Silhoute Idea

Introduction

In this entry I am going to investigate the concept of including silhouettes in my opening sequence. I will research into other films which have included this concept, and methods of creating it. I will also do a test run of my ideas. 


What is a silhouette?

A silhouette is the image of a person or object, shown in the form of a solid shape. It is commonly black. The edges of the shapes outline make up the subjects form. The interior of the subjects have no detailing (or a extremely small amount).  The background is usually a lighter color as this compliments the dark colors nicely.


Examples of use in other films

Silhouettes are commonly used in films during dramatic moments. This is as the lack of detail can be used to create an enigma which teases the audience. This idea is used in Disney's "Fantasia" and "Big Combo", as shown in the images below. In both of these the outlines of the human figure has be used to great effect. The outlines are really used to increase the dramatic effect of a meeting in both of these images.

My favorite use of silhouettes in films is "A Silhouette Story". This is a beautifully produced short film focuses entirely on silhouettes, leaving all the detail to the background. Sounds are also keep to a minimal to keep the silhouettes really the main focus. Here is the video:

What really interested me about this silhouette film is how the whole thing was created on a very low budget, as I discovered while watching the making of video. 
As seen below:

I am going to use this ideas to effect in my own opening sequence. 

Representation

Introduction

In this blog post I am going to study representation in thrillers.  I would like to find out more about how stereotypes are commonly represented, and how I can challenge these stereotypes.


Representation

Representation is one of the key concepts in film and media studies. This is because audiences are always being presented to them selves. This causes ten to actively construct ideas and belief about certain groups of people.

The way in which a social group is represented within a media text, in this case an opening sequence, can really change the way in which the audience enjoys it. For example, if racism or sexism is portrayed an audience member could become offended, especially if a joke is made about it. This could cause them to boycott the TV channel, film, or producer.


Richard Dyer's key questions about representation:

While studying the representation of any media text is it important to consider:

"   1. What sense of the world is this film making?

2. What does it claim is typical of the world and what deviant?

3. Who is really speaking? From Whom?

4. What does it represent to us, and why?   "

Representation of Mental Health 

In psychological thrillers mental health is a large focus. This is so the psychological aspects lends its self to not only including average minds, but minds with serious problems. This is as people with issues are often considered more interesting by the audience. 

However, how mental health is portrayed in films could strongly effect it presents in society. If mental health is also show as a weakness and a problem that needs assistance  then could this trigger more helpful attention for mental health charities and fundraising? If mental health is also shown as something funny, to make a joke out of, this is likely to effect how audiences think of mental health patients. For this reason, producers must be carefull on how they represent in films. 

Target Audience

Introduction

In this post I am going to research into my target audience in depth. I will refer to the research that I did about audience studies earlier in my blog.


Age

Putting an age on the audience for a psychological thriller is difficult, this is as depending of the strength of the frighting aspects greatly changes the target audience. Some of these aspects may be disturbing to children under the age or 16, or in extreme cases 18. I think that an older age group enjoys this genre more as it is not packed with gun fights and drama, but largely focuses of important issues (mental health) and the implications surrounding them. 

This is shown in the table below:

The viewing audience increased at 18 - 24, but then rapidly decreases. From then on it increased until reaching its maximum of 26%. 

How ever this goes against my earlier study of Professor Paul Well's Research. His research states that 40 - 55 year old's enjoy strong use of blood and special effects. It also states that being shocked and frighted, more than a mentally challenging plot.


Gender

The genre is slightly male dominated, due to the fast action of plots. How ever there is an increasing amount of psychological thrillers featuring romantic twists, e.g. "He loves me... He loves me not". Recently figures show that the male view audience dominates 51%, where as females are 49%. Although this seems only a difference, when put into perspective (the entire film watching population) it is a noticeable difference. 


Education

Due to the complex psychological aspects of this genre, it lends it's self to a more educated and intelligent audience. This is as not all would they fully understand the mental health conditions, but would enjoy the puzzles and problems offered. 


Conclusion

What I have gained from this study, is a still clearer idea of my target audience. I think that they are man and female (but more male), middle class (due to higher standard of education) and in the age bracket of about 40 - 60. 

Mood Board

Introduction

In this blog post, I am going to create a mood board to set the tone for my blog. I will source the pictures from my mood board from google images. 


