Titles of our thriller opening

Distributor - Momentum pictures
Company Logo
Crossfire Productions Presents
A Snehal Khimani Film
Rahul Horeesorun
Samir Sarwari
Mind Games
Zack Grenier
Eion Bailey
Matt Mcallney
Casting by - Micheal Dunham
Costume designer - Richard Molloy
Music by - Stephen Cox
Film editor - Janet Fincher
Production designer - Alex O'neil
Director of photography - Philip Bloom
Executive Producer - Andrew Hall
Directed by - Snehal Khimani

Narratives

A narrative is the movies story. There are all kinds of narratives. Theres the linear narative which tell the story from start all the way till the problem is resolved. There is also fractured narrative which is when the story jumps back and forth in time e.g. starting of with a man who then shows his childhood and then jumps fourth and back. You can use flashbacks, voiceovers, multiple perspectives, happy endings. We need narratives to make sense of things, connecting events and making interpretations based on those connections. We contrsuct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous text. When we look at narratives, we examine the conventions of gender, character, form and time and use our knowledge of these conventions to help us interpret the text.

Here are some basic narrative structures that are used in many productions:

Beginning ---> Middle ---> End
Exposition ---> Problem ---> Climax ---> Resolution
A Narrative is needed for humans to make sense of a production (e.g. a film) as we connect events and make interpretations. Narrative's consist of a beginning, middle and end. Todorov's theorey of narrative is made up of 5 stages. These 5 stages are:
1. Equilibrium
2. Disruption
3. Recognition
4. Attempts to repair
5. New equilibrium

Because his theory was thought of in the 20th century, it will be very tedious if every film was to use this structure of narration. Therefore, directors have attempted to rearranged the structure in order to fulfill the wants and needs of the audience.

There are also structuralists, for example, Roland Barthes, who uses narrative codes. This narrative teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. Narrative codes can be categorised in the following ways:

• engima code
• symbols and signs
• points of culture reference
• simple description/reproduction

Claude Levi-Strauss was a literary theorist who developed ways of deconstructing narratives. He believed constand  creation of conflict propels narrative. Narratives can only end on a resolution of conflict . The opposition can be visual  or conceptual  and to do with soundtrack (binary opposition; theory of meaning that can be used to look at some of the cultural beliefs built into texts e.g. good vs evil.)

Audience research

For our audience research, we recorded some of the students in our sixth form as they would fit in as a potential target audience. They watched our rough cut of our thriller opening and gave some feedback on what to improve, what went well and also they gave us some information on what they would like to be included in an opening.

Analysis of the opening of Cape Fear

The film begins with a medium shot of a river/ocean oscillating and creating various ripples. The steady flowing of the water is accompanied with a mellow yet uneasy background violin music. There appears to be a considerable amount of light being reflected from the ripples to start off with, which is then gradually replaced with darkness. It is as though the sky is being reflected and the darkness represents the shadows of the gloomy clouds overtaking the sun or even an indication of the transition from day to night. An owl also flys by which emphasises the ambiguity of the opening, leaving the audience with little information to go by. The frame is still focused on the ripples and the audience will notice that the reflections are continually changing eventually into a dark liquid similar to crude oil. This shot blends into the image of an extreme close up of an eye. The eye is dominating, wide open and the remaining blending of the ripples from the previous shots creates a dramatic bulging effect of the eye, grabbing the attention of the audience. Likewise as this scene appears there is a change in the background music from a calmer melody to a sudden, sharp, loud, almost threatening orchestra. This intensifies the expression of the eye and builds up the expectation of trouble. Following this, the eye fades back out into the dark crude oil looking reflection from the water and a very vague, quick shot of lower teeth emerges then disappears.

