EVALUATION

If you click on the title of this post, you will be taken to my evaluation.

Actual Task Log: Story Boards

Here is the storyboards we produced for our production:

Actual Task Log: Mise en scène, including props and costume

Costume:
Jake being the only character left costume choice to be quite simple and easy. For Jakes' costume, we put him in a suit: a hardworking business man. We thought our audience could relate to this well, be it sixth-former or young person in work. He will be carrying a briefcase to add to the costume.
For the field shots, Jake will be in average clothes, looking quite ordinary. A plain T and some tracksuit bottoms, possibly with a jacket.

Props:
The probs we will need for our opening will be quite simple as there are not many.
We need a briefcase for Jake to show that Jake is quite significant and has an important job. We will also need a dog lead to use with the dog and sunglasses to show that Jake is a laidback, cool kind of character. Other than this there are no more probs, except the dog.

Mise-en-scène:
In the street scenes there will be cars and buildings something we cannot change but will still add to the effect of an everyday lifestyle. All the lighting throughout the production will be natural and not at all artificial.
In the field scenes there will be trees and bushes ect, again something we cannot change but something that will add to the effect.

Actual Task Log: Target Audience

For our target audience we wanted to target the age group from 15 through to people in their 20's. We chose to keep this so we could appeal to our own age range and the maturer viewer.
We thought we could use our own experiences to influence the making of our production.
Because we wanted to stick to our own age range we want to rate our production as a 15, which we felt was appropriate as there is no sexual scenes and no swearing. Also, there is no violence although the movie is based around the events and repercussions of a murder enquiry

We also thought that our production should appeal to a wider range of social groups and steriotypes, which meant our character had to be easy to relate to. This is why we chose a young man, with and average lifestyle.

We used students our own age with the questionaire on the titles list and we will be presenting our production to students in our target age group.

Actual Task Log: Script

Our script has no dialogue, as we wanted to build tension with just the music, but we still needed a script for stage direction and instructions for the camera. Script is as follows:

Shot 1:
We have a MCU zooming into CU from behind our character Jake who is casually walking through town on the way to work.

Shot 2:
A black background with the title of our thriller film appearing on the screen in a creepy looking font.

Shot 3:
Close up shot of Jake's feet walking through town, at a normal pace.

Shot 4:
Black background with the production name appearing.

Shot 5:
Zoom in shot from MCU to ECU of jake tightly gripping onto his work brief case whilst walking through the town.

Shot 6:
Black background with Name of the directors, editors, music composers and who the story is by.

Shot 7:
MLS of jake walking through town to work still casually with a blank face.

Shot 8:
Black background with the names of the actors featuring in the film.

Shot 9:
MCU zooming into CU whilst character Jake is walking towards the camera, still at a casual pace and blank expressing on his face.

Shot 10:
Dissolve shot to MS from jakes flash back of him walking his dog along the outside of a field, shot from behind at the side, quite content.

Shot 11:
MLS of Jake walking with the dog from infront at an angle, (demonstrating 180 rule)

Shot 12:
MLS when Jake stands and lets his dog of the lead and we see the dog go behind the tree.

Shot 13:
MCU of Jakes face when he pulls the dog away from the hole.

Shot 14:
ECU shot of Jakes eyes in shock when he snaps back to reality after he remembers the event.

Actual Task Log: Characters and Actors

In the opening to our thriller, we have chosen to have only one character.
Jake is the main character throughout the plot, and in our opening he is the only character the audience is introduced to.

Jake is a selfless, kind person who seems to be the funny one of the group. He enjoys friendship and works hard on things he is passionate about.

We have asked a friend of ours to play the character of Jake. Sebastein Wilson-Larman will play Jake and we thought he would fit the role as he is similar to the personality of the character. He also has acting experience, which we thought would give our production a more professional feel.

Actual Task Log: Setting

We didn't want to set our production in a generic place; dark, eerie, mysterious place.We also wanted to stay away from influences like the Blair Witch Project and Saw films (even though they are not thrillers). We also thought about how we could use the setting to get some intresting shots and take advantage of the items directly in front of us.

