Jigsaw, one of the main characters in the brilliant film which includes 6 parts 'SAW'. jigsaw is a man who goes through alot in his life and further on does very mentally disturbing things such as, playing games in order to survive or die. Jigsaw picks on people who do not appreciate life and do bad things such as.. cheat,crime,drugs e.t.c.
Use of props and costumes in the film were used very well as jigsaw never showed up himself to the victims instead used a toy puppet with a recorded clip to follow...
Jigsaw is a very freaky character in the film, the story does revolve around the mysterious games of jigsaw which makes the film an all time best thriller. Adding to this in the film we see allot of blood and very disgusting games played which include human bodies being ripped apart and etc.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Preliminary Task
Basic outline of the ‘Preliminary Task’
The preliminary task was scene with continuity. The basic plot of the scene was a character opening a door and coming in, sitting next to or in front of other character(s) and having a conversation. For this task there were requirements of 3 shots to be used. The 3 shots asked to be used were
Shot/Reverse Shot- is a shot used my many cameramen, the meaning of shot reverse shot is a character shown looking at another character.
180 degree rule- is a famous rule used by many directors; the basic concept of the 180 degree is if two characters are shown in a scene they should have the same left/right relationship. If the camera passes the line of the 180 degree line then the cameraman must show the movement of the camera to the other side. (The picture you can see describes the 180 degree rule)
Match on Action- is basically in other terms the continuity of the scene. If there is a cut in a scene, the next bit of clip must carry on were it left of.
Our Planning/Story
Our story was basically a teacher holding an detention on the weekend. The children are messing about in class room, but are interrupted by a fuming teacher. The shot suddenly cuts to the teacher closing the door and storming in. He walks over to the table and sits down and begins the conversation with the children.
Roles:
Camera Man: Humzah
Actor 1:Mohit (Teacher)
Actor 2:Amar (Student)
Actor 3:Usman (Student)
Editing:
Coming to editing the film was not so hard. We sued the apple software called iMovie. This is where we cut out scenes we has made a mess of and de -creased sizes of clips that were too long. We also added animation in-between cuts through the clips to add more an professional effect.
The preliminary task was scene with continuity. The basic plot of the scene was a character opening a door and coming in, sitting next to or in front of other character(s) and having a conversation. For this task there were requirements of 3 shots to be used. The 3 shots asked to be used were
Shot/Reverse Shot- is a shot used my many cameramen, the meaning of shot reverse shot is a character shown looking at another character.
180 degree rule- is a famous rule used by many directors; the basic concept of the 180 degree is if two characters are shown in a scene they should have the same left/right relationship. If the camera passes the line of the 180 degree line then the cameraman must show the movement of the camera to the other side. (The picture you can see describes the 180 degree rule)
Match on Action- is basically in other terms the continuity of the scene. If there is a cut in a scene, the next bit of clip must carry on were it left of.
Our Planning/Story
Our story was basically a teacher holding an detention on the weekend. The children are messing about in class room, but are interrupted by a fuming teacher. The shot suddenly cuts to the teacher closing the door and storming in. He walks over to the table and sits down and begins the conversation with the children.
Roles:
Camera Man: Humzah
Actor 1:Mohit (Teacher)
Actor 2:Amar (Student)
Actor 3:Usman (Student)
Editing:
Coming to editing the film was not so hard. We sued the apple software called iMovie. This is where we cut out scenes we has made a mess of and de -creased sizes of clips that were too long. We also added animation in-between cuts through the clips to add more an professional effect.
Questionnaire
• 9 of 20 said they preferred to see ‘blood’ in a thriller
• 12 of 20 said ‘tension’ makes a good thriller film
• 7 of 20 said they watched thriller movies ‘often’
Filling out questionnaires to do with thriller 
More audience research in order to gain information on public choice
Simple questionnaires made and given out to the general public
After we had the results in, it was clear that...