What is a mood board?

A mood board is type of poster style design. It is commonly made up of photographs, text and other samples of ideas. It is used to help display and design concepts. In this case, a mood board is used to set the tone for my opening sequence and display a few shoots from other opening sequence which have inspired my own. 


My Mood Board

Hip Hop Montage

Introduction

In this blog post I am going to investigate the filming style of Hip Hop Montage and attempt to create my own in the styles and techniques I have learnt about.


What is Hip Hop Montage?

A hip hop montage is a series a fast cutting which is used to portray complicated action in a rapid style. I other includes simple actions being preformed at a high speed. Sounds effects are often and large part of hip hop montages. This technique was created by the hip hop culture of the 1990's and the jump cuts featured in it first started during the french new wave, in 1950 - 60. Hip hop montage also features fast cutting. Fast cutting is several consecutive shots, which normally last about 3 seconds or less. This style can be used to convey information very quickly or show fast action and drama.

This style first appeared in the films "Requiem for a Dream" and "Pi", which are both by Darren Aronofsky. I was him that also named this style. In both of these films it was used to portray drug use, due its fast action and chaotic nature. Here is an example of its use in Requiem for a Dream:

I will use this idea to create my own hip hop montage.

Planning my Hip Hop Montage

For my Hip Hop Montage, I am going to create a video of making a cup of tea. It will be filmed and edited during media lessons, using the school camera. This video will be film in a group with the other media AS level students - Frank, Vincent and Alex. We will split the filming and editing evenly. We will edit using the apple mac imovie software.


Finished Hip Hop Montage

Here is our finished short film:

Starring - Frank
Filmed - Frank, Vincent, Alex and Me.
Edited - Frank, Vincent, Alex and Me.

Casting My Main Character

Introduction

In this blog post, I am going to explore the possibilities that I have for the main character. I aim to come to a reasonable conclusion. I will make my decision by comparing the strengths and weaknesses of using each person.


Possibilities

I have a few options for who I could use for my opening sequence main character. These options are, presented in the form of table:

Decision making

I have decided that I shall use a female character, this is as I believe females are able to:

• Experiment with make up and costume more.
• Portray more emotion
• Silhouettes with appear better

This means that I now only have 3 choice left, these are Frank, Louise and Belinda.

Belinda 

As Belinda does not have long hair, this could mean that when I complete my silhouette idea, I would not be able to hair the to effect. However, she has long nails, which could look good in the close ups of writing, etc.  

Frank

As Frank has long hair this would suit my silhouette idea perfectly,  her hair is also straight so it could work very well. As she goes to my school, this could be convenient for using the school's studio lighting. The studio lighting would be ideal to create my silhouette idea.  

Louise 

Louise also has long hair, again perfect for the silhouette idea. She has a past in acting, so would be used to being filmed.   

Final Decision

I have reached the decision that I while use both Belinda and Louise in my opening sequence. This is as I need someone with long hair for one scene - this is which Louise would be more suited too. Whereas, other scenes I feel that Belinda would be more suited for.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Planning

For our we are planning on working in a group of four (Frankie, Alex, Vincent and Me), and hopefully finding some more student's who are willing to take part. We should each have a part in the story line, yet not be in every shoot, so that everyone gets a chance to film and act. I would like us to experiment with different camera angles and use of sound to create a convincing story line. We will use the media departments Apple Mac to edit the footage.

The story line of our task if going to be 2 school girls (Frank and I) discussing a local celebrity (Christy) during class. The teacher (Vincent) will interrupt them and tell them to stop chatting. Soon after, there will be a knock on the door, and a school Secretary (Alex) will enter showing a prospective parent (the fore-mentioned celebrity) around the school. The young school girls are excited to see him. One of the girls will then tell the celebrity that she is "His biggest fan", and then she will turn into a fan.   


The Finished Preliminary Task

Audience Study

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to study different theory's on audience. My aim is to discover more about who would be my target audience for my opening sequence, and more about what they commonly desire.

Professor Paul Wells' Research of Thriller Audiences

Professor Wells discovered that the relationship of being frighten changed with age. This ranges for what frights certain age groups, to what they commonly associate with being scared.

