Sound track

Sound track first attempt evaluation

Our creation revolved around a piano which we thought was mysterious and could carry the narrative on as it changes in style throughout the piece. This was accompanied by a deep bass and fast beat to create suspense and add a sense of fear and pace to the track as it rushes the mysterious piano part. This is a hybrid as an orchestral emotional post 1700's style of piano mixes with a 20th century bass and beat system. 

We got our inspiration for the drum beat and bass from the band disturbed as they have many songs with this style of music. It contrasts with the soft emotional piano we chose which created the effect needed for the psychological thriller genre. 

Music Ideas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg57C0DzDk0

We liked this piece of music because it created a sense of mystery which is what we are looking for. It also confuses the viewer of what their emotions are, a mix between sadness and vulnerable. We want empathetic sounds with a strong beat and mysterious undertone. We would like the sound effects of clocks and a gun shot.

Antagonists and Protagonists

Protagonist


Dr Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is portrayed as the protagonist in the film 'The Sixth Sense'. He is a child psychologist living in Philadelphia and is an unlikely protagonist in this psychological thriller. His weakness is shown at the very start yet the audience are unaware of this at first. He is shot by a crazy man yet we see him in the next clip perfectly fine. It is later revealed that Malcolm is in fact dead and the nine year old boy he's been talking to and working with, Cole Sear ( Haley Joel Osment) able to communicate with the dead. 



Crowe is a confident man who isn't afraid of what others may seem to be obscure, frightening or delusional. For example upon being confronted with the mad man in his room he acts calm towards the man in order to maintain himself. This backfires on Crowe and he his shot. Soon after the mad man kills himself. This is where we see his first weakness. Before this scene we have seen him looking at an award for outstanding work with children and to suddenly see our hero fall is a shock to the audience. We intend to do this in our own piece but slightly more subtle by using the chicken as our fallen hero in a metaphorical way. 


Antagonist


Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) is a thief who specializes in conning secret out of people's dreams. Cobb is the protagonist in this film, but however his subconscious wife is the antagonist. When in a dream the dreamers subconscious is shown by normal people walking around doing normal things, but when something is changed in the dream by someone else intruding, the subconscious realise this and try to remove the person infiltrating the dream. His wife, in this case, ruins plots which they set out to do by knowing what he is going to do and runining plans. 





At the start we shown Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe) hiding a secret while Dom Cobb infiltrate his dream. They nearly discover this secret although Cobbs wife, Mallorie "Mal" Cobb (Marion Cotillard) understands what he is thinking and wants to ruin their plan so they wake up. At the end she kills Robert Michael Fischer (Cillian Murphy) the heir to the business and almost ruining the mission which Cobb and his team are trying to plant a thought in his mind. 

Salt Poster

The image is a picture of Angelina Jolie, who is center of he poster taken at a close up,this makes that  audience aware she is one of the main character in the film. The dark background also gives the audience the impression that the film is going to be a dark film.  Her eyes are set to the audience, this gets them involved with tension.

Test Footage

Pre-Meditated Film Opening Sequences

Analysis of past students work 2

The opening we watched was from group S1-21. The material used in the shots of the opening were highlighted clearly to symbolise power between the protagonist and antagonist. For example the girl trips and falls in the woods whilst the antagonist is in pursuit of her. A high angle is used to demonstrate that the protagonist has a weakness that is being exploited for the viewer. The theme of isolation was also highlighted in the opening. A shot of the girl sitting in the corridor alone showed her state at the moment. We are thus able to sympathise with her. 

Powerful editing is used in the form of changing the colours of the scene to create a sense of suspense and anxiety to the viewer as the audience does not know what is happening. It also shows the weak personality of the protagonist as she is falling apart. The shot transactions were short and abrupt and created a flash and showed mystery and a sense of urgency and emphasised that she was falling apart again. However, to improve the sound did not match the genre as it did not match the pace in which the narrative was moving. 

Analysis of past students work

We looked at group Q1-10's thriller project in which we analysed the use of thriller conventions. One of which we thought was successful was the use of an array of cinematography such as high angles and close ups as these showed the protagonist and antagonist differences instantly. The close up was used at the end to show the fear in the eyes of the protagonist as a gun was pointing in her face, while a high angle was used when the protagonist picked the gun out of her bag to show her weakness and having to resort to using the prop. The group shot material appropriate to the thriller genre as the audience could differentiate between the protagonist and the antagonist. This could also be seen in the use of filming the tap running as this created a sense of suspense. 


The mise-en-scene was used well as the lighting was dark throughout which made the audience wonder what the protagonist was doing. The use of the gun props reinforced the genre as guns are more associated with thrillers while other weapons such as an axe are associated with horrors. The use of the lipstick introduced the audience to the protagonists personality as she needs to look good and so this could be seen as a weakness/Achilles heel.  The sound used was incorporated by being a background sound and moved the narrative along. 


