Research- Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the relationship between texts resulting in similarities.

Shot By Shot Remake | Collateral

On-site video stills:

We took stills of the video and shots of the filming whilst we were doing it.

We did these stills as we were discussing set-up and actions, before filming.

Shot By Shot Remake | Collateral

Editing Process:

We used Final Cut Pro to edit our film, along with Soundtrack Pro for the music. It was a very time consuming process, and we all took turns to edit it.

These are all the clips we shot at the location, we looked through them all and filtered into the ones we were going to use.

We edited all the clips we were going to use into the order we wanted them and then changed the timings to make it flow smoothly.

We then imported sounds we had chosen specifically from Soundtrack Pro and added them into our sequence.

Finally, when it was all flowing together we added transition effects at certain points into the video these included 'cross cutting'

Research: Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term for visual referencing which is made between different movies of the same/similar genre. An example of this would be the movies What Lies Beneath, Fatal Attraction and Psycho. These three movies have similar aspects of mise-en-scene, sound and camera angles.

The running shower and the sound of water is significant in these films, it sets the scene and atmosphere. These shots clearly show the shower head to make clear the location and place.

The knife is significant as it brings about anxiousness and tension therefore is relevant for a thriller movie. Both movies Psycho and Fatal Attraction have this prop to show danger and portray a gruesome death.

Intertextuality may influence my own thriller opening to an quite a large extent as I could use certain images such as the shower running and knife, which I believe will help portray the genre better and set up the right mood.

Research | Intertextuality

Intertextuality is used when describing a reference towards another film. We've been looking at the famous shower scene from Psycho in order to identify other films that have taken aspects from it.

The film 'What Lies Beneath' uses the least amount of features from Psycho, but still incorporates the shower head looking down along with the sounds of running water and the shower curtains presence.

The film 'Fatal Attraction' uses a similar very powerful scene of the big knife stabbing away at a woman, but not actually being seen having contact with her and the sliding of the head down the wall, with her hair trailing behind. This is very iconic and makes the scene feel more realistic. 

Students from Hurtwood House created their own scene in relation to Psycho and named it 'Succumbus'

This is the closest to the film as it shows her stabbing and blood splattering everywhere, but doesn't show contact and has a reference to the eye at the end, but with the guys foot and blood dripping from it. Most iconically they used a big knife and focused on that to show danger. However, they showed us the identity of the killer, which differs from Psycho as they try to hide the killers identity with shadowing.

The film 'The Roommate' was more effective in scaring and thrilling the audience due to its longer tension phrase and the use of constant darkness in the area. They also hid the killers identity although the audience and the victim know who they are already. The use of the showercurtains was very clever as it playted on Psycho's simple use of the curtain being pulled once and the killer being there, whereas in this film she pulls many shower curtains lookign for the killer and waiting for them to jump out at her.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term to describe the visual referencing between films. Quite literally, films 'borrow' from each other, and you, the audience, may recognize certain camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing in some films that you have seen before.

Psycho

Psycho became extremely iconic for its use of camera shots. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it has since become the leader to numbers of films replicating the same shots, for example..


What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath has taken the shower head and kept it in frame just long enough to get the essence of Psycho and as the shower is running we get feeling throughout the scene.


Fatal Attraction

This scene kind of has the essence of psycho, but instead of the woman getting murdered in the shower (which happens later on in this scene) the man jumps out from the bath with those iconic shower curtains in the bathroom and tries to disarm the crazy woman holding the knife. So it has elements of psycho;

• A Bathroom
• A Knife
• A Death

The Room Mate

This scene from The Roommate also had abit of everything. It started with the shot of the shower head and the running water, then the door handle opening, the shot of the woman unaware of anything wrong, then silhouette of the intruder and then the shower curtain ripping.
All these features mirror Psycho. 

Research On Different Film Openings

Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko's opening titles are simply 'Credits over a blank screen'. Because of this, the audience get no information about the film and are forced to focus on the writing which is strongly contrasted against the black. By doing this, more attention will be put against the producers, giving them a wider audience and lifting the suspense on the film.