We decided that for our thriller opening that maybe going against the traditional conventions of thrillers to create a different suspense may enhance our production. We decided to film in Hitchin Town Centre during the day for a realistic setting and natural lighting. We also thought this would provoke the audience to think what may happen next or why the film begins here. We filmed when the weather was not very nice. We wanted to relate the way our character was feeling with the idea of him working all being very unhappy and dull: he is feeling miserable and the weather emphises this. We hoped our actor could bring this horrible feel to the scene which I think he brought well. We didn't just film in Hitchin for natural lighting and an ‘everyday feel’ but we knew the streets would be busy, which added to the realism we wanted to create, similar to the "Ipcress File".

We then decided for the flashback scenes to film in a field, because it is an unusual place to film a thriller, though that said a thriller could be filmed anywhere. We thought that it would create an unusual, interesting start and would deffinately be a intresting setting because of its normallity. One of the reasons we chose to film in a field was because we discussed that anything can be found in a field and there are all sorts of items, creatures and artifacts. This tied in great with our storyline of a man finding a finger which lead to his life changing. We also would benefit from the natural lighting in the field, another reason for choosing this as our setting.

Actual Task Log: Title Ideas

1) Lonely Autopsey - We took the idea of an autopsey and took our setting in to consideration. The idea of the autopsey starting in a lonely place - a field.

2) Seeing With Your Own Eyes - This came from the latin for 'autopsey' which is 'autopsia' meaning to see with your own eyes. We thought this would be a good title as the story begins when our character 'sees with his own eyes'.

3)Dismemberment - The idea of being taken to peices and spread out fits with the body part being in the field. This is a grewsome title but we thought it would fit the storyline.

4) Peaceful Dismemberment - The oxymornon of a 'peaceful' 'dismemberment' we thought would give a weird feeling about the film.

Target Audience Research:
We sent a list of these titles around two media groups at school and asked students our own age to pick their favourite. The title with the highest amount of students was Lonely Autopsey. The second highest was Dismemberment and we found a lot asked what the meaning of it was. We were happy with their choice and stuck with Lonely Autopsey.

Actual Task Log: Plot

The plot for our thriller film is based on how a mans life is turned upside down when he finds a body part in a field whilst walking his dog. This leads to a big investigation, when his life is messed up by the killer. Shortly after finding the body part he begins to receive notes from someone. Our storyline follows him through the investigation, his life before and his life after.

Actual Task Log: Planning

To successfully create our production we needed to plan out what aspects of filming we needed to individually plan.
We needed:

• A Story line/plot - including characters
• Script
• Actors
• Careful planning of location and setting
• Title ideas - to then be narrowed down to one
• Storyboard - in colour with camera shots, any dialogue, props, and a clear explination of the action occouring
• Clear planning of use of sound effects and dialogue

PREVIOUS ORIGINAL PRODUCTION

Originally we started in a group of 4. Neil, Charly, Yasmin and myself. We later split in two: Charly and Neil, Yasmin and myself.
We conducted all the necessary planning and filmed the footage for our production.
We experienced many difficulties both between the groups combined effort and with the technical aspect.
The footage we originally filmed was too dark and came out grainy because of this. Yasmin and myself took from this and made sure we had sufficient lighting, hence the decision to film in daylight. We also chose a quite remote location originally,so Yasmin and myself found that an easy to reach location would be a lot easier for re shooting any footage that didn't come out how we wanted it to.
We also found that with members of the original group participating in the acting we could not evenly spread the contribution of work with regards to filming and editing. Yasmin and myself decided for our production that we would take turns in filming and editing, and that we would listen to each others idea to bring together what we believe is a better production. We found because of our improved communication we found it quicker, simpler and easier to plan, conduct our filming and edit our work.
Within the original group it was sometimes hard to take into consideration everyone suggestions and allow fair contribution with using the filming equipment.
As a result when we split, Yasmin and myself assessed whether we could use the original footage filmed as the larger group but found that because we had not used the camera, and had acted and controlled lighting, we could not submit the footage as our own. We both also wanted a higher quality level of footage. We took this as an advantage to come up with and produce a better production we could say was 100% ours.
I think the group splitting was a valuable experience because both me and Yasmin found that communication, patience and consideration were important personal attributes we needed to successfully create a media product. It also gave us more Independence when it came to using the media equipment which was valuable in the sense that we both learnt how to use a camera and how to edit. I think that this helped us because we helped each other.

We took from this experience positive advice and conducted our own in a similar way, for instance using a focus group (our class) to evaluate the Title choices.

Significant Developments within the Thriller Genre: The introduction of CGI

CGI is Computer Generated Imagery.