The next shot is a quick faded, close up shot of a mans face looking up in distress followed shortly by an unclear medium shot of a radpidly moving head significantly distorted due to the rippling water faded throughout the scene. This disturbing motion of the head is resemblent of an individual experiencing psychosis or severe psychological impact adding to the genre at hand. The subsequent 30 seconds are disorientated with medium shots of water flowing in different currents and directions along with a 3 second shot of a mans silhouette, which conveys a very suspicious, mysterious context. The water scene continues but this time the reflection of a droplet is shown and the colour is overshadowed by a blood red. The connotations of this are blood, maybe even a murder scene. An extreme close up shot of a childs eyes in this same red followed by nightvision view is displayed. The eyes are an important aspect of emotion and this is directly linked to the mental state of a person adding to the psychological thriller genre.

The camera then zooms out of the eyes into a medium shot of the girl standing and all this happens at the same time as the girl begins to speak. It almost looks as though the camera is now steadily revealing information to the audience. Then the audience are taken to a scene of a room which begings with a medium shot slowly moving down and slighlty zooming out then panning to the left and revealing a male working out with his back to the camera, followed by a continuation of the camera zooming out. It seems as though the movement of the camera and the male working out are simultaneous as the camera stops zooming once the man has stopped working out. This effect makes the audience feel as though they are part of the scene. The following scene shows the man leaving his cell and this is captured by the camera almost following the man leave via a combination of long shots, pans and zooms. The final scene shows the man is being freed and the whole prison is viewable through this long shot while the man is walking towards the camera.

Initial idea and summary of plot

The plot of our thriller opening begins with a man (main character) who has psychological issues staring at a fuzzy tv whilst listening to classical music in the background. This is supposed to create some confusion and curiosity in the audiences minds. The room is messy and the curtains have bloods stain on them. The main character has samples of hair from others. This is also part of the mental illness our character has. The opening continues on and ends with the police hunting down the main character and this is shown by cross cutting from the main characters house and environment to the police approaching a house. In the end, the police brake into the wrong house and the opening of our thriller ends here. This is our inital idea that our group has discussed and agreed upon.

Analysis of the opening of Silence of the lambs

The film opens with an extreme establishing shot of space and stars. The titles then begin to appear on screen, with the first title appaearing from some stars shapping an O. The film then cuts into a forest simultaneously showing the titles on screen. Dead trees and a misty weather is the setting of the forest creating a negative/depressing mood. There is also sad/eerie non-diegetic sound in the background. We are then shown a long shot of a lady pulling on a rope. Diegetic sound is used at this moment as she is climbing you can hear her panting. As she reaches the top of the hill, a medium shot is shown here. You can see here facial expressions showing a concerned look, looking right then left. She then begins to run through the forest whilst the titles continue to show. She is in a quite setting and she is alone showing that she is quite vulnerbale. There is a close up tracking shot of her running; medium shots of her torso and medium shots of her legs whilst she is running. The music is still being played adding to the tension of the scene. The lady then begins to climb over an obstacle in her way. We can suggest that she is training to become a part of something, maybe a policewoman as she comes face to face with a man working for the FBI.

Analysis of the opening of Memento

The opening of memento begins with a prolonged close up of a mans hand holding a photo of blood from a polaroid camera. There is non-diegetic sounds of an eeire soundtrack which builds up tension for the viewers. The sounds are effective because they represent the event very well. This scene is held for around 10 seconds untill he shakes the photo to reveal the image. It is almost as though he has been frozen in this position, possibly even shocked at what he sees in the photo. On the other hand the delayed time in holding the photo in this fixed position may be related to the development time of the photo to fully appear. However the audience soon notices that as the time continues the photo fades into darkness until it disappears or even returns to the state of when it first comes out of the polaroid. This assumption that the audience is inclines to make is further backed up by the proceeding shots of the photo being inserted back through the camera. During this scene the titles of the film are shown in a contrasting blue colour which stand out against the warm coloured scene (blood and skin) and essentially creates a hot and cold vibe. As the clip continues, a gun, a man being shot and a bullet is shown; that's when the audience realise that the clip is being played in rewind or reverse, showing what happened from the end to the start. At this moment there may be a sense of surprise and enlightment for the audience as this is far from typical cinematography.

