LiveType, Thriller Opening
Posted on Saturday, 28 November 2009
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"G321 Thriller Research"
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LiveType is a software created by apple for making title sequences, so to make sure that I can understand how to create title for our thriller opening I have been watching these tutorials:
http://www.livetypecentral.com/cgi-bin/livetypecentral.cgi/scan/MM=86d4bf4c56b899b291fea8fd3486cce0:10:15:10?mv_session_id=uC9LvdeK&mv_pc=1&mv_more_ip=1&mv_nextpage=tutorials
Music Thriller
Posted on Thursday, 26 November 2009
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When looking for thriller music, for the opening to our thriller film, i went to the website freeplaymusic.com which is legal and free.
When i was searching for horror themed music I found this useful page
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1353
To get to this page i clicked on Dramatic Soundscape vol 1
This music is what i was thinking to use in the opening.
PreProduction for Thriller Opening
Posted on Saturday, 21 November 2009
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Meeting 2
For the second meeting we discussed the storyline and the people to the play the characters.
Plot: Sun almost setting over the isolated scene - another isolated scene in Norfolk in the distance you can see a car with the bonnet open and a man standing over it, the sound of the engine starts and then dies. The camera moves closer to the car so that you can see the female in the car. The shot changes to a mid shot of the back of the man looking at the engine he then closes the bonnet and sighs. The couple than start to have an argument about how they are lost and the car is broken down, throughout this there will be a switching of over the shoulder shots, and also some shot that show they are in a fight i.e only showing one of them, I got this idea from the film Vacancy. After the fight the girl walks of saying “I’m going to try and get signal” in a bad attitude. There will be some selection of shots showing her walking and getting signal. While she is doing that the boyfriend gets out the car and moves around, their will a shot of the field and a shape move in front of the camera, giving the sense of someone being there. It will then show a shot of the reflection in the window of the car, showing the boyfriend being stabbed. The women walks back looking at her phone saying I cant get signal “anywhere.” After realising that her boyfriend isn’t at the car she looks about and shouts a his name, she starts to looking in the car and sees a note, it reads I have found a town down the road meet me their. As she is walking down to the town there is a shot where the camera is in a hedge you see a hand with blood dripping down it and in the background the women walks past it not seeing it. It will then end with the sun setting fully.
- Though the opening there will be parts that have mysterious and spooky music to go with the conventions of a thriller
- For the blood we are going to use watered down ketchup, with a little HP source to make it less red.
Characters:
- Killer - Jack Rolph
- Women (yet to be named) - Harriet Millsopp
- Man (yet to be named) - Will Durham
PreProduction for Thriller Opening
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Meeting 1
For our first preproduction meeting, on making an opening to a thriller, we decided to talk about any ideas that we had, and this is what we came up with:
- I put forward an idea that I had been thinking about it was to film a sunset over a flat rural area, this would be to show the isolation of the area.
- Another idea that I had was maybe filming some people moving in a city and then to speed it up. Also to have a person moving though the people, very slowly though so that he can stand out, this would be to show the persons abandonment from the world. Harry came up with the idea of having the sound of a heart beat matching his footsteps
After a few ideas we decided to make the genre thriller and horror, we believed that this would be the most suitable genre for our film as most of the ideas that we came up with where for the conventions of a horror and thriller. We then came up with more ideas for this:
- We had an idea that maybe a character had visions of an arm with blood dripping down.
- For the plot of the film we thought maybe of a modern jack the ripper story.
- For the location we thought maybe isolated area in Norfolk or maybe in a multi story car park.
- We thought that the maybe the first person that the killer kills might be a hitchhiker.
- We then thought of a person who has a broken down car in the middle on nowhere.
- We also thought of putting in a twist at the beginning. We thought of a person that we would make out to be the main character in the beginning and then later would turn out to be the victim of the killer.
- The killer may have a signature to his crime i.e symbol, weapon of choice.
The Departed
Posted on Monday, 16 November 2009
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In 2006 Martin Scorsese directed the film Departed, it was a box office hit winning 4 Oscars and another 49 wins & 53 nominations. We where then asked to watch the first 5 minutes of the thriller/gangster film and to take notes on four sections Music, Narrative, Setting and Characters.
The beginning of the film starts of silent and gradually you can hear the sound of the ocean hinting at that the area is near the sea, as it continues it starts to sound like road noises, which then is revealed to be fighting in the street. Further on in the part you can start to here the Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones playing in the scenes, the music starts to die out when the gangster starts to act kind to the kid. This was done to emphise his kindness and generosity, the music suddenly builds up when he give the kid a pat on the hand.
From the open the main character Frank (the gangster) starts to talk about the 1970s Boston. He also hints at his dark side, this is shown when he says “I want my environment to be a product of me” as he says this it show a man betting up another man, thus making him seem like a thug. Frank comes out as average stereotypical gangster, you get this impression from his voice.
