What is a Thriller?

What is a Thriller?

By definition, a thriller is a novel, play or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage.

Thrillers are notoriously known for creating suspense and often mystery through out the films, hence the word 'thrill' being apart of the word.

There many different types of thrillers, these include:

• psychological thrillers
• sci-fi thrillers
• action thrillers
• horror thrillers
• western thrillers
• adventure thrillers

In recent times the most popular genre of thriller has most obviously been action, as we can see from the IMDb popularity scale of thrillers:

1. Spectre
2. Secret in Their Eyes
3. Legend
4. The Hunger Games
5. Maze Runner

The reason for all these movies (considering they are action/thriller) are on the top of the popularity scale for thrillers is mainly because big companies such as fox who are funding these movies, are able to have much larger production funds. This essentially means they are able to have more expensive scenes (usually including explosions when talking about action) and are also able to fund their movies more. Generally, the younger generation who are the majority of the population who are visiting the cinema, or also usually more into action films. 

More established thrillers include:

• Seven
• Psycho
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Oldboy
• Black Swan
• Leon

As we can see from this list of the more established thriller films that much less of them are action and many more are psychological thrillers. In my opinion psychological thrillers have much more of a stronger long-term impact on viewers than action thrillers. Psychological thrillers actually get the viewers thinking and when done correctly are able to draw the viewers into the movie. With action thrillers most of the time the viewer's thinking is done for them and less of a thought process is required as the story line is usually more obvious.

My personal favourite thriller is Fight club directed by David Fincher with a cast who included Brad Pitt, Edward Nortan and Helena Bonham Carter. The movie is about an insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much more.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUXWAEX2jlg



3rd & 4th Production Meeting

Production Meetings

3rd:
In the third production meeting we developed our human trafficking storyboard even further. Adam handed us a storyboard sheet which allowed us to add much more details to each specific shot, such as sections for shot duration, lighting, shot angle etc.. We realised that most of the details we had decided then would most likely be changed or altered either as we progress with our storyboard, on the day or in editing.

4th:
In the forth meeting we started making a character and cast list. The characters were fairly easy to put on paper as most of our opening title is based around the characters and their actions. The cast list is not quite finalised but we've decided to use teachers to play the roles of the traffickers to help show a clear contrast in age between them and the girl. It would also make the idea of the girl being vulnerable more clear/believable.

1st & 2nd Production Meeting

1st & 2nd Production meeting

1st: 

In my group of three we started by all sharing our two favourite ideas out of our four. This helped eliminate the ideas which we weren't as interested in and highlighted the ideas which had stronger potential. Ideas which originally were not considered became considered as having other insights help see another perspectives on what would be visually interesting. We are produced rough storyboards of our ideas. The purpose of this was to help other group members to visualise all the group member's idea's.

2nd:
Rosie's idea of a girl who becomes kidnapped and eventually is turned into a human trafficker became very appealing to us as we were able to visualise a good opening title for a movie with the storyline. We began by making a more detailed storyboard for this idea which naturally pushed this idea to a priority position. Other group members idea's were not put out of consideration but our groups main focus was on Rosie's idea.

Dividing into Course Work groups

Dividing into Course Work groups

Our teacher put the whole classroom's names into a randomiser. This helped predict our groups in a fair way, eliminating friends working together and others not being in the groups they wanted. Having the groups chosen randomly stopped dispute about not being chosen fairly. The groups were split up into 3 groups of 3 and 1 group of 4. I was happy having one of the groups of 3 and being selected with Alec Heriter and Rosie. We seem to already have strong ideas which we are progressively building on. 

Opening Title Sequence - 4 ideas

Course Work Opening Title Sequence - 4 ideas (Thriller)

Story 1: 

A grandma becomes mental and tries to kill the young child (around 6) in the family. The rest of the family go away and leave the child with the grandma, even though they know the grandma resents the child and is a threat to her. The parents therefore leave the child with poison which she eventually kills the child with.

