Final Thriller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXUtgevqgSs

Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound is arguably on par with video as the most important element to be able to manipulate and control during production and post production. Too often filmmakers focus all of their attention on video footage and ignore the quality of their sound. Interestingly enough, audiences seem to be more annoyed by poor sound quality than by poor cinematography.
Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the
image on the screen. The entire sound track is comprised of three essential ingredients: 

• the human voice
• sound effects
• music

These three tracks must be mixed and balanced so as to produce the necessary emphases which in turn create desired effects. Topics which essentially refer to the three previously mentioned tracks are discussed below.  
 

Dialogue

Dialogue authenticates the speaker as an individual or a real person rather than the imaginary creation of a story teller. As is the case with stage drama, dialogue serves to tell the story and
expresses feelings and motivations of characters as well. Often with film characterization the audience perceives little or no difference between the character and the actor. Thus, for example:
Humphrey Boggart is Sam Spade; film personality and life personality seem to merge. Perhaps this is the case because the very texture of a performer's voice supplies an element of character.  

When voice texture fits the performer's physiognomy and gestures, a whole and very realistic persona emerges. The viewer sees not an actor working at his craft, but another human being struggling with life. It is interesting to note that how dialogue is used and the very amount of dialogue used varies widely among films. For example:
In the film 2001 little dialogue was evident, and most of what was used was banal. In this way the filmmaker was able to portray the “inadequacy of human  esponses when compared with the magnificent technology created by man and the visual beauties of the universe.

 

SOUND EFFECTS: 

Synchronous sounds are those sounds which are synchronized or matched with what is viewed. For example:
If the film portrays a character playing the piano, the sounds of the piano are projected.

Synchronous sounds contribute to the realism of film and also help to create a particular atmosphere. For example:
The “click” of a door being opened may simply serve to convince the audience that the image portrayed is real, and the audience-may only subconsciously note the expected sound. However, if the “click” of an opening door is part of an ominous action such as a burglary, the sound mixer may call attention to the “click” with an increase in volume; this helps to  engage the audience in a moment of suspense. 

Asynchronous sound effects are not matched with a visible source of the sound on screen. Such sounds are included so as to provide an appropriate emotional nuance, and they may also add to the realism of the film. For example:
A film maker might  opt to include the background sound of an ambulance's siren while the foreground sound and image portrays an arguing couple. The asynchronous ambulance siren underscores the psychic injury incurred in the argument; at the same time the noise of the siren adds to the realism of the film by acknowledging the film's (avowed) city setting.
 

MUSIC: background music

Background music is used to add emotion and rhythm to a film. Usually not meant to be noticeable, it often provides a tone or an emotional attitude toward the story and/or the characters  epicted. In addition, background music often foreshadows a change in mood. For example, dissonant music may be used in film to indicate an approaching (but not yet visible) menace or disaster.

Background music may aid viewer understanding by linking scenes. For example, a particular musical theme  associated with an individual character or situation may be repeated at various points in a film in order to remind the audience of salient motifs or ideas. 

Film sound is comprised of conventions and innovations. We have come to expect an acceleration of music during car chases and creaky doors in horror films. Yet, it is important to note as well that sound is often brilliantly conceived. The effects of sound are often largely subtle and often are noted by only our subconscious minds. Yet, it behooves us to foster an awareness of film sound as well as film space so as to truly appreciate a twentieth century art form, the modern film. 

Digetic sound is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. We will use this when the girl has supposedly been killed but as her eyes open there will be a loud gasp, this will automatically scare the viewers as they wasn't expecting her to wake up because she is laying in a position that gives you the idea that she is dead and that the villain is walking of in the background. The sound we have used are very basic and short bu they create a lot of suspense, take the gasp at the end for example, it is conventional to a thriller because it increases suspense and will keep the audience on the edge of there seat.

I think our opening scene will be much more effective with added sound, it will help create and connection with the audience but also trick them e.g. With the use of contrapuntal sound. The audience will feel a emotive connection towards the victim and realise how intense the story line begins by he use of sharp non-diegetic music. Planning the sound has made it a lot my easier to decide what we want, we have taken our ideas from classic thriller films.

