Audience Research#1

Before filming my actual product, I presented three people from my target audience- (teenagers between the ages of 13 to 18), with my plan for my opening sequence. I asked these people to give me a rating out of 10 for:


1. The plot

2. Choice of costume

3. Choice of setting

4. Predicted success

Person #1

1. The plot 8

2. Choice of costume 9

3. Choice of setting 6

4. Predicted success 9

Person #2

1. The plot 5

2. Choice of costume 4

3. Choice of setting 7

4. Predicted success 6

Person #3

1. The plot 8

2. Choice of costume 8

3. Choice of setting 4

4. Predicted success 6

Results:



On the whole, my results show that the three people analyzed, thought that the opening sequence would be generally successful. Judging from the results, the weakest points seem to be choice of setting. When queried, one person explained that they thought a field would be too boring as it is a very open space. She went on to state that it is typical for an opening sequence of a thriller, to be set in a place where the actors can hide and lurk; thus momentarily obscuring crucial information. Taking the results of the questionnaire in account however, my group and I still want use the field as a setting as we feel that information can still be obscured and questions can be raised as successfully as if it were set in a more closed surroundings.

Here are some conventions of a title sequence

Here are the general conventions of a title sequence. I found out this information by watching Memento’s titles:


1. Titles

2. Casting director

3. Opening sequence

4. The main characters

5. Production designer

6. Exectutive producer

7. Edited by

8. Music by

9. Costume design

10. Make up and dubbing

Here are some conventions of a thriller

Antagonist/Protaganist- The idea of a hero and a victim, sometimes misleading us.
Questions- Constantly make us want to know and understand more
Tensional music- to add to the impact
Sense of mystery- Raises the questions
Tension- Tension
Non linear narrative- Jump back and forth through time to raise questions
Low key lighting- to suggest that there is something wrong

Below is a selection of the storyboards that helped us plan our ideas:

Prop list and Costumes

DENOTATIONS
Costumes


Sean-  White and blue jumper with black trousers and black shoes
Gabrielle- head to toe in black
Lauren- A blue jumper and black trousers with black shoes
David- A leather black jacket with black trousers and shoes


Prop list

1. Pieces of paper with writing. 
2. A car

Setting

A large field (The Daisy)

CONNOTATIONS


Costumes


The costumes for our short film are rather basic as we did not want the audience to be taken away with what we were wearing, but to instead, be completely immersed in the action that is taking place. There are however some aspects of our choice of costume  that are intentional. Gabrielle (me) is wearing head to toe in black as it is important for her to seem mysterious. Black is a very deep and mysterious color that can also connote death and darkness. This will hopefully add to the questions that a successful thriller asks. 


Prop list


We in our drama pieces use paper with different writings and pictures on it so that they will not make sense to the audience, but will however, make perfect sense to the characters in the scene. We have also chosen to use a car as part of the setting as it is an everyday and totally normal thing that the audience will relate to. This will add to the questions asked as we wonder what is about to occur. 


Setting


We have chosen to use a field as a field is a very vague and a big place. the good thing about a field is the fact it is so big; we are able to obscure a lot of information from the camera. creating tension like a typical thriller

Thriller- Planning

My group and I have now come up with a scenario for our thriller and it is very different from the ideas that individual group members have come up with:
       
            Synopsis:  Opening shot begins as a long shot where Sean is seen lying on the floor after falling through a rift in time. He has changed the timeline somehow and is in trouble. Then Gabby appears and helps him up and Sean isn’t too pleased to see her. Gabby is Sean’s guardian Angel/ Mentor she takes him on a walk while walking and talking discovers that a car is seen she knows that this is the time police for Sean. However he is unaware of this. They get to the car and Sean finds out it’s the time police and he turns to Gabby for help and finds she has disappeared. David who has a lot of power as a time officer eventually persuades Sean in. There is a extreme close up of the time in the car hinting the theme of “time” David gives Sean information of paper consisting of people Sean claims not to have seen the people David agrees because Sean hasn’t actually met them yet. Sean asks him has been through time too and David said Sean must pay the penalty of going through time and killing his father. Sean’s penalty is he has to work for the time police. Seeing as he has the ability to go back in time the time police make him work for them. Sean does all his dirty deeds or them but craves ability to go forward in time so while working for time police he searches for power to go forward. He’s searching shall be his downturn in his life as the police sentence Sean anyway despite working for them. They say life for a life. Sean dies and his dad lives because if Sean’s Dad dies he wouldn’t exist.

