"I AM LEGEND" Thriller Opening

I Am Legend - 2007

SOUND

In the recorded news report there is no sound but the interviewee's voice. No non-diagetic soundtrack is used so that as well as the report seeming more convincing it also doesn't distract the audience from information that is important for the rest of the film.

The first non-diagetic sound effect is once the screen goes black there is a meanacing boom from an orchestra drum.This sound alone connotes that what she has just said may have gone wrong without having to narrate a length story of how it went wrong.

In the chase scene the diagetic roar of the car is emphasised and is almost like the roar of a predator who in the wild would chase the deer and this displays Will Smith, the protagonist, as a predator in his wild environment.

The shots of New York have no non-diagetic soundtrack and the natural jungle sounds seem incongruous with what we know of New York.

CAMERA WORK

The filming of the TV emphasises it was in the past. It also adds mood and the blurry TV image seems quite sinister. Also the view of the TV makes us feel we are actually watching it from our homes as if it was actually going to effect us and adds realism. The blurry recorded TV picture also seems distant and already connotes something may have gone wrong.

BELOW: The news report recorded from the TV through the camera seems sinister

The first establishing shot of extreme long shot tilt surveying the city shows the huge impact on the city and establishes what went wrong without lengthy oral narration.

The cliche images of stereotypical New York are shown to be morphed by the jungle undergrowth and morphs the audiences normal perspectives of reality.

ABOVE: A morphed picture of cliched images of New York changing the audiences perception of New York.

A birds eye view of only his car moving  through the deserted streets emphasises how alone he is.

MISE EN SCENE

Even though recorded off TV the shot is still very dark and no other props are used in shot this means the audience are not distracted from important information that they may miss if there was brighter lights in shot or distracting props.

The positioning of the cars either crashed  or under water establishes death, desertion and being alone. The mix between the dark undergrowth and the ambient sunlight seems like the jungle. Both these combined try to convince the audience New York, a once bustling city, is now deserted.

The setting is vital in this extract as well. If the piece was filmed in a country village it wouldn't have such a big impact on the audience. However the choice of New York, a urban mega city, would be the last place expected to seem deserted or consumed in jungle. Because New York is so stereotypically busy and industrialised it seems uneasy and spooky for the audience to see it deserted and overgrown.

BELOW: The deserted overgrown streets of New York seem incongruous with audiences normal perception of New York.

EDITING

Long straight cuts are used on the shots of New York buildings and the length of these cuts emphasises how deserted it is. If quick cuts were used it would seem as if there was something there or hiding that would require a faster pace however the deserted streets combined with long straight cuts connotes the emptiness of a once bustling city.

A subtitle is used in the XLS establishing shot saying "THREE YEARS LATER" to establish time instead of the audience having to guess what time period it is.

ABOVE: A subtitle is used in the first establishing shot to immediately denote the time period.

When the news report has ended a straight cut to black is used to separate it from the establishing shot. A straight cut is used apposed to a fade or wipe because a fade or wipe wouldn't emphasise the tension needed to show that the interviewees cure for cancer backfired.
 A straight cut to black for a few seconds connotes the passing of time without a fade which wouldn't have enough impact on the audience.

George

"The Interpreter" Thriller Opening

The Interpreter - 2005

MISE EN SCENE

When the female protagonist starts to run to escape the corridors she runs through seem never ending and repetitive as if she is lost. This is achieved by minimal use of props in the corridors so the mind can't landmark upon certain props in the corridors. This minimal use involves the audience in her escape and they feel lost also.

ABOVE: Minimal use of props makes the audience feel lost with the character

When it cuts to the second scene in the bar, the high-key lighting of the bar contrasts with the low-key lighting of her excaping previously. This suggests a massive contrast between the two places and characters.

The use of very dark lighting in the room the female protagonist is sneaking through immediatley communicates to the audience she shouldn't be there and make the audience ask questions as to WHY she is there and WHAT she is doing.

When she closes the curtains later on in the protagonist's appartment the lighting is much darker and thsi adds tot he fear of her expression when she hears the phone. The change in lighting as she goes from the curtains open to shut displays the change in mood.

CAMERA WORK

As the female protagonist escapes across the empty nightime car park a high angle extreme long shot is used to emphasise teh size of the buildings against her and emphasises how small she seems as she runs away in fear.

ABOVE: High angle XLS to show how dominatingly powerful the buildings are compared to her.
As the female protagonist runs through the corridors close ups of her shoes are shown to reinforce her escape and that she is running for her life. This will also engage the audience as they understand how scared she is and how determined she is to escape.

As the lights flicker on in the room there are also close ups on her face to show her expression change from determination to fear very quickly.

EDITTING

As the female protagonist starts to run through the endless corridors and stairwells the amount of cuts increase and simple straight cuts are used effectivly to communicate her speed. A straight cut is the most appropriate cut for this sequence as a fade or wipe would suggest time has passed and wouldn't communicate her speed or pace as well as a straight cut which is immediate.