A big house is located in the woods. The fact the house is isolated would be made clear by the little surrounding events taking place in that area. The family would be shown driving off and away from the house after saying goodbye to their young daughter who is left sitting on the porch steps of the house. The husband says to his wife 'everything will be alright' (only dialogue in the opening title sequence). The child is then shown walking/touring around the house, a follow shot from behind would be used to display this. A close up shot would be used to highlight the child's possession of the poison in her right hand. She'd eventually reach a room where her grandma is present. The camera would slowly rise displaying the grandma looking down on the child.

Story 2:

A teenage boy was set up at school which led to him being expelled and the police getting involved. Even though the boy didn't plead guilty he was sent to prison for an unfair sentence where he was abused and mentally and physically scar'd. The only way he could protect himself was by becoming more aggressive and dangerous. He forever wanted to take revenge on the teachers who weren't fair to him at school and contacted the police about what he'd been set up to do. When he leaves prison he has no job/money and eventually cannot even afford food, therefore he becomes a cannibal and plans his revenge against those who did him no justice at his old school. 

A student is working in his dormitory at boarding school. The surrounding setting is dark (night time) and only his work light is on in the room. A flashlight then points into the dormitory window so he therefore goes to check what is is. Nothing is there. There then is a slight knock at the window and when he checks nothing/nobody is there yet again. The work light suddenly flicks off and the window smashes through. At this point the room is pitch black and the only sound heard is the window smashing.

Story 3:

A nanny goes to pick up the child she looks after from school. They usually drive home but it was a nice day so the nanny thought they'd walk home through the park (school is 15-20mins walk from home). When the nanny arrives at the school the weather is already much worse compared to when she first started walking. The child she looks after is around 6-7 years old. They eventually reach the park where it is almost completely dark as it is not lit. As they walk through the park they get lost and a chain of events begin.

The nanny and child start walking through the park (most follow shots used). Sound effects of rustling leaves and trees whistling would be added to add to the background noises. The nanny realises that the have taken the wrong route but tries to keep calm in the situation. They are unable to see as it's very dark so they therefore cannot figure out where exactly they are. The child starts complaining/whining which adds pressure to the nanny. Eventually the child starts crying which adds attention towards the two. The nanny starts getting distressed and starts walking much more quickly but she eventually trips on a stick. Her legs starts bleeding and she's quite badly crippled. With the nanny bleeding from her leg is laying down on the floor and at this point the child begins to cry hysterically. 

Story 4: 

An evil teenage son in a farmer family tries to overtake an kill his whole family. He does this by using farming equipment such as pitchforks etc and eventually taking his baby sister as a hostage. The grandpa in the family ends up killing the evil son by using his dog (who has an extremely aggressive nature) to find him. The dog attacks the evil son and eventually killing him but brings the baby sister back and safe.

The scene would begin with the grandpa shouting 'where has he hidden her?!' in distress but is helpless as he's aged and incapable of finding the evil son by himself. A barking dog with a metal chain would be tied around the grandpa's chair. Close up shots would be shown of the grandpa's face and of the barking dog's. This would prefreably located on a porch of a house with a grey/foggy surrounding. The teenage boy would then be seen running with a baby through the woods. The baby in his hands would be crying (helps add to the distress of the situation). The dog would then be released by the grandpa and the dog runs off into the foggy distance barking repetitively. 

Prelim Task

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BBASVOJWsg&feature=youtu.be

Preliminary Editing

Preliminary Task Editing

After collecting all of the film from shooting on the previous friday, Fernando, Thomas and I all went to the studio yesterday to edit everything we had shot. As we shot from a story board, we based most of our shooting angles around the ones they had given which cut out the time which would have required us to think about which shots to use when. 

Using the editing software Adobe premier on an Apple computer, Thomas, Fernando and I all took turns in using the mouse and keyboard allowing us ultimately to have a shared, equal view on the outcome of our piece. 

Fernando has a fair amount of experience on the canon 5D (camera we used to shoot) so was able to do more creative shots such as the focus pull.

