The Number 23 Analysis

I analysed the film The Number 23 (2007):

The opening credits were tense and the effects unveiled the main actors: Jim Carrey (the main actor) and Virginia Madsen (main actress) so people will recognise Jim Carrey from films like Ace Ventura and Bruce Almighty, so this will be a contributing factor to why people will watch this film. The production was New Line Cinema, which is a recognisable institution.

It was difficult to pick out lots of information for this film because we were only analysing a couple of minutes of it and I think I was writing information for the other thriller films at the time!

Opening analysis on the film 'North by Northwest'

North by Northwest:-

Sound- Starts off with fast paced music that builds up tension. After the credits, there is no music, just the sounds of people and cars. When the character walks into the bar, calming, diegetic music plays. This music contrasts greatly with the first music as it goes from fast paced, heart racing music to nothing but diegetic sound of people talking. This could be good for changing the mood of the scene.

Editing- Credits fly in and are angled to look like they are on the side of a building. There is a reflection of cars on this building while the credits fly in. The next part quickly cuts between scenes as credits come up in the background.

Opening analysis on the film 'The Birds'

The Birds:-

Sound- Starts off with the diegetic sound of many birds flying, tweeting and generally making a lot of noise - this suggests what the film is about from the start. There is no music either, just the sound of birds. Birds are a strong theme from the start, with birds in a pet shop making diegetic noise. There is no music at all in the first 5 minutes, just all diegetic noise from birds, cars and people.

Editing- Credits start with birds flying in the background, with the names of people involved with the film coming up as birds fly across the film.

Opening Analysis of the film 'Da Vinci Code'

In the opening two minutes of the film 'the Da Vinci Code', Camera, Editing, Sound and Mice en scene  techniques are used in a variety of ways.

An over-shoulder shot is used when an older man is being chased by a monk. This type of shot strengthens the fact that this character is being chased and therefore adds tension. Close-ups are used to show reactions between the characters in conversation, they let the viewer know exactly how the characters are feeling.

There are a variety of editing techniques used during the clip. For example, as the names of the companies involved in the film come up, they are edited to look dark and mysterious. This is good because it keeps in line with the genre of the film.

At the immediate start of the film, there is slow, tension building music which gets the viewer interested and wanting to know what is going on/will go on in the film. This should be kept in mind when we choose what music to use for our Thriller opening.

Costume is used greatly in the beginning of the clip. One character is dressed in monk robes. These have religious connotations and give the viewer an insight into what the film will be about. The monk robes contrast greatly with the prop the monk is holding, a gun.

Overall, this film opening of the Da Vinci Code is very effective at capturing the interest of the viewer and making them want to see more. It includes an unexplained murder that makes the viewer want to know why. This is very effective and my group should keep this in mind.

Progress Report

I believe our group is doing well and we have quite a few posts, however we do need a lot more posts and we need to put more colour as well onto the blog. Also, we have been given examples of an E grade blog and an A grade blog, so we can look at this in more detail and make comparisons to see if we are doing really well or really badly.

Timeline Task - Bullitt (1968)

I went onto YouTube to watch the first 2 minutes of Bullitt.

0:02 - Music starts, dramatic
0:03 - City is shown - Chicago, as it says on top on one of the building, so immediately we are given an establishing shot!
0:12 - Warner Brothers
0:19 - Suddenly the music becomes loud for a second, so it is now suspense music, which certainly had an effect on me and will make the viewer jump!! A room is shown as the music does this.
0:26 - Steve McQueen
0:35 - "in Bullitt, a Solar Production". "Bullitt" is in large, white writing
0:38 - The music becomes less suspense and nearly funky
0:45 - Robert Vaughn
0:53 - Jacqueline Bisset
1:01 - Don Gordon
1:01 - Robert Duvall
1:01 - Simon Oakland
1:01 - Norman Fell
1:07 - As the actors' names at 1:01 go off the screen, we see a brown panel reading the names Mr John Ross and Mr Peter Ross, indicating that these may be either the main characters, characters in the next scene or important characters in the film.
1:08 - Featuring
1:12 - Georg Stanford Brown
1:12 - Justin Tarr
1:13 - Carl Reindel
1:13 - Felice Orlandi
1:14 - Robert Lipton
1:14 - Victor Tayback
1:15 - Ed Peck
1:15 - John Aprea
1:15 - Pat Renella
1:16 - Paul Genge
1:17 - Al Checco
1:17 - Bill Hickman
1:30 - Director of Photography - William A. Fraker, A.S.C.
1:36 - An extreme close up on the names Mr John Ross and Mr Peter Ross, signifying an even more importance than before
1:43 - Art Director - Albert Brenner
1:43 - Film Editor - Frank P. Keller, A.C.E.
1:43 - Production Manager - Jack N. Reddish
1:52 - Titles by Pablo Ferro, Films

