CONTINUITY TASK; Evaluation

How has the continuity task aided your understanding of the film making process?

The continuity task has really helped me to realise that the process of making a film is actually alot more difficult than it seems. The task has definitely been very good practice for when we actually start filming our opening title sequence. All of the problems that we faced making this will help us avoid the same ones when filming our thriller opening title sequence and help us improve on planning, filming and editing.

What problems did we come across during the continuity task and how did we overcome them?
During the continuity task we came across quite a few small problems, that we managed to overcome. Firstly one of the locations we filmed in was unreliable as we had to make sure that room was empty when we needed to film- which we didn't check first. This became a problem as we decided we should re-shoot one of our shots but the room was occupied at the time. In the end we decided to shoot next time it was empty and had to wait until the next day which made timing complicated as we needed to finish shooting and complete the task. Another problem was when we were finishing shooting, we had edited everything and put it all together but weren't happy with the ending due to it not being continuous, however we will learn from this next time and make sure to look back at the shots and see if they have good continuity and if they don't, then re-shoot.

What did you do well on in your continuity task?
In our continuity task, I think our editing was very good and we learnt alot about using Adobe Premier Pro, which will help us immensely when it comes to editing our actual thriller opening title sequence. I also think that it was continuous apart from the last bit which let us down but that's something we will learn from. We had a variety of camera angles and also interaction between characters that we are proud of, and we also stuck to the 180 degree rule.

The storyboarding process and shot list
The storyboarding and shot list was harder than I expected. This is because we didn't realise how much we would actually rely on it until we began this continuity task. Our storyboard however wasn't as accurate as it could have been and this has helped us realise that we need to put more time into it when we making our opening title sequence. The shot list was very helpful and although we changed it around a bit, we still relyed on it alot. This has also helped us understand the importance of research and planning as it would look very unorganised without the planning and the it helped us all with our organisation aswell as we made sure we knew what we were doing at all times. Hannah and I filmed, whilst Finley and Jacob performed in our continuity task, however they both helped with the camera angles and the editing. Another reason research and planning is very important is because it saves a massive amount of time. We hadn't planned the music we were going to include, which meant alot of time trying to find the right piece that fit into our piece.

Overall, this continuity task has really improved all of the group's skills in all three areas; planning, filming and editing. When making the opening title sequence, we now have an idea of what it's going to be like and we know what problems we may face and how we can avoid them.

CONTINUITY TASK

This is our continuity task. Overall I'm happy with how it turned out. The only thing I'm unhappy with is the the ending due to it not being continuous, however we didn't have enough time to re-shoot and therefore will just have to be careful next time to watch back our shots during filming to see if we need to re-do anything.

Practising camera shots

During making our continuity storyboard, we came across a difficulty as we didn't know how to draw a high angle shot or a low angle shot on paper, so we decided to take pictures and see from them how it would be drawn

 (Ignoring the background and focusing on Finley and Jacob) This is our attempt at a high angle shot looking down on Jacob and making him look inferior.

This is our attempt at a low angle shot looking up at Finley, indicating him to be superior. Baring in mind these shots wouldn't be able to go together as it would be breaking the 180 degrees rule, this is because we filmed them over different sided shoulders.

CONTINUITY TASK; Storyboarding

These are our storyboards for our continuity task. I feel that the previous media student that came in to talk about storyboarding really helped us on how to draw different camera angles and perspectives. Whilst drawing this storyboard, we made sure that everyone in the group could understand our storyboard, this is really important as if a member of the group wasnt in one day then we would all be able to understand it and carry on with our work.

In the storyboard, we had to include:

• Variety of camera Angles and Positions
• Sound included in the shot
• We had to make sure we didn't break the 180 rule
• Shot reverse shot
• Interaction between characters

Plot

Since this has to be 60-90 seconds long we had to come up with a short narrative, our plot is simply that Jacob has stolen Finley's pencil case. So we will show Finley looking for Jacob and when he eventually finds him he will confront him and demand for his pencil case back angrily, in which case Jacob will plead to keep it for next lesson, and Finley will get angry, snatch his pencil case back, and storm out of the room. This narrative means that we will be able to include interaction between characters and a variety of camera shots such as close ups, long shots and mid shots. The shot reverse shot will be included when the confrontation begins. We will use high angle shots and low angle shots to denote the characters' status. We will haeve to take into consideration the 180 rule and make sure we don't break it. Another thing we need to think of will be sound. We have in mind tense non-diegetic music to increase Finleys' anger. Overall, I think I have learnt alot from making this storyboard and I think it will really help when filming the continuity task.

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CONTINUITY TASK: planning

Shot list for continuity task
-Long shot of person A entering chikara
-Close up of person A opening door of chikara
-Close up of person A opening door handle of chikara
-Person A walks up and opens second door
-Cuts to drama studio (person A entering)
-Close up of person B's face looking worried
-Establishing shot of person B doing essay
-Low angle over the shoulder shot looking towards person A
-High angle over the shoulder shot looking towards person B
-Low angle over the shoulder shot looking towards person A
-Person A going to hit person B
-Screen goes black
-Person A walking through the door

Locations
-Front of chikara
-Inside chikara (hallway)
-Chikara drama studios

Characters
-Finley Harnett (as person A)
-Jacob Smith (as person B)

Sound
Tense non-diegetic sound


Here are pictures of our location...

