The Typical Elements of the Openings of Thriller Genre Films.(Classwork)

Film: Memento.
Year: 2000.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Representation of gender/class/ethnicity/ age etc: Men, Leonard has a disability but it isn't seen as a weakness, protective and agressive, male orientated Target Audience.
Mise en Scene: Cigarettes, guns, cars, Dark lighting, black and white is used, bullets, blood, clothing indicate the genre, props are building up elements of the plot.
Use of Camera: Close-up of the photograph reversing in time. Close-ups on significant objects to build the idea of plot. Longshot from strange angles, unease.
Sound: Sad classical music/ tense quiet voices, internal monologue. Man with glasses is more aggressive, the hurry to get away builds suspicion.
Unrestricted/restricted narration: restricted narration. You only see what he would know at the time.

Researching Genre: Thriller (Classwork)

History: protagonist and antagonists. Classic Hitchcock (The Birds, 39 Steps.) Memorable conventions.
Target Audience: Masculine audience, although many women watch thriller movies. The conventions follow a more masculine feel.
Examples of films: The Bourne Trilogy, Memento, Bone Collector.
Sub-Genres: Action/Thriller (James Bond) Drama/Thriller (The Illusionist) Erotic/Thriller (Basic Instinct) Medical/Thriller, Psychological/Thriller, Spy/Thriller.
Conventions: Props e.g. Guns, bullets, cars. Police men or detectives. Foreign countries, villains, terror.
Representation: Ethnicity and Gender are the main areas of representation in the thriller genre.

Other crime film opening sequences.

"The film tells a story of a mother and a daughter hiding in a panic room during an invasion by three armed robbers aimed at millions of dollars stored in the house." All of the camera work in the title sequence of 'Panic Room' consists of establishing shots of large buildings in a large city. The credits are large names that look 3D amongst the buildings. they look as though they fit in with the buildings.The background music fits in very well with the genre of film as it is tense and low.

Other crime film opening sequences.

"The story follows a retiring detective and his replacement, jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins." There are ,any close-ups used throughout the title sequence, especially on photographs and documents that have connotations associated with crime thrillers. The actual credits are small and flashing and they have the effect that they are hand written. There are a lot of over lapping images that appear to be associated with the association of a murder or similar crime. The soundtrack used in the title sequence is quite futuristic and gives us the impression that the film will show us something we have never seen before. The music becomes much faster as the sequence progresses.

Mise en Scene of our opening sequence.

Characters: 'Delivery' boy- Billy O'shaughnessy.
Group of guys- Tom Turrell, Arthur Hagues, Pete Slade, Billy O'shaughnessy, maybe others.
Location: Southville, Dean Lane skate park, school door.
Costumes: For group of guys and Billy- jeans, baggy t-shirt, hat?
For dealer- hoody, jeans, hat.
For 'bad' guy- suit, tie?
Props: Car, Skate board, package, gun, cigar, ipod.
Lighting: We've considered using natural light for day scenes or maybe a blue tint to create a dull, gritty setting. We can use a torch or security light for a backlighting scene.

Questionnaire.

Yesterday we completed a questionnaire to try and find out people's preferences when watching film sin the genre we have chosen: crime. These were the questions we used:
1) Do you like crime orientated film?
2) If so, name 3 films you enjoyed in this category.
3) Do you prefer crime movies found at art-house or multiplex cinemas?
4) Do you find a protagonist is needed to complete a good crime film?
5) Do you prefer urban or rural settings?
6) What is the best certificate for a crime film?
7) Do you prefer crime/mystery or crime/action films?
8) Do you like it when ther are characters in a movie you can relate to?
9) Are there any elements in crime movies that you find unrealistic?
10) If so, how would you imrove those elements to make them more realistic?

Story boarding the film opening and credits.

Today the group story boarded our initial ideas for the coursework assignment. This included a sketch of each scene and some individual significant shots; what type of shot we could use; duration; transition; angle and audio. We used twelve sketches and included a short description of what would happen in the frame. As this is just our initial ideas our storyboard will progress as we start filming and finalising our location, props, characters, music, lighting etc..

Continuity Exercise.

On the fourth of February the group shot our continuity task which we intended to include a shot/reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. We included two characters interacting with each other with dialogue prepared before with a script. We used a prop which the characters could pass to each other which could be the focus of the match on action shot. We set up our three cameras in various places within the 180 degree rule in order to capture the character's facial expression so that it is clear to the audience that one of the characters was becoming gradually more upset. However when we came to edit our continuity exercise, one of the three tapes was lost because many students use the school cameras. We plan to re-film using the same principle concepts as attempted in this one.