New Market & Pandora are the first names we see for the opening titles, and the only use of colour, thereby bringing alot of attention to them.

New Marker & Pandora are then repeated again but in the film style, giving it twice the attention in very focusing lights, thereby making the audience very accustomed to the names.

Enemy Of The State

Unlike Donnie Darko, Enemy of the State uses discrete opening titles. They use the modern/technological font to signify the technology against the iconic Washington buildings. By combining these two together, the audience can instantly get a sense of the type of film this will be.

The titles go straight into the film name instead of what Donnie Darko did and shed light on the producers. This immediately increases pace, mirroring what the pace of the film itself will be like.  The modern text against the iconic Washington landmarks signify Action/Politics/America instanly.

After the title, it then goes straight into the cast. Will Smiths name appears first to catch the audiences eye as he is a big actor to get in a film. In terms of heir achy he is put first, followed by Gene Hackman.

Panic Room

Panic Room uses Narrative opening titles, unlike Donnie Darko & Enemy Of The State. By doing this they have titles running throughout the opening, combining the text with imagery  in this case, the location of the film. This allows the audience to see a bit of what the film is about, but not including the plot, so it keeps them guessing.

This repeat of Columbia emphasizes the company, whilst opening with the classic intro it then moves into the films opening title theme. Very grey, thick block letters, mirroring the city.

In the films theme, both actors are featured. Jodie Foster first as she's the main character and then Forest Whitaker. The effects of the font, stationary through the city give a very weird vibe towards the audience (me) as it looks so out of place, almost disturbed, which again, mirrors the film without giving too much away.

Research: Types of film openings

Different types of film openings

Narrative opening which includes the titles running throughout and two examples of this would be The Shining and Panic Room. 

Panic Room opening subtly takes is into narrative, by mainly focusing on the locations and buildings that possibly will be crucial for the main plot itself. 

The font here is very well fitting due to it's grey colour as it doesn't stand out too much like the bright blue in The Shining, but enough for it to be visible. This particular font and the way it is used also makes it seem like the names belong there and are part of the city.

The Shining opening also takes us into the narrative however more directly than Panic Room. The font is bright blue which contrasts against the background and is clear enough for the audience.

Stylised openings are the ones which are heavily edited with many types of effects, fonts and sounds. Examples of this type of opening is The Taking on Pelham 123 and Mezrine. The Taking on Pelham 123 contains many effects such as zooming in/out of locations, fast paced, distorted effects and heavily edited font and the way it appears on screen. Mezrine uses a split screen opening, which allows us to see several points of views in different angles.

 Discrete title sequences are scenes in the opening which stand apart from the film such as in the movie Enemy of the State. In this opening the credits are shown during a piece of film which may have possibly been taken out of the movie itself and used to illustrate what the audience are about to see.

Credits over blank screen and an example of this would be Donnie Darko where the title is followed by the opening of the narrative, usually with one of the main characters.

Research- Genre/ Sub Genre

Genres in film are used to give the audience an idea of what conventions to look for when watching a specific film. Simple aspects such as facial expressions, title, special FX and mise-en-scene can give us an idea of a specific genre. For example guns signify action. Whereas knives can represent either horror or drama circulated around crime/murder. Subgenres work in the same way, the use of a subgenre (romantic comedies, Fantasy thrillers etc.) Makes a film a 'Hybrid.' and makes it easier for it to capture the attention of a different target audience/fan-base depending on the movie. These two things determine what kind of audience are watching the films. They will be attracted to films that are categorised under their favourite genre. Audience is also widely determined by the age restriction given to every aspect of media from the music industry to video gaming. Starting from "Universal." And ending at "18." This filters the audience significantly and affects the box office statistics.

Favourite/Inspirational genre

One of my many favourite Thriller sub-genres would be fantasy as it makes the movie more interesting and fun to watch by engaging the audience and not keeping it just thriller/action based, an example of that can be The Hunger Games. I also enjoy the film as it was firstly written as a book before made into a movie.