We all gave cutting an editing a go and we noticed that most of the film we shot we unnecessary to use in our final piece. 

Kyle Cooper - Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Title Sequence

'Blamed for a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the entire IMF agency are disavowed by the U.S. government, while the president initiates the Ghost Protocol. Forced to go "off the grid" -- left without resources or backup -- Hunt must somehow clear the agency's name and prevent another attack. Complicating matters even more, Ethan must undertake the impossible mission with a group of fellow IMF fugitives whose actual motives are suspect.' 

This movie clearly comes under the genre of action/thriller with aspects of high technology. 

In the opening title sequence (done by Cooper) all these styles are evident and this prepares the audience perfectly for what to expect in the movie. 

Typically of Kyle Cooper, the credits presented on the screen are not held for a long duration - instead they are quickly faded out by being sparked by fire. An example is shown above.

Kyle Cooper - American Express Ads

Kyle Cooper - American Express

Prologue films (a company owned by Kyle Cooper) designs many famous television advertisements for some of the worlds biggest companies.
These can be found here: Prologue films best adverts


A client of Prologue films are American Express who turned over US$35 billion last year (2014) so are more than capable to afford Prologue's skills.

Before Prologue started American Express' adverts consisted primarily of the advert revolving around a particular character (usually a celebrity) but with no graphics or anything which involved with graphic design.
As soon as Prologue took over an instant difference with the adverts became obvious and graphic design became the main focus. Keeping the celebrity aspect (Matt Smith doing the voice overs) Prologue films managed to create adverts which have humor, innocence and quirkyness to them and are able to reach a wide target audience, which is their jobs, to reach the widest target audience possible - essentially selling their given product. The adverts by Prologue are cartoon designs.
My favourite of these adverts can be found here: American Express ad

Introduction Kyle Cooper

Introduction Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is an American designer of motion picture title sequences. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and studied interior architecture at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Kyle Cooper has directed over 150 film title sequences. He is the founder of two internationally recognized film design companies, Imaginary Forces and Prologue Films earned a M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art, where he studied independently with Paul Rand.

Cooper is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and holds the honorary title of Royal Designer for Industry from the Royal Society of Arts in London.

He has directed and produced more than 150 film title and VFX sequences, including Se7en, Spider-Man, and The Mummy. In 2001, he directed a feature film, New Port South.

He is known for designing and producing the title sequence for the movie Se7en. It's said that this movie's title sequence revolutionised movie title sequences all together.

Se7en opening title sequence

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

In our group of three (Fernando, Thomas and I) were given a set storyboard to film between us. Between our group of three we all contributed to directing but our set roles were Fernando behind the camera and Thomas and I acting. 

Fernando used the canon 5D to film our storyboard which was great for full frame shots, using low light and dabbling with the colour space. 

We filmed it down in the studio which had a pre-made set which included a brick wall and a door (which Thomas used to enter through in the opening scene). 

For our first shot we filmed the whole storyboard in a wide shot. We did this so that when editing we are given the safety net to be able to cut back to anything we may want to use which involved the wide shot. We filmed the whole storyboard in most of our shots which included the over my shoulder shot, the over Thomas' shoulder shot and medium and extreme close-ups of Thomas and I. The medium and close up shots helped display our facial expressions on camera.

We used a focus pull on the over my shoulder shot to focusing on the back of my head to Thomas' facial expression when he was leaving the room.  

Being aware of the 180 degree rule we found it necessary for our camera man (Fernando) to make sure that we did not switch sides when he filmed (me on the right, Thomas on the left).  

Into to Editing

Into to Editing

This was our first lesson going into the editing suite upstairs. 

We were introduced to all of the macs in the suite and the editing program used by Hurtwood (Adobe premier). Matt gave us an introductory lesson on how to use and get around the basics of Adobe premier considering most of us had no clue how to at the time. We were then split up into the groups we were in when we filmed our short phone call scene. By all talking turns of using Adobe, fairly quickly we were all capable of doing the basics which included cutting and pasting certain parts of our scene, enabling us to add diversity to in our shots. 