Thriller Themes

Thriller themes include:

1. Mystery
2. Crime
3. Investigation
4. Life and death
5. Murder
6. Psychological
7. Supernatural

Thrillers involve suspense and tensions. At the end the villain is usually killed and there are lots of cliffhangers throughout. After Kennedy died in 1963, there were political and paranoid thrillers and most of them were made by Alfred Hitchcock.

Target Audience for Thrillers and Research Methods

Target Audience for Thrillers

1. Box office figures
2. Titles of thrillers
3.a Gender
   b Class
   c Age
4. Psychographics (Interests such as):
   a Lifestyle
   b Beliefs
   c Attitudes
This differs from demographics as they are:
   a Age
   b Gender
   c Class
5. YouTube hits

Research methods

1. Online Research
2. Questionnaire

Silence of the Lambs Opening

The music is not particularly horror-themed at the beginning but develops as the scene goes on, notably when the cast names come up in a dramatic way. The main character is played by Jodie Foster, which is unusual as most thriller films have a main male character, so this immediately distinguishes itself from other thriller films, making it unique.
There is a contrast between the main character wearing casual clothes and others wearing uniform, as she enters a building.
As she goes into a man's office, we see the Mise en Scène of the room, and this may be an important setting for the film. The man gives the main character information about a murderer, so this keeps the viewer watching the film.

We also watched the opening to The Usual Suspects and the atmosphere and lighting was dark.

Progress Report 1

Overall, so far, I believe I am doing quite well. I am posting a lot and trying to do as much work as I can to ensure I do well. The main criticism I have on myself is that some of the posts I do, may not be up to a good enough standard, therefore, I am going to try and improve the quality of my posting, and improve existing posts I have made.

Timeline of opening credits of the film 'Bullitt'

0.12 - Warner bros- seven arts
0.15 - presents
0.26 - Steve McQueen
0.34 - In Bullitt,
0.34 - A solar production
0.45 - Robert Vaughn
0.52 - Jaqueline Bisset
0.59 - Don Gordon
0.59 - Robert Duvall
0.59 - Simon Oakland
0.59 - Norman Fell
1.08 - Featuring
1.11 - Georg Stanford Brown
1.11 - Justin Tarr
1.12 - Carl Reindel
1.12 - Felice Orlandi
1.13 - Robert Lipton, Victor Tayback
1.14 - Ed Peck, John Aprea
1.14 - Pat Remella
1.15 - Paul Genge
1.16 - Al Checco
1.17 - Bill Hickman
1.28 - Director of Photography, William A. Fraker, A.S.C
1.42 - Art Director, Albert Brenner
1.42 - Film Editor, Frank P. Keller, A.C.E
1.42 - Production manager, Jack N. Reddish
1.52 - Titles by, Pablo Ferro, Films
2.00 - Costume designer, Theadora Van Runkle

North by North West clip Editing

Again, there was little editing during the film clip, but the editing clips that stood out to me was the fake scenery that could be scene at the back window of the cab. The clip is old, making the resources very limited, so i thought that the scenery was very realistic for the equipment they had at the time. There was also a jump cut that was made from the man (main character) outside the taxi to inside the plaza. It shows the contrast of both surroundings, from an everyday cab to the luxury to the plaza.

