Analysis of our Film Title

At first, My group and I had two working titles for our thriller namely,

• Pursuit
• Animus

We first felt that Pursuit was the better choice with it being straight-forward and easy to understand in relation to the film as the story is basically a cat and mouse chase between the protagonist and the antagonist but we considered it to be plain and bit cliché as most thrillers are like that.

 

We decided to name the thriller Animus, which means a feeling of animosity; ill will. It is a more intriguing and mysterious name, as people do know the meaning of it when it first appears to them, we wanted potential viewers to go out and research the meaning of this film before they would go and watch it.

 

We believe it is a good title and fits in well with the themes and meanings of the film.

My Studio Ident

The Studio Ident I personally made for our Thriller Opening.

Lighting Exercise

Here is a lighting exercise we did in class showing the different effects 

lights have when used in different ways.

Speed of Editing

 Speed of Editing

One thing to focus on when editing shots is how long the each shot will last for.

In films, each scene may last for matter of seconds or continue for some minutes but the length of each shot determines how fast the pace the film is and could help in telling the mood of what is taking place on screen.

Quick editing, frequent changing of shots, could help in making the audience feel anxious and a create a sense of suspense.This could be used extensively in action scenes or shot depicting a race against time.

If the mood is relaxed and chilled, senses will usually last longer and change less frequently. This could be used in romantic or comedic scene. 

There are some films that do not have not been edited at all such as the Russian Ark (2002) was

filmed in one take although it required split-second timing and high level of organisation to film.

Trailers

This is a short filmed advertisement/preview for a film.

For a trailer to be effective at enticing potential viewers to go and watch it, it has to be packed with detail from start to finish, this therefore requires the editing from shot to shot to be very fast.

Speed of Editing

Scenes at the beginning of a film are usually quite long and editing between shots being slow so viewers are able to understand the where the story is taking place, introduce characters and explain what is actually going on.

 

As the film prgresses scenes may become shorter as the editing cuts between telling two or more storylines at the same time.

Target Audience

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Shot List, Locations and Schedules

 

Opening scene

Sequence 1 - Location 1 – Waste yard-22nd January 2014

Suspense music played throughout with each shot accompanied