Match On Action:

As Group work we has to each take a task to write about. I chose to write about Match on action.


Match on action is vital to producing a great film. We learnt into todays lesson (26.09.11) that with out match on action, also know as ''Match Cutting'' or ''Graphic match'' our audience will grow frustrated and confused which will distracted them from the story behind the film.
    match on action is when two shots are cut to make sure that they ''flow''  together. this is linked to continuity because the idea is to make sure that the film looks true to life.
  And example of good match on action is presented on the youtube link below. in this scene there are two different shots which have been cut in order to give the the appearance that the scene is flowing and that there was not a cut between the scenes.  
   Match on action can also be used in other scenes such as a conversation. In one shot we could have character talking to another with and over the shoulder from said character. then, when the other character replies there could be another over the shoulder shot but of that character looking at the other.


Here is a example of match on action:

Tagging Thriller Conventions: Unusual Suspects.

In groups of two we were asked to watch a title sequence and edit in any common thriller conventions that we see. I worked with Katie. I have leant a lot from this. I learnt how to immediately spot the common aspects of a thriller and why they are relevant. For example: The colour red is commonly used in Thriller films as they symbolise anger, danger and murder. These elements are relevant to a Thriller because a typical Thriller story line has elements of death, anger and danger. This is because they are broadly used to appeal to Men and men prefer a more violent action-packed film. I also learnt how to used different parts of Final Cut Pro as this was the software we used to tag the conventions. We learnt how to edit the sequence so that we can add text, there were demonstrations on how to put effects to the text as well, we decided against using effects in order to finish our tagging promptly. See video below:

The Sub-Genres of a Thriller:

In taking a deeper look into the thriller genre we see that there “sub-genres”. This is a way of identifying the content of a film. There are characteristics which form the genre of a Thriller for example the use of blood, violence and typically the audience will be kept in suspense, not know how the plot will thicken etc. Yet, certain details in a thriller can picked out and used to form a sub-genre. These are used to associate different thrillers with her, with mutual elements such as plot ect.

I used www.wikipedia .com to research these sun-genres. Please note that sub-genre’s within thrillers may have elements and characteristics of other genre’s such as horror, yet are still classified as a thriller. The sub-genres are as follows:

Action Thriller: Action thrillers often have elements of mystery and crime films. They are full of action, contains large elaborate sets, explosions and guns. There is often a time element to them, with fare-fetched scenarios such as there is two minutes to stop a mars bar from derailing a train, with energetic, strong and ambitious male characters saving the day. For example “James Bond” (see below).

Conspiracy Thriller: Often containing a Heroic character who challenges the darker side. The storylines are mostly political, with beliefs that there may be more to an event than meet the eye, an example would be “Fight Plan” (See below).

Crime Thriller: This genre is extremely hard to place as there is a very fine line as to what is a thriller and as to what is a crime film.  Usually these films are crime films with an added suspense or mystery to a failed crime. They are commonly filmed from the criminals point of view. They focus on actions as oppose to the psychological side of a criminal. The commonly include murders, robberies, shoot-outs ect. For example “Seven” (see below).

Eco-Thriller: The main conflict in these thrillers is due to a disaster whether it be true to life or Science-fiction. Floods, earthquakes and nuclear disasters are all possible storylines. The science fiction element to these, often consist of storylines about problems that may occur in the future.  An example and Eco-Thriller is “In The Blue” (see below).

Erotic Thriller: These thrillers are a mix of the typical characteristics of a thriller and erotica. Becoming more popular since the 1980’s, this genre includes “Fatal Attraction” (see below).

Horror Thriller: These thrillers contain conflict between characters which is mental/emotional and physical. There is also a very fine line between what is a thriller and what is a horror as most horrors have a sense of the “unknown” which is most common in Thrillers. The main elements throughout a Horror thriller are fear and mystery. There is often a superior being or force which the main character has to outsmart, the main characters commonly become victims at one point or another. An example is “28 Days Later” (see below).

Psychological Thriller: commonly, the conflict between main characters is mental and emotional as oppose to physical. A person may have a mental defect or is mentally unhinged causing them to act the way they do. “The Orphan” is an example of this (see below).

Supernatural Thriller: Characters in a supernatural thriller often have abnormal powers of some sort. These thrillers combined the tension accosted with a normal thriller but with added horror aspects such as ghosts and other such phenomenon. An example of such film would be “Carrie” (see below).