         My opinion: I personally do not like this as an opening sequence as although it asks a lot of questions, it does not create enough tension as other thrillere such as Memento or War of the Worlds. However i think perhaps when we put it together and actually come to editing the piece; adding soung effects, lighting and maybe music, it actually be rather effective.
         Questions: A main attribute to a succesful thriller is the mysery element. Without this, the opening sequence would fail. Here are the questions that our opening sequence poses so far:

1. Why would someone be lying in the middle of a field?
2. What is the relationship between that man and the girl that approaches him?
3. Where does the man in the car drive the man and the woman too?

Shot list:

1. Long shot- man in field

2. Long shot- man in field with titles

3. Long shot -titles dissapear

4. Close up- seans face

5. Mid shot- gabrielle and sean

6. Mid shot- sean

7. Mid shot- gabrielle

8. Close up- seans face

9. Mid shot- gabrielle and sean

10. Close up- walking feet

11. Mid shot- gabrielle and sean dialogue

12. Long shot- davids car

13. Long shot- sean, gabrielle and car

14. Mid shot- david gets out of car

15. Mid shot- gabrielle and sean

16. Close up- sean turns head

17. Mid shot- sean on his own

18. Mid shot- david talking

19. Extreme close up- the time

20. Mid shot- david in car

21. Mid shot- sean in back seat

22. Mid shot- david turning around

23. Mid shot- sean in back seat

24. Mid shot- david turning around

25. Mid shot- lauren walking across

26. Extreme close up- the time

At the moment, we are at the storyboard stage, and have alreast started to plan and create a shot list so that we actually know what is occuring in each shot. The good thing is that we as a group get a rough idea of what we need to think about and keep in mind, however it can be rather tedious as because we are still in the beggining stages of our planning, we are still changing and developing our ideas, meaning that we have to change and rearange the storyboard.
                                                                                        

Here are three locations, ideal for a thriller

1. The carpark- Location number one would be ideal for a thriller as it is an everyday place for people to be in, thus, events typical of a thriller such as crimes and murders have more of an impact as they could very well take place in an everyday carpark. Another reason why this could be an ideal location is as carparks have a lot of cars which cast shadow.

2. A childrens playground- The second location could work very well as a thrillers setting as children are connoted and associated with innocence and laughter, whereby a thriller tends to evoke the opposite. The juxtaposition would therefore, like the carpark, have more of an impact then if the thriller was set in a haunted mansion, as we as the viewers can relate to the setting.

3. A dump- Unlike thhe first two settings where juxtaposition would be an element, my final choice for a thrillere setting is a dump. This is as dumps are dirty and jam packed with items that could well be significant to the action taking place. In addition to this, as a dump is so busy and full with different items, a lot of information is obscured or looked over.

Synopsis

A girl is walking through large parking lot with the intention of getting home. There are a few cars still in the car park, assumable empty. She is completely alone, and is carrying a handbag. It is around 4:00 and is getting rather dark. She is walking quite fast as if she is in a hurry, and she is huddled up as it is getting cold. She is nearing the middle of the car park when the headlights of a car suddenly lights up. She looks over and there doesn't appear to be anyone in the car. She proceeds walking then trips hits her shoe on a loose brick. Her shoe comes off. She sighs, bends down to pick the shoe up and shoves it back on her foot. She doesn’t think anything of it. Just as she stood up again, she turns around to the car mentioned earlier. She does a double take as there actually is someone in the car, a man is in there and he smiles rapidly and nods his head. He looks very suspicious. The girl doesn't smile back; instead, she carries on walking. She is nearly at the gate when the car suddenly screeches and drives at full speed toward her. The girl starts to run toward the gate but it appears locked. The man gets out if the car grabs her by the waist whilst covering her mouth and drags her in the car. There is a shuffle in the car, then a gunshot. We presume that the girl has just been shot. Another girl is hiding in the car park hears the gunshot and screams. A suspicious looking man suddenly appears holding a gun. The girl#2 runs. The man raises the gun, hear an ice cream truck then run towards it.




