Above is the shot list for the opening sequence of 'Alone?'Friday, 5 December 2008
Location sheet
This is the location that we are going to be using for filming. It is Lauren's House which is located in Warrington. We will be using various rooms within this house including the bathroom, the stairs and hallway, and the living room.
Production Material - storyboard
Below is the storyboard for our thriller opening. It is a visual representation of the storyline. furthermore the shot list order is from the bottom to top shot 1 to shot 14
CHARACTER OUTLINES and script character profile
Edward Burns:
Edward Burns is a 25 year old mental patient at the MIOS Hospital, Manchester. He's been living at the hospital for five years
Growing up, Edward was raised in a big house by his Mum and Dad (Sarah and John Burns) he had two younger siblings, Jenny and Joe.
He didn't have a very good childhood, despite his wealth. His parents were extremely strict with very high standards. They wanted to raise the perfect son.
Edward being the oldest was the one that they beat down hard on. They sent him to the top schools in London to which he was but an average student there. Edward's home life, however, was far from great.
When he was the mere age of eight his father started sexually abusing him and beating him within an inch of his life for getting 'insufficient' grades such as B's and C's
Growing up, Edward turned very bitter towards his family. His mother did nothing to stop her husband treating Edward the way he did, she saw it as 'correct disciplinary rules'. She knew what her husband was doing to their eldest son and stood back and did nothing.
To the eyes of their neighbours the Burns family were a very well kept family. Everyone looked up to them and admired their wealth and power. Sarah liked the attention she was getting and wouldn't jeopardise that reputation by putting a stop to the horrible 'fathering' of Edward.
Edwards younger siblings grew up completely unaware of their fathers ways of 'teaching' and were therefore completely innocent to what their older brother had to put up with and were baffled by his shy, hide-away nature.
However, Edward thought they all knew and enjoyed to watch him suffer therefore hiding himself away and growing apart from his family. He tried to escape many times but, due to his fathers wealth and power over the local society, he was always found, beaten within an inch of his life, 'attacked by someone on the street' and sent to the nearest hospital for treatment.
Before Edward was brought to the MIOS Hospital he ended up in the Liverpool General Hospital numerous times covered in full body bruises and a face full of blood.
He stayed quiet about the attacks and no body knew what happened to him. Everyone was completely unaware of Edwards home life or where these bruises were coming from. His parents paid for his recovery and to be treated and he was eventually sent home after every visit.
Every time Edward would return home the Liverpool General would get calls from his parents about Edward having manic fits, shouting, screaming and the last call received was a terrified mother calling for the police because Edward had pulled a knife out and held it to his sisters neck threatening to kill her.
That's when he was brought to MIOS. At the time of his arrival at MIOS, Edward was 20 years old. The doctors at MIOS declared Edward insane and he's lived there ever since. He still wakes up of a night shouting and screaming incoherently. Only one word can ever be correctly heard. 'Alone'
Edward Burns is a 25 year old mental patient at the MIOS Hospital, Manchester. He's been living at the hospital for five years
Growing up, Edward was raised in a big house by his Mum and Dad (Sarah and John Burns) he had two younger siblings, Jenny and Joe.
He didn't have a very good childhood, despite his wealth. His parents were extremely strict with very high standards. They wanted to raise the perfect son.
Edward being the oldest was the one that they beat down hard on. They sent him to the top schools in London to which he was but an average student there. Edward's home life, however, was far from great.
When he was the mere age of eight his father started sexually abusing him and beating him within an inch of his life for getting 'insufficient' grades such as B's and C's
Growing up, Edward turned very bitter towards his family. His mother did nothing to stop her husband treating Edward the way he did, she saw it as 'correct disciplinary rules'. She knew what her husband was doing to their eldest son and stood back and did nothing.
To the eyes of their neighbours the Burns family were a very well kept family. Everyone looked up to them and admired their wealth and power. Sarah liked the attention she was getting and wouldn't jeopardise that reputation by putting a stop to the horrible 'fathering' of Edward.
Edwards younger siblings grew up completely unaware of their fathers ways of 'teaching' and were therefore completely innocent to what their older brother had to put up with and were baffled by his shy, hide-away nature.
However, Edward thought they all knew and enjoyed to watch him suffer therefore hiding himself away and growing apart from his family. He tried to escape many times but, due to his fathers wealth and power over the local society, he was always found, beaten within an inch of his life, 'attacked by someone on the street' and sent to the nearest hospital for treatment.
Before Edward was brought to the MIOS Hospital he ended up in the Liverpool General Hospital numerous times covered in full body bruises and a face full of blood.
He stayed quiet about the attacks and no body knew what happened to him. Everyone was completely unaware of Edwards home life or where these bruises were coming from. His parents paid for his recovery and to be treated and he was eventually sent home after every visit.
Every time Edward would return home the Liverpool General would get calls from his parents about Edward having manic fits, shouting, screaming and the last call received was a terrified mother calling for the police because Edward had pulled a knife out and held it to his sisters neck threatening to kill her.
That's when he was brought to MIOS. At the time of his arrival at MIOS, Edward was 20 years old. The doctors at MIOS declared Edward insane and he's lived there ever since. He still wakes up of a night shouting and screaming incoherently. Only one word can ever be correctly heard. 'Alone'
Character Outlines
INT. BATHROOM. NIGHT.
First, we get an angled mid-shot of the shower curtain. JENNY is whistling in the shower. Water is running. The main credits start rolling across the screen.
INT. HALL/LANDING. NIGHT.
Panning shot of JENNY walking out of the shower following her feet from the bathroom to her bedroom. JENNY is whistling throughout.JENNY comes out of the bedroom, fully dressed, for a night out with the girls. JENNY walks down the stairs, makes a cup of coffee and turns on the t.v.
INT. LIVING ROOM. NGHT.
T.V is turned on by JENNY. T.V Broadcast.
TV PRESENTER:
And now for tonight's top story. A mentally ill patient from the MIOS hospital in Manchester escaped three days ago. Police are still on the lookout but there is still no sign of him. Doctor's from MIOS are extremely concerned for the welfare of anyone he meets as he is, at this point in time, extremely unstable and could cause a major upset. Coming up on your screen is a picture of the patient who's name is Edward Burns. If you come across this man or see him anywhere, the doctor's at MIOS urge you to advice the police of his whereabouts right away as he can be a danger to you and himself...