It is a development commonly used with films where by computer generated animations and images are added to film footage to enhance the film. CGI was first used in 1973 in a film called Westworld - a sci-fi film about robots and humans mixing which was directed by Michael Crichton.

This series of images shows the creation of one of the characters in Pirates Of The Carribean, where by CGI was heavily relied on.

CGI is usually used because computer generated imagery is a lot easier to control than other physical aspects such as in Walace and Gromit, where all the shots had individual plasticine models which were changed for each tiny movement. It is also used to create things that are not real, common in fantasy films.

Some films of the thriller genre that include CGI are Avatar, The Day After Tomorrow and The Butterfly Effect.

Analysis of Thriller Films: Jaws

Amity Island is an island with a popular beach, used by both tourists and local, near the 4th of July when the beaches are crowded with people, a great white shark decided to make the beach its own private feeding ground. The shark won't go unless it's killed, and as a danger to the people, the Chief, hires a shark expert and a captain. They set of to sea in search of the shark so they can kill it.

Beginning with the opening sequence of "JAWS" it starts with the production name and the main actors name in white writing. This white writing is set against a black background, I think to symbolise innocence in the actors character, in contrasts with the danger he will face.
"JAWS" is then followed on by an underwater scene zooming in at coral reefs in close up shots and the title "JAWS" appears in capital letters in white. Throughout the underwater scene, eerie music plays which immediately builds a sense of caution and the tense enigma begins. It then cuts to a group of young adults drinking round a bomb fire with someone. The camera pans across showing all the people who are at this bonfire party, which helps the tense atmosphere relax, but at the same time increase; all because with the combination of music and this relaxed scene, the enigma built already makes the audience aware something is going to happen.
It then cuts to a shot of the group of people round the bonfire. The lighting is special here, as the moon reflects of the ocean and the bonfire lights up the faces. The reflection of the moon on the water, having been focused on, brings the viewer to be aware of the water: it almost gives the water a personality by hinting of the fact that it can be dangerous.
This is followed by a quick edit from one shot of teenagers running along the beach to go skinny-dipping to a shot of the boy falling down the bank of the beach as the sun begins to rise. At this point the diagetic sound effects begin. We hear the sound of a buoy out at sea banging or tapping against something. There is a quick cut to the girl diving into the sea in a long shot. At this point the audience is aware that something could be in the water, or not, and that something may happen, or not. The enigma builds this state of worry for the girl from the audience.
The camera then follows the girl beneath her under the water as she swims. What will happen to her, and when? A huge amount of tension is build from these few shots and how they are edited together. As the girl swims the eerie suspense building music starts again. The shot successful creates fear when combined with the music.
It then cuts to the girl shaking water off her face as she resurfaces from the water. Followed by a quick shot zooming in on the girls body from beneath, the tension is now increasingly high. This creates a ‘seat grabbing’ atmosphere, where danger and anxiety take hold of the viewer.
The next shot begins with the girl ‘bobbing’ under the water, which she is obviously surprised by, which causes her to panic. The audience believes something bad is going to happen due to the suspenseful build up previous to it. She then gets dragged around in the water, which the audience knows is something she is not doing herself, which is cut to a close up of the same shot. She is panicking, the audience is panicking and the suspense grows and the enigma unfolds. Does she survive?
A complete contrast in shots: the panic is followed by a somewhat peaceful shot of the boy lying on the beach. He is oblivious to the danger out at sea and has no idea of the girl’s trauma. The tension caused here is immense. The audience knows what is happening; yet the boy is unaware of the girl and the girl has no idea where the boy is. The director has cleverly placed the audience within the story giving them a sense of urgency to try and do something.
The gripping fear is then dropped for a moment as the girl grabs the buoy at sea. For a split second the girl, and audience, believes she may be ok. The tension and fear is then rebuilt when she is dragged and pulled under.
These shots create a mystery. The audience is shocked and the story continues. The enigma built by this is what urges the audience to keep watching. To finish this tension building sequence, a quiet, peaceful, but eerie, shot of the buoy clinking in the water, joined with silence as the sun starts to rise. A graphic match of the sea fades to morning in a different part of the ocean.

