In our lesson (Thursday 18th December 2008) we done a brainstorm on different types of thriller genres e.g. supernatural (sixth sense), psychological thriller (the shining) , murderous passion (what lies beneath), spy/action (bond films) etc. the brain storm helped us with the next part of our lesson. And helped us to identify the different representations of a thriller film.
We had to watch 4 different clips and analyse how each clip creates suspense. We filled out a sheet to write down the key features which creates the suspense , which were the lighting, the use of camera (movement, angle, distance), the music (sound, effects, soundtrack), editing and the setting and location. The sheet was really helpful to us because it was easier to identify the key components which makes a great thriller film/ clip. The first clip we watched was an extract scene from The Shining, the scene used was the bit where Danny was riding his bicycle through the corridors and stopping at room ‘237’, there is definitely suspense in this short scene due to mainly the camera shots and sound effects, firstly there’s a tracking shot of Danny riding his bicycle and slow scary music at the same time (non-diagetic) the use of the corridors make the audience anxious on what’s around the corner and we have the same vulnerability as Danny because the camera shot is behind the boy and on the same level as him. And we had to fill out the sheet for each clip analyse and focus on each of the techniques used (what lies beneath, 28 days later and collateral) after analysing each clip, our homework set was to choose a clip and analyse how suspense is created within the clip and blog it and post it . I chose what lies beneath .
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Let 'Em Play God, Alfred Hitchcock
In our second to last lesson before the Christmas break we were given a sheet about Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (KBE), born August 13th 1899 in Leytonstone, London and died April 29th 1980 in Bel Air, Los Angeles (aged 80years old).
He wrote an article about what suspense really is, and how to create it. His article called ‘Thrills, Suspense, the Audience’.
In this article Sir Alfred talks about how every maker of mystery movies aims at getting the audience on the edge of their seats. He says the ingredient to keep them there is suspense.
He says suspense is created when you let the audience play God and if the audience does not know whether a character is a hero or villain they will not know whether to cheer or weep. He says if the audience have been told all the secrets that the character do not know, “they’ll work like the devil for you because they know what fate is facing the poor actors”. That is what he describes as “Playing God”.
For 17 years Sir Alfred had been making pictures described alternately as thrillers, dark mysteries and chillers; he opposes puzzling the audience and does not believe that this is the essence of suspense. He demonstrates this from movies he has made such as ‘Rope’.
He believes that if he succeeds in what he tries to do (create suspense) whilst making movies he will have the audience at such a pitch that they want to shout every time something is about to happen. Sir Alfred also believes that when characters are unbelievable you never get real suspense, only surprise. He also believes that for suspense to be created you do not need things such as shadows, dull weather, stormy weather and creaky doors; he used his movie ‘Rope’ to prove this point.
As Sir Alfred became more and more interested in developing his suspense techniques he made up his mind to shoot these type of stories exclusively; this conclusion came by the time he had made ‘Secret Agent’, ‘Sabotage’, and ‘The 39 Steps’.
He wrote an article about what suspense really is, and how to create it. His article called ‘Thrills, Suspense, the Audience’.
In this article Sir Alfred talks about how every maker of mystery movies aims at getting the audience on the edge of their seats. He says the ingredient to keep them there is suspense.
He says suspense is created when you let the audience play God and if the audience does not know whether a character is a hero or villain they will not know whether to cheer or weep. He says if the audience have been told all the secrets that the character do not know, “they’ll work like the devil for you because they know what fate is facing the poor actors”. That is what he describes as “Playing God”.
For 17 years Sir Alfred had been making pictures described alternately as thrillers, dark mysteries and chillers; he opposes puzzling the audience and does not believe that this is the essence of suspense. He demonstrates this from movies he has made such as ‘Rope’.
He believes that if he succeeds in what he tries to do (create suspense) whilst making movies he will have the audience at such a pitch that they want to shout every time something is about to happen. Sir Alfred also believes that when characters are unbelievable you never get real suspense, only surprise. He also believes that for suspense to be created you do not need things such as shadows, dull weather, stormy weather and creaky doors; he used his movie ‘Rope’ to prove this point.
As Sir Alfred became more and more interested in developing his suspense techniques he made up his mind to shoot these type of stories exclusively; this conclusion came by the time he had made ‘Secret Agent’, ‘Sabotage’, and ‘The 39 Steps’.
28 Days Later Analysis
Over the Christmas holiday we were told to watch a clip of the movie we chose in class and analyse how suspense is created.
