Coursework Thriller Film Opening 7 Location

LOCATION

We are finding a location that have a lake and would be able to have a misty and shadowy mood to it.
First location that came in our mind is the Harrow Lake and streets where we can film walking or some sort of travelling is the Hydepark.

After discussing for a few days we have change our approach. We will film near the lake but we will not actually use it.

Most of the filming will be done along this road next to the lake. We may also use the wood terrace shots showing the lake.

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 6 Cast

CAST

Lewis - Victim(Roger)

Roger is a CEO of a corrupted company, he has to look rich and well fed. 

Lewis has a round face(shape representation) which may give the audience a sense of vulnerability and unprotected vibe. 

Micky- Murderer

The murderer in this case is the main character but we rarely is face fully as he always hides in the darkness. Anyone can play this character as appearance plays a small part in expressing the character's personality and story.

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 5 Costume

Costume

Killer - Black Trench coat

A black coat makes the killer blend in with the darkness and symbolises death or fear which will hindsight what will happen next.

Actual look

What the killer wears is not important as he can barely be seen in the film opening

Victim - rich Causal look

The victim has to look relaxed. So wearing clothing that  is thin and more revealing to show that the environment around him is safe(In his mind). 

Instead this shirt above we were thinking of a white shirt to more show his weakness and vulnerability.

Actual look

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 4 Script

SCRIPT

DRAFT 1

Street lamps illuminate the road which lays next to the gigantic lake. A eerie road that suggests danger

Roger walks along the road on the phone talking to his wife

ROGER, late 20s, married, wealthy, CEO of corrupted corporate company, has caused 

X, serial killer, kills people that have caused the death for other people, enjoys killing, 

ROGER goes out of his house for a walk 

ROGER

I'll be going for a walk dear, I'll be back very soon

PAUSE

[Wife says something we can not hear]

ROGER

Uh huh, don't worry.

Puts on shoe, goes out of the house

CUT

EXT. LAKESIDE, NIGHT

Still frame of ROGER looking at the lake (smoking?)

[Phone rings]

ROGER

Yes dear, I'll be going back now.

Starts walking home

X

[Voice comes from unknow directions]

Roger spins around confused

ROGER

Who are you?!

[Abrupt sound]

Roger scarily stares at where the sound is coming from 

CAMERA LOOKS AT ROGER HEAD ON

Silhouette approches quickly from behind

Rope like object used to strangle Roger

Both goes on the ground to struggle

Roger slowly stops struggling

X

This... is for all your deeds

X acts very satisfied 

X drags the body along the road to his house's door

Presses door bell and walks away

CAMERA SLOWLY MOVES IN 

Door opens with wife standing there

WIFE

Oh my god... OH MY GOD

VOICE FADES OUT AS CAMERA PANS DOWN AT ROGER, DEAD AND BEATEN

There is a file of paper titled "ROGER'S DOINGS"

CUT TO X WALKING DOWN THE ROAD

EXT. LAKESIDE, NIGHT

Follow for a bit then camera pans to the lake

TITLE: Midnight Pulse

EXT. LAKESIDE, NIGHT

(Phone call that might be used)

Phone rings

ROGER

How did it go

[PAUSE]

ROGER

Do you think I care?... Get his money and just end him. We don't need that trash anymore

[PAUSE]

ROGER

I expect good news tomorrow, George... I have high hopes for you. Happy hunting

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 3 Mooboard

Mood board

This mood board was created to express the ideas and theme we wanted to use in the film

Moods:

1. Morning
2. Dark
3. Shadow
4. Violent
5. Blood
6. Murder
7. Creepy

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 2 Storyboard

Storyboard

This is a rough story board of the opening

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 1 Films

Research your Ideas

What sub-genre? and What films are similar to it?

Thriller - movie with exciting plot

Crime thriller - Crime Thriller film is a sub-genre that incorporates the suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot. This sub-genre's plot usually centers on a serial killer, murderer, robbery, or manhunt. As opposed to traditional crime films, the storyline focuses both around the criminal and the protagonist.

Psychological thriller - Psychological thriller is a thriller story which emphasises the abnormal psychological states of its characters.

Similar movies/ Inspiration

Zodiac(2007)

Brick(2005)

Night Crawler

Dexter

Zodiac is a crime thriller and we got ideas of the detectives from here.

Dexter and Night Crawler is why we thought that we should follow the villain instead of the detectives as we thought we would be able to express what we learn (like conventions) more clearly in the film.

