Research into amateur films

Research in to amateur thriller openings.

We researched another's students work of a thriller opening called" DrIvE". Not much was told by this video, but its a brief on what a thriller opening should look like. This opening shows us the use of props, which was stuff like the car, axe etc. The video also shows the type of environment for the theme. for example the boy was tortured in the cellar, this makes it realistic and shows the effect of a dark and cold environment.  

Shutter Island - Joel

The opening sequence of Shutter Island is watching a mystery thriller about US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio)  in the search for an escaped patient from remote Ashqelon mental institution, but mostly the story is about his search for the killer of his wife. The opening scene shows the date and then a close up shot of Leonardo Dicaprio being sea sick, the camera shots are rocky to make the audience feel like there on the boat and the colour of the film is dull to show that its a thriller film and the weather matches to the emotions of the film and atmosphere.   

Steven Spielberg - Joel

Steven Spielberg was born  in 1946 Ohio USA. Spielberg is the most known director and has the nominated movies such as Indiana jones, saving pvt Ryan and ET. Spielberg's has created famous films such as the ET, saving pvt Ryan and the Indiana jones series and has an internet worth of 3.9 billion. Filing techniques used by Spielberg is the track in shots where the camera physically moves on the subject going from the medium close up shot to close shot to a close up shot blurring the background to show a significant moment. 

Francis Ford Coppola - Joe Gore

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director and screenwriter. He is considered to have been a central figure of the  new generation of film-making. Two of his major films (The Godfather and The Godfather II) are considered to be the greatest movies ever produced. Francis Ford Coppola has received over one hundred awards for his part in The Godfather trilogy. 

Born in the late 1930s, Copolla's first film (Tonight For Sure) received average reviews from critics.The film that blew him into stardom however was obviously The Godfather. Produced in the 1970s, the classic is still considered to be one the greatest films of all time. The gangster-genre film inspired and attributes to new and improved techniques in the gangster genre.

Martin Scorsese - Joe Gore

Martin Scorsese

 

Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17th, 1942 in Queens, New York City, New York, US. He has been active in the film industry since 1963. His first film "Who's That Knocking at My Door" debuted on November 15th, 1967. With a budget of seventy five thousand dollars got average reviews. The film that really blew him into stardom was 1973 classic, Mean Streets. The film featured up and coming actors like Robert DeNiro and Danny Provel.

 

The film received superb ratings and grossed over three million dollars. Which would equal over ten million dollars in the current year.

 

Scorsese went on to make legends like Joe Pesci, his most famous film debuted in the early 90s. "Goodfellas" was a huge success, this film contributed to Scorsese being one of the most critically acclaimed directors of the current generation.

 

 

 

    

Goodfellas - Joe Gore

Title Sequence - Joe Gore

The opening of the Martin Scorsese 1990's hit, Goodfellas begins without any production companies. It cuts straight to a vehicle driving down the highway, the lighting is quite dark to add tenseness and tries to get the "what's going on?" point across to audience members.


After a few more seconds of the vehicle driving down the highway, it cuts to the date and whereabouts. This tells the audience when the film is going to be set.

The film then cuts to a trio, the actors from right to left are Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro.  After driving and the audio being in complete silence for a while. The trio pull over to the side of the highway after some loud banging noises.

The trio manage to pop open the trunk, revealing the dying body of Billy Batts. Joe Pesci then begins to violently and viciously slaughter Batt's in cold blood.

The iconic moment begins when Henry Hill approaches the trunk, closing it. The most iconic moment in film history is made when Henry Hill approaches the trunk, slamming it shut.

The words are uttered, "I've always wanted to be a gangster." Tony Bennet's Rag to Riches blasts, the title sequence begins.

This is a unique and one of a kind way to begin a film, without and production companies or credits for the first five minutes.

Codes and Convention of Thrillers - Joe Gore

Suspense

⇡

    Tension    ↖          Excitement

                           ↗

Anxiety ←   Thriller Genre  →  Cliffhangers

              ↓             ➘

                           Anticipation         Uncertainty

The Thriller Genre normally may feature the following setting

• Terrorism, Political Conspiracy
• Crime and Murder
• Supernatural Events.  

Thrillers normally have low lighting, the lighting adds effect and builds suspense. Many thrillers also feature some sort of chase scene, in those you will hear fast-paced music. This also builds effect and makes the audience genuinely worry for our hero.

The characters are in trouble most often, whether that be a criminal, anarchist etc.

Life is usually threatened, however the hero/main-character never normally dies or is critically injured, there are some exceptions however.

Preliminary Task - Joe Gore

Alfred Hitchcock - Joe Gore

 

Alfred Hitchcock. Considered to be the almighty grand master of effect. One of the most famous directors of all time, a pioneer and the creator of classic films such as Psycho, Vertigo and more.