JENNY cuts off the T.V before the picture is shown.
ZOOM IN to JENNY's face to show the shock and realization.The lights flicker off and on. There's a knock at the door. JENNY anxiously walks over to the door. Camera follows behind her with a tracking shot. JENNY walks right out to the edge of her road.
CUTS TO EDWARDS's POV running inside the house, looking back at JENNY and up the stairs.
BACK TO JENNY.
Long shot of her walking through the hall towards the camera looking nervous. There's a bang upstairs and she turns around nervously. REVERSE-ANGLE EDITING to show her reaction.
JENNY:
Hello? ...Is anybody there?...*shakes head and turns back to the living room*
EDWARD's POV shot from behind JENNY as he sneaks up behind her. EDWARD grabs JENNY from behind, puts a chloroformed cloth to her mouth and drags her through the hall and out the door.
First, we get an angled mid-shot of the shower curtain. JENNY is whistling in the shower. Water is running. The main credits start rolling across the screen.
INT. HALL/LANDING. NIGHT.
Panning shot of JENNY walking out of the shower following her feet from the bathroom to her bedroom. JENNY is whistling throughout.JENNY comes out of the bedroom, fully dressed, for a night out with the girls. JENNY walks down the stairs, makes a cup of coffee and turns on the t.v.
INT. LIVING ROOM. NGHT.
T.V is turned on by JENNY. T.V Broadcast.
TV PRESENTER:
And now for tonight's top story. A mentally ill patient from the MIOS hospital in Manchester escaped three days ago. Police are still on the lookout but there is still no sign of him. Doctor's from MIOS are extremely concerned for the welfare of anyone he meets as he is, at this point in time, extremely unstable and could cause a major upset. Coming up on your screen is a picture of the patient who's name is Edward Burns. If you come across this man or see him anywhere, the doctor's at MIOS urge you to advice the police of his whereabouts right away as he can be a danger to you and himself...
JENNY cuts off the T.V before the picture is shown.
ZOOM IN to JENNY's face to show the shock and realization.The lights flicker off and on. There's a knock at the door. JENNY anxiously walks over to the door. Camera follows behind her with a tracking shot. JENNY walks right out to the edge of her road.
CUTS TO EDWARDS's POV running inside the house, looking back at JENNY and up the stairs.
BACK TO JENNY.
Long shot of her walking through the hall towards the camera looking nervous. There's a bang upstairs and she turns around nervously. REVERSE-ANGLE EDITING to show her reaction.
JENNY:
Hello? ...Is anybody there?...*shakes head and turns back to the living room*
EDWARD's POV shot from behind JENNY as he sneaks up behind her. EDWARD grabs JENNY from behind, puts a chloroformed cloth to her mouth and drags her through the hall and out the door.
Treatment for alone
Alone? is a mysterious film.
A tension building mystery of a mentally ill patient on the rampage
Synopsis.A deranged mental patient from the MIOS Manchester Hospital has escaped and is on to the rampage to continue his journey in killing the remaining members of his family. Will he succeed? Only time will tell.
Plot Outline
Beginning: Jenny Burns is getting ready for a night out with her girlfriends when she is presented with a shock from her past.
Middle: Edward Burns (mental patient) successfully kills four members of his family. Jenny his sister, Sarah his mother, Joe his brother and Jackie his aunt.
End: Edward Burns is on his way to kill his 'beloved' father. The police are ready to capture him. Last shot is Edward manically laughing in the middle of a white room, wearing a straight jacket
Opening scene.We begin with a mid shot of a shower curtain. Jenny is whistling peacefully. She gets out the shower and gets changed. She has 15 minutes to spare so she makes a cup of coffee and turns on the tv. She gets the shock of her life when she hears about the escape of her mentally ill brother Edward. She turns the tv off and the lights flick on and off. She hears a knock at the door and walks anxiously towards the door to check. Edward sneaks in through the door when Jenny walks towards the main road and he runs upstairs. Jenny returns inside and locks the front door and hears a noise from upstairs. Suddenly Edward grabs Jenny from behind and puts a chloroformed cloth over her face and drags her through the hall and out the door.
Target Audience.The film should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 15 as the film has disturbing images and situations. Because of this, our group decided on a 15 certificate. This film should appeal to young adults and adults. Our film contains no graphic violence or sex but it does hint at sexual abuse.
A tension building mystery of a mentally ill patient on the rampage
Synopsis.A deranged mental patient from the MIOS Manchester Hospital has escaped and is on to the rampage to continue his journey in killing the remaining members of his family. Will he succeed? Only time will tell.
Plot Outline
Beginning: Jenny Burns is getting ready for a night out with her girlfriends when she is presented with a shock from her past.
Middle: Edward Burns (mental patient) successfully kills four members of his family. Jenny his sister, Sarah his mother, Joe his brother and Jackie his aunt.
End: Edward Burns is on his way to kill his 'beloved' father. The police are ready to capture him. Last shot is Edward manically laughing in the middle of a white room, wearing a straight jacket
Opening scene.We begin with a mid shot of a shower curtain. Jenny is whistling peacefully. She gets out the shower and gets changed. She has 15 minutes to spare so she makes a cup of coffee and turns on the tv. She gets the shock of her life when she hears about the escape of her mentally ill brother Edward. She turns the tv off and the lights flick on and off. She hears a knock at the door and walks anxiously towards the door to check. Edward sneaks in through the door when Jenny walks towards the main road and he runs upstairs. Jenny returns inside and locks the front door and hears a noise from upstairs. Suddenly Edward grabs Jenny from behind and puts a chloroformed cloth over her face and drags her through the hall and out the door.
Target Audience.The film should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 15 as the film has disturbing images and situations. Because of this, our group decided on a 15 certificate. This film should appeal to young adults and adults. Our film contains no graphic violence or sex but it does hint at sexual abuse.
Audience Research Questionaire Results and Analysis
In this post there is the results and analysis from 
our questionnaire.