An eye line match is constructed as we see from her P.O.V of the rows of seats in the building she is sneaking into. This subjective eye line match allows us to engage with teh character instead of simply watching her and to engage with her at this point is important as the audience will need to feel the rush of escape when the protagonist starts to run as well.

BELOW: Eye line match helps us to engage with the female protagonoist

Match on action is used several times in her escape sequence as she drives herself through doors and this further simulates that we are following her out fo the building.

SOUND

The voice on the radio that comes in insid ethr oom is loud to show that this voice is important and so that the audience realise the voice is in another language. The voice is also quite sinister as we hear the crackling foreign voice through the radio but no character of whom the voice could be coming from on screen. This creates a sinister mood to the loud radio voice and alienate sthe audience.

The non-diagetic sound track is beating loud orchestra drums that could be used to replicate her heart rate racing as she escapes through the doors. However just before the non diagetic soundtrack begins we only hear silence and thsi silence allows us to hear her heavy breathing which humanises the female protagonist and communicates the fear running through her.

As the protagonist runs through the corridors her footsteps are loud echoing through the corridors and yet again this is to emphasise her escape.

At the end of the first scene a sound bridge is used intot he next scene in the bar. The music being played in the bar soundbridges over from the XLS of the protagonists running through the car park. This sound bridge is used to show that these two characters are linked but the upbeat Beatles track seems incongruous and juxtapoises with the previous escape sequence.

George

#2 Thriller Opening: Memento

Memento [2000]
Directed by Christopher Nolan



SOUND
The non digetic sound comes from the musical sound track. It is slow and string-based, both unusual for a thriller. It builds to a climax at the end of the music building suspense in the audience. The non digetic sound is also  parallel to the image. The Foley is enhanced greatly, especially the cameras flash, instating its importance for the rest of the film. There is no dialogue, but there is a scream at the end, shaking the audience.

CAMERA
Typically of a thriller, all of the shots are close ups, big close ups or extreme close ups. Each of these allows the audience to see the characters facial expressions, while giving the impression of normal human viewpoint. A majority of the introduction is taken up with an extreme close up of a Polaroid. [0:00 - 1:16], this is because it is important. It also raises the question, 'Who is in the Polaroid?'. Raising questions is a key part of a successful thriller. It also includes foregrounding and many low angle shots.

ABOVE- Extreme close up

ABOVE- Extreme close up of bullet


MISE EN SCENE
As in Inception, the protagonist is dressed in pale colours, while the antagonist is dressed in dark colours, enforcing the stereotype of good and bad. However, the protagonist also wears a dark shirt, enforcing the notion in the audiences heads that perhaps all is not as it seams with the protagonist, which is reinstated when we realise that protagonist Leonard Shelby [Guy Pearce] has killed Teddy [Joe Pantoliano]. Its uses the typical thriller setting; naturalistic and urban. The setting is also inclosed and claustriphobic, another thriller trait.The use of lighting crates a dark atmosphere creating suspense.

ABOVE-Protagonist in pale colours, but dark top.
BELOW-Antagonist in dark colours.

EDITING
This film is very interesting in editing terms as this opening is in reverse. This creates a lot of suspense for the audience, and also asks a lot of questions. However, it still complies to stereotypical thriller editing techniques, like straight fast cuts and a fade at the beginning.

By Chloe Hobden

#1 Thriller Opening: Inception

Inception [2010]
Directed by Christopher Nolan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VXkUzf1et4
[Copyright blocks us from embedding the video]

SOUND
The first sound you hear is the movies non digetic soundtrack. The music builds up the tension in the audience and acts as a sound bridge to the next scene. Twice, the digetic sound is enhanced, a common trait in thriller films. First the digetic sound of the waves is enhanced to show their importance, and the spinney top sound is enhanced also. This for grounding of the sounds tell the audience that these specific objects will be important later on in the film. The film also uses contrapuntal non digetics over the image of the happy children playing.

CAMERA
Like many thrillers, there are a lot of close ups and big close ups in this opening. This shot is common because it is the best shot to see the characters expressions.There is also a good example of eye line match [0:37 - 0:44] Using a low angle shot of the castle on the hill, the audience becomes aware of that the person in the castle is of high importance, and is of higher status than the protagonist. The camera also tracks into the spinney top, reinstating importance.

 ABOVE- Example of close up

 ABOVE AND BELOW- Example of eye line match

ABOVE- Low angle shot

MISE EN SCENE
The setting, a beach, is normal considered tranquil, but with addition of the imposing waves [0:16 - 0:26] gives a sense of foreboding and isolation. Dom Cobb [Leonardo DiCaprio] is the protagonist and is dressed appropriately in pale colours, reinforcing his 'goodie' status. However Mr. Saito [Ken Watanabe], the rich Asian man, is dressed in black, instantly conditioning the audience to believe that he is the antagonist. We can can also tell by the setting that Mr. Saito is a man of wealth as he lives in the castle and lavishly dresses his home.

