My chosen genre is the Thriller genre.
According to www.filmsite.com/thrillermovies ;
"Thriller Movies are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension.
Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features."
There are so many different tyrpes of Thriller movies, some are ever "cross genre's";
Action Thriller: Is where there is a time limit and lots of violenceand has a typical espionage storyline (countries or people spying on each other), for example the "James Bond" movies.
Conspiracy Thriller: Where the hero is confronted by a large group of enemies whose true extent, only they recognize, for exapmle "Three days of the Condor".
Crime Thriller: This is one of the most popular kinds of Thriller's and usually focuses on the Criminal, rather than the "hero" or people investigating the crime. Crime Thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects, for example "SE7EN".
Disaster Thriller: Is where there is some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as Volcanoes, Floods, Earthquakes, Hurricanes or nuclear disasters, for example the movie "Earthquake" .
Drama Thriller: Is where a Thriller and Drama movie "crossover" These films are usually slow paced along with alot of plot twists. The character stories are very deep and detialed for example the movie "The Illusionist".
Legal Thriller: Is where the hero is usally a Lawyer and come into contact with the criminal outside and inside the courtroom and their lives are at risk, for example the movie "The Innocent Man".
Medical Thriller: Is where the Hero is usually a Doctor or Surgeon or is having to have surgery etc. An example of this is the movie "Awake".
Psychological Thriller: Is where the conflict between the main characters is mental not physical. They can sometimes border into the "Horror Genre", for example the movie "The Beach"
Spy Thriller: The here usually works for the goverement in some way and needs to take action againt terrorists or rival Goverment Parties, for example the movie "The Bounre Identity".
Religious Thriller: Is where the main plot of the story is based around certian Religious stories or concepts, for example the movie "The Da Vinci Code".
The main conventions of a Thriller movie is good editing. If the editing is done right with quick cuts to different shots and camera angle changes. Also good "tension building" music helps to set of the scene in a Thriller movie. The movie is usally dark to add to the sense of mystery.
All Thriller movies, even though there is a diverse range, follow the same simple codes and conventions.
For example in the movie "From Hell" is a very dark Thriller movie set in London.
Most of the shot's are of dark side alleys.
The hero (Johnny Depp) is shown criminal activity.
There is a killer going round, killing prostiutes and dismembering them.
The Hero starts to investigate the murders to see who could be doing them. He starts to find out lots of strange and wierd facts from the victims friends about who it might be. One of the prostitutes was kidnapped and hasnt been seen since.
The hero knows that the killer either has to be a Doctor/surgeon or a butcher because he knows the anatomy of a person and knows where to cut, so this will narrow the search down.
The hero falls in love with one of the prostitutes "Mary Kelly" and is dreading when the time comes for Jack Thr Ripper to kill her.
The hero starts to find out from the victims friends (because all the victims were friends) that they are being killed off one by one.
The Hero then finds out that the kindnapped woman had gotten pregnant by Prince Eddy and by Catholic law had to get married. Of course this would shame the family so the family doctor (Jack The Ripper) is killing all of the pregnant girls friends so that nobody will know.
Jack The Ripper knows that the Hero is onto him and abducts him in a horse drawn carraige and tries to convince him that he is innocent. The hero has lots more run ins with Jack The Ripper where he has his life put at risk.
Mary Kelly is the last prostitute left out of the group of friends foe Jack The Ripper to kill, but he kills another woman by mistake.
The killing spree is then over.
even though it is quite different, it still follows the typical codes and conventions of
. Hero Finds Criminal Activity
. Hero tries to find criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero puts on life at risk and unravles mystery.
Thursday 17 December 2009
The Pitch
We had to plan 4 different ideas for our chosen genre.
Our chosen genre was the "Thriller" genre, so we planned 4 ideas around what we thought made a good "Thriller"
Our First idea is the idea we have chosen to film.
This idea is about the 10 commandments.
There are a lot of religious Thrillers and they seem to have really good plots and twists surrounding them, so we thought of trying this idea out.
The basic outline of the story;
A cardinal is killing according to the ten commandments.
People come into church to confess their sins and he sets about killing them for what they have done.
He keeps track of what he has done because he is an organised person.
He is planning on killing the pope because he feel's the pope has sinned.
The pope was formally in the Nazi youth and in the Cardinal's eyes, this breaks commandment number 10 (You shall not murder).
So because of this, the Cardinal see's the pope of being impure and needs to be disposed of.
The cardinal doesn’t see that he is doing anything wrong by committing these murders as he is doing in the name of God.
There is a police team that investigate the murders in the area. At first they don't see a link between any of the murders, then Inspector Luciano notices a pattern. His brother is a Cardinal at the Vatican so he is familier with the 10 commandments and notices that the murders are following them number by number. But number 6 (Thou shalt not murder) has been skipped. They have no idea who the killer is, or who is going to be the next victim. They order the surrounding areas where most of the murders have been committed, to be searched. They come across a small strange house and they break in and search it. Astonished they find Cardinal Villairs notes and what he is planning to do. They rush to the Vatican and burst into the popes chambers just as Cardinal Villiars is trying to kill him him. They arrest Cardinal Villairs and the pope is now safe.
Our second idea was about a16 year old teenage boy called Jeff.
Jeff is what some people would describe as being "nerdy" and a "pushover" and is usually bullied although he has a couple of close friends. He is seen to be a bit strange and have a "darkness" about him.
He gets invited to a typical high school party and the girl that he has had a crush on for years (Tiffany) is there.
Tiffany gets drunk and ends up kissing Jeff, who takes this as a sign that she likes him.
Jeff leaves the party feeling really happy that the love of his life loves him back.
The following day at school he tries to talk to Tiffany and she completely ignores him.
He feels upset and rejected but his friends tell him to come to another party with them that night to forget about it.
It is a big mistake because Tiffany is at the party and Jeff see's her kissing somebody else.
Jeff cannot contain himself and rushes home. He sits and home, stewing in the hate he has for that guy that he feels has "taken Tiffany away from him".
He thinks that if he kills that guy that Tiffany was kissing, she will want to be with Jeff because he doesn’t look like a pushover anymore.
Jeff has a social worker because his family think that he is unstable. He starts to tell his social worker his plans because committing this murder will make him feel better.
His social worker advises him not to because if he does she will have to turn him not the police. Jeff commits the murder and his social worker see's it on the news. She is about to ring the police when Jeff brakes in and kidnaps her. The police are then trying to track Chris down and don't know what has happened to the social worker. They eventually track
Our third idea was about a 18 year old teenage boy called Chris. It's a typical American college that has different sororities and Chris is desperate to be part of this one sorority.
He applies to become part of the sorority but there is a member who remembered Chris from school. This guy's name is Ted and he used to Bully Chris calling him "pathetic" and "weedy". Ted said that there is no way that Chris can join because he is such a "Loser" and goes about telling the rest of the member's stories about what he used to do to Chris. Things like wedgies and pushing him into things and cramming him into lockers. All of the members are laughing at Chris and he feels very hurt and upset. Chris thinks that the sorority group shouldn't get away with what they have done. Chris wanted a new start at college, away from the bullying at school, and Ted has just ruined all this for him. The new start that he wanted so bad is now ruined and he is so angry, especially at Ted. The only friend Chris has is his brother (Matt) which he confides in. Matt notices Chris acting strange and not like himself. Chris rings Matt and tells him that he is going to do some things that he is not proud of and Ted deserves it. Matt drives over to the college to try and stop Chris.