In the film 28 Days Later suspense was created in a variety of different ways which included the use of different camera techniques, for example the first shot that we get is at a slanted angle and we are looking at the main character through a glass wall, thereafter we hear this character say “hello” but the only response we hear is an echo of his voice; this shows that he may be alone and if he’s not we don’t know what is lurking around. In the second scene we see the rest of the hospital which looks as if a chaotic event had taken place, we know this from the mise en scene; chairs scattered across the floor, and telephones hanging of their hooks. All of this gets the audience thinking that an event has happened in which people have panicked. In the third scene we once again see the hospital looking very chaotic as there are cans of fizzy drink all over the floor and the vending machine looks as if it had been broken into. After this we get a shot of the main character peeping over a ledge and in the background we see very unattractive buildings, but these buildings also helped convey a sense of danger as they were bigger than the main character, thus making him appear smaller. After this we are shown an high angle shot of the hospital and can just about notice the main character in this shot, once again emphasising the main characters status as very low. In this part of the scene we are shown the man on a bridge where there are newspapers all over the floor but the camera quickly cuts to a very long shot showing a deserted Central London which as we know is very unusual, if not impossible. This added to the suspense as their was nobody around and anything could jump out at anytime. Later on we get a long shot of the main character walking, this shot is shown through a smashed window which once again conveys to us the audience previous unease and chaos. Starting from round about half way through this clip we start to his this non-diagetic, sad music. This sad music gradually gets louder as the scene goes on making us the audience think something is about to happen.
In the film 28 Days Later suspense was created in a variety of different ways which included the use of different camera techniques, for example the first shot that we get is at a slanted angle and we are looking at the main character through a glass wall, thereafter we hear this character say “hello” but the only response we hear is an echo of his voice; this shows that he may be alone and if he’s not we don’t know what is lurking around. In the second scene we see the rest of the hospital which looks as if a chaotic event had taken place, we know this from the mise en scene; chairs scattered across the floor, and telephones hanging of their hooks. All of this gets the audience thinking that an event has happened in which people have panicked. In the third scene we once again see the hospital looking very chaotic as there are cans of fizzy drink all over the floor and the vending machine looks as if it had been broken into. After this we get a shot of the main character peeping over a ledge and in the background we see very unattractive buildings, but these buildings also helped convey a sense of danger as they were bigger than the main character, thus making him appear smaller. After this we are shown an high angle shot of the hospital and can just about notice the main character in this shot, once again emphasising the main characters status as very low. In this part of the scene we are shown the man on a bridge where there are newspapers all over the floor but the camera quickly cuts to a very long shot showing a deserted Central London which as we know is very unusual, if not impossible. This added to the suspense as their was nobody around and anything could jump out at anytime. Later on we get a long shot of the main character walking, this shot is shown through a smashed window which once again conveys to us the audience previous unease and chaos. Starting from round about half way through this clip we start to his this non-diagetic, sad music. This sad music gradually gets louder as the scene goes on making us the audience think something is about to happen.
Four Thriller clips (Lesson before xmas)
In our last media lesson before we broke up for our Christmas holidays we watched four clips of four movies which included: 28 Days Later, The Shining, Collateral and What Lies Beneath.
Before we started watching these clips from each of these movies we made a brainstorm about what a thriller actually is and also the different types of thriller categories. Using the films that we watched as examples; The Shining was a supernatural thriller and Collateral was a political thriller.
Whilst watching each clip we had to fill in a table that we had been given prior to watching the clips of each film, in each section we had to write about the lighting, use of camera movement, angle, and distance, music, sound effects, and soundtrack, editing and the setting and location of each thriller.
Before we started watching these clips from each of these movies we made a brainstorm about what a thriller actually is and also the different types of thriller categories. Using the films that we watched as examples; The Shining was a supernatural thriller and Collateral was a political thriller.
Whilst watching each clip we had to fill in a table that we had been given prior to watching the clips of each film, in each section we had to write about the lighting, use of camera movement, angle, and distance, music, sound effects, and soundtrack, editing and the setting and location of each thriller.
Friday, 19 December 2008
The shining
my last lesson with Mary on Monday 15th of December, we watched a thriller film called the shining which I’m quite familiar with and find that it is a perfect example to give us an idea on how to create a thriller film using different techniques. while watching the film we had to fill out a sheet which was about how the music, camera shots and editing created high levels of suspense and tension throughout the film. This film definitely keeps the viewers wondering and thinking what’s going to happen next?
