Location

Today i went out with my group looking for a good location to film our thriller.

Research into company logo

Today in lesson we looked at Collateral and Green Zone. We watched the opening scene because we was looking at how there are diffrent companies for example Paramount, Dreamworks and Universal, because our task was to come up with our own production name and try to design a logo for it.

These are the logos of the Big production companies, but sometimes you can get small production companies that work with the big names for example in Green Zone Universal worked with Working Title which is a small production company in the UK. I also noticed that the pictures that they chose are stuff that are big, like Paramount have the mountain and the universal have the Earth saying look at me and we are hoping to make our ident the same. So try to make it stand out.

Panic Room opening sequence.

When we was watching the Panic room we was looking out how the title was layed out. Also how it was suitable for the film. The film it self looks ok but the music makes it seem very scary.

Survey monkey results

To find out some answers about the thriller genre i decided to do a questionaire on survey monkey. Then i uploaded my survey to Facebook asking people if they can do my survey and these are the results that i got at the end of the day.

Film Language Summery

Film language is basically mise en scene in most films so stuff like costume, camera movements ands other stuff.

Mohammed, Rilwan and Jenna Storyboard Backstabber

This is our story board for our thriller and it took us about 15 minutes to draw and then we had to take pictures. Then finally we uploaded it to youtube.

Sabotage

In todays lesson we watched a bit of Sabotage. That is a Alfred Hitchcock film what it is about is that a terrorist sends the little boy with film reels, this turns out to be a bomb and he has to deliver it before      1:45 pm but the doesn't know that it is a bomb. But then the little boy decides to wonder off while he is delivering the package and heads of to the shopping centre.

To build tension Hitchcock always zoomed into the package then you would hear the music and the music would be a clock ticking away. Then he went to a hot of the clock mechanism reminding the audience that the boy is still against time. Then when he got onto the bus thats when the tension really started to build up because the shots kept on changing from the parcel to the clock. As soon as it hit 1:45 the bomb went off and the boy died on the bus.

This is the little boy with the bomb.

Final idea

As a group we decided to go with the fourth idea where some one is tied up and another person is going to help them. we decided as a group because we have member in our group that found a good location. So all we have to do is go ask for permission.

Initial Ideas

When we was deciding with a idea for our film we had a lot of ideas for our films.

First idea;

• a man walks into a bar
• he slips  

second idea

• a drug deal in a dark alley way
• doesnt have  the money
• a chase through the dark alley

Third idea

• an accident 
• someone gets stabbed

fourth idea

• some one is tied up
• another person is going to help them
• then they get knocked out

Alfred Hitchcock films

Shadow of a doubt

In todays lesson we watched the opening of Shadow of a doubt, and we focused on the Mise-en-scene.  In the film i noticed that they wore fancy cloths and was happy. The main character had money on the floor and was smoking a Cigar which shows that his wealthy because he can afford all that. But because of the fact that he had the money on the floor like it was nothing it made him look like he doesnt care about life. The music was also parallel because when we was runing away from the chasers the music was up beat. Another factor is that when the blinds came down the protaganist mood also changed as he had his drink the smashed the glass against the sink.               

North by Northwest                              

In the opening scene we can see from the begining that he is a wealthy man as he had fancy suit and his hair was tied back, he also was telling his secutery to buy chocolate for his mistress but he doesnt really care about her. But he must be very vein because when he was in the cab he worried about if he was getting fatter, and he also made sure that he didnt have any drinks because he said his mother checks his breath. Suggesting that he is still treated like a boy and maybe also that he is a alcoholic. Then in the crop scene when the plane was after there was no dialog or no music. Maybe to build up tension on that the plane could hit him.

Vertigo

Vertigo was all about this cop that discovers that he was afraid of heights, he discovers this when he was chasing a criminal on the rooftops. His colige dies trying to help as he fell of the roof then after that he decided to retire from the police force.         

Re uploaded My survey

When i first put my survey on Facebook no one replied to it maybe because the message i put was a bit vague. So i re uploaded to Facebook with a better message saying its part of my coursework. Hope fully this time people would reply to the latest post.

Preliminary Exercise - drug deal gone bad

In our preliminary exercise we decided to do a drug deal that went a bit wrong. In our video we used a different range of shots including a pan, static shot and a close up. The pan in this clip was smooth as i used the tripod, also the static shot was very steady as you couldn't tell if it was free hand. Although we used all these shots there was a problem, when filming the video we didn't get the door that accurate. As it looked like there was a a mini jump cut, this wasn't supposed to be in the video.

In the video the sound wasn't the best because we didn't use the proper sound equipment which was mics. So when it comes to the thriller we would make sure that we use the proper sound equipment.

The setting for the drug deal wasn't perfect because the drug deal was taken in broad daylight, also in a classroom, where as a real drug deal would take place at night and in a dark alley where no can see them.

Todays lesson

In todays lesson we used the camera to make a mini video, although it may sound easy making a mini video it was alilltle bit hard because we had o come up with a idea. Then when we was filming it we had to find a room that was free and use diffrent techniques in filming so may be use a close up and midshots. We also hade to make the video flow so when it came to editing we would find it easy, so before we started to record we had a practise take to see how it would come out. But we all still had fun when we was recording.

Video analysis of a video from last year

In lesson we watched films that were made by past students and i noticed a lot of similarities between them as they all had stalkers that wore hoodies. So my group decided not to have any hoodies in our films.

