Thriller research - "Daybreakers" Lorna Wilson

Over the weekend I went to the cinema with some friends to see Daybreakers, also a Thriller. It's a great film full of action, suspense and thrills that had us jumping off our seats.

Outline of the beginning sequence

• Silence then bat flies at screen making loud screechy noise, making audience jump building unexpected tension.
• Starts with birds eye view of character, odd lighting suggests something extra ordinary close up of photographs of the small girl, eerie and cynical. sound – silence, sounds of pencil to paper , leaves note on her bed
  
• Dark room she opens door, light from outside creates sihloette of the girl. establishing shot of house and sunset, still silent.
  
• Audience see girls face, eyes prove theres something different about her, flashes back to letter. intense eerie music fades in getting louder building tension. close up on letter “never grow up!” “cant go on” music gets louder as sun appears non diagetic sound of girl screaming flashes back to character as she bursts into flames and disintergrates cut into darkness.
  

Joyride thriller - Amelia King.

Enigma Codes.
I found the short thriller film Joyride really effective, there were questions you wanted to find the answers to, for example;

• Who were the two antagonists?
• What did they want?

Narrative.
Throughout this film it was mainly restricted narrative, but there was a scene where it was unrestricted, this was were the protagonist thought he had escaped but we could see the antagonist behind him.

Sound.
I really liked the way they used sound-bridges in this film, the one I found worked the best was where their car crashed into a tree but the audience didn't see it you could just hear it. This left you wanting to know what had happened to them.

Set - up.
The establishing shot was of the protagonist presumably out doing a job for work, I thought it was good that this setting was also how the film ended.

Seven - Emma

Seven

Enigma Codes

These are used effectively to make the audience ask questions about what's happening.

• How was the person murdered?


• Why did the Police Man want Somerset to leave?


• Why did Somerset want to leave?


• Why was he so organised and precise?

• Why the metronome?
  


• Where were they? Which city?

These questions were raised by Leaving things out. Shot's of the first dead man didn't actually show how he was murdered, only a pool of blood next to him.

The tone in which the Policeman said that they couldn't wait for Somerset to leave was cold and hostile, making the audience wonder why.

His precision with his clothes and the metronome are very telling character traits.

Although they spoke about a city, they never specifically mentioned which one, leaving the audience wondering.


Character Construction

The characters are very well, but very subtly introduced in this opening.

Somerset

• Neat


• Tidy


• Passes easily through the crowd


• Walks with an air of authority


• Masculine house


• Old 'Used' switch knife

Mills

• Scruffy


• Battered/Worn leather jacket


• Crumpled tie


• Battered by the crowd


• Late


• Chewing gum


• Unshaven

All of these qualities suggest charecter traits that will help the audience to relate more easily.

One Hour Photo - Emma

In Class, we watched the opening of 'One Hour Photo', up until 3:43 and were asked to write notes and answer some questions.

A) The main character- What sort of person?

I think that the main character Sy, is a loner because he seems perfectly content being held in the interview room on his own. He's staring into space and smiling with his legs crossed, suggesting he's on his own a lot as he handles it so well. He seems a little doddery as he stumbled on the line and wasn't sure of his left and right.

B) How do you feel about the main character? - Why?


He gives me an edgy feeling, like I wouldn't want to be around him for too long or I wouldn't want to be near him on my own. Robin Williams achieves this by showing a lack of emotion, bar a polite smile here or there. This feeling was also emphasised by the fact that he was being questioned in what appeared to be a well equip police department.

C) Analyse opening credits - Why have they created them in this particular way?

i think that the credits are done in an effective way. even if the audience had never heard anything about the film other than it's name, they would link the title, being about photo's to the credits as the look like a film making prints and exposing paper. I also liked that there seemed to be an imprint left behind, hinting to the audience that there will always be consequences for your actions.

"One Hour Photo" extract - Lorna Wilson

1. In the opening extract from the thriller "one hour photo" camera work, sounds, editing and mise en scene communicate to the audience. From this extract the main character is depicted as an average middle aged family orientated man, soft spoken and seemingly not very threatening, this could suggest a psychological problem. The extract shows him in a police chamber being photographed and interrogated proving him to be a criminal, surprising for his appearance.
The opening credits have been created in a particular way, and could foreshadow the film. Colours used in the credits are white and red, this is typical of blood, death or danger. The credits start off white, flash then turn red. This could mean danger in relation to the camera. The flash of the text is similar to that of a camera, the detailing and symbols around the text are also found on a camera screen.
The setting of the police station is plain, spacious and linear, with a lot of metals and pale colours. This builds a harsh isolated and controlled atmosphere, making the main character look really out of place. There's a few long fixed pauses with the camera focussing on various pieces of equipment e.g. the camera at the beginning of the clip and the computer CCTV screen. This creates an eerie setting, along with the quiet sound which builds tension.
The effect of the Flashback is created through sound, mise en scene, editing and camera work. The sound effect of a camera flash links to make the transition in atmosphere and setting, other sounds of cheerful music and echoed children's laughter suggest a memory rather than reality. Mise en scene helps to create the effect as costumes are celebratory and lighting is brighter and colourful. Editing provides a brighter contrast in the flashback and the scene changes dramatically from harsh to fun and completely relaxed.
Aspects of mise en scene and sound work help to communicate very different atmospheres between the two places (police room and family celebration in garden) Body language in the police station is very stern and controlled, whereas the celebratory scene is active and fun. The sound work in the flashback is slightly echoed and is accompanied by a voice over taken from the main character who's memory it is. Generally the two settings are opposite to the other.

Peer Evaluation Feedback - Emma

After watching our film in a lesson twice, the rest of the class evaluated it for us. They said we had

• Good Framing
• Good Attention to Detail (The Ransom Note)
• Good Locations (The room the hostage was in)
• An Appropriate Use of Sound
• Good performance on our actors part
• Good Camera Movement
• Some Continuity Errors (The Paper missing and the Door Opening the Wrong Way)
• A Dodgy Cut (When Craig Was Entering The Room)

And that the pace could have been quicker.

I was happy to hear that they thought the sound worked well as I spent quite a bit of time on it, and that the framing worked well.

In regards to the continuity errors, we should have paid a lot more attention. They could have been eliminated in the planning stages if we’d spent enough time on it.

The dodgy cut was due to a technical malfunction, as the end of the first shot had fuzzed up. We would have used the full second shot, but it didn’t start in the same place, so we edited it together the best we could.

This evaluation has again helped me realise that we need to devote a lot more time to the planning stages and pay way more attention to detail.

Peer Evaluation Feedback - Lorna Wilson

After watching the preliminary films back with the class, we received a lot of good comments as well as some useful pointers. These were that we could've quickened the pace to add more tension, and the continuity error of the ransom note and match on action when the pull door is pushed.
Good points :

• Good framing and attention to detail e.g. ransom note.
• Good choice of location.
• Appropriate soundtrack that suited the mood.
• Good performance by the actors.
  
• Good range of camera shots and movement.
  

Overall I'm pleased with the outcome of our preliminary film. Despite some of the technical hitches and errors, I've learned a lot about the making of films which I'll use for the real task.