Cast list

Name: Josh East
Character: Josh

Name: Jasmine Greene
Character: Jazz

Name: Hannah Martin
Character: Hannah

British and American film companies

British film companies:

Heyday films

• The Harry Potter films
• I am legend 
• Paddington 

Working title

• The theory of everything
• Bridget Jone's baby
• About time

Big talk films

• Shaun of the dead
• The world's end
• Attack the block

American film companies:

The big six:

1. Warner bros
2. 20th century fox                                    
3. Paramount picture
4. Universal 
5. Walt disney studios
6. Sony pictures

Draft storyboard

Whilst planning the narrative of our piece, we decided to create s storyboard to gather together the atoll ideas that we had on what shots we would like to include in our opening sequence. We plan to build upon this draft and adapt it as the narrative of our piece is still continuing to develop further. 

Secret Window opening analysis

Secret Window is a psychological thriller. The main idea of this sub-genre is to reveal the psychology of the characters rather than the main plot go the film. The director's intention for the opening of the film was to create suspense. The range of techniques used all add to this tense and gloomy atmosphere and set up enigma codes to get the audience thinking for the rest of the film. 

The first shot that we see is a close up shot. In the shot, we can see the protagonist's very crucial facial expressions. The director would have used this shot to express the emotion of the character. He looks very stern and serious in this shot, setting up an enigma code as to why he is acting the way that he is. The isolation of this shot also helps to symbolise the mindset that the character has found himself in. 

The next shot we see is an establishing shot. Directors would use an establishing shot to help to set the scene for the piece. In this case, we see the outside of a shabby looking motel. As viewers, we are expecting to see an eerie location rather than a motel as the narration suggests that where he has come from is a place that he has associated with something very frightening. This makes us curious as to why he believes that he should not go back to the motel. We begin wondering what could have happened there to make him believe that he should not go back there. It draws us in and makes us want to continue watching.

The director uses a medium shot when the protagonist runs in to find his wife and another man in bed together. The use of this shot allows us to see his body language and his urgency in the scene. We see that he hurries to the door as if he cannot wait for the truth any longer. It makes us wonder how he knew they would be there together and for how long he has known about their secret.

One of the last shots we see used is a high angle shot. This shot almost shows the scene from the protagonist’s point of view. It shows us what he sees from his eyes creating an emotional bond with the character. It shows the vulnerability of the other two characters compared to our protagonist in the shot.

The first scene is set in the car of the protagonist of the film. The scene is very dark with very few bright colours. There is snow on the ground and the breath of the actor can be seen in the air showing us that it is a cold winter’s night. This creates a tense and gloomy atmosphere from the very first shot.

We are shown a view from outside of a shabby looking motel. The use of monochromatic colours continues the gloomy atmosphere that was felt from the start. There are no bright colours apart from the red motel sign. The use of the colour red here represents danger and foreshadows the idea of something bad happening to the lead character. It leaves the viewers feeling anxious and on-edge.

In the very first shot, we see a ring on the wedding finger of the protagonist. We are shown this as he purposefully moves his hand on to the top of the steering wheel. Showing us this ring helps to reveal a snippet of the storyline to the viewers. It explains the scene that they are due to witness soon and highlights the significance of the scene itself.

The use of the sound bridge in the beginning of the clip creates tension from the very first shot. We hear the sound of the wipers on the car as the production logo is displayed on the screen. Before the first shot can be seen, the sounds of these wiper blades resemble a heartbeat. This could hint at danger for the viewer.

The voiceover in the first scene acts as the protagonist’s conscience. The use of this non-diegetic sound reveals the character’s inner thoughts and feelings, showing the viewer an insight into the personality of the character. Doing this creates a sense of suspense as to what’s to happen throughout the film. It draws the viewer in to make them want to watch the rest of the film. 

When the character enters the motel for the first time, all voices and sound can be heard clearly and each word can be picked out. When he enters the room that his wife is in, all of the voices become muffled and disturbed. Adding this effect to the sound of the film represents the character’s mindset. He is almost dazed and confused which is mirrored through the use of this technique.

The use of diegetic sound used throughout this clip helps to add to the realism of the film. In the opening scene, we hear the screeching of the car tires on the road. The use of this diegetic sound suggests to us that this character is in a rush to get to where he is going. It tells us that he is not thinking straight, as he is reckless and not driving with caution.

The use of the non-diegetic orchestral sound at the end of the sequence adds to the mystery of the piece. The use of the lower strings section creates a dark and eerie sound; very fitting to the scene we have just witnessed. It helps to tie the sequence to a close and does not allow the tense atmosphere to die out. It carries this feeling through to the next scene.