For the first question, we asked whether our audience was male or female, this is important as males and females can often have quite differing tastes when it comes to films .
15 members of our audience were male and 17 were female, which is pretty well balanced.
As a result of this we decided to make our film suitable for both a male and female audience.
The second question we asked was how old our audience were, this is important because we need to know what age certific
ate to give our film an therefore what age our film will appeal to.
The majority of our audience were between the ages of 17 and 18, but it was not a large majority, only 4% less of our audience were between the ages of 15 and 16.
We therefore decided that our film would have a 15 certificate rather than an 18 certificate, so that we did not exclude the younger members of our potential audience.
The third question that we asked was what genre of film our audience preferred, this was important information for us to get so that we knew a general idea of the different film tastes of our audience.
The favourite genre of film within our audience was the thriller genre.
This is good information to know, as we are making the opening to a thriller and so it should be popular with our audience if it is done well
The fourth question that we asked was how much gore our audience members liked to see in a film, this was important to know because from this question we could gage exactly how much gore content to put into our film.
The most common response from our audience was that they liked a bit of gore in a film, but not too much.
This made us come to the conclusion that we would possibly put in a few elements of gore into our opening but not alot.
The fifth question that we asked was whether or not our audience liked that edge of your seat feeling, that you get from watching some films, this was important for us to know so that we could either have this element within our film or not.
The majority of the audience said that they liked being on the edge of their seat whilst watching a film.
As a result of this, we decided that we would use the edge of your seat concept in part of the film, but not in the opening sequence.
The sixth question that we asked was whether or not our audience likes having puzzles and things to work out whilst watching a film or not, this is important for us to know as it could be an essential part of our film.
The audience said that they did like having things to work out.
As a result of this, we decided that our film is going to contain lots of engima codes and things for our audience to figure out as the film goes on.
The seventh question that we asked was what could a possible title for our thriller film be.
The suggested names were:
Chasing
Love Story
KILL KILL KILL
Watching Daisy
Mysterious
Stranger
Alone?
Thrillville
The Hand
Whiteboard
Stalking
Scar
our questionnaire.For the first question, we asked whether our audience was male or female, this is important as males and females can often have quite differing tastes when it comes to films .
15 members of our audience were male and 17 were female, which is pretty well balanced.
As a result of this we decided to make our film suitable for both a male and female audience.
The second question we asked was how old our audience were, this is important because we need to know what age certific
ate to give our film an therefore what age our film will appeal to.The majority of our audience were between the ages of 17 and 18, but it was not a large majority, only 4% less of our audience were between the ages of 15 and 16.
We therefore decided that our film would have a 15 certificate rather than an 18 certificate, so that we did not exclude the younger members of our potential audience.
The third question that we asked was what genre of film our audience preferred, this was important information for us to get so that we knew a general idea of the different film tastes of our audience.
The favourite genre of film within our audience was the thriller genre.
This is good information to know, as we are making the opening to a thriller and so it should be popular with our audience if it is done well
The fourth question that we asked was how much gore our audience members liked to see in a film, this was important to know because from this question we could gage exactly how much gore content to put into our film.The most common response from our audience was that they liked a bit of gore in a film, but not too much.
This made us come to the conclusion that we would possibly put in a few elements of gore into our opening but not alot.
The fifth question that we asked was whether or not our audience liked that edge of your seat feeling, that you get from watching some films, this was important for us to know so that we could either have this element within our film or not.The majority of the audience said that they liked being on the edge of their seat whilst watching a film.
As a result of this, we decided that we would use the edge of your seat concept in part of the film, but not in the opening sequence.
The sixth question that we asked was whether or not our audience likes having puzzles and things to work out whilst watching a film or not, this is important for us to know as it could be an essential part of our film.
The audience said that they did like having things to work out.
As a result of this, we decided that our film is going to contain lots of engima codes and things for our audience to figure out as the film goes on.
The seventh question that we asked was what could a possible title for our thriller film be.
The suggested names were:
Chasing
Love Story
KILL KILL KILL
Watching Daisy
Mysterious
Stranger
Alone?
Thrillville
The Hand
Whiteboard
Stalking
Scar
After discussing potenital storylines together in our group, we decided to call our film Alone?
We feel that this title best sums up the story of our film, which will be revealed in the treatment, which will come in a later post.
Results from the Questionaire
From the results of our questionnaire, we made the following conclusions about what our thriller film is going to contain.
- It is going to be suitable for both a male and female audience.
- It is going to have a 15 certificate.
- It will contain mild gore.
- It will have elements that give you that edge of your seat feeling.
- And it will be called Alone?
- It is going to be suitable for both a male and female audience.
- It is going to have a 15 certificate.
- It will contain mild gore.
- It will have elements that give you that edge of your seat feeling.
- And it will be called Alone?
Audience Research Questionaire
As part of the preparation towards creating our own thriller film as a group we devised a questionnaire, which we then gave out to our potential audience
After we had got our results we analysed them.
Analysing our results then helped us come to some conclusions about how we are going to make our film.
The questions that we asked were as follows...
1. Are you Male or Female?
2. How old are you?
3. What genre of film do you enjoy most?
4. Do you like seeing gore in films?
5. Do you enjoy being on the edge of your seat whilst watching a film?
6. Do you like having puzzles and things to work out whilst watching a film?
7. What name for a thriller film would grab your attention?
After we had got our results we analysed them.
Analysing our results then helped us come to some conclusions about how we are going to make our film.
The questions that we asked were as follows...
1. Are you Male or Female?
2. How old are you?
3. What genre of film do you enjoy most?
4. Do you like seeing gore in films?
5. Do you enjoy being on the edge of your seat whilst watching a film?
6. Do you like having puzzles and things to work out whilst watching a film?
7. What name for a thriller film would grab your attention?
Thursday, 4 December 2008
BBFC classification rules
15' - Suitable only for 15 years and over.No-one younger than 15 may see a '15' film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a '15' rated video or DVD.