North by North West clip Camera

As the credits are being shown on screen, the camera is at a high angle focusing on the skyscrapers, with the reflection of cars. Once the credits are shown, the camera then tilts downwards to road level, to show the busy rush hour of all the people walking through the office doors. This creates empathises on how busy the setting is. The camera then tilts upwards to a high angle, to show the office people walking down the busy staircase; this also is to show how busy the building is. The camera then tracks the two main characters, making it also a two-shot. As a viewer, we can see that this man and women are the main characters that are going to feature the film. There is also another two-shot in when they are sitting in the taxi, it shows their conversation that they are having, which clearly shows that the women is the mans secretary. Once the man is in the plaza, there are many over the shoulder shots as he is seated at the table with the other men. This is to show the conversation that is happening but also to show empathises on what is happing with the main character. There is another two shot with the men that are standing by the bar, when the camera then zooms into the men’s face, so that the viewer can see the facial expressions clearly. It also shows that there is going to be some drama with these men and the main character.
I like the way that the film director has used all the different ways of using the camera to cause tension and suspense to the viewer. The messages are portrayed very clearly with the way that the scenes are filmed, which I think would be very useful if I could do this in my opening to a thriller. Again, like the previous clip, I think that maybe the credits are a little long for what I would use, however, I liked the idea of camaflouging them with the surrounding settings.

Analysis of 'The Birds' Editing

Editing:
In the clip, ‘The Birds’ there was not much editing. At the beginning of the clip, there is a jump cut from the lady (the main character) to the flock of birds that are in the sky, this adds empathises on the huge gathering of birds in the sky. As a viewer, this shows that they are going to be key in the film, creating suspense. Another jump cut that was featured in the clip, was when the women were talking about the birds in the shop, there were shots from other the shoulder, to show who was speaking at the time. This gave the viewer a clearer idea who was talking and about what.
I thought that there wasn’t many editing in the clip which I would do more when filming the opening to a thriller, however, I liked the variety of ways to add tension and to keep the viewer’s attention when watching the clip.

Analysis of 'The Birds'

Camera:
As the credits were shown, there was a constant flock of birds which flew across the screen which was filmed by a stedi-cam. This created tension due to the continous amount of birds and the music that helped build the supsense. Also there was a huge amount of empathsis on the birds, which as a viewer, it was clear that the plot was going to feature a great number of birds. On the other hand, the amount of time that was givien for the features was too long and could of potentially lost the viewers intrest. The camera then tracks the lady as she walks down the busy road, immediatly we see that she is going to the main character. While the camera tracks the main character, the camers focuses on the sign of 'San Fransico' that is stuck on the side of a telephone box, this shows clearly to the viewer that the film is set in the busy city of San Fransico. The camera is still tracking the lady, but at a high angle as she walks into the pet shop and walks up the stairs and to the desk where another older lady is standing, this is to show the viewer the surroundings of the shop that the lady is now in. The camera then changes to over the sholder shots, to show the converstation that is happening between the two ladies about the birds. During their converstation, the camera again tracks a man that is walking up the stairs, the excat same way the main character lady did. This shows that maybe this man is also going to be a huge signifgance to the film. Like before when the two wemon were involved in their conversation, the camera kept changing from over the sholder shots, this again happens but to show the man and main  characters converastion that is taking place. At the end of the clip, there is a close up on the wemons face, this is to show how she is feeling.
Overall, i like the way that most of the methods of the camera has been repeated to show a repetitive pattern, which is clear to the views who is the main characters or who is featured heavily to those who have no signifgance. There was good uses of high angles and over the shoulder shots, which i would use in my filming of a thriller, as it shows coversations well. However, i didn't like the steady-cam at the beginning of the clip showing the credits, this loses interest to the viewers as it is the same snapshot repeated, I would mix my credits with my clip as the viewer is more likely not to get bored and digest what is going on.

Opening analysis on the film 'Phonebooth'

Phonebooth:-

Sound- Starts off with slow, calming, non-diegetic music that is generally happy and light-hearted. It then fades into moody, dark music that starts to build up tension. There is non-diegetic narrating with music in the background giving the viewer information on phone booths which is a reference to the name of the film and what the film is about. This is good because it captures the audience and lets them know a little bit about what the upcoming film is about

Editing- At the point when the character is on the phone, the viewer sees him walking along, then the view sees the people he talks to in small boxes on the screen. This lets the viewer see their reaction to what the main character says. This is very helpful as it shows the viewer every perspective of what is going on in the clip.  Near the start of the clip there are slow motion parts where the viewer sees people dancing and calling people on the phone.