Audience Research
As the research was coming to end, we thought we needed more than our views and our research. We needed different opinions and thoughts from other people. So we decided to create a questionnaire and find out what interested us for our coursework video clip. We printed an amount of 20 questionnaires to distribute.
We decided we had to ask a range of questions so we could use it to our advantage and use peoples opinions and encrypt it in to our piece of coursework. We not only asked question that related to us and our coursework, but asked question to do with research around the thriller area, for example ‘’How often do you watch a thriller film?’’
We decided we had to ask a range of questions so we could use it to our advantage and use peoples opinions and encrypt it in to our piece of coursework. We not only asked question that related to us and our coursework, but asked question to do with research around the thriller area, for example ‘’How often do you watch a thriller film?’’
James Francis Cameron
James Francis Cameron was born August 16 1954 and is a Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and inventor. He wrote and directed Terminator (1984 ) which made $78 million , Aliens (1986) , The Abyss (1989) , Terminator 2 : Judgement Day (1991),True Lies (1994) , Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009).
In Total Cameron’s directorial efforts have made approximately $1.7 billion in North America and $4.41 billion worldwide, which therefore makes him one of the highest-grossing directors of all time. Cameron made the world famous films Titanic and Avatar, which are the 2 highest grossing films of all time and grossed more than $1 billion in the worldwide box office. Cameron frequently uses these actors and actresses Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Lance Henrikson, Bill Paxton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cameron also was the first director to film both a $100 million film (Terminator: Judgement Day 1991) and a $200 million (Titanic 1997) movie. Cameron’s most famous thrillers were Avatar and the Terminator.
James Francis Cameron was born August 16 1954 and is a Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and inventor. He wrote and directed Terminator (1984 ) which made $78 million , Aliens (1986) , The Abyss (1989) , Terminator 2 : Judgement Day (1991),True Lies (1994) , Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009).
In Total Cameron’s directorial efforts have made approximately $1.7 billion in North America and $4.41 billion worldwide, which therefore makes him one of the highest-grossing directors of all time. Cameron made the world famous films Titanic and Avatar, which are the 2 highest grossing films of all time and grossed more than $1 billion in the worldwide box office. Cameron frequently uses these actors and actresses Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Lance Henrikson, Bill Paxton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cameron also was the first director to film both a $100 million film (Terminator: Judgement Day 1991) and a $200 million (Titanic 1997) movie. Cameron’s most famous thrillers were Avatar and the Terminator.
The Tudor Opening Credits..
The opening scene of “the Tudors” was very entertaining and keeps the viewer engaged as it is telling as story as well as using dramatically olden day type of music. The music used represents the time period in which the film is being made in and puts the viewer in the mood and mindset. As well as this by using the strong picture of the empty throne at the beginning it symbolises the film is going to be about power, control and almost a fight for the throne. Mixing that with the strong speech in the beginning holds the viewers attention.
Another aspect of these opening credits was as they introduced each of the characters an image of them was shown, this can be effective as it is not only introducing the character but is making the opening scene more interesting and allowing the viewer to know the actors name and appearance in one go. They also show a small few second clip that shows the character in action, this allows the viewer to remember them throughout the film. In the introduction of the movie; they also use flash images which may be representing death as they mix this with the sound of someone drawing for a sword. Overall I think that the opening of “The Tudors” is very engaging and interesting, it makes the viewer want to watch the film more as it has a strong opening.
FinalDestination 3
In the film “Final Destination 3” we can quickly discover that it is thriller film due to the media concepts used. This film contains alot of suspense which keeps the viewer engaged and makes them want to watch more. It also has alot of blood and this makes it more interesting to watch. Final destination uses a number of media concepts such as imagery and sound to emphasis certain areas of the film.
The 3 scenes in which the media concepts are used effectively and reinforce that it is a thriller move are...
1.This picture shows the scene where the 2 girls are baked to death inside a sun tanning machine. This is evidence of the film being a thriller as it makes the audience sit on the edges of their seats and is full of suspense.