Further in the film the opening event is brought about. "SHARK ATTACK" is written by the town’s chief. The two words are emphasised as such to create a feeling of shock. The audience feels fear for the whole of Amity Island.
Then there is a shot of a dog swimming in the sea with a stick in its mouth. The audience straight away is fearful for the dog. The water creates a sense of danger, like it can take anyone or anything, which scares the audience. Again a contrasting shot is used. Happy families spread across the beach relaxes the audience just a small amount, despite knowing that something is likely to happen to the dog.
A close up of the stick floating in the water follows. The stick is a symbol of danger: a warning to the audience and characters. The sound of the owner calling for its dog echoes the danger in a disturbed manner. The simple but effective use of the stick is as a symbol for danger, also making the audience cringe because they know the relation of the water and its victims. At this point the audience knows that the dog won’t come back, which build empathy with the owner. The eerie music heard in the beginning is a signifier for the shark. You may not be able to see the shark but when the music begins to play, you know the shark is around.
This is introduced again with a zoom from long shot to extreme close up of the little boy’s legs. He is paddling in the sea. This purely innocent imagery is transformed into quite a deceiving picture. The music alerts the audience to the shark, danger and events to follow.
A shot of the lilo confirms the audience’s thoughts, with teeth marks and blood dripping from the edges, the boy is gone. The blood acts as another signifier for the shark, bringing danger and death to anyone who crosses it.
We then see the Chief running to an area of the sea where his son was in an orange boat, where the shark was heading. A panning of the camera, following the chief as he runs building the sense of panic and shock the chief will could soon feel, cuts to a long shot of where the sharks fin dips under the water. This builds the powerful tension, as unlike before the audience is also unaware of what will happen next.
It then cuts to a shot of the son in his very small orange boat. A shot of the son in his small as the great white shark jumps up from behind somewhat emphasises the size of the boat and creates a sense of vulnerability.
The suspense grows: death and struggle in inevitable and the audience knows this. The action sequence gets the audiences’ adrenalin pumping, helping the tension become even greater. It then cuts to a bird’s eye view of the chief’s son in the water next to his little orange boat. A shadow of the shark comes up towards the mans legs, jaws wide open. Struggle, pain and fear are injected into the audience. A quick edit shows the other boys, in water, frightened and in state of shock. Another quick edit takes us back to the man being dragged under the water. The next shot is his leg; trailing slowly to the ocean floor, blood streaming out. The simplicity of this shot, in a disturbing way, ensures that the audience believe they are beneath the shark’s authority. The blood spreading in the water implies that the sharks ‘fun and games’ can only result in death and pain. We then hear the creepy music come in and fade out over a shot of people shouting from the shoreline for their children: the music is emphasised at first but then begins to fade to eventually disappear when the shark has.

Towards the end of Jaws once they have reined the shark in, there is close up shot of the captain’s face. We see the Chief and the shark expert in the background.
After having just seen the shark expert in the background the audience is brought into a shocking realism that he could have been killed: there is a shot of the cage he was put in being ripped apart by the shark. This helps the audience understand the character showing that he is a willing person, kind and giving. Because the shark is aggressively attacking the metal cage, the audience is intimidated and feels that the violent creature is obviously angry. The audience is desperate for the men to survive but they don’t know if they will. Desperation and hopefulness for the men fill the audience as the men struggle aboard their sinking ship. After the shark has jumped up onto the boat causing it to start sinking, which gets the audience excited and scared with adrenalin, the feeling of isolation, fear and death sets in. The shots and how they have been edited help build an increasing hope for the characters, and the tension becomes overwhelming.
One of the characters becomes a victim of the shark: the captain is still alive within the shark’s mouth, screaming in pain. His facial expressions emphases the horror and fear he has. Despite being a gruesome scene the audience is compelled to watch it because they want to know what happens. Who is left on board once the captain is gone? The tension built once the captain is gone is somewhat over powering. The audience know that someone is left on board or else this surely would have been the end. The chief is left, and because he is now alone, the audience’s desperation for him almost screams out. They want him to be ok, but they don’t know if he will be.
We then see the chief shove a tank of compressed air into the sharks mouth, with the water swimming around him, after the shark pushes it’s head into the hull of the boat.
The close up shot here really helps the audience react to the footage. It was not expected which is why the tension and feeling of near-death sets in. Slightly less shocking shot follows, with the boat slowly sinking. Inevitable death hits the audience. The shark then returns to what is left of the boat, and the eerie music returns with it. Building up the tension with the music, danger and worry is apparent. There is a medium long shot of the boats sail post at an almost horizontal angle, which creeps towards the water with the chief perched on the end. The steady but shocking pace at which the post lowers gets the audience panicking for the chief. Will he end up in the water or will he find a way of getting out. The idea of being in the water with shark allows even higher levels of tension to build. You see the rifle the chief is holding: this prop exaggerates the defencelessness of the chief. What is a rifle in comparison to the jaws of a great white? The audience just hopes that the chief will be able to defend himself against the shark. He shoots and the gunshot echoes the vulnerability of the chief. He shoots again, and the echo recurs. The audience is now thinking will he run out of bullets. Panic and tension builds up because the audience is so aware of this vulnerability. A quick close up of the sharks mouth with the tank in it, is followed by a quick cut to a shot of the shark blowing up out the water. The explosion relieves the audience and the tension disappears. It the end there is a finishing shot of the chief and the shark expert paddling on a bit of wood alone. The sense of security is apparent because the danger is gone.

ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS
The setting of Jaws is important throughout the film. The idea of being stuck out at sea, chased by a great white shark, needs an appropriate starting point. I think the island was a great place to set the film because a sense of tranquillity and safety comes across. The tension in the opening is that much more because the island is supposed to be a safe, relaxing, stress free place, which is where many were met with the worry and tension of the storyline.
The scenes out at sea obviously had to be set in water because of the nature of the story but the whole idea of being stuck in the middle of no-where helps to build tension levels throughout. Also the water creates a sense of not knowing: something from behind, beneath, above or any side of you could come. This, I think, emphasises the fear and vulnerability with the characters.

The props I saw to play quite an important part in the film were:
- The captains boat and all accessories: ropes, boxes ect.
- Guns
- A fake dead shark at the beginning of the film
- Fake dead bodies
- The shark experts’ equipment
- Other fishing boats, and small boats
- All the beach accessories: lilo, towels and toys.

Costume:
The chief was usually dressed in uniform or in smart casual clothing to match his character in the film. His character had an important role in society and his costume was to reflect this.
The shark expert was dressed casually and sophisticated to help show his wealth, and it implies the fact that he was probably well educated because of his area of expertise.
The Captains dress was ‘rough around the edges’, comfortable yet still practical. His captain hat let everyone know where he stands socially and represents that being a captain is of importance to himself. It also represents his lifetime experience on boats, almost a token for his work.

Analysis of Thriller openings: The Ipcress File

The Ipcress File was produced on 1965.

The opening sequence is very ordinary. It follows the main character through the beginning of his daily routine and we see how his character is introduced. Unlike the opening to Se7en, there is little music, and the first 45 seconds is silent except for the sound of the alarm clock.

The first shot we see is an extreme close up of the main characters face. This is the first shot, and how the directors have chosen to introduce the main character. We see his eye open, and as the shot pans out, we see the rest of his face. The lighting is gentle as he is sleeping, yet it still allows clear view of the characters face, highlighting his eye.

We then see the character jump up and this is followed by a blurry shot of the surrounding room. This is to indicate that the character needs glasses. Could this be relative later in the film? The character then puts on his glasses which takes us back to a moving shot of the room.

The first item i noticed was an empty bottle on the small table with two glasses either side. This leaves room for interpretation by the viewer. He woke with no one in the bed, but he was obviously in company the night before. We also see an armchair and piano as the shot moves across the room. This indicates that the characters personality is laid back, yet he has some motivation as he has taken the time to learn to play the piano. This is all, of course, assuming this is his home.

The music starts with the introduction of 'A Harry Saltzman Production'. which appears over a close up of the bottle and empty glasses. As the character moves the music follows.

We then see a shot of the character being very particular when making coffee or tea. He gets the things he needs and lines them up. This suggests that the characters personality is very precise and definite and he likes things to be neat and tidy. As the music gets more intense, the title and author of the novel (The Ipcress File is based on a novel written in 1962) appears over this shot.

A little later in the opening sequence we see the character sit and organise his coffee pot. Over the length of this moving shot we see 'screenplay by', 'music composed by', 'production designed by' and so on. I think this is an effective way of displaying all the credits and still keep the audiences' attention. The last credit we see is 'Directed by Sidney J. Furie.

The lighting within the shot, throughout the credits, looks as natural as possible, which teamed with the shot of the character opening the curtains to a sunny skyline, works really well - especially to keep in sink with whats occurring within the shot.

The penultimate shot is again a moving shot of the character as we follow his from the pillows on the bed down to under the sheets. He is clearly looking for something but what? This leads to the final shot we see, which is a close up of a sliver bracelet. This suggests a female was there the night before, hence the two glasses. Who was she, and what relevance does she have for the character later in the film.