55 - 80 year olds like the configuration of night and dark. This is due the fact that it reminds then of walking home at night in their youth. The age group can relate for the feelings of dark night time walks, due to personal experience. Also, reliving these feelings through a film is pleasurable to them due to reminding them of youth memories. For the same reasons they found rats and bats appealing to the social housing conditions that they used to experience. The breakdown of law and order is something that scares then, and it is also a reminder of times when society was more fragile. World War 2 also is something they find particularly frighting, due to real life horror experiences. This age group really enjoy a focus on realistic events, they are a strong lack of interest in the make believe events. E.G. Aliens, Zombies, etc.

40 - 55 year olds enjoy an extremely vivid use of blood, and inventive special effects. They find that being shocked and frighted is more appealing that having a mentally challenging plot. For example Psycho. They do not enjoy heavy unjustified violence, such as in The Exorcist. 

25 - 40 year olds are shown be showing a growing disengagement with the genre as a whole. They dislike the predictability of plots, this is extremely present in thrillers produced in the 1980's. They have noticed a increase in less passive roles for women. This age group encourages films which future what is described as "the women's struggle against the monster".

16 - 25 year olds like dramatic spectacles, such as blood, gore and rotting flesh. The enjoy effects that not only are computer generated, but are hand made, such a make up styles. They have strong desire to know more about the production of a film, so enjoy "the making of" sections of DVD disks. This age group is know to have strong following for certain directors, and stays loyal to them. They fully engage with extra-textual features available to them, such a websites. 

The conclusions that I can draw from this research is that audiences which were exposed to films made between the 1970s and 90s are keen on special effects. Where as audiences exposed to 1920s and 30s films are strongly interested in to images that remind them of real life experiences.

There is evidence to suggest that audiences are becoming harder to scare. This is particularly focused on younger generations. This is due to an increasing knowledge of the artificial production of special effects. This desire to know how the effects are created, eventually leads to disbelief in the techniques used. But as the audiences understanding develops, so does the techniques used.


The Hypodermic theory

Hypodermic is a word that usually refers to drugs, needles and injections. In this context, is kind of does as well. This theory is the idea that idea and messages portrayed in the media, are put into the minds of the viewers unquestioningly. Taking this theory to a more extreme level, some theorists have suggested that the media is addictive, in a similar way to drugs.

This idea gives producers to idea that they have a large amount of power over there audiences. This could perhaps lead them to portray more extreme and personal viewers through there films, etc. However, now a days audiences have such a large choose of channels that they never feel that they have to watch a certain thing. Unlike years ago, when the choice of channels was a lot more limited. This means that the theory is becoming rather out dated.


Cultivation theory

The cultivation theory suggest that the more an audience watches a program, the more likely it is that they will develop the same views expressed in the show. the idea is that they will follow the show like a religion. This could be used effectively to educate audiences about other cultures, etc. However, if negative attitudes towards certain social groups or stereotypes, then it could create a large number of people expressing hate towards this group. For example, if Police are always negatively portrayed then it could create a large vibe of hate towards policemen and policewoman.


Desensitisation theory

This theory consists of the idea that the audience's attitudes to violence can be affect by having been exposed to too much violence on screen when they were younger. Therefor, as more and more violence is portrayed on your television screens, it is becoming harder to scary audiences. For this reason I will have to carefully considered how much violence will be featured in my opening sequence.

Production and Style Study

Introduction

In this post, I am going to analyze the ways that lighting, framing, camera movement and camera angles are used to create dramatic effects in the genre of thriller.


Lighting

Lighting has always been a key part of thrillers through the ages. In particular, lighting can be used to create shadows. Shadows are popular in thrillers due to the air of mystery that they create. This allows the audience to worry about what could be in the darkness, and create ideas in their own heads about the situation. Another style is to use the shadow outline of a new character, as a method of introducing them. This can allow the audience to create a picture in their own head about what the character looks like. In some films, the audience never gets to see the characters face, just the shadow figure of them. This can be used to create an atmosphere of fear. Shadows can make things appear larger than in reality. This can create a sense of threat with is solely made up of imagination. An example of this technique is in Dracula. When Harker meets with Dracula for the first time, a series of human-like shadows fleet across the wall. Yet they are nothing like the movements of the rest of the characters in the scene. This is shown the first 5 seconds of this clip:

Framing

There are many different framing techniques that can be used to great effect in the genre of thriller. One of these is the idea that the biggest threat fills the most space in the frame. Although this can work effectively, it is a very obvious presentation of the "monster".

Another similar style, is to have the threat blocking off the windows or doors for view. This means that they are blocking the audiences escape. A good example of this is in Nosferatu, as Orlok ascent to Mina's bedroom, the audience knows that she is trapped. This heightens the sense of fear.


Camera Movement

Camera movement can to used to give the audience a sense of from who presepctive they are veiwing events from. For example, if the camera is tracking the characters, then the audience understands that they are an outsider on events and watching from a purely narrative pointo fo view.

Films such as The Blair Witch Project and Project X use shaking hand held camera styles, to make the adience feel that they are a character in the plot. This style of camera feels like it has been filmed by a member of the cast. Paired with suddening editing cut or long never ending shoots, you really get the feel that you're in the film.

Camera Angles
Camera angles can be effectively used in thrillers to help create fear. One of these ways is to make the a character appear large, through the use of camera angles. This is done by shooting from a low angle, aiming upwards. It creates an imposing figure which fills the frame well.

Another style is to use close ups, either to capture the victims fear, or the monsters anger. Close ups are most commonly used on the characters face, as face facial are the most effective way of expressing emotions to the viewer. Or less commonly, the close up could be of another part of the body. Perhaps the monsters fist clenching into a ball or the victim's obviously shaking while preforming a task.

Another camera angle style is where the audience gets to experience the events through the eyes of the attacker. In this style, the audience gets to the fully experience of how the victim reacts to the attack. This can sometimes be used to give audience the odd feeling that it is them preforming the violence.

Editing Effects Practice

Editing Effects Practice

I decided to play around with my editing software to discover if some of the idea’s that I've had. These idea were:

Overlaying footage in a disjointed way
Old film effects
Panning and zooming

 

This picture shows me mid editing stage. 

I used Serif MoviePlus X5 to edit this footage. The footage was all random all videos that I have filmed in the past.

Here my editing ideas footage:

Reviewing the footage
For each editing effect that I applied to the footage, I created a separate YouTube video reviewing how I felt that it went.  

Overlaying two pieces of footage:

Overlaying four pieces of footage:

Old film effects:

Pan and Zoom:

Mental Illness Research and Planning

Mental illness research and planning

 

Mental illness?	Explanation?	How would it be featured?	Focus group rating?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder	People use repetitive actions to reduce their anxieties.	Obsessively positioning objects and keeping locks on doors.	2nd
Caffeine related disorder	I addiction where a person feels they cannot cope with out coffee.	Shoots of piles of used coffee cups and coffee beans scattered everywhere.	5th
Alzheimer’s	Severe memory loss and behavioral changes.	Forgetting to turn off gas hobs, lights, etc.	3rd
Schizophrenia	Delusions and hearing voices, often letting the voices control there lives.	Disembodied voices.	4th
Night terror	Shouting, shaking and fighting while still asleep.	Dark night time bedroom scenes, vulnerable.	1st

How would I include the mental disorders in my opening sequence

To include obsessive compulsive disorder in my opening sequence I have a few ideas. Here they are:

Stacking coins into piles – this could be speed up to give a rushed and fast moving sense to the opening sequence
Constantly writing lists
Nail biting
Constantly rearranging objects 

For Caffeine related disorder I imagined loads of used coffee cups piling and over flowing onto a sink, it a very messy disorganized style. I would do some tracking shoots of the mugs and a close up shoot of the inside of a coffee cup (perhaps with mold growing on it – to give a sense of time). 

To include Alzheimer’s in my opening sequence I could have seen of forgetting to turn off gas hobs, lights, etc.

Schizophrenia could be featured in the form of writing, I would like to disjoint the footage of someone writing and overlay then over the top of each other. The best way to involve Schizophrenia would be through use of special effects and edits, this would allow me to create a subtle hint of mental illness. Without being cheesy and predictable. I could also use sound effects of disembodied voices.

Night Terror could be featured through dark night time bedroom scenes, vulnerable styled mise-en-scene. I could use this mise-en-scene to create dramatic tension. 