When researching this information i learnt a great deal about which thriller will fall in the which sub-genre. This will help me a great deal when planing the final sequence because i will understand which elements make a sub-genre and then can there fore give a clear representation of said genre.

Connie.

Emotions And Atmospheres Created By And Opening Sequence: Memento

In this lesson Mr. Barton asked us to watch the opening of a sequence and decide which elements from it create an atmosphere. He asked us to work in groups of two and assigned us a Thriller opening. I worked with Ashleigh and our opening was from Memento.


We found that the soundtrack in the sequence ascended to create tension and that the classical music creates suspense. We also looked at the camera and editing techniques and found that the sequence has been edited in reverse to create suspense and mystery, the audience will be asking themselves why the man was shot and that will entice them into watching the full picture. 


This is the video clip that we watched:

When doing this task i learnt that an opening sequence should information towards the story-line of the film in order to set the mood and entice the audience. I must bare this in mind when it comes to planning my own opening sequence.

Title Sequence Analysis: Vertigo.

In this lesson we were asked to watch a title sequence which he assigned on www.artofthetitle.com and printscreen the most important 9 frames. 
Mr. Barton asked us to note down any important things we see under the categories Editing, Image, Style, Visual Effects, Font, Animation and Image. I decided to recored my information via mind map:

This is the title sequence which I anaylised:

More detailed Mind-map: Vertigo

This is a more detailed version of my mindmap.

Examining the opening scene of Orphan:

As a homework assignment we were asked look at the opening scene of a thriller and answer some questions about it. We were asked to take a print screen to back up the points we are making. I chose the psychological thriller called Orphan, before watching this film I googled it to see what it was about.

A brief description of the film from www.IMDb.com reads:

"A husband and wife who recently lost their

 baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who

 is not nearly as innocent as she

 claims to be."

The questions we were asked to answer were:

What is expected from the film by what information you are given in the opening scene?
What makes it a Thriller?
What atmosphere, moods and feelings are presented?

Right from the start. Even at the menu's Orphan shows that there is a dark side to this film. The hidden message might be that things are not always what they seem because the menu flashes from being a very normal film menu to a dark and twisted sight. The music used at the backing track for the menu is very violent and created a creepy atmosphere:

These dark effects are also used in the production company logo's this will set the mood for the film making the audience feel a little on edge as to what might happen:

The use of red in the menu may make the audience expect murder or blood and violence of some sort.

In the opening scene we see blood which makes the audience expect murder, a pregnant woman which may lead the audience to believe that there will be children within the film:

The use of blood will may make the audience feel a little scared and start them asking questions about why there is a blooded baby? ect.

Other questions the audience will be asking through out the scene is why is the husband recording the womans miscarriage, this is unusual:

There are other odd elements to the film like the blurring lights, and the exposure of some shots:

The blurring lights and the strange way the doctors/husband are acting as well at the creepy backing track all make the atmosphere eery and mysterious which are key conventions found in thrillers this and the fact that the audience do not know exactly whats going on which keeps them guessing all add to the reason that this film has been categorized as a thriller. 

The mood throughout this scene is uncomfortable and weird, because of effects like the blurred lights. 

What the audience might expect from this film is violence/murder ect.

From watching this and anaylising it i have learnt that the use of lighting and lighting effects such as blurring in Thrillers can create moods and set atmospheres such as mystery. And that an eery sound-track can do the same thing.

Why are title sequences important? Taxi driver:

In this lesson we were asked to go on www.artofthetitle.com and watch the titles for Taxi driver. We were then asked to print screen the most important frames which were edited to the front of the title sequence clip. Mr. Barton the asked us to identify why titles were are important for this film.


These are the nine frames:

This is the original title sequence:

These titles are important because...

• They introduce the famous actors and the people working behind the scenes of the film. Like the producer ect.
• They entice the audience and set their expectations and mood.
• They give information about the story-line.
• The camera shots set an atmosphere (Close-ups give the impression of mysteriousness).
• The red filters symbolise the hidden meaning; danger, anger, blood, murder ect.
• The distorted city images shows how the character feels about the city. It tells the audience that the character has a negative view on the city.
• The taxi coming out of the sewer smoke may symbolise that the character is like the rats that live in the sewers, invisible to the city people.
• The red lights on the streets symbolise prostitution, showing that he has to roam these dirty, dingy, immoral streets. Which may have caused anger, frustration and temptation to kill.