I think the music plays a big part in the opening, as i can see how some may find the sequence - without the music - boring. The way the music increases and get more tense as the opening sequence progresses builds the tension found in thriller openings. It leads to a mysterious end which build the enigma for the rest of the film.

Analysis of Thriller openings: A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange was released in 1971.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCFeMg26_wk (click the link to view the opening)
The opening of A Clockwork Orange builds high levels of tension through using very simplistic shots and camera movements. The first 44 seconds of the opening sequence is a series of blank screens, in red and blue, which alternate in colour displaying the production company 'Warner Bros', the screenwriters name, and the title. After these screenshots it goes directly to the characters face.

We see he is looking directly at the camera, unconventional in film making, but i think it emphasises his eyes and the expression on his face. With a simple black and white colour scheme his bright blue eyes stand out, and it feels as if he is watching you attentively.

The character has fake eyelashes on his right eye, leading us to assume he is something different, with respects to normality, or that the film is not based on 'traditional everyday' lifestyle and is something of the fantasy genre. As the character is the only thing in the shot, it draws your attention to focus on him. He has a smug expression on his face, and is wearing a hat and braces with a shirt. These combined could encourage the audience to think of him as a rebellious character. A smartly dressed man with a smug expression? Where could he be and whats caused this smug expression?

As the shot plays through, you notice his breathing is heavy, with his chest rising and falling.

As the shot begins to pan out, he raises a glass of, assuming it is, milk. A weird thing for someone smartly dressed to be drinking. Then we notice 3 other men sat next him. All dressed similarly, the costumes come across as almost clinical and restrictive because of the white trousers and shirts, braces and hats. It feels as though it is a uniform or necessity. This becomes more prominant when the introduction of the bright white lights enter the shot.

As the camera pans out, we see writing on the walls, and we see female dummies as a table. The layout of the props, the props themselves, and use of costumes all create a sense of weirdness, abnormality and makes it feel quite eerie. Where could they be? What does the writing on the wall mean and why is it there?

1 minute 43 seconds into the opening, the main character speaks. We hear a monologue from off screen of:
'There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.'
I think this monologue teamed with the movement of the camera create a serealism that compells the audience to watch more. What is the Korova milkbar? and why are they there.
The words Alex uses give him a sense of control and authority, and this all combined with the music builds even greater tension adding to the enigma.
After the last line 'This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.' the music has drums and symbols which almost 'bang' which i think is to create a feeling of curiousity and awareness of the 'ulta-violence' due to follow.

I think the most important component of this opening is the lighting. Throughout the lighting plays a big part in highlighting the setting, characters and props, and sets the atmosphere in a way which creates a chance for interpretation between the audience; it is as if the audience has been given the oppertunity to explore the lifestyle of the characters.

Analysis of Thriller openings: Se7en

Se7en was released in 1995.

The opening of Se7en is very intense. There are not so many conventional shots of characters or setting, but a montage of cleverly edited, quick shots which create an enigma straight away.

This is the opening shot of Se7en. We see a book from the side where the pages are open. The dark shadows in the background is a hand, which becomes clearer within the whole of the opening: this shadow creates an enigma immediately because the audience is wondering who does the had belong to. This with the book, which again the audience does not know about creates a wonderfully mysterious feel not only when first seen but as it is repeated throughout the beginning.

The delicate lighting used from behind the hand to create the silhouette teamed with the way the shadows of the pages emphasise the dimensions of the book and bring a feeling of significance to it. All of this in the first shot of the opening creates a wonderful sense of mystery and curiosity.

At the end of this shot 'New Line Cinema Presents' appears over the compressed pages of the book. This could be to ensure the audiences attention is on the pages of the book that haven't been open, which might have some relevance late in the film.
The font used is a 'cracked' style of font where all the letters are in upper case: the use of the 'cracked' style of font may suggest something is broken, or falling to pieces. The possibility of something breaking apart or separating comes across quite obviously from something as simple as this font choice. The text is in white, i think, to create contrast to the very soft, almost delicate colours in the shot. Its continuity throughout the opening and the way it shifts up and down builds yet more tension adding to the enigma.

The next shot i would like to talk about is about 16 seconds into the opening. We see a shot of fingers holding a blade of some kind.
An extreme close up is used here as we see the finger nails and skin. It looks like the blade is being used to take off skin or some texture covering the fingers.