Questions



Who is girl#1 in relation to boy#1?

Why did he apparently shoot her?

Who is girl#2

Why was she shot at?

Why is the significance of the ice cream truck?

Wallander

The opening sequence commences with hyperbolic sounds of wind, which then make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable. We are then given shots of a countryside which we assume the thriller is set. The music becomes higher in sound and there is suddenly a whoosh sound. We then see two girls walking but we can't see their faces, meaning that they are a mystery to us. Then we hear the sound of scraping of a knife, which tinges the two girls with negativity. We assume that these girls were involved in something bad and this raises questions to the audience. Wallender is therefore very successful in creating impact and raising questions.

Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense has a very successful opening sequence to it. In the opening sequence of The "Sixth Sense" the music commences and is very eerie and adds to the tension,. then the first shot is of a lightbulb. A Woman in a long and occasional dress goes into the cellar seemingly for a bottle of wine and discovers she is not alone.

We know this as we can hear slight noises and her whole body composition changes. The lightbulb at the start fades in slowly, keeping the audience on point and curious to what is about to happen. When she goes down the stairs, she hesitates, making us feel even more intimidated about the location. We know that there is comething that is about to happen. She then goes over to the wine rack where the long shot used makes the aduience believe that there is something hiding behing the wine rack watching her.She then becomes spooked by something. The camera tracks into her face and zooms into an extreme close to show the expression of fear. Her facial expressions make the audience believe that there is somehting there with her a presence that may possibly be unwelcome. The lady then turns and shivers She then runs up the stairs due to being scared of an unknown presence.

The music gives the audience an insight to the film and what is to be expected. The music is slow and eerie which tells the audience something about the film without showing them any footage yet. Music is also useful for setting an atmosphere the mood and the tone for the film so therefore making it a crucial element to

Film Noir

Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style.

In the lesson
In the lesson we as a class, watched some films in black and white. We watched and discussed "Double Indemnity" by Billy Wilder and how it was typical of a thriller. There were long shots where the face of the character was obscures, so we couldn't see only see his sillouette. This is a successul thriller convention as it raises a lot of questions to who he was. In addition to this, dramatic music, low key lighting, low angle camera shots all raise questions and make the character seem very mysterious- typical of a thriller.

Double Idemnity

Double Indemnity starts with a figure walking towards the camera the man is on crutches but he still looks powerful as the camera is at a low level making the figure look taller and having more status. The film is in black and white and the music is loud and dramatic, implicating that the character has a high status. The music then speeds up as we see a car race. The setting juxtaposes the music as it seems relatively calm. As the music get quicker and the car I racing towards the camera the audience become tense as they believe that the car is going to crash. The music then calms down as the car is pulling up to park. Another element that the opening sequence uses that is effective is the fact that the audience sees a character get out of the car, however they do not see his face, this creates a mystery as the audience do not know who the character is. The low key lighting is effective because it obsures the characters features. At the end of the opening there is diegetic dialogue between the man and what appears to be a police officer to explain the story. We than watched "Kiss me Deadly" by Robert Aldrich;

Kiss me Deadly

 The opening of Kiss Me Deadly starts with a scred women running down a dark road, we do not see what she is running from but she is scared of something as the director has used hyperbolic breathing. This is a convention of a Thriller. The road appears to be isolated and dark which shows that the women is vunerable to danger, or in this case the approaching car.  The low key lighting emphasises this. Then, both a women and the man are in the same car, behind them constantly there is a car that looks like it is following them, however you only see the lights of the car, again, creating tension.
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Memento

Momento, a thriller directed by Christopher Nolan follows the story of “Lenny” who suffers from short term memory loss and uses tattoos and drawings on his body to hunt for the man that he believes killed his wife. The four conventions – mise en scene, sound, cinematography and editing are used intentionally by Nolan to inform us as the audience that we are watching a thriller.

