Enigmas and Red Herring

 Enigmas

->This refers to a puzzle, something that is mysterious or inexplicable, or a riddle.

->In thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the narrative and the film finishes. 

Red Herring

->A Red Herring is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. 

->Can work with other devices (Enigmas) to create Suspense.

Example of Red Herring

Saw:
In Saw two characters spend time imprisoned in a room in which a third character lies dead. Throughout the film, bother characters appeared to be guilty of a series of murders, until it is discovered at the end that the third person in the room is not actually dead but is, in fact, the killer.

Narrative- Structure, Formulas and Devices

The Narrative consist of these bullet points below:

->Use of "continuity editing"
->The clear establishment of "cause and effect" plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell on interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily

Psychological Thrillers

The Suspense created by a Psychological Thriller often comes from two or more characters preying upon one an others mind, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the others mental state.
 
Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflicts with their own mind. Usually, this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them.

Suspense & Maguffins

Rope (1948)

Rope Tells the story of two young, wealthy men, Brandon and Philip, who strangle and murder a friend and this was to see if they could get away with this murder.

They then invite other close friends (including the murdered mans parent) to their apartment for a dinner part, whilst hiding the body in a chest in the living area.

The suspense is created through the body in the chest as the audience knows that the body is in there but know one else does except the two murders.

Maguffins 


A Maguffin (sometimes Mcguffin or Macguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story.

"we have a name in the studio: and we call it a 'Mcguffin' it is the medicinal element that usually crops up in any story. In crock stories it is always the necklace in the spy stories it is always the papers" 

The Brief !

The titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last a maximum of two minute. The coursework is 50 % of the course.


Coursework


The maximum group size is 4

As acting is not a skill that is assessed here, candidates are free to use actors who are not members of the group to appear in front of the camera for your productions.

The production itself is worth 60% of the marks.
The coursework also compromises a written component of the blog.
This is worth 40% of the marks

Marks are awarded as follows;
-Planning and research-20 marks
-Construction-60 marks
-Evaluation-20 marks

The only shared element allowed is the storyboard and audience research.

 Marks are awarded for showing excellence in the following criteria;
->Holding a steady shot
->Framing a shot
->Using a variety of shot distances
->Shooting material appropriate to the task set
->Editing so that the meaning is apparent to the viewer
->Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects. Eg titles
->Using sound with images

The suspense 'Thriller'- Hitchock Model.

This is a quote below from Rick Altman;

Under the strong influence of Alfed Hitchock thrillers offer beyond with crime and the accasation of innocient bystander were the authorities, no doubt the case could be promptly solved, but instead the poor bystander runs from the law this jeopardsing life from limb.
                                                          
                                                               -Rick Altman-

Example of some suspense Thrillers.

'The 39 steps'
'Psycho'

Suspense films abandon both thrillers and suspense when falsely accused characters finally reaches safety

More About Alfred Hitchock !

Aspects of the Thriller: Hitchock

He made short films about 30 minutes each, he also made trailors for his different films and sometimes appeared in his films which this is called cameo.

Hitchock was also known as the master of suspense  whos films came to be the benchmark for psychological thrillers. Hitchock had many different quotes that he said; 'The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them'.

Hitchock film only create suspense. This is to get the audience on edge, so if it was a good film the sound would go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was still going on.

Another quote he made was; 'Always make the audience suffer as much as possible', 'I am a typed director, If I made cinderalla, the audience would immediaetly be looking for a bug in a coach'

Socialisation !

Primary Socialsation

Primary socialisation typically occurs during childhood and is when a child learns the attitudes, values and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. For example if a child saw his/her mother expressing a discriminatory opinion about a minority group, then that child may think this behavior is acceptable and could continue to have this opinion about minority groups.

Secondary Socialsation

Secondary socialisation is the behaviour positively reinforced from the society. Secondary socialisation in education involves teaching children norms, values, socially accepted behaviour and social limitations and barriers. Secondary socialisation can also take place through media consumptions and the media give people stereotypical views about others.

Do Films Follow Rules?

Some Film makers will claim that 'there are no rules' or that 'rules are there to be broken'
However, must would agree that these are certain convention that mainstream films observe in order for them to be acceptable to the mass audience.

Features In A Thriller!!

In a Thriller it has many features that directors use to make it a good Thriller, some of these below it accounted in many thriller nowdays;

Low Key Lighting

P.V.O

Tense Scenes
Suspense Scenes
Protagonist
Anatagonist
Serial Killers
E.C.U
Fast Paced Lifting
Vulunerability towards the Protagonist
Indetification by the audience and the Protagonist

Thrillers

The Thriller is a very hard and difficult genre to identify on because it covers such a wide range of films. Thrillers are films of suspense... that are supposed to instill terror into the auidence.

There are many types of Thriller and these are some of them;

-> Spy Thriller - E.g. James Bond, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy
-> Political Thriller - E.g. Aides of March
-> Conspiracy Thriller - E.g. State Of Play
-> Legal Thrillers - E.g. John Grisham
-> Psychological Thrillers - E.g. Black Swan

This is a typical Spy Thriller and this is a trailer of James Bond Casino Royal

Chuck Jones- Road Runner!

Animated director Chuck Jones worked at warner Brothers for decades making short movies starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and more.

He also made the Road Runner Cartoon and from the first episode, an elaborate set of rules emerged from this.

The Rules

-> The Road Runner cannot harm or upset the Coyate except by going; 'MEEP! MEEP!'

-> No outside force can harm the Coyate, only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.

-> The Coyate could stop anytime - If he he were not a fanatic.

-> No dialogue except; 'MEEP! MEEP!'

-> The Road Runner must stay n the road - otherwise logically he is not called a Road Runner.

-> All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters and
     The South WestAmerican Desert.

