Initial Ideas

At our first production meeting we all laid down our ideas and came to the mutual conclusion of three different story lines; Asleep, Arrangement and Resentment.

Asleep

Director: Elijah Smalling

Writer: Elijah Smalling

Editor: Gottfried Nortey

Cast:

Gottfried Nortey as Jimmy

Leon Macualey as Malik
Tino Chimunye as Dr. Brown
Elijah Smalling as Tyrone

Asleep opens with the introduction of characters Jimmy, Malik and Tyrone. Jimmy has been in a coma for two months following a confrontation with one of his arch nemesis' Tyrone. His family come to visit him and bring him gifts in order to revive him from his coma to no results. As this is happening, Jimmy is constantly reliving flashbacks of the events that led up to his position in hospital which also ended with the murder of his best friend Malik. After a long think and talk with his family, Jimmy's mother comes to the unfortunate long decided conclusion that it is best doctors turn off his life support. Just as the doctor is about to turn off the life support, Jimmy starts moving rigoursly, more and more. Now he's almost punching the air. And finally, he wakes up, with one thing on his mind; REVENGE.

Arrangement

Director: Elijah Smalling

Writer: Gottfried Nortey & Tino Chimunye

Editor: Gottfried Nortey & Elijah Smalling

Cast:

Gottfried Nortey as Nortz

Leon Macauley as S Wavey

Elijah Smalling as Ezee

Nortz, is a upcoming rap superstar with a short temper. Because of this, his songs are fully of adrenaline but unfortunately also insults mainly directed at other upcoming rappers. When local rapper S Wavey hears Nortz is performing at a nearby house party, he disrupts it greatly by taking the life of Nortz which he, as a result, goes to prison for. Just before Nortz performs, his best friend Ezee warns him of this but he sees it as a threat from Ezee and ends his friendship with him. Ever since it eats him and he decides to avenge his fallen friend to make up for their disagreement. He plots how he is going to do it and patiently waits until the day he comes out. He then goes to where S Wavey comes out of prison and they meet face to face and the screen fades to black.

1st Production Meeting

Cast and Crew laying down ideas

In our first production meeting we discussed our ideas for a storyline that could be developed into our final product.

How to Film a Thriller

Hello examiner, in this blog i will present just how to film a thriller-genre suspense scene as I will be assessing and giving detailed descriptions of the different basic and advanced techniques used in the above embedded short film pertinently entitled 'At The Fork' by filmmaker Tom Barrance. This blog will be written in the order of the events via the five stages of the Narrative Theory by Tzvetan Todorov.

STAGE 1: The State of Equilibrium

An extreme long shot of the setting sets the tone and pace for the beginning of the film. The use of moderately bright orange and green colour scheme implies the neutralized calm mood of the presumed protagonist. The use of facial expression of the lead actor further suggests the equitable mind of the protagonist. The natural diegetic sounds of bird songs further suggests this. This is called the state of equilibrium. This means everything is normal and intact.

STAGE 2: A disruption of that order

Our main character approaches a dark passage as non-diegetic dark sinister oriented music plays in the background. The tone of music suggests there is danger awaiting in the alley. In this scene we see a sickly, faint shade of green in contrast to the bright, vibrant green we see in the previous scene which further suggests a danger is near.

Title Sequence

Title sequences are the way films or television programs present their title, cast members and central production credit along with matching visuals and sound. Title sequences should not be confused with opening credits as they are just a bunch of over lapping text.

The typical order of title sequence is as follows

1. - Production Company Ident
2. - Distribution Company Ident
3. - Actor 1
4. - Actor 2
5. - Actor 4
6. - Actor 5
7. - Crew: Casting by
8. - Crew: Costume Designer
9. - Crew: Music supervision
10. - Crew: Music by
11. - Crew: Editing by
12. - Crew: Product Designer
13. - Crew: Director of Photography
14. - Executive Producers
15. - Producer
16. - Distribution Title- Production Title
17. - Film Title- Actor 3
18. - Writer
19. - Director

Taken

This movie

Introduction to the Group

INTRODUCTION TO THE GROUP.

Members 

Leon Macauley (brown Jacket) - Actor and cameraman  

Gottfried Nortey (black sweater) - actor and editor               

Elijah Smalling (black jacket) - cameraman, actor and editor 

Tino Chimunye (cosmic jacket) - actor   

Editing

Editing is one of the core features of film making. It is the process of going through all the footage shot in the duration of the making of a film/TV program and selecting the best ones to be put in the coveted order by joining them together.

There are two factors you have consider when editing:

• Speed Of Editing - How long each shot lasts
• Style Of Editing - How each shot is joined to the next

Speed of Editing 

In any film or television program every scene can last for a matter of seconds or minutes but the pace of the it depends on the duration of each sequence. It is one of the crucial factors to consider when determining the mood of what is taking place.
For example in the following clip from 'Spider-Man 2.1' each sequence lasts a quick 1.1 - 1.4 second average indicating emotions of anxiety and and viligance. These are common in action, horror, thriller and similar genres.

In contrast, in romance 'The Notebook' each sequence lasts at an 3 - 7 second average to show that the mood of the scene is calm and mellow. This is common in romance, dramas and identical genres.