Weird things start happening around the Sororities building, like things moving and strange noises. Then people start going missing and are found dead. Matt sits in his car astonished at what’s happening and rings the police. They start getting scared and are just counting down the time until it is there turn. In the end only Ted is left and he is alone and petrified. Chris drags out the torment and soon it gets to daylight. All of a sudden Ted see's Chris hiding in a corner ready to attack him and he manages to fight him off. The police then arrive because they heard the commotion. Chris gets taken to jail and Ted is so traumatised he kills himself. There is a moral added to the story saying that "bullying never achieves anything".
Our fourth idea was about a creepy old lady that lives on her own. Her name is Mary and she is 59. She has a large collection of pet cats, which the surrounding neighbours find to be a nuisance.
The old Lady get's ridiculed for being strange and people arent pleasant to her cats. Because her cats are t he only family she has she is very protective over them.
The children living around Mary Bully her and abuse her cats. When a child leaves one of cats dead on her doorstop she is uncontrollably hurt and upset and she sets out to get revenge by taking away something them people hold dear to them...their lives.
so first Mary targets her next door neighbours The Johnsons, first she kills their pet dog Rocky, then she leaves the remains on the famlies doorstep leaving them wondering who world do such a thing as to kill their dog.
Then Mary moves on to them an leaves pictures of her dead cat in the post box and she also sticks them on their windows with the words "murderer" on the door. She then plans on how she is going to kill the family she starts to stalk the family and then starts to kidnap them one by one.
Mary then kills the father by torturing him until he was dead, she then kills the oldest son Ryan who tormented her when her beloved cat was killed also by torturing him. then it
comes down to just the mother and the youngest son, an just as she goes to kill the mother a hugh noise is herd and Mary turns around, the other next door neighbour had herd what had been going on and called someone to help.
at the end Mary is dragged off to a nuthouse and she stays there for the rest of he life.and the family she tried to kill moved away and try to start a new life.
The Cardinals name is "Cardinal Villiars", he is 50 years old and was born in Italy.
Cardinal Villiars wears traditional red robes worn by all the senior Cardinals, although they do add different garments throughout the year.
When Cardinal Villiar went to school, the Mother Superior was obsessed with sinning and repenting and he got regularly beaten. This has been accumulating inside of him for his whole life and now he is a position where he can do something about it. He is in a proffession that would cover for him being a murderer, because nobody would expect a Cadinal to commit murders. He needs to take out all of the hurt and rage that has been building up inside of him and has planned how to aim this hatred.
He has decided to start killing according to who is breaking the 10 commandments. These are;
1. Thou shalt not worship any other God
2. Thou shalt not make a graven image
3. Thou shalt not take God's name in vein
4. Thou Shalt not break the sabbath
5. Thou shalt not dishonour your parents
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not commit perjury
10. Thou shalt not covet
After finding out the Pope used to be part of the Nazi youth, Cardinal Villiars see's that he is unfit to be a pope as he is not pure and free from sin. Cardinal Villiars see's that the pope has broken the 6th commandment (Thou shalt not murder) seen as the Nazi's were guilty of committing so many murders. Therefore Cardinal Villiars thinks that the Pope should be removed from his place as the most Holy man in world.
Cardinal Villairs doesn’t see himself guilty of breaking the 10th commandment because he thinks that he is carrying out God's work for him.
We storyboarded our ideas...
. The Killer (Cardinal Villiars) turns the light on in a room (establishing shot) to reveal pictures of victims and plans all over the walls and his desk.
. The Killers hand can be seen on his bible (close up shot), and copying something down into his notebook
. (close up shot) You see him Sticking the commandments onto his wall with pictures of the victims.
(Through out the scene each commandment appears on a blank screen written in red. Then theres a (medium shot of polariod pictures of the victim stuck on the wall which had broken the commandment)
.(close up shot) You see the killer attatch a photo of a victim to the notebook next to written prayers and written commandments.
(There are shots of of televised footage of the pope throughout the film to hint at who the nest victim might be)
.There are Televised new's reports stating deaths of people who has committed "adultery" and "stealing" (medium long shot).
(There will also be footage of the Vaticans halls if we can obtain it. This will show walking through the Vatican to the Pope's chambers through the Killers eyes.)
. (medium long shot)The television that had been showing footage of the pope and the news reports has now going blank and has the "snowy effect" when the television cant pick up signal. This will symbolise that the Pope is the next person on the list to be killed because there is no longer any footage of the Pope showing. So this will show that the Pope's life will be coming to an end,
.There is then a black screen.
The words "He who has not sinned, may cast the first stone" appear on the screen. This is relevant to how the Killer is feeling and wh he is justified in committing his murders.
.The last shot of the killer is (extreme close up) of his shadowy figure, and his arm hanging down by side, his hand cluthching a knife.
Then the title of the movie appears "The commandments".
Our chosen genre was the "Thriller" genre, so we planned 4 ideas around what we thought made a good "Thriller"
Idea 1
Our First idea is the idea we have chosen to film.
This idea is about the 10 commandments.
There are a lot of religious Thrillers and they seem to have really good plots and twists surrounding them, so we thought of trying this idea out.
The basic outline of the story;
A cardinal is killing according to the ten commandments.
People come into church to confess their sins and he sets about killing them for what they have done.
He keeps track of what he has done because he is an organised person.
He is planning on killing the pope because he feel's the pope has sinned.
The pope was formally in the Nazi youth and in the Cardinal's eyes, this breaks commandment number 10 (You shall not murder).
So because of this, the Cardinal see's the pope of being impure and needs to be disposed of.
The cardinal doesn’t see that he is doing anything wrong by committing these murders as he is doing in the name of God.
There is a police team that investigate the murders in the area. At first they don't see a link between any of the murders, then Inspector Luciano notices a pattern. His brother is a Cardinal at the Vatican so he is familier with the 10 commandments and notices that the murders are following them number by number. But number 6 (Thou shalt not murder) has been skipped. They have no idea who the killer is, or who is going to be the next victim. They order the surrounding areas where most of the murders have been committed, to be searched. They come across a small strange house and they break in and search it. Astonished they find Cardinal Villairs notes and what he is planning to do. They rush to the Vatican and burst into the popes chambers just as Cardinal Villiars is trying to kill him him. They arrest Cardinal Villairs and the pope is now safe.
Idea 2
Our second idea was about a16 year old teenage boy called Jeff.
Jeff is what some people would describe as being "nerdy" and a "pushover" and is usually bullied although he has a couple of close friends. He is seen to be a bit strange and have a "darkness" about him.
He gets invited to a typical high school party and the girl that he has had a crush on for years (Tiffany) is there.
Tiffany gets drunk and ends up kissing Jeff, who takes this as a sign that she likes him.
