Opening credits.

I've been looking into some fonts to use for my opening credits.

Director Research.

Alfred Hitchcock.

Alfred Hitchock was a famous producer and director, born in England in 1899. He is most famous for directing the film Psycho, which is one of the worlds best known Thriller films, grossing around $32,000,000 in the US. 
Hitchcock pioneered many techniques in the suspense and Thriller movie genre's. After he became a well known director in british cinema producing silent movies and early talkies (sound film) he was renowned as England's best director. After this he and his family moved to the US.
It was around the 1920's when Hitchcock joined the film industry. He began his career drawing sets as he was a very skilled artist. 
He got his first opportunity to direct when the director of 'Always tell you wife' fell ill and Hitchcock was asked to direct the remainder of the movie. His talent was then noticed and he got a shot to direct a film from start to finish in 1992, the film was called 'Number 13'. However the film was never finished as the studio closed down. He then directed another film in 1927 called 'The pleasure garden' and finally directed his first Trademark film 'The Lodger' in the same year. After directing a few more films which gained an audience in both the UK and US. Hitchcock moved to America - Hollywood (1940). 
After the film Saboteur was released Alfred's career really took off. After that people began to refer to his films as his (Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho etc.). He had many Cameo roles in his films, such as being an extra, walking by or standing on the subway. 
In late 1979 Alfred was knighted making him Sir Alfred Hitchcock, but no even a whole year later he passed away in his sleep (29th April 1980).
His career had a span of over 50 years and he adopted his own directing style. 

Steven Spielberg. 

Past student thriller openings.

I watched some previous students work and analysed them, to see what kind of level i should be working at and what kind of things i should be including in my film. 

Behind The Net Curtains. 
This opening contains a enough of the codes and conventions to make the film a thriller however i feel it does not contain many C&C's.
The music is played throughout the entire duration of the opening and it is very bone chilling, sinister music. It makes me feel quite uncomfortable and i feel fits with the film very well.
The lighting is very un stereotypical of a thriller film as the lighting used is quite bright and usually the lighting in thriller films is dark and uses lots of high lighting and chiaroscuro. However i feel like breaking the convention worked well in this case because it contrasted with the emotion of the events currently taking place.
The use of a twist at the end plays on the audiences mind because we are lead to believe that the old lady is an evil, malicious killer. We are lead to believe this from the types of things she does, for example cooking liver and laughing hysterically at nothing in particular (that we can tell). However at the end she is pushed down the stairs so our idea of her changes and we suddenly feel sorry for her.
My main criticism of the opening is that i do not see how they would carry it on to make an entire film. It in itself seems more like a short film rather than an opening.



Deadline. 
This opening also only contains a few conventions of a Thriller film however the main plot is a 'deadline' which is a theme often explored or featured in thriller films. I feel that if it were to be carried on and made into a full length film the remainder of the film would be the father of the children who were murdered attempting to find out and seek revenge on the killer. so unlike the first film i wrote about i think this worked better to the task of making the opening because i can imagine the rest of the film in my head. Revenge is also another popular convention of thriller films.



Sinful. 
This is probably one of my favourites of the past students work. It features many codes and conventions needed to make a good thriller opening.
The music used near the end of the film when they have a nursery rhyme playing chills me to the bone. Nursery rhymes make me feel really uncomfortable, especially in those circumstances so that really made the opening for me. There is no speaking in this which i quite like because it didn't need words, the happenings were easy to follow and trying to add unnecessary lines of dialogue could have made the film seem cheesy.
They use lots of close ups which i think a very powerful, especially for that particular film. They helped you to concentrate.

Final Plan Feedback.

Positives:

• It's a great narrative because it could happen to anyone. 
• Excellent message. 
• Interesting plot idea. 
• Good message with an interesting plot. 
• Good idea. 

Negatives: 

• There is quite a bit to happen in the time period of two minutes. 
• Might be hard to maintain continuity over the week of filming. 
• Continuity? - webcam sequence. 
• Is there enough time to fit it all in? 
• Theres a lot to get through in just the opening. 
• Don't make murder too graphic as it could look to horror like. (think of thriller conventions and look how it cold be effectively portrayed.) 

Other comments: 

• Put 'based on a true story' at the beginning for extra effect. 

180 degree rule.

The  180 degree rule is a line of action which all genre's of films follow. 
This rule makes a person appear on the right side of the screen in every shot and another person (usually the one with the most power) appear on the left. 
You are not allowed to cross this line of action unless you can see the crossing of the line appear on camera. 

Video explaining further how the 180 degree rule works. 

Thriller survey results.

Final Idea.

What i have been up too.

Here is a short video to let you know what I've been up to for my research.

The Third Man reasearch.

Shots of Mise-En-Scene from The Third Man.

Thriller survey.

I conducted a survey to discover what people look for in thriller films. 

These were my questions: 

Thriller advert.

Wanted: Do you have a shady past and lots of issues which could help you perform countless criminal acts without feelings of worry or regret? Do you enjoy lurking down dark alleys and spying on people from the shadows?  Then we need you. We are looking for a middle aged man with facial hair, a deep voice and an extended vocabulary. You must own your own trench coat and hat and you must be able to perform crimes with as little evidence left behind as possible. Are you capable of plotting kidnappings and heists?  Are you handy with a gun and your ability to slip through the police's fingers. Then you are perfect for us. 

Codes and conventions of Thriller Films.

Here is a list of codes and conventions traditional to thriller films. It is useful to consider these whilst planning for you own.



Characters: 

• Femme Fatale. 
• Police. 
• Innocent victims. 
• Psychopaths. 
• Convicts. 
• Investigators. 

Sound: 

• Tense music.
• Silence. 
• Exaggerated sounds. - Tyre screeches, doors opening etc... 
• Diagetic - In the movie, characters can hear it. 
• Non - diagetic - Added in afterwards. 

Editing: 

• Fast pace. 
• Slow pace. 
• Parallel editing. 
• Jump cuts. 
• Bullet time. 
• Over cranking. 
• Under cranking. 

Lighting: 

• Dark. 
• Mysterious. 
• Night time/ evening. 
• Back lighting (silhouette).
• Chiaroscuro (Side lighting).
• High lighting (usually eyes).

Costume: 

• Police outfits. 
• 'skimpy' outfits for Femme Fetale. 
• Good guys - Light colours (white) 
• Bad - Dark colours (Black) 

Camera work: 

• Tracking shot.
• Point of view shot. 
• Low angle and high angle shot - Shows power. 
• Close ups and extreme close up's - Show emotion. 
• Mid shot - Show emotion and body language. 

Themes: 

• Chase/ pursuit. 
• Red herrings. 
• Time/ deadline. 
• 'Whodunit' effect. 
• Ransoms. 
• Kidnapping. 
• Murder. 
• Investigations. 
• Heists. 
• Revenge. 
• ENIGMA. 
• Mystery. 
• Stalking. 
• Flash backs. 
• Race against time.