This is the outside of the chikara centre. We used this location for an establishing shot of Finley walking in anger up to the door.

This is inside of the chikara centre, we used this for a long shot of Finley looking around for Jacob, the second picture is slightly blurry.

Evaluation questions

I've decided to take a look at the evaluation questions as I feel it will really help me when creating our opening title sequence, this is because I can take into understand what to take into consideration and the main things to include and why.








The questions are briefy about how we've met our target audience and how our opening will compare to other openings that are similar. They also ask about social groups and what we have learnt about technology whilst in the process of making this. I feel after our opening title sequence is complete, I will have a much better and a more advanced understanding of the four technical areas- Mise-en-scene, Editing, Sound and Camera, and how to use them for effect.

Further information on storyboarding

In this lesson, a previous media student and animatic storyboarder came in. She helped us with storyboarding and gave us some really helpful tips on what to include and what not to include.

I have learnt that when making a storyboard, you should use a big arrow to show movement of the camera and small arrows to indicate characters movement. The three tips she gave us were:

1. Bullet point and plan before you storyboard because this way you're organised and know what you're meant to drawing.

2.Don't worry about drawing them in order, and use scrap paper to sketch things out before if you're unsure as you can always cut them out and order them after the storyboard is complete

3.Remember the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is where the screen/box is made up of three sections. If you want a character to be noticed then always place them in the middle, if you want to show that they're unimportant then place them in the margin

This lesson has helped me a lot and talking to Sophie has helped me understand how to place things on a storyboard and how to draw different angles. I think a very important lesson I learnt was the rule of thirds.



This is the video Sophie- The previous media student showed us. This was really interesting and I thought it was very clever how it was drawn and put together. Obviously our storyboards won't be as detailed or as advanced as this because this is animatic but this has given us an idea on how to draw certain angles and given us an insight into animatic storyboarding.

Editing re-creation task

In media, we had to re-create a short extract from raw files using adobe premier pro, this allowed us to develop our skills on the programme and understand how to use it for when we start editing our opening title sequence.

We got given  1 hour and 40 minutes to re-create this, putting in the video, sound and title sequence exactly the same as the original. I found this task really interesting as I knew the basics of using adobe premier pro, but it allowed me to improve on my skills. Unfortunately Jacob and I forgot to save and most of our work got deleted, so now there's only half of the extract without sound and title sequences.

We had to write down our strengths and weaknesses...

Overall I'm happy with our progess and our editing although it got deleted, I thought this was a very productive task and will help us in future.

Storyboarding

We had a lesson on the importance of storyboarding and how to storyboard. We watched a 15 minute video of directors talking about how important storyboards are to the making of the film. I found out that throughout the making of a film, the storyboard is thoroughly refered back to and used to cancel out mistakes aswell as saving time and money because everything is already decided. These are my notes on the importance of storyboarding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwqL5_825rI This is the video that we watched.

After this, we got given a template and had to make up a chase scene and produce a short storyboard with the title 'terror in the night' I hadn't done anything on storyboarding before so this was really interesting and helped me understand what's involved in storyboarding and what to include. We had to include the camera angle/movement/position, how long the shot lasts and the sound/dialogue included.

 

The art of title sequences

I've been researching the art of title sequences. One of the title sequences I looked at is called 'Vantage Point.'  I chose this as it's a political thriller and I noticed that the first credit's transition lasted 5 seconds and when it was completely on screen, it stayed for around 4 seconds. The second one was a faster transition but stayed for the same amount of time as the last one- 4 seconds. The font is white and silver over a black background, making the credits stand out. A transparent red circle moves across the second title, looking as if it's a laser from a gun. The font for the first picture is big and bold making it clear to the viewer, whereas the second font has two different fonts- 'columbia pictures' in block capitals, and 'presents' in a smaller font, making the name of the company seem more important. The credits are spread out in the opening, and come up seperately. The name of the film is completely different to the other credits, below you can see the transition is made up of different lines and blocks of black shapes, and they all come together to form 'vantage point' the font colour is black and it has a yellow/gold background. The transition takes about 8 seconds and once it's completely shown, it's on screen for about 3/4 seconds.

Looking at this has helped me understand that the credits actually take up quite alot of time, and realise the lack of time we have to include our opening on top of the credits. It's also given me an insight into how long the credits are usually displayed for and the time the transitions take etc.

Below this opening was a paragraph written by the title designee, which I thought was very interesting to read as they said why they chose to create the title sequence the way they did.



Changing and Developing

 We have been writing and drawing our developed ideas for our thriller opening title sequence. Some ideas have changed although the plot is still the same. We have cut out some bits that we felt were irrelevant as we came to the realisation that we aren't actually telling a story as it's impossible to fit a whole story into two seconds. But we are just introducing the audience to the film and dropping in hints towards the plot and the events to come. Our plot is a teacher, wanting to kill the prime minister. We feel this is really relevant in todays society as it explores the thought of completely normal people hiding their insanity.