Continuity editing is used throughout this opening sequence. The director has used slow cuts in the beginning so that each shot is long and they almost seem to linger. The director would have done this to create a sense of mystery for the viewers. The idea that the shots focus on one element for a long time allows viewers to really take in what is happening in front of them. It helps to intensify the enigma codes and causes the viewers to really have to think through what they are watching.

There has been a continuity error in this sequence. As the protagonist leaves the car to enter the motel for the second time, a shot through the mirror in the car shows that he purposefully slams the door of his car shut as he leaves. When he returns, we see that this door has been left wide open. This error could quite easily go unnoticed but when spotted, it sadly spoils the flow of the film. It hinders the realism and slightly takes away from the overall effect of the film.

The cross dissolve to water at the end of the opening sequence allows the focus of the piece to change. It separates what has just happened previously from what the viewer is going to witness next. It completely puts what has just been played to once side, making the viewer wonder why they were just shown what they were, drawing them in to the film further.

I believe that the opening sequence from the film ‘Secret window’ is very successful in its deliverance. It holds many of the typical characteristics of a thriller such as the use of enigma codes and the build up of tension through the use of sound and editing that we see featured throughout.

Title sequences

What is a title sequence?

A title sequence, also often referred to as an intro, is the way in which a film or television programme introduces the title, the key characters and the actors who play these characters in the piece. Typically, it helps to introduce the theme and genre of the programme or film and helps to establish the tone and setting for the remainder of the piece. It may have been created using many different forms of media including live action shots, animation, music and still images. 

Examples of title screens from popular films:

 Above is the title screen taken from the iconic Lord of the Rings trilogy. The typography is very iconic of this series of films as it represents the time and place in which the films are located. In this example, he white background really allows the typography to stand out as this is one of the key areas of a successful title sequence.

The title screen above is taken from the iconic Harry Potter films. The typography used in the title of these films is used throughout the entire series and is very fitting to the overall tone of the films. The title helps to create this tense mood to set up the theme for the rest of the film. The letter 'P' in the word 'Potter' is also very significant in the typography as it resembles the scar that is located on Harry's forehead throughout the series, relating the titles very closely to the content of the films themselves. 

The title screen here is taken from the Disney film Frozen. The background of the title screen shows ice which is clearly very related to the title and theme of the entire film. The typography is also designed to look cold and icy. Doing this helps to set up the tone for the film to come. The use of bright colours here helps to suggest the childlike features that the film is due to hold.  

Exisiting A level media thrillers

Whilst  planning our thriller film opening, we decided to look at other pieces that have been created by A level media students. 

Captive

The piece begins with an establishing shot of the protagonist tied up, immediately linking the piece to the title, 'Captive.' This shot is then followed by a series of close up shots, focusing on the shoes and face of the actor. The presence of blood and the rope seen in these shots instantly hints at danger, putting in place enigma codes for the audience, leading us to wonder what has happened to the character at hand. 

Throughout the sequence, the diegetic sound of heavy breathing of the protagonist and water dripping can be heard, along with the non-diegetic high pitched string sounds. The use of this non-diegetic sound helps to build tension within the scene, creating a dark, eerie atmosphere for the viewer. 

The use of quick cut editing in the piece helps to build on the tension in the piece, a very typical convention of a thriller film. The use of the fast paced shots, along with the juxtaposition of light and dark within these shots creates a fearful, chilling atmosphere, setting the tone for the piece to come. 

Theorists

Todorov

Todorov's narrative theory claims that all plot lines follow the same base pattern and this pattern is split into 5 separate steps. These steps are:

1. Equilibrium
2. Disruption of the equilibrium
3. Recognition of the disruption
4. An attempt is made to repair the equilibrium
5. newly found equilibrium

This theory can be applied to many mainstream film narratives including 'Lord of the rings' and 'Spiderman.'


Propp

Propp identified a theory about characters in a novel/ narrative. According to Propp, all characters have a narrative function meaning that they provide a structure for the text.

These characters identified were as follows

• Hero
• Villain
• Prince/Princess 

Prop's theory followed the idea that the protagonist would be the 'Hero' in a piece and would come into conflict with the antagonist (Villain) throughout the narrative.


Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss believed in the idea of binary opposition throughout a film narrative. This is the evident contrasts between people, groups or states of being.