Theme.No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language.The may be frequent use of strong language (e.g 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (e.g 'c*nt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity. Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex.Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be some strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence.Violence may be strong but not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques.Dangerous techniques (e.g combat, hanging, suicide and self harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Horror.Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Drugs.Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
Theme.No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language.The may be frequent use of strong language (e.g 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (e.g 'c*nt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity. Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex.Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be some strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence.Violence may be strong but not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques.Dangerous techniques (e.g combat, hanging, suicide and self harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Horror.Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Drugs.Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Silence of the lambs opening
Narrative style:
The narrative style of Silence of the Lambs is completely a continuous one, it follows a linear narrative style throughout. It's done this way to represent a journey that our main character is going on. We follow her journey through an assault course. We have a beginning, a middle and a defining end. The beginning is our main character running through her assault course and being called away by a man in a bug FBI hat. The middle is her journey through the place that she works and we get a glimpse of where she works and what she does. It end with an important part of the film. We learn for the first time that she is a detective about to be given a very serious case to work out. Who is Buffalo Bill? It ends with a question.
Thriller Codes and Conventions:
We are presented with a variety of different questions, these being the enigma codes. Where is she running? What is she doing? Who is the killer? etc. We also have the thriller code of 'mazes and labyrinth' as she is running through the assault course, because, at first, we have no idea why she is running or where she is going. The setting of the opening scene seems is a darkened, misty forest. I believe it to be maybe early morning? We also have our eerie music throughout the running
Camerawork:
We are given a wide variety of shots in this opening sequence. We are firstly presented with a long shot of the surroundings to give us a feel of the atmosphere and where the setting is. Then we are tracking alongside the main actress following her as she runs. Then we get a close up of her feet to quicken the pace of the film. We then get a POV shot from behind which gives it an eerie feel as if something is following her, but not. When our actress sees the wall at the very end of the sequence we get a close-up of her face. This shows the realisation on her face as we see her reaction to the wall of horrifying and disturbing pictures of recent victims.
Mise-En-Scene:
Our main character is dressed in running gear, which doesn't fit the stereotypical view of a woman in the films. Woman are suppose to be dressed up and made look beautiful not sweating in grey sweats. This subverts our expectation by having 'Starling' wearing quite a manly costume. The forest in which she is training in is really misty and that helps create an eerie atmosphere. We see a sign up on the wall it says 'Hurt. Agony. Pain- Love it' this is ironic as it could easily signify the villains motif, however, it looks to be the motto of the FBI. We also see that, in the lift scene, our main character is wearing grey in the lift and is being towered over by many big men in red behind her. Her work place is very male dominated whilst she is a woman and again, this completely disregards all forms of stereotypes to woman.
Sound:From the very beginning we have a very orchestral tune- this has serious connotations to it and usually means that this film is going to contain very serious issues in it. The music is quite calming, but quite clearly to build up tension. Over the music we hear the slight chirp of little birds, an eagle flapping its wings and crickets croaking, all adding to the build up of tension and to create a calm, but slightly eerie atmosphere. They are all natural noises. We have the deep breathing from 'Starling' and her the noises her feet make as she's running, again, to add to the tension build up. As 'Starling' reaches civilisation the music changes it's key and it doesn't sound as sinister. However, when the realisation of the wall sinks in and we get that zoom to her face the sinister music kicks in again to add to the fact of realisation.
Editing:We have a continuous editing throughout. We get what is called 'reverse angle editing' ans this is when it zooms onto our actresses face, this is what helps the audience to understand her realisation about the killer. The editing is very slow-paced throughout to show the seriousness of the film or the issues it contains.
Graphics:We are given black credits over a screen shot, all in block capitals and white a white border to make it easier to read as its on the screen. It's also centered.
The narrative style of Silence of the Lambs is completely a continuous one, it follows a linear narrative style throughout. It's done this way to represent a journey that our main character is going on. We follow her journey through an assault course. We have a beginning, a middle and a defining end. The beginning is our main character running through her assault course and being called away by a man in a bug FBI hat. The middle is her journey through the place that she works and we get a glimpse of where she works and what she does. It end with an important part of the film. We learn for the first time that she is a detective about to be given a very serious case to work out. Who is Buffalo Bill? It ends with a question.
Thriller Codes and Conventions:
We are presented with a variety of different questions, these being the enigma codes. Where is she running? What is she doing? Who is the killer? etc. We also have the thriller code of 'mazes and labyrinth' as she is running through the assault course, because, at first, we have no idea why she is running or where she is going. The setting of the opening scene seems is a darkened, misty forest. I believe it to be maybe early morning? We also have our eerie music throughout the running
Camerawork:
We are given a wide variety of shots in this opening sequence. We are firstly presented with a long shot of the surroundings to give us a feel of the atmosphere and where the setting is. Then we are tracking alongside the main actress following her as she runs. Then we get a close up of her feet to quicken the pace of the film. We then get a POV shot from behind which gives it an eerie feel as if something is following her, but not. When our actress sees the wall at the very end of the sequence we get a close-up of her face. This shows the realisation on her face as we see her reaction to the wall of horrifying and disturbing pictures of recent victims.
Mise-En-Scene:
Our main character is dressed in running gear, which doesn't fit the stereotypical view of a woman in the films. Woman are suppose to be dressed up and made look beautiful not sweating in grey sweats. This subverts our expectation by having 'Starling' wearing quite a manly costume. The forest in which she is training in is really misty and that helps create an eerie atmosphere. We see a sign up on the wall it says 'Hurt. Agony. Pain- Love it' this is ironic as it could easily signify the villains motif, however, it looks to be the motto of the FBI. We also see that, in the lift scene, our main character is wearing grey in the lift and is being towered over by many big men in red behind her. Her work place is very male dominated whilst she is a woman and again, this completely disregards all forms of stereotypes to woman.
Sound:From the very beginning we have a very orchestral tune- this has serious connotations to it and usually means that this film is going to contain very serious issues in it. The music is quite calming, but quite clearly to build up tension. Over the music we hear the slight chirp of little birds, an eagle flapping its wings and crickets croaking, all adding to the build up of tension and to create a calm, but slightly eerie atmosphere. They are all natural noises. We have the deep breathing from 'Starling' and her the noises her feet make as she's running, again, to add to the tension build up. As 'Starling' reaches civilisation the music changes it's key and it doesn't sound as sinister. However, when the realisation of the wall sinks in and we get that zoom to her face the sinister music kicks in again to add to the fact of realisation.