*Finley and Hannah's ideas*
"1)The name of our production will appear and over the top will be diegetic sound of the interviewer asking the Prime Minister why he is deciding to visit the Chalfonts Community College; this image will then fade out menacingly.

2)We then open to a mid shot of the Prime Minister from waist upwards. There is a seconds pause to give the audience some time to understand the context of the shot (ie. news programme interview) then begins to speak with blood dripping down his face. However, neither interviewer nor interviewee react to this at all. 

3)Jump cut to a extreme close up of teacher with a sly creepy smile, although in the background the Prime Minister is still talking from within the television that our teacher is watching. 

4)Jump cut back to news frame, there is no trace of blood on him which comes to the end of the interview, shocking the audience as we realise the cruel intentions of our aspiring teacher. 

5)Pan out to teachers room which will be messy, strewn with newspaper articles, surveillance photos, alcohol, prescription drugs etc. and then cut away to the title sequence. The screen will display 'Directed By...' ; a distant husky laugh can be heard as this is displayed.

6)We will then have a montage sequence of him preparing for the assasination, intercut with the titles.

7)The scene will end with the teacher's oblivious wife calling from downstairs 'Dinners Ready!', reminding the audience of the double personality of the teacher. He then shuts the door, the camera zooming in on a dartboard attached to the back of the door, the Prime Ministers face stuck to the dartboard, a dart stuck in the middle of the Prime Ministers proverbial 'head', acting as a metaphor for what the teacher wants to achieve. We then cut to black, displaying the title of the film."

Characters and Casting:-

We decided on the characters costume as well as colour palette.

Prime Minister- Sharp suit and haircut, white shirt and blue tie (professional and smart)

Interviewer- Smart/ Casual suit, preferably smart hair.

Teacher- bedraggled/wasted look, suit, messy hair, round glasses which sit on the edge of his nose, maybe the colour green- has connotations of illness, lack of sanity.

Teacher's Wife's voice in background- won't need a costume as we only need the voice of her."
The writing within the quotation marks, I've taken from Finley Harnetts blog: http://finleyharnett.blogspot.co.uk/
 

At the moment this is our plan for our opening title sequence of our political thriller.
I'm relieved we finally have an idea, that we can develop and elaborate on. Our group are currently doing ongoing research and creating the scripting and storyboards.

Development of ideas

Original Idea

• Starts off with an establishing shot of the houses of parliament and a silhouette staring at it
• Cuts to an extreme close up shot of the mans glasses and in the reflection we can see big ben
• Cuts to a black screen. The credits come up.. *directed by ...* etc.
• The ambient diegetic sound of a whirring of a video tape, and then cuts to a VCR recording of the man speaking into the camera, saying things such as "By the time you have all watched this, I would have killed the prime minister."
• Cuts to the man drinking vodka in his bathroom and a close-up of a box of pills indicates he is on medication, not mentally stable etc.
• Bright lighting juxtaposing with his gloomy, miserable expression.
• Establishing shot of the school and it quickly cuts to the staff room, you hear the diegetic sound of the chatter of the other teachers whilst you see a teacher assemble a gun together and clean it, which foreshadows what is to come.
• Long shot of him walking down the corridor with the sound of his heavy breathing.
• Applause heard in the background, inferring the prime minister has just been welcomed to the stage.
• Over the shoulder shot of the man entering the assembly.
• Quick close up of prime minister and the screen blacks out as the title comes up.

We liked this idea very much, however we realised the difficulty of fitting it all in to a 2 minutes opening and felt it revealed a bit too much for an opening. So we came up with another idea, it's still the same story line but we've improved on it and changed a few things.

Second Idea

• Begins with TV interview with interviewer and the prime minister, the prime minister is saying why he's going to schools to give talks about government.
• Zooms out, slightly. Tv turns off.
• Close up of protagonist, angry facial expression, dark lighting, dressed in a suit or shirt and tie
• Cuts, to over the shoulder shot of him walking down the hallway
• Sound of heavy breathing and sound of shoes.
• Diagetic sound of audience's applause and welcoming prime minister
• Protagonist opens doors of where the speech is being held
• Cuts to black screen, titles come up
• Non diegetic slow music and diegetic sound of a gun being loaded.

I think this development is really good and will look much better for our opening of our political thriller. The heavy breathing and the handling of a gun really creates tension for the viewer and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats which is a typical convention of a thriller.

Initial Ideas

Ideas...

As a group we are trying to branch out and get away from the cliche's. We're thinking of doing something very different and have therefore come up with the initial idea of a political thriller, we have been thinking of this because we originally wanted to add themes of a western into our opening title sequence, however were finding it very hard to research because we found very few films that are western thrillers. We then tried to think of different ideas and something that is out of our comfort zone, so we are now thinking of a political thriller as we feel this will be a challenge for us.

There are two paths we can go down, one features terrorism, and one is based on political scandals. So therefore, we will need to research both and see which one we all prefer. This is only an initial idea and research for thrillers is still ongoing, so we are aware that our idea may change.

Essay on the representation of social status in Merlin

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin. Make specific reference to the following technical areas: Camera, editing, sound, mise-en-scene.