Jeff leaves the party feeling really happy that the love of his life loves him back.
The following day at school he tries to talk to Tiffany and she completely ignores him.
He feels upset and rejected but his friends tell him to come to another party with them that night to forget about it.
It is a big mistake because Tiffany is at the party and Jeff see's her kissing somebody else.
Jeff cannot contain himself and rushes home. He sits and home, stewing in the hate he has for that guy that he feels has "taken Tiffany away from him".
He thinks that if he kills that guy that Tiffany was kissing, she will want to be with Jeff because he doesn’t look like a pushover anymore.
Jeff has a social worker because his family think that he is unstable. He starts to tell his social worker his plans because committing this murder will make him feel better.
His social worker advises him not to because if he does she will have to turn him not the police. Jeff commits the murder and his social worker see's it on the news. She is about to ring the police when Jeff brakes in and kidnaps her. The police are then trying to track Chris down and don't know what has happened to the social worker. They eventually track
Idea 3
Our third idea was about a 18 year old teenage boy called Chris. It's a typical American college that has different sororities and Chris is desperate to be part of this one sorority.
He applies to become part of the sorority but there is a member who remembered Chris from school. This guy's name is Ted and he used to Bully Chris calling him "pathetic" and "weedy". Ted said that there is no way that Chris can join because he is such a "Loser" and goes about telling the rest of the member's stories about what he used to do to Chris. Things like wedgies and pushing him into things and cramming him into lockers. All of the members are laughing at Chris and he feels very hurt and upset. Chris thinks that the sorority group shouldn't get away with what they have done. Chris wanted a new start at college, away from the bullying at school, and Ted has just ruined all this for him. The new start that he wanted so bad is now ruined and he is so angry, especially at Ted. The only friend Chris has is his brother (Matt) which he confides in. Matt notices Chris acting strange and not like himself. Chris rings Matt and tells him that he is going to do some things that he is not proud of and Ted deserves it. Matt drives over to the college to try and stop Chris.
Weird things start happening around the Sororities building, like things moving and strange noises. Then people start going missing and are found dead. Matt sits in his car astonished at what’s happening and rings the police. They start getting scared and are just counting down the time until it is there turn. In the end only Ted is left and he is alone and petrified. Chris drags out the torment and soon it gets to daylight. All of a sudden Ted see's Chris hiding in a corner ready to attack him and he manages to fight him off. The police then arrive because they heard the commotion. Chris gets taken to jail and Ted is so traumatised he kills himself. There is a moral added to the story saying that "bullying never achieves anything".
Idea 4
Our fourth idea was about a creepy old lady that lives on her own. Her name is Mary and she is 59. She has a large collection of pet cats, which the surrounding neighbours find to be a nuisance.
The old Lady get's ridiculed for being strange and people arent pleasant to her cats. Because her cats are t he only family she has she is very protective over them.
The children living around Mary Bully her and abuse her cats. When a child leaves one of cats dead on her doorstop she is uncontrollably hurt and upset and she sets out to get revenge by taking away something them people hold dear to them...their lives.
so first Mary targets her next door neighbours The Johnsons, first she kills their pet dog Rocky, then she leaves the remains on the famlies doorstep leaving them wondering who world do such a thing as to kill their dog.
Then Mary moves on to them an leaves pictures of her dead cat in the post box and she also sticks them on their windows with the words "murderer" on the door. She then plans on how she is going to kill the family she starts to stalk the family and then starts to kidnap them one by one.
Mary then kills the father by torturing him until he was dead, she then kills the oldest son Ryan who tormented her when her beloved cat was killed also by torturing him. then it
comes down to just the mother and the youngest son, an just as she goes to kill the mother a hugh noise is herd and Mary turns around, the other next door neighbour had herd what had been going on and called someone to help.
at the end Mary is dragged off to a nuthouse and she stays there for the rest of he life.and the family she tried to kill moved away and try to start a new life.
Our chosen idea in more detail
The Cardinals name is "Cardinal Villiars", he is 50 years old and was born in Italy.
Cardinal Villiars wears traditional red robes worn by all the senior Cardinals, although they do add different garments throughout the year.
When Cardinal Villiar went to school, the Mother Superior was obsessed with sinning and repenting and he got regularly beaten. This has been accumulating inside of him for his whole life and now he is a position where he can do something about it. He is in a proffession that would cover for him being a murderer, because nobody would expect a Cadinal to commit murders. He needs to take out all of the hurt and rage that has been building up inside of him and has planned how to aim this hatred.
He has decided to start killing according to who is breaking the 10 commandments. These are;
1. Thou shalt not worship any other God
2. Thou shalt not make a graven image
3. Thou shalt not take God's name in vein
4. Thou Shalt not break the sabbath
5. Thou shalt not dishonour your parents
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not commit perjury
10. Thou shalt not covet
After finding out the Pope used to be part of the Nazi youth, Cardinal Villiars see's that he is unfit to be a pope as he is not pure and free from sin. Cardinal Villiars see's that the pope has broken the 6th commandment (Thou shalt not murder) seen as the Nazi's were guilty of committing so many murders. Therefore Cardinal Villiars thinks that the Pope should be removed from his place as the most Holy man in world.
Cardinal Villairs doesn’t see himself guilty of breaking the 10th commandment because he thinks that he is carrying out God's work for him.
We storyboarded our ideas...
. The Killer (Cardinal Villiars) turns the light on in a room (establishing shot) to reveal pictures of victims and plans all over the walls and his desk.
. The Killers hand can be seen on his bible (close up shot), and copying something down into his notebook
. (close up shot) You see him Sticking the commandments onto his wall with pictures of the victims.
(Through out the scene each commandment appears on a blank screen written in red. Then theres a (medium shot of polariod pictures of the victim stuck on the wall which had broken the commandment)
.(close up shot) You see the killer attatch a photo of a victim to the notebook next to written prayers and written commandments.
(There are shots of of televised footage of the pope throughout the film to hint at who the nest victim might be)
.There are Televised new's reports stating deaths of people who has committed "adultery" and "stealing" (medium long shot).
(There will also be footage of the Vaticans halls if we can obtain it. This will show walking through the Vatican to the Pope's chambers through the Killers eyes.)
. (medium long shot)The television that had been showing footage of the pope and the news reports has now going blank and has the "snowy effect" when the television cant pick up signal. This will symbolise that the Pope is the next person on the list to be killed because there is no longer any footage of the Pope showing. So this will show that the Pope's life will be coming to an end,
.There is then a black screen.
The words "He who has not sinned, may cast the first stone" appear on the screen. This is relevant to how the Killer is feeling and wh he is justified in committing his murders.
.The last shot of the killer is (extreme close up) of his shadowy figure, and his arm hanging down by side, his hand cluthching a knife.
Then the title of the movie appears "The commandments".
We losely based the opening scene on the movie "SE7EN" because we liked the way the camera movements kept the killer a secret, but the notebook showed what he was doing. So you could tell the movie was a thriller and that there had been killings, but you didnt know who had done it. The whole sense of mystery was really effective, so we decided to work with these ideas.