The 3 scenes in which the media concepts are used effectively and reinforce that it is a thriller move are...
1.This picture shows the scene where the 2 girls are baked to death inside a sun tanning machine. This is evidence of the film being a thriller as it makes the audience sit on the edges of their seats and is full of suspense.
2.This picture shows the beginning of the film where the students are on the rollercoaster as it is all falling apart causing them all to die. This is evidence of the film being a thriller as it has alot of adrenaline running through the viewer because they know what is about to happen and are getting anxious.
3.This picture shows the scene where the man doesn’t belie the vision and then gets killed while exercising. This is evidence of the film being a thriller as there is suspense and some blood.
Opening Credits..
In a television program, motion picture, or videogame, the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are now usually shown as text on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music. Where opening credits are built into a separate sequence of their own, the correct term is title sequence.
Opening credits since the early 1980s, if present at all, identify the major actors and crew, while the closing credits list an extensive cast and production crew. Historically, however, opening credits have been the only source of crew credits and, largely, the cast, although over time the tendency to repeat the cast, and perhaps add a few players, with their roles identified (as was not always the case in the opening credits), evolved. The television movies after 1964 and the increasingly short "shelf-life" of films in theaters has largely contributed to the credits convention which came with television programs from the beginning, of holding the vast majority of cast and crew information for display at the end of the show.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Some research done on sets...
These are some images taken as examples for sets and places to shoot the video. The pictures are taken at night with all of our group looking around various places for appropriate sets for a thriller film, the pictures being in a dark alley way at night creates a good effect of a good thriller. As you can see the pictures are taken to give a very typical 'thriller' type imagine, in one of the pictures Amar and Humzah have Usman up against the wall to create a more violent picture, these are sort of images that lead to creating a good and effective thriller story.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Seven..
In the opening scene on "Se7en" we first see a couple of blank pages being turned over by a blurred hand in the background, we next see the credits. This is very effective as this doesn't just only give an idea of what type of film it is, but it also keeps the audience interested with the short but appealing 2 minute start. Another important factor is sound, the screeching and slow sound sets the perfect tone for the film to start as it cause's intensity as well as causing suspense as the pitch goes high and low. During all this is taking place we also see flashing images to cause more awareness. This is all done to consume the audience in order to provide them with an experience of a life time. The use of different colors create a tense atmosphere causing the minds of the audience to believe what they are seeing. All of this sets the foundation of the film, which is now one of the best thrillers ever made.
- Silent beginning gives a very suspenseful approach to the start of the film which gives a serious approach as we don't no what to expect.
- The lighting is dark in the beginning, and during the trailer begins to lighten up.
- Main Characters names are displayed before the any clips are even shown e.g. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino.
- Produced by Paramount Pictures.
- Trailer involves a lot of fading in and out to change scenes which creates a continuous effect.
- Music gives us a very calm, mellow feeling, the soundtrack played is used during the film most of the time so it is relevant.
- Trailer consists of main characters speaking.
The Terminator Opening...
The short clip above is taken from the 1984 release of The Terminator. This clip which goes on for approximately 1 minute and 39 seconds are the opening credits of this film. Even though this film was released more then 25 years ago, the effects and sound go hand in hand to produce an inspiring start to the film. As you can see there aren't any pictures in the opening credits, but what we do see is the names of the cast, producer, director etc. Are written in block capitals and come on to the screen as if they were being type on by a machine. This is very effective as we know this action/sci-fi thriller is based on machines, so to do that is in a way giving the audience a sign of whats to come. This effect goes very well with the background sound, this is because as we hear the letters being typed the sound of the typing merges very well with the background sound itself without causing any disturbance.
