Sound - Miss B

Sound

music gives the movie an emotional stance. It changes the audience's emotions which give them a more positive view on your film by varying your music, either to make the audience, happy, sad, angry, scared, excited, emotional, and more. The "background" music helps heighten a suspenseful moment in the film. Anticipation and wonder keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

Sound effects adds illusion to the movie and the effects in movies are rarely a recording of the real thing. The way sound effects are used in the movie’s final mix entirely depends on the sound design. Off the top of my head, some effects could be: chairs scooting, glasses clanking, footsteps, traffic outside, water running, and buttons being pushed. Listen to a take with your eyes closed. What sounds do you hear? What sounds should be there to make the scene more complete ?

Diegetic Sound: Sound, which is part of the film world e.g. dialogue, music from a radio or jukebox. The sound can be on or off screen.

Non - Diegetic Sound: Sound, which is not part of the film world e.g. a soundtrack, sound effects, voiceovers

On Screen sound: You can see where the sound is coming from  (radio, car)

Off Screen sound: You can hear sound but cannot see where it is coming from, but it makes sense to the film world  (traffic sounds, coughing)

Parallel Sound: is when the sound you hear in a film is what is expected e.g. a scene with children playing on a beach the parallel sounds would be laughter, talking and the sea

Contrapuntal Sound: is when the sound does not match the expectations of what you are viewing an example of this is Jaws. The scenes of the beach are accompanied by the contrapuntal sound of the theme tune ‘dur dur’ which does not fit in with the happy images.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ5U8suTUw0

All films analysed had non diegetic music playing in the background creating a sound bridge to create a certain atmosphere. Some films such as the dark knight use dialogue, even if not that much – this usually gives us an insight to the characters motives or their relationships with other characters in the film. Silence and sonic exaggeration are 2 techniques used in dark knight, this is very tough provoking and does well to build up tension, which seems to be a strong convention for thriller films.

This research has made me understand my knowledge on why sound is used in thrillers and how it can be effectively used.

Cinematography - Miss B

Cinematography

Discuss what cinematography

While a film director may have a general idea of how a scene should look, it is the responsibility of a cinematographer to make it happen. This professional is an expert in both the technical and artistic capabilities of a movie camera. He or she works closely with the director during principal shooting in order to properly frame each shot according to the script and/or the director's personal vision. The head cinematographer may also be credited as director of photography or DP, although the two titles are not as interchangeable as one might think.

A cinematographer may also be considered a camera operator, especially if his or her decision-making power is minimal. While working, he or she actually looks through the lens of a camera while filming a scene, much like a still photographer snaps individual photographs. The lighting director and crew will often work with the cinematographer to make sure the amount of light reflecting off the actors and scenery is acceptable. If a special lens or filter is required for an artistic effect, it is this person's job to make the changes.

Camera angles

High angle shot - a high angle shot is usually when the camera angle is located above the eyeline. With this type of angle, the camera looks down on the subject and the point of focus often get "swallowed up" by the setting. The High angle shots also make the figure or object seem vulnerable or powerless, and is  usually used in film to make the moment more dramatic or if there is someone at a high level that the character below is talking to.

Low angle - In cinematography, a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eyeline, looking up. This shows the person or object as something great and powerful.

 Extreme long shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

Long Shot        

This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.

Medium Shot

Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT, more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interaction.

4. Close-Up

This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.

Extreme Close-Up

As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable.

Panning shot – camera moves across showing what’s in view. Example, usually used when someone is walking

Tilt shot – camera moves up and down. Example If someone is giving someone else a dirty look from head to toe.

Crane shot –on a crane, camera movement can be quite flexible.

Zoom –capture emotion or to get away from it. Example, finding something out.

Point of view (1^st person) – when it looks like it is from the personal view. example, creates tension and suspense.

Hand held – and held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ5U8suTUw0                                           

The most typical shot used in thriller films seems to be the close up, greatly used in the film se7en to build suspense and mystery in the beginning. Long shots have also been a commonality among thriller being used in the dark knight to set the scene and show the audience where the action will be taking place and show it in a big portrait in the upcoming events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YV2_TcCoE

Cinematography has helped me develop my knowledge on camera angles even more and mostly their uses, this will help me I n future coursework’s such as taking my own thriller clip.

What is a thriller? - Miss B

What is a thriller? (Ms Begum)

Genre – Category that a film focus into, for example: horror, romantic comedy.

Codes and convention – the common features that are used in thrillers to appeal to the audience and are typical of a thriller film. Example lighting and sound.

Target audience – The group of people the film is aimed towards, for example the target audience of many thrillers are 18+n this is because they include a lot of violence and some psychological issues which can disturbing for many younger viewers, we could also see the target audience by looking on the back of DVD cover which it states why it is rated as it is such as extreme violence ect, which shows what target audience they are aiming it for.

Theme – The storylines, subject that are present in the film.

Sub-genre - A sub genre is like subdivisions of an encompassing term. Its taking groups like comedies, mysteries, poems, and making the thinking narrower.
 

What is a thriller?

The term “thriller” is that it is a suspenseful and sensational, Thrillers are usually consisted of numerous action scenes and faced paced plots. Not all film thrillers are suspenseful, but many suspense novels are thrillers. But what all thrillers have in common is creating a chilling feeling amongst the audience. The narrative being difficult to follow helps bring up the tension and suspense depending on the sub-genre.

By looking at sub-genres of thriller films, i found that thriller can be related by several sub-genres such as, crime, action/adventure, sci-fi, drama, mystery, horror, physiological.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5TsZ6iyaH4

By combining all the above features we could talk about “scream”. The genre for scream is horror/thriller which also goes into the idea of it being a sub-genre.  The target audience for it is 15+. It is shown that the storyline for “scream” is a number of serial killing,, but the way the serial killer does his murders indicates that the serial killer does it for amusement.

Common themes of thrillers

These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.

If the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that restlessly pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the “edge of their seats” as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main characters is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible.





Audience response to thrillers

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements, Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. plot twists and cliff hangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.

The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own unique characteristics and methods.

Conclusion

Doing this coursework helped me by understanding what a thriller is and their sub-genres by watching different thriller films and how they are laid out in the sense of genres and sub-genres. Watching different film trailers gave me different ideas in what I and my peers are going to include in our trailer. I also learnt the differences between a thriller and a horror by watching in detail what exactly both the genres and sub-genres show.

By staying on top of all my coursework and not falling behind, ill be able to meet all the coursework requirements and keep all my work up to date.