However to improve, the titles could have been more mysterious as they were at a basic level and did not fit with the atmosphere. 

Marking Criteria

Marking Criteria - Video is marked out of 60.


Level 1 - up to 23 marks


Level 2 - 24 to 35 marks - Basic


Level 3 - 36 to 47 marks - Proficient 


Level 4 - 48 to 60 marks - Excellence 

• Holding a shot steady when appropriate.
• Framing a shot including and excluding elements. 
• Using a variety of shot distances.
• Shooting material appropriate to the topic.
• Selecting Mise-en-scene
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using shot transactions and effect
• Using sound with images
• Using titles appropriately  

Crime thriller conventions

In a crime thriller, there is an immediate introduction to the crime so that the audience is interested in what is about to occur in the film. The crime then becomes more disturbing through out the film and there may even be more than one crime committed. Silence is used to keep the narrative moving by creating suspense and mystery. The setting is realistic and relatable so that the audience can feel for characters if they are in danger or envy characters if they are free riding. The setting also reflects the lifestyle of the protagonist as in a city there is a fast pace to coincide with the occurrences, while in a quiet village the pace may be slower. 


The protagonist is seeking answers as the crime committed may connect with the past of the protagonist. Also the protagonist appears normal but may have a dark secret or may appear intelligent. The stereotypes are very potent in the opening, especially women as they are seen cooking and cleaning and being eye candy for the males of the film. The settings are typical for a crime thriller as they are not typical places for thrillers to happen. The dark lighting is used in these places to create atmosphere. 

Taken - Action Thriller Opening Analysis

In the action thriller 'Taken' starring Liam Neeson, we follow the story of an over protective father allowing his daughter to travel Europe in pursuit of a rock band. One convention we found in the opening of the film that falls under the category of the sub-genre is that the linear sequence moves at a subconscious fast pace that most viewers fail to notice. The effect being that the audience gains a larger perspective on the protagonists life. 

Through this we see another convention known as the Achilles heel. We see the father figure being over protective of his daughter, whilst not realizing the significance of his mistakes he made in the past, thus having a lasting impact on his ex-wife and daughter. The protagonist is also portrayed as isolated and cut off from society. This can be seen through the limited knowledge he has on modern singers, trends and even his daughters own interests. All these factors contribute to make an effective protagonist we can all believe in. Summarising another convention that the characters have to be believable and imperfect. 

The opening also introduces us to conflicting stereotypes. We are firstly shown the protagonist with other men having a 'lads night out'. They all speak co-existtant with their stereotype, whilst the mise-en-scene influences their simple characters. The props in the scene show this with the use of beer bottles, a BBQ and cigarettes. The body language also contributes with the characters lounging around on chairs. Further into the opening we are introduced to a new stereotype, the pop star Shareeh. The glamourous life of the celebrity conflicts with the practicality of the bodyguard lifestyle. The scene where both stereotypes begin to contrast is when the pop star is greeting her manic fans, however the bodyguard protagonist insists she keep moving and get inside. Shareeh resists this and the bodyguards become more frustrated with her.   

Seven Opening Sequence.

Opening Sequence of Seven - David Finche.


In the opening sequence of Seven many of the conventions match the conventions of a Thriller opening sequence. One of these is that the narrative is around solving a crime. The audience only sees the crime scene and not the actual murder which performs to the convention of a Thriller.


Also in the opening sequence there is sinister music which builds suspense. Also during the opening sequence the titles are creative and don't perform to normal titles; the fonts look handwritten and messy which also contributes to the Thriller convention because it adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the film.


Another way which Seven follows the typical Thriller conventions is that there is a villain who performs a crime, although the audience does not see the actual villain, we know there is one because there is a crime committed.


Finally the lead character is a detective (Morgan Freeman), which is an attribute which a Thriller film has. He is also isolated, asking questions which the police officers or the other detectives don't worry about, for example, "Did the child see the murder?". Then the officers ignore this and only care about how to do it simple. The weather is gloomy and very rainy, which adds to the mystery of the film. The film is set in a city, which we can tell because of the typical city noises, for example police sirens and the rain.

Thriller Opening Conventions

• Mystery 
• Suspense
• Parallel editing/Montage
• Clips/images hinting elements of the story 
• Slow paced editing
• Obscure camera angles and movements
• Asking questions but not answering them.
• Objectification of females
• Voyeurism - Watching something without people knowing

Preliminary Task

 

• For this task it went really well, However we had to re-film the task as, we accidentally for got about the 180 degree rule, and only noticed that we did something wrong when it came to watching the video and editing. So we decided to re-film the project, and the second time it came out right, and we were pleased with it. 
• It then came to the editing and we felt as is the project didn't need much done to it, so we left the project the way it was with simple cuts. 
• And then edited the the bits out of the film that we did not need.