song called 'Through The Looking Glass'

http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?sindex=41&i=4&t=f

It is number 42 on this page.

EDIT: Jack has created his own thriller music which we are going to use for our opening, the music spikes and drops in tempo and volume at appropriate times for our thriller's crucial moments.

Preliminary Task Write-up.

"Confusion" Pre-lim task.

For our preliminary task we decided to basically incorporate a lot of movement into our video which would allow us to use as many different camera shot as possible which obviously would allow us to show off some of the skills that we possess.

When it came to filming our video we found that sometimes it was trick to get the correct shots because Emily couldn't help from laughing a lot but we saw this coming so therefore planned a lot of time for the amount we actually had to film. Apart from this the first day of filming went all to plan.

The next day of filming though we realised that as Emily wasn't wearing the same clothes we couldn't continue filming, so at first we thought we could just re-film what we started the day before but we realise it wouldn't be worth un-doing all the work that we had started already, so we waited until the last filming day and then completed our filming without any problems.

Plasticine Sculpture Writeup

This is a sculpture of what I believe to be a good representation of me as my personality but also incorporating physical qualities into it to give it a multi-dimensional feel.


The first part I will discuss is the fact that everywhere I would usually be wearing clothes (excluding feet) is grey. This is because I'm not very interesting when it comes to brands or styles so I feel it shows how I might as well feel on a regular basis compared to how some people are always worrying about what they're wearing and how they look.


Similarly with my hair I have kept it large and orange as this in my opinion is my most defining feature as it is probably one of the first things you would notice if you saw me. It's an extension of the clothes idea in that I don't use styling products or even a brushes so it's almost giving it a feel of running wild. It also links to one of my main needs which is to make people laugh which I usually do with self-deprecation and having awkward and large hair is another way of  doing that.


My hands and feet on this model are both green as these are also two of my slightly larger features which I feel are out of proportion with the rest of my body and alienates them from the rest of it.


The positioning of the body is supposed to be pulling off a dance move, this was planned as a continuation of wanting to make people laugh as one of the ways I do this is with the basic idea of looking stupid which generally makes people laugh.


This is the same principle as Gauntlett's Theory Of Representation in which he used LEGO to asked people to try and represent themselves in a model which would represent their identity using the colours and shapes to represent their own identities.

Camera Movements

Tracking shot: A shot that moves forwards and backwards to draw the subjects in and out.

Sideways Track Shot: A shot that moves left or right of the subject, used to follow a character around a scene.

Tilt Shot: This is where the camera tilts either to accentuate power or weakness within a character.

Zoom shot: works on the same basis of a tracking shot.

Arc Shot: Works with dialogue heavy scenes in a shot-reverse-shot way which allows to show the reactions of the character as the conversation progresses.

Crane shot: Allows the director to follow the action of a scene within a vertical movement.

Panning Shot: Where the camera can take in all of the action in a wide angle as the camera moves form side to side.