Audience research results

We have received 27 results from our online survey that we made using the website SurveyMonkey. Here are our results:-

These results show us a variety of things. Firstly, they show that we did not get a balanced number of men and women to fill out our questionnaire, so we should bear this in mind in our results. Secondly, the majority of the people who filled it out, liked all the the film choices we gave them and there was no obvious favourite. However, they like them for a variety of different reasons. Many liked the Da Vinci Code because of the clever, intricate, complicated storyline that makes the viewer think, we should bear this in mind with making the opening to our Thriller. Many liked the Dark Knight for its action and humour, we should also bear that in mind as it is a very popular film, yet this could also be because of its huge franchise. And finally, most people enjoyed Alien because of the special effects, it would be nice if we had the capabilities to do CGI, however, it seems unlikely with the nature of our project.

The questionnaire results also show us that suspense is a clear favourite in the contents of a Thriller, we should greatly bear this in mind and do extensive research on 'The Master of Suspense', Alfred Hitchcock on his methods of creating suspense, this will be released in another post shortly. Other popular things that our research shows that people think make good Thrillers are plot twists/cliff hangers and anticipation/uncertainty. We should include these in our opening to a Thriller as these are popular choices of things that people like.

Finally, our research shows us that most people that we surveyed, prefer action-adventure Thrillers, to the other choices that we gave them. This tells us that most of our audience would like some Action in our Thriller to make them like it more.

Ideas for preliminary task

I have been thinking about what we should do for our preliminary task, we have to include a character opening a door (using a match cut) and walking into a room and sitting down at a table, to exchange dialogue with another character whilst not breaking the 180 degree rule. Which is a rule that ensures that the viewer does not get confused as to what is going on in the video.

A famous example of a match cut is in this video at 2 minutes 54 seconds, where it skips between the plug hole and the character's eye.

I thought about what theme we should have for our preliminary task and thought it should be thriller based, so we should do a police interview scene with a mass murderer as it would be a good thriller- theme.

Mise en Scène and Editing for 4 thriller films, in yesterday's media lesson on 25th November

We looked at four films in total:

The first two films were Alfred Hitchcock films "The Birds" and "North by Northwest".

The Birds (1963)

Mise en Scène

In the first scene, we see a city. On the top of a building is big words with lights in them in the daytime. The words say: "Air France", and underneath it; "Paris" This suggests that this is set in the French capital. We also are introduced to a pet shop, and the Mise en Scène of that room, with bird cages may be an important setting for the film.

Editing

Continuing from the theme of the words on the top of the building reading, "Paris", the camera moves about 180 degrees to the left, following a woman crossing a road and walking. However, we then see a poster saying "San Francisco" is shown, so this may make the viewer confused about the location. In the pet shop, however, the characters have American accents, so this confirms that it is set in San Francisco.

North by Northwest (1959)

Mise en Scène

The office building in a city, as well as the city itself, which is New York.

Editing

In the scenes with the taxi, it edits from the man and woman getting into a taxi from a street to the interior of the taxi. As this film was made in 1959, the taxi scene is clearly used with a green screen and watching it over 50 years after it was made may make a viewer not appreciate the technologies of the day and think of it as nothing compared to today's methods of filming. You can see the main characters on the back seats of the taxi and the city streets and parks of New York behind them through the window at the back of the taxi. When they leave the taxi, they are back on the city streets.
Although strictly speaking, this next point should come under the camerawork category, it still deserves to be mentioned in the editing section; there are establishing shots for the city. A good example of what an establishing shot is is depicted in television shows like Friends; at the beginning of a scene, the viewer will see the exterior of Central Perk, so we know that this is where that particular scene will be set, so this is an excellent method of cancelling out any probability of the viewer being confused of the location of the scene.
Back to "North by Northwest", the beginning of the film is fast paced, this will be to keep the viewer engaged with the film and to not change channel/leave the cinema. The fast paced action of the beginning is depicted in the camerawork, editing and acting.



Halfway through this media lesson, we then looked at two other films from the 21st century, but these ones were not directed by Hitchcock as he died in 1980.

Phonebooth (2002)

Mise en Scène

New York. The viewer is aware that it is set there as it shows the Earth and zooms in and the beginning location in Times Square. The effect this has is larger than just having an establishing shot, as the viewer may either recognise the shape of New York city from a satellite view or they may be aware of the eventful, "crossroads of the world", Times Square. Before you see Earth, you see a space station or satellite, which is likely to be connected to the mobile phone network.

Editing

The zooming in on New York, when we see New York on a satellite view and it zooms in, we see some mechanical works and not the city yet but it zooms out from the mechanical works and, as it zooms out, the camera appears to be zooming out from a man's mobile phone at Times Square.

Death Note (2006)

Mise en Scène

The establishing shot is at night of an Oriental city so we are given the impression that the themes of the film may be dark, the language spoken is Oriental, however in the media lesson there were subtitles.

Editing

The editing is quick and edits from one person dying to another; however the people who die are random and the cause of death is unknown. Immediately this grabs the attention of the viewer and makes them keep watching, so this is a good introduction.

Preliminary task:- Storyboard of what we will do

Audience Research on the Thriller film 'Inception'

Votes	No. of votes            Average (out of 10)
Males	189,897                             9.0
Females	32,595                                  9.1
Aged under 18	9,325                                 9.5
Males under 18	7,148                                 9.5
Females under 18	2,120                                 9.5
Aged 18-29	164,616                            9.2
Males Aged 18-29	139,628                            9.2
Females Aged 18-29	24,239                               9.2
Aged 30-44	41,668                               8.7
Males Aged 30-44	36,559                               8.7
Females Aged 30-44	4,781                                   8.7
Aged 45+	6,823                                 8.1
Males Aged 45+	5,537                                 8.1
Females Aged 45+	1,199                                 8.1
IMDb staff	53                                      9.2
Top 1000 voters	394                                    8.0
US users	46,885                                9.1
Non-US users	116,092                              9.0

 These are the results of user ratings on IMDB for the film 'Inception'. These results instantly show that the film has been very successful as most people have rated it highly. As most of the voters of the film are male, aged 18-29, I will not be under the illusion that the largest audience for the film is males aged 18-29 as many of the users of the IMDB website are males aged 18-29. From the ratings of the film, it is clear that people aged 45+ do not enjoy the film as much as people under 18, between 18-29 and aged 30-44. This could mean that the target audience for our thriller film would be the younger audience (between 18-29) as they have rated this thriller film higher than the other age brackets. These results also clearly show that there is not much of a difference between males and females on the opinion of the film. This makes it clear that we should not just aim for the male audience, as the female audience also enjoy thriller films.

This is our Thriller Questionnaire

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

What does IMDB statistics and demographics tell us about the audience for your chosen film?

The film I have chosed in Goodfellas (1990) including Robert De Niro.
The dominant users for a website (in this case, IMDB) are Males aged 18-29 and this is proven in the statistics and demographics for Goodfellas. The main user rating reports are from Men. 176,657 men voted and 16,997 women, and out of the 176,657 men who voted, 106,241 were aged 18-29.

Camera, Editing, Mise en Scène and Sound (CEMS)

I focused on the Mise en Scène and Sound side of CEMS for three horror films; the films are called "Se7en", "The Panic Room" and "One Hour Photo".

Se7en

Mise en Scène

The main locations were Morgan Freeman's character's house and there was also a base for his detective work. His house is the first location we see, which is not like a house on MTV Cribs but more like an ordinary house. In his house we saw his kitchen where there were recognisable items like a fridge and a window, and shortly afterwards, the film shows his bathroom, where he looks into a mirror as he puts on his tie, presumably in the morning. We then see his bedroom as he goes to bed in the evening. He has lamps on both sides of his bed and the lamps are supported by tables. On one side of his bed there is a metronome which he turns on and it clicks every second. This depicts that either the character he plays has trouble getting to sleep or he is a bit mad. It tells us that there may be a dark side to the character and, as it is at the beginning of the film, it will draw us in to watching the film so we find out WHY he has a strange way of going to sleep.
On the next day (in the film), we see Morgan Freeman's character going to work. He is a detective and the base is dark and gloomy, to help depict the mood of the film.

Sound

The music for the title sequence is very tense and creepy with some weird sound effects, including a thunder sound at the end of the scene with the metronome beside Morgan Freeman's character and just before the start of the title sequence. In the scene with the metronome, the music sounds like a mini version of the infamous music used on the film "Psycho". Also, on the first scene, traffic can be heard outside his house.

The Panic Room

At the beginning of the film, the film shows a city, probably New York, and the names of the cast in the film are at the top of the buildings. The music is tense, but not completely horror-filled, it is more laid backed than the themes of the other two films and the music sounds like something from James Bond. Also, when the director's name is shown, there is a view of what must be Central Park.

One Hour Photo

One of the main companies that with with "One Hour Photo" was Fox Searchlight, who also played an important role in the making of the Film4 film "Slumdog Millionaire". The music is tense and more horrifying than "The Panic Room" but not as tense as the music in "Se7en".
A camera is shown at the beginning and there is a build up of tense music and the audience immediately expects something dramatic or exciting or bad to happen, but it is only Robin Williams' character getting his photo taken! On the screen his information is shown on the screen in the cameraman's point of view showing things like Robin Williams' characters date of birth and gender.

Target Audience For Thrillers

Box Office Figures:-
Inception:- $291,448,103
Da Vinci Code:- $217,536,138
Taken:- $145,000,989
Silence of the Lambs:- $130,726,716

Codes, Conventions and Representations of Thrillers

Themes covered in Thrillers:-
Politics, Murder, Crime, Action, Medical

How title texts can be utilised in thrillers:-
Come up while action is happening in background, can come up with just a blank background/ picture as background. Can be relevant to the film e.g. text can be covered in blood/have bullet holes.

Kinds of props in Thrillers:-
Weaponry e.g. guns, knives, baseball bats etc. These props are usually significant because they can relate to the genre with elements of danger and violence.

How non-diegetic sound is utilised in Thrillers:-
It can be used to convey what is going on in the scene. For example is the scene is tense, this can be supported with tense music in the background.

How volume of sound can be useful in Thrillers:-
Can get louder to show something is about to happen/leading up to a big event. Can get quieter to build up tension e.g. if a character is hiding from an attacker, the music generally gets quieter/turned off to add suspense.

How editing is utilised in Thrillers:-
There are generally quick cuts between scenes to keep it tense and exciting, when the credits come up, they come up in a variety of ways and differ from film to film.

Possible Questionnaire to hand out for research

Are you male or female?(tick one)

-Male                            [  ]

-Female                         [  ]

What age group are you in?

-0-15                             [  ]

-16-21                           [  ]

-22-35                           [  ]

-36-50                           [  ]

-51-65                           [  ]

-66+                              [  ]

Do you like thrillers?(yes/no)
.................................................................................

What is your favourite thriller film out of these?(tick one)
-The Dark Knight         [  ]
-The Godfather             [  ]
-Inception                     [  ]
-Alien                           [  ]
-The Da Vinci Code     [  ]

What do you like about this selected film?
.........................................................

What do you think makes a good thriller?(tick 3 choices)
-Suspence                      [  ]
-Shock/surprise              [  ]
-Plot twists/cliffhangers [  ]
-Action                          [  ]
-Violence                       [  ]
-Mystery                        [  ]
-Anticipation/uncertainty [  ]
-Scare Factor                [  ]

What is your favourite type of thriller?(tick one)

-Political                       [  ]
-Medical                      [  ]
-Police                         [  ]
-Horror                        [  ]
-Action-adventure        [  ]

Camera and Sound of an opening of a thriller '1 Hour Photo'

Camera:

At the beginning of the film, the camera focuses on the mise en scene of the camera in the middle of the screen, until this camera flashes. As the photos of the main character are being taken and processed onto the computer, the camera then focuses on the computer screen which then tilts downwards and zooms in to the key board. The camera then tilts upwards and becomes an over the sholder shot to show, in which it focuses on the window of the interviewing room. The camera then zooms in through the window and into the interviewing room, in which the camera then becomes a two-shot, showing the conversation between both actors. Again, the camera then fouces on the mans face from an over the sholder shot.

Sound:

There is a slow, tense music that is played to build up tension, mimicing a heart beat. The dialogue that is said, is slow and calmly spoken. As it shows all the memories, while Robin Williams over speaks the music is light and happy, with the noises of little children and their families.

Credit analysis on Panic Room

 As the credits are shown on screen, a slow and tense music is being played in the background as well as the filming of New York city. The titles almost become camoflauged as they are shown, with the mise en scene on screen, e.g the sky scrapers or the sky. The music quickens, creating more of a tense atmosphere for the veiwers.

Camera and Sound of an opening of a thriller film 'Seven'

Camera:

At the begining of the clip, there is an over the sholder shot, focusing on Morgan Freeman doing up his tie, this suggests that he is a business man with the clothes that he is wearing. The camera then is first placed at a low angle and as the dead body is wheeled across the screen, the camera then tilts upwards over the body. this creates empathsis on the body, showing clearly the genre of the film, which creates tension for the veiwer. When Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are standing in the rain, the camera is then positioned at a low angle with a two shot, this focuses on their converstation taken part, with also the two main characters that are featured in the film. This camera position is still being held, but as the actors begin walking, the camera tracks. There is also an extream close up on the glasses that are being placed on the bed side table by Morgan Freeman as he is sitting in bed. This camera shot empathsises the sounds that are happening at the same time along with the mise en scene. The camera zooms in slowly upon Morgan Freemans facial expressions while the noise of the metranome is in the background, the camera changes shot frequently between Morgan Freeman and the metranome. This creates tension as the noise is often realted to suspense.

Sound:

At the beginning of the scene, while Morgan Freeman is first shown making a cup of coffee, there are sounds of sirens in the background, this shows the genre of the film due to the fact that veiwers often relate sirens to an unsafe place. One of the actors that is playing a dector, states 'the wife shot her husband' its like its almost an everyday occurance, the way that he says it, again refering back to an unsafe place that the film is set. There is a strong link to the title with the words 'over the next 7 days' that is said in the converstaion between the main two characters. While Morgan Freeman is in the bed, just before the credits, there is a thunder sound to introduce the titles, with the use of the lound noise, it empatheses the genre of a thriller film.  As the credits are being shown, there is an up beat music that creates tension and suspenase.

Production Company Ideas

Ideas for our production company:-

We would be a production company that aims to please niche audiences. Therefore we would aim for a wide variety of audiences in different films.

Name for our production company:-

We would need a name and logo that reflects our type of company. Therefore something 'epic' or 'powerful/massive' like 'Fox' would not be suitable. Or we could go for a name that doesn't have any reference to the type of films we make, but just a name that sounds good for a production company e.g. film4 doesn't have anything to do with their films.

We like the name Hyperion, so we're looking at being 'Hyperion Productions'

Logo for our production company:-

After a lot of searching for a good image for a logo. We came up with this:-

The image we found is a stock photo, therefore we are not breaking any copyright laws. We believe this logo is relevant because Hyperion, in Greek mythology, is the Titan of Light, therefore the light shining through the clouds is relevant to our logo and the name of our production company.

More Thriller film opening scene music research

I have been watching the opening scenes to a variety of Thriller films to get more of an idea on what our Thriller film opening scene should sound like.



After after watching this, i notice that alot of Thriller film opening scene music varies in a variety of ways. For example, some songs are softer and calmer whereas others are fast paced and intense.

Opening analysis on the film 'One hour photo'

Editing:- Credits fly into the middle of the screen then change colour then fade out into the black background. Starts with fox clip and music from that clip. Quick, abrupt transition to the flashback but the music in the background gives a smooth transition.

Sound:- Ambient noises. Light hearted music starts playing when the main character flashes back and narrates. This is good because it lets the viewer know what the film is about and helps them get a bit of background information on the story. In introduction music, the is an underlying subsonic bass line. It gives a feeling of tension and suspense.

Opening analysis on the film 'Seven'

Editing:- Starts up with the 'New line Cinema', it fades slowly to the first scene however, it quickly transitions between scenes very abruptly with no fading or anything like that. Opening credits:- Rough, messy font, looks handwritten. Relevant pictures to the film inbetween the credits.

Sound:- No music playing, lots of background noise from in the scene (rain). Opening credits:- With slow but intimidating, tense music. Random sound effects. Ambient noises (police siren in background) - contributes to the mood of the film. Names of the main characters are stated. Main character says to the other character 'next 7 says'. This is a link to the film title and link to possible later events.