This film also contains a more appealing storyline, possibly attracting a wider target audience beginning from the age of 12, as it is a thriller with a fantasy sub-genre being quite a large factor of the movie. This is a type of genre for escapism and imagination for every individual out there who prefers Thriller fantasy.

This particular sub-genre won't be fitting for my own thriller opening as it will be an action thriller rather than fantasy.

Genres, sub-genres and audiences

Genre - is a French word for type, clearly meaning the type of movie it is, whether it's a comedy, romance, fantasy and so forth

Audiences - are spectators who assemble at a performance. In this case it would be a television program or movie and obviously make a wider source of revenue for films, in all corners of the world and different languages


Sub-genre - is simply a  sub category, a subdivision within a movie. For example a Thriller can contain romance, comedy or be a thriller horror movie. The romance, comedy and horror would be the subgenres.

Research | Genre & Sub-Genre

My preferred Thriller sub-genre would have to be the Action/Adventure/Fantasy genres. This is because it makes the film less about just a scare or thrill but more about the story and the actions within the film. It makes the audience feel that more is happening and makes them engage more in the story line.

Also, using examples such as Van Helsing and The Brothers Grimm, which bring fairy tales and child stories into life and make them seem realistic for once, I'd say that they allow the audience to connect with the thriller more because they're all familiar with certain characters and aspects of the film (e.g. werewolves, little red riding hood, Rapunzel)
In effect, they are able to manipulate the fantasy side of it into their own unique way. Then adding in action and an adventure to the story.


With my own film opening, I think i will be able to use the Action and Adventure side of these sub-genres, as I can make it seem as though the characters are going on a thrilling adventure jam packed with action and secrets, which will really interest my audience and make them want to know what happens and how things will turn out. People enjoy going on adventures and want to feel as though they are within a film and that's what I hope to achieve with my film opening, an opportunity for my audience to go on a journey.

 

Research-Genre No.1

My preferred genre of film is Fantasy, so such films like the Twilight saga and the Harry Potter films would come under this category. I especially enjoy them because they can appeal to most audiences depending of the content of their sub-genre.
 
What makes them so special is the fact that they give their audience a look in to an alternate reality; where they can let their imaginations run wild amongst things that they can only dream of. Vampires, werewolves and nymph’s etc. These films allow them to escape their own problems for a few hours which can make the experience so much more worthwhile.

 

Collateral - Final Edit

This has been a project of mixed success because we were able to obtain all shots needed and could stick to our brief.



One of our successes was the location as it was carefully thought of and chosen. However there have been limitations as some shots have been unsteady and shaky.  Also the lighting wasn't a success as we hadn't any lights and in the original opening it is a lot brighter.

We also did not refer to our story board as such as we could have due to timing issues.

Some of the angles were also different of those in the original

Successful
Location
Teamwork
Morale
Assistance from the security
Time keeping (due to length of distance)
Editing

Unsuccessful
Little equipment to produce a better quality film
No budget


VEEM

Se7en Opening Titles

Se7en Opening Titles 

                                          This is the first thing you see when the titles open. The focused book and the out of focused hand means they want the audience to focus on the pages. This is then made obvious when the text starts appearing against the book and New Line Cinema is shown.

The book then moves on to a finger. The frame shows the skin peeling by a disturbing metal contraption, possible tweezers, its hard to tell. By using this shot, without showing blood or extreme skin loss, it sets the audience up for what is about to come, giving them a toned down teaser.

The audience then get a brake from the disturbing and confusing images and are given some names of the actors featuring in the film. By putting Brad Pitt & Morgan Freeman in the beginning it draws the audience in as they're both huge names in Hollywood, giving the audience a high expectation of the film.

