My Montage 12/15/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Thriller Ideas

I think that the use of Polaroid pictures would be very interesting and useful for our project. If we do a panning shot across many Polaroids of the kidnapped person when they were just out and about, this would insist that the person is being stalked, and i think it would look very intriguing and interesting.

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a doubt is a film directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock and made in 1943.

There are 2 main settings in this film. A run down city slum which looks very unattractive and an awful place to live and the second place is Santa Rosa, California which is percieved as a perfect place to live, where everyone is happy and joyful.

The  money and cigar show that uncle Charlie is well off, and the fact he is very smartly dressed also shows he has quite a bit of money. Also the way he smashes the glass shows he is a violent person. Also the fact the money was just on the floor shows he doesn't care much for money.

The uncle and neice are both in the same body position in the bed when the camera moves in on them. This shows there is a parallel between the characters in some way, although the only difference is that the neice is relaxed and the uncle is on edge.

The way uncle Charlie is lighten insists he comes to life in the dark. As soon as the blinds are closed he goes from looking down and tired in bed to more active and edgy. He is also lighten in low key lighting to show he is a dark character.

chazmangebiccyskip interviews.mov

Our Preliminary Video

My Thriller ideas

Idea 1

Setting: An empty warehouse. This would be a very scary place for the character and they would look insignificant in a large warehouse when filmed in a long shot.

Story line: Man wakes up tied to a chair in empty warehouse, not remembering how he got there. The opening scenes is then him having flashbacks to what happened the night before

Idea 2

Setting: playground, an innocent place that will be percieved as scary and twisted by the character

Story line: a child who is mentally ill gets bullied at school, and takes revenge on the bullies. POV shots can be used and show the world in a different way to how normal people se it to show he is mentally ill.

Thriller Conventions - What do the audience expect to see?

- Justice vs injustice, although there is usually a blurred line between good and bad
- Atmosphere of menace, violence, crime, murder and mystery
- Characters may have to escape from a dangerous mission from which escapes seems impossible
- Enigmas (mystery surrounding the plot)
- Society may be seen as dark and corrupt
- Literary devices such as plot twists, red herrings or cliff hangers
- Morally complex characters
- Deadlines/chases/pursuits
- The thriller genre also includes sub genres including: Mystery, crime, paranoid and political.

The viewer may also expects these aspects to a film in the thriller genre

Lighting:
- Low level lighting
- Shadows/limited view of the character
- Often at night time/dark/eerie
- Dim colours

Setting:
- Isolated/ deserted/ exotic - desert, ranch, old warehouse
- Confined locations - Lift, phone booth, cellar, train
- Generic feature of a thriller is entrapment, thus claustrophobic spaces are a key

Editing:
- Quick cuts/fast pace
- Jump cuts
- Match cuts

Cinematography:
- Camera angles high/low
- Point of view shots
- Establishing shot
- Close ups
- Frantic camera movement

Non-diegetic sound:
- High pitched music
- Ambience music
- Fast paced music

Diegetic sound:
- Creaking doors/wind/tap running/footsteps
- Silence (builds tension and is thought provoking)
- Heavy breathing
- Whispering

Characters:
- Criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims
- Morally complex characters
- Characters often have ambiguous roles

No Country for Old Men 2007 - Anton Chigurh profile

Costume - Chigurh's costume is black and a long cloak suggests he is a dark twisted character that has something to hide.

Speech (language and tone) - He is very well spoken and calm in the way he speaks, he never raises his voice or speaks in an angry tone.

Mannerisms/actions/responses - He is a very calm and collected character, he kills people without showing any remorse or emotion

Representation in film - Represented as the bad side of human nature, he is a cold blooded killer who is very strange and disturbed, this may be due to a bad childhood.

No Country For Old Men 2007

Synopsis

This film is an american crime thriller in which chance delivers Llewelyn Moss a fortune which is not his. This cat and mouse drama follows 3 men as they cross paths. There is a also a main villian in this film, which adds excitement to the film.