In this lesson I have learnt that in order to analyze a sequence you need to look for...

Meaning: Look at whether a certain shot contains symbolism. Like red meaning anger.

Location: Where is the story set? This is important at Thrillers use certain locations (Isolated/city's).

Lighting: Look at the lighting and decided whether it is being used to create an atmosphere/mood.

Costume: Look at the costume and decide whether it is relevant to the film (Police will wear uniform ect).

Hidden messages: Is there any little clue or symbolism which will give information towards the story-line.

Details: What has happening, what does that lead the audience to believe will happen next, are the audience left guessing.

Facial expressions: Do the facial expressions of the actors suggest the mood of what is happening/ their feelings.

Music: What does the sound track do the the atmosphere/mood. Does it fit in with the genre and theme of the film.

I also learnt that the difference between the titles and the end credits is that the titles are there to introduce the important actors, the high profile actors and the direct ect and are there to give the audience information and incite as to what will be expected from the story line. 

Thriller opening deadlines:

In this lesson Mr.Barton introduced us to what fact that we will be making a Thriller opening.
He made it very clear that dealing must be met.
I learnt that our Thrillers must be:

• Our own idea's.
• A location that we have though about. He advised us that school would not be a great place to film as it will look unprofessional.
• We should find our own actors, or actin it our selves yet that does not boost your overall grade in media.
• That we should have a website to house all of our research and planning.
• And that we should have a detailed evaluation of our final piece. 
• We will be working in groups of either 3 or 4 people.

Entire project. deadline: March/April 2012.

The deadline for our research and planning is 16th December 2011.

The deadline for filming is: February 2012

Camera Shots Types:

In this lesson we looked at the different camera shots. I learnt a great deal on the different shots, I know that you have to take into consideration exactly how much you are allowed to film in each shot for example, in a Mid-shot you are only allowed to shoot the character from above the head to the knees.
This is what i learnt, i have provided examples of each shot also (all photo's where found when typing in the shot name on www.google.com)...


Extreme Close-up (ECU):
An extreme close-up is a zoomed shot to show one element or feature. They can be used to create to unfold a mystery for example when a detective finds an important clue. They can also be used to make the audience uncomfortable for example they can be used in a horror to portray emotions as a character is screaming. Extreme Close-ups are used in the opening of Seven in order to create a mood for the audience which is uncomfortable and also to give the audience information as to what will happen in the film.

Close Up (CU):
A close-up is used to reveal important information, for example you could have a close up of a knife because a character kills another character this will indicate to the audience what is about to happen and create tension. A close-up will show the head of an actor, they sometimes show the neck/shoulders as well. They are commonly used in Thrillers. A close-up is used in Seven to show that the detective is mortified about the fact that his wife was murdered. This will maybe make the audience emotional as you can see what the character is going through in great detail.

Mid Close Up (Mid CU)
This shot is also referred to as the ''Head and shoulders shot''. This is because in a mid close up you will see the actors head and shoulders. These shot shows enough detail to be able to see the actors lips move and the expression/emotion portrayed. This shot is commonly used in news reading.

Mid shot (MS):

The mid-shot is also known as a ''torso'' shot as it shows most of the torso, in this shot you will see the actor from above the head to above the knee. This shot is often used to show detail of a character's expressions as well as giving details about what they are doing. This shot is used in Orphan to show that the mother is pouring wine down the sink instead of drinking it. This is important to the story-line as later on she is accused of drinking the wine. Mid shots are important to horror and thriller films in order to give the audience information.

Long Shot (LS):
The long shot is also known as the ''Wide shot''. In the long shot we see an actor from above their heads to ground. Long shots are broadly used within most film genre's.

Establishing Shot (ES):
This shot shows an actor from above the head to the ground. It is used to show the audience the relationship elements in the scene like actors ect and the location. There are establishing shots in Flight Plan to show that the little girl is stuck where the mechanical parts of the plan are and that she is not meant to be there. Establishing shots are broadly uses within most film genre's.

Two shot (TS):

Two shots are used to show the relationship between two characters. They are often used to show the start of a conversation. They are used when the interaction between two characters is important. They are usually followed by other shots like over the shoulder shots when one person is speaking then it changes when the other is speaking. They are used in thrillers as well as in most genre's of films. An example of Two shot in a Thriller would be in Seven when the detectives wife is talking to detective summers. This is important because we find out that she is pregnant and does not know wether to keep the baby or not.