After having several clips of names and images relating to the film, the name of the film appears, in the same continuous style. After that, Gwyneth Paltrows name appears. By having her name separate from Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, it suggests that she isnt as important as those two main characters,  but significant enough that she is featured directly after the films name

By adding images of people into the opening, it gives it a sense of realism as it is the first images of people we see in the opening. The woman is shown briefly, giving an introduction to the gory image we see next as the book flips over and the side of a mans head is shown with some other creepy metal contraption in his head.
The theme of detective/murder is continuous throughout the opening so the audience know exactly what the film is going to be based on without any of the story or characters truly revealed

Research | Battle Royale

 

Battle Royale is a thriller film that goes for the slower approach to adding supense by making the opening 1min 50seconds long and easing it into the film itself.

It uses the key cpnventions when trying to get the audience to stay and watch the film.

 

Music:

The music is very sharp and creates a tense atmosphere

It uses an orchestra to show a creepy side to the opening and this allows the audience to be entrigued

It clashes against the slow moving images on the screen to show something is going to happen, and it makes the audience sit on edge waiting for that thing to happen, this is how they lure the audience in and get them to carry on watching it.

 

 

Titles:

The opening instantly shows the producer Toei's logo. This is the Ident that all films have at the begining, the fact that they included it into one of the scenes from the film really makes it all flow together, and is quite clever.

Then we have a backstory to the film, telling you what happened that lead to this moment and the actions of the film, this makes the audience feel like they know whats going on and makes them want to know what effect it has on people and what will happen because of these events. It also tells you the nature of the film, which is thriller, because it explains certain concepts of the film.

After that they have a clip thats related to the film which makes the sudience want to know whats happening and why the girl is there, and why she is covered in blood and what she won, the enigmas that are created make the audience want to know more and watch the rest. this is key in a thriller flm because you want the audience to understand but ask questions and figure things out as they go along.

 

Opening-

The film starts with a slowmotion scene of water crashing against rocks which could symbolise death or seclusion of people in the film, it could show a loss of hope. Then the typed up backstory with the films logo appears to show you what its about and what it is, then it moves along and shows you a clip to make you ask questions and get an insight as to how the film relates to the story it told you. It moves on to say the directors name and then shows an old tattered picture of a class which fades from black and white to colour. This is creepy and makes you think they're bringing back an old story which is usually connected with ghost stories and death.

 

 

 

Research and Practice

This video allowed us to extend our imaginations to use a predominant moving thing, in this case, feet, and allow them to contrast against the lighter floor. Furthermore allowing the shot to illuminate the artistic shot.

This shot allowed us to use the Rule of thirds and compare the positioning between a central and side aligned shot. By doing this we emphasised the importance of positioning 

This shot allowed us to use the Rule of thirds and compare the positioning between a central and side aligned shot. By doing this we emphasised the importance of positioning 

This over the shoulder shot was a classic shot that allowed us to confirm our knowledge on previous shot types we will use in future projects 

This shot is both successful and unsuccessful as it is bright and there is little contrast.

This wide angle shot allowed us to take in the surroundings whilst focusing on the inner movement within the shot, thus allowing us to confirm our knowledge of the wide shot.

This is a successful extreme close up shot of a face as it is shows emotion and clear facial expressions.

Research- Panic Room.

 

Panic Room:

Panic room follows majority if not all the key conventions regarding a thriller film and is made up of a slower editing pace. This eases the viewers in gradually which helps with the element of surprise, excitement and suspense which is vital when creating a thriller.

Music; Slow, quite light with a hint of darkness which gives us the impression that the story starts out okay but has a turn for the worst, when the title appears it gets bold and heavy which infers that the twist has something to do with the “Panic room.”

Special FX/Transitions: There weren’t any expect the text in the credits were lined up against buildings in a creative way.

Titles;

 

1) Production Company (IDENT.)

2) Director

3) Big name stars

4) Title

5) Supporting actors

 Buildings are shown to show contrast between the large spaces of the city compared to the small spaces within a Panic room.

 

 

Research- Thriller conventions

Thriller films usually consist of either quick and rapid cuts or longer and slower ones. This is useful because it automatically sets a pace for the film and both editing techniques create suspense in a contrasting way.

The conventions are;

Music: (Vital) Sets the mood. Establishes genre.

