Planning: Opening Scene Narration - Miss Begum

Opening Scene Narration

- For the opening sequence of our thriller, we have all discussed in our group about how we would like opening scene to be filmed and presented.

Opening Scene Narration:

- The scene starts with a mid-long shot introducing the female character's walking home at night time around 9pm and onwards. The location for this would be in Great Cambridge Roundabout underground pathway, this location would be suitable for this first shot because it's dark and look isolated at night time. As she's walking, a close-up shot is being used to show that she's texting her boyfriend saying ''It's over ! I'm sorry but I'm in love with someone else..'' and then she turns off her phone and puts it back into her pocket. An extreme long shot and a floor camera level shot is being used to film her walking to her home. The lighting is natural mixed with low-key lighting as she carries on walking home alone. 

We then see mid-long shot again from the behind of the female character as she opens the door and enters her house. As she enters her house, a close-up shot in being used to film the door handle from the inside of the house twisting and then she enters the house. The lighting here will be low-key as no one else is at home and the house is covered in darkness with no lights.

As the scene developed, we then see the female victim enters her room and go to the bath room to have a shower, the shot that's being used here is a long shot. As she enters the bathroom, a zoom camera movements is being used here to zoom out slowly as she's taking a shower behind the curtains. The lighting here will be back-lighting showing her silhouettes and to shows that she's vulnerable and physically weak. After finishing her bath, she then go back into her room to dry her self up and get changed into her white pyjamas. A high-angle shot mixed with long shot is being used to film this scene. The female victim then lays down to her bed to sleep. A middle shot is being used here from a high angle mixed with bird-eye views  to shows that she's innocent and to show her vulnerability. The lighting is dark and low-key as she switches off the lights to go to sleep.

As the female is laying down in bed sleeping, a panning shot is being used to film from the end of her bed slowly showing her feet up to her body and to her head showing the clock on the table next to her bed letting the audience knows that it is 1:30am. The female then wakes up from a nightmare, a reaction shot mixed with a bird eye views shot is being used to show her opening her eyes, she then decides to go down to her kitchen to get a cup of water to calm herself down. The camera is being placed on her table showing that she's getting out of bed and walking out of her room. She then walks downstairs to her kitchen, a high angle shot is being used from upstairs balcony filming her walking down the stairs and turns to her kitchen. As she enters the kitchen, she then goes to get a cup and opens her fridge to get water. The camera will be placed inside the fridge showing her face as she reaches for her drink.

Following on from this, she drinks her water then look at the cup to see how much waters left in the cup, a close-up shot is being used to film the reflection from the cup showing her ex boyfriend standing behind her holding a knife in his hands. A reaction shot is being used here to film her reaction as she's getting frightened. Fear and different connotations is being created. Carrying on from this scene, a point of view shot is being used to show that she's slowly moving back as her ex boyfriend move towards her. He then reaches to pull her hair and stabs non-stop in her stomach. A close-up shot is being used here to film her facial expressions as she's being attacked showing that she's helpless. Also to film the ex boyfriend's hand holding the knife stabbing her continuously. The fast editing mixed with shot reverse shot is being used here to show the attack at a faster pace to build up tension and create suspense.She then falls to the floor, slow editing will be used here to create a dramatic fall of the female victim. As soon as she hits the floor, the setting of the scene changes to her bedroom instantly, a reaction shot mixed with close-up shot will be used to show the relieved of a realization that it was only a nightmare. To comfort herself, she looks around her surrounding, a point of view shot is being used here. This is used to shows the female's from her viewpoints to creates fear and chill-excitement towards the audience. However, it's not long before she notices that a dark figure, holding a knife is gazing at her with cold angry eyes. Then the scene will end with an instant blackout and the title of will slowly appears to the audience.

At the end, the audience is left with horrific ideas about what could happen to the victim. This builds up tension and act as a cliff-hanger. By having a cliff-hanger, it draws attention and increases the audience's interest in my thriller production.

Research: Questionaire - Miss Begum

Questionnaire

What is the importance of primary research?

- The importance of primary research is that all the information is being given to ask those who the questions are aimed to. This would helps to benefits the one who asked because it gives them consistent and realistic answers within those who they asked. This would also benefits them as it gives them the reliable sources to helps them creates graphs with accurate information.