Monday, 8 February 2010
As a group we discussed how we were going to structure our research tasks amongst ourselves, we came to the conclusion that we would each take about 2 tasks from the check list and complete them over a period of 3 days. Once this was done we would all meet up on the 08/02/2010 to discuss all of our research we had been assigned to and pass it around so all members of the group had this on their blogs.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Todorov's and Propp's Theory...
Todorov's theory: Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of un-settlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end. The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).
Propp's theory: Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today
Propp's theory: Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today
MacGuffin...
MacGuffin was created by Alfred Hitchcock it can be referred as a hidden catalyst which moves the plot on to create scene or ending with a twist. It can also be referred as the engine that sets the story in motion. It can be anything or nothing at all. In The 39 Steps, it is "secrets vital to your air defence"; in Number Seventeen it is a valuable piece of jewellery, while in The Lady Vanishes it is, in the most perfectly abstract of all Hitchcock's MacGuffins, a coded message contained in a piece of music. Examples of these are in the films such as:
The top secret plans in The 39 Steps (1935).
The eponymous statuette in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The letters of transit in Casablanca (1942)
The uranium in Notorious (1946)
The case with glowing contents in Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
The "government secrets" in North by Northwest (1959)
The stolen $40,000 in Psycho (1960).
The stamps in Charade (1963)
The Death Star plans in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
The Ark of the Covenant in the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The unknown, glowing contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction (1994).
The Rabbit's Foot in Mission: Impossible III (2006)
The chest in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).
The Allspark in Transformers (2007).
The Russian painting in RocknRolla (2008).
The sculpted head from Ponte Santa Trinita in Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
The silver briefcase in Jack Said (2009)
The unobtanium in Avatar (2009)
The top secret plans in The 39 Steps (1935).
The eponymous statuette in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The letters of transit in Casablanca (1942)
The uranium in Notorious (1946)
The case with glowing contents in Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
The "government secrets" in North by Northwest (1959)
The stolen $40,000 in Psycho (1960).
The stamps in Charade (1963)
The Death Star plans in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
The Ark of the Covenant in the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The unknown, glowing contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction (1994).
The Rabbit's Foot in Mission: Impossible III (2006)
The chest in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).
The Allspark in Transformers (2007).
The Russian painting in RocknRolla (2008).
The sculpted head from Ponte Santa Trinita in Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
The silver briefcase in Jack Said (2009)
The unobtanium in Avatar (2009)
Here are a few examples of 'thrillers'
This film is a all time best in the thriller genre. we see how a thriller does not have to be 'bloody' and is not all about extreme murders, a full of suspense action packed thriller with a trilogy is now one of the all time best films to ever be produced.
Jaws another all time best, however this shows us the variety packed within one genre. This film includes more of blood and killings adding a sparking effect to the story.
Saw the film with 6 parts is a perfect example of a bloody and brutal thriller where stories just keep on unfolding and no one figures out what is actually happening. The 3 examples I have given are complete opposites from each other even though being in the same genre.. its just a matter of how the thriller is shown.
More on 'Thiller' Movies
Thriller movie genre's are created with mostly suspense. Your nearly left at the edge of your seat at the cinema, as many dramatic scenes all squashed in to one, making it a never ending action packed arena.
There are also many types of genres, often named sub genres which are...
There are also many types of genres, often named sub genres which are...
- Action
- Conspiracy
- Crime
- Disaster
- Drama
- Erotic
- Legal
- Medical
- Political
- Psychological
- Spy Thriller
Thursday, 4 February 2010
The Next Lesson...
In today's lesson we discussed about the actual meaning of thriller. We discussed what was used to make a thriller the best and suspenseful. in the lesson we studied through a range of videos, pictures and talked about how colour, lighting and sounds were use to make the audience more tense. One video we studied was 'Se7en'...
In this video you can see, the use of red to indicate blood, which normally scares the society today and gives the indication of a scary/thriller movie. Another alternative the director used, was using digetic sound and the sound building up to another scene. Pictures with a brutal story are used to enhance the meaning of the film and to indicate 'thriller'
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