 ABOVE- Imposing waves, giving the audience tension and suspense.

ABOVE- Mise en scene make Mr. Satio appear rich
EDITING
As far as editing goes in this clip, all of the cuts are simple, straight cuts. This is odd as most thrillers use fast cuts to create pace. Nolan also uses a fade to show DiCaprio slipping in and out of a dream like state.

By Chloe Hobden

Preliminary Complete

After much editting...



Today we finished our preliminary and are satisfied with the results and editted all the work together.



Chloe, Bennita, George and Charlie

Thriller Opening: The Disappearence of Alice Creed

The current status on our Preliminary is within final stages, despite a few problems we encountered. Hopefully this week we will finish the remaining filming and also complete the editting process for our preliminary. Once completed it will be announced in the blog.

However we move onto our Foundation Portfolio and our group are moving onto thinking about the new task at hand; to create a 2 minute opening for a thriller.

In our textual analysis lesson we watched and analysed the opening of the film "The Disappearence of Alice Creed". This is the opening five minutes but we only studied the first three minutes...


We had to consider the four aspects of film when watching the piece to gain an understanding of how a thriller is contrcuted via Mise en Scene, Editting, Sound and Camera Work.

Our analysis demonstrated the techniques used in this thriller.

CAMERA WORK

Various POV shots were used such as the camera being placed on the bonnet of an oncoming car to the antagonist's car. Another POV is used once the antagonists had finished the room. A high angle shot is used to look down so we can see their accomplishments.

When the two are shopping for the tools a depth of field is used to focus on the tools so the audience can see exactly what they are e.g. electric driller, saw, rope etc. All of which could lead towards something bad that is about to happen.

SOUND

The change in music as it goes from the two in the DIY store to the quiet empty room helps create a sinister mood and tension between the two places. The music in the empty room features a tapping hi-hat which acts like a clock or a timer as if there is a countdown on this room or there is a matter of time until an event happens inside the room.

The sound is vital in this piece as the characters do not exchange words verbally the sounds of drilling and stapling of the tools in exaggerated to emphasise what they are building to communicate this is someone of much significance they are making and something relevant to the film. Other sounds are exaggerated throughout for example the squeak on their shopping trolley, a natural normal everyday sound but when used in context with everything else become quite sinister.

The two characters do not speak throughout the whole piece and their facial expression is minimal. This combination of minimal facial expression and dialogue (diagetic sound) creates tension and leaves the audience asking questions. This effect would not have been accomplished as well if the two characters were talking throughout, maybe about what they were building or what they were going to do, by instead having no speech it leaves it to the imagination of the viewer and as it goes on the audience gains an understanding of the sinister events that may soon happen as the two prepare the room for some sort of confinement or prison.

EDITTING

The length in cuts of the two in the hardware shop compared to the desolate house are different to establish the difference between the two environments and the pace slows down. The empty room uses longer slower cuts and features a few slow panning shots around the room whereas in the hardware shop the shots are quicker and have a faster pace even though both mainly feature straight cuts.

One jump cut is used when the two are laying sheets over the bed and this jump cut helps skip the parts of actually putting the bed cover on and it suggests a quick pace and that time is moving too fast for us to keep up.

MISE EN SCENE

The two characters also seem like robots or human less as they do the exact same actions without speaking as they both move and act in time together like machines.

Even though it’s not something the film makers could have organised the use of colour in that the sky is very dark and gloomy adds to the effect of the evil the two antagonists are to commit. If it had been blazing sunshine the perspective would not have been brought across as well.

The props used in the piece are also contributory to the sense of a thriller. All their tools are ones that could cause damage; a drill a hammer etc. All of these add to the use of the audiences imagination into guessing what they will be doing.

The lighting is quite dark and this connotes their tension surrounding what the two may be doing. The room they build is dark and lonely and once they've boarded up the windows the room is even darker with no ambient light getting in. Even the shop they buy the mattress from is quite dark in lighting which could suggest that the darkness is following them. The setting of the forest has a gloomy lighting to it as well and the dense trees creates a claustrophobic quality to the setting.

From this analysis we gained a better understanding of what we would need to incorperate into our thriller and the imagination that's going to be needed to create a successful thriller.

George

Problems

9th January 2011

Hello,

Unfortunately, since our last post we have had a series of problems effecting our filming.

We had originally intended to finish filming before the Christmas break, but due to our actor being unavailable, we didn't complete filming. We had started to edit the film when we realized that one of our shots didn't work due to poor lighting conditions and because of this we had to edit the storyboard (Pages 3&4 of storyboard to appear on the blog shortly).

Most annoying of all, when we went to finish filming last Friday, the Old Drama Studio was being used for exams, and will be for the foreseeable future, meaning again we have had to adjust some of our shots so they can be filmed in the Media room.

We will finish filming this week, and hopefully most of the editing.

More soon

Chloe, Charlie, Bennita and George

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