We are then shown the male character wearing a suit, who kills someone by shooting at them with a gun. The man then takes a photo of the scene which creates assumptions of who the man could be and his role in the movie. Non diegetic sound follows, with a extreme close up of the man. There is not much light on him as he is looking to the right which creates tension. There is then another extreme close up of the man picking up his keys and then a close up of the man. The lighting remains fairly dark in the room. There are then shots of the furniture in the room and then a medium shot of the man on the bed looking confused.

Genre - Class notes

A creative strategy used by film makers to ensure audience identification with a film which minimises the rick of financial failure.

Genre films work through cultural myths and fears by repetition, innovation and resolution.

Genres are not static but constantly renegotiated between industry and audience - a combination of familiar reassurance and new twists.

Genres feature a set of characteristics/formulae which are recognised by audiences over time.

Genres offer comforting reassurance in an uncomfortable world.

Genre functions like a language - a set of rules and vocabulary with which to organise meaning.


Films can be hybrid e.g. they span more than one genre; they might "rework" generic conventions in some way; there are many sub-genres.

Genre is ideology

71120356 Generic Conventions Niccs Task

Enemy of the state - Tension editing

1. What is the point of this sequence? Describe briefly how tension is created through the editing.
    The main point of this sequence is to create tension in this part of the film. It is done effectively to create the connection between the two men in the warehouse and the men outside. There is more than one close up of the men holding a gun, which also adds to the tension and makes the viewers want to know what will happen. The quick cuts from one setting to another (the two men in doors and the men outside) also creates tension which is down to the editing.

2. Look at the use of CU or Medium CU. Why are they primarily used here? Refer to specific shots (screengrab them) and embed them within your post.
The close ups and medium close ups are primarily used to show the facial reactions of the characters and how they are feeling in terms of their emotions. The effectiveness of this shot is the fact that the camera is filming behind the rail, which creates the effect of privacy and makes the audience feel as though they are peeping through a prohibitted area. Likewise the lighting and the overall darkness of this shot adds to this idea and conveys a sense of cynicism. The facial expressions of the man further portrays the seriousness of the scene. It is also important to notice the position of the light source in the background which clearly appears against the dominant dark background creating a contrast that supplements the mysterious aura created.
3. Choose 15-20 seconds from anywhere in the sequence and describe each shot in detail, explaining its effect / function for the audience, as well as commenting on how the cuts (the editing) add to the meaning.
There is a high angle shot of the two men outside walking towards the stairs, wearing dark clothing and looking ambiguous. The men are in possession of suitcases which look out of place for the scene and instantly makes the audience think there is something both suspicious and unusual about the presence of these men. This begins the feeling of suspense. This scene is directly followed by a close up of the older man seated indoors, in the middle of speaking hesitantly whilst turning his head back to communicate making the audience anticipate that the men outside may be out to get the men inside. The effect of this scene is the difference in motion, for example the fast paced moving men outside compared to the men that appear unaware and unprepared about the outside leading the audience to feel almost sympathetic about these men. When filming the men inside, the camera positioning is behind a fence, possibly to mark the idea that the audeince are intruding someones territory. This is compounded by the dim lit room, connotating privacy and secrecy. Alternatively the effect of this shot could be to imply that the men are being watched as targets and are ultimately trapped indoors, which coresponds with the previous scene of the men outdoors suspiciously breaking indoors. After this shot, there is a close up of Will Smith, with a number of wires and cables between Will and the camera. Similar to the fence before the old man, the wires in front of Will are used as obstacles that give the audience a sense of eavesdropping and peeping into a confidential encounter. The subsequent switching of shots between Will and the old man in addition to their troubled, anxious expressions clearly denotes that the two are deeply conversing. The next shot is a clear medium shot of the two taken from a different angle (from their side) without the fence and cables blocking the shot. Apart from the lamp in the background, there is minimal lighting on the two which prevents the audience from clearly viewing their expressions, particulalry their eyes adding to the thriller and ambiguity sensation. The following shot is returned to the close up of the older man behind a fence; he appears concerned and serious whilst talking as he constantly turns back to face Will. A quick cut to an extreme close up of the older man pressing a button on the computer is followed by another close up of Will Smiths facial expressions which is in direct keeping with the content of the mans worrying talk. Therefore the audience may grasp the idea that the older man is informing Will of a part perplexing, part problematic issue that Will is unaware of and this is self-evident from their facial gazes and Wills bewildered expressions. The use of having the extreme close up of the computer button may be to remind the audience that the old man is doing something important on the computer that we as the audience are unsure of and within the context of this private scene, makes us curious to find out what he's so hastily occupied with on the computer. The shot of Will is the same as the previous shot of him blocked by the cables adding to the meaning of the sequence. The camera then cuts back to the scene with the men outside running towards a building. This continues to build up suspense and tension as we wonder what they are
4. How far does the editing of this sequence fit in with the genre of the thriller? Justify your opinion.
The editing of this sequence fits in rather well with the thriller genre because of the soundtrack in the scene of the men outside. The tone of voice also helps as it does not sound excited and is a sort of serious tone of voice. Also the editing from one setting/scenario to another also adds to the thriller effect. Overall, the editing of this sequence fits in well with the thriller genre of the film.

