What do directors seek to establish in the opening of thrillers? Unfinished

The opening of a thriller is very important as the director needs to immediately entice the viewer so they will continue to watch the rest of the film, there are a few techniques used by these directors that are common in many thriller openings  These can be as simple as introducing the main character in fine detail, but still leaving more to be revealed, leaving a sense of enigma. Or by developing what the story or plot of the film is so that the viewer wants to continue and find out what will happen and how it will end. Lots of the techniques are based around leaving the viewer not knowing the full picture, so that their questions are answered.

A great example of this would be in the opening of Se7en, Morgan Freeman's character Detective Lt. William Somerset, we see that he is a very organised and neat man from the state of his apartment and the alignment of his personal belongings like his pen. It is all in order and this tells us a bit about what he is like. But it is not just the character the director is trying to introduce, it is also things like the plot, genre and theme. The first thing we hear before we even see anything is the sound of police sirens in the distance, we can assume that this film has something to do with crime (genre, theme) and also it tells us about the location, possibly a run down area, or a crime ridden city. In just a few seconds so much has already been hinted at that can be developed on later, capturing the viewer and making then want to watch more.

Other films done by different directors may focus on other areas with there opening. For example Rise of the foot soldier looks much more at the character and the plot of the film. We see Carlton grow up and his job and business (of sorts) develop. It is important to do this in this film as it is important to know who everyone is and their involvement, not all films are like this where other characters aren't important and we don't need to know who everyone is. Different films require different bits to be established from the beginning.

Treatment

We fade into a forest, illuminated by the cold mid-winter dawn.
A man is seen venturing through the woods. The leaves crunch beneath his feet, the snow gathers on his toes.
Twigs snap in the background; he thinks nothing of it.
Seconds pass, and he begins to dwell on the sound.
Fearing a presence, he takes a brief look around, as if someone was there.
He reaches down to bury the contents of his pocket, wrapped in a small plastic bag.
In the background, a suited man wearing a Venetian Carnival mask appears, just watching.
He stands up again, looking around, clicking his neck. Unaware of anything else; the Venetian masked man in the distance behind him.
He looks around, noticing the man.
He says nothing, and they maintain eye contact.
He promptly starts walking forward to leave the forest.
He looks back as he's walking, the man closer than before, but standing perfectly still in the same stance, as if he never moved.
We cut to a darkly lit scene of him sitting in a room, evidently trapped.
We then return to the forest, the man behind him again.
It begins alternating between him walking through the forest, slowly being caught up, and him locked in the room.
The screen goes black. Silent too;
It cuts to the dark room again, the man is sitting in the corner, clutching his knees, whilst the masked man is staring at him, looming over.
It ends as he looks up at the camera, Turns back to the man, and removes his mask.

The story itself takes it's thriller influence from Dead Man's Shoes - a revenge film involving gang warfare and violent intentions. We borrow the mental ambiguity from a character and give it to our protagonist.
It also takes influence from The Strangers; a cat and mouse style thriller involving murder; the villian in ours slowly catches the protagonist, as happens in both films, in different senses. We also take the scary, impending and unknowing torture element from horror film giant SAW.
Film Noir elements have influenced the writing of the story line, such as the brief emphasis on props, the extreme close angles, the use of suit and mask (mask to represent a hidden emotion or motive) and the limited visibility (interruption and obstruction by trees)
The idea of an enigma is created, as we know nothing about either of them, we have no contextual information behind them or the story.

Mood Board

ideas on Prezi

How does LA Noire use features of Film Noir? (unfinished)

La Noire is a Rockstar game released in 2011 and is based around Cole Phelps, a rising police officer in 1947 L.A. You play as Cole who solves various crimes that eventually start to link together and develop his life. Much of the story and cut scenes link with aspects of Film Noir.

The Title screen and menu selection of LA Noire closely resembles parts of film noir from films like The Third Man. In the scene where Harry Lime is running down a street one very noticeable shot shows only his elongated shadow plastered on the wall, this is very similar to that shot. The use of chiaroscuro with the strong shadows is very enigmatic and introduces us to what much of the game will be like. The shadows are also interactive as they are the options for "Continue", "Cases" etc.

Men commonly wear suits and smart wear in film noir. This is seen frequently in LA Noire as many male characters, even those who aren't main characters, are still wearing film noir style clothing. Much of the other props in the game are also film noir style. Objects like magnifying glasses, pipes and Venetian blinds are all common in film noir and are also in this game. This small details are key to help replicate film noir out of the cinema and into a game.