Impact on “SE7EN.”

*Atmospheric, helps build tension, menacing, oppressive and heavy weighted (Contrasts from “The shining.”)

Special FX/Transitions: (Optional but effective.) makes end result more exciting.

*Special effect in the text gave a chilly feeling to the film, the words had a “Shaky” effect gives us the idea of instability in the film regarding the plot/characters. Black text gives the feeling of darkness and morbidity. Red: Blood, and fire, indicating a passion for murder (Sub-genre could be horror.) and white text on a black background connotes a story of terror with a potential happy ending.

Title;

1)      Production company (IDENT)

2)      Director

3)      Big name stars

4)      Title

5)      Supporting actors

Opening: needs to hold on to the audience’s attention so that they still have the interest to continue watching without giving too much of the story away.

RESEARCH - How 'Se7en' follows the conventions of film openings

This film opening follows the key conventions of a thriller movie as it contains music which is creepy, robotic and distorted which establishes the genre of the film.
The distorted music also fits the disorient and shaky images and rapid cuts to random shots. The special effects are also crucial for this particular opening as the rapid cuts of random shots such as photographs and newspapers create a tense and/or suspicious atmosphere.

RESEARCH - Conventions of a thriller movie opening

SE7EN

Conventions of the movie opening 'SE7EN' are...

Music; 

Uncomfortable, creepy, atmospheric and intense. This sets the mood and illustrates the genre of the movie.

Special FX; 

Distorted and shaky effect goes along with the robotic/electronic music

Titles;

1. Production Company (Ident) i.e MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century and so forth.
2. Director
3. Movie name
4. Main stars of the movie, followed by other characters names

This is crucial as it sets the right atmosphere that is required to demonstrate that it is in fact, a thriller movie.   

Opening;

• Doesn't give too much of the plot away so the audience are drawn to the movie and want to see what happens
• Taking the audience into the narrative from the opening, for example 'The Shining' whereas 'Se7en' does not - even though these are different types of openings, they interest the audience in the same way
• Either fast or slow paced in thriller movies, to add the suspense and curiosity                                 

     

Research | Film Opening Conventions

Thriller Opening Conventions - 

MUSIC-
(This is an example from the opening sequence of The Shining)

• Sets the mood for the audience
• Creates a theme e.g. fast paced, slow paced etc.
• Creepy, uncomfortable, intense, heavy, suspenseful, atmospheric
• Tells you what genre the film will be. (Thriller)

TITLES-

• Names appearing onscreen
• Ident first e.g. Warner Brothers, MGM
• Directors name - shows they are the most important person
• Actors/Actress' - main characters, important people first
• Film Name - shows all of the previous makes this film, introduces you to the film and the first actual scene

OPENING- 

• Hooks an audience by showing them aspects of the film and plot
• Doesn't give away too much, just enough to make them want to watch it
• Sets the location and main character/important characters
• May give a scene to do with the narrative, showing an action and making you want to see how it ends or plays out and why it happened
• Slow or fast paced allows them to set a creepy feel that differs from other films, making then unique but put across the same feelings

EFFECTS-

• Special effects tell you about the film e.g. futuristic, old, digital, basic, country
• Vide effects like fades, jagged cuts, old film effects add a mood to it and allow you to get hooked on it.

The Shining - Opening Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgCejsyS0t8

The Shining Opening Scene

Opens with Warner Brothers - The company producing the film, iconic company
Birds eye opens the long scene moving through the scenery via birds eye

Very Iconic

Disturbing Music along with calm visual scenery creates an uneasy feeling for the audience

RESEARCH - Conventions of Thriller Openings

THE SHINING

Birds Eye:
Emphasises 'Bird of prey' for Jack's character
Ominous Music: 
Sets the film up for its genre + plot
Scenery:
Contrasts the peaceful scenery with the disturbance driving through it,
mirrors plot.

Opening Title:
Blue text contrasts against the autumnl/winter colours
Emphasises the age the film was made, not very modern
No Special FX