.

Over the Shoulder Shot (OSS): 

The over the shoulder shot is used to focus on one actor as seen from over the shoulder of another actor. It shows the view from the actor who's shoulder we can see. This creates a slight form of audience interaction as the audience is able to see what the 2nd actor can see. The usual over the shoulder shot shows a close-up of the 1st actor. They are commonly used when characters are having a conversation as one actor speaks we see the shoulder of the listening actor and vice-versa. These shots are used in Thrillers often as well as many other genre's. 

In this lesson I also learnt that there are two important rules to remember when shooting with a camera...

That we should always position the camera so that the actor is cut of between joints, we should never cut the shot at the actors knee's elbows or waist.

And that we should also always move the camera or change angle when going from shooting one shot to another otherwise there will be a ''jump cut'' which confuses, disorientates and detracts that audiences attention and also does not look very professional. 

Typical Thriller conventions:

In this lesson we learnt the typical thriller we were taught the typically thriller conventions. Sir asked us to think about the what is commonly found in a thriller. He asked us to do some research the internet by watching clips from youtube from popular thrillers. he asked us to look for the...

Visual elements: What camera shots are used? What effects are used? ect.

Story/character: What characters are used? what story-lines are typically used? ect.

Examples: Names of some thrillers? What sub-genre's are there?

Mood/Atmosphere: What mood will the audience feel from what they are watching? What atmosphere is set? ect.

We were then asked to produce a Mind-map from the website ''www.bubbl.us''. We produced these in groups of two. I worked with Ashleigh.

In this lesson I learnt that in order to make a thriller you have to take into consideration that the audience need to feel a certain way. For example Thrillers typically leave an audience guessing as to what is going to happen through out, this is achieved by creating mystery which can me acopmlished by using unseen characters (A dark characters, you may not see there face until the end when the plot has thickened) To ensure there face is unseen you can use Close-ups of hands ect. A dark lighting can also create an mysterious and eary atmosphere. 

I also learnt that typically thrillers use Police, because of the action which commonly takes place in thrillers in order to entice the target audience (adult males). 

I learnt that the work ''Sub-genre'' means to have a genre within a genre. For example an overall genre is Thriller but there are sub-genre's due to different elements within the films which make them different. For example a crime-thriller has elements of criminal activity where as an action-thriller focuses on action like explosions ect.

Here is the mind-map:

I also learnt that Mise-en-scene means ''what is in the scene'' like costume, location, props ect. And that the audience expectation of a thriller is to be kept guessing. 

First Lesson: What i have learnt.

In the first lesson we were introduced to the subject of Media. The subject is completely new to some of us, including me but some have done Media Studies at GCSE level.
We watched the advert/opening titles for Dexter. We were asked how we knew it was a thriller/horror. We pointed out that there is a lot of emphasis on blood and the colour red.


We then had a discussions and sir encouraged  us to look at every detail and think out side the box. About the symbolism and hidden meanings.


In this lesson I have learnt that in a thriller you can take something normal, like the morning ritual in dexter and dramatise it in a way that will lead the audience to think that bad things are going to happen. For example; in Dexter there are close ups of meet being chopped which can symbolise knives which are danger and murder. The audiences may feel the emotion of danger.


I learnt that in motion picture red symbolises danger and blood is a reference to violence.
I also learnt that classical music is often used in a thriller films.


Sir also asked us to bare in mind that there are fine lines between thriller and horror. For instance Thrillers commonly used classical music where as Horrors usually use rock music, also that Thrillers are filmed in
isolated locations yet not in the woods as that is more or a horror convention.


I learnt that a Close-up (CU) is when the camera is zoomed and focusing on one element, to reveal detail to the audience. It is a Close-up when you are just shooting the head and shoulders of a person.They are commonly used in Horrors.
An Extreme Close-up (ECU) is when a camera is zoomed even further to capture on element, in great detail often used for dramatic efffect, they can make the audience feel uncomfortable in some situations, they are commonly used in Horrors. An example of an Extreme-Close Up is when the camera focuses on Dexter's eye.


Here are some examples:




Close-up:

Extreme Close-up:

Here is the Dexter clip that we looked at in class: