The name of our thriller is.....

The name of our thriller is COUNTERPLAY, the dictionary definition of Counterplay is

A threat or offensive position in chess intended to counter an opponent's advantage in another part of the board.

Counterplay is also a synonym for avenging. This is effective to the audience as it makes them wonder about what might happen after the opening sequence and how the revenge might take place. Counter play suggests that something will be retaliated, it also makes the audience think about whether it will be positive or negative and who it might involve.

Revenge also connotes that something will happen to the antagonist. That revenge will be taken against him for what you see in the first opening two minutes of our thriller.

 The word play connotes a game which could be considered as fun, but it also gives it a macabre menacing feel to it because life, and what you see in our thriller, is not a game.

The word ‘play’ in the title is also ironic, this is because its suggesting a game, however, as it is a thriller the audience will know that the word is juxtaposed as the film is dark rather than fun like a game. On the other hand the revenge at the end of the film could be seen as a reward which you usually get at the end of game.

The fact that it has cross cuts to a game of chess links to the name because it is  a chess move and the cross cuts will create tension.                                                                                                                                                                                This was decided as a whole group.

 

Explanation of planning of our Thriller opening

Explanation of planning

We had a list of all of the tasks we would need to complete and then shared them out between us. Most of them we decided to complete as a group so that we would all have input and a decision in the opening of our video. The tasks we did individually we made sure we conferred with each other and sometimes other members of our class to ask them what fonts they liked and whether they would come and see our film.

The tasks completed individually were

Location and Mise en scene- Ali Hunt

Detailed mind map of ideas and storyboard- Amy Roberts

Costume planning- Alice Heffer

The rest of the task were mainly completed as a group or we each did a part and then it was checked by someone else and they made amendments until we were all happy with how they looked and sounded.

 

Plot Synopsis of our Thriller opening scene

Plot synopsis

Our film will start with a young teenage girl leaving a party and being followed down a dark alley by an slightly older suspicous looking man. We will have cross cuts to create tension of men playing chess in a dark room. When the male catches up with her he abuses her and when she returns home to her family she breaks down and tells her father about what happened and then he becomes the protagonist and hunts down the antagonist, the young girl’s abuser, to get revenge for what he did to his daughter.

This was done as a whole group.

How is sound used to create tension in Thrillers?

Sound is often used to create tension in thriller films, the film I will be analysing the sound from is the opening clip to Sin city and how it creates tension and raises suspense.
The use of the close up shot of the gun (2 minutes 18) and the diegetic sound of the gunshot establishes the genre because they are both common features of film noir and crime thrillers. The use of the gun also supports the Mise en scene and mood of film noirs and thrillers. A gun can be seen to symbolise justice and victory or could symbolise war and unrest.

This also links to the use of pathetic fallacy and the diegetic sound of the rain. It foreshadows danger and the rain and diegetic thunder set a depressing and dark tone and mood which are common features of film noir and compliment the genre. The non-diegetic sound of the dripping drainpipe and the wind create a feeling of dread and doom and make the audience tense and anxious to see what is going to happen. This successfully creates tension because dripping water is an uneasy sound and will put the audience on edge.

The whispering of the characters sets an uneasy tone because they are alone on a rooftop so why would they need to be whispering? It creates tension because the audience are listening in closer because they want to know what it going to happen. This is effective at drawing the audience in and placing them on tenterhooks because they are unsure of what is going to happen, and they may feel like they don't want to know but at the same time they're listening closer which makes them tense which is the idea of a thriller opening.

The non-diegetic use of smooth jazz (starting at 13 seconds) as the background track reinforces the film noir genre. The non-diegetic sound of the birds seems a little out of place because they are on a dark rooftop in the middle of a city at night. They show they’re in a city by the landscape above the rooftop they are standing on but they also show it with the use of the non-diegetic sound of the cars which suggest traffic (4 seconds) on the ground below. It also sets a sense of claustrophobia because it suggests they are trapped in a city, the audio code helps to set the scene and genre and create a sense of claustrophobia and tension.