Memento commences with a plain black screen with a slow, macabre classical soundtrack. Nothing is on the screen for at least five seconds and enables us to merely listen to the music; which evokes curiosity and a slight fear because of the use of stringed instruments; and to anticipate what is to come. Then, the credits fade in, remains for roughly three seconds, then fades out again. The use of fade corresponds with the slow music and helps add to the euphemistic feel that is coming across. To add to this, the writing starts off a light baby blue, which could symbolize that the main character is male and the fact that Nolan uses this colour could also connote childlike innocence or coldness which is then made seemingly sinister as the writing darkens and fades into deep blue, then black.

The hand in the photograph then shakes the photograph every 8-10 seconds with a supposedly diegetic and hyperbolic sound effect and for the first time, we as audience members are slightly confused; the photograph fades lighter and lighter until it is completely white and at this point, the music intensifies and becomes more emotive. The fact that we can hear the shaking of the photograph makes us more sensitive to other sounds that are perhaps to come and perhaps Nolan at this point is trying to prepare us for what we are about to see. Suddenly, the photograph turning white makes sense as the next shots are in reverse. The editing quickens to add impact and to keep us intrigued, then we see short and extreme close ups of blood dripping down the wall, spectacles with drops of blood on them and a camera lens. Blood is generally a main element to a thriller as there is typically always a villain and victim, a murder, and a systematic theme of – “who dunnit?” The extreme close ups again, add more questions to the growing list as a lot of information such as setting is obscured from our sight: Who is behind the camera? Who had just been killed? Where are they? Who does the glasses belong to? The camera then moves and the man behind the camera is revealed as a white scared looking blonde man with blue eyes blood speckled over his face who we assume, is our main character.

The music at this point is still and silent which adds to the tension. A gun then seemingly flies into his hand and some of our questions are answered as we hear a hyperbolic and echoing male scream of “No” following a gunshot. Yet we are still pondering on why he killed him and most predominately, why he is taking a photograph. The opening sequence relevantly finishes in the same fashion it started, with a black screen.

To conclude, Nolan’s use of mise en scene, editing, sound and cinematography assures us as viewers that we are watching a thriller, merely by just watching the opening sequence. The most typical technique he uses is by rising a lot of questions through close ups and even by reverse order. It is because of this why one could argue and debate the clarity of the genre from the opening sequence.

Brick

BRICK SYNOPSIS

The life of Brendan Frye is about to change when his hot ex-girlfriend Emily disappears overnight. When Brendan finds out that Emily's disappearence may be connected to a local urban legend called "The Pin," he tactfully infiltrates the hierarchy of high-school caste. With the help of a good friend named Brain, Brendan proceeds into the pit and begins to stir up controversy with the school's most popular stock in order to figure out just what the hell is going on. En route, he begins to realize that this is no ordinary group of people that Emily had familiarized herself with. They are dangerous and willing to do anything to protect their political strength and reputations at any cost. And when drugs finally become a catalyst of brutal peer violence, Brendan is now caught not only looking out for the safety of his lover, but for his own life as well. There's more, but you'll have to watch.

IN THE LESSON:This lesson we watched in emmense detail, the opening sequence to this film. We analysed the shot types used, and how the director uses shot types and music to make us now that we are watching a thriller. The opening sequence commences with the camera tracking on the pavement. We then see a pair of old brown shoes, which appear a lot in the movie. This was perhaps done so that we could distinguish this character from the rest of the other characters. We are then taken in by a very gruesome shot of a boy sitting next to a curb qwith a dead girl with her hair in the water. The camera tracks into the girls body, on the arm there was a blue bracelet,which we learn later on is very inportant for identifying her. We know that this girl is actually dead as her hair was the only thing that was moving, whilst she was not. We were also able to distinguish this scene as a flashback because the dead girl was wearing a bracelet, then we saw the same girl with the bracelet later on.  The music used in the opening sequence is played on a guitar which as a very eerie effect on the footage.

Planning Sequence

The planning sequence was the most fun as we were able to share all of our ideas and discuss whether they would work or not. Once we came up with a scenario for our piece we then planned it out via storyboard. This was interesting as we came to terms with the amount of individual shots that actually go into film. A film storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors, cinematographers and clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement. Another thing that me and my group did to help plan our sequence, was to create a map for the camera. We went through the storyboard, and mapped out and labelled where the camera was going to be for every single shot. This took a really long time, but ended up being very helpful when we came to film.