Preliminary video

Thriller openings

Thriller movies are based around creating suspense, they also use a variety of sub genres such as sci- fi, Horror, Psychological, Supernatural and Cop. Here are a handful of openings we looked at in class and the notes that I made on them. Most of these films have normal openings so that suspense can be built up in order to make the film more effective. Also, the use of sub genre brings in elements of other films so that it appeals to a wider range of viewers.

Misery 1990 (conventional thriller)

• The opening scene establishes a character
• Shows parts of his life in different shots

Here is the link for the opening scene 

Cube 1997 ( techno thriller/horror sub genre):

• Suspense - feel like someone will jump out
• completely unpredictable
• mystery for us as well as the character

Here is the link for the opening scene

No country for old men 2007 (Cop sub genre)

• Voice over with different shots
• shows emptiness

Here is the link for the opening scene

Training Day (Cop sub genre)

• Funny opening scene
• Established roles, Denzel Washington is the boss
• Hooks you in
• Black cop/white cop (becoming a sub genre in itself) one clever cop, the other stupid

Here is the link for the opening scene

Vertigo (Cop sub genre)

• By Hitchcock, who essentially kicked off thriller movies
• Classic scary music
• Plays on your expectations (Expect the criminal to die not the cop)
• Hitchcock stare (hold zoom in down and move backwards)

Here is the link for the opening scene

Unbreakable (supernatural sub genre)

• Hooks you in
• Clever shot in the mirror
• everyone has a soft spot for babies so you immediately sympathize and want to know what happened

Here is the link for the opening scene

The hand that rocks the cradle 1992 (psychological sub genre)

• Happy music
• All the scenes they show at the start are significant later in the film - scenes where lots of violence takes place
• Suburban America
• Shows credits (go on for ages)
• Unconventional opening to trick the audience

Here is the link for the opening scene

The silence of the lambs (psychological sub genre)

• FBI training school
• Large credits in the centre of the screen
• Strong female leading character
• Make it look like she is a victim at the start of the film (tricks the audience)

Behind the scene shots

Here is a range of shots showing Andrew filming us in the act, our script and notes on the whiteboard, myself Andrew, and Niki discussing how to shoot the scene, Andrew working on the storyboard, Our storyboard itself and then our director's board. I found it really interesting making the storyboard, realizing that we had to sketch out each and every scene.

Photos of our film preparation

 Our  Preliminary task this morning was :

 

Video

''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 she/he then exchanges a couple of line of dialogue. 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.

All video audio material must be original produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group, Maximum four members to a group. ''

I worked with Andrew and Niki on this task and here are some pictures of us preparing our storyboard and script.

This is a picture of our first draft of our script on a whiteboard, before we transferred it onto paper where  we wrote our dialogue and stage directions such as 'Close up on clock'. It is important to create the script first, so that we are able to then put together our storyboard which reflects the dialogue and the shots they are taken in.

This is our storyboard, showing our film opening in 12 shots. The idea behind using post it notes is that once you have put it together, you have the option to rearrange shots if it does not match up with the script. On each post it, there is basic drawings with stick men to show the position of the character and then annotations to show which camera angle will be used. When filming we found that we could not do our shots in chronological order due to there not being a clock in the room we were filming in, so we had to film that one all the other shots had been completed.

This is a photo of us in action. Andrew was filming and myself and Niki were taking on the role of the two characters. At this point, Andrew was advising us on how to improve the shot, and working out where he should stand so that the camera technique worked, but also so it fitted in with what we wrote on our storyboard. We had to do various takes of one shot, due to laughter, and mistakes whilst filming, for example Niki hitting her leg on the drawer whilst spinning her chair round before the dialogue started.



I really enjoyed putting together the storyboard, thinking about where to place the camera in each shot and where the character would be positioned. I also enjoyed making the script, something that would affect the rest of the work, but had to be short and effective. I felt that by making it suspenseful it allowed us to be more creative with what we said, and how we portrayed through actions.

If I were to do this again, I would have the desk facing the opposite way so Niki was facing the window, so we could film using natural light. I would also use a tripod in certain scenes as the camera tended to shake a little bit during certain shots.