Editing:We have a continuous editing throughout. We get what is called 'reverse angle editing' ans this is when it zooms onto our actresses face, this is what helps the audience to understand her realisation about the killer. The editing is very slow-paced throughout to show the seriousness of the film or the issues it contains.
Graphics:We are given black credits over a screen shot, all in block capitals and white a white border to make it easier to read as its on the screen. It's also centered.
Friday, 28 November 2008
Red eye Opening scene
Narrative Structure: The opening of this film uses a linear structure, although it is two story lines that are intertwined with each other. Lots of things are going on at once, which makes it quite hard to figure out what's going on and there is only a suggestion of a narrative. We can make out from the sequence that someone steals a wallet, from someone with the initals J.R.
Something is going on with a "box of frozen fish" that's not frozen fish, but something in a large grey box.
Thriller codes and convetions : enigma codes are sued as a key part of Redeye, the main questions asked are Who is J.R? What is in the container? And Who stole the wallet? These questions leave the reader on the edge of their seats and with several questions running through their mind. An element of the unusual or exotic is used within the film. This exotic thing is an unknown container covered in fish. We don’t know what is in the container or where it has come from and the fact that it isn’t a person makes it slightly exotic and mysterious.
Camerawork :Redeye contains a lot of quick shots that are often close ups. This is used to almost confuse the viewer so they ask a lot of questions. Panning and tracking shots are used at the start in close up to give a shot that shows a lot of detail up close that we can presume will be relevant to the story later on such as the picture of a girl and the wallet. There is never any focus on the characters faces within the camera shots but instead what they are doing or what they are using to do.
Mise-En-Scene-
Coustime - Gloves are used by the character who takes the wallet, this links with finger prints as many crime and thriller films have an element of trying to get finger prints to nail criminals.
Lighting- The scene is quite light throughout except the end with the van scene where it is much darker. This means all details can be scene that need to be but there is still that element of darkness at the end.
Actors- We don’t actually see any of the actors in the scene although there is some focus on the girl in the picture. This links with Pascal’s idea of Partial vision.
Make-Up- Although not specifically make-up, the fish all have red eyes which refers back tot eh title of the film.
Props- The wallet is a key prop in the scene as there seems to be a lot of focus on what is inside it and who it belongs to. The crate with the fish surrounding it is also a major prop as we wonder what it contains.
Setting- The scene is set in a variety of settings including a house, warehouse, van and then haulage yard.
Sound - at the start of the scene when the credits appear and the picture with the girl in it, suspense is instantly built by dark supernatural music which puts the audience on edge. The music is building throughout the scene and very dark and racy. The loud and full sounding music builds suspense in a scene that isn’t as dramatic as say a death or murder.
Editing -There are many parts in the opening where cross cutting occurs. The scene cuts between the two ongoing story lines, one about a wallet and one about a container. Quick editing and cuts keep the suspense up in the scene. There are some areas of match shots and continuity editing
Something is going on with a "box of frozen fish" that's not frozen fish, but something in a large grey box.
Thriller codes and convetions : enigma codes are sued as a key part of Redeye, the main questions asked are Who is J.R? What is in the container? And Who stole the wallet? These questions leave the reader on the edge of their seats and with several questions running through their mind. An element of the unusual or exotic is used within the film. This exotic thing is an unknown container covered in fish. We don’t know what is in the container or where it has come from and the fact that it isn’t a person makes it slightly exotic and mysterious.
Camerawork :Redeye contains a lot of quick shots that are often close ups. This is used to almost confuse the viewer so they ask a lot of questions. Panning and tracking shots are used at the start in close up to give a shot that shows a lot of detail up close that we can presume will be relevant to the story later on such as the picture of a girl and the wallet. There is never any focus on the characters faces within the camera shots but instead what they are doing or what they are using to do.
Mise-En-Scene-
Coustime - Gloves are used by the character who takes the wallet, this links with finger prints as many crime and thriller films have an element of trying to get finger prints to nail criminals.
Lighting- The scene is quite light throughout except the end with the van scene where it is much darker. This means all details can be scene that need to be but there is still that element of darkness at the end.
Actors- We don’t actually see any of the actors in the scene although there is some focus on the girl in the picture. This links with Pascal’s idea of Partial vision.
Make-Up- Although not specifically make-up, the fish all have red eyes which refers back tot eh title of the film.
Props- The wallet is a key prop in the scene as there seems to be a lot of focus on what is inside it and who it belongs to. The crate with the fish surrounding it is also a major prop as we wonder what it contains.
Setting- The scene is set in a variety of settings including a house, warehouse, van and then haulage yard.
Sound - at the start of the scene when the credits appear and the picture with the girl in it, suspense is instantly built by dark supernatural music which puts the audience on edge. The music is building throughout the scene and very dark and racy. The loud and full sounding music builds suspense in a scene that isn’t as dramatic as say a death or murder.
Editing -There are many parts in the opening where cross cutting occurs. The scene cuts between the two ongoing story lines, one about a wallet and one about a container. Quick editing and cuts keep the suspense up in the scene. There are some areas of match shots and continuity editing
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Jaws - The Opening Scenes
Narrative Structure
This film, unlike Se7en has a definite narrative structure. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. It uses continuity editing to create a prologue - a mini story which is hinting at the possibility of whats to come. It starts off with a party on the beach, there is a bunch of teenagers sat round a campfire, kissing, smoking playing music and drinking. It then moves on to a boy and a girl running towards the sea, taking their clothes off (suggestion of sex?) the boy is clearly drunk and never actually gets to the sea. The girl on the other hand gets into the water and swims out quite a way. It is then that she gets attacked, with the boy just lying on the waters edge ignoring completely what is going on. After she has been attacked, it goes back to the quiet sea, with the boy still sat on the beach.
Thriller Codes & Conventions
Partial vision is used in this opening scene, as you do not see the shark as it attacks the girl. It uses enigma codes to create lots of questions for the audience - such as, What exactly is in the sea? What will happen to the girl/boy? Another convention that is used is tense music to build up the idea of tension towards the violence, and the use of night time and an isolated setting also adds to the tension, which is commonly created in a thriller film.