Audience Research

From our video a lot of people said that the suspense in a thriller was the best bit of the movie. From the five people that we asked about there favourite thriller film they gave different answers as some people liked scary films and others like films like Speed. Also the people that we interviewed  also like the MaGuffin and red hearings that Alfred Hichcock was known for.

video analysis

I think our video came out good as you are able to hear the voices clearly thanks to the mic that we used. We didn't cut any one out, what i mean by that is that know one was off the shot or half of there body missing. Although we did struggle to get small people into the frame as we wanted to stay as close as we can. But we managed it. The only problem that i would say is that we maybe should have recorded from a different angle because is some cases we cant see our presenters face, this was due to the sun light but that was our fault for not noticing that. I think the audience would like it because we have some funny moment in the video.

Analysis of the interview and filming

In todays lesson we learnt how to use the camera and today we had to ask the audience some questions. these are the three question. The question we asked were 1. What is your favourite thriller?  2. what do you like about the thriller Genre?  3. What makes a great thriller?. So every person we interviewed we asked those question, we got good feedback from those questions. From that i learnt how to control the camera and use it effectively. we also chose to film outside because we thought that filming inside would be dull and very boring, so we decided to film outside for better lighting.

Rilwan Louise and Mohammed youtube copy

Camera Work

In todays lesson we leant how to use a camera and all the diffrent features and shot, and how diffrent shots can give diffrent meanings. Today we did a interveiw asking people questions abot there favourite and what they like about it. We also learnt what Vox Pop ment, that is latin for Voice of people.

THE RING Trailer

My favourite thriller

I think that my favourite thriller has to be "The Ring" because its about a mother who pushed her daughter down the well and recorded. Who ever watched the video will die in 7 days and the new family that moved in watched it and slowly one by one were dying. Also the little girl comes out of the T.V and kills them. 

 

What is MacGuffin,Enigma and Red herring?

A MacGuffn

The MacGuffin is common in films, especially thrillers. Commonly, though not always, the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and then declines in importance as the struggles and motivations of characters play out. It may come back into play at the climax of the story, but sometimes the MacGuffin is actually forgotten by the end of the film.

Enigma

An enigma is a type of riddle generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requires ingenuity and careful thinking for its solution.

Red hearing

A red herring refers to a device or diversion used to distract the onlooker from the original idea. Red herrings are often seen in films, adventure games, and puzzles. However, the most common use for a red herring is in literature, especially mystery and thriller stories. Simply put, a red herring is an item which has no use in the story except to distract the reader from the real culprit. The red herring can take the form of a character, which the reader may believe to be the killer, only to discover later that he is innocent. Or it can take the form of an item which readers believe to be the clue to a discovery, but which turns out to be worthless.


There are some basic rules that a thriller has to follow, some are like it has to have a twist, suspence and dead people. Also most thrillers start with a calm beginning makeing it look ok but then something happens and the stroy will start.

Analysis Of Film Openings

Children of Men

This was the first film that we watched in class, and the first 4 minutes was the protagonist walking into the cafe and he sees everyone watching the news. The big news was that the youngest person died at the age of 18. So he walk through the crowd gets his coffee walks out then the cafe blows and you see a women walking out with her arm in her arm. the thing that made me want to wath the film more because i wanted to find out who blew up the cafe.

Memento

This is a film that goes backwards because it tells the story from the end. They also use black and white to show the present time and what he is thinking. the thing that makes this film a thriller is that they are both partners and yet one kills the other. That is what the stroy line is based on, this film also has a inigma. the thing that makes the audience want to keep watching is that at one point it says on the picture that "Teddy killed his wife".

The history of Violence

From the beggining of this film it looks normal, the two that are having a conversation sounded normal. There was no urgency in there voice. But then one goes away for a breif moment then comes back sending the other guy for water, then we discoverd that these two are murderers and one of them killes a little girl showing how heartless they are. This makes the audience want to watch more because they want to find out why they killed the people in the motel.

Psycho Trailer

Trailer for Psycho some of the work that Alfred Hithcock did.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most famous directors of all time. He even was knight hooded for his work so he was known as Sir Alfred Hitchcock. From 1955 to 1965 he directed a handful of  shows, but he was mostly famous for his films and his genre was thriller. Alfred's first thriller was The Lodger which was a silent movie. Most of his films had a twist at the ending and always had violence.
In 1956 he moved to America and became an American Citizen, but he still wanted to be known as a British citizen. Hithcock directed over fifty films over the six decades of him making films. He is often regarded as the best British film director off all time and came first in 2007 poll of film critics by the Daily Telegraph.

video of No country for old men

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/=_kqojevTIIQ&feature=related

Analysing of No country for old men

From the beginning of the film the main character has been a mystery on who he is and how he really is. They never showed his face until they got to the police station when we first saw him kill the officer. This really set the tone for who he really is. After killing the officer he took the police car and pulled over a normal citizen and walked the car very slowly and casually then killed him. Just before he killed him he said every thing was going to be ok but it wasn't. Then killed him by using a gas canistar. This gives the impression that he gets pleasure by killing people, because after killing the two victims he had a little grin on his face and this ringed alarm bells on the type of guy he really is. Which is maybe him being psycho or having a mental problem.

What is a thriller?

A thriller is something that create tension and excitement as the main theme of the film. the primary sub genre is the the mystery and crime thrillers.  Thrillers are mostly characterised by an atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder by showing society as dark, corrupt and dangerous, though they often feature a happy ending in which the villains are killed or arrested. 

Welcome to my first ever blog for my AS media studies.