We can fiml the opening sequence in any room really. Just need a surace to put paperwork and books and ta onto. Me may go with the idea of a redroom, where we can just put a red lightbulb into a light and use the small and windowless room in my house to film in. We also need footage of the pope to show on a tv. This can be filmed at any location.
The rating of what we film has been classifed as an "18" movie according to the BBFC.
accroding to them
Monday 14 December 2009
Continuity piece
On the 5th November, my group started to plan our continuity piece.
We story boarded our ideas into 22 frames.
We decided to keep it simple but try and add effective and different shot's into the scene.
Originally there were 3 in our group, but 1 person left. We filmed our continuity piece but it was difficult becasue the 2 of us had to keep running back and forward to the camera at the end of each shot. We borrowed somebody out of our class to appear in our piece to make it easier for us to get more effective shots.
The story was a girl walking to her college classroom, unaware that her stalker was following her. When she arrives in the classroom the stalker confronts her, hands her a love note and makes a quick exit.
We story boarded for there to first be an extreme close up of somebodies feet walking up the stairs and to then show a long shot of the peson reaching the top of the stairs. There is then a long shot looking down the stair case to show the stalker following the girl up the stairs, There is then a long shot of the girl walking through the corridoor followed by a medium shot of the girl walking past the camera. The stalker then appears from behind a water machine in the same shot. There is another long shot of the girl as she walks through the dorr, soon followed by the stalker. There is an "action reply" shot of the stalker following her through the door.
There is an over the shoulder shot of the girls hand opening the door and then a long shot of her walking into the classroom and sitting down, once again then followed in by her stalker.
There is an over the sholder shot of the stalker putting his hand on the girls shoulder and then the girl turns around to reveal a surprised expression on her face. There is then a extreme close up of the stalkers hand taking a note out of his pocket and handing it to the girl. There is then long shop of the stalker leaving the room, followed by the closing shot which is a close up of the girls face looking shocked at what the letter says.
Filming this continutiy piece was a good experience because we got to eperiment with the camera and get to know how it works. We also got to try out lots of different camera shots and angles. We found that some shots that we thought would look good, weren't actually very effective and a different shot suited it better. We also found out some angles are alot harder than others to try and achieve.
It took alot longer than we had thought because of the constant interuptions of people walking past while we were filming. We will take this into consideration when we are filming our final piece and to try and find somehwere more quiet to film to film this time. We shall keep in mind for next time to not do so many different and complicated camera angles and shots and try to keep it more simple. It will be better to do the simple things well trather than fail at the harder things.
We story boarded our ideas into 22 frames.
We decided to keep it simple but try and add effective and different shot's into the scene.
Originally there were 3 in our group, but 1 person left. We filmed our continuity piece but it was difficult becasue the 2 of us had to keep running back and forward to the camera at the end of each shot. We borrowed somebody out of our class to appear in our piece to make it easier for us to get more effective shots.
The story was a girl walking to her college classroom, unaware that her stalker was following her. When she arrives in the classroom the stalker confronts her, hands her a love note and makes a quick exit.
We story boarded for there to first be an extreme close up of somebodies feet walking up the stairs and to then show a long shot of the peson reaching the top of the stairs. There is then a long shot looking down the stair case to show the stalker following the girl up the stairs, There is then a long shot of the girl walking through the corridoor followed by a medium shot of the girl walking past the camera. The stalker then appears from behind a water machine in the same shot. There is another long shot of the girl as she walks through the dorr, soon followed by the stalker. There is an "action reply" shot of the stalker following her through the door.
There is an over the shoulder shot of the girls hand opening the door and then a long shot of her walking into the classroom and sitting down, once again then followed in by her stalker.
There is an over the sholder shot of the stalker putting his hand on the girls shoulder and then the girl turns around to reveal a surprised expression on her face. There is then a extreme close up of the stalkers hand taking a note out of his pocket and handing it to the girl. There is then long shop of the stalker leaving the room, followed by the closing shot which is a close up of the girls face looking shocked at what the letter says.
Filming this continutiy piece was a good experience because we got to eperiment with the camera and get to know how it works. We also got to try out lots of different camera shots and angles. We found that some shots that we thought would look good, weren't actually very effective and a different shot suited it better. We also found out some angles are alot harder than others to try and achieve.
It took alot longer than we had thought because of the constant interuptions of people walking past while we were filming. We will take this into consideration when we are filming our final piece and to try and find somehwere more quiet to film to film this time. We shall keep in mind for next time to not do so many different and complicated camera angles and shots and try to keep it more simple. It will be better to do the simple things well trather than fail at the harder things.
Audience Reasearch & Business data
My chosen genre is the THRILLER genre.
The research that i have done into this genre shows that it is a very popular genre.
According to"www.the-numbers.com", which is a website that gives daily account's of the top grossing movies showing at the box office in America. The information shows that out of the top 18 movies showing at the box office on the 16th November 2009, 4 were of the "Thriller" genre. these movies were
. Law Abiding Citizen (which was the 6th highest grossing movie of the day)
. The Fourth Kind (which was the 7th highest grossing movie of the day)
. The Box (which was the10th highest grossing movie of the day)
. The Informant (which was the18th highest grossing movie of the day).
This is significant evidence in showing my chosen genres' popularity.
Out of all the many different genre's in the world, Thriller movies are the 5th most popular grossing genre of movie between the years of 1995-2009. (www.the-numbers.com/market/genres/). Although this is research based on American people, so to see If Thrillers are so popular over in the UK, i loooked on (www.imdb.com/boxoffice) to see the top 10 movies showing at the box office in The UK. Out of the top 10 showing movies out at the box office as of the 17th December, 2 were Thrillers,
. Law Abiding Citezen (number 7)
. The Box (number 9)
This may be due to because it is so close to Chritmas that family movies are more popular round this time of year, because that is what the top 10 mostly consisted of. Still 2 out of 10 is still showing that Thrillers are popular, compared to the hundereds of genres there are showing at the Box Office.
To find out if the British public liked Thriller movie's, my group handed out questionnaires which asked a wide range of questions like;
. Age
. Gender
. How often you go to the cinema
. Favourite Genre of movie
and more specialised questions to help my group find out what people like in a Thriller movie and what makes them so popular.
We handed out our questionnaire to 27 people in total.
There were
11 (15-17 year olds)
9 (18-21 year olds)
1 (22-30 year olds)
1 (31-40 year olds)
5 (41 years +), that answered our questionnaire.
We asked the question "Which of these are your favourite genre of movie? Horror, Thriller or Romantic comedies?"
Strangely, 11 people liked Thrillers and 11 people liked Horror movies as well. Out of the 11 people that answered to liking Thriller movies best, 7 were of the age (15-17) and 2 were between the ages of (18-21) and 2 people were (41+). This shows that according to our research, Thriller movies may appeal to a more younger audience.
Only 5 people liked romantic comedies, showing that Thriller movies are still a popular choice. To get more information about why people like thrillers we asked "Which of these three do you consider to be the most important part of a Thriller movie? Suspense, Fear factor or murder?"