Femme fatal is a female character in film noir who is seemingly nice but drags other people down by making them comit crimes for them. This is used in LA Noire against Cole Phelps, he cheats on his wife with the femme fatal and consequently is deranked and loses the respect he has earnt in the force. It is a big turning point in the game and changes your opinion of Cole from being the hero of LA to a man of deceit which is one of the main themes of film noir. It shows how two sided Cole can be, we don't know the full story about him, this is also pointed out when there are flashbacks going to when Cole was in Japan fighting in World War 2. He does things that he regrets and it haunts him through the game, right until the end.

Essex Boys

Essex Boys Opening on Prezi

If Thrillers were a Tube map - The Jollie Metro

This image shows a tube map that links together different films/games through what content or themes they contain. For example Essex boys has a voice over, claustrophobic scenes and is gangster heavy. The four lines above represent Claustrophobia, Gangster heavy, Gangster light and voice overs. Me and ollie however forgot to put a key on it to show which line is which.
Red-Voice over
Orange-Gangster heavy
Grey-Claustrophobia
Blue-Gangster light

Submarine Trailer

Submarine was released in 2010 and stars Craig Roberts as Oliver Tate, a 15 year old boy growing up in 1986 England. The trailer sells the story of his love life with a girl called Jordana Bevan, played by Yasmin Paige. You see how they get together and she breaks his “tiny heart”, this appeals to the teenage audience who can possibly empathise with him. They do this by using specific clips of them first just looking at each other or walking past each other, then they’re together and finally when they have split up or something has happened, all accompanied by Oliver narrating his own life. 

The use of British scenery is also appealing to audiences abroad; they are very much selling the fact that this is a British teen comedy/drama/romance. The uses of camera shots and editing is all very artistic, it sells the fact that this film will have lots of quirky looks to it while also being interesting and different to watch. 

The soundtrack for Submarine, and the trailer, is done by Alex Turner. If you didn't know he is the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, a very famous British band. Fans may want to watch the film simply to see what new music he has created, like stuck on the puzzle and hiding tonight; songs not released but are in the film. Just from the trailer you can tell it is a feel good film that can be watched by the whole family, and it is obvious that when making the trailer this was emphasised as much as possible to get a larger audience to watch.

How has working title adapted to changes in the film industry?

Working title was a small film company founded in 1983 that produced low budget films like My Beautiful Launderette. It now produces much bigger films like the boat that rocked and Anna Karenina since it was bought by universal studios. It has had to change a lot to keep up with a new generation of movie watchers and whole other countries as well.

One of the main changes for the media industry is where the films are actually consumed. When tv's were a rarity people would go to the cinema for entertainment, Now that we have services like VoD and Netflix we don't have to go to the cinema anymore and can simply just watch the film at home for much cheaper. This proves a huge problem for Film companies as they are making less money, but one way in which they adapted to get people back to the cinemas was 3D. By making a film 3D people wanted to go to the cinema to watch it as they would get a completely different experience than if the watched it at home, this is because very few people have a 3D tv as they are so expensive and controversial. Not surprisingly Working Title have made a few 3D films like Johnny English reborn so that they can adapt to the new film industry which is now ruled by 3D.

Cinema has branched out a lot and lots of films are now shown in almost every country. Working title has had to adapt it's films so that they appeal in these other countries as well as just Britain. They have done this by having big actors from America who will appeal to other countries like America and France. This is seen in The Boat that Rocked, it is a very British based film so to make it appeal to a wider audience they got A list actors in so that more people would go and see it in other countries. If they were to not do this then they would fall behind, this is an example of how working title have adapted well to changes in the film industry.

Films have started to become more and more generic, sequels and remakes are becoming more popular and common for big film companies as they are already well known and have an audience. In response to this Working title did Anna Karenina. If you didnt know Anna Karenina is a very famous russian book published in 1873 by Leo Tolstoy. This works well in Working titles favour as readers of the book will like to see the film adaptation, it has a big audience and is also a remake as 3 other Anna Karenina films have been done in 1935, 1948 ad 1997.

However Wrking title has also done the opposite by making completely original films like Hot Fuzz and The Boat that Rocked. The appeal of these to audiences is that they havent seen a film like it before so it is a new experience. Many smaller film companies have to rely on things like good original story lines as they cant afford big A list actors or the newest most amazing 3D cameras, so the have to make do with what doesnt cost anything extra, like camera angles/shots and the script. Working title can afford the big actors however but even the huge film companies do original ideas, like Inception which was released in 2010 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Sometimes original films do far better than the remakes as it is has a unique selling point.

