Thriller film

Over the holidays we were asked to blog about a thriller film we have watched. I chose to look at the film Double Jeopardy, which is an action thriller based on a women being framed by her husband who fakes his own death to get rid of his wife and inherit the 2 billion dollar life insurance.
This film is an interesting film that has an element of surprise to it which makes it good to watch. The film is tense and is inspiring as Libby is on a mission to find her son and bring her husband to justice. The connotations of a thriller film are different to the type of film this thriller is. This shows that every thriller does not have to just be 'frightening' and can have an interesting plot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO2cBq2MGoo&feature=related

The film is seems very sweet and sinister until Libby wakes up on their new boat drenched in her husband’s blood. Her husband is nowhere to be found and the entire boat is covered in blood and hand/foot prints. They use various different types of shots to show her emotions and use close up shots to focus on her hands and the blood. As she gets out of bed the camera follows her up to the dock and occasionally shows us the scene from her point of view. The use of diegetic sound show us emphasises her breathing and suggests that she is scared, shocked and does not know what is going on.

Libby awakens drenched in her husband Nick's blood.

Camera scanning room showing blood all over the boat.

Blood on the floor, from Libby's point of view.           

Libby walking through boat covered in his blood.         

Chopping board filled with fruit and blood. No knife.

              Blood on the stairs leading to the dock             

      On deck looking around, blood everywhere.       

Blood on the floor along with knife. Libby's point of view.

<><> <><>

             Mid-length view of whole boat and Libby.      

My favourite part of the movie is the ending and the scenes leading up to the ending which are dramatic, tense and surprising. As the movie progresses the pace of the movie increases making it more exciting and builds tension. There are various types of shots and camera angles which also added to the tense mood and create a fast dramatic atmosphere.

    MEDIUM SHOT OF LIBBY FACE   

       MEDIUM SHOT OF NICK  FACE     

LONG SHOT of both Libby and Nick meeting again the first time since he framed her.

                     MEDIUM CLOSE UP of Nick                      

          MEDIUM CLOSE UP of Libby               

Medium shot both Libby and Nick   

  

Health and Safety Tutorial

We had a health and safety tutorial which included learning how to use the equipment safely. We were shown how to prepare our cameras ready for use and shown each function. We were first shown, step by step how to insert the battery, memory card and the basic functions of the camera (turning the camera on and off).
We were shown all the functions of the buttons and were able to practice how to use the camera in class.
We were taught how to set up the camera on the tripod securely and how to open out the tripod in a safe way.
As well as being told how to use the camera and how to keep it safe we were also made aware of what not to do, (leaving the camera unattended, taking the equipment out in the rain, not touching certain buttons or changing the settings, etc).

Shot by Shot Remake:

Original Opening Of Collateral

Stills from Original Video 

Story Board of Collateral 

The Team in Action 

Stills to Show Editing Process on Final Cut Pro

For some of us, this was the first we had used this editing software and it was by far the hardest part of the entire practical work. 

Although we managed to give a complete video of our Collateral video there were many problems we faced with editing ,  such as the transitions between each cut was not smooth enough and the this made it very difficult to put things together.

Our Final Product

There are many improvements which could be made to our final video and we will definitely use this as an example of how not to make our final video. During the editing Process we realized what must be done to ensure that the cuts flow easily. In order to do this we must make sure that when we film, instead of moving the characters on set the camera must move so the scenery is not repeated which makes the video overall unrealistic. Also, because this is a remake of the original Collateral opening each shot should have consisted of the same length which would have allowed the digetic sounds from the original opening to correspond with our video.

Comparison of Original and Our Own Product

Add caption

Add caption

Add caption

Add caption

Health and Safety

Before we were able to get our hands on the camera and begin taking practise shots, we had to have a health and safety tutorial in order to become familiar with the equipment and to make sure we knew how to look after the equipment.

It is vital that we must take care and look after the equipment properly because it could get damager or could result in injury. For example, If a tripod is damaged it is possible that we could trip over which means that the tripod will be damaged even more as well as a person being injured. but not only that if we are filming on the streets we must make sure our equipment has been checked to ensure that it is safe enough to take outdoors.

Also when using the equipment outdoors, we must ensure that it is then put straight back in the bag so we don't loose or misplace things, another thing to look out for is the weather, before filming outdoors the weather must be checked for example, if it rains the camera is at a high risk of being damaged and would be a waste of time if we had set up to film outdoors and were not able to.

During the tutorial we were taught the basic instructions of how to use the camera such as turning it off and on, how to open and close the lens and how to insert the memory cards.

Extension Task

Watching Documentary

1) What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he says "Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible"?

What Sutcliffe meant was that the opening of a film must grab its audience attention in order carry on watching the rest of the movie, it must be engaging and should convince then to watch the entire movie. In order to succeed in this the opening must simply be attention grabbing. 

2) According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of 'instant arousal'? 

Jean Jacques says that the risks of 'instant arousal' is that after a strong beginning questions are raised to what happens next, because if you give everything away in the beginning then you are in a poor position to develop the plot effectively.