No country for old men

Coursework Thriller Film Opening 0 Idea

IDEAS

I have decided to work with Micky. Our plan is to film together but separately edit, so we would have two different final outcome but with the same story.

This is the first idea that Mickey had come up with, the genre is going to be thriller and the sub genre is crime. Story:

"First, Dead body found in canoe on the harrow lake. Random person finds the dead body on the boat. Camera pans up to the sun and starts a time lapse with credits running over. Cuts to detectives examining the dead body. Detectives find clues and go back to their headquarters. They talk over what these could mean."-Micky

After Micky suggested the ideas above to me. I disagreed . I didn't think that film openings should have too much of a time leaps and should be fairly close together. So Micky came up with a new idea.

"The victim is still alive. The victim is lured out by the killer. The Victim talks to killer who is in the shadow. The killer then kills the victim quietly and puts him on the boat and pushes it out into the lake smokes cigarette and goes back into the shadow."-Micky

We then discussed a little bit more, I had the idea of the narrative following the killer instead. Micky then came up with the next idea.

"The victim is lured out by the killer. The victim then talks to killer who is in the shadow. The killer comes out exposing himself and killing the victim. Then killer puts victim in canoe and pushes it out into the lake. Daybreak comes and its the killer taking the photo of the scene with the victim. He then walks away before the dead body is discovered. The killer walks away and watches the investigator from afar." - Micky

We weren't sure if we should have narrative over the opening as I thought we could show the characters through the micro elements.

These were the initial ideas that Micky and I had first decided on.

After discussing over the holidays we decided to change our approach. We will not be pushing the body into the lake as we wanted to killer to express he's anger to the victim.

When we went to film, we didn't really stick to what was actually planed we focused on more of tracking shots to build tension and then a climax at the en.

So now the idea is just to follow the victim and with different variation of shots and show representation through color and props.

After filming that day the footage was not so good so we thought of another idea.

We discussed and we thought we should add more dialogue to explain the character a bit more, to make it clear to the audience of what is happening but still keeping the build up of tension and climate at the end.

We discussed again and decided to build up tension with minimal dialogue, as we wanted to explain the character through the micro elements.

END.

Conversation in Thrillers

Conversation in Thrillers

Firstly, I noticed that Alonzo and Jake were wearing different colour clothing, this is a use of Mise-en-scene that may have colour representation. Alonzo is wearing black which may suggest he's confident in what his doing as the colour can associate with agents, businessman, secret agents etc.. which all are serious and confident individual. Jake, who's wearing brown may suggest his lack of confidence as the colour can associate with farmers, lumberjacks, elderly people etc.. which all are individual who may not require to be confident in what they're doing.

Secondly, I noticed that the camera shot of the Alonzo and Jake were different, this is a use of Cinematography to show power in shot angles. When Alonzo and Jake was talking, the shot of Alonzo was a low angle close up shot. This shows his facial expression throughout the opening  which shows that he doesn't really have any reaction to what Jake is saying and is always giving the audience the feeling that he doesn't really care. The low angle shot of Alonzo contrast with Jake high angle shot. Alonzo is perceived as more powerful and has more control over Jake as a long angle shot makes him look bigger or taller. Jake is perceived as weaker as most shots were taking over the shoulder of Alonzo which may suggest the feeling to the audience of “looking over you” which clearly shows Alonzo’s power over Jake.

To add on to the second point, I also noticed in the change of personality as the opening progresses, this is a use of Mise-en-scene to show the character's personality over time. As Jake walked in, in one of the first shots, Alonzo was very quite and calm and Jake was the one talking. This changes as once Alonzo removes his glasses, he becomes another person which may suggest a split personality. The glasses may suggest a barrier of privacy, once that barrier has been broken by Jake, he removes his glasses and his personality changes, from calm and collected to loud and somewhat violent.

Thirdly, I noticed that Alonzo and Jake's dialogue has shown there personality, this is a use of sound to create personality differences between the two character. The dominant dialogue is Alonzo’s and he is always talking over Jake and Alonzo is constantly louder throughout the opening. This makes Alonzo perceived as more confident and powerful as he is louder.