The image is not directly clear and it creates a feeling of shock and unfamiliarity. The lighting is gentle, as in the first shot, where the shadows and forms within the shot are emphasised by the direction of light. Again there is a blurry background to maybe suggest the unknown. This adds to the already tense enigma of the opening.
The positioning of the fingers and blade joined with the blurry background almost coax the audience into using their imagination as to what could be there. The fingers and blade are positioned in the bottom two thirds of the shot, leaving the rest of the shot for shadows and movement which stimulates the audience, again building yet more suspense and adding to the enigma.
In this shot you can begin to see the director has very cleverly kept to a neutral colour scheme, something understated. I think these neutral colours create the sense of vunerablility because they hold connotations of older things, such as photos. Had he have used bright, bold colours (attention grabbing colours on their own) i think he would have lost the feeling of suspense which is built up heavily within the first 2 minutes - especially with the intricate shadow play and lighting used, which i think is heavily relied on.

The final shot within the opening two minute sequence of Se7en that i would like to analyse is about 1 minute 48 into the sequence.
This shot brings together previous shots: one of a pen writing across a page (close up), and one of fingers holding a needle (extreme close up) by meeting the props together within one shot.

As the opening progresses the images become clearer and in this shot, we see that the fingers are stitching the paper, which was written on, to something. You can clearly see the needle and the writing from the previous shots, and the fingers, but, there is still the tense feeling because the mystery of who is stitching it, why and what it is being stitched to still remains.

Again the lighting used is very soft but helps create a wonderfully harsh, yet intricate image: the paper is almost opaque, yet the light from behind finds its way through bringing the backside of writing to the image, and the light reflects of the fingernails and traces around the fingers, and we can see the white thread wrapping around the edges of the paper.

I also noticed that in comparison with the previous few shots this one is largely brighter, where as the previous shots have a darker, eerier, more sinister feel to them. Its almost as if the series of shots previous to this one are documenting the making of this shot. The contrast in brightness separated by a black screen with the co-executive producers, i feel provokes a sense of achievement within the audience. They can feel this sense of completion and finality the character feels as the shots show the story of how these things come together to create something obviously significant.

The sound throughout the opening plays a large part in building a tense, suspecting atmosphere. The steady beat and added sound effects create an unreal eerie feeling. The almost 'extra torestrial' sounds give the feel that someone or thing is around you or behind you. The opening credit music is a spliced sample of an uncredited remix of the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer". At the end of the opening sequence in the music we hear 'you get me closer to god'. Is this relevant to the film? or does it just happen to be the lyrics to the tense music which creates a great build up of unease.

Institutions producing thriller genre films

Warner Bros. is one of the most famous media institutions in todays media culture.
The corporate name hounors its founding brothers: Sam, Jack, Albert and Harry who began as exhibistioners, showing films in theatres all over opened their own theatre in 1903 in Pennsylvania. Then in 1904 the brothers founded the Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, based in Pittsburgh, in order to distribute films. The Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company then became Warner Brothers Pictures, known now as Warner Bros.
The original studio was built on a plot of land in 1926 and after the hit film 'The Jazz Singer' (1927), the studio was moved to the 110 acre Burbank lot, where it remains today.
A few thrillers that Warner Bros has produced are:

• Batman
• The Matrix
• Final Destination 1,2,3 and 4!

Universal Studios is another institution who produce thriller films.

A German man called Carl Laemmle founded Universal in 1912 and from this day until now, Universal has been one of the most famous, well known film production companies in America. Universal has produced many great thrillers such as:

• Jurassic Park 1, 2, 3
• Missing
• Drag Me To Hell!

Directors from the Thriller genres

Francis Ford Coppola
Famously know as the director of the Godfather trillogy.
The first film he directed was released in 1963 which was a feature film, Dementia 13.
This came about as he was filmmaker Roger Corman's assistant, working as the soundman and dialogue director, associate producer and eventually as the director which lead to him being involved with writing scripts and collaberating with many other writers and directors.
In many of Coppola's films he casts his own family members as characters, which is how he helped his newphew Nicolas Cage become a star. He also often includes the writers names in the title of his films, for example 'Mario Puzo's The Godfather'.
Another of his trademarks is that he quite often creates re-makes of his original films, like 'The Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now'.