All of the (15-17) year olds answered that they considered suspense to be the most important part of Thriller movies, along with 7 out of the 9 (18-21) year olds also agreeing that suspense is the most important part of a Thriller movie.
The only (31-40) year old we questioned also agreed that suspense was the most important part of a Thriller movie along with 4 out of the 5 (41+) years agreeing with this.
Overall 23 out the 27 people questioned stated that suspense was the most important part of a Thriller movie.
We also asked "Why do you think Thriller movies are so popular at the box office?"
There was a large variety of answer's but overall it seemed that people like to be scared but don’t like the gore that comes with a Horror movie. They like the intriguing and twisted plots that come with Thriller movies and also the fact that there are lots of different varieties of Thrillers available. So there is one to suit every kind of taste.
The research that i have done into this genre shows that it is a very popular genre.
According to"www.the-numbers.com", which is a website that gives daily account's of the top grossing movies showing at the box office in America. The information shows that out of the top 18 movies showing at the box office on the 16th November 2009, 4 were of the "Thriller" genre. these movies were
. Law Abiding Citizen (which was the 6th highest grossing movie of the day)
. The Fourth Kind (which was the 7th highest grossing movie of the day)
. The Box (which was the10th highest grossing movie of the day)
. The Informant (which was the18th highest grossing movie of the day).
This is significant evidence in showing my chosen genres' popularity.
Out of all the many different genre's in the world, Thriller movies are the 5th most popular grossing genre of movie between the years of 1995-2009. (www.the-numbers.com/market/genres/). Although this is research based on American people, so to see If Thrillers are so popular over in the UK, i loooked on (www.imdb.com/boxoffice) to see the top 10 movies showing at the box office in The UK. Out of the top 10 showing movies out at the box office as of the 17th December, 2 were Thrillers,
. Law Abiding Citezen (number 7)
. The Box (number 9)
This may be due to because it is so close to Chritmas that family movies are more popular round this time of year, because that is what the top 10 mostly consisted of. Still 2 out of 10 is still showing that Thrillers are popular, compared to the hundereds of genres there are showing at the Box Office.
To find out if the British public liked Thriller movie's, my group handed out questionnaires which asked a wide range of questions like;
. Age
. Gender
. How often you go to the cinema
. Favourite Genre of movie
and more specialised questions to help my group find out what people like in a Thriller movie and what makes them so popular.
We handed out our questionnaire to 27 people in total.
There were
11 (15-17 year olds)
9 (18-21 year olds)
1 (22-30 year olds)
1 (31-40 year olds)
5 (41 years +), that answered our questionnaire.
We asked the question "Which of these are your favourite genre of movie? Horror, Thriller or Romantic comedies?"
Strangely, 11 people liked Thrillers and 11 people liked Horror movies as well. Out of the 11 people that answered to liking Thriller movies best, 7 were of the age (15-17) and 2 were between the ages of (18-21) and 2 people were (41+). This shows that according to our research, Thriller movies may appeal to a more younger audience.
Only 5 people liked romantic comedies, showing that Thriller movies are still a popular choice. To get more information about why people like thrillers we asked "Which of these three do you consider to be the most important part of a Thriller movie? Suspense, Fear factor or murder?"
All of the (15-17) year olds answered that they considered suspense to be the most important part of Thriller movies, along with 7 out of the 9 (18-21) year olds also agreeing that suspense is the most important part of a Thriller movie.
The only (31-40) year old we questioned also agreed that suspense was the most important part of a Thriller movie along with 4 out of the 5 (41+) years agreeing with this.
Overall 23 out the 27 people questioned stated that suspense was the most important part of a Thriller movie.
We also asked "Why do you think Thriller movies are so popular at the box office?"
There was a large variety of answer's but overall it seemed that people like to be scared but don’t like the gore that comes with a Horror movie. They like the intriguing and twisted plots that come with Thriller movies and also the fact that there are lots of different varieties of Thrillers available. So there is one to suit every kind of taste.
We are going to rate our movie an "15", The content is more for an 15 year old because of the themes and the photographs of the dead victims aren't as bad to classified an "18".. We know that this will be safe to do because the audeince research shows that Thrillers are mostly watched by people between the ages of (15-17). So the people between the ages of (18-21) can watch the movies and then by the time iot would come out on dvd, the 17 year olds would be 18. This isnt saying that older people do not like thrillers, just that we can rate our movie as an "18" and still know that it will get watched.
Tuesday 24 November 2009
Conventions of Media
Romantic comedies
Romantic comedies, whether English Rom-Com's or American Rom-Com's, all follow the same conventions.
They are always bright and happy to begin with and introduce the main characters.
. Boy meet's girl
. Boy loses girl
. Boy get's girl back
This can be seen in almost any Rom Com.
For example in the movie "Notting Hill";
(Hugh Grant is a Book store owner and Julia Roberts is a movie star)
Boy (Hugh Grant) meet's Girl (Julia Roberts).
They bond and start to like each other but then Boy does something to upset Girl (Alerts the press of her where abouts), and Boy loses Girl.
They don't see each other until a year later and Girl ask's for Boy to take her back.
Boy refuses, then realised he made a mistake and searched all over the city to find her.
Boy and Girl end up getting married.
The end.
Thriller Movies
The conventions of a Thriller movie are quite diverse because there are so many different kinds of Thriller moveis.
. Psycological Thriller's
. Romantic Thriller's
. Action Thriller
. Spy Thriller
. Religious Thriller
. Medical Thriller
. Conspiracy Thriller
. Crime Thriller
Are just to name a few, but all follow atleast some of the basic Thriller conventions
. Hero Find's criminal activity
. Hero Tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's own life at risk and unravels mysetry.
For example in the movie "Silence of the Lambs";
The hero (Jodie Foster) is a police detective and trying to solve a mystery.
The hero goes to see a convict (Anthony Hopkins) to give her information that she needs about a killer.
He only gives her little information but it leads her eventually to where she needs to go.
She find out shocking evidence but is then pursued by the killer and in danger of being shot.
The Killer gives his position away and she Shoot's him to death.
Horror Movies
Horror movies usally follow the same conventions.
They are dark and grey almost all through the movie, unless showing "flash backs" of happier times for a character.
. There is usually a mystery surrounding a Killer
. A group of people go to where this killer is rumoured to be.
. They get split up and killed 1 by 1.
. There is usually 1 survivor that is traumatised.
(In some Horror movies only a few of these conventions are present because there are sdo many different types of
Horror Movies and so many different story lines)
For example in the movie "Friday 13th part 3"
There is a rumour about this killer"Jason" and 1 person dresses up like him whith a hockey mask on.
Jason then comes to where the group of people are staying and brutally murders them 1 by 1.
At the end of the movie, there is 1 girl that survived but she is traumatised by what she saw and is taken away in a police car.
Romantic comedies, whether English Rom-Com's or American Rom-Com's, all follow the same conventions.
They are always bright and happy to begin with and introduce the main characters.
. Boy meet's girl
. Boy loses girl
. Boy get's girl back
This can be seen in almost any Rom Com.