The extract begins with the camera panning around the inside of a castle, establishing higher status and symbolising royalty. Immediately Merlin is centralised with a mid shot on him, this combined with the fact that he is the first character we see, connotes that he is the protagonist within this extract. However, he is wearing old ragged clothing with dull colours such as browns and greens that symbolise low status. There is ambient non-diegetic sound like whispering, setting a dark sinister tone and connoting that he shouldn't be in the castle. Through the use of close ups on him, it could be inferred that he is a significant character. The extract intercuts to the protagonists point of view and we see him look back at the door reinforcing how he's not meant to be there and re-establishing him as lower social status than those who live in the castle. The extract cuts to outside of the room and there's a long shot of a woman walking towards the room Merlin is in, creating suspense for the viewer. It cuts back to a close up of Merlin to reveal his awareness that someone is coming. The camera pans around to look at the woman, the camera is over the shoulder looking towards her. Her purple dress and gold belt establish her higher social status and are symbolic for wealth. The dialogue also makes it apparent to the audience that she is of higher status as she is patronising towards him and reminds the viewer that Merlin doesn't belong there. Although the eyeline match between them both, indicates equality.

Additionaly, the non-diegetic music ends as Merlin leaves the castle grounds. Immediately we see the contrast between the dim lit castle and the bright light outside, connoting that the castle is home to bad people, although they are upper class. As Merlin walks out into the street, there is a total difference in setting and the combination of the sound of people hustling in the street and people dressed similar to him, indicates that Merlin is amongst his peers and people of the same class. There is then a long shot of Merlin walking past Arthur and his guards, who are wearing armour, establishing their role and status in society as courageous fighters. Although it is clear they are of higher social status, the camera is still focused on Merlin as he walks towards it. This reinforces his significance. As Merlin turns around,  we see his facial expression which reveals his anger. Arthur is also centralised and the camera is at eye-level, expressing that they are of equal importance, even though Arthur is the antagonist in this extract. Arthur gets less prevelance than Merlin which also represents his significance. The input of the dialogue makes it evident to the audience that Arthur is talking down to Merlin and bullying him backed up by his friends- his fellow knights. Aswell as being dressed in armour, they are also wearing the colour red symbolising high status, however the camera remains on Merlin. The camera is on a close up on him whilst he bends down as if to bow to Arthur, mocking him slightly. Merlin doesn't act lower class and it's clear that Athur is surprised through the dialogue when he says "you can't address me like that" and his guards laugh mockingly at Merlin, which signifies to the viewer that Merlin is cheeky and doesn't take notice of his social status.

 As the fight starts, the non-diegetic music enters, it's upbeat and increases the intensity. Jump cuts are included here to make the fight seem more action packed and more dramatic. It then cuts to a mid shot of an old man in a room causing the viewer curiosity as we don't know who he is. It then cuts back to the fight, and although Arthur is winning, Merlin is getting equal prevelance, which again represents his relevance and makes the reader empathise with Merlin as he is losing. The use of shot reverse shot allows the audience to see both Merlin and Arthurs reactions and also allows the viewer to see that Arthur is still winning. The camera changes to a high angle of Merlin as he falls into the hay, making him appear weaker and inferior to Arthur. However, the camera changes to an extreme close up of Merlin's eye which changes colour. This and the non-diegetic sound are indexical for the use of magic. The continous close ups of the protagonists face and his smug facial expression denotes that he is doing well. The extreme close up of the cabbage being squashed emphasises the danger Merlin is in. Another close up of a box moving over Arthurs feet reveals his reaction, to this which is angry as he's just been hurt. This indicates that the dominance has changed to Merlin. Next there is a close up of rope and the camera pans around to Arthur who falls onto the floor. The next shot is a high angle shot looking down on Arthur signifying that he has lost importance due to losing. It cuts to a mid shot of the old man we saw in the room at the beginning of the fight. His costume also denotes his low status, but Merlin seeing his disappointment and that being his distraction, indicates that the man is important. The shot cuts back to Arthur as he hits Merlin with a broom. With each hit, the foley, non-diegetic sound is added to exaggerate how hard he is being hit. Arthur then wins over the prevelance and puts Merlin back in his place, which is below him.

In addition to this, after hitting Merlin, Arthur sweeps the floor with the broom, which is symbolic of brushing him off. Again, foley sound is added in to emphasise the sweeping. The dialogue of  Arthur saying "let him go" infers that he respects Merlin a bit more now and the fact Arthur has his own guards to hold Merlin, reinforces his high status in society.  Although the eyeline match connotes equality between them. The shot cuts to a shot of the room where Merlin walks in, followed by the old man who he assume is his teacher. There is a shot reverse shot whilst they are arguing, allowing the viewer to see their facial expressions and from this we realise that the teacher is angry at Merlin, which indicates he is in control of him. The dialogue of Merlin when he says "I'm just a nobody and I always will be" reinforces his lower class status and denotes that he thinks he is worthless because of it. The close up of his facial expressions of Merlin and the teacher express Merlins sadness and the teachers sympathy towards him. The end shot it on the teacher, which reveals to the viewer that he is infact important as he is in charge of the protagonist Merlin,  even though he is lower class.