3) Explain why a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn't know too little"

Conventions of Film Openings

From a film opening we are able to identify the conventions such as:

• The film Title which is usually introduced after the Credits, and the production logo/ distributor
• Genre is established this is done through the use of music and Mise En Scene, this should hook its target audience by establishing the narrative
• Locations and main characters are usually introduced

'The Kingdom' 

As usual the very beginning of this film opening consists of the production Logo to introduce the main distributor, Universal.  There is also another media distributor for this film which suggests they are in association with universal.

Generally in the opening of a film, the title is introduced , in this case the transition appeared unexpectedly and at an extremely fast pace to demonstrate the action thriller genre.

In this opening the credits are shown individually and placed upon an wide establishing shot, meaning that the actor (jamie fox) will be in this type of scenery and this is where most of his action will take place, or in this case it is showing the history of what is to be expected in the film. 

This shot demonstrates the target audience because it involves the wordings involve current economic issues in our world which suggests that this film focuses on those who are intelligent enough to understand the history and problems with 'oil' and the role that America plays in it. 

This Image cleary has a history and enables the audience to be reminded about terrorism, which demonstrates what the film is going to be about. this image in particular focuses on on the 9/11 bombings in America. 

On the other hand, with this shot, we are reminded about terrorism and violence particularly those country's which are stereotyped as being terrorists. This opening automatically forces stereotypes and  how the film is going to be carried out as.

 From the opening we can tell there involves a lot of history which is kept on as a type of grudge which is conveyed the narrative voice throughout the opening because it is clear that an american is speaking and through the choice of words we can understand that film will be based upon the Americans triumph over the war about 'oil' between Saudi Arabia


Click to watch the Film Opening of 'The Kingdom'

Conventions of film openings

'Kill Bill Vol.1'

The film I have chosen to look at is Kill Bill Vol.1. Kill Bill is an action thriller with was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The first shot in the opening of the sequence is a quote of an ancient proverb. This sets the tone of the film and creates a dark and sinister mood with is a convention of a thriller film.

The use of dark colours is significant in this clip as the whole clip is in black and white. This suggests the film is going to be dark and creepy.

The opening has both diegectic and non diegectic sounds. This is when the girl is breathing at a fast pace and when the credits are running there is a song playing in the background, 'bang bang you shot me down'.

They introduce the main character in the opening scene. They portray her as being a helpless, scared victim and they introduce Bill as being the villain. This is a convention of a thriller film.

The credits in the film are very plain and are again in black and white, they also fade slowly. This along with the sound creates a mysterious atmosphere and does not give anything away which is part of the conventional thriller genre.

  

Looking for Convention of Films in Blade II

Blade II has some of the principal conventions of films. For example: the Production Logo.

As it shows in the first frame, the production is blurry and is written in red font, connoting the colour of blood which directly relates to the genre of this film.However, the presentation is then sharper as the colour becomes more contrasting possibly hinting the boundaries between good and bad which are vital in this film, and which category mythological characters fit in to as it seems to be no'in between'.

Then the shots are presented as flashbacks accompanied by narration as though recalling a painful memory, which inform the viewer of what the film is going to be about and it might state as well from where the narration this film has born.

Introduction to Cameras

The following images demonstrate our understanding of hows camera shots can be used to convey meaning and how outdoor lighting effects the quality of an image.

This is a good example of a Big close up shot because it shows the detail of  persons face,  it is usually
used to emphasize the characters emotional state.

This is an example of a wide shot also known as a establishing shot, the idea of this type of shot is to demonstrate a subjects surroundings and is designed to show the audience where the action is going to take place.


The Rule of Thirds

The basic principle of  the rule of thirds is to imagine an image is broken into nine sections, horizontally and vertically. The rule of thirds is used to identify important parts of an image that should be considered in the frame for the final image. 

The point behind these lines is that the photo becomes more balanced and allows the viewer to  interact with the image naturally. 

This is an example of a shot which breaks the conventions of rule of thirds. The shot is clearly not thought out well
 enough as our focus should be on the person. However, the shot is wasted by an unnecessary background and takes the viewer away from the subject. 

This shows a good example to show the basic use of rule of thirds. Although the subject is placed along a whole line, which means the person is off center, this results in a point of interest for the viewer whereas if the person was placed right along the center the would have turned into an awkward shot.  

These two shots again, demonstrate   shots which follow the conventions  (right) and break the conventions (left) of  the 'rule of thirds. 

This is an over the shoulder shot ( OSS), the shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject , it is usually used to cut between those shot during a conversation and alternates the view between different speakers. This type of shot helps to establish a persons feelings from another perspective. 

The quality of this photo is very dark, this is due to the direct sunlight because it creates a strong, dark, shadowy effect and it is difficult to see the subject in the frame because the amount of light which coming through seems to be too overwhelming and doesn't allow the viewer to see a clear, detailed photo.  

This is an example of feet shot in a interesting way, from this shot we can tell that camera has captured a walking motion  and gives the image a sense of movement and liveliness.