Some well known examples of these are:

• Cats vs Dogs
• Good vs Evil
• Life vs Death
• Black vs White

Strauss believed that all conflict in a narrative was based around these oppositions and the conflict would be the climax of the entire narrative. 

Surveys

In order for us to learn what people would like to see out of our thriller films, we used survey monkey to create surveys to allow us to gather this information. We asked a range of 10 people to complete the surveys so that we had a range of different answers to look through.

The first question we asked our survey was, 'What is your age?' We chose to ask this question so that we could gain a better understanding of the age range of the people who would be answering our survey. From the results gathered, we found that the largest age group that we questioned was 16-19 year olds (40%). The next largest age group questioned was 12-15 year olds at 30%, followed by 12-15 year olds at 20% and 24-27 year olds at just 10%. We will take the responses to this question into very close consideration whilst deciding the target age bracket for our opening sequence as we must ensure that we create our piece to suit the audience who would be interested in watching.

The second question that we asked was,' What is your gender?' The results gained from this question were completely equal meaning that 50% of the people taking part were male and 50% were female. We asked this question so that we could gain a better understanding of the people who were taking part in our survey. 

The third question that we asked was, 'What is your favourite sub-genre of a thriller film?' The results showed us that the least liked sub-genre was a 'religious' thriller but and the two most preferred were psychological and crime thrillers. The film that we have began planning follows the route of a hybrid of a psychological and crime thriller so these results help to support our choices very much.

The next question that we asked was, 'What are the most effective features in a thriller film?' The results told us that the most important features to the people taking part in our survey are music and actors/acting. From these results, we now know as a group what elements of our piece are most important to focus on to make the production as successful as it 

We then asked, 'What do you think is the most appropriate colour for on screen titles?' The highest result for this question was the answer white. I believe that the reason behind this is because white stands out from others colours which can make the text seem bold and more prominent. 

The next question asked in our survey was, 'what narrative is most effective in thriller films?' The most popular answers in this question were kidnapping, murder and supernatural, each being at 20%. Our initial film idea surrounds the topic of murder, so this fits our ideas very well. Whilst deciding our final plot line, we will take the themes of supernatural and kidnapping into account also as these are also very interesting themes that we could incorporate into our final film. 

The final question that we asked in our survey was, 'Do you think it is important for a thriller to have a quick and intense opening?' 90% of the answers to this question were 'Yes', leaving only 10% as 'No.' I believe that having an intense opening to a thriller film helps to set the scene for the piece. It allows the viewer a slight insight into what they are going to see, building tension and drawing them into the narrative further. 

Codes and conventions of thriller films

Josh, A member of my group created this powerpoint that discusses the different codes and conventions of thriller films. 

codes and conventions of thriller films from Joshua East

Final edit of the continuity film

After completing the final edit of our continuity piece, we are very happy with its outcome. We completed the final edit in Pencoed college using the software Premier pro. We found the software simple and easy to use, allowing us to be able to be more creative with what we had at hand. It did take some time to get used to but once we had had the change to experiment with it for a little while, we became more confident whilst using it to edit the piece. 

During this edit of the piece, we were able to amend the issues that i outlined previously when we visited the college for the first tike. This included cutting some of the shots to make them shorter, allowing the piece to flow far more smoothly than it did previously. 

We chose to cut the very first shot which was the pan of the room in which Josh was sat. We decided to cut this shot from the final edit of the piece as we felt that it was too slow and ruined the overall flow of the piece. We tried to speed the shot up to start but when we did this, it appeared jumpy so we decided that cutting it from the piece entirely would be the best decision. 

First edit of continuity film

Our group went out and began filming for our continuity film. We decided to film a range of shots to allow us to see which ones we thought would suit the piece the best. We used the school as the location for the piece as we felt as though it suited our storyline very much. We filmed a range of shots in many different classrooms and we also used outside locations to add some variety into the film. We tried a range of different shots using numerous different camera angles to try to make the piece seem that littkle bit more interesting.

We went down to the collage to begin editing the piece together as the software that they have is far better than that of the school. Using this different software will allow our films to be as professional and polished as they can be. We used the entire day to edit as we were all new to using the software.We were given a small tutorial by one of the experienced members of staff at the collage which really helped us to build on and develop our skills whilst using this new software.

Once we had completed the first edit of our piece, our teacher gave us some feedback on what we had put together. She complimented us on many of the shots but in particular she said she liked the high angle shot of Josh walking that we shot through the window. She said that it really helped to break up our piece and helped to make it more interesting. She also gave us some feedback on how we can improve to make our film as good as it can be. We decided that the shots at the beginning of our film need to be cut a bit shorter as they are too long and focus too much upon just one element of the piece that really isnt needed. We have also decided that we need to cut down the shot of josh opening the door as it is currently too slow. We will also speed this clip up to help to improve this also.

We are planning to vist the collage one more time to allow us to complete one final edit of our films. Whilst we are there, we will focus on cutting down some of the clips that we currently have in place to make our film run more smoothly.

Thriller sub-genres

I did some research into the sub-genres of thriller films so that i could gain a better understanding of the genre to help me whilst creating our thriller opening.

Supernatural- Thrillers that include a otherwordly element to them. One of the main characters will often have some sort of psychic ability and they usually overlap with the 'Horror' genre.

Psychological- Psychological thrillers often have a storyline that builds up slowly and usually ends with a large finale, usually towards the end of the film. The slow build of a storyline often leaves rooms for audiences to overthink and create stories themselves, adding to the building tension throughout the film. Some examples of these include se7en and the silence of the lambs.

Medical- In medical thrillers, often a disease will break out and the film follows the story of the protagonist seeking to cure and get rid of the disease. examples of these include awake and flatliners.

legal- The leading characters in legal thrillers are usually lawyers and their employees with the justice system playing a massive role in the development of the plot. 

political- Political thrillers often include an important person misusing their post high up in the government. Their plots often surround large political struggles. 

Religious- The plots of religious thrillers often surround a sacred book or artifact that can pose as a threat to the characters involved in the storyline.

Pictured below is a bubble diagram that i found online outlining even more sub-genres of thriller films.

Planning the continuity

In our lesson, our teacher spoke to us about what we needed to do to ensure that our piece went as well as it possibly could. The advice she gave us was as follows:

1. Ensure that the camera remains steady throughout the shots
2. Use a storyboard and a script to plan for the final piece
3. Strive to include a wide range of shots throughout your piece 

Josh said that he would produce a script for our piece and Caitlin and I volunteered to draw up the storyboard. We had already decided on the narrative that the piece was set to follow, so we decided to create a storyboard as it would allow us to create a foundation for the piece that we wish to film.

Before we were able to begin filming, we learnt how to set up and use the equipment that we were given to produce our film. Our teacher ran through this with us, showing us how to set up the camera and tripod, to ensure that we were confident and happy with the equipment before we were left to begin filming. I found this very useful as running through how to use the materials effectively allowed me to become more confident, allowing me to be able to provide more input within the group decisions, as I had more of an insight into the filming process.

Once we had learnt how to use the equipment given to us, we decided to try out some shots, to help us to get used to filming with the camera we had been given and to try out different shots that we may wish to include in the sequence. Whilst doing this, we chose to film a close-up shot of Caitlin's eye as this was a shot that we were all very interested in including within our piece.

Using camera shots

Saul Bass

To help to improve my knowledge and understanding of thriller openings, I decided to research Saul Bass.


Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and academy award winner. He is best known for his designs of motion title sequences, corporate logos and film posters.

Saul started his career in Hollywood during the 1940s, creating print adverts for many different movies. During his career of 40 years, he worked with many of the top filmmakers. These included Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Billy Wilder.


Much of his work is very similar in style as he uses vibrant, eye catching colours throughout them all. His reason for this would be to draw attention to the poster to attract people to encourage them to go to watch the film being advertised. 


Some examples of his work are below:

I was very surprised to see that Saul Bass had designed posters for the Back to the Future franchise as these are some of my favourite movies of all time. I really like the style of Saul Bass' work as it is vibrant and bright. This makes his work very obvious and eye catching, perfect for the advertisement of a film that you wish to promote. 

Thriller film directors

Whilst reseaching thriller film directors, I found this useful presentation on slide share. It talks about the lives and main achievements of some of the top thriller directors in history. 

Link to original source

What does 'Thriller' mean to you?

Create a collage to demonstrate what 'Thriller' means to you 

Brief

preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of diologue. This task should demonstrate match-on-action, shot/ reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

My blog should take into consideration all of the key areas:

• Forms and conventions
• Production context
• Role of technologies
• Audience/users
• Representations

Introduction

My name is Hannah Martin and I am studying AS level media in Pencoed sixth form college.

Today had been our first lesson of Media this year and the first thing we have done is set up a blog using Google+. After setting up our blogs, our teacher discussed with us our thriller opening sequence and what we were planning to do. We then proceeded to turn back to our blogs to begin customising them.

I will be using this blog to track my progress and to record any research that I have carried out regarding our thriller opening sequence.