The setting comes out in the first few minutes with the noise of water placing it at sea. However after that the setting becomes a foul place with hate crime everywhere, mobs, etc, it also show the nature of the city in the 70s.
The first main character to be shown is Frank he come out stereotypical even with what he wears and acts like. This is shown with him smoking a cigar and blowing it out his classic hard man act. He is also shown to be feared of by people, you get this impression from when he asks the owners daughter of the store if she has started her period when the farther is right next to her. You can see the reason why later on when Frank has a flash back to when kills a couple, this is when he come out as unhinged, as he said “she fell funny.”
The child that he shows kindness to comes out as looking up to him with trying to show he’s brains, this is shown in the part where frank is giving him a speech about church. This gives the impression that the kid is placing him as his role model.
Vacancy
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For our understanding of how to make an opening to a thriller film we were asked to watch and take down notes on a thriller film, we watched the first 5 minutes or so of the movie Vacancy which is a sub genre horror. For this we asked to take down notes for this and to put them in to the following four sections, Music, Setting, Narrative and Characters. These are meant to be the most import to making a thriller film.
For the beginning of the film there is a sequence of titles, as they are played there is a frantic music playing that is giving a hint to the pace of the film, which is a fast one. After the titles there is a sequences of scenes showing a car driving all the way though a valley to tie in to the mysterious area the music changes the pace at thrilling sections, this is done at the part where he nearly hits a raccoon.
A little later on there is a close up of a radio as he changes though the radio stations just static plays, this done to show how isolated the couple are. To add to the impression that it is night and the isolation they have put in night time noises i.e an owl, crickets, etc that seem to echo, giving the feeling of being surrounded.
After the titles of the film it breaks into the number plate of a car, on the plate is writing saying California this gives the impression that they are from California, giving the impression that they are in the area. However after this you realise that they are not there as a scene shows them driving in valley full of trees, which is not native to the hot climate. How ever you also find out they are lost a little later on. Again they give the feeling of isolation as they do a birds eye view of the car, all you can see is just one set of cars head lamps moving though the road. The film makers have also put the cameras in situations that give the feeling of being watched.During the titles they use the same colours all the way though red and black. These could be semeiotic signs, the red could be hinting at danger or be representing blood, the black could be portrayed as the darkness yet to come. Another could be the title that is used as it is like the Impact title but a little different and give the effect of danger and a grungy feeling. Half way though the titles they start to extend like blood running down a wall, again being a semiotic for blood.
At the beginning of the film a man is shown driving a car he keeps rubbing his eyes showing that he has been driving a long time. As they continue driving he almost hits a raccoon almost killing him and his wife (who has been asleep), this is the first part that shows the problems in there marriage. The spouse starts to pick away at him for swerving to miss the animal, thus showing the problem in the relationship. The past comes to light when the he asks what she has been dreaming of, she then replies “it was about you strangling me,” he then replies “at least you are dreaming of me,” giving the impression that she cheated on him in the past. The film makers have also used great camera shots to give the sense that the couple are in a feud. As you can see they only show half of the car that they are on, it does get quiet confusing, but they are a great way to show separation.
In about two scenes later you get the stereotypical man saying that he nows where he is going. You also get the stereotypical women always knowing what is best to do when it comes to directions, you get this impression from “you should of just stayed on the highway!” Thought the opening you get the guy saying little joke just trying to lighten the mood, however it doesn’t seem to have the attempted affect on the spouse.
British and Hollywood which one is better?
Posted on Sunday, 15 November 2009
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British and Hollywood which one is better?
For media we where asked to look at two movies one British and the other a Hollywood film. Before I do my research of the films, I want to explain the difference of the sections, a British movies do not have a wide ranging budget most of the time they have a small amount of money, most of the time the money comes form small companies.The characters are not famous, for British films, most of the time they are just run of the mill workers. This is what Shane Meadows did for his film ‘This is England‘ and it turned out to be a blockbuster, so it is not always a bad thing.
A Hollywood film is completely the opposite, the budget is in to the high millions and is sponsored by big companies i.e. Universal studios. The characters are normally pretty famous like Brad Pitt or Matt Damon, so the pay for the actors is also high.
The two films that I have choosen are Four Weddings and a Funeral, which is a classic British comedy, and I Love You, Man a modern Hollywood blockbuster. Below is the research that I have found out about the two:
British Film - Four Weddings and a Funeral | Hollywood - I Love You, Man | |
Year | 1994 | 2009 |
Budget | $4.4 Mil | N/A |
Distributor | N/A | DreamWork Pictures |
Genre | Comedy, Romance, Drama | Comedy, Romance |
Gross Revenue | Domestic - $52,700,832 Foreign - $193,000,00 Worldwide - $245,700,832 | Domestic - $71,440,011 Foreign - $19,971,682 Worldwide - $91,411,693 |
From what I can see in the table above I would have to say that the British film came out in top. This could be for a number of reasons one could be because of this economic recession, so less people went to see the film. However for what I believed to be a Hollywood film it has not come to my expectations.
Me