-> All material, tools, weapons or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from Acme Co Operation.

-> Whenever possible make gravity the Coyates biggest enemy.

-> The Coyate is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures

Preliminary Task!

In the Preliminary Task we had to make a short clip demonstrating continuity, through this clip we got told we had to use different types of shot through the clip. These shots included match on action shot and this type of shot is when we see action in one part of a scene then it get's carried on into the next scene. Another Shot we had to use was eye line match which the shot comes above one characters shoulder, another shot we had to include was the 180 degree rule and this is were the camera can not be filmed past a 180 degree angle, and if the camera passes this imaginary axis then it's called crossing the line. The last Shot we had to include was the shot reverse shot and this shot is when it keeps on flicking between two shots and it is commonly used when someone is telling another character bad news.

180 Degree Rule

Preliminary Task

In the Preliminary Task we had a group of four which included Charlie, Jake, Myles and myself. In this task we had to come up with a story line and in thi story line it was a general boys conversation but jake has to reveal something to myles. Charlie was on the camera so he did most of the shots and recording through the task. I was included at the end of the clip which i interupt as a problem has occured. This was our final piece for our preliminary task.

Lighting used in Film

Low-Key Lighting
Low key lighting is created by using only the key and back lights, to create a sharp contrast of light on the dark areas of the set. This then creates shadows and makes the scene darker. Low key Lighting would be really good for my thiller as I can use it to make my scenes look darker and more scarier to the auidence.

High Key Lighting
High Key Lighting is normally used at start of the scene and i could use it for opening scene as it uses very bright lighting. High key lighting is when the light appears more normal and bright to the veiwer's eyes and not dark.

Sound Within the Film

Sound Within a film is very important because without it, the experience of film would be very different and it would make film and TV series very boring and unrealistic. There are different types of sound that makes a film more real and believable.

On-Screen Sound
On-screen sound is when you can see the source or the cause of the sound on the screen. An example of this would be someone Diagloue appeared and you can see them.

Off-Screen Sound
Off-screen sound is the opposite of on-screen sound, it's when you can hear a sound but cannot see the cause of the sound. For example, when police sirens go off in the background to indicate police are coming or going past.

Diegectic Sound
Diegetic sound is the sounds that are created in the film world and that the actors can hear on the set, for example, a fire engine.

Non-Diegectic Sound
This is again the opposite of diegetic sound. it is the sound that the actors cannot hear on the set. for example, the sound tracks and narrations can only be heard by the audience.

Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scene is used in every film it is the main basis that it used in a film. Mise-en-scene is used as it makes the film a film if there wasn't any mise-en-scene then it would be boring and nothing exciting would be included in a particular film. Mise-en-scene includes; Props & Settings, Costumes, Hair & Make-up, Facail Expressions and Body Language, Lighting & Colour and the Positioning of the Characters. So all of these are included in Mise-En-Scene.

Alfred Hitchcock !

Alfred Hitchcock was a british film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres.  Hitchcock pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze he also forced viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism Alfred framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy. Hitchcock made so of the greatest film for the thriller genre this included.

->MacGuffins

->North by Northwest

->Frenzy

->Notorious

Source Code !

At the Start of the source code it starts from a establishing shot to get a good view of New York City. After this shot it goes down alongside the train line, and goes into the train to the main character. In the clip is shows the main character Jake Gyllenhaal being confused of where he was, so in the trailer/ clip the speed of editing goes to about 2-3 seconds an edit and this shows the confusion and worry of where he is and what is happening around him.
Then half way into the clip he goes out into the corridor of the train and then a train rushes past then the train that they are located in train starts to shake and so does the camera and this gives an effect of the fast pasted train. This also shows the anxiety and nerves that he keeps on showing through the clip, so the pace of the edits is reflecting his experience of nerves.

No Country For an Old Man!

This 5 minute clip of No Country for old men is another in-lighting film as it starts of with a dark and dim surrounding. Then it gradually goes into a dessert scene, and the director has done this so the audience knows where it has been set. But this film also starts of as a boring and dull beginning as it just showed you the police officer taking a unknown person in the back of the car. But at this point of it is building suspense as you can't see the criminals face as the camera is faced at his back, and this makes the audience want to watch it so they can see the criminals face. Also in the scene when the police officer gets in the car you cant see the criminals face again as it has been dimmed.


In the next scene when they get to the Police Station, there is a lot of tension as the prison in the background keeps on getting up and it makes you feel that he is going to do something to the Police officer. Then the prisoner gets up for the last time and walks quietly to the Police Officer so he doesnt make any sound, and as soon as the Police Officer put the phone down, the prisoner starts to choke the Officer with his handcuffs, the Office starts to struggle and blood starts pouring out from his kneck. This the first part of horror in the film, this leads on to have more serious killings in the clip. In the last part of the clip the prisonor takes the Police officers car keys and drive off into the dessert, were he pulls over an innocent Middle aged man. Were he then bruitally kills him with a slaughtering gun. This ends the scene cliffhanger as it will make the audience want to keep watching the film.

A History of Violence

Today we was introduced to a 5 minute opening clip of a horror film. In the opening scene of this film it was very dull and boring as there wasn't anything remotely going on for the first 3 - 4 minutes. Through out the whole clip the director wanted to build suspense and the director did this by making the characters very suspicious around each other. The director also made the scene suspicious as you didn't know what the two character was up to and the only clues they gave was 'you took long' and 'the maid was effort'. Then the at the end of the clip it starts to get more exciting as it looks like a young and gentle man going in the shop to see what has happened, the the man goes a refills his bottle with water, and a girl comes out, showing different actions of fear. Then the audience thinks the man is going to care for her, but he changes his action and shots the little child, which then makes it more exciting and makes you want to watch the rest of the film.

        

                 

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