Style of Editing

The movement from one scene to to another is called a transition. The style of editing of a TV program/film is usually determined by it's transitions. There are many different styles of editing:

• Straight cuts
• Dissolves
• Fades
• Wipes
• Jump Cuts
• Graphic Match

Straight Cut

The straight cut is the most common and inconspicuous style of transition. Straight cuts contribute to filmmaker's intentions of creating the illusion of reality by moving one shot to the next instantaneously without attracting the audience's attention.

Dissolves

This consists of the fading off of a shot while another shot fades in simultaneously

The mid-point of a dissolve transition
as it appears in Alfred Hitchcock's
'Shadow Of A Doubt'

. Both shots will be visible to members of the audience at the mid-point of the transition. If filmmaker's want to display a connection between two characters, places or objects.

Fades

The fade transition technique is also one of the most common. This is a gradual darkening or lighting of an image until it becomes black or white. In other words, one shot will fade until only a black or white screen can be seen. It is mainly used to represent the end of a particular section of time within the narrative.

Wipes

The wipe transition technique is when one image is pushed off to either the left or right of the screen by another. Although it can be hit in any direction it is more typical for images to be pushed off to the left-hand side as this is more consistent. It is regularly used to signal a movement between different locations at the same time. Although it was previously present in 'golden-age' dramas, this technique is mainly present in comedies and children genres. 

Jump Cut

A jump cut is a cut from one shot to another which makes the subject to jump to in an abrupt way. In other words, a jump cut is when the audience's attention is brought into focus on something very suddenly and make sections of sequences appear removed. As this breaks the continuity editing it is also known as discontinuity editing.

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing are styles of editing that are used to create realistic chronology and a sense of time moving forward although narratives sometimes may use flashbacks/forwards. Continuity editing gives narratives structure, make shots flow into each other smoothly and thus make films easy to understand.

Eye Line Match

The eye line match technique is when the audience is put into a subjects point of view (POV) for a few seconds or minutes depending on the filmmaker's decision.

Media Theory

There are many suppositions and presumptions about the many connections between media and its effects on society. This known as media theory.

Thrillers make use of many theories, such as 'binary opposites' and 'enigma code'. 'Binary Opposites' is a theory developed by Levi Strauss. His theory basically states our understanding of a word or object depends on it opposing word. He named this thesis, 'binary opposites'. For example; our understanding of the word hero depends on it's opposing word enemy. This is a common trait in the movie/television entertainment industry. Although the use of theory is clear to see as it is mainly used in traditional action films, filmmakers, in recent years now aim to create less evident/more complex binary opposites as it makes films more interesting and appealing to audiences. For example in popular movie franchise 'The Twilight Saga', the plot is created in such a way that the 'Werewolves VS. Vampires' narrative is not obviously revealed.

The 'Hermeneutic Code' is a narrative theory conceived by Roland Barthes. His theory was that in any movie there was an element that is not fully revealed to the audience and thus is a mystery. He believed the motive of this was to capture the attention of the audience until the end of the story where all is revealed and a true conclusion is made. This theory is also known as the 'Enigma Code'. A prime example of this would be in  'The Dark Knight Rises', it is hinted to the audience that Batman is dead although it is never officially confirmed until the end where it is revealed that he is infact not.

The Character theory, developed by Vladimir Propp whilst analysing 100 tales, suggests that in every modern media text or production there are 7 prevalent characters which play vital roles in them.

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
4. The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
5. The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)
6. The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
7. The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess

NOTE: 'Enigma' = a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation

Conventions Of A Thriller

Conventions Of A Thriller

A thriller is a novel, play or film that has an exciting plot, in other words, is made to thrill. Thrillers generally consist of low key lighting, tension music, and the protagonist in the mercy of the antagonist. It may also consist of quick cuts, shadows, changes in the angle of shots, diegetic sounds of breathing, black and white shots and a montage of shots. There are 5 main stages in a thriller; a state of equilibrium, a disruption in the equilibrium, an awareness of the disruption and a attempt to restore it and finally a new equilibrium. The protagonist is normal a brave character who attempts to restore justice whilst the antagonist attempts to destroy it. In recent years, the protagonist may previously be a villain changing his ways and facing his old allies as a consequence. The identity of the antagonist is normally hidden but is revealed as the film progresses and is often trying to seek revenge from a past dispute but this is not always the case. The aim of a thriller is to make the audience feel like it is happening to them, thus making them scared.

Denzel Washington as main protagonist
Detective Alonzo Harris in
Training day

In a thriller, uses of close ups and extreme close ups on protagonists are present in order to show their emotions. It may also be used on props to display their role in the narrative. Shots of the antagonistic characters will be very quick and may not even show their face in order to conceal their identity to the audiences. They may be close ups of their mouths, shots of the back of them, their shadows and even silhouettes to make characters appear darker and thus more scary.

Thrillers consist of a lot of literacy devices that are scare, excite and ultimately thriller the audience.