Ronald Howard
Ronald Howard was the directot behind the religious thriller 'The Da Vinci Code' in 2006 which was based on the novel by Dan Brown.
Ronald Howard was a successful actor who after retiering began to direct films. A few of the films he has directed including The Da Vinci Code, are, Splash, Apollo 13, Backdraft and Cocoon.
One of Ronald Howards trademarks is that he likes to maintain a high sentimentality within his productions. This allows real emotion from the audience and genuinly moving scenes.

Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we had to put together a film which involved a character entering a room, sitting and holding a conversation. The techniques we had to use were match on action, shot reverse shot and to effectively use the 180 degree rule.

I was in a group with Yaz and Roxy.
Roxy was the camera man, and myself and Yaz were the actors.

What is Match on action?
Match on action is a cut which connects two different shots of the same action.
for example; girl opens door, which we see from behind, and then as she steps through the door we see her entering the room from the front view.

What is shot reverse shot?
Shot reverse shot is where we see, in this context, one person speaking and this cuts to another person who returns the conversation, which then leads back to the first person who replies.
It is a series of alternating shots which show most often conversations

What is the 180 Rule?
The 180 rule is a basic rule of film making. It states that the camera must not cross 180 degrees around the action in any cut of shots to prevent confusing the viewer and to maintain continuety. As long as the camera stays with in the green half of this image the person in orange will always be on the left and the person in blue will always be on the right. If the camera moves over the central line they will switch places. This may confuse the viewer and take away from your production.

Thriller Films

- what is a thriller?
a thriller can be one of the following: a fictional or non-fictional story, play or movie.
it is purposely formed and created in order to create a constant, suspensful, emotional experience for the audience and includes numerous, and often overlapping, sub-genres.
devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively.

-what other genres link to thrillers?
there are all sorts of sub genres in the thriller genre which are action thrillers, conspiracy thrillers, crime thrillers, disaster thrillers, drama thrillers, eco-thrillers, erotic thrillers, legal thrillers, medical thrillers, political thrillers, psychological thrillers, spy thrillers, techno thrillers and religious thrillers. thrillers also link to the horror genre, crime genre and mystery genre.

-what problems might you find when examining the thriller genre?
if the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that pursues a single goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience on the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax the main problem you might find is that the thriller genre links in with so many other genres. it is very hard to produce a piece of media that is strickly in the thriller genre, without it linking to other genres, simliar to the sub-genres.

-the features of a thriller film are as follows;
mostly fast pacing, frequent action, involving heroes and more-powerful villains. devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively.


-what kind of characters are normally found in thriller films?there is ususally the good guy, the bad guy, and the one inbetween. theres a long list: convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (the ones inbetween), prison inmates, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-friends, and more.

-some frequent themes of thrillers are:
mistaken identity, terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, romantic triangles (leading to the death of a character) business deals gone wrong family frudes

-The American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, made a definitive selection of the 100 greatest American "heart-pounding" and "adrenaline-inducing" films of all time, as determined by more than 1,800 actors, directors, screenwriters, historians, studio executives, critics, and others from the American film community in mid-June 2001. There were originally 400 nominated films from which the top 100 were selected. the top 3 thrillers decided by the AFI are:
1) PSYCHO – made in 1960 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
2) JAWS – made in 1975 and directed by Steven Spielberg.
3) THE EXORCIST – made in 1973 and directed by William Friedkin.

THE MASTER OF SUSPENCE
English film-maker/director Alfred Hitchcock is considered to be the master of suspence when it comes to making and directing thriller films. he helped to shape the modern-day thriller genre, beginning with his early silent film The Lodger (1926), a suspenseful Jack-the-Ripper story, followed by his next thriller Blackmail (1929), his first sound film which was also released as a silent film. beginning with his third film The Lodger (1926), Hitchcock would make a signature cameo appearance in his feature films, and after 1940, he appeared in every one, except for The Wrong Man (1956).Alfred Hitchcock is considered the acknowledged master of the thriller or suspense genre, because of the way he manipulates his audience's fears and desires, and takes viewers into a state of association with the representation of reality facing the character. often he would interweave a taboo or sexually-related theme into his films

The Pleasure Garden was Hitchcock's first film, and his first silent film, although it was not his first released film. Filmed in 1925, The Pleasure Garden was released to the British Press in 1926, and eventually released in 1927 after the release of his second film The Lodger, which was released in 1926, also a silent film.

As well as him making cameo appearances in every film but one, he always used a woman as the victim.