Introducing our group

Introducing our group

in our group we have me (right), Michael (top right), Ausrine (top left) and Barbara (left).

Past student work

In lesson we were looking at the various thriller openings that past students had created. i will be describing what went well with them and how they could improve, as well as giving them my own mark.

Hidden

In the opening of 'hidden' the first scene we see is two people walking home. There is little dialogue in 'hidden' and the first dialogue we do hear is quieter then the cars driving past, this can make it difficult to understand what they are saying. The fact that most of this thriller is filmed at night also means it can be difficult for the audience to see what is happening.

Power cut



Throughout this thriller opening of 'Power cut' , a constant grey filter is used, however i do not think this is necessary as it takes out the colour from the film. It might of been more interesting if the grey filter was used when the power was cut, to represent the loss of light. Music is also constantly used in 'Power cut', however this means that the diolouge at 0:46 cannot be heard, the music should match the scene that it is being played over.

The Catalyst



I think 'the catalyst' is an effective thriller opening, shown through its use of cinematography and editing. One example of good cinematography in 'The Catalyst' is the sniper shooting scene. During this scene a sniper scope image is added on the screen, this makes the scene appear more realistic. However there is a continuity error in this scene as the audience cannot see the park from the window of the sniper. The editing in this opening is good because various transitions are used, for example a straight cut is used on the sniper scene, and then a fade out is used after the man has been shot.

Titles (thriller examples)

Titles (thriller examples)

Se7en

Produced by: New Line Cinema

The opening titles of 'se7en' are intercut between shots of a man doing various things, including writing and looking through pictures. The odd font and the glitching of the text gives an unerving feeling to the opening. This makes the audience suspect that the man in the background will be the 'antagonist' of se7en. The style of the opening credits also reflects the gritty feeling that 'se7en' has.

North by northwest


Produced by: MGM

The opening titles of 'North by northwest' begin before the film and during the opening shots. The titles are presented in a stylish way, for example through the use of slides and wipes. This is representative of the thriller-spy genre that 'north by northwest' is part of. The title is comparative to the stylist nature of the film, for example Roger Thornhill is always shown to be wearing suits, and drives in a nice car.

Spiderman



Produced by: Colombia

The opening titles of 'spiderman' are presented before the film begins. The opening titles are reflective of the comic book style that the film has. cgi is also used to incorporate the titles into spider webs, and a final transition is used to change the cgi spiderweb into the real spiderweb that is shown on the street corner.

Rope

Rope

     

Rope was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1948, it is based on the play of the same name. The play itself is based loosely on the murder case of Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy university students who kidnapped and murdered a 14 year old boy. They were fascinated with the "superman" concept. This was a concept created by Friedrich Nietzsche, it suggests that those who are intellectually superior are above the laws and morals of the average man. The two main characters in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope", Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan, believe in this concept, so they murder their friend in their apartment. To celebrate, they hold a party with the victims parents, girlfriend, their aunt, their other friend and rupert, their old housemaster who introduced them to the superman concept. Eventually after some investigation rupert founds out that they have killed someone, and is disgusted that they used his research to justify a murder. In the end Rupert grabs a gun of Brandon and alerts the police.

Compared to some of Alfred Hitchcock's there are no thriller conventions in rope. There are no fast paced editing scenes  in rope, the viewer may frequently see the camera zoom in on someones back, this is so that they can cut it without the audience seeing the cut, which makes it appear as if it is one long recording.



there are various moments of suspense in rope, the two men hide their friends body in a box, and then serve dinner on top of it. There are moments in the film where it seems that someone might open the box, this puts the viewer on edge, wondering if the men will be caught or someone will find the body. However there is no resourceful hero trying to outwit a better equipped villain, the two men seem like they want to get caught, and Philip seems to have guilt about what he has done by the end of the film.

The main focus of rope is also not based on the 'hero' (if there is one) but on the villains instead. This is similar to psycho, where the film is not based on the hero/heroine but is based on the villains and why they do what they do. The main focus on psycho is Normans relationship with his mother, whereas Rope is based on brandon and Philip's morals, and why they have killed their friend.

Some of the thriller theorist ideas also do not appear to be in Rope. Todorov's 4 stages are not in rope, because as soon as the film starts the audience is thrown into the second stage, disruption. There is also not a 'new equilibrium' because the boys got what they wanted in the end, getting caught. A thriller theorist who is evident is rope however is Levi Strauss, and his idea of binary opposition. In rope Brandon and Philip see themselves as binary opposites to everyone else. They see themselves as intellectually superior, and believe that they can do what we want.

The Birds

The Birds

The birds is a thriller/horror directed by Alfred Hitchcock released in 1963. The film is set in bodega bay, California, a small town which unexpectedly begins to get attacked by birds. Melaine Daniels is visiting the town to deliver a pair of lovebirds to a man she met earlier named Mitch. Eventually the two people escape the town, but the bird threat still remains,leaving the ending ambiguous. Alfred Hitchcock does this so that the audience get the impression of a never ending terror of birds, just like the people living in the town had experienced.

The thriller convention of a resourceful hero outsmarting a better equipped villain is not present in the birds. There is no single villain, only a very large group of birds, and the only goal for Melaine Daniels and Mitch is to escape the town. Mitch is resourceful because at various times in the film he is able to outsmart the birds. the film

also seems to lack the convention of equilibrium at the end of the movie, because the threat of the birds seems to be spreading to other towns.

Despite the fact that there is no human villain the film still does a good job of building up tension. Whilst Melaine Daniels is waiting for Mitch's sister to finish school, the audience can begin to see crows slowly filling the scene. The scene begins with just one crow in the background, but soon the birds fill the scene, whilst Melaine Daniels remains oblivious to them, this makes the audience worry that the crows may attack at any moment. There is also a contrast in the scene, children can be heard singing in the background whilst the crows begin to gather. This gives the audience a sense of an uneasiness as a calm sound is occupied with a scary scene.

Production studio idents

Production studio idents

Films are produced by different companies, and during the opening title of a film a sequence showing the production company logo is shown, theese are called idents. I will be looking at different company idents and will be explaining how they have changed through the years.

Universal - The universal ident is a rotating globe with "universal" written on the front of it. The logo first begun in 1927 as a globe rotating in the sky with a plane flying around it, however in 1946 it was changed to a globe rotating in space. the ident has received various graphic updates since then but has remained the same as it was in 1946.

MGM - due to it being difficult to replicate the lion in the MGM ldent has always remained the same, but the ident has gone through a number of different colours including black and white to gold.

Disney - The classic disney pictures ident first appeared in 1985, and is based on the castle in the disney animation film 'Cinderella'. In 2006 the ident was changed from an animation to cgi, to give it a realistic look.

Dreamworks - Dreamworks is a newer company then many of the other production companies. The ident shows a man sitting on the moon and fishing. At some points the ident is cleverly linked with the film, such as in shark tale, where the bait at the end of the mans fishing rod is shown in the water.

Colombia pictures - The first Colombia pictures ident begun in 1924 and showed a women standing a sideways pose. The torch bearing women did not begin till 1936

Warner bros - The warner bros logo begun in the 1940s and has the initials W.B inside a shield. There have been various colour changes to the logo but its appearance has remained the same.

Modern thriller openings

Modern thriller openings

We looked at 4 thriller openings, and one thing which they all have in common is the theme of death. the first opening we saw was of the film 'brick'. The film opens with, who the audience may interpret, the main character next to a dead body. along with the silence this gives a sense of mystery to the film and leaves the audience wanting to know why this person is dead and what relation the main character had to her. There is also the prominent colour of blue in the tunnel next to the character, this may also represent death.

Unlike brick 'zodiac' has a much longer opening which gives the reader more backstory, this might, however, take away from the mystery of the film, if too much information is revealed to the audience.However suspense is built up in the opening, in the opening we see a car get pulled over by who the audience expects is the police, however the couple in the car get shot by the man who pulled them over. The audience is given a false sense of safety so it comes as a shock to them when the man who pulls them over ends up not being the police.

The third film opening we saw was of 'no country for old men'. Unlike the other two this does not open in a dark setting, instead we see the sun rising. However there is a 'death theme' in this as soon after we see the sun rising, we see someone getting arrested, then it cuts to the man getting arrested killing the man who arrested him. unlike the other 2 it is clearly shown who the killer is, however the audience does not know the motivation of the killer, which gives the audience the mystery of why this man was killed.

The last film opening we saw was of 'a history of violence' the film opening begins like no country for old men, it starts slow and nothing seems to be out of place, this puts the reader in a relaxed state. However the audience is then shocked when the man enters the house and the audience see the dead girl. The audience then see that these two people are likely the 'villains' of the story.