Mise-En-Scene: The opening sequence is set at night time/evening time. It is filled with young students having a beach party carrying out troublesome tasks like drinking, smoking and kissing excessively. (Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll). The fire in the opening scene is the only bit of light throughout the sequence. It creates a great contrast between light and dark and creates shadows. It also shows the contrast between the size of the fire in comparison to the ocean, so that could create a sort of fore-shadowing in the sense that something bad about to happen involving the great, big ocean.
Sound:The beginning starts very quietly, then the middle part where the tension is building the music/sound becomes gradually louder and louder until the climactic ending becomes silent again. The silence at the end is a good representation of death. The screaming ans splashing about when the attack is happening is a great contrast to the boy lying peacefully on the sand near her. You kind of expect the boy to hear her struggle and the audience get a glimpse of hope that the boy will come and rescue the girl, but when that doesn't happen, the shark successfully kills the girl and the scene becomes silent once more.
Editing:Continuity editing is used throughout to help with the flowing of one scene to another. Match shots and shot reverse shot are used between the girl and the boy to show the sexual attraction between the two. Cross-cutting is used during the attack scene when it cuts back to the boy laying peacefully on the sand. This gives the audience a slight glimpse of hope that the boy might actually rescue the girl. Also, at the very end of the sequence two shots are dissolved into one. An early night shot is dissolved to a late shot to show the passing of time.
Graphics:The title is in block capital for emphasis. They credits are on screen as the film is playing and are centered in the middle of the screen.
This film, unlike Se7en has a definite narrative structure. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. It uses continuity editing to create a prologue - a mini story which is hinting at the possibility of whats to come. It starts off with a party on the beach, there is a bunch of teenagers sat round a campfire, kissing, smoking playing music and drinking. It then moves on to a boy and a girl running towards the sea, taking their clothes off (suggestion of sex?) the boy is clearly drunk and never actually gets to the sea. The girl on the other hand gets into the water and swims out quite a way. It is then that she gets attacked, with the boy just lying on the waters edge ignoring completely what is going on. After she has been attacked, it goes back to the quiet sea, with the boy still sat on the beach.
Thriller Codes & Conventions
Partial vision is used in this opening scene, as you do not see the shark as it attacks the girl. It uses enigma codes to create lots of questions for the audience - such as, What exactly is in the sea? What will happen to the girl/boy? Another convention that is used is tense music to build up the idea of tension towards the violence, and the use of night time and an isolated setting also adds to the tension, which is commonly created in a thriller film.
Mise-En-Scene: The opening sequence is set at night time/evening time. It is filled with young students having a beach party carrying out troublesome tasks like drinking, smoking and kissing excessively. (Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll). The fire in the opening scene is the only bit of light throughout the sequence. It creates a great contrast between light and dark and creates shadows. It also shows the contrast between the size of the fire in comparison to the ocean, so that could create a sort of fore-shadowing in the sense that something bad about to happen involving the great, big ocean.
Sound:The beginning starts very quietly, then the middle part where the tension is building the music/sound becomes gradually louder and louder until the climactic ending becomes silent again. The silence at the end is a good representation of death. The screaming ans splashing about when the attack is happening is a great contrast to the boy lying peacefully on the sand near her. You kind of expect the boy to hear her struggle and the audience get a glimpse of hope that the boy will come and rescue the girl, but when that doesn't happen, the shark successfully kills the girl and the scene becomes silent once more.
Editing:Continuity editing is used throughout to help with the flowing of one scene to another. Match shots and shot reverse shot are used between the girl and the boy to show the sexual attraction between the two. Cross-cutting is used during the attack scene when it cuts back to the boy laying peacefully on the sand. This gives the audience a slight glimpse of hope that the boy might actually rescue the girl. Also, at the very end of the sequence two shots are dissolved into one. An early night shot is dissolved to a late shot to show the passing of time.
Graphics:The title is in block capital for emphasis. They credits are on screen as the film is playing and are centered in the middle of the screen.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Redeye - The opening scenes
Narrative Structure- Redeye is filmed in a montage structure, all the images are random and don’t follow a set linear chronological sequence of events. In Redeye the montage structure works by running two story lines simultaneously; one about a container and one about the wallet embroidered with J.R. Due to this montage footage the audience is unclear who are the bad guys and who are the good guys if there are good and bad guys in it.
Thriller Codes and Conventions - Enigma codes are sued as a key part of Redeye, the main questions asked are Who is J.R? What is in the container? And Who stole the wallet? These questions leave the reader on the edge of their seats and with several questions running through their mind.Paired with this is Partial Vision. In redeye we don’t see who the wallet belongs to, J.R. And we also don’t have a clue who has stolen it. This is a great deal of partial vision which then leads to a whole set of questions (Enigma Codes).An element of the unusual or exotic is used within the film. This exotic thing is an unknown container covered in fish. We don’t know what is in the container or where it has come from and the fact that it isn’t a person makes it slightly exotic and mysterious.
Camerawork
Redeye contains a lot of quick shots that are often close ups. This is used to almost confuse the viewer so they ask a lot of questions. Panning and tracking shots are used at the start in close up to give a shot that shows a lot of detail up close that we can presume will be relevant to the story later on such as the picture of a girl and the wallet. There is never any focus on the characters faces within the camera shots but instead what they are doing or what they are using to do.
Mise en Scene -
Whats in the scene? Alot of things are in this scene, as there is lots of things going on. There is the wallet, which is stolen. The photo's of the young woman. The floorplan and photo's of the building (which is possibly a hotel?). The frozen fish which is concealing something within a box. The opening of this scene we can see is set in two different locations, somewhere near a dockyard, and then inside the rooms in possibly two different buildings.
Sound
The sounds in this sequence are very dramatic, loud and fast paced, not unlike the events that we are seeing unfold in the film. The music builds up to add to the tension between JR? putting down their wallet and getting in the shower and the wallet being stolen. When the title "Red Eye" comes up on screen, we hear the rushing sound of a plane taking off, which could possibly be a hint as to what is going to happen in the rest of the story.
Editing
To keep with the fast paced style of this film, lots of fast paced, cross cut editing is used to envelope the audience in the story and almost confuse the person who is viewing the film. The story cross cuts from the wallet storyline to the "frozen fish" storyline numerous times in very quick succession.
Graphics
The graphics in this opening are white on a black background to begin with. They then move around on screen over the top of all the action that is going on within the film. The title Red Eye is written in red, which has connotations of evil and mysterious things which links in to the opening sequence of the film and things that could possibly still be to come.
Thriller Codes and Conventions - Enigma codes are sued as a key part of Redeye, the main questions asked are Who is J.R? What is in the container? And Who stole the wallet? These questions leave the reader on the edge of their seats and with several questions running through their mind.Paired with this is Partial Vision. In redeye we don’t see who the wallet belongs to, J.R. And we also don’t have a clue who has stolen it. This is a great deal of partial vision which then leads to a whole set of questions (Enigma Codes).An element of the unusual or exotic is used within the film. This exotic thing is an unknown container covered in fish. We don’t know what is in the container or where it has come from and the fact that it isn’t a person makes it slightly exotic and mysterious.
Camerawork
Redeye contains a lot of quick shots that are often close ups. This is used to almost confuse the viewer so they ask a lot of questions. Panning and tracking shots are used at the start in close up to give a shot that shows a lot of detail up close that we can presume will be relevant to the story later on such as the picture of a girl and the wallet. There is never any focus on the characters faces within the camera shots but instead what they are doing or what they are using to do.
Mise en Scene -
Whats in the scene? Alot of things are in this scene, as there is lots of things going on. There is the wallet, which is stolen. The photo's of the young woman. The floorplan and photo's of the building (which is possibly a hotel?). The frozen fish which is concealing something within a box. The opening of this scene we can see is set in two different locations, somewhere near a dockyard, and then inside the rooms in possibly two different buildings.
Sound
The sounds in this sequence are very dramatic, loud and fast paced, not unlike the events that we are seeing unfold in the film. The music builds up to add to the tension between JR? putting down their wallet and getting in the shower and the wallet being stolen. When the title "Red Eye" comes up on screen, we hear the rushing sound of a plane taking off, which could possibly be a hint as to what is going to happen in the rest of the story.
Editing
To keep with the fast paced style of this film, lots of fast paced, cross cut editing is used to envelope the audience in the story and almost confuse the person who is viewing the film. The story cross cuts from the wallet storyline to the "frozen fish" storyline numerous times in very quick succession.
Graphics
The graphics in this opening are white on a black background to begin with. They then move around on screen over the top of all the action that is going on within the film. The title Red Eye is written in red, which has connotations of evil and mysterious things which links in to the opening sequence of the film and things that could possibly still be to come.
Seven - the opening scene
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE - At the beginning the first opening shots are all mainly close up with this mysterious character working on a book. We get hints of foreshadowing elements of the story eg - the peeled fingers to avoid finger prints.
Thriller Codes and Conventions - It uses engima codes and creates questions being asked - Who is this person? - Why is he/she doing this? - Why are they doing the same things There is partial vison were you don't see the face of the characters it focus's on the villains work which seems professional, meticulous, derranged, obsessive. The environment is very dark an there is a mysterious atmosphere building up with the music put into place.
Camerawork - Its mostly entirely made of close ups and extreme close up shots, with still camera work and restrictive vision; it focus's the audience on what the character is doing. The viewers are put in a situation were it becomes quite unpleasant with shots taken place.
MISE-EN-SCENE
C - costume - There are colours of black/white/red- blood, death, danger
L - lighting - focus's on sharp instruments, needles, razors/ pens
A - Actors - Pictures of for photographs of the victums
M - Make - up - There are lots of handwritting - cleverness/obessions.
P - Props
S - Setting Sound - low pitch bass/beats - creaks / screams - ghostly noises - at the end there is a song with the lyric, '' you get me closer to god'' - motivation.
Montage - not continuity Images super impoied on each other distroia. The images jump around Cutting from one image to another quite quickly Subliminal editing images flashing on the screen for a very short time
Graphics - Scratchy handwriting which links to the killers amateur handwriting. Closer to the film begging the start the main characters come first Then the title of the film. Then the less important people eg main camera man. But the the director always comes last with all the credits jump around
Thriller Codes and Conventions - It uses engima codes and creates questions being asked - Who is this person? - Why is he/she doing this? - Why are they doing the same things There is partial vison were you don't see the face of the characters it focus's on the villains work which seems professional, meticulous, derranged, obsessive. The environment is very dark an there is a mysterious atmosphere building up with the music put into place.
Camerawork - Its mostly entirely made of close ups and extreme close up shots, with still camera work and restrictive vision; it focus's the audience on what the character is doing. The viewers are put in a situation were it becomes quite unpleasant with shots taken place.
MISE-EN-SCENE
C - costume - There are colours of black/white/red- blood, death, danger
L - lighting - focus's on sharp instruments, needles, razors/ pens
A - Actors - Pictures of for photographs of the victums
M - Make - up - There are lots of handwritting - cleverness/obessions.
P - Props
S - Setting Sound - low pitch bass/beats - creaks / screams - ghostly noises - at the end there is a song with the lyric, '' you get me closer to god'' - motivation.
Montage - not continuity Images super impoied on each other distroia. The images jump around Cutting from one image to another quite quickly Subliminal editing images flashing on the screen for a very short time
Graphics - Scratchy handwriting which links to the killers amateur handwriting. Closer to the film begging the start the main characters come first Then the title of the film. Then the less important people eg main camera man. But the the director always comes last with all the credits jump around
Monday, 20 October 2008
Thriller
Chesterton: The Transformed City.
In the film Seven, some of the shots outdoors in the city are always dark and dull. Mainly raining. These gives us the impression the storyline so far is all negative with the connotations of rain an darkness. Even in the middle if the film the detective's wife breaks down and express's her negative attitude on the city.It is only right at the end of the film however, when the sun comes out and the city looks alot nicer. This is because all 7 of the sins. have been completed and they are getting closer to finding the killer.