For example in the movie "Notting Hill";
(Hugh Grant is a Book store owner and Julia Roberts is a movie star)
Boy (Hugh Grant) meet's Girl (Julia Roberts).
They bond and start to like each other but then Boy does something to upset Girl (Alerts the press of her where abouts), and Boy loses Girl.
They don't see each other until a year later and Girl ask's for Boy to take her back.
Boy refuses, then realised he made a mistake and searched all over the city to find her.
Boy and Girl end up getting married.
The end.
Thriller Movies
The conventions of a Thriller movie are quite diverse because there are so many different kinds of Thriller moveis.
. Psycological Thriller's
. Romantic Thriller's
. Action Thriller
. Spy Thriller
. Religious Thriller
. Medical Thriller
. Conspiracy Thriller
. Crime Thriller
Are just to name a few, but all follow atleast some of the basic Thriller conventions
. Hero Find's criminal activity
. Hero Tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's own life at risk and unravels mysetry.
For example in the movie "Silence of the Lambs";
The hero (Jodie Foster) is a police detective and trying to solve a mystery.
The hero goes to see a convict (Anthony Hopkins) to give her information that she needs about a killer.
He only gives her little information but it leads her eventually to where she needs to go.
She find out shocking evidence but is then pursued by the killer and in danger of being shot.
The Killer gives his position away and she Shoot's him to death.
Horror Movies
Horror movies usally follow the same conventions.
They are dark and grey almost all through the movie, unless showing "flash backs" of happier times for a character.
. There is usually a mystery surrounding a Killer
. A group of people go to where this killer is rumoured to be.
. They get split up and killed 1 by 1.
. There is usually 1 survivor that is traumatised.
(In some Horror movies only a few of these conventions are present because there are sdo many different types of
Horror Movies and so many different story lines)
For example in the movie "Friday 13th part 3"
There is a rumour about this killer"Jason" and 1 person dresses up like him whith a hockey mask on.
Jason then comes to where the group of people are staying and brutally murders them 1 by 1.
At the end of the movie, there is 1 girl that survived but she is traumatised by what she saw and is taken away in a police car.
Monday 2 November 2009
Research into existing products
There are lots of different media products that we can use to analyse movies and pieces of filmed media.
These are
. Sound
. Camera shots & angles
. Lighting
. Editing
. Mis en Scene
You can also catergorise movies by different genres by seeing which "codes and conventions" that they follow.
Every genre has its only unique codes and conventions, although there are some cross overs (e.g action- thrillers)
There is some eary and quite creepy non diegetic music present before any imagery.
It is very intense music which quickens its pace as the opening progresses
The first thing that you see is a quote from Jack the Ripper;
“One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the Twentieth Century”
– Jack The Ripper 1888
This Quote is in white lettering on a black background.
Jack the Ripper was an unidentified killer in 1888 that killed 5 or 6 prostitutes and mutilated their dead bodies. He was thought to have been a doctor or butcher because he had knowledge of the human anatomy. He was never found or convicted.
The screen then goes black for a few seconds and you can hear the sound of a match being struck. You can then see the close up shot of somebody's fingers and the lit match going towards a candle, then lighting it. A glass covering is then put over the candle showing that the lit candle is important. The only lighting in the scene is coming from a candle, this shows that the time period is before there was electricity. This makes you think that the time period that the movie is set in is 1888 because the quote by “Jack the Ripper” stated “1888” and the fact that the only available lighting is candle suggests this could be a movie set at the time of the quote.
The camera then fades out and re-focuses on an extreme close up of the candle’s flame. Something which looks like some form of drug is being placed over the flame and is then lit.
This is also significant in helping the audience to figure out what time period the movie is set in. If it was set in a recent time period, we wouldn’t need a candle for lighting and to light drugs, because we have lamps and lighters to do such things.
You cannot see who is burning the drugs so the audience is left in suspense.
The Production companies name then appears in red, this is a common colour which usually symbolises a “Thriller”.
There is then a close up shot of the actor’s hand rolling up the drugs into a ball.
The editing in the scene gives the feel of fazing in and out. There are short shots of the actor preparing drugs, then between each of these shots the screen goes black for a few seconds. It almost gives the feel that the audience is involved in the drug taking and keep on going unconscious then conscious again.
The next shot is an extreme close up of the actors hands on a wooden pipe and you can hear the sound of breathing. There is then a sideways pan to right which follows the long wooden pipe all the way to the actors mouth, where you can see him exhaling some smoke. This is the first time in the scene where you get to see the actors face.
The non diegetic music that has been playing through out the scene seems to now sound quite “holy” and “church like”.
There is now another cut to black scene and the words “FROM HELL” in italic, red lettering appear on the screen. The letters start off bunched together in the middle of the screen and the float apart from each other across the screen.
The scene then cuts to an extreme close up of the actor’s mouth exhaling again and then to an extreme close up of the actor’s eyes, It’s almost like they want this character to be a mystery because they won’t show his whole face. The Extreme close up of the face then fades into the next shot which is a medium shot of London in a red tint and the words ”London 1888” written in white letters.
This is the beginning of the next scene.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Thriller movie because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller;
. Hero find's Criminal activity
. Hero tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's on life at risk and then unravels the mystery.
Number 23
The whole opening scene is pieces of paper with writing scribbled all over them, so it’s hard
to tell what camera shot it is.
You first see the production companies name and then the main actor’s name.
The text distorts in time to jumpy parts to the diegetic music playing.
The music is quite bassey and has lots of differnt sounds infused with it,
It sets the seen to be quite adventerous, which is the right mood setting while you are figuring out the puzzles.
Every time some text is shown to show an actors name or company, it
quickly switches to show an arrangement of number 23’s. This happens between each set of text shown.
The number 23’s are put into unusual patterns and appear more and more frequently as the opening progresses.
The camera pans down the 1 alignment of 23’s to show the words “The number 23” in red letters,
which is intermingled with the other numbers This signifies that this is the title of the movie and being in red
letters shows it is probably going to be a thriller movie.
As the opening scene progresses random words, quotations and bloodstains start to appear on the pages
The blood on the pages signifies that the movie will be a Thriller.
You see quotes saying “killed” and the blood stains get bigger and thicker.
As the Blood starts getting thicker and running across, the page the non diegetic music starts to get more up beat
and louder. It starts to build suspense.
There are many close up’s of sums adding up to 23
It is as if somebody is writing on all the paper and spilling the blood while they are doing it.
There are lots of random facts being noted among the 23's, for example "There are 23 letters in the latin alphabet", almost like
somebodie is taking notes as their obesession grows and that they need to know everything about the number 23.
The number 23 has always had theories around it,
. There are 23 pairs of chromosones in human genes,
. The knights temple had 23 grand masters,
. King charles was beheaded on the january 30th 1649 (3+0+1+6+4+9=23)
. The witches sabbath is June 23rd
. Shakspeare was born and died on April 23rd and was first published in 1623
. The titanic sank on april 15th 1912 (15+12 =23)
. December 11th the uS declared war on germany (11/12 ... 11+12=23)
All of these points really make you think and make you interested right from the opening of the movie.
The blood starts to cover the whole page and more and more sums are appearing.