Focus Group

Focus group planning

For my focus group I am planning on using boys and girls what are 16 – 18, as this age group makes up some of my target audience. I would like to use my focus group to fine out more about what my target audience enjoys about psychological thrillers.

As I am not a very strong public speaker, I am going to use a power point presentation to help me. This presentation with include bullet points about my pitch and each question. This will also help keep my focus group on track. Here are my power point slides:

Focus group

The footage of my focus group can be viewed here:

Focus group results

I completed my plan to do a focus group on Friday the 19^th of October. For my focus group I used 3 year 11 boys, and 3 year 11 girls. I choose 3 of each gender as I felt that this gave a nicely mixed selection of views, and there would be no bias towards either gender or how they are represented. Half way through the focus group 2 upper sixth boys also joined.

I also created a short survey for my focus group to complete. I this survey I asked them to rate mental illness on the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely interested, and 1 being extremely uninterested. I also explained each disorder to my group.

Here are my results for the survey:

It is clear that the ones my focus group is mostly interested in are night terror and OCD.

Answers to my focus group questions

Favourite psychological thriller/thriller?

§  Paranormal activity – due to handheld camera effects

§  Final destination – due to plot involving lots of little stories within the main plot

Key components’ of psychological thriller?

§  Mentally challenging plots

§  Enigmas and problems to solve

§  Unexpected endings

§  Highly level of suspense, so therefore gripping.  

Views on the concept of making normal task appear dramatic through the use of sound?

My focus group felt that stereotypical sound effects are scene as expected and therefore uninteresting. They empathised a greater interest in use of special effects. 

Ideas of sound effects?

§  Creaking noises

§  Things that make you jump and loud noises, which break the suspense

§  Disembodied voices, due to the enigmas created

What colours do you think are suited to a psychological thriller?

§  Black and white

§  Red, due to connotations with blood and death

§  Sepia

§  Enhanced colours

§  Lack of details, to increase suspense and allow audience to think about enigmas

   

Would you prefer a male or female main character?

The majority of my focus group voted female. This is due to the females being able to display more emotions. Females are also stereotypically represented as vulnerable so when they come across as power or strong it is unexpected. My focus group also believed that women have the potential to “look my freaky”. This could be created through mise-en-scene, costume and styling. 

Study of other opening sequences

Study of other opening sequences

The first opening sequence that I have used to gather inspiration is “Se7en”. I practically enjoyed this opening sequence as is very subtly sets the scene that a mental illness is present, with out the use of obvious statements. A shot where I feel this is done extremely well is a scene where main character is holding a pen and writing. The shoot has been edited so that there is a slightly out of time second hand also writing. This gives the effect of disjoined thoughts, linking to mental illness. I would like to try to recreate a similar effect in my opening sequence.

  

Se7en also managed to makes everyday tasks, such as writing a letter or cutting a photography to size seem dramatic and tense. I thin that this is created through the sound effects and the mise-en-scene. The way that scenes are framed in this opening sequence is also interesting. There are many close up shoots of objects or writing where a large section of the shoot has been hide from the viewer. This causes the audience to have to imagine what should fill this spaces. This is an interesting and effective device for creating suspense and is used in scenes such as the one below:

Another effect which I like is featured in “In Diesem Moment”. This effect is use of close up shoots of the main characters facial features in the opening sequence, such as there eye or mouth. This can tell the audience how the character is feeling, and gives them little enigmas of who the character is.

In Diesem moment, also include over the shoulder-style shoots. These feature parts of the characters body in the corner of the shoot and the rest is setting the scene and location. I feel that these are essential to an opening sequence as the audience needs an idea of where the films is going to take place. Therefore, the mise-en-scene in the shoot is important to setting the scene in the opening sequence.  

In the opening for “A Clockwork Orange”, an interesting effect is if used to set the scene. Setting the scene for a movie is commonly done through the use of long panoramic shoots. But in “A Clockwork Orange” to camera starts with a close up shot of a character, and then zooms out throughout the sequence. As the characters do not move, but the audiences very point does, it gives the characters a sense of power over the audience. A zoom technically isn’t movement of the camera, it is change in the local length. As the camera very slow zooms out of the shoot, it reveals more and more detail about the location and mise-en-scene to the viewers.

This opening sequence can be viewed here: