Thriller - Research & Planning

The Plot;

In my thriller the plot will include a group of friends having a weekend away. We are going to be in a log cabin in the woods having a few drinks, eating take out and enjoying ourselves. Person 1 will go out into the woods for the toilet and person 2 will jump out at them to scare them but then when they go inside and leave person 1 outside, a stranger will grab them. This is where the titling will pop out on to the screen with the name of the thriller and a loud noise/song will go along with this.

My group which includes me, Charlie, Brooke and Eloise made a mindmap which explains key points about our thriller;

Textual Analysis - Se7en

Camera angles, shots and movement; In the opening few minutes, this low angle shot of the two main characters, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt we can see that they are on the same level and portrays the both characters as dominant subjects. This is one of the first face-to-face encounters that the two characters endure and throughout the scene we see learn about their relationship and their job together. Both characters fight for dominance when shown in the opening scenes however we soon realise Morgan Freeman is made to be more powerful as frequent shots are shown of him looking down at his partner and we start to see that other 'extras' in the shots move out of the way of his character compared to Brad Pitt, where the extras bump into him. Also the camera track Freeman which shows us who the audience is supposed to focus on throughout that scene. 

Editing; The opening scenes are very fast paced, in the first few minutes it goes through many different locations starting at Detective Somertset's home, moving onto the crime scene and then the outdoor streets and this makes us assume that the whole film will be a fast pace similar to many other thrillers and this helps keep the audience on the edge and gripped to the film.

Credits; In the opening credits there is a montage of graphic imagery and the camera quickly cuts from different objects and images and their is a odd soundtrack in the background. The book is the first initial shot of the opening being enigmatic and makes the audience immediately ask questions,


and the book is flicked through and we are left to imagine what it contains.  Books symbolise intelligence and this implies that that one of the characters, maybe the villain is likely to be devious and clever. Also the credits are white and in a jaggery text on a black background and as it cuts and stops this could portray the villain being unnerved. This matches the opening scene of the characters and Morgan Freeman walks down a street with his partner and although there are alarms going off in the background he continues to walk down the street completely unnerved which makes us question whether he is a suspect.

Mis-en-scene; The costumers and hairstyles given to the characters help us understand what their personalities are like and their roles. Somerset is first seen in a white shirt and this symbolises purity and creates a sense that he is a good character and his suit shows us he has an important job, an experienced detective. Mills is also shown in a white shirt as well as Somerset and infers they are both going to be heroes, however Mills appears younger than his partner and therefore comes across as more vulnerable.

Genre Conventions

Genre conventions of a thriller

So lets start off by saying what a thriller is. A thriller is a novel, play, or film with an exciting plot and storyline which usually includes a range of bad events which builds tension and suspense for the climax. 

What conventions are used in a thriller?

Some different conventions which may be used in thrillers are;

• Changes in the angles of shots - this allows us to see the characters in different ways. E.g. low angle and high angle shots may be used to show which character is more dominant in the shot or likewise who is meant to be shown as the intimidated and weak character.
• Sound - music is essential so that the audience can understand the mood of the characters and at some points it makes it easier to build tension and suspense. E.g. background music may start at a slow pace and then build up to great drama.
• Diegetic sound of breathing or footsteps - similar to the sounds. It builds tension or a sense of drama.
• Lighting - different types of lighting are important to create an atmosphere and make some scenes more frightening than others. Low key lighting may be used to create a shadow effect or a dim look which looks eerie. 
• Mirrors - used to show the reflection of ones soul and their inner self and can show the darkness of the characters.
• Editing - quick shots and obtrusive editing can accentuate tension. Black and white editing also can be used to show the shadows in depth and appears eerie and dark.

There are different types of thrillers including horror, spy, psychological and more and they may use all of these conventions or pick and choose the ones which suit their film and the plot. Most will use the different angles of shots because this can set the scene and immediately show the audience which characters are in power. However mirrors and quick shots may not always be needed unless there is a scene which needs to show a character in panic, rushing around, so not all conventions may be used.

Screenwriters Roles

What is the role of the screenwriter from savsalt2404

Lighting

Lighting

 Artificial or natural?

This simple shot was an attempt to use both artificial and natural lighting at the same time. At the end of the corridor we can see the windows which lead to the outdoors and this is where natural lighting has slightly been let in. However on the ceiling there is a couple of lights on which are artificial and by only having artificial lights on and not letting a lot of natural light through, it still creates a dark image. This would be good to use in my thriller as I could make the artificial lights flicker and create a mysterious feel.

                                                        Natural Lighting

This shot is capturing pure natural lighting which is obvious as it is taken outside. The sun is shining directly on to the bench which is creating a long shadow after it. This type of shot creates a sense of warmth from the sun and I could use this in my thriller to show a scene set on a average day outdoors and I could add effects to make it look more like evening or brighten it to make it look earlier. However that would be easier if there was less shadows because with the length of the shadow we can tell that this shot was taken at sunrise or sunset because the sun isn't very high.