 Tension is also created with the sound of the footsteps (15 seconds) at the start of the scene because we don’t know who is approaching on the rooftop as his face is half hidden in shadow, it creates a sense of mystery and secrecy which again is typical of a film noir.

The dialogue is male dominated and he seems to have an emotionless tone, (43 seconds) even after he’s killed her (2 minutes 22) he doesn’t seem to show any emotion which suggests he could be the antihero because we know nothing about him except from the fact he has just killed a woman on a rooftop in the middle of a city on a dark night. The characters are established a little through their dialogue. The male dominance is also shown with the male character narrating over the top of the scene which is normally used to show a characters feelings or emotions but in this case his tone is blank and he just narrates the events and tells us how he is feeling but with little to no sentiment in his voice.

Analysing the sound from this opening clip has allowed me to study a successful audio code and learn effective methods of creating tension and raising suspense, all of these I will need to do in my thriller opening so studying this clip has allowed me to look at techniques I could use in my own thriller opening.

How are Motifs used in Thriller films?

A motif is a dominant or recurring idea or theme.

There are 3 main motifs or themes in the thriller Inception.

The first motif and reoccurring theme in Inception is that of the totems. The characters use totems to allow them to know if they are in a dream world or whether they are in reality, such as the totem of the main characters wife. Her totem is a spinning top and if she spins it and it doesn't fall over then she would know she was in a dream, if it fell over while spinning then she would know she was in reality. The spinning top could be seen as a metaphor for reality and that when it doesn't fall over it makes reality questionable. This is a really effective motif because personally it intrigued me into the film and even made me question my own reality a few times.



Another reoccurring motif in inception is "the kick music" the song is A slow down version of Edith Piaf’s song Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien the English translation of this song title it "I don't regret anything" This is could be seen as antithesis because, the main character, Cobb spends most of the film regretting the implantation  of an idea in his wife's mind(inception) and the constant motif of the music which is saying "I regret nothing" reminds him of what he did and could be there to show the inner turmoil he is feeling. Another thing that Cobb regrets is not calling out to his children before he was forced to become a fugitive and this is shown as another thing he is regretting.

  Another motif in Inception is the open window, out of which Cobb watched his wife commit suicide on the night of their anniversary.  This window is shown in the third layer of the dream sequence and it shows that Cobb is slowly loosing his mind like his wife lost hers. it could also be down to the fact that he was the one who planted the idea in her head that her reality wasn't real and caused her to question everything and kill herself to go back to her children and what she believed would be reality.     Each of these motifs link to the main theme of Inception which is questioning reality and making the watcher wonder if what they know is actually real.


Motifs are often small little things in films that some audiences may not notice unless they are actually looking for them. Analysing this film and the motifs within have allowed me to think about the possibility of using a motif in the opening of my thriller film because I have seen how effective they can be.

Analysis of Thriller title sequences and fonts

American Horror Story Murder House title sequence


American Horror Story Murder House title sequence



The 2 openings I have chosen to analyse are American Horror Story Murder house (season one) and  the film Se7en. They are similar in many aspects of which I will explore below.

In both of the opening titles the fonts are distinct and unique in their own ways, both texts are overlaid over the clips which makes it the main focus of the clips.

The font in Se7en is very jagged and this connotes that it has been scratched into the screen with a knife or a sharp object. which links to the genre of psychological thriller and when it cuts and flickers it creates an air of suspense amongst the audience and this establishes a dark tone and mood.
 
The font of American Horror Story is bold and in capitals and overlaid which suggests they want you to be concentrating on the actors, directors and crew members names rather than the sequence going on behind, which I must say is rather creepy and strange. As with the opening to Se7en the names flicker and cut around which establishes the genre of a psychological thriller and sets a dark sombre mood.
 


The jagged font used in se7en suggest the genre. It suggests that it's going to be a thriller and the jagged font with the way it cuts and jumps around suggest it's going to be psychological.

Both opening sequences have rather disturbing scenes going on behind their texts, but because the text is overlaid you can tell they want you to read the texts.

I think that the way when the names of the cast and crew come up in the American Horror story opening and the screen behind is just black is effective because of the contrast of the white text against the black background because it could connote the difference between good and evil with the white text symbolising the good, but the way it flickers and cuts around makes it more sinister than that.