Who did you ask and why?

- In my questionnaire, I asked 20 people within the age of 15-21. This is because at this age, people are really interested in thrillers and this would help me to collects helpful information as they will provide answers that would benefits my results and is also reliable.

Example of questionnaire

 

This graph shows me that there are more people prefer to watch thrillers about religion than just other normal thrillers. This has helped me because I will take note from this to develop my thriller narrative to meet my audience expectations.

This graph shows me that most people like the use of low-key lighting in thrillers. This has helped me because I will use low-key lighting more to make my thriller look more scary.

This graph shows me that most people like the sounds of eerie music in the soundtrack. This has helped me because I will incorporate errie sounds like strings to make my audience scared.

 

Conclusion

- Throughout researching, the results from my questionnaire has been very helpful as it gives me the ideas of what type of thriller young teenager and young adults like to watch. It has also helped me to see people opinions about at what age is appropriate to watch thriller and what they like to see and don't like to see in thrillers. This has been the most useful source for me with my opening scene because I have now know to avoid showing things that people don't like in thriller and show more of what they like to see but still make sure that my thriller ideas is original and don't bore the audience from seeing the familiar things in thrillers.

Research: Opening Credits / Typography - Miss Begum

Opening Credits

What are opening credits?

- Opening credits are written information presented to the audience on who produced the film, who is starring in the films and other producing roles.

- The opening credits are effective in thrillers when accompanied by sound to create tension and fear. Can be very effective when the images do not make complete sense, making the audience question what is going on.

- Essential information to connect with the audience so they know more about the production.

 What is their purpose?

- The opening credits are shown to identify the major actors, crews and other cast members that are involves within a film production.

- The purpose of opening credits are: Advertising, giving credits to cast members who took part in the movie production, outlines major actors and crew members.

What information do they provide? Oder of apprearance

- The opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music. Where opening credits are built into a separate sequence of their own, the correct term is title sequence.

The order of apprearance are:

- Production Company

- Actors

- Casting

- Music

- Costume

- Editing

- Production/ Title

- Producer

- Director

How do they make the audience feel?

- The opening credits allows the audience to know the major actors/crew members and often followed with a soundtrack which automatically build up tension and create expectations within the audience. Opening credits could also includes pictures to shows the audience their relevant within the movie. For example, the video below is an opening scene from a thriller movie called 'Se7en'. The scene involves the order of appearance with creepy type of font and strange images mixed with the use of low-key lighting to creates fear and build up tensions. This makes the audience anticipate that the movie is thriller type and expects the movie to have disturbing scenes and bad intensions. Another example is 'Insidious', the order of appearance contains straight up writing in red with the smoke appearing in the back of each letters and also mixed with the use of low-key lighting to creates different connotations. This makes the viewers to easily identify this movie as a thriller type and raises up the level of fear.

Typography 

What is typography?

- Typography is how the writing is being portrayed and presented within a movie to delivered a message towards the audience. Typography is one of the most essential part in the process of a movie in the making.

Typography and connotations?

- Child's Play 2:

- The connotations of this movie poster tell the audience that this movie involves children and killing. This is because the title said 'Child's Play' letting the audience knows that this movie is based on children and their mystery toys. The number two is being written as blood stain instead of writing in normal. This gives the audience a briefly description of what the movie is about and this can have a relation to the antagonist as he's being shown in the poster.

- The Conjuring:

 

- The connotation of this movie title 'The Conjuring' let the audience knows that this film is all based  on a family home which from the first look seems to be haunted and abandoned. The typography is being portrayed in thin and normal writing but also very sharp and curl, it is also been written in black colour. As the connotations the audience had from the poster, the typography could give an idea of darkness and creates fear within the movie. This helps to give the audience to anticipate bad intentions from this movie and creates expectation within the viewers. 

Analysis of choices that I may consider

- In my thriller, I may consider to use this type of typography because it gives the audience a sense of what the movie is based about and creates different connotations within their point of views. I also like the way the font is being presented as it gives the audience the ideas of killing and disturbing images.

- In my thriller, I may consider to use this type of typography because gives the audience a briefly description and the connotations it creates within their viewpoints. I like the way the font is being portrayed as it gives the audience a sense of haunted and spiritual contents.

Conclusion 1

- All the information above has helped me to understand how each and every member of a movie casting is being presented in order and it importance. I may consider to follow this order of appearance in my thriller to gain as many mark as necessary.

Conclusion 2

- All the information above has helped me to develop a perception of how typography play such an essential part in the movie industry and the connotations it creates within the audience. I may consider to use these knowledge to portray the typography in my thriller for the same purpose.

Research: Age Certificates - Miss Begum

Age Cerfiticates

What is the role of BBFC and why are they important to the film industry?

- The BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification, they are known as highly expert and experiences regulator of the moving images. They provide a social function within the public to advise & protect them from inappropriate images and films. They also provide public information that helps them and parents to make the right decisions that are appropriate and protect their family and other vulnerable viewers.
- As playing the role of the judges within the media industry, they decide whether the production which was given to them is legal or not and whether to be published to the public. In the process of checking to see if it is suitable to release, they can report scenes that are inappropriate to be removed or won't be released. Once they have made their decision, it is very rare that they will change their mind due to the affect towards the public and the right of the media industry.

What are the different age certificates?

Example of films:

* Universal:

* PG (Parental Guidance):

* 12:

* 12A:

* 15:

* 18:




- Spiderman was the first 12A film in 2002, viewers argued the Spiderman was too violent for children and has a controversial narrative, so should not be given a PG rating. Therefore, the BBFC gave it a 12 rating. Other viewers argued that spiderman was a childhood comic hero so it was only fair that children are allowed to watch it. It was then given a 12A which means that those under 12 could only watch it if accampanied by an adult.

- The age certificates that thrillers tend to get are 15 and above because they usually contain violence, illegal acts and potrays of sexual scenes. This may be harmful for children that are younger than the age of 15 without their parents guidance. However, there are expectation within the industry, for example for those who are above 15 but under 18, there are limits of inappropriate things that they are allowed to see in a film production such as a little bit of sexual, strong language, a bit of drugs and certain weapons. Even for those who are 18 and above, there are still certain limits of sexual, drugs and violence due the limits of the film industry. To make it clearer, for example if a thriller includes too much sexual scenes, it would look like pornography or if a thriller includes too much drugs, it would like the film is promoting illegal drugs. For my own thriller, I would like to give the age certificates to be above 15.

Conclusion

- All the information above has helped me to have a wider understanding of age certificates within a film production. For my thirller, I would need to consider the age certificates to be above 15 and I need to make sure that it don't get shown for younger children. Also, I need to make sure to get actor who is older than the age of 15.



Research: Censorship - Miss Begum

Censorship

Who are the BBFC and what is their role?

- The BBFC stands for British Board of Film classification. They are an independent body which were established in the film industry in 1912. They were then made responsible for deciding the certificates for the different types of film, and it was their decision to allow what age group is allowed to see what type of film. Going through the BBFC legal requirement for all films are imperative as they are those who have duty to keep the public away from inappropriate films/moving images and to keep the audience to not be affected in a bad way.

Why is the role of BBFC important to the film industry?

 

The BBFC is important to the film industry because they are responsible for the final decision of the certificates of a film, which means they have to put the productions to its right genre and suitable for certain age group. Therefore along with the local authorities, whatever they had said, was final. Without their permissions, no production would be allowed to release in any cinema or social networking site.

What things get censored and why?

- Contents of a film that may get censored: extreme violence, rape, drug abuse, graphic scene, torture, sexual violence, animal violence and copycat behaviour.

Natural Born Killers released in 1994 were banned completely in Ireland & denied distribution in USA for having extremely controversial scenes.

 Cannibal Holocaust were filmed in the Amazing rain forest and were banned in over 50 countries till today for having graphic murder and disturb culturals.

The Exorcist was released in 1973 and was banned in many individual town & countries for being horrifying scary and have the idea of religion which is extremely controversial. The film was a psychological thriller and still wasn't available in the UK until 1990.

What is the difference between films being cut and banned? 

- When a film is being cut, it means that the BBFC has reported to the director of the film to cut out of certain scene that could be a little bit too controversial or over extreme violent so that the content of the movie is not too disturbing. But after cutting the scenes that was reported from the BBFC, the movie production then be placed in its right genre and age group that is suitable for the public to views. For example, 'Texas Chainsaw 1974' was banned outright in  many countries for having the highest grossing independent film of all time and have natural of extreme violence with based on real story. This film has been asked to cut many scenes over a long period of time until the BBFC thinks that it is now allow to be out on cinema and still the most influential horror movie in cinema till today.

- When a film is being banned, it means that the BBFC has reported to the director of the film that the production is not allowed to be release due the extremely controversial scene and include very poor narrative due to the fact that there are too much blood and violence in the film and could be very harmful to the public. For example, ''Grotesque'' were banned in many countries for having horrific torture and includes very little narrative. Therefore, the production cannot be release or leak in any countries that does not allow the production to be release to the society except for other countries if they allow the production to be displayed.

      

Forna and Kemode debate

In 1999 Channel 4 broadcasted a short season of programmes about censorship. During this season it showed two short programmes, one of them was about a case fighting for the use of censorship, and the other was against the use of censorship.
Fighting for was a journalist and broadcaster called Aminatta Forna and fighting against was a film critic and broadcaster: Mark Kermode.

Three arguments made by Forna for censorship were...

1. The public associate themselves with different characters and may be influenced to put themselves in that situation.
2. Some films may start to break down the barriers us as humans put up, for example there may be a film about a woman being raped however the woman starts to enjoy even though before they watched the film the audience would think it wrong for her to do so. 
3. The power of words and images featured in some films may affect the audience and have the potential to stir racial hatred etc.

Three arguments made by Kermode against censorship were...

1. Everyone has different reactions and interpretations on what they see in the film. 
2. It is unfair that we are being told what we can and can't watch. As human beings we know what is right and what is wrong so it should be our choice whether to watch it or not. 
3. The issue of responsibility; policing films is impossible, the films we watch should'nt be seen to be encouraging however they should be seen as showing the audience realistic situations e.g. rape/ murder etc..  
  
Personally, I do agree with Forna's debates because when we go to watch a film we don't know what whole narrative of the movie and don't have any idea of what to expect as the trailers don't give away to much information. However we are able to read briefly the storyline of the movie websites such as IMDB, LetMeWatchThis which will gave us an idea to decide whether if we want to watch a certain film or not and also give us an insight on what we should expect from the film. 
On the other hand, Kermode's debates is insignificant to the key knowledge of an expert. He is relating his arguments to his own beliefs and has not looked at how all different people in the society may react to a certain movie.

Conclusion

- All the information above has helped me to have a deeper insight of the BBFC and their important roles in the media industry and has also helped me to develop a wider range of knowledge about different people with different theory and ideas towards media.   

Research: Editting - Ms Begum

Editing

What is editing?

- Editing is one of the most important technique being used in media industry. 

- Editing can be seen when we notice how it is joined together at certain points, each scene will take up for a few seconds or a few minutes

- The speed of editing is an important micro-element because it helps to create the excitement and heart-pounding by speeding up at the key moment in thrillers. Speed also create chill-excitement, sad, or fear by slowing down before or after key moments to calm the atmosphere and kept the movie inflows. This makes the audience feel fast-paced and excited while observing the speeding scene and calm down at the slowing scene. A good editing could make a massive impact within the movie production, it can make a bad movie looks good and catchy within the use of editing in the right way. The length of each shot or scene helps to determine the mood.

Speed of editing:

Films are joined together at certain points. The length of each shot determines the pace of the film and helps determine the mood.
-  Slow motion is the action of showing film or playing back video more slowly than it was made so that the action appears to be much slower than in real life.

- Slow editing is when clips are put together at a slower pace and this is to create suspense and capture action. For example this video clip down here is an example of a film called 'Undisputed 2', the use of slow editing helps to highlight the fighting skills of the fighter and helps to makes the audience feel excited as they admire the sensational actions in this scene.

- Fast editing is when a scene is being edited at a  faster face to engage the audience attentions as they would like to catch all the scene in the amount of time where each scene is being putted. For example this video down here is an example from a film called 'Fast and Furious 6', the use of fast editing showing the extremely dangerous car racing and everything was in fast paced. This makes the scene looks more realistic and believable. This helps to engage the audience to the scene and make them feel excited and worried as the scene raise them up to climax and create chill-excitement towards the audience.

- Straight cut is when one shot moves into another shot in an edit and it does not confuse the audience. This clip down here is an example of a film called 'Undisputed 3', the use of straight up cut makes sense to the eye and does not confuse the audience as they observe a intense fighting scene. Straight cut also allows the audience to see everything that happens in different angles so they won't miss out a thing from this scene.

- Fade to back is when one shot goes/moves into another and there is black filter in between. For example this is a trailer from 'White House Down', fade to black editing in this clip is being used to shorten up the film and only highlights the important scene from the whole movie and wrap it up to a short trailer to tease the audience. This would helps to makes the audience to feel curious and wants to find out about this movie.

- Wipe cut is when she shot slides into another. This video clip down here of 'Star War' is an example of wipe cut, the use of wipe cut allows the new scene being displayed and helps the audience to understand the movie as the narrative is being developed through the use of this editing.

- Dissolve is when one shot disintegrates into another. For example, this is a trailer from a film called '8 rules of fight club', the use of dissolve/morphing effect in here helps to make the audience aware of the characters that appears in the trailer and identify who they are and also to avoid confusion.

- Reaction shot is any shot often used as a cutaway in which a subject reacts to a previous shot. This is a scene from a film called 'World War Z' is an example of reaction shot. There are a lot of reaction shot being used in this scene showing how the characters reacts when they find out that they are in danger and there's no way to escape. This has been used to show the audience how the characters react and shows that they're hopeless. This helps to creates fear and makes the audience feel sympathy towards the characters as they anticipate to see a horrible scene.

- Montage is the speed of editing, where shots  are quickly juxtaposed together to create excitement. This video down here is an example of a film called 'Se7en', the use of montage editing creates confusion towards the audience as the scene is showing a lot of random information and leads the audience to be clueless of what is going on in th

- 180 degrees rule is when a hypothetical line drawn between two or more actors. The camera must not shoot on the other side of the line and this is because it can confuse the audience and also shooting will not be consistent.

- Shot reverse shot is mostly used in films where a conversation is taking place and it is when one quickly follow another. This clip down here is an example of a scene from a film called 'Dark Night Rises', the use of shot reverse shot allows the audience to follows the conversation between characters within the scene to provide all information and develop a clearer narrative.

- Jump cut is a drastic camera movement that is noticeable to the eye. The shot/edit is almost 'jump'. This is an example of a scene from a film called 'Erin Brockovich', the use of jump cut allows the audience to feel sympathy towards the characters feelings.

Trailers and use of editing

Editing is being used of almost every single trailer in all type of genre in the media industry. This is because it helps to create understanding and develop a narrative in a shorter way but also conventional to the genre it belongs to. The common types of editing thrillers tend to use are shot reverse shot, fade to black, reaction shot, dissolve, slow editing, fast editing and many more. All of these editing techniques helps to create anticipation towards the audience within the narrative of the film.

Scene analysis

This is a scene from a film called 'World War Z', I will identify and analyse the use of 3 types of editing in this scene. First of all, we can see the use of reaction shot of the family inside the car right after when the police man got hit by the truck, this creates fear and chill-excitement towards the audience as it happens so suddenly that no once would expect that to happen.
Second of all, the use of fast editing through out this whole clip makes the audience feel excited and creates confusion as they don't know what's going on in this scene almost like a riot, this helps to makes the audience to feel petrified as if they're involve in the scene and makes the audience feel worried and  anticipate something bad is happening but they can't seem find out what causes all of this.
Lastly, the use of straight cut allows the audience to catch every single details of this scene to make sure they understand and don't miss out anything, this helps to build up tension and creates an intense atmosphere and also develop a clear narrative to make sure the audience don't get confuse.

Conclusion

All the information above has helped me to have a wider understanding of how editing can be used in thrillers and how it creates different connotations towards the audience. I am planning to use as many type of editing as possible to helps my thriller to be understood by the audience and avoid confusion and also to gain as many marks as necessary.