Background music ideas for our film opening scene

I've been tasked with creating the music for our opening scene. I've been watching the beginning of Thriller films and listening out to the kind of things all the background music has in common. I've seen that a lot of these films have intimidating music that is tense and gives a feeling of suspense with something happening that could make viewers jump. 

The music, in general, is usually reliant on the string section and also usually has an underpinning bass line. The music is usually very reliant on electronic sound effects and usually sounds very minimalistic and has a thin texture. In general, the drums in Thriller background opening scene music are either very quiet/minimal or they are non-existent. 

Research on Film Openings

Research on Thrillers

'A POSTCODE' notes which could help for later reference

Audience:- Their reaction
Production:- What was done in productions
Ownership:- Who owns what and why? Includes integration
Synergy:- Who joined with who? Was it beneficial
Technology:- How has new technology impacted? Provision for what?
Convergence:- Consider both - Technological - How has new technology gone into one media product? Media - How have new products enabled success?
Online:- How have online technologies helped?
Distribution:- Getting films to the audience
Exhibition:- Showing the films and exhibiting the film in various places

Notes on 5 openings of films

First Film:- Troy

Opening credits to Troy

Warner bros logo

A radiant production
In association with plan b
Film name= troy
Music in background that sounds quite ‘epic’
While background information comes up

Second Film:- Zombieland

Columbia ‘Sony pictures Entertainment Company’ clip comes up
Intro starts for 2mins 30 secs, then opening credits start with background music
Columbia pictures presents, in association with relativity media
A pariah production
Woody Harrelson
Jesse Eisenberg
Emma stone
Abigail Breslin
Film name- Zombieland
Casting by John Papsidera csa
Costume designer Magali Guidasci
Music by david sardy
Edited by Peter Amundson, Alan Baumgarten ace
Production designer Maher Ahmad
Director of photography Micheal Bonvillain asc
Executive producers Ezra swerdlow, paul wernick, Rhett reece, ryan kavanaugh
Produced by Gavin Polone
Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Third Film:- Taken

20th Century fox 10 sec clip comes up first
Twentieth century fox presents
A europacorp m6 films grive productions co-production
With the participation of canal+, tps star and M6
Liam Neeson
A film by Pierre morel
Written by luc besson and Robert mark kamen
Film name – taken



Forth Film:- Percy Jackson and the lightening thief

20th century fox 10 sec clip comes up first
Dune entertainment clip 5 sec
1492 pictures clip 5 sec
Fox 2000 pictures presents
In association with dune entertainment
A 1492 pictures sunswept entertainment production
A chris Columbus film
Intro to the film then at 4.29 it comes up with film name
Logan Lerman
Brandon T Jackson
Alexandra Daddario
Jake Abel
Sean Bean
Pierce Brosnan
Steve Coogan
Rosario Dawson
Melina kanakaredes
Catherine Keener
Kevin McKidd
Joe Pantoliano
Uma Thurman
U.S. Casting by Janet Hirshenson, csa and Jane Jenkins, csa
Canadian Casting by Coreen Mayrs, csa and Heike Brandstatter, csa
Costume Designer Renee April
Music by Christophe Beck
Visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack
Edited by Peter Honess, A.C.E.
Production Designer Howard Cummings
Director of Photography Stephen Goldblatt, asc/bsc
Executive producers Thomas M Hammel, Greg Mooradian, Guy OSeary, Mark Morgan
Produced by Karen Rosenfelt, Chris Columbus, Micheal Barnathan, Mark Radcliffe
Based upon the novel by Rick Riordan
Screenplay by Craig Titley
Directed by Chris Columbus


Fifth Film:- Bill and Teds Bogus Journey

Immediately starts with metro Goldwyn mayer trademark clip of lion
Nelson entertainment presents
An interscope communications production
Film name pops up

First Post Introduction to us

Ok, well this is the first of many posts. We are in the group 'Hyperion' and are going to do the introduction to a Thriller film. We just watched the trailer to the film, 'Slumdog Millionaire' and made some notes on all aspects of the film including Production, Ownership and more. Will be posted later as now we all know how to do this.

Heres the trailer of 'Slumdog Millionaire', just to give this blog a bit of colour.