P2-42 : THRILLER PROJECT 2008/9

Friday, November 28, 2008

Animatic Sequence



This a short animatic about a knight jousting, a bit off the topic of thriller however this is a great example of a very detailed animatic. We also found other non-thriller related videos on youtube but we thaught this was easily the best one (:

by jenna damien patrick and luke

anamatic


This is our anamatic.
the duration is not quite right yet, as our piece will be a lot longer.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Idea =]

Our thriler has to be 1minute 30 - 2 minutes in duration.


Our Idea:
There are two teeneagers that drive up to dark and deserted public toilets, after a long journey the just need some time to freshen up, there is nothing around them, they brighten the headlights but the battery on the car runs out, they enter the toilets, it is a heavy door so to keep it open the put a rock in front of it to wedge it open, unknown to them there was someone watching the whole time, maybe it was planned?!
whilst one of the teeneagers enters the toilet cubicle the other peers into the mirror, whilst an unknown charater creeps up on them ready to attack, he kicks the rock the door shuts, everything goes black, the unknown character is hiding in one of the cubicle's, the teeneagers panick, they are deserted no power in the car, no lights and trapped in the toilets, they try the door, it wont move, they scream for help, no reply, no signal on their mobiles, they panick thats when the lights flicker, reflecting a spark of hope in the teenagers eyes, they black out again, thats when the unknown character pounces dragging one of the teenagers away, they scream but there is nothing that can help them.. then our title will pop up on a black background.

Edits
For our edits's we want it to be effective towards our trailer and make the audience continue to watch, so we will focus on jump cuts, colour change (different coulour washes) or negatives, we believe this will help the audience understand the panic if there is a flash of colours.

We were also thinking of fades into sillohettes, so for example one of the teeneagers could look into the sink, a bowl full of water and see there reflection, then see someone behind them (the unknown character).


We are now creating our storyboardddd =D

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Monday, November 24, 2008

blog on camerawork

Damien Crosby
Media Blog On Thriller Trailer
For my homework i have analyzed a thriller trailer and my task is to focus on one of the four aspects of the thriller; Camerawork.

The film i have chosen to analyze is 'Fight Club'(1999),starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. It is a Psychological thriller and the camerawork is vital to the production of the film, to scare and intensify the viewers senses. lots of quick snap shots are vital to the film, as the plot is linked to an underground fight club. the punches are felt by the viewer as cuts from punch to punch and close ups of the characters face are used to show the effects of the punch such as the blood and pain expressed by the character which is a good effect for a thriller which displays violence. there are also establishing shots used to show the 'human ring' in which is used to conceal the fighters. the camera is usually fixed , on a tripod and a lot of 180 degree rules are used to show the conversations between the two main characters. however some of the camerawork is handheld to show a shakey , slightly disorientating scene to the viewer, relating to the connotations of a thriller as it can fright or scare people, and also can relate to the actions of the character. as the film reaches a climax, there is a twist in the plot.the fight club become felons and the psychilogical barriers are broken as Edward Norton's Character cannot cope with the drama. he then becomes trapped in a state of fear and insomnia, and the closeups of his expressions can be understood by the viewer, putting them in a mindset simular to the characters.

Damien Crosby :)

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

How atmosphere and mood are created in the title sequence of GoldenEye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HDrYI0foe4 )



I was asked to chose a title sequence from a thriller and analyze how atmosphere and mood are created in it, I individually focusing on mise-en-scene.

I chose to analyze GoldenEye, Martin Campbell, 1995
( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/ )

Traditionally in the James Bond Film series the title sequence of the films share 3 main themes:

1. Guns,
2. Girls,
3. Bad guys.

GoldenEye does not attempt to break this tradition. Not that this is a bad thing, within seconds the title sequence you know -unmistakably that it is a Bond film. Which is without a doubt deliberate.

The opening shot is fire/an explosion travailing down what is revealed to be the barrel of a gun. This shot symbolizes leaving the 'reality' or the last scene and entering a bizarre dreamlike world. As the film title 'GoldenEye' appears in the background we see female figures performing abstract dance, lighting techniques are used to make them look like silhouettes in front of lots of fire. These juxtaposing features the mise-en scene creates a surrealist atmosphere bering little resemblance to any realistic situation. We also see women breathing fire and one with one woman a gun emerges from her mouth this creates a mood of distrust and suspicion suggesting that things/people are not always as they appear, this is a common theme in thrillers. We see in the background "golden eye" obviously linked to the film title but also continuing the surrealist theme. There is a part of the sequence where smoke is shown and the vocals of the sound track sing: 'see him move through smoke and mirrors', smoke and mirrors being a metaphor for deceptive, fraudulent explanation or description. Again, a theme common in thrillers/ spy-thrillers.

The 'bad guys' are revealed in the title sequence as well, although not directly. There are statues of sickles depicted in the title sequence which even in isolation to its accompanying hammer we can associate it with the Soviet Union. With the Cold War only 4 years prior to the films release we can fairly safely make the assumption that the Soviet Union are going to be the 'bad guys'. The sickles are shown lain horizontally and falling, which represents 'the fall of the Soviet Union' in 1991. Later we see women using hammers like the 'Hammer and Sickle' image to attempt to destroy statues sickles and Soviet leaders, another visual metaphor for the fall for Soviet Union. As if the like to the Soviet Union needed strengthening feather, we see the several Soviet Union Flags are shown, just to clarify that message.



Patrick Hallett.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Editing In Sev7n

In sev7n the editing is very sudden, it involves lots of short cuts with flashing movements, it doesn't actually show the characters face, but from the beginning you realise the something is being planned.
In the opening titles of Sev7n, you dont actually see the characters face, it starts off with flicking pages of a book, then when showing someones name it cuts to a black wash then whit writing pops up, this makes you focus on that persons name, i think that this is a good technique to use as it grabs the audiences attention. It shows fast movements with very fast cuts, the opening title is very fast paced and it may be difficult to know what is actually going on, but i believe that this builds up alot of tension and encourages the viewers to keep watching.
After each black wash has come up the camera directly goes on to a new image, the same thing isn't viewed twice, it is always something new and fresh, it incudes lots of fast flashing movements an as i said before you always feel like your trying to keep up the whole time.

By Jenna

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Idea For A Narrative
We were thinking of creating a title sequence like the Sev7n title sequence, as we liked the ideas that were in that one. We liked the way they have a plan going on but the whole time you are kept in the dark about what is going on and as a viewer it intrigues you to keep watching. We would like to have that effect with the viewers to keep them watching.
Because it is only the title sequence we don't want to reveal to much in the narrative as we want to keep everyone in suspense.

Protagonist
Our Group is undecided on characters at the moment, but we do have various characters that we like:
- A hybrid, of horror and thriller, we were thinking of having....
TO BE CONTINUED...



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introduction

In our group:
- Patrick.
- Jenna.
- Damien.
- Luke.

We Have Until Christmas To Create A Thriller Title Sequence.


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P2-42 : THRILLER PROJECT 2008/9