The scene then finishes with the page covered in the blood and the number 23 fading into the blood.
This signifies that the number 23 becomes an obsession which even makes lives insignificant because blood gets spilt.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Thriller movie because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller;
. Hero find's Criminal activity
. Hero tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's on life at risk and then unravels the mystery.
.
"Seven" is a movie that revolves around the 7 deadly sins, which are;
. Lust
. Gluttony
. Greed
. Sloth
. Wrath
. Envy
. Pride
There is a mystery killer that kills people who are guilty of commiting these sins.
The opening sequence begins with a medium close up of a book and some screechy non diegetic music playing.
The music gives the feel of scratching fingernails down a Blackboard.
You can faintly hear the noise of what seems to be a heartbeat in the background of the music track.
This builds suspense as if to say that what’s happening in the scene would get your heart racing.
There is somebody turning the pages, but you can’t see who. The production company appears in white
distorted writing over pictures of 2 hands.
You can almost hear the sound of a type writer in the background of the music.
And also a radio trying to get reception.
It is hard to say what a lot of the random noises are.
There is then a close up of somebody cutting skin of their finger and the credits for the actors start to appear.
The credits are the same distorted text used for the production company. They are white and on a black background
so they really stand out.
Somebody cutting skin off their fingertips is usually to hide the identity that their fingerprints give,
so this shows that the film will be a Thriller/Mystery film?
You don't know who is doing the things, so that adds to the fact it will be a Thriller mystery because you will usually have to
add pieces of information together through out the film to guess who the "killer" is.
You then see the mystery person picking up a book and starting to write in it. The hand writing in the book becomes blurry
and as if you are seeing double. This is good editing as it adds to the surreal feeling.
You then see a picture that could may be a "victim" and then the mystery person cutting up some film and sticking them into the book.
You can then peice this information together to come to the conclusion that the mystery person is making a scrap book of victims he has killed/going to kill.
The editing gets you very involved with the mystery person. You see him crossing out words and people and making lists. You feel like you are watching the person in action but you have no diea who the are.
Its a strange feeling.
So even before the opening has ended you have a good idea what this film in going to involve, which is amazing as the film has been playing for less than a minute.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Thriller movie because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller;
. Hero find's Criminal activity
. Hero tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's on life at risk and then unravels the mystery.
Love Actually
There is first a fuzzy medium close-up of a crowd of people and the production companies
name appears in white writing.
There is some quite calming non diegetic music playing which shows that the scene isn't going to be frightening or jumpy in any way and that you can just relax and watch.
The camera then focuses on a medium long shot of 2 people hugging and kissing while the rest of the credits are rolling.
There is then a medium shot of what looks like a mother embracing her children as they run towards her. as they meet the camera zooms on their faces to show a close up of their reactions of joy.
The scene then changes to a medium close up of a pair of elderly people hugging and greeting each other.
There is a medium close up of a woman picking up her baby and pulling a really happy face when the narration starts. Hugh Grant starts talking about the human race and how we are of full of hatred like everybody thinks but if just look at this scene taking from the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport, you can see that the human race is actually full of love for each other.
The scene of the woman and baby is broken by a close up of another woman running and jumping with joy and her arms stretched out. She reaches a woman and flings her arms around her.
As the narration says "Love is everywhere" there are a few more, shorter shots of people greeting and hugging and you can see that they are all happy.
The narration and images go amazingly well together to portray the meaning that "love is everywhere".
Hugh Grant then goes on to say "Love isn't news worthy but it is all around, mother's, daughter's, father's, son's, Husband's, Wives, Boyfriend's, Girlfriend’s and their are shots that are relative to the coupling of words that he says. For example when he say's "Father's, Son's" there is a medium close up of a man picking up his baby son.
And when he say's "Mother's, Daughter's" there is another medium shot of a mother hugging her daughter. It's almost like Hugh Grant is watching all of these happening from afar and commenting on them in such away to make them more significant than people just meeting at an airport.
As the narration says "Love actually is all around" It is edited in such a way to highlight the important words. It is white writing. but the word "is" turns red and then slowly disappears.
The words "all" and "around" disappear a lot quicker while there is still a red smudge where the word "is" used to be.
There are then only the word's "love" and "actually" left and the word "love" is then highlighted in red. You then know that the movie is going to be a romantic comedy and that the title is called "Love Actually".
And the editing is quite clever to have made a sentence of the narration appear and turn into the title of the movie.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Romantic Comedy because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Romantic Comedy;
. Boy meets Girl
. Boy lose's Girl
. Boy get's Girl Back
These are
. Sound
. Camera shots & angles
. Lighting
. Editing
. Mis en Scene
You can also catergorise movies by different genres by seeing which "codes and conventions" that they follow.
Every genre has its only unique codes and conventions, although there are some cross overs (e.g action- thrillers)
There is some eary and quite creepy non diegetic music present before any imagery.
It is very intense music which quickens its pace as the opening progresses
The first thing that you see is a quote from Jack the Ripper;
“One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the Twentieth Century”
– Jack The Ripper 1888
This Quote is in white lettering on a black background.
Jack the Ripper was an unidentified killer in 1888 that killed 5 or 6 prostitutes and mutilated their dead bodies. He was thought to have been a doctor or butcher because he had knowledge of the human anatomy. He was never found or convicted.
The screen then goes black for a few seconds and you can hear the sound of a match being struck. You can then see the close up shot of somebody's fingers and the lit match going towards a candle, then lighting it. A glass covering is then put over the candle showing that the lit candle is important. The only lighting in the scene is coming from a candle, this shows that the time period is before there was electricity. This makes you think that the time period that the movie is set in is 1888 because the quote by “Jack the Ripper” stated “1888” and the fact that the only available lighting is candle suggests this could be a movie set at the time of the quote.
The camera then fades out and re-focuses on an extreme close up of the candle’s flame. Something which looks like some form of drug is being placed over the flame and is then lit.
This is also significant in helping the audience to figure out what time period the movie is set in. If it was set in a recent time period, we wouldn’t need a candle for lighting and to light drugs, because we have lamps and lighters to do such things.
You cannot see who is burning the drugs so the audience is left in suspense.
The Production companies name then appears in red, this is a common colour which usually symbolises a “Thriller”.
There is then a close up shot of the actor’s hand rolling up the drugs into a ball.
The editing in the scene gives the feel of fazing in and out. There are short shots of the actor preparing drugs, then between each of these shots the screen goes black for a few seconds. It almost gives the feel that the audience is involved in the drug taking and keep on going unconscious then conscious again.
The next shot is an extreme close up of the actors hands on a wooden pipe and you can hear the sound of breathing. There is then a sideways pan to right which follows the long wooden pipe all the way to the actors mouth, where you can see him exhaling some smoke. This is the first time in the scene where you get to see the actors face.
The non diegetic music that has been playing through out the scene seems to now sound quite “holy” and “church like”.
There is now another cut to black scene and the words “FROM HELL” in italic, red lettering appear on the screen. The letters start off bunched together in the middle of the screen and the float apart from each other across the screen.