Working title has done a good job at staying up to date with changes in the film industry, they have made films for the new generation, 3D films to keep up with the new craze, remakes of books and completely original new films. This is why such a small film company has grown so well that it was bought by Universal Pictures in 1999 for £600 million. This proves that Working title has adapted perfectly to most of the changes otherwise it wouldnt still be going or at least not even near as big and as succesful as it is now.

Preliminary Task and Results

The moods and effects created in the sewer scene in The Third Man.

The sewer scene at the end of The Third Man, a film noir made in 1949 staring Orson Welles and Joesph Cotton, is very famous and was even used in the making of the game LA Noire by rockstar. It is memorable for many reasons like it's claustrophobic shots, disorientating camera angles and atmospheric scenery.

Harry Lime hiding from the police who are trying to catch him

This shot of Harry Lime (Orson Welles, the man being chased) is very close and tight. It creates a claustrophobic effect that makes the audience relate to Harry's situation. But it isn't only the shots that make this scene claustrophobic, throughout the whole scene he is hiding and running through tight tunnels with low ceilings so that he has to crouch down just to get through them.
The close up also allows us to clearly see all of his facial expressions and emotions, you can see that he is scared and lost, but he has no way out and everywhere he goes there are just more police waiting for him. It is very controversial from earlier scenes of him where he is very calm and seems powerful, not he is panicked and powerless.

Two police men looking down at Harry 

There are a range of camera angles used in this scene, but for the most part it is a still shot with a large tilt. With quick editing this creates a very odd and disorientating effect. In this picture harry is trying to escape the sewers but finds that police men are guarding all the exits. This leads to this very obscure and powerful shot of the police men looking straight down at him, by having this camera angle it makes it look like they are better than him, like he is nothing. This also links to the idea that the sewer is a metaphor for hell that is closing in on him, the two policemen could be seen as God in this case, judging him and making sure that he does not get out.

Holly Martins after he has shot Harry Lime

The lighting throughout the whole sewer scene is very important in creating the enigmatic mood. Single source lighting is very common in film noir and The Third Man uses it perfectly, but no clip uses it better than here, Holly has just shot harry and then it jumps to this shot of him in the tunnel with smoke and the single source back light to show only his silhouette and prowess. You can tell that he is very important but you cant tell if he is good or bad, he is just there and it creates this eerie feel about him.

Conventions of Film Noir

If you didn't know, Film Noir is a genre that became popular in post war 1940's. It is very dark, enigmatic and disorientating, but that it what makes it so characteristic and loved by so many. It isn't just about it being black and white it has a lot more to it, here are just a few common conventions of Film Noir.

Probably the most noticeable part of film noir is the story line. They are all base around themes like deceit, betrayal and crime, it is all very dark and morbid. Generally there is a gangster or business man involved in crime and then cops who are against them, but this can vary entirely to involve detectives and love interest, it changes for each film but there is usually some sort of convention with the characters. There is a lot of mystery behind each character you never know everything you need to about them, making them shady and unpredictable.

The use of shadows and lighting in film noir is iconic and really makes it stand out from other genres. Lighting is so important for film noir, it helps you focus on small details, or only focus on one place. A good example of that is in this picture from the third man. There is a very bright single source key light that is directed on his face, we can now clearly see any emotional responses. In other cases it is more important to get the shadow than the actual character as it suits the scene better and is more disorientating.

Film noir is known for it's close surroundings and claustrophobic shots. It shows how hopeless or vulnerable the character is. It does this by having high buildings that are really close together, like an alley way or road, it has no escape routes or hiding places. This makes the character look weak and hopeless, which suits film noir's dark mood perfectly.
It is a different case with the close and claustrophobic shots however. To create this effect they have the camera really close to the character to show all the emotion that is going through them at that point. This is done very well in "The Third Man" in the ending scene in the sewers, to make him look hopeless, lost and trapped.

Smoke and steam are surprisingly important in Film Noir, they creates a sense of mystery and bleakness. It is commonly used in alley ways to make them look cold and dangerous. When a back light is put on the smoke, silhouettes appear from inside the smoke, this creates an eerie feel to the scene and also looks very cinematic.

Clothing is very important in film noir. It can tell you a characters role and importance in the film simply by what they're wearing. The same can be said for the settings, the lighting and setting can tell you if that place is important or relevant or not.
Men in film noir often wear suits.. This is because it makes them look important or powerful to the audience and other characters. It also adds to the themes of crime and spying, any powerful criminal will wear a suit to show how he is better than everyone else.
Females however wear dresses to make them look pretty and to add lust to film noirs many themes and moods. A common characteristic of film noir is having a femme fatale character to lure men to their demise, and the way they do this is to dress and look in such a way that the male character will fall for them.