Panic Room credits

Credits

Conventional structure of opening credits (Panic room) (in order)

Production Companies
Columbia Pictures
HOFFLUND/POLONE
INDELIBLE

Main Cast
Jodie Foster
Forest Whitaker
Dwight Yoakam
Jared Leto



PANIC ROOM

Supporting Cast
Kristen Stewart
Ann Magnuson
Ian Buchanan
Patrick Bauchau
Paul Schulze

Staff

Laray Mayfield - casting

Michael Kaplan - costume designer
Howard Shore - music
James Haygood - editor
Angus Wall - editor
Arthur Max - production designer
Conrad W. Hall - director of cinematography
Darius Khondji - director of cinematography
Gavin Polone - producer
Judy Hofflund - producer
David Koepp - producer
Cean Chaffin - producer
David Koepp - writer
David Fincher - director

Zodiac recreation

Zodiac recreation

Understanding Thriller Audiences

Thriller Audiences

Audience Segmentation - Divided into specific group

Focus- marketing, satisfy needs and wants

Can be segmented by:

Gender

Age

Race/Ethnicity

Occupation

Interests  

Wealth

Class

Homework - Film opening analysis

Shutter island opening analyze

The first shot is a long shot of a boat on a misty sea which creates a mysterious feeling as the mist limits what the audience can see. The Shot after that is the first shot of Teddy Daniels the main character, he is the first character we are introduced to, but a medium shot is used. In this first shot we only see the bottom half of him which may suggest something wrong or abnormal to Teddy. As Teddy looks into the mirror in the next close up shot, we see both his shadow and himself this may imply a man with Multiple personality. The next shot is another close up of Teddy from the mirror perspective, this may be the split between how we see Teddy as a character to how the other character sees him. In the next shot we see Teddy coming out of the bathroom, first the camera focuses on the handcuffs hanging from the ceiling and then it focuses to Teddy walking across the room. This may suggest that this might be a trap or some sort of danger is coming. When Teddy walk out the room a medium shot is taken of another character literally “behind bars” and his back towards the camera this makes the audience unable to identify if he is an enemy or friendly which builds tension. The rest of the shot is medium to close up shots of the two talking on the deck, this limits the audience to what they can see creating a mysterious tension as it is difficult to grasp a sense of location. These shots were also mostly very tilted and shaking with the waves creating a sickness feeling which may refer back to Teddy’s physical state.Orchestral music combined with the boat horn creates a mysterious and tensioned feeling. Character talking to himself may refer back to his physical state. Afters character says “come on” the camera starts following normal compared to the first half of the opening which may refer back to his split or multiple personality. Fast cuts and sudden transition in the first half of the opening suggest his panicking and the second half with slow cuts and smooth transition shows he's calm a collected. This may be an example of a split personality of some sort and the breaking point of the first and second half of the opening is when Teddy said “come on” to the mirror to himself. When Teddy is in the dark and cramped room inside the ship it gives the audience a feeling of not being comfortable as we feel like we are in the room with him. The outside is different as everything more open and the audience may feel more relaxed.

Understanding sub-genres

Understanding sub-genres

Psychological Thriller

• Is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller and Horror genres.
• However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genres, in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre.  

Themes

• Reality - the quality of being real. Characters often try to determine what is true and what is not within the narrative.
• Perception -  A person’s own interpretation of the world around him through his senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative.
• Mind - The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception.
• Existence/purpose - The object for which something exists; an aim or goal humans strive towards to understand their reason for existence. Characters often try to discover this purpose is in their lives and the narrative’s conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose.
• Identity - The definition of one’s self. Characters often are confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover their true identity.
• Death - The cessation of life. Characters either fear or have a fascination with death.

Espionage

the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information.

- Example Of Espionage Movies

Supernatural (The Conjuring 2)

Jump scare

Creepy mood

Supernatural appearance that you can't explain

Love and friendship wins the day // The evil continues to harm humanity

Technical codes:

All scenes are dark by editing, showing something bad could happen.

Symbolic codes:

Holy crosses turning upside down with “forces”, symbol of unholy existen,

Cracking sound of the swing, showing something bad will happen.

Things moving by itself, while speeding up, followed by fast swap of shots of chaos, create tension.

Crime Thriller

A thriller in which the central characters are involved in crime, either in its investigation, as the perpetrator or, less commonly, a victim (generally, this is just a thriller).

• Films dealing with crime and its detection are often based on plays rather than novels
• Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings.
• An atmosphere of menace and sudden violence, such as crime and murder, characterize thrillers.
• The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a dangerous situation, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation
• The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom.