Male costume mood board

Female costume mood board

Inspiration for our opening

We plan on taking inspiration from the opening of 'American Horror Story'. When we film our opening we want to use similar short sharp shots and flashes to create a psycho effect and tension.
Below are some examples of the type of effect we plan to use when filming our own Thriller, but we are going to aim to use less blood and 'Horror' props to stop the confusion between a Horror and Thriller.

We plan on doing a palindromic structure which is when it starts at the end and then finishes at the the start of the story-line therefore we are going to include snip-its throughout to keep the audience up to date. Using the monochrome edits it will add effect.

Intertextuality in opening sequence

Intertextuality is an idea that any text has been influenced and shaped by texts that have come before it. (Anything read or seen in the case of movies) Therefore no film exists on its own and consciously or not all films borrow ideas from other films, past or present. Nothing exists on its own.

 

For example;

The film 'Scary movie' uses the film 'Scream' to create the whole concept of the movie.

What influences intertextuality?

It’s linked to creativity as it inspires you to create something. Every media text is inspired by the world around you. Sometimes the media don’t even realise they are doing it.

Questionnaire results - audience opinions on Thrillers

Slide Set created by Jemma Ward with GoConqr

Practice shots and angles

Questionnaire - Audience opinions on Thrillers

1.       Would you be interested in watching a thriller film based around a relationship?

Yes                                         No

2.       Would you be expected to be scared from watching the opening of our thriller?

Yes                                         No

3.       Do you like watching films at the cinema?

Yes                                         No

4.       Would you want to find our film mentally challenging ?

Yes                                         No

5.       Would you expect to see supernatural elements in our thriller?

Yes                                         No

6.       Is there anything you would expect to see in our film?

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7.       Do you watch movies on your own more than you do with others?

On my own                                    With friends/family

8.       Would you recommend more than 5 characters in the first 2 minutes of our film, if yes please suggest?

Yes                                        No

9.       What image are you most scared of?

Questionnaire results - mise-en-scene

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Questionnaire - Mise-en-scene

(Circle your answers)

1.       What age category do you fit into?

0-10         11-20           21-30       31-40       41-50         50+

2.       What type of lighting would you expect in a Thriller movie?

Low-key lighting                       High-key lighting

3.       Would you expect different characters to have different lighting when they enter the shot?

Yes                                 No

4.       What location do you think best fits a Thriller film?

In a house   Dark forest         On the streets

5.       What music do you find creates more tension?

Upbeat music              Music box              Eerie (approaching danger) music      
    

6.       In which way do you expect the music to be presented?

On-scene music                   Background music                 Linked to a character

7.       What type of camera movements would you expect in a Thriller film?

Fast with lots of angles                          Slow with not a as many angles

1.       What type of props to you expect in a Thriller film?

    

1.       What age rating do you think Thrillers should fit into?

1.       Do you think the setting/location or the costume/character creates more tension in a Thriller film?

Setting/location                                costume/character

Production name ideas

Idea 1 :

We chose the name 'scream productions' for one of our production name ideas as we intended to make the audience tense and scream in fear. We came about this idea when we were considering our target audience and their physical reaction to our film/thriller films. 

Idea 2 :

As a group we came up with the name 'Manic Movies' as an idea for a production name, we came up with the idea because we plan on making a film which is full of chaotic scenes and situations, creating suspense and tension throughout the film. 

Idea 3 :

   

Our next idea was 'Trill Productions' our reasoning for choosing this because the film we plan to create is in the Thriller Genre and we aim to create a thrilling film which engages all the audience and keeps then guessing throughout. 

Idea 4 :

The idea behind this idea is that the film we intend to create must be 'shocking' like a storm and lightning, this relates to the audiences reactions and emotions during our film.

Idea 5 :

We then produced the name 'Starlight  Film Productions', this name was generated because as a group we were thinking about when it's best to watch films and we all suggested the evening, especially if it's a thriller because being in the dark makes it more intense and thrilling.  

Idea 6 :

We selected this name as it creates suspense, the audience are questioning why they cant scream, why they shouldn't scream, what happens if they scream. It engages the audience in many ways and creates tension.

Hall's representation theory

Cultural theorist Stuart Hall describes representation as the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of culture through the use of language, signs, and images which stand for or represent things.

The Old View: representation is re-submitted information. This implies there is one fixed meaning for what is represented. It views representation as either an accurate or distorted depiction of an event it happens.

The New View: representation as a constitutive, meaning it is part of the event, you must investigate it from within. This involves multiple interpretations and will never have a fixed meaning. The meaning depends on individual interpretation and how the information has been represented to begin with. This is a continuous and active cycle of creation.

Key areas of representation include;

• Age
• Gender 
• Social class 
• Ethnicity
• Ability/disability
• Regional identity
• Sexuality

Use of cinematography in the opening sequence

The opening sequence I am going to be analysing the cinematography of is Suicide Squad. The films opens presented a slowly expanding-in shot of the producing companies’ logo ‘Warners Bros’ edited using high metallic colours and using a high-pitched beat which excites the audience. It then repeatedly follows with the same shots of the conglomerates integrations. The next shot is a fast moving wide shot flowing across a river and states the exact location of the shot in the bottom right hand corner. The non-diegetic sound has also changed into a slow tempo guitar piece which mellows the mood for the audience.  The bright colours have also been removed from the shot and the piece shows the gloomy and darkness of the scene.

The next shot then is a wide shot of a huge gate with a skull on the front, this contrasts with the happy and relax feel of the music that is being played in the background. It makes the reader think that maybe the location is deserted and the contrast between the non-diegetic sound and the shots is to represents flashbacks. A truck then quickly drives across the gate allowing the audience to view the detail on the gate for only a few seconds, this also demonstrates how the area is abandoned and use to be happy as the truck connotes that the area is uncared-for and just a memory. Once the truck has driven past it then reveals the gate again and zooms into the detail and text written on the rustic gate. 

The audience is then shown a wide behind shot of a man sitting at a desk in dim low-key lighting watching all CCTV cameras, the music also then adds an opera voice to the sound which creates a more daunting and horror atmosphere to the scene. The shot is also shown from behind bars and zooms in as if it is going to creep up on the character on the screen. We are then suddenly introduced to a man who is beating a boxing bag, this uses many different angles as it starts off using a behind medium shot of the man but we are then introduced to a close up shot of the characters face. It suddenly switches and shows shots of cops marching through a deserted, imprisoned location which the audience then becomes aware of the fact that the man is in a cell. We are shown a variety of contrasting angles of both of boxer and the police officers. An effective shot is the action-on-action shot of the cop opening the cell hole and then following with a reverse-shot-reverse of the cop and the boxer. This shows the contrasting personalities and emotions of the two characters and we view two close up shots of both of them. The boxer shows a stressed, sweaty and frustrated emotion whereas the cop demonstrates careless and arrogance due to his authority over the prisoner. 

Genre study of Neale

Stephen Roy Albert Neale is a British Analytic philosopher and specialist in the philosophy of language who has written extensively about meaning, information, interpretation, and communication, and more generally about issues at the intersection of philosophy and linguistics. Neale's writings are primarily in the philosophy of language, construed broadly enough to intersect with generative linguistics, the philosophy of mind, cognitive sciences, philosophical logic, and formal logic.  

Genre is a term that can be split up into different categories, based on characteristics that they share, for example, settings, story-line's, narratives, characters and themes.  In particular, genre can be referred to music videos, and they can be classified as being a particular genre, for example, thriller, horror, romance.  

Steve Neale states that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference' and 'genres are not systems, they are processes of systemisation'. He also say's that, definitions of genre are historically relative and are therefore historically specific. Believed that there was a system of expectation and that by using own knowledge and applying conventions of the genre, the audience should be able to infer the narrative and story-line of the film. He also declares that difference is essential to the economy of genre; mere repetition would not attract the audience.

9 key screenshots 'se7en'

Slide Set created by Jemma Ward with GoConqr

Ideologies presented in film

Film and Ideology. Ideology is sometimes identified as a body of ideas reflecting the social needs of an individual, group, class, and culture. In other words, ideologyrefers to a systematic "world view" which defines our concepts of self and the relations of the self to the state or any form of the collectivism.

Ideologies are ideas that normal, commonsense and just the way they are. However, ideas, values, and belifes are not static; they evolve and develop over time. For example; Ideologies of women have changed as women have become more equal. The audience can interpret these ideas differently depending on the individual. 



The term 'Dominant ideology' denotes the attitudes, beliefs, values, and morals shared by the majority of the people in a given society.

• Family values - Family units and marriage is ideal

• Sex outside of marriage is bad

Ideologies in Disney

Ideologies brought about by Disney films are that women are development on a man, finding love and marriage is the ultimate goal. It also gives the ideology of body image, these characters are seen as commercially beautiful when in reality their body proportions aren’t physically possible, therefore distorting societies ideas on body image making women strive for something not humanly possible.

The period of time that the majority of Disney princesses were created was when women weren’t seen to be equal with men and stayed at home cleaning and were under male power. For example; Cinderella has to clean for a living and Ariel was treated like a prisoner by her father and was forbidden to educate herself with the wonders of the sea (even though she disobeyed and did anyway). 

Evolved ideologies

In the film/series Sex in the city it shows the ideologies of women has changed over time as women have become more independent and have no limits on how successful they can be. However they still reinforce the dominant ideology of marriage being the ‘ultimate goal’. 

Film review - Lights Out

Everybody’s done it. You wake up, see a figure in the dark, turn on the light and the figure disappears. David F. Sandberg’s horror takes that universal mind-trick and asks: what if that figure was actually there? Already yelped at by millions on-line, Lights Out started life as a viral YouTube short – the shock here is that Sandberg’s expanded a three-minute nano-horror into a brilliantly sustained sense-attack that torches the nerves for 80 ruthless minutes.

Although influenced by J-horror and the slow-creep style of producer James Wan, Lights Out is arguably this year’s Babadook: there’s a memorable monster, peekaboo scares, but, crucially, a spiky emotional turmoil that feeds the fear. Led by Teresa Palmer, the family under siege are a dysfunctional bunch damaged by grief and madness. That turbulence manifests itself in the form of a shadow-dwelling spirit calling itself Diana – a lurking silhouette with glowing eyes, Nosferatu nails and a punishing back-story to justify the malevolence.

Relying on practical FX and ominous lighting design, Sandberg has a fiendish gift for ambushing audiences with jump-scares (we counted at least nine legit jolts) – as she stripes from dark to light, Diana’s attacks are like being subjected to a slow-motion strobe. That takes serious technical mastery, but jumps are just a hollow gimmick without dramatic context: ultimately, it’s Sandberg’s human touch that lifts Lights Out. All of his characters are battling internal demons but they’re likable too: the fact you’re rooting for them rather than cheering on Diana makes the ordeal cut all the harder.

Granted, some of the dread leaks out when things get silly in a frantic third act, but this is a deeply impressive debut that delivers full-blooded frights with barely a pipette of gore. Like the best horrors, it flickers in the mind long after the lights come up.

Film institutional research

New Line Cinema is a common production known for it Thriller films produced. This company is part of Warner Brothers Studios, but kept separate in different stages of creating a film. They often help each other to maximise the profit and performance of the production.

The company was founded in 1967, and since then they have merged with other companies to increase their distribution. A company from New Line Cinema is 'New Line Home Entertainment' which is currently one of the largest home distribution companies.



The logo sticks to the original but changes accordingly to the Genre of the film, Many of the logo changes are for Thriller or Horror movies.

Below are some Thriller films produced and distributed by New Line Cinema; 

Casting audition monologue

Person 1 : N/A 

Person 2 : Auditionee 

MONOLOGUE :

Person 1 : What are you doing here?

Person 2 : It doesn't concern you does it.

Person 1 : Okay, I was only asking.

Person 2 : Just leave I don't want to see you right now.

Person 1 : I guess I'll see you around then, you going to the party tonight?

Person 2 : JUST LEAVE ME ALONE (scream)


We have chosen as a collective to use this script because it allows the contestant to show their full potential and abilities in filming, and script reading. The screaming aspect of the script allows us to analyse the contestants confidence, or if they get embarrassed. We can judge them from this script and see if they are suitable for the position they are going to be playing. 

Selected production name

As a group we decided the 'Scream Productions', we decided upon this name as it reflects the reaction in which we want our audience to have. This name is short and simple thus leaving a memorable impression on the target audience so when we decide to implement the productions name in our film opening it will be recognisable therefore creating a familiar effect for the audience so they will take pleasure from the opening seconds.

Barthes narrative theory - M scene in Skyfall

Script

Our group have chosen to analyse M Poem scene from the movie Skyfall using the 5 Barthes narrative codes.

To open the scene we see our antagonist, we know this because of the use of sinister music as we see him enter a police car in a police uniform this is a clear representation of the Hermeneutic code shown as mystery has been created, such as why the antagonist is in a police uniform and where is he going too?

Because no clues have been dropped or clear obvious answers are given, this creates an enigma as the audience wants to find out more whilst being frustrated of not knowing why.

There is also a cross balance in the Pro airetic code as there is a sequential element of action taken place outside the building in the streets of Westminster where there is chaos -  civilians running and sirens sounding outside meanwhile in the building the antagonists in uniform are firing towards our protagonists in this case being M and her people, this not only creates suspense of why the city of London are in chaos but adds excitement yet thrill to the audience when watching this part of action.

M’s poem is a key  feature towards Barthes Semantic code and symbolic code at the same time, as there is parts within her poem which refer to additional meanings such as when she says “look around you is there anyone you fear, is it a face or in uniform or flag?” “no”, even though she’s reading a poem from her late husband, the poem also can be symbolically contrasted onto what’s happening in that exact moment of the scene as, the antagonists are approaching the building in uniform, which M states people in uniform are not to be feared of but this then takes away the power yet literal meaning of the poem as the antagonist begin to fire and cause fear.

A Referential code in this scene would be that the location is London and during the jump cuts we get of James Bond running heroically alongside establishing shots of the city, M’s poem becomes more triumphant and patriotic, cultural this symbolizes Great Britain as whole as historically they are known to be a nation of pride and  unity. 

Target audience

My group and I got together and discussed what age we think will be appropriate to make our target audience after this discussion we selected;

Primary target audience

The primary target audience we have chosen for our Thriller film is people aged 18-25, we selected this age group because the actors who will be performing our film script will be of similar ages, therefore it is relatable. 

Secondary target audience

We selected people aged 15-50 for our secondary target audience, these ages can still relate to our plot/script about hard times in a relationship. Where as people under the age of 15 don't tend to have relationship problems. 

There will also be violent scenes which people who are under the age of 15 may find uncomfortable, and hard to watch. 

Auditions and Casting analysis

After looking over our auditions and castings, we could see that there were a lot of talented people who would have been good for our main roles but among discussion we have, as a group, decided that it would be best to play the characters Riley and Ethan ourselves as we know what we are asking for when it comes to filming and we know what our expectations are.

Uses and Gratification theory

Uses and Gratifications Theory (PIES)

Personal Identity -

finding reinforcement for personal values, finding models of behaviour, identifying with another (in media), gaining insight into ones self.

Information - 

finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world, seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices, satisfying curiosity and general interest, learning, self-education, gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

Entertainment - 

escapism, being diverted from problems, relaxing, emotional release, aesthetic/cultural/sexual pleasure, filling time.

Social Interaction and Integration - 

gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, finding a basis for conversation and social interaction, having a substitute for real life companionship, helping carry out social roles, enabling one to connect with family, friends and society.

Why do people watch Thrillers ?

Using the uses and gratification theory i am able to see that most people watch Thrillers for the entertainment aspect of them, the information, and the social interaction, this is why it is a popular Genre. People most often watch Thrillers to be entertained and 'thrilled', this relates escapism, and emotional release because you get so into the film that you forget about your own problems in life and escape into it, feeling the emotions presented within the story. Thrillers aren't a relaxing film which you watch to switch off from your ordinary life, there is a lot of suspense and tension created and built up throughout. 

People may watch a thriller film to gain an insight into others' circumstances and identify with others, and there situations. They are also watched for social interaction and a basis for conversation. For example films are involved in social gatherings like trips to the cinema and film nights - this then creates a basis for conversation afterwards. A thriller film in particular can generate conversation because thrillers are not only action-packed but take a lot of thought to work out. People often try to keep up with the plot and figure out the plot twist before it is shown on screen, this then creates conversation because people like to show off the fact that they figured out the plot twist before on of their friends or family. 

people may want to watch a thriller for information purposes. There generally isn't a great deal a person can learn from a thriller but occasionally historical or social events are explored. For example the event of global warming is explored in many thrillers like 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Society around the world can be explored as thrillers can involve a lot of travelling, therefore seeing different parts of the world's differences. 

The call 

The Call is a suspense filled, thrilling film which engages the audience. Throughout the film the audience is entertained and trying to figure out the plot twist and the outcome. This creates communication, people who have attend the cinema or are watching the film together communicate about the plot.

This film also gives the audience insight into what its like to be taken and locked in the book of a car, which makes you feel connected with the film and understand the seriousness of the situation.

The theory also relates to the film because the audience get entertainment out of the thrilling plot, but the theory doesn't help you to realise why the film has been created and produced, which isn't a lot of help.

Taken

The film Taken engages the audience with it's intense plot, it's a circumstance which could happen in reality, which connects with the audience and becomes relates to them.




It causes a lot of conversation because the audience are competing with each other to figure out the plot first. It isn't clear to understand where the idea came from because you don't receive a back story from this theory.

Safe Haven

Safe Haven is a relatable film for the audience as it is based on a woman who is looking for 'true love' and a sense of 'safety'. It is relatable because many people want the same things, the audience connect with Katie, one of the main characters emotions and picture themselves in her situation. She is welcomed to a family, where the male character and two children are loving towards her, this also helps the audience connect with the film. 

The audience can also gain a lot of entertainment from the Thriller/Drama, you sit in your seats watching the tension build not understanding the plot completely, everybody trying to catch up and be that one step ahead so that they can figure out the plot. This creates communication and interaction as everyone is discussing their opinion. 

Although the audience get great entertainment from this film and all other Thriller films, you don't understand the reasoning for the plot to be thought of and filmed in the first place, therefore this theory isn't of use in this case.