Chiaroscuro Lighting

This photo of the piano is an example of chiaroscuro lighting which is used to show the contrast between light and dark. It is usually used in paintings and art but it can also be used in films and videos to create a drama effect. In my thriller I could use this lighting to create an eerie feeling and this lighting can also be used on a persons face to create a dramatic effect and leaves a sense of mystery for the viewer.

Title Analysis - Crimson Peak

Crimson peak title analysis from Bobby Salt

Similar to many previous blogs, it does say 'From' or 'By Bobby Salt'. This is because I have done my work on his laptop logged on to one of his acccounts such as prezie, slideshare and others. Please ignore that as it has been done by me, Savannah Salt.

Final Preliminary Task

Question 6 - Evaluate your contribution to the group's work

Question 5 - Feedback from others

(This Prezi presentation was done on my brothers prezi account so it does say 'By Bobby Salt' however it was made by me).

Question 4 - How well did you meet the brief?

Question 3 - Areas For Development

Question 3 from Bobby Salt

I did this presentation on my brothers laptop so at the bottom it comes up saying 'By Bobby Salt' however it was made by me.

Question 2 - Areas of success

(I did this presentation on my brothers laptop so it says 'By Bobby Salt' however I did it myself)

Question 1 - What have you learned during the making of your preliminary task?

What have I learnt?

Technical Aspects

• Attaching a tripod to a camera
• Using a DSLR
• Using Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Before I could start the process of making my preliminary task I obviously had to learn how to actually handle some equipment. So before we started filming (as I was the director of photography) Mr Welch took me though a brief description of how to attach the camera to the tripod so that was the first thing I learnt to do with the technical aspects. Then once I'd managed to do that, I started looking at the camera, which was a DSLR camera and I had never used one before but it was pretty easy how to use so I quickly learnt how to take the videos and pictures and get them in focus.
After filming all the different videos and shots we needed, we moved on to the computers and chose which clips we needed to keep or delete so we could then move on to using Adobe Premiere Pro CC and putting the clips together and editing them so that it actually looked like a video. This was the hardest part I found as I'd never used this programme and there was so many different parts to it and a range of effects, sounds etc which made it hard to choose what to use and when.

How to manage time

My group worked extremely well to make sure we filmed in a quick period of time as we thought it was important to have more time editing than filming so in my opinion I don't feel that managing time was something we learnt in this task but I believe we did do it quickly and efficiently and this will help us know how long we need in the future on other tasks when filming and editing.

Group Work 

I worked in a group with Eloise and Leah I think we were a great group as we worked well together and got along well so it was easier to make decisions within the group and this allowed us to be more productive and throughout the process of making the preliminary task I feel we all did well in working together and making sure everything got done quickly and to a good standard. Whilst filming and editing we made sure that each of us were always doing something instead of sitting around and this increased our productivity.

Storyboarding

Before we starting our story board and planned which shots we would use when filming, Mrs Spalding took us through a brief lesson on how to do the drawings to make them look more realistic. We learnt how to draw the heads of people in different ways to make it look like they're facing a different angle and we also learnt how to use different shading techniques so that the anyone could tell what the lighting is like e.g. if the room is dark we would use intense cross hatching to make it look like that.

Issues around continuity

When we filmed the clips of the preliminary task we all thought that the clips would link together well and we would have no continuity problems, however when it came to editing and putting the clips together we did have a few problems with continuity as some clips ended up being jumpy when the final video was put together but I have learnt from this and realise that I made mistakes when moving to other positions to film another shot so next time I film I will ensure there will be no continuity issues.

Storyboard

My storyboard from Bobby Salt

Like my other posts, this does say 'By Bobby Salt' as it was done on his laptop and logged in to his slide share but this post was made by me.

Shot Types

Click Here For Shots

Preliminary Task

My First ever practical task will consist of me using camera and editing skills, as I will be filming and editing a short video which involves a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. In this video there will be two characters; the first character is Eloise who will be entering the room and sitting down and the second character will be Leah, who will already be sat in the room. This means I will not be acting in this video, but instead i will be doing the filming of it!


The video will include match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 - degree. The match on action shot will be used on Eloise when she opens the door and crosses the room, as this shot gives the impression of continuity. The shot/reverse shot will be used on both Eloise and Leah to show the two having a conversation. Finally we will use the 180-degree rule which helps the viewer see where everything is in the scene, including the characters. 
                                            180-degree Rule

In the video we are making it a thriller theme to go with the mysterious story of line of a woman who's son went missing two years ago. We will use spotlight's on the two characters with a dark background to create a feeling thriller.

FirstBlog

Hi bloggers!

So this is my first blog AND my first time doing media studies. I am really excited I have to say because from what I've heard from other people, it seems really fun and interesting.

I'm mostly excited about editing and using all new programs I've never used before but I'm not the best at acting so maybe that'll be somewhere I can improve on throughout this course... I hope.

At the moment I'm really taking an interest to horror and action films, they're just really intriguing and interesting (in my opinion), but I do tend to change my mind with genres and jump from comedy to thriller to action etc.

Also I'm a twitter addict so i'll always be on twitter and you'll be able to find me on other social medias! I'm mainly just on there to see what Justin (bieber of course) is up to!

That's all there is to know about me and my interests with media.

Happy blogging!