The director gives us the advantage of knowing more information then the characters but the director still makes us ponder and confused about the ending which makes it more interesting and thrilling.
Within 5 minutes of the film we already have an idea of the aim the directors trying to target or do we? The viewer may think they know what’s going to happen but on the contrary the director tries to confuse them when the whole plot of the film is going the opposite direction of what the viewers were .thinking would happen, which gives them a pleasant shock . Firstly the introduction soundtrack is a heartbeat affect which links to the camera shot of a birds eye view following the car, it seems like there’s a predator which signifies that the viewers have more power then the characters about the dangers there going to face, and also this birds eye view shot establishes remoteness and isolation I could already feel the tension building up, which shows that they made a good choice showing us the of the neglection happening In this scene by using the heartbeat effect and BEV. As we see more into the film we notice that there are initial stones which gives a cabin fever “signal” to the audience where the plot is going , the fact that the audience know the story makes us more engaged to the film, were already waiting for him to go mad and kill which makes the audience continue watching the film.
furthermore I find that the hotel was a great location to pick, the scene wear Danny rides his bike in the corridor, the camera is on the same level as Danny and is following behind him (tracking shot) along the corridors, which creates great suspense because we don’t know what’s around the corner of these corners and the fact the camera shot is behind him makes us feel what he’s feeling. And also the close-up of the room number ’237’ signifies that danger is lurking around and something bad is going to happen. When Danny enters the maze it gives us the same suspense as the corridors (not knowing what’s around the corner) but this time the sound repetition which gets louder and louder and the anticipation grows because the audience are curious on what’s going to happen when the sound reaches its final and loudest tone . The tracking shot in the maze shows us the different representations of the characters for example Jack and his leg limp slows him down which creates suspense but Danny also creates suspense ‘coz he’s speeding up, showing that both characters might meet at the end of each corner and each time the music gets louder we expect that to happen.
Overall the film was a great thriller film and it really gave us ideas and different techniques that we should use for our thriller film to create the tension and suspense needed. This film showed me that it’s not only about the location , its about how each scene signifies a certain plot behind it and how the camera shots are used to represent the meaning and you need to add the effects, soundtrack etc to give that high level of suspense needed for a thriller film.
The director gives us the advantage of knowing more information then the characters but the director still makes us ponder and confused about the ending which makes it more interesting and thrilling.
Within 5 minutes of the film we already have an idea of the aim the directors trying to target or do we? The viewer may think they know what’s going to happen but on the contrary the director tries to confuse them when the whole plot of the film is going the opposite direction of what the viewers were .thinking would happen, which gives them a pleasant shock . Firstly the introduction soundtrack is a heartbeat affect which links to the camera shot of a birds eye view following the car, it seems like there’s a predator which signifies that the viewers have more power then the characters about the dangers there going to face, and also this birds eye view shot establishes remoteness and isolation I could already feel the tension building up, which shows that they made a good choice showing us the of the neglection happening In this scene by using the heartbeat effect and BEV. As we see more into the film we notice that there are initial stones which gives a cabin fever “signal” to the audience where the plot is going , the fact that the audience know the story makes us more engaged to the film, were already waiting for him to go mad and kill which makes the audience continue watching the film.
furthermore I find that the hotel was a great location to pick, the scene wear Danny rides his bike in the corridor, the camera is on the same level as Danny and is following behind him (tracking shot) along the corridors, which creates great suspense because we don’t know what’s around the corner of these corners and the fact the camera shot is behind him makes us feel what he’s feeling. And also the close-up of the room number ’237’ signifies that danger is lurking around and something bad is going to happen. When Danny enters the maze it gives us the same suspense as the corridors (not knowing what’s around the corner) but this time the sound repetition which gets louder and louder and the anticipation grows because the audience are curious on what’s going to happen when the sound reaches its final and loudest tone . The tracking shot in the maze shows us the different representations of the characters for example Jack and his leg limp slows him down which creates suspense but Danny also creates suspense ‘coz he’s speeding up, showing that both characters might meet at the end of each corner and each time the music gets louder we expect that to happen.
Overall the film was a great thriller film and it really gave us ideas and different techniques that we should use for our thriller film to create the tension and suspense needed. This film showed me that it’s not only about the location , its about how each scene signifies a certain plot behind it and how the camera shots are used to represent the meaning and you need to add the effects, soundtrack etc to give that high level of suspense needed for a thriller film.
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