The settings can play an important role in film noir, they can make it disorientating by having different levels so you get lots of high and low angle shots that when edited together can be disorientating. There are many stereotypes with film noir settings, the biggest being the simple lamppost. A lamppost suits film noir well as it can be used as the single light source of the shot, this way it can be used in the actual scene instead of just being in the background.

Film Noir Collage

Collage

As you can see from the collage above there are a few similarities. You can tell that shadows are very important in film noir as many of the shots seem to focus or use shadows to make it more enigmatic. Smoking is also common in film noir, it ties in with how smoke and steam is used to mask characters, it is also a classic film noir prop, like lamp posts and looking glasses.

James Bond - Film Noir

Casino Royale, a James Bond film made in 2006, has a very interesting introduction that closely follows a film noir style. This is unusual for modern day films as they are quite uncommon, it was done a lot in the 40's to 60's but much less now. But it suits the mood and scene perfectly in this situation. The extended cut version is about 4 and a half minutes long and contains one long conversation split into two sections and a fight scene in-between that.

There are a few ways that makes this film noir, the main one being the use of shadows. They make it so that all your focus is on one place which in this case is oo7's (Daniel Craig) face. This is good for a conversation scene as there are no distractions so all your attention is on what is being said and the depth of those words. With this being the introduction of the film as well it tells you who is the main character is. He is seen as more powerful and commands the scene.

For a lot of the scene it is very claustrophobic. Tight  shots that focus on small details more than big wide shots that show everything. This is very common in film noir as it can make a character seem trapped or in danger.

This links with the fact that crime, gangsters and spying are all traits of film noir. This works with James Bond perfectly as he is only there for crime related purposes and ends up killing two people in the scene. Although there are many more traits to film noir like lust, greed and enigma, only a few fit this scene in particular.

The scenery right at the beginning fits the film noir style very nicely. Although it could be seen as a slight cliché it builds the scene well. The lamppost, smoke and extreme long shot are all part of film noir. The extreme long shot makes the car look vulnerable, while the smokes makes it enigmatic.

Extreme angles are very common in film noir, they add diversity and makes it almost feel like it isnt real and exaggerated. And for something like james bond this could be important as it is all exaggerated and unrealistic, that's the appeal of it. Big explosions and impossible scenarios, so having extreme angles suits James Bond completely.



All in all i would say that this does count as a film noir style scene. It has extreme angles, cliché scenery, smoke, claustrophobic and tight shots and it's use of shadows and lighting to direct attention and importance to an object or person is done perfectly. Just because it is black and white doesn't make it film noir, it requires a lot more than just that, which it does very well.

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

Batman process from Julian Popely

Anna Karenina

Anna karenina from Julian Popely

How to shoot a conversation

Shooting a conversation is very similar to shooting someone walking, it's all about diversity. You want to have a wide range of shots and angles to stop the viewer from getting bored.
My example of a conversation will be from Star wars a new hope where Han and Greedo have a conversation in a bar.

When watching the scene i saw 5 different camera angles, none of them lasting very long. There were two over the shoulder shots from Greedo's side looking at Han, then two mid shots, one of each character, and finally an extreme close up of Han and his gun under the table.

This range of shots is to keep the viewer entertained as conversations, like walking scenes, aren't very interesting to watch. These are the master shot, the master shot is the most important shot as it shows both characters, and the surrounding area.. Character 1 and 2 master shots mainly focus on one character each, they are mid shots but can also be close ups and are used to show a reaction or the person talking. And the pick up shots are used like fillers or to show extreme detail in something that is happening. Most conversations are only filmed with one camera, this means that the conversation has be done over and over again.

This is where continuity editing comes in. It is important for things not to get too out of place when filming a scene more than once and from different angles, for example the characters must be wearing the same clothes.
The 180 degree rule also applies to conversations, it may be broken, but as a rule of thumb you shouldn't cross the line. This stops the viewer from getting confused.
To conclude, getting lots of different angles and shot types is crucial, it keeps the audience entertained as you keep having to adjust your vision and take in the new surroundings.  It is very similar and follows some o the same basic rules as how to shoot someone waking.

Another test

From my phone seeing if the app works

How is new technology changing the way that audiences consume film?

It used to be that you could only watch a film in a cinema, but with so many changes in technology you can now watch one almost anywhere. It all started in around 1955 with the introduction of TV’s, now people could watch films if they were on from home. And then in 1985 VHS tapes were introduced. Now you could rent or buy the film you wanted and watch it in the comfort of your own home. With these changes to how films are watched, the amount of people going to the cinema has dropped by an enormous amount, in 1945 there were 1585 million admissions, in 2010 this was only 169.2 million.