Our discussion of ideas

This is our group discussion on what genre we would like to do. We established that we didn't want anything cliche or something that everyone does, we also said that we didn't want to go into hybrid genres, which I now think was a mistake to cross out because I don't think we should restrict ourselves yet, and I think we should keep an open mind. Coming up with ideas is harder than I thought and I've realised we just need to keep thinking and coming up with new original ideas. Since this discussion we have had a few other ideas, we did want to do a comination of supernatural and psychological, thinking that we could change it and make it original with new twists but we have realised that may be too challenging and we are now staying away from the cliches and are thinking of a modern western thriller.

Having a discussion and listening to it back has helped me reflect on our old ideas and how we can improve and create original ideas for our thriller opening title sequence.

Todays lesson...

In class today, we were given the task to analyse in depth one shot. We were told that one shot could produce paragraphs of analysis, by looking at the different aspects of mise en scene and camera techniques.

The shot we were given was...

This meant that we had to consider, costume, lighting, facial expression, colours, positioning, camera angle etc... all based on the question: Discuss the way gender is represented in this extract from Dr Who.

This was my groups analytical paragraph, after writing this we all had to go round and write on the post it notes one good thing and one thing they could improve on. I was very happy with the feedback we got. One target was too mention mise-en-scene more throughout.

This has really helped me with analysing other people's work and seeing what is good and what isn't in a paragraph. It has also helped me understand how much you can write about just one shot, and I feel will really help me when writing future essays.

Brainstorming ideas...

In media, we sat down as a group and brainstormed ideas about our thriller opening title sequence.

We thought of a variety of different ideas for characters, sub-genres, location etc. This has given us a vague idea of the options, although most of the suggestions we could think of were very cliche and we want to make our thriller opening new and unique. When brainstorming the different genres, I've realised we didn't include hybrid genres, therefore we will have to put more thought into it as we are currently thinking about hybrid genres we could make.

We all like the idea of supernatural thriller combined with psychological thriller. However, we feel that it's done far too often and there would be too much repetition of ideas and events. If we were too go down this route, then a good film too look at for ideas is 'the ward' which is a mix of both psychological and supernatural thriller.

If you zoom into the picture you will be able to see our ideas.

I think this has allowed us to make a brief start on planning our opening of our thriller title sequence, and research of thrillers is still ongoing so new ideas will be upcoming soon.

Evaluation of Hannah's analysis of Bourne Ultimatum

From reading Hannah's analysis, it is clear that she has understood the purpose of everything included in the title sequence and why it's relevant. I have learnt that dark colours add to the mystery of a film, before this I just thought dark colours were used to help set a mood in the scene and to signify things, but I now know other reasons for them being included. Her analysis has also helped me understand the average time for credits to be on screen, which is around 3 seconds, this allows the reader to clearly read them before they fade off.  She has used her knowledge of camera techniques to analyse this extract closely and present implied meanings. One thing she could improve on when analysing title sequences is to mention the sound used and maybe what effect it creates.

This will help our group build on our knowledge of title sequences and how they are formed.

Media Evaluation

So far in Media, I have learnt alot about the technical side of media, for example, camera, mise-en-scence, editing and sound, I have learnt about the different genres and I have also got a greater understanding of how things are represented and chosen for effect by the media to be shown on TV, in films or magazines.
I have learnt about semiology and signs eg. indexical, iconical and symbolic (Indexical is when the audience see something and immediately link it to something else, for example, if there was smoke coming out of a building, the audience would assume there was a fire. Symbolic is when a picture or object represents something else, it is something that is learnt as a 'symbol.' And finally an iconical sign is something that the audience recognises in the media, for example, Jennifer Aniston is iconic, and usually stars in rom-coms.) I have also learnt what binary opposites are and now understand that without an opposite, certain words wouldn't have a meaning, for example, how would we know what hot is if we've never experienced cold? We had to write an essay on Binary Opposites in the titanic, which really helped me to understand and remember what they were. We have been learning constantly about genre, especially thriller as this is what our coursework will be based on. I have learnt that the boundaries between genres are very blurred which is why we get hybrid genres. Hybrid genres are a mix of two or more genres in one film and are very common these days, infact it is rare to find a film with only one genre in and not one feature of another genre. I have found all of this very interesting to learn about. My strengths in media so far, are probably camera techniques, such as movement, shots, positioning etc, as we have gone over it alot in lessons and I feel like it's very easy to pick up. My weakness in media so far is probably semiology as I feel like it's very confusing and I haven't read through my notes much which would have helped me, I'm also not very good at the editing side of media because there's alot you can say about it and we haven't got over it much.  To improve, my targets are:

-When writing an essay, try to personalise your response, making your analysis perceptive and originial
-When writing an essay, make sure your notes are clear, structured and detailed.
-To gain a better understanding of signs and semiology

History of thrillers

I've been looking into the history of thrillers as i've decided it's a useful thing to know and it's very interesting to see how thrillers have developed over the years. The really old ones seemed unrealistic as technology has improved alot now, but back then I realise that it would have looked very real and shocked viewers.


The lodger is one of the first thrillers, made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926. This is about a landlady who suspects her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.

In the 1950's was when Hitchcock started adding technicolour to his thrillers, as the time changes you can see the development. Strangers on a train, made in 1951 is about a psychotic socialite who confronts a tennis star on how two complete strangers can get away with a murder, a theory that he plans to follow through.

Thrillers now, borrow themes and elements from those in the past, but to avoid repetition, tend to add in aspects of horrors genres, such as sadistic violence/gore etc. This is why often, some people mistake thrillers for horrors. The ward is a modern thriller made in 2010 centered on an institutionalised young woman who becomes terrorised by a ghost, with a big twist at the end.



As you can see by watching these thriller opening sequences, thrillers and technology used to make them has developed and evolved very much. I think the old thrillers are very classic and interesting to watch. In 'The lodger' you can see that it's shot in a sepia tone and the characters almost have a glowing outline around them. The characters' makeup looks very subtly gothic, making the film more ominous. The opening of 'Strangers on a train' is very ambiguous and shoots from a high angle only allowing the viewer to see feet walking, this causes curiosity for the viewer and keeps them interested. 'The ward' is very different from the previous two opening sequences and shows a more modern approach to thriller movies. The shattered glass could connote to the reader that the protagonist herself is broken into pieces. This opening sequence, unlike the other two, is shot in colour, reinforcing the difference between old and new thrillers.

Analysing an extract from a TV drama

In lesson, we analysed the sound from an extract from a TV drama. We then had to link it to sexuality. These are my notes...

I have learnt that Ambient sound is background sound and can be split into two:
-Foley
-Natural

Foley sound is sound that is artificial and put in for effect, and Natural sound is real sound that is captured within the scene.

I also learnt that parallel sound is sound that fits the mood or current action and contrapuntal sound is sound that contrasts with the mood or action.

This lesson has improved my knowledge on sound and how it effects the viewer. Not only will this help me in the exam, but it will also help with making my thriller opening sequence.

Analysing the survey results

So far we've got 39 responses to our survey. This is just an analysis of the results we have so far, overall I think we are aiming to get atleast 80-100 responses, so that we can judge it fairly and see what is best for our audience. Most of our results so far are very helpful, however there are a few that we won't include due to them being inappropriate.

The first question is 'What is your gender?'
I think this is a good question to ask as we can see the different opinions of male and female and from that we can decide what to include. From this question, we found out that 38% of the people that filled out this survey were male and 64% were female. From this we know that most of the people viewing our work are female, however we only have 39 responses at the moment, so that may change.

The second question is 'How old are you?'
Our categories for this question are very varied which perhaps may make it unreliable but from this question, we could see that the most popular age group were 16-30 and the least popular age group are the under 16's. This tells us that because the majority of our audience are 16+. The results are unexpected because all different age groups are showing interest in our work and sharing their opinion.

The third question is 'What do you enjoy most about thrillers?'
This question will help us alot because it helps us understand what people like to see in thrillers and what most people would like us to include. The answers varied from gore, blood and violence, to the twists at the the end and the psycological plot twists. However the answer 'suspense' came up alot, so we will take that into consideration when making our thriller opening title sequence. It was very interesting to know peoples opinions and asking this question has really helped.

The fourth question is 'What is your favourite type of sub-genre of thriller?'This is an important question to ask when doing a survey on thrillers as the genre 'thriller' can be so wide ranged. There are many sub-genres in the thriller genre and each of them are considerably different. The answers from this question, told us that psycological thrillers and crime thrillers are preferred out of the people that view our work. I think it would be good to take this into consideration and add aspects of psycological thrillers and crime thrillers into our opening title sequence. The least popular was an erotic thriller, so I don't think we should make that as it wouldn't be very successful and would satisfy the minority. I think we could have improved this question by including a text box, so the person filling out the survey could specify what other sub-genre is their favourite.

The fifth question is 'Based on your answer for the previous question, what is it about that sub-genre that you like so much?' 
This question is good as it allows us to see what features of that sub-genre they like, and from that we can include it in our opening title sequence. A you can see some answers are inappropriate and won't taken into consideration. These are just a few answers that people have written. An interesting answer we received was 'It makes you think about things and it's not just blood and gore.' Answers like this are good because it helps our group understand that we should have a good storyline/plot to our film rather than focusing on making it violent. Alot of people also answer 'mystery.' I think we should include something really interesting in our opening title sequence to cause the reader curiosity.

The last question is 'Finally, what do you expect from the opening of a thriller?'
This is one of the most important questions in the survey, in my opinion, because it asks the person filling out the survey, upfront what they would expect from an opening of a thriller, which helps us massively, as it tells us what our audience expects to see. Some answers from this contrasted each other, some people answered that they would like to know instantly what's going on, whereas other people answered that they would like to be confused at the beginning, as it's then a surprise when you realise later on in the film. An answer that came up quite a bit was 'dark eerie music.' This has helped me and my group, so far understand that the majority of people like the music to be chilling, and some sort of confusion or plot we don't know about at the beginning as it makes the viewer curious and want to watch on.

