Thriller films usually consist of a protagonist (the good guy) and the antagonist (the bad guy). In the film the protagonist tries to stop the antagonist from destroying the justice.
Low key lighting - This is a vital convention for thrillers as it creates a creepy atmosphere
Quick Cuts - This can create confusion and suspense in the audience
Shadows - used to obscure vision
Tension music - Builds tension, gets the blood pumping
Variety of angles - Canted angles are good to emphasise something odd is happening
Typically the antagonist's identity will remain a mystery until near the end of the film leading up to the big finale as the protagonist(s) know who to look for and suddenly everything gets much harder and more exciting.
The story line of a thriller must be realistic to make the audience believe that something like this could indeed happen, even to them.
The cinematography in a thyriller film will almost always have a lot of close ups and reaction shots etc. especially on characters or props in order to assist the narrative and help the audience understand whats going on in the scene/story.
Music is essential in every film, nore so in thrillers as it is a main aspect for understand the mood of the characters and to add suspense and tension
Mise en scene:
Location - Establishes the theme
Lighting - Sets the mood
Costumes - Allows identification between protagonist and antagonist
Acting - can tell us a lot about the characters e.g mental/physical state
Wednesday 26 November 2014
Friday 21 November 2014
Prelim Edited
In Wednesday's lesson (19th) I finished editing our clip, it's not perfect but it works. The biggest and most obvious issue was the water scene re-shoot issue. The scene very obviously and abruptly changes lighting, positions etc. However seeing as I ruined the first take, it was as accurate as we could manage.
Today I exported the video as a quicktime file and uploaded it to youtube for the rest of my group to use, I'll be sending them this link as it's on a private playlist - http://youtu.be/G1U847i6TPg
Our next task is to organise what groups we want to be in for the real task.
In our clip (below), Joe and I were two detectives interrogating Harry, the convict. As we were trying to immitate aspects of a thriller we tried to use low-key lighting which, according to the others in our class, we managed to do quite well. However, one of them pointed out that we didn't vary our camera angkes even though I intended to, so I obviously forgot when I was caught up in my 'amazing' acting. In all I'm not very impressed with the final product, which is my fault as I ruined a god clip meaning we had to re-shoot the whole thing but the others in my group insisted on just re-shooting the water scene, this is what rendered the clip terrible, also the ending part where I am speaking to Joe wasn't necassary.
Today I exported the video as a quicktime file and uploaded it to youtube for the rest of my group to use, I'll be sending them this link as it's on a private playlist - http://youtu.be/G1U847i6TPg
Our next task is to organise what groups we want to be in for the real task.
In our clip (below), Joe and I were two detectives interrogating Harry, the convict. As we were trying to immitate aspects of a thriller we tried to use low-key lighting which, according to the others in our class, we managed to do quite well. However, one of them pointed out that we didn't vary our camera angkes even though I intended to, so I obviously forgot when I was caught up in my 'amazing' acting. In all I'm not very impressed with the final product, which is my fault as I ruined a god clip meaning we had to re-shoot the whole thing but the others in my group insisted on just re-shooting the water scene, this is what rendered the clip terrible, also the ending part where I am speaking to Joe wasn't necassary.
Thursday 20 November 2014
Prelim task day 2
November 19th:
In this lesson Joe, Harry, Ellie and I re-filmed the water scene successfully, I had managed to stop myself from laughing by not looking at Harry. Then after that scene was done, Joe and I decided we needed another clip just to fill in some space to reach past the fourty second mark.
After we finished filming we made sure the room we used was tidied up before leaving and then set down to do some editing. Editing our short film wasn'ttoo difficult, the only issue we had was we couldn't remember which SD card our clips were on, this delayed a start to our filming as well as our room being occupied, but we manged to get everything sorted.
In our clip we used three black and white images of a crime scene to use as evidence against Harry.
In this lesson Joe, Harry, Ellie and I re-filmed the water scene successfully, I had managed to stop myself from laughing by not looking at Harry. Then after that scene was done, Joe and I decided we needed another clip just to fill in some space to reach past the fourty second mark.
After we finished filming we made sure the room we used was tidied up before leaving and then set down to do some editing. Editing our short film wasn'ttoo difficult, the only issue we had was we couldn't remember which SD card our clips were on, this delayed a start to our filming as well as our room being occupied, but we manged to get everything sorted.
In our clip we used three black and white images of a crime scene to use as evidence against Harry.
Monday 17 November 2014
Prelim Task
For my Preliminary task I was grouped with Joe C, Harry S and Ellie. In our clip Joe and I are policemen interrorgating Harry, the convict. So far we have recorded around 20 seconds and we need to fill 2 minutes. As I'm new to acting it's hard for me to keep a straight face during the interrorgation scene, but because this is easily repeatable with no noticeable effect to continuity we can re-shoot, however, when Joe had to throw water in Harry's I just couldn't hold back, so we need to re-shoot that on Wednesday, which is very difficult as the actors will need to wear the exact same clothes as they did on the original shoot day. Maybe this time I can hold back....maybe.
Thursday 6 November 2014
Se7en (Seven)
Se7en is a 'killer chiller thriller' where Detective Summerset (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) investigate a chain of murders that are based on the seven deadly sins, which are, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Wrath, Lust and Pride.
It is identifiable as a thriller due to it's very dark nature which can easily be seen by how dark the sets are throughout the film. For example, in the Gluttony crime scene the darkness is heavily emphasized by the two white beams of light from the detectives' flash lights, using light smartly can create a very dark and chilling atmosphere, on a set, there cannot be dark without light. Using this and many more techniques, David Fincher (director) and Andrew Kevin Walker (writer) have made a phenomenal thriller film.
Comparing Seven with the opening scene of 'The usual suspects' there are obvious and easy to see similiarities such as the lack of light emphasisng just how dark the show is. Including The opening titles and scene from 'Lost Highway' with it's heavy use of shadows and contrast between light and dark we can pick out an obvious trend linked with the thriller genre, which is, lots of shadows to act as a shroud of mystery and a strong contrast between light and dark to make the dark look darker.
In Wednesday's lesson (5th Nov.) we watched up until the begining of the Sloth murder before we ran out of time, though we may be able to watch the rest (or as much as we can) in Friday's lessong (7th Nov.) So far I am enjoying this thriller as it uses religion icons in a very dark way and I haven't seen many movies or series do that.
It is identifiable as a thriller due to it's very dark nature which can easily be seen by how dark the sets are throughout the film. For example, in the Gluttony crime scene the darkness is heavily emphasized by the two white beams of light from the detectives' flash lights, using light smartly can create a very dark and chilling atmosphere, on a set, there cannot be dark without light. Using this and many more techniques, David Fincher (director) and Andrew Kevin Walker (writer) have made a phenomenal thriller film.
Comparing Seven with the opening scene of 'The usual suspects' there are obvious and easy to see similiarities such as the lack of light emphasisng just how dark the show is. Including The opening titles and scene from 'Lost Highway' with it's heavy use of shadows and contrast between light and dark we can pick out an obvious trend linked with the thriller genre, which is, lots of shadows to act as a shroud of mystery and a strong contrast between light and dark to make the dark look darker.
In Wednesday's lesson (5th Nov.) we watched up until the begining of the Sloth murder before we ran out of time, though we may be able to watch the rest (or as much as we can) in Friday's lessong (7th Nov.) So far I am enjoying this thriller as it uses religion icons in a very dark way and I haven't seen many movies or series do that.
Tuesday 4 November 2014
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