Brick

It is obvious from the opening scene of Brick that it is a thriller film. We know this because there are loads of close up shots and tension building music. It also makes the viewer want to ask questions. The majority of the shots we see leave the us the viewer confused and asking questions already. For instance

- What is the relationship between the boy and girl
- What happened to the girl
- Who done this to the girl
- Why isn't the boy trying to help

We see that brick is a thriller because of the amount of conventions it uses.

Double Idemnity & Kiss Me Deadly

Double Indemnity:

Double Indemnity is similar to Kiss Me Deadly and is an old style Thriller movie. Unlike Memento and Wallander it is black and white rather than colour and uses basic music that creates tension. Throughout the whole opening sequence it's credits, which is unusual because it doesn't give any clues to the story-line and/or the characters involved. Although like a normal Thriller opening sequence it does use close-up camera shot when the shadow of someone is walking towards the camera filming; turning into an extreme close-up. The only clip we get of the movie is an establishing shot of a street and a rail-way station. The only other Thriller opening sequence movie convention this fits is that it's filmed during the night time.
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Kiss Me Deadly:

Kiss Me Deadly is more of a old fashioned Thriller film unlike Memento. It's filmed in all black and white, with more basic camera shot's such as tracking and close up (girls feet running) which is usual for a Thriller opening sequence. Other conventions that fit the opening sequence for a Thriller that appear in Kiss Me Deadly is hyperbolic sound (increased sound on foot-prints), the sequence is filmed at night & tension building music in the first 30 seconds. Which is also conventional of a thriller film.

favourite thriller pie chart

Wallander (Firewall, BBC)

Conventions Of Thriller & Opening Sequence:

• Earie Music
• Music Begins Movie
• Close up of two girls introduces them.

Character Feelings:

• Nervous
• Uncomfortable
• Vulnerable
• Rebelious
• Determined

Audience Questions:

• Who are the girls?
• Where is this place?
• Why are they here?
• Whats going to happen?

Girls costume and hair shows she is rebelious - this is obvious from the red streak we see through her hair. Big earings also show this because she looks like a student. Also see this from her facial expressions, she is determined and looks angry shows she could be part of the violence which is also rebelious.

Questtionaire & answers

1. What is your favourite thriller film?
2. When was the last time you watched a thriller film?
3. What do you think is the main convention of a thriller film?
4. Are thriller films your favourite genre of film?
5. What do you like to see in thriller films?

1.

• Sixth sense
• The godfather
• Memento
• The dark knight
• Sixth sense
• Sixth Sense
• The dark Knight
• District 9
• Hotel Rwanda
• Jaws

2.

• Last Month
• Last Month
• Last Week
• Last Month
• Last 2 Months
• Last Few Days
• Last Month
• Last 24 Hours
• Last Few Days
• Last Month

3.

• Confusing storyline
• Gangstar Character
• Confusing Stroyline
• Confusing Storyline
• Confusing storyline
• gangstar character
• jumpy
• scary
• detectives
• police

4.

• No
• No
• Yes
• No
• Yes
• Yes
• Yes
• No
• Yes
• No

5.

• Action from the start
• Storyline that i can predict but not with ease
• lots of action throughout
• police cases
• F/B/I
• flashbacks
• tension
• clues
• action throughout
• flashbacks

Title Sequences

I think that in our title sequences we will need to use credits that would include character names, film title, and maybe some key words that could help the audience understand our film a bit more but not giveaway the storyline. A logo would be very important because with a key part of our film being an image of a tattoo it would only be wise to have an image of a tatoo in the opening sequence.

For instance:

A warner bros film...
Directed By...
Casey McCabe
Nathan Powell
Danielle Richards

Set Task

We were set a task in which we had to put together a sequence of shots, these shots would need to include

• Match On Action
• 180 Degree Rule
• Master Shot
• Eyeline Match
• Shot Reverse Shot

We also had to follow a story board that we put together before we begun filming, which involved walking through a door and having a conversation with someone. The reason why these shots were chose was because these shots can show the use of the 180 degree rule, for instance staying the right side of characters once the characters go through the door and staying the whilst side whilst the conversation changes shots between one character and the other. Eyeline match is also used in the conversation so these shots were also a set task. The main task we had set however was to get a sequence that used continuity editing to good effect.

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing is to make the work of the editor as invisible as possible. The viewer should not notice the cuts, and shots should flow together naturally. So from this the sequence of shots will appear to be continuous.

Continuity involves 4 main features :

- Match On Action
- 180 Degree Rule
- Eyeline Match
- Shot Reverse Shot

The Match on action technique provides temporal continuity where there is a formula, physical motion or change within a passage without being repeated. A match on action is when some action occurs before the cut is picked up where the cut left it by the shot following. For example, a shot of someone throwing a ball can be edited to show two different views, while maintaining temporal continuity by being sure that the second shot shows the arm of the subject in the same stage of its motion as it was left when cutting from the first shot.

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters or objects in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

An eyeline match is a popular editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. The eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is looking off-screen to his left, and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching.

Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique in which one character is shown looking at another character usually off-screen, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

Shot List

1. Shot of police images on bulletin board
2. Individual shots of every image
3. Shot of newspaper report
4. Close up of newspaper report
5. Shot of murderer on sofa
6. Shot of murderer's arm and tattoo
7. Flashback to murderer running away from the police
8. Shot of murderer running away
9. Shot of murderer on sofa

favourite thriller pie chart

There is an image I have in my Thriller that I shot after being inspired by a shot from The Sixth Sense; the shot in The Sixth Sense that I like is a shot of a lightbulb flicking on. The shot that I have is of a ring. The ring is shining in similar fashion to the lightbulb in the sixth sense, this is one of my favourite shots of my film and I feel it really works because it is an odd shot that will make the audience ask questions which is a convention of Thriller films.

Brief

Today in lesson we began to study the Thriller genre for our latest piece of coursework. We need to study this so that we know the conventions of the Thriller genre in order to help us make our opening of a Thriller film for our coursework. In lesson we found out the differences between a horror and a thriller due to alot of the class listing off horror films that they believed to be a thriller, me amongst them. We learnt that the main difference between a horror and a thriller is that you rarely see violence in thrillers, and if you do it would be toned down compare to a horror where you would see blood and murder. Then we began to watch Memento. A thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan. It is a mystery thriller. We only watched the first 10 minutes or so and we can see that it is a very confusing storyline that requires alot of concentration. We learnt that to be succesful in our coursework that we will need to use all of the conventions of a thriller so watching thriller films will be very helpful.

We also discussed some of the conventions of the thriller genre:

- Fast Tempo Music
- Jumpy Scenes
- One Victimised Character
- Fighting Scenes
- Dark
- Nightime
- Violence
- Tension
- Ask's Questions
- Suspicion
- Eary Music
- Confusion
- Shock
- Screams
- Misty Scenes
- Trivial Scenes

These are the main conventions that you would expect to see in a thriller film. We will need to include these conventions if we are to be succesful in our coursework.