Opening Scene Narration - Miss Miller

The opening scene of our thriller clip takes place down a road, the first camera shot that is used is a establishing shot. This is used to let the audience know what the scene looks like and already gets them thinking into where the dangers are and where the murders can be taken place. We have an effect also in this scen as soon as it begins it is named 'Distort' this creates the sense of fear as it seems very strange and also creates tension. There is a build up of non digetic sound with the sound of an owl, by doing this it gives the audience the sense that there is a forest nearby and this also creates a sense of fear as forest's are seen as a very scary place at night which is when this scene is.

The second scene is similar to the opening as the same camera shot is used, as the scene continues the shot changes to a handheld, making it seem like the audience are the people within the scene as they are know in the eyes of the villian. The scene begins with the victim walking down the road and into her house. As she then turns the corner the camera changes to a handheld, and it is the villain walking up behind her and then hiding in the corner as she enters her house. This creates tension also as the audience feel as though they are the villain and it gives them the fear of what will happen next. We wanted all the focus to be on the girl and the villain in this scene so we thought by not adding any effects would make this happen. The background sound of the erie music and the owl are still the same as we want to keep the same consistency throughout the scene as the time frame are the same between the two scenes.

The next scene is  change of are as it is know shot from the victims bedroom, in this scene we did not have to establish the scene as it was clear the girl was in her bedroom, we decided to use a mid-shot as we thought this was the most appropriate. As we could see what she was doing but wasn't to close up to her that you couldn't see what was going on around her. there was no background music in this scene as it creates more tension and the audience will be sitting in silence also, so it makes them feel as though they are in the same situation as the character. When the scene ends you see a phone light up as a message is received on the ledge of the window.

The following scene is a close up shot of the phone, we filmed this part because it lets the audience see what the message reads and the recipient that sent the message. This creates tension for the audience as the message says "I am watching" and the recipient is 'Unknown' which gets them thinking who it could be from. Like the previous scene there is no sound only the noise of the phone receiving the message, we done this to show emphasis on the phone and we thought by putting in other noise it may distract the audience and think something else may happen, which we didn't want to happen in this scene.

The following scene is a low angle shot and also a point of view shot. In this scene it shows the victim in her bedroom looking at her phone once the message had been received, once she has read the message she then looks out the window to see if she can see the 'unknown' person. This then creates tension as the person who sent the message must be watching her from somewhere. The music in the background is tense and loud as it is supposed to create tension. also in this scene heavy breathing is used and is enhanced by doing this it shows that the villain is aggressive and watching her intensely, There is a slight effect which brightens up the background where the source of light is coming from, this enhances the silhouette of the victim and gives a rough outline of what she is doing.

The next scene is an over shot looking down at the villain, the villain is standing in the middle of the victims garden in dark clothing just staring up at her. We done this to make the audience feel agitated as to what was going to happen next. The heavy breathing is still included into this scene which gives you the feel that the victim can hear the villain from her window and it also creates some suspense due to the idea of what is going to happen next.

The next scene, is a change of area completely as it is now shot on a main road, the camera shot that is used is a panning shot. This was used to follow the victim as she walked down the road and into a gravel road. we didn't want to add in any background noise as we thought the noise coming from the cars and the everyday noises already heard in this scene sounded more real life, and the audience can then relate to the scene more. As the girl turns down the gravel road you see a light shine up which shows the outline of the villain hiding behind a postbox and his upper body is only seen. By doing this it may fright the audience as they could't see it coming as it looks like the girl is casually walking home from school one day. Then suddenly the light appears with the aggressive face of the villain showing.

The scene after shows a shrine of the victim. There is a picture of her attached to a fence and it is surrounded by candles. We used an effect in this scene at the start which blurred the screen, it then focuses to the shrine which attracts the audiences attention. The music used is tense and has a tight grip to is as you listen to the music because it is in time with the flickering of the candle creating tension as you wonder if the victim sees it or if the villain is there instead.

The following scene shows the victim realising that the shrine is of herself, she looks confused as to what is happening and why this could be there. The camera is angled on the floor and is looking up to the victim as she reallises the picture we done this to create a sense of something is watching her whilst she holds the picture. As the victim is off guard and staring to the picture you see a glimpse of the villain over her shoulder with the same light over his face as in the scene before. This creates a sense of fear for the audience as they don't know if he is about to attack the victim now or hes planning something still.

The second to last scene is of the villain and victim when the victim is struggling against the villain when he tries to kill her. The music will be rough and fairly intense as you don't know exactly what will happen and whether he will kidnap or kill her. There is a mid shot to show the whole of the body and what the villain is doing to the victim.