In summary, although the survey is ongoing, so the most popular answers could change, it has helped our group out alot on what to include, what people do and don't like and what makes a successful thriller. It also gave us an insight into the differences between male and females' opinions.

Hannah's further research on codes and conventions of a thriller..

Although I have done research on the conventions of a thriller, I have learnt alot from looking through Hannah's research of codes and conventions of a thriller, and I think both our research combined will really help us both and our group. It's good that we both researched similar things as we have learnt from eachothers research, and if one of us had missed out some information, the other would know it. This has personally helped me understand the features that give thrillers extra effect. For example, the use of low-key lighting , mirrors and obtrusive editing help the audience understand that the film is a thriller. I think it's very interesting how Hannah has written about why special effects such as these are included, I learnt that mirrors are usually used to 'portray the reflection of ones' soul and inner self' this is a very clever thought and I wouldn't have thought of it before reading this. She has also written about the common mise-en-scene in thrillers, they are usually shot in dark, eerie places, to create tension and anxiety. If I could give Hannah any advice on her researching, it would be to focus more on editing and sound used in typical thriller.

Our draft survey

 Together, we all came up with questions for our survey and made a draft. These were some of the questions. Obviously they need to be changed and improved but this is our first attempt. It was Finley's job to make the survey for our group. We realise that a few questions need to be altered, for example, the first two questions can be changed from text boxes, to a tick box, this would be more beneficial is it would make our results more accurate, this is because some people may fill it in wrong or put an invalid answer, whereas if it's a tick box, they only have a choice of two. For the first attempt, I am happy with the pilot survey as it helps us decide the best questions to use in the actual thing.

The survey is very important as it allows us to hear about our audiences opinions on thriller movies, and what they expect from them. This also gives us an idea of what to include and who our audience will be.

Evaluating Finley's analysis of the mark scheme...

Evaluation of mark scheme
Here Finley has clearly stated that our group are aiming for a level 4. We know from looking at the mark scheme that it won't be easy and there will be alot to include. Finley talks about how it is important to know the mark scheme well, as we can then plan what we need to have done, and I agree with this and hope that our group have read through and know the level 4 band. From analysing the mark scheme closely, I know that to get into the level 4 band, we have to show variety in all four technical areas; Mise-En-Scene, Camera, Editing, Sound. We also have to have excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the production and what should be included in a typical opening of a thriller movie.

Evaluation of Finley's analysis of 'The beach'

Finleys analysis vlog

Firstly Finley speaks about the themes of the film, which gives me an idea of what it's about, and then he goes onto say that the opening foreshadows the rest of the film and creates a sense of danger, which I know makes the viewer want to watch on. From his analysis I learnt that the titles are blurred, and this makes the film seem unpredictable and mysterious which is a good thing to have in an opening title sequence. He analyses this opening sequence in great depth which has helped me understand why certain camera shots are used, for example, a long shot, used to signify the isolation of the character. Because he has made a vlog whilst watching the opening sequence, he gets to include everything that he notices and thinks is relevant which makes it very detailed. However I found it quite hard to hear due to the sound quality. Overall I think Finley's analysis of 'The beach' is very good and the fact that he has included many opinions on the film aswell make it better. The analysis vlog was succesfull but if I could give him any advice it would be to explain more about the editing used because editing is one of the main parts of analysing an opening sequence and It will help our group out alot for future references.

Evaluation of Hannah's analysis of Casino Royale

This is Hannah's analysis of 'Casino Royale' which is a very popular bond film. Hannah's analysis has helped me understand symbolic and iconic more as she has referred to them in this, and I now know that when something is iconic, it is recognised by the audience, and symbolic is when we learn a link between a picture/symbol and a meaning.  For example, (as Hannah has said) The blood in the opening title sequence, symbolises death. Another thing I have learnt from Hannah's analysis is how camera techniques are used to show someones point of view and I think this is helpful as we can take this into consideration when plannig and making our thriller opening sequence. I think it's good how Hannah has mentioned that hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs are spun round in the background, linking to the casino theme, as I wouldn't have thought of this before and it's a very important aspect as it links to the whole film in general, and the title 'casino royale.' Overall Hannah's analysis of this opening title sequence is good as she has shown great understanding of the technical areas combined to make this opening sequence. However if this could be improved I would say that she could look at editing in more detail to get a greater understanding of it.

Evaluation of Jacob's analysis of Taken

Jacob has decided to analyse the opening sequence of Taken, to help give him a better understanding of opening title sequences and what they should include. He has written about the storyline and then focused on Camera, Mise-En-Scene, Editing and Sound. His analysis of this action thriller has also helped me with the key things to include in a opening title sequence.

From reading Jacob's analysis of taken, I have learnt that through effective use of editing, the filmmaker has made it seem like a home video, which would be effective as its aim is to make it seem like an old video of when they were a happy family. I have also learnt from Jacob that the girl getting a horse for her birthday denotes the family's wealth.  And the use of a long shot conveying his emotions and distance from his daughter. If i could give Jacob any advice on his analysis, it would be to look more at sound, and why it is used. I think this research will really help my group as the more opening title sequences we analyse, the more understanding we will have of what to include in them.