Both fonts are entirely unique and not used in any other show or film and have been specially crafted for their specific genre and both set a dark tone for their films with the bold white of the American Horror Story, white is often a symbol of purity and safety. For anyone who has seen American Horror Story they will know that their is nothing safe and pure about the Murder house they're living in, this colour could be used to shock the audience or it could be so that the text can be read against the dark background clips. 

Studying these fonts and their different connotations have made me consider the sort of font I will use in my thriller opening, different fonts create a different feel to different films and must be considered carefully because they could give off the wrong idea and ruin the aesthetic of your film.

How are camera angles used to create tension and suspense?

How does Hitchcock use camera angles to create tension and suspense in Pyscho?

Hitchcock creates tension by the use of the close shots of Marion which tightly frames her and allows the audience to see the emotions and feelings on her face. This creates suspense amongst the audience because they can see the tension in the lines above her eyebrows which transfers a sense of tension to the audience. Marion is placed in the centre of the shot which makes her the audience’s centre of attention. Which means the audience’s sole concentration on her.

  

This links with the long time between cuts. Each time the camera cuts away it gives a point of view shot of the road and how she sees it as she is driving, then when it cuts back to her face the camera has zoomed in slightly and we are that little bit closer to her face which creates a sense of unease in the audience, combining this with the pace of the editing creates tension because they know something is going to happen but they don’t know what.

Hitchcock uses the weather, as pathetic fallacy, but also to distort the car lights behind Marion’s car which gives the audience a sense of discomfort, because as they are distorted we are unsure if they're following her or whether they are just driving behind her this gives a sense of suspense to the audience because they are left wondering. The use of pathetic fallacy is when human feelings reflect the weather outside. The rain is coming down rather hard outside her car which could reflect the tension she is feeling as she is clearly running away from something.

Linking back to my previous point about Marion being centre of the shot I believe this is highly effective because the shot lengths are exceptionally long between cuts which means the audience could grow bored, but all out attention is on Marion's face and her emotions. The lighting highlights her cheekbones and eyebrows making her face seem more deep and detailed, it also allows the audience to see all of her emotions and read her like a book.

Hitchcock uses close up shots to create suspense because we cannot see what is going on around Marion we have no idea of what's going on around her, this also links to my point about pathetic fallacy because the camera is tightly framing her face we don't know if she's being followed and the weather blocks out any other chance we might have to know if she's being followed. This creates tension and suspense for the audience because they have no idea of what's to come, for Marion or in the film itself.

Aesthetic and mise-en-scene of Film Noir

Link to my presentation on Aesthetic and mise-en-scene of Film Noir

Women and costume in film noir

                                    Women in film noir

Femme fatales in film noire use their sexuality and bodies to lure the protagonist into dangerous situations which can sometimes lead to the protagonist's downfall and quite often result in the femme fatale's own death. The women in film noir are stereotypically in revealing dresses smoking or looking sultry and seductive.


The femme fatales are often half hidden by shadow or smoke in a dark room or alleyway, this could be to show their dangerous flirtatious nature and the fact they're half hidden in shadow could suggest they are a dominant or pervasive threat. The dark shadows could also represent the evil shown throughout the film. The smoke could be used to represent mystery and show the mysterious aura around the femme fatales.

In film noir femme fatales are a rebel against societies "typical" woman of the time, during the time of film noir society was rather male dominated and woman were seen as objects to be owned by men, to cook and clean and raise families rather than to have their own identity and career. The femme fatale breaks out of the traditional stereotype of the time and she is portrayed as a strong independent female. Sometimes they are portrayed as a damsel in distress and usually they lure the protagonist into danger.




                                            Costume in film noir

The costumes worn in film noir by woman are similar throughout each of the different films. Women are shown in revealing dresses, fur coats, high heels, stockings, red lipstick and elbow length gloves. Altogether shown as elegant, dignified and graceful.  
 Their clothes symbolise passion and danger, showing them, to the audience, as a hazard to the protagonist. Their red lipstick could also be used to portray this as red symbolises passion, aggression, and courage. It can also symbolise sexual impulses, danger and shame.