My Preliminary Final

To begin with, each person in our group contributed with their own views on how to create the script for our preliminary task. In order to fulfill the requirements for the task, we created a fairly complicated script which would was too long. Therefore, we took certain parts out of the scirpt in order to be more efficient whilst filming. The discussion was fairly efficient because we all agreed and put in our ideas apart from the length of the scirpt which was the only obviouos flaw. Key decisions made were to be decisive and co operative.

The planning of our preliminary task went fairly well. We managed to eventually create a script to fulfill the criteria for the tasks and we also formed a shotlist aswell as a storyboard. The main characters were Snehal and Rahul and we decided to film two friends, one of them who had been ignoring any contact with the other for some reason (Rahul).
We tried to be efficient during the shooting of the film. For example, when there was a shot in a classroom, we did every shot in the the class room before moving on to the next setting. We also checked each shot after we filmed to make sure that it was suitable as it would prevent us from having to re film if there was any issues during the editing phase.
The key elements from the brief that had to be demonstrated were continuity, an over the shoulder conversation and a shot of a character walking in a corrider. Our group handle each element well and successfully managed to show this in our task. We made only one mistake; we crossed the 180 degree rule during the two shot and the over the shoulder conversation. I was most pleased with the filming of the over the shoulder scene as it came out well. I was also pleased with the editing as it keeps the audiences attention due to the quick cuts. We had a point of view shot, a shot behind snehal (character sitting) and the quick cuts when rahul (character walking along the corridor) entered the room.
I learnt that crossing the 180 degree rule may mislead the viewers as it looks as though the characters look out of place. I also learnt on final cut that by pressing the backspace button, you can easily remove the blank space with no clips.


Below are some screen grabs of our key elements that i had to demonstrate:

Rough cut of my preliminary

Here is a rough cut of my preliminary task where me and my group managed to successfully shoot a short clip which had to include a scene of a character walking through a corrider, continuity and over the shoulder conversation. I am still working on this to create a final cut.

Past Students Openings

This clip is a very effective thriller opening. The strength's of this clip include the eiry music in the background as well as the dark atmosphere in the flashbacks. The main character's tone of voice also helps in creating the thriller genre as you can her the fear in her voice, which has an impact on the viewers. Also, the recording frame and the typing when the credits are shown adds to the effect of her being questioned or being in some sort of interview at a police station. However, the slow pace of the opening may not catch the audiences attention which can be a weaknesses of the clip.




This clip is another opening of a thriller film. This is also a very good opening because of many reasons. One reason is due to the music in the background which goes with the thriller genre and the house being shown at the same time. The house seems haunted because of the dead tree's around and the shots taken to add to the effect. Furthermore, there is also dead flies which may indicate that the hosue has not been in use for a long time. The sounds of the door being slammed shut is also a strength which creates the tension because you cannot see who is closing the doors. The weaknesses of the clip are that the slow moving pace may not grab the attention of the audience which is similar to the clip above.