Analysis of Mission Impossible 2

What is mission impossible 2 about?
Mission Impossible two, is about a secret agent, Ethan hunt (played by Tom Cruise) who is sent to Sydney, to find and destroy a genetically modified disease called ''Chimera'' This film is an Action-Thriller, and is very fast paced and action filled with the conventions of a thriller also included.

Mise-En-Scene
Mission Impossible 2 is firstly set in a desert, this conveys lonliness and isolation of the character, however it could imply that the characater is peaceful and relaxed. The bright sun reflecting on the mountains and a bit of his neck indicates the sun setting and a beautiful view which the viewer can't see, this could be foreshadowing for the events to come, and connote that the viewer will be seeing the opposite to good, this is reinforced by positioning 'Ethan Hunt' in the shadow, implying that he isn't aware of the events to come yet. Him being the only one in the shot so far connotes that he is the protagonist. The titles then begin to show and bright colours of orange, red and white give the effect of the viewer thinking of explosions and fire.

Sound
There is a combination of diegetic sounds and non-diegetic sounds. When the opening sequence starts, you can hear a person speaking, and in the background, you can hear non-diegetic sound coming in. You can hear the wind blowing quietly and then the music gets louder and fast-paced. This creates excitement for the audience. When the sound from the titles has stopped and it changes scene, some traditional spanish music comes in and helps the viewer understand where the scene is shot.

Editing
As there is only one character presented in the opening sequence, Ethan Hunt gets alot of screen time and from this the viewer can infer that they will be the protagonist. At the beginning of this, sthe shots are slow-paced, but increases as the title animation plays and it changes to fast-paced, this gives the viewer an idea of the pace of the film and what it will be like.

Camera Techniques
The opening title sequence starts with a mid-shot of the protagonists face and gives the reader an idea of the setting and the character, it slowly zooms into his face revealing him expressionless and uninterested in what the person speaking is saying. It then cuts to an extreme close-up, and we see his glasses, which give the viewer curiosity as they can't see his face. The camera then zooms back out from the side of his face to a close up and it then pans around to reveal him and his surroundings. This gives the audience an initial idea of the film and how it may turn out.

Overall, I think this opening title sequence is good and engages the viewer, although there isn't much to say about the animation of the titles and explosions as it doesn't last for that long. However they are shown for long enough that you can read it and the use of Mise-En-Scene, Editing, Sound and Camera techniques all help give this title sequence mystery and make the audience want to watch on.

Evaluation of Finley's analysis of Homeland

From reading Finley's evaluation of 'Homeland' I have realised that it's not only films' opening sequences that are important, but also TV shows. His analysis of this has helped me aswell as him understand what to include in a thriller opening sequence to engage the audience. From Finleys research I have learnt that this film is a political thriller, the fear that the audience experiences in the opening sequence, adds to the 'keeping the audience of the edge of their seats' which is a main feature of thriller movies/shows. I have also learnt that the editing and use of camera shots, in this case, add to the lack of predictability within the film. If this could be improved, I would say that he could maybe add in more detail about the camera shots and sound.

Because of the depth Finley has gone into, this has really helped me with my key terms in media and how technical features are used for effect.

Evaluating Finley's analysis of requiem for a dream

Finley has really shown his understanding of this movie and the way that technical features are used for a specific purpose in this analysis. I have learnt from this that the film is very dark and sinister, He has really gone into detail about the characters linked with technical terms such as diegetic sounds and metaphorical meanings which has helped me realise how much is included in making a film. Finleys comments on camera techniques and mise-en-scene are very advanced and add suggestions as to why the filmmaker has decided to include this. He also talks about the effect it has on the viewer and what kind of emotions/feelings it provokes, and this helped me as I can now think about what to include in our thriller opening sequence as U will know how the audiene will react. Overall I think Finleys analysis of 'Requiem for a dream' is very good and he has shown great understanding of the film and has added additional interpretations, this analysis is near enough perfect and I dont think there is much to say about how he could improve this.

Editing and Representation

In lesson today we learnt about editing and representation, this is very important as soon we will be making our own opening sequences and will need to know how to edit our film.

We got given a sheet on editing and the different techniques which helped me gain further understanding of it. We then used the sheet to analyse an extract from doctor who.

In the film I noticed the use of; eyeline match, shot reverse shot, motivation and prevelance

-The eyeline match was used in this extract to show respect and equality for Martha's loved ones, but also shows the vulnerability of Martha and everyone she loves aswell as they are in the same situation.

-The shot reverse shot was used with high angles and low angles, to reinforce Martha's vulnerability as a woman and how the man is in a position of authority.

-The fade in/fade out flashback was used to represent two young woman and their equality, the sound included helped signify to the viewer that she was having a flashback.

-The motivation was used for Martha, she motivates cuts and is the reason for them, implying she is the protagonist and maybe even females importance.

-The prevelance (screen time) was used to indicate to the viewer the protagonists and characters of importance. Martha and the man in charge get the most screen time, therefore it denotes that they're the protagonists.

Learning this has also helped me with my research as I have to analyse opening title sequences, and with my essay writing because I can now confidently include editing.