The male characters, protagonist and antagonist alike, wear suits and fedoras occasionally making it hard for the audience to establish in the beginning who is the bad and who is the good guy.

The detective is usually dressed smartly in a suit, with gun holster. A large overcoat and tie. The men, like the women are dressed stereotypically. The black overcoats symbolise mystery and danger and this links to the fact that usually the protagonists job is something lonely or isolated such as a private investigator or something else that social alienates them from the rest of society.

  

Exploring Thriller sub genres

Link to the original presentation on emaze.com


Soundtracks in Thrillers

Even the soundtracks in Thrillers have conventions. The soundtrack for psychological thrillers tends to be high notes and tense music, those for action thrillers tends to be deep bass notes and fast paced and in crime thrillers there tends to be more diegetic gunshots and cars.

What is the purpose of a thriller opening?

The purpose of the opening sequence of a thriller should engage the audience, establish the plot, establish characters, set the tone and atmosphere and establish the genre. It should also raise questions which in turn hook the audience.

The thriller opening I have chosen to analyse is Inception. The clip I have analysed is above.

The opening of inception starts with setting the scene, it doesn't show much of the scene just that it's coastal. There aren't really many wide shots or an establishing shot in the very beginning just mid shots. This is to show the audience the setting and gives them an overview of the scene.

The use of guns links to the action thriller genre and foreshadows action and the talk of murder intrigue the audience. It also sets quite a dark tone and hints to the the audience that because of the use of guns there is quite likely to be murder later on. Guns also set a darker tone because they link to murder and death which casts a darker tone onto this thriller.



The protagonist and antagonist are both also introduced in the opening scene. We're introduced the antagonist by seeing a long shot of the back of his head and are not introduced to him to quite a way into the opening scene and even then we only see him from mid to long shots away. This makes him seem more of an intriguing character to the audience because they don't see him close up and it leaves them wondering what he likes and why they haven't been introduced to him yet. It hooks them in which is a succesful technique used in their thriller opening.

The canted angles used when the protagonist is lying on the beach are used to create confusion and distrust, this links to the use of crashing waves which symbolise tension and unease. It also links to the use of a flashback, we as the audience can tell it's a flashback from the intense colour used in the scene which contrasts with the dark colours used in the rest of the scene.

The main thing a thriller opening should do is make the watcher ask questions and hook the in so they watch the rest of the film to find out the answers to their questions. Some of the questions I personally asked were
Why is he on the beach?
What on earth are they talking about?
Why are there children on a beach guarded by guards with guns?
Who are the children?
Why are there guns?
How do they know each other?
"I know what this is?" WHAT IS IT?!?!
Posing questions to the watcher engages them and encourages them to watch on.

The low key lighting is typical of a thriller because it sets a dark atmosphere and a chiaroscuro light effect which works really well in thrillers adding an aspect of mystery and tension to a scene. The deep bass note playing in the back of the scene also adds to the tension and is effective because unless you're concentrating on it it's not obvious and it creates suspense and adds to the tension.

In conclusion I believe that Inception uses all the things a typical thriller opening should do to create tension, grab the audience and establish plot while posing many questions at the same time to hook the audience in and watch more to find out the answers to their questions.

Preliminary evaluation

Link to my preliminary task evaluation

Prelimiary task

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jZiIuT4JFE&list=UUFHqqdfpcaqL_r6JddCseaQ

Above is the link to my preliminary task video

Plan

 

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E7PXdhylmojgHZgaoazE18hNPSody-0JAhvlZUCI0F8/pub Here is the link to the script

 

Below is the storyboard and room plan.

 Storyboard

Storyboard

Storyboard

Room plan

Summer Project

Above are the pictures of my spider diagram about the lighting and camera work in Casino Royale and LA Noire and the link is to my power point about the similarities and differences between LA Noire and Casino Royale.

Hi I'm Amy Roberts and this is my AS media blog.
I went to Long Stratton High School.
I am now a sixth form student at City Of Norwich school, studying AS levels in Media Studies, English Literature and Language, Law and History.
And today is my birthday (September 5th) and I'm doing my homework!
Welcome to my blog.