Born on August the 13th, 1899.  Alfred Hitchcock's directing skills were a one of the kind deal. The English-born director mastered effects like the "dolly zoom" and the whirling camera. His first film always tell your wife debuted in 1923 and was a short comedy film. Hitchcock was always famous for his use of humour in what could be seen as thriller or not meant to be funny productions. Hitchcock created the most successful sound movies of the generation and period he was in.

Hitchcock was famous for using music and sound for his advantage. He'd manipulate the audience of them days to actually make them believe that they are there and the black and white moving images were in fact a reality. That sounds pretty ridiculous now, but those were the nineteen thirties.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock, KBE left a legacy behind when he unfortunately died  on April 29th, 1980. His film techniques are still used for inspiration to this day.

Carlito's Way - Joe Gore

The 1993 Brian De Palma classic mob film begins with a single frame of the barrel of a gun. The screen then proceeds to turn white, signifying the weapon of some sort being discharged.  Two seconds in and the audience gets a glimpse of what the film's genre is going to be like. The next frame is Carlito grunting as he backs into a wall with an unknown sort of gangster in front. This shot is in slow motion to add dramatic effect. Two more bullets are discharged then in the top left, the name "Al Pacino" fades in. The scene of Carlito being riddled with bullets continues as several actors and actresses names show. After a solid two minutes of Carlito being brought away on a stretcher, the title shows. "Carlito's Way". The Director has done this instead of using a basic and generic title to add effect and drama. It truly tells the audience what the film is going to be packed with.

Captain Philips - Joel

Captain Phillips was inspired by a true story in 2009, an incident which saw Richard Phillips (Actor is Tom Hanks) boat being hijacked and taken over as well as Mr Philips being kidnapped. Paul Greengrass was the director of this film, they had a budget of $55 Million and made a profit of over $150million. The genre of this film is a thriller as it builds suspense throughout the film whilst creating emotion with the characters making the audience wait and wait for a dramatic scene to happen. Where this is based on a true story it will entice people to watch it even more. Although there are no explosions in this film, the movement and suspense is what makes it a thriller film as-well as the storyline itself, the guns play a massive part in this film which shows the threatening behaviour of the actors in the film, this proves it is a thriller as there is not many film genres which will show this kind of behaviour with guns in.

For example a Thriller film is most likely to have some sort of weapon in to set the scene whereas a comedy film may have a gun involved but will not be in a threatening way and will be in a more funny way or even in the background.

Fight club - Joel

Another research we have done is one fight club. For this we have searched one of the most famous scenes from the film and saw the atmosphere and effects of it. The scene was about the 8 rules of the club and shows threat, tension and pressure in the scene as the location was dark and the tone of the actors voice was "tough" as he repeated some of the rules like an instruction. The pressure came from the extras in the film stretching getting ready to fight as the main actor (Brad Pitt) called out the rules.

 

The Purge Anarchy - Joel

We researched The Purge Anarchy and studied the first 5 minutes. From this we could see that there was an act of aggression in the film. The music creates a haunted effect on the audience to make them feel scared and create suspense before the film starts. In the film they used masks to hide the identity of some individuals until the very end when all is revealed.

Alfred Hitchcock - Joel

Alfred Hitchcock was a English film director. His most famous film is the film Psycho released in 1960 and has created a new idea of thriller films. he created the most successful sound films of his generation. most director have been inspired by his film ideas and unique technique, famous directors such as Michael Bay. One of his techniques that he uses his is using music to create tension of the atmosphere and not to manipulate the audience as they know when to laugh, cry and be scared.

Michael Bay - Joel

Michael Bay has produced many films such as; Transformers, The Purge, Pearl Harbour, Pain In Gain and many more. Mr Bay is classed as one of the top directors of all time. Not only has he directed films but he has also filmed advertisements and music videos throughout he's career. Michael Bay has won many awards such as commercial director of the year and Guild Of America. He uses special effects in many films due to the large sets used, for example Pearl Harbour he creates huge explosions with modern technology.

Joel

Codes and conventions of thriller films - Joel

Themes: terrorism, crime, chase, spies and political conspiracy.

 Iconography: cars, weapons, urban settings, tension building music, fast paced editing, low lighting. 

characters: soldiers, spies, law,  

Feeling thrillers create: Excitement, suspense, Anticipation, nerve wracking tension, Anxiety and uncertainty.

Commentary for Preliminary Task - Joel

Our task was to create a short film that showed we could use match on action, shot reverse shot and obey the 180 degree rule.

The good things about our film are: the editing of the film in the shot reverse shot and kept to the rule of 180 degrees.

The areas we need to improve on are: match on action is non existent and the framing of the head shots.  

Final Preliminary Film - Joel