Northrop Frye: Northrop Frye’s idea that the victims or hero's of a thriller are usually just ordinary people in everyday life we see that this is very true in the film seven. Mill’s wife is an innocent normal person who is pregnant which just happens to be married to the Mill's who is searching for the killer. Mills to some extent is also just a normal man, his job is too solve crimes but in this case his wife and unborn baby at the end of film are killed due to his job.
John Cawelti: The Seven Deadly Sins. These play a main revolving role around the action and without this the film would be more of a horror than a thriller. The seven deadly sins are a main part of the plot and the idea that people should die for their sins is a key part of the motives of John Doe - the killer.
W. H. Matthews: The main example of a maze/labyrinth area of the film is where Mills is chasing John Doe around the apartment block in and outside. This leads to tension and many areas of climax as you never know where the villain is or where he may appear from. Furthermore there is the overall maze were don't no until the end who the real killer actually is.
Pascal Bonitzer: The partial vision theory is achieved well in this film. The villains name and motives are kept very secret until the very end of the film. Both, the audience and detectives are all very unsure of why the murders are taking place and who is doing them which adds to the thriller greatly as there are questions asked.
Noel Carroll: There are many questions asked through out the film which demand answers that are not always given, or not given until later on. The question for the first half of the film is who is committing the murders and why are they doing it? These two questions are not answered till later on in the film and in the case of who is doing it, the killers identity is never fully revealed to the audience. The other major question is what is in the box, as an audience we never actually find out what or who is in the box. This leads our imagination and questions were asking ourselves to picture what could be in there.
Thriller is a loose genre term referring to any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major aspect of its narrative. A thriller film usually consists of fear, suspense, build up of tension which has an effect on the audience also, can contain blood scenes.
Chesterton - was a man in the 20Th century writer of thriller stories. He argued that thrillers took urban settings and transformed them into exciting locations of dramatic stories eg- batman were it takes an ordinary city like Gotham and changes it into a different different type of world with some obscure characters
Frye - argued that thrillers were stories that took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations. eg - in spider man were the spider bites him and changes his life!
Cawelti - argued that thrillers took elements of ordinary life and added an exotic element eg- just a regular guy like James bond is a secret spy who works for the British government an works with top of the range gad jets.
Mathews - writes about how human beings have a fascination for physical puzzles often seen in mazes and laby. Thrillers often use the idea of mysterious quest in a confined location that feels labyrinth. eg - in the matrix were there is two different types of worlds, an u have to focus throughout the film to understand.
Bontizer - discusses how in thrillers the audience is given a partial view of things with important detail being obscured eg - in the film charlies angels were you never get to see the main boss - charlie but has a key role to play in the film.
Noel Carrol - question an answers argues that thrillers are structured around a series of questions for which the audience is led to answers. scream were there is a series of kills and the audiense is unsure of who the actually killer is
Barthes - analysed all narratives in term of code and operates moment by moment.
In the film Seven, some of the shots outdoors in the city are always dark and dull. Mainly raining. These gives us the impression the storyline so far is all negative with the connotations of rain an darkness. Even in the middle if the film the detective's wife breaks down and express's her negative attitude on the city.It is only right at the end of the film however, when the sun comes out and the city looks alot nicer. This is because all 7 of the sins. have been completed and they are getting closer to finding the killer.
Northrop Frye: Northrop Frye’s idea that the victims or hero's of a thriller are usually just ordinary people in everyday life we see that this is very true in the film seven. Mill’s wife is an innocent normal person who is pregnant which just happens to be married to the Mill's who is searching for the killer. Mills to some extent is also just a normal man, his job is too solve crimes but in this case his wife and unborn baby at the end of film are killed due to his job.
John Cawelti: The Seven Deadly Sins. These play a main revolving role around the action and without this the film would be more of a horror than a thriller. The seven deadly sins are a main part of the plot and the idea that people should die for their sins is a key part of the motives of John Doe - the killer.
W. H. Matthews: The main example of a maze/labyrinth area of the film is where Mills is chasing John Doe around the apartment block in and outside. This leads to tension and many areas of climax as you never know where the villain is or where he may appear from. Furthermore there is the overall maze were don't no until the end who the real killer actually is.
Pascal Bonitzer: The partial vision theory is achieved well in this film. The villains name and motives are kept very secret until the very end of the film. Both, the audience and detectives are all very unsure of why the murders are taking place and who is doing them which adds to the thriller greatly as there are questions asked.
Noel Carroll: There are many questions asked through out the film which demand answers that are not always given, or not given until later on. The question for the first half of the film is who is committing the murders and why are they doing it? These two questions are not answered till later on in the film and in the case of who is doing it, the killers identity is never fully revealed to the audience. The other major question is what is in the box, as an audience we never actually find out what or who is in the box. This leads our imagination and questions were asking ourselves to picture what could be in there.
Thriller is a loose genre term referring to any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major aspect of its narrative. A thriller film usually consists of fear, suspense, build up of tension which has an effect on the audience also, can contain blood scenes.
Chesterton - was a man in the 20Th century writer of thriller stories. He argued that thrillers took urban settings and transformed them into exciting locations of dramatic stories eg- batman were it takes an ordinary city like Gotham and changes it into a different different type of world with some obscure characters
Frye - argued that thrillers were stories that took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations. eg - in spider man were the spider bites him and changes his life!
Cawelti - argued that thrillers took elements of ordinary life and added an exotic element eg- just a regular guy like James bond is a secret spy who works for the British government an works with top of the range gad jets.
Mathews - writes about how human beings have a fascination for physical puzzles often seen in mazes and laby. Thrillers often use the idea of mysterious quest in a confined location that feels labyrinth. eg - in the matrix were there is two different types of worlds, an u have to focus throughout the film to understand.
Bontizer - discusses how in thrillers the audience is given a partial view of things with important detail being obscured eg - in the film charlies angels were you never get to see the main boss - charlie but has a key role to play in the film.
Noel Carrol - question an answers argues that thrillers are structured around a series of questions for which the audience is led to answers. scream were there is a series of kills and the audiense is unsure of who the actually killer is
Barthes - analysed all narratives in term of code and operates moment by moment.
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