Se7en Opening Title Sequence

Se7en - Opening Title Sequence

Puts recognizable names early on in the title sequence. Can tell this movie is a contrast from films Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow usually feature in.

Editing: Many short unclear images. Mash-up like sequence of scratched frames and fuzzed up glitchy graphics.

Sound: Chainsaw like sounds. Sounds of raw/metal machinery. Heard to tell at times whether it was someone crying/screaming or if it was the high pitched machinery. Unsettling sounds makes the watcher feel uncomfortable and ideas of murders to come are obvious.

Camera: Primarily all close up shots. This adds to the intensity. It helps make the images more unclear and therefore more mysterious. No facial shots. Creates atmosphere that we are watching over the works of a crazy person/murderer. 

Mise en Scene:Very dark and unsettling. Random contrasting possessions such as notepads, books, images of children, money (dollar notes). Pages of writing in a notepads brings ideas of a crazy person or someone who is obsessed with a project. Mysterious atmosphere. 

Conclusion: Possibly about a murderer or a murder mystery?

Introduction to Camera 2

Introduction to Camera 2

This lesson involved us being split into groups and physically filming on the cameras.
The lesson started with us learning how to film framing shots which included mid shots, close ups and extreme close ups. We used a motorbike to help experiment with an object how different shots work etc.
After watching Matt (media teacher) film the motorbike we were allowed to split up into groups and film a short scene to help us get used to filming on one of the cameras. In a group of 4, my group simply filmed someone getting a phone call, answering the phone, then putting the phone back into his pocket.
We also learnt the importance of continuity and how their are specific jobs just to keep the continuity in sets/shots.
Continuity is the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over time, therefore not breaking the continuity is fairly important and if you did break it the film wouldn't quite add up.

Tree of Life - Opening Sequence

Tree of Life - Opening Title Sequence

Editing: Basic cutting. Makes it seem as if the camera man is walking around the garden. Cuts to different locations in the garden to make it seem like a tour. Focuses in on a poppy field, this relates to the war-like music played in the background.

Sound: Choir singing. Repetitive. Calming and fairly reflective. War-like music, makes us think an event or a death has taken place. Also music you would may hear at a funeral or a church service. 

Camera: Uses a POV shot through out. The camera tours around what seems like the family garden. Camera man purposely doesn't keep the camera steady to create a more surreal POV like shot. Many focusing shots on specific leaves/trees etc.

Mise en scene: Lots of nature. Primarily leaves and general vegetation. A swing with a baby seat represents how they are most likely kids living in this bag garden. Lots of sunlight. Season of autumn as there are many leaves on the ground. Images of red occur, this relates to the music which relates to blood and death. No kid in the swing represents a possible death of a child in the family.

Sexy Beast - Opening title

Sexy Beast - Opening title

Editing: Slow cuts and minimal editing. Reflects the character's laziness. 

Camera: Uses Birdseye view shot to display him lying down as if he were a beach whale.

Sound: 

Mise en scene: Fairly remote as in the cliffs (probably Spain).

Main character: Seems to have a big villa in what looks like Ibiza, therefore seems to have a reasonable amount of money. Has an east London accent. Comes off as quite rude and arrogant by the way he talks to his pool boy. Wears lots of gold jewelry and very much has a drug dealer's look about him. 

The Shining - Opening Title Sequence

The Shining - Opening Title Sequence

Kubrick starts his master piece with

Editing: The pace was set at a very low speed, this was achieved by Stanley Kubrick's use of long duration's and limited use of cuts.This portrays that the car is travelling for a long distance as the journey seems extended. 

Camera: The whole opening sequence is filmed from a helicopter. This is known as at one stage in the sequence the helicopters shadow is made evident (not purposely). The use of the helicopter gives a VLS of the car, therefore whoever is driving the car is not made visible. The camera follows the car till it eventually cuts to an imagine of the ski lodge. Kubrick captures the beauty of the mountains and hills using the VLS. The mountainous shots and the little amount of cars on the road help explain how isolated this area is. At one stage the helicopter comes down and films the car from a close up but then quickly swerves away, not giving the audience enough time to see a driver or passenger. This gives the effect of us following the car.

Sound: The music used by Kubrick effectively highlights how this is the beginning of a horror film. The uncertainty creates a juxtaposition between the music and the fascinating scenery. Ghost like noises are heard nearer to the end of the opening sequence which more obviously portrays the eeriness to this horror.

Mise en scene: The nature displayed by Kubrick is quite clearly stunning and also quite powerful. We're shown mountains and hills

NOT FINISHED

Dead Man Shoes Opening Title

Dead Man Shoes - Opening Title Sequence

Editing: The edits repetitively show flashbacks of childhood memories of the two brothers surrounded by smiling families. This helps portray the timeline of their long brotherhood considering the brothers looked younger than 5 years old in the flashbacks. As in the flashbacks it shows everyone smiling and playing nicely with each other, this shows how not only is their relationship built through being brothers but that it’s also built by being friends.

Sound: The music used by the director seems fitting for the location they’re in. The music has a fairly slow pace to it which brings reflection to the tone. It is definitely not uplifting which hints at something negative to continue from the opening of the movie.

Camera: Many establishing shots are used to help display the scenery in which the brothers are walking through. These striking shots present the magnificence of how far the brothers must be walking. When the flashbacks occur a much lower definition is used to show us the past and when cut back to the present it goes back to regular high definition again.

Mise en scene: The brothers walk through a remote countryside. The brothers walking together but not speaking to each other relates to this hostile environment. It is clear the temperature is fairly low as there is visible fog throughout where they are walking and they are both fairly well dressed. The past (flashbacks) contrast the presents unfriendliness.

Conclusion: The conclusion of this opening presents us with ideas that the brothers are heading somewhere with importance. The way one walks in front and how they do not make conversation explains how focused they seem to get to their destination.  

Camera Introduction

Camera Introduction

In our last lesson we were introduced to the camera studio. The studio contained 3 professional cameras all capable of filming in HD quality. We learnt the ins and outs of filming and are now all capable of doing the basic functions of using these cameras. 

Sony Nx5: The Sony Nx5 is the biggest out of the three. It is known for being more sturdy than the other cameras, therefore is used in more unsafe environments (compared to the other cameras). For example many camera men used the Nx5 in the London riots in 2012 as it is also fairly easy to carry around. It costs around £2,500 which is slightly less than the other two cameras.

Canon EOS 5D: The Canon EOS 5D is the smallest and most compact camera out of the three. This camera is different as it is not specifically built for filming, like the other two. What makes this camera so special is its 5D13 zoom lens. Personally I find this camera has the best quality and I look forward to using it in my future filming.



Sony FS700: The Sony FS700 is made for motion picture shooting. It has a useful zoom feature which would come in handy when filming close ups.

Introduction

 

Intro

Hello, I'm taking A1 media at Hurtwood House. Mainly because Media at Hurtwood is clearly taken quite seriously and the standards they have here are well accomplished. The aspect of having the opportunity to write, direct, shoot, mix and edit films, music videos, advertisements and documentaries was also certainly a main factor of why I wanted to study media at Hurtwood.



Originally I was born in London but my mum is from Bahamas and my dad is Scottish, I've lived in London my whole life.

Music in general also grasps my attention. I played the violin for most of my life (reached grade 6) and guitar and piano are additionally instruments I've reached grade 2 to. Even though I've stopped having lessons in these instruments my interest in music continues.

Over the summer I spent a week working a LGA management in Covent garden in central London. LGA is a photography agency who has clients such as Annie Leibovitz and Jens Langkjaer. I spent another week working with matches fashion down in clapham in their house brand department ('Raey').

Film and directing has always caught my eye so there was a natural urge to explore the ins and outs of how films are puzzled together. Directors such as Tarantino and Scorsese have drawn my attention to specific filming techniques.