Costume
Lighting
Actors
Make-up
Props
Setting

Setting - The remote and deserted environment makes the viewer feel suspicious and anxious. The primitive environment also makes the viewer feel as if the characters are looking only for their needs and well being.

Sound - The sheriffs speaking in non-diegetic and sets the scene for the way characters are treated, harshly and unforgivingly. Anton talks calm and collected, which in some ways raises awareness of him.

Costumes - Anton wears all black which shows he is the villain , whilst the sheriffs wearing a lighter colour.

"The Manchurian Candidate" 2004

"The Manchurian Candidate" is a paranoid thriller about a former army major called Ben Marco trying to regain his sanity whilst unravelling a conspiracy theory that has become apparent to him in his dreams. 

There are two versions of this film, the first made in 1962 and the remake made in 2004, I am reviewing the 2004 make of the film but will be making comparisons to the earlier version. 

This film can fit into a range of genres. Paranoid thriller, Political thriller and Greek tragedy are the best descriptions of the film. The greek tragedy refers to the story of Oedipus and how he has an unnatural attraction to his own mother, this is reflected in the relationship between Raymond and Eleanor Shaw. 


The murder of Senator Jordan in this film is differs from the original version. The way Senator Jordan drowns creates a dream like state, the lighting and focus pulling in the scene makes it seem like a dream. The scene was this way because the director said he wanted the scene to symbolise that all the characters were drowning at this point in the film. The fog in the lake symbolises the lack of clarity all the characters are experiencing at this time. The non diegetic music creates tension in this scene, which is key in the thriller genre. Finally the close up on Raymonds face shows he is in  hypnotic state. 


The film climaxes when Raymond realises his soul is corrupted, therefore he sacrifices himself and his mother to eliminatebeing owned and operated. It ends with with a prominent picture of mount Rushmore on the backdrop. This invites viewers to ask questions about the past/present leaders and corruption.

Lighting

Key Lighting: The key light is the biggest and brightest of the light and the most influential, this light is usually shining on the main character or is used to highlight something that may be important to the plot of a film.

The Back Light: The Back light is used to make a character or object more 'rounded', it does this by counteracting the effect of the key light.

Filler Lights: Filler lights soften the harsh shadows that Key and Back lights create, there are usually many filler lights.

Under lighting: This is when the source of light is below the subject the camera is on. This style of lighting is usually used in thrillers and horrors and creates a scary effect on a characters face.

Back lighting: This creates a silohouette which is used to create a feeling of mystery, this style of lighting is used in thrillers.

Top lighting: This is used to hide blemishes and inperfections on the face. It is used on the star(s) of the film to make them look perfect and heroic.

Different colours make us think of different words and actions examples are:

Red: Stop, Blood, Love, Passion, Fire, Hot, Roses, Danger, Anger, Sex, Hell, Devil, Romance
Blue: Cold, Ice, Frozen, Clean, Cool, Water, Sea, Sadness, Boys, Sky, Calm, Soft
Green: Envy, Sickness, Grass, Go, Nature, Poison, Vegetables, Apple, Insects, Hulk, Recycling

North by Northwest, by Alfred Hitchcock

A New York Madison Avenue advertisement executive worker called Roger Thornhill is kidnapped because of a mistaken identity. The kidnappers thought he was C.I.A agent George Kaplan. After being accused of murder, Thornhill is on the run from the police whilst looking for the real George Kaplan to try to clear his name, on his journey he comes across a beautiful woman called Eve Kendall, who he falls for after no time at all. After an action packed sequence of events Thornhill finds out Kendall is working for his previous kidnappers. After a range of emotions and thrilling scenes Thornhill and Kendall get away, which gives the film a happy ending.

Coursework Breif

For my coursework, me and a group of peers will be a making a 2 minute preview for a thriller film. We will be using different camera angles and different types of lighting to convey a feeling of suspense that would be found in a thriller film.

Welcome to my Blog

My name is Charlie, this is my first blog, i have created it to keep track of all my my thriller coursework.