The scene then cuts to an extreme close up of the actor’s mouth exhaling again and then to an extreme close up of the actor’s eyes, It’s almost like they want this character to be a mystery because they won’t show his whole face. The Extreme close up of the face then fades into the next shot which is a medium shot of London in a red tint and the words ”London 1888” written in white letters.
This is the beginning of the next scene.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Thriller movie because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller;
. Hero find's Criminal activity
. Hero tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's on life at risk and then unravels the mystery.
Number 23
The whole opening scene is pieces of paper with writing scribbled all over them, so it’s hard
to tell what camera shot it is.
You first see the production companies name and then the main actor’s name.
The text distorts in time to jumpy parts to the diegetic music playing.
The music is quite bassey and has lots of differnt sounds infused with it,
It sets the seen to be quite adventerous, which is the right mood setting while you are figuring out the puzzles.
Every time some text is shown to show an actors name or company, it
quickly switches to show an arrangement of number 23’s. This happens between each set of text shown.
The number 23’s are put into unusual patterns and appear more and more frequently as the opening progresses.
The camera pans down the 1 alignment of 23’s to show the words “The number 23” in red letters,
which is intermingled with the other numbers This signifies that this is the title of the movie and being in red
letters shows it is probably going to be a thriller movie.
As the opening scene progresses random words, quotations and bloodstains start to appear on the pages
The blood on the pages signifies that the movie will be a Thriller.
You see quotes saying “killed” and the blood stains get bigger and thicker.
As the Blood starts getting thicker and running across, the page the non diegetic music starts to get more up beat
and louder. It starts to build suspense.
There are many close up’s of sums adding up to 23
It is as if somebody is writing on all the paper and spilling the blood while they are doing it.
There are lots of random facts being noted among the 23's, for example "There are 23 letters in the latin alphabet", almost like
somebodie is taking notes as their obesession grows and that they need to know everything about the number 23.
The number 23 has always had theories around it,
. There are 23 pairs of chromosones in human genes,
. The knights temple had 23 grand masters,
. King charles was beheaded on the january 30th 1649 (3+0+1+6+4+9=23)
. The witches sabbath is June 23rd
. Shakspeare was born and died on April 23rd and was first published in 1623
. The titanic sank on april 15th 1912 (15+12 =23)
. December 11th the uS declared war on germany (11/12 ... 11+12=23)
All of these points really make you think and make you interested right from the opening of the movie.
The blood starts to cover the whole page and more and more sums are appearing.
The scene then finishes with the page covered in the blood and the number 23 fading into the blood.
This signifies that the number 23 becomes an obsession which even makes lives insignificant because blood gets spilt.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Thriller movie because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller;
. Hero find's Criminal activity
. Hero tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's on life at risk and then unravels the mystery.
.
Se7en
"Seven" is a movie that revolves around the 7 deadly sins, which are;
. Lust
. Gluttony
. Greed
. Sloth
. Wrath
. Envy
. Pride
There is a mystery killer that kills people who are guilty of commiting these sins.
The opening sequence begins with a medium close up of a book and some screechy non diegetic music playing.
The music gives the feel of scratching fingernails down a Blackboard.
You can faintly hear the noise of what seems to be a heartbeat in the background of the music track.
This builds suspense as if to say that what’s happening in the scene would get your heart racing.
There is somebody turning the pages, but you can’t see who. The production company appears in white
distorted writing over pictures of 2 hands.
You can almost hear the sound of a type writer in the background of the music.
And also a radio trying to get reception.
It is hard to say what a lot of the random noises are.
There is then a close up of somebody cutting skin of their finger and the credits for the actors start to appear.
The credits are the same distorted text used for the production company. They are white and on a black background
so they really stand out.
Somebody cutting skin off their fingertips is usually to hide the identity that their fingerprints give,
so this shows that the film will be a Thriller/Mystery film?
You don't know who is doing the things, so that adds to the fact it will be a Thriller mystery because you will usually have to
add pieces of information together through out the film to guess who the "killer" is.
You then see the mystery person picking up a book and starting to write in it. The hand writing in the book becomes blurry
and as if you are seeing double. This is good editing as it adds to the surreal feeling.
You then see a picture that could may be a "victim" and then the mystery person cutting up some film and sticking them into the book.
You can then peice this information together to come to the conclusion that the mystery person is making a scrap book of victims he has killed/going to kill.
The editing gets you very involved with the mystery person. You see him crossing out words and people and making lists. You feel like you are watching the person in action but you have no diea who the are.
Its a strange feeling.
So even before the opening has ended you have a good idea what this film in going to involve, which is amazing as the film has been playing for less than a minute.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Thriller movie because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Thriller;
. Hero find's Criminal activity
. Hero tries to find Criminal and becomes in danger
. Hero usually put's on life at risk and then unravels the mystery.
Love Actually
There is first a fuzzy medium close-up of a crowd of people and the production companies
name appears in white writing.
There is some quite calming non diegetic music playing which shows that the scene isn't going to be frightening or jumpy in any way and that you can just relax and watch.
The camera then focuses on a medium long shot of 2 people hugging and kissing while the rest of the credits are rolling.
There is then a medium shot of what looks like a mother embracing her children as they run towards her. as they meet the camera zooms on their faces to show a close up of their reactions of joy.
The scene then changes to a medium close up of a pair of elderly people hugging and greeting each other.
There is a medium close up of a woman picking up her baby and pulling a really happy face when the narration starts. Hugh Grant starts talking about the human race and how we are of full of hatred like everybody thinks but if just look at this scene taking from the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport, you can see that the human race is actually full of love for each other.
The scene of the woman and baby is broken by a close up of another woman running and jumping with joy and her arms stretched out. She reaches a woman and flings her arms around her.
As the narration says "Love is everywhere" there are a few more, shorter shots of people greeting and hugging and you can see that they are all happy.
The narration and images go amazingly well together to portray the meaning that "love is everywhere".
Hugh Grant then goes on to say "Love isn't news worthy but it is all around, mother's, daughter's, father's, son's, Husband's, Wives, Boyfriend's, Girlfriend’s and their are shots that are relative to the coupling of words that he says. For example when he say's "Father's, Son's" there is a medium close up of a man picking up his baby son.
And when he say's "Mother's, Daughter's" there is another medium shot of a mother hugging her daughter. It's almost like Hugh Grant is watching all of these happening from afar and commenting on them in such away to make them more significant than people just meeting at an airport.
As the narration says "Love actually is all around" It is edited in such a way to highlight the important words. It is white writing. but the word "is" turns red and then slowly disappears.
The words "all" and "around" disappear a lot quicker while there is still a red smudge where the word "is" used to be.
There are then only the word's "love" and "actually" left and the word "love" is then highlighted in red. You then know that the movie is going to be a romantic comedy and that the title is called "Love Actually".
And the editing is quite clever to have made a sentence of the narration appear and turn into the title of the movie.
After watching the rest of the movie I could tell that this movie is a Romantic Comedy because it follows the typical codes and conventions of a Romantic Comedy;
. Boy meets Girl
. Boy lose's Girl
. Boy get's Girl Back
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