Red Herrings

A red herring is something that distracts or misleads audiences from the relevant/important or main elements of the narrative. A prime example of this would be in 1992 box office hit  'The Bodyguard'. The films stars Whitney Houston as 'Rachel Marron', a modern-day superstar in fear of her life as she is heavily stalked and receives death threats and as result hires a bodyguard who she then falls in love with. Throughout the movie we see an extremely excited fan who goes over the top with his adoration towards Rachel and appears to be the stalker, however it is later revealed he is not.

Cliffhanger

A cliffhanger is when a main character ends up in a difficult situation or is left with a shocking revelation at the end of a film. The purpose of a cliff hanger is to excite the audience enough so they will stay to see what happens next or to just thrill the audience with the unexpected.

Suspense

Suspense is when films cause viewers to feel mixed emotions of enjoyable excitement and enchantment but also feelings of apprehension and anxiety at the same. This is due to a rising source of tension established during a segment in a film. In terms of thrillers, as described by acclaimed thriller pioneer Alfred Hitchock, suspense is when audiences expect something bad to happen have (or believe they have) a superior knowledge on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene or prevent it from happening.

Sub-Genres

Sub genres are underlining genres within a film. Sub genres allow films to be more accessible and give film makers opportunities to expand on character development and overall narrative. Examples of thriller sub genres would be:

Psychological Thriller

- These are thrillers which central themes focus on the mind of the character (principally the protagonist) their unstable mind states.

Comedy Thriller

- These are thrillers that contain evident elements of humor within the screenplay, although they have a disproportion amount of humor in comparisons to other genres that do.

Techno/Sci-Fi Thriller

- These are thrillers which draw subject matter from science fiction, spy, action/war. They include a small amount of focus on technical details which is normally military technology.

Sound exercise

In the following video entitled 'Snitch', my co-workers Leon, Elijah, Tino and myself create a short film which emphasizes the perils of drug dealing whilst displaying different sounds.

In the scene 1, the main antagonist (Elijah) alerts a policeman (Tino) of a drug deal which is about to take place at a nearby premises. This scene makes use of dialogue. In scene 2, we are then introduced to the customer (Leon) who is getting ready to meet his dealer (myself). In the duration of the sequence the instrumental to Dr. Dre's Still D.R.E is played. This is commonly known as background music but is generally recognized as the 'soundtrack' in media terms.

This is continued until the scene the policeman comes in and we hear a record scratch. The last thing we hear is a 'soundtrack' appropriately entitled 'sad piano solo' plays until the end of the film.

Diegetic Sound

Dialogue is part of a category of sound referred to as diegetic sound. This is sound that both the audience and characters can both actually hear. Different examples of diegetic sound are dialogue sound effects and music from the background (eg. radio or television or music produced by characters themselves as part of the plot).

Non-Diegetic Sound

Soundtrack is part of the contrasting category non-diegetic sound. This is sound only heard by the audience. Examples of this are narrator's commentary, sound effects, which are added for dramatic effect and mood music.

Cinematography

Cinematography is the art or science of the creation of motion picture works. There are many different aspects of cinematography; one of them includes cinematic techniques. There are many aspects which collectively are the foundations of cinematography. This includes cinema technique, filters, lighting, lens, aspect ratio/framing, depth of field/focus, image sensor/film stock and camera angle; which is what I will be assessing today. Camera angle is very important to films as it represents the audience's viewpoint and perception of a moving subject. In the video embedded in this blog me and my fellow peers made use of different cinematic techniques.

Long Shot

A long shot is a shot that usually shows an entire object or human figure thus the name long shot. It's main purpose can be to set the scene although there are others such as displaying action scenes in war films or disaster movies. In our case we used the long shot to show the scene and two human figures. This was the first shot we filmed

Pan Shot

This is when the camera is rotated in a horizontal (typically) on a vertical axis but the effect can be intensified by doing things like using a dolly. It's main purpose is to follow a subject or create a panoramic effect, this was our purpose. This was the second shot we filmed.

Extreme Close Up

The extreme close up is a related notion of the close up. As the shot is as self explanatory as the name, it does not really show the scene at all, Thus displays forces the audience to recognise the subject or object in extreme detail. This was the third shot we filmed.

Close Up

The close up is identical to the extreme close up with the only difference being the scene can be viewed by the audience as well as the subject. This was the forth shot we filmed.

Medium Shot

The medium shot is a shot the is filmed at a medium distance, It is the midway point between a long shot and a close up although it's dividing line can be heavily debated. For example, some professionals believe the medium shot starts from the knees above, whilst others believe it is from the waist, In our case we went with the first option as it seemed more appropriate. This was the fifth shot we filmed.

Point Of View shot (POV)

The point of view shot is a shot that displays to the audience what the character is looking at via the camera, in this case 

  

The Brief

The Brief

 Foundation Portfolio: The Brief 

You have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fiction film in thethriller genre.

The sequence should last a maximum of two minutes.

You may work in a group of 2 - 4 students.

As acting is not assessed you are free to use actors that are not members of your group.

The film is worth 60% of your coursework grade.

The accompanying blog is worth 40% of your coursework grade

Together the Foundation Portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS Level. 

Welcome

Hello examiner, welcome to my blog, i'm sure you'll be quite entertained, enjoy.