Lastly there is a last scene is a close up of the victim lying on the floor, there is no shadows on the face as it is meant to show all the features. The music in the background will be a heartbeat slowly fading away as if the life of the person fades away then when you think that she is dead. Her eyes open and a large sound will be used which will try and scare the audience so the audience thinks that she's dead but really she is alive.

To summarise i believe our clip will be successful because we used the conventional features of a thriller film, in the way we used a vulnerable female victim and a big aggressive looking man as the villain. I believe we also used the low key lighting well as it showed the shadows clearly and the darkness that represents a hint of fear and danger. Something tat wasn't a convention to a thriller wad that there was not a weapon used we felt every scary film there is always blood and weapons, so by changing it the crowd would not be ready for that and it shows that he killer has thought more about the death and tried to cover his tracks by not leaving and blood or clues for any one to find.

Thriller Inspirations - Miss Miller

The inspirations that i got for my own thriller clip was from One hour photo, Millers crossing and Layer cake , i have analysed them and said what i liked about them below:

Layer Cake

Whilst watching 'Layer Cake' (directed by Matthew Vaughn) i saw quite a few shots that look easy to execute but are still very effective, for example, when Daniel Craig is waiting on the bench for 'The Dragon' when it is just starting to get dark you can see the city landscape layed out before him with all the lights on which shows you the setting of the film, symbolising how important the male Protagonist played by Craig is to the story line showing him as larger than life above the city. This shot is taken from behind the back of the bench this shows the men as just black silhouettes against the lit up city scape indicating the darkness of the storyline and the deed you are about to see. it also keeps the mystery as throughout the entire film you never find out who 'The Dragon' is or what he looks like this shot shows how real he is but still keeps the intrigue into who he is.

Another shot that looked good but easy, was the scene in which Daniel Craig and the Dukes men are running away from the police, to get across the feeling of panic and desperation this scene has been shot using handheld camera running sometimes behind and sometimes infront of the characters, and in one particularly good bit Daniel Craig runs into a overhanging branch and it flicks back into the way of the camera this gives the audience a sense of worry and adrenaline. This type of shot would be relatively easy to perform, but there would need to be a degree of steady camera work as although effective this type of shot does not show any skill or ability with a camera which is the sort of thing we are trying to exhibit in our production.


I also took a lot of inspiration from the film 'Millers Crossing' (directed by Joel and Ethan Coen) because I really enjoyed this film and particuarly liked the scene in which the male protagonist Tom Reagan played by Gabriel Byrne is forced to go out and shoot Bernie, played by John Turturro, in the middle of a forest. This scene has some brilliant shots due to the location. A slow zooming shot shows the forest and the black tree trunks indicating the bleakness of the surroundings and the plot. In the middle of this shot in the middle of the forest clearing is Bernie crouching down whining for his life and Tom standing over him with a gun pointed down at his head. this scene is incredibly powerful as there is not noise except his begging for his life, this shows us the dispute that is going on inside Tom's head and highlights the characters weaknesses, this correlates with the flawed hero often found in thriller films.

Pie charts/Questionnaire - Miss Miller

Questionnaire/ Pie charts

I carried out a questionnaire to get  find out why people watch thrillers and what they enjoy about them. From the results we would have collected we will then use them for our own thriller to see what the people enjoy the most and what will keep them engaged most in the film. We also hope from the questionnaire to try and attract the age range of the audience that we have chosen (15-25).

We tried to keep most of our questions open so we wouldn't get the straight answer of 'Yes' or 'No', we gave the questionnaires to a diverse group of people so we wouldn't get the same answer every time. Also we would give the occupants a variety of answers and also the option of 'other' on certain questions. Incase if they do not agree any of the answers given they can then give their own opinion.

Questionnaire

1. How old are you?

13-18     19-24    25-36

2. Are you...?

Male    Female

3. What age certificates do you watch?

U   PG   12/12a    15    18

4. What interests you in watching a thriller?

Adrenaline   Characters   Murder scenes    Other .............

5. What do you expect to see in thrillers?

Female victim     Murderer weapon    Scary setting    Other..........

6. Do you like sequels?

Yes    No 

7. What type of sounds would you like to hear in a thriller?

Eerie music     Screams     Piano

8. What characters would you like to see in a thriller? Why?

Unidentified killer    Blonde Victim     Mysterious creatures     Why? ...........