But recently there has been a slight rise in the amount of admissions due to 3D films becoming more common. Now people have a reason to go to the cinema for the “3D experience” instead of just watching from home. Over 1400 more 3D screens have been built since 2006, making 3D more readily available. The same goes with the amount of 3D films, in 2009 there were only 14, in 2011 this was 47.

Annual film viewing for 2011 in the UK shows that most films are watched on TV, 77%. DVD/Blu-ray 14.2%, download/streamed 5.5% and cinema with only 3.4%. This is most likely because it is so much easier to just stay in and watch a film on film 4 or channel 5. DVD’s and blu-rays are an easy present for somebody this percentage is quite high, with DVD’s also you don’t have to hope that there is a good film on as you can choose what to watch. Downloading and streaming are becoming more popular due to cheap services like netflix and love film. And as for cinema, their poor results are due to tickets becoming more expensive and people going for the easier option of just renting a film.

An amazing 21.7 % of 55+ record films from TV, this shows that it is becoming much simpler to do things like this and that could be a reason for cinemas becoming less popular as now almost anyone can record a film or use VoD. However 15.4% of 16-24 year olds still go to the cinema, this is lower for all other ages and this may be because it is a good way to be social and meet up with friends. The common trend with this graph is that as you get older you go to the cinema less, record more films and watch more films on live TV. This could be down to many reasons; one is that it is easier and cheaper to just watch a film at home than go to the cinema, we also have new better TV’s that can be 3D and 50 inches big, TVs are getting ever closer to the cinema experience that soon cinemas will be obsolete.

Downloading films (legal or illegal) is quickly becoming more popular as new faster services like netflix and love film get cheaper, laptops and computers get bigger, and internet speeds increase. 10.5% of 15-24 year olds download/stream films several times a week, this is only 1.7% for people over 55, this could show that older people still cant use these services as they may be too complicated, but it could also be that they just don’t watch that many films in comparison to someone younger.

Phones like the iphone and the Samsung galaxy s are becoming competitors for cinemas as well, as phone screens get bigger it seems less ridiculous to watch a film on your phone. It’s still over 50% of everyone who don’t watch films on their phones at all but 14.2% of 25-34 year olds watch less than once every 6 months and 4.1% several times a week. I’ve watched films on my ipod before and it isn’t that bad really, good quality and it is very portable, you can watch the film anywhere you want. Surprisingly 0.4% of 55+ watch films on their phones several times a week; even though this is a tiny amount it shows that it is simple to do and quite practical.

To conclude, as technology advances less and less people will keep going to the cinema. With tickets getting more expensive and films going onto DVD quicker it seems less urgent to go to the cinema when you can watch any film you like for a small fee or none online from the comfort of your own bed. Screens will get bigger, TVs cheaper, sound systems more advanced and DVD players are now available for next to nothing. Shops like CEX that sell second hand DVDs for a quid each are obviously going to get more popular as it’s so cheap and easy. But people will still go to the cinema as we still can’t get the cinema experience at home, nor can we watch a new release on the day from home, and some people just like to go there with friends because it’s good fun.

How to shoot people walking

Shooting people walking is an essential skill for any director as it will come up in any film. It is important to not let the viewer get bored when watching something as simple as a shot of someone walking. Here are just a few of the ways:

A tracking or crab shot is an excellent way of showing the character(s) walking from a sideways perspective, while also developing the background and involving the viewer into what is going on. It is used here in Reservoir Dogs to help introduce the characters.

While some directors don't follow this it is a common practice to not cross the line. Also known as the 180 degree rule it basically says that there is an invisible line through the character(s) that cameras should stay on one side of. This stops the scene flipping and characters ending up on different sides of the screen. Eg. With a walking scene they should always be walking to the left or the right of the screen, not both.

Close ups are important for walking scenes especially to introduce a character at the beginning of a film. By having such an extreme close up there is no mistaking who our attention should be on. An effective use of close up is to focus on the persons feet while they are walking, for example, the intro to Saturday Night Fever. It keeps the audience interested in something quite mundane like walking.

The key thing to remember for shooting people walking is variety. Without it viewers lose interest as walking isn't exactly the most exciting thing to watch in the world, but with the right music and a range of different shots anything can be interesting.

Different Camera Angles

Different Camera Angles
This Powerpoint is to show different types of camera angles, the uses for them and what sort of scenes they could be used in to make that scene more dramatic. A useful guide with picture demonstrations.

Another test

Simply testing out how to upload photos onto this blog This should appear at 12:20 today

Just twigging along

Testing - You need me