9. What type of actors would you like to be used?

Morgan Freeman    Brad Pitt    Anne Hathaway      Gwenth Patrow

10. What type of setting would you like to see?

Suburban Neighbourhood     Abandoned Alley    Grave Yard

11. Would you enjoy other sub-genres to be used? If so, which ones?

Horror    Drama    Sci-fi    Fantasy 

12. What type of narrative would you like to be used?  

First person    Second person    Third person 

This questionnaire uses mostly closed questions as we want a restricted amount of answers. 

Charts:

The chart above shows the ages of the respondents the highest age was between the ages of 19-24 this we believe at tis age is hen they are most likely to watch the thriller genre because any younger people may still not enjoy this type and above this age people may of matured and preffered a more serious/real life film.

As you can see from the pie chart above there was more male applicants asked as thrillers are mainly aimed at men as the genre is very aggressive and scary. So with this in mind it was best to ask more men as we thought we would get a better in depth answer and a more educated answer. Although we did not just want to ask men because then the answers will not be fair so we still had to ask a variety of genders.

this pie chart shows the preffered age certificates watched by the respondents, as you can see the age rated film that was voted the highest was the 15. I believe this is because 15 rated films are the most interesting as there is a lot of action and isn't boring such as a lower age certificate and also they are not as gory at which a 18 rated film could be. 

 The lowest voted age certificate is 18 i believe this is because these films can be to much to watch for the average person as they can be very frightful and gory, so people tend to go for the easier watching film that could be at the rated certificate of 15. 

The chart above shows what interests people about watching a thriller film, the highest answer was the adrenaline scenes. I believe this is because people between the ages of 15-25 enjoy the adrenalin as they are very enthusiastic and enjoy the buzz they can get from it. Adrenalin scenes are also usually the most memorable parts of a film and they are the ones that stand out of a film so people remember them and will then see them as there most favourite parts to the film.

This chart shows what people expect to see in thriller films, as you can see scary settings was the highest voted answer. This is because thriller films are seen to be scary and jumpy films. So without a scary scene the film will then not be a thriller it is more likely to be an action film. Shortly followed by the scary scene was the murder weapon this is because in nearly every thriller film there are murders so people expect to see a weapon used to kill the characters e.g gun  and knife. 

The pie chart shows if people enjoy sequals. I was personally surprised by this as i thought peopke would enjoy them more as they have an idea of what the previous film was about so they can they have more educated guesses about some of the unexplained scenes in the second sequak. Although the opposite to this is that people enjoy the unknowing of what is going tohappen on the film so they are constantly kept on the edge of their seat. 

This pie chart shows that 46% of people prefer to listen to the piano in a film because it creates a lot more tension and suspense within the film. Next was screams which has 29% of people would like to hear screams, this may show that people prefer to hear screams in a film which may help the audience identify that this is a thriller film that they are watching. 

This particular pie chart shows what characters people would like to see in a thriller. As you can see an unidentified killer is the highest voted as this then creates suspense to the film and ultimately gives the audience the adrenalin they want to feel from the previous pie chart. Mysterious creature was the lowest rated i believe this is because a mysterious creature is not relatable to the audience so they then don't feel as involved in the film. Also the fact that it is not  real creature it doesn't seem real to the audience so therefore they can then not get to involved into the film as once again they can not relate to it. 

This pie chart who peoples favorite characters are in thriller films. Morgan Freeman was the highest voted by a jurastic amount. I also believe he is the best actor to play a thriller film as he seem very mysterious in the way he acts and he really gets the audience involved in the film the way he acts. He is also very good at playing the villain and victim as he seems to have the skill to play both roles in a very good way.

This pie chart shows where popel want to see the setting of the film. the highest voted was a suburban neihbourhood this is because people can then relate to the film more, where as if it was in a grayard its not everyday people will be taking  a walk through a graveyard.

This particular pie chart shows that quite a few people prefer to have horror as their sub-genre, this is because thrillers and horrors are very similiar in the way that there are a lot of murders and they both keep the audience on the edge of their seat. where as if the sub genre was sci-fi the two genres can not flow together as sci-fi is very in depth in the way of computing and intelligence where as thrillers are more madness in the way there's murders and violence. 

In this pie chart it shows that 43% of the people chosen to take the questionnaire shows that they prefer to have the film in the first person, therefore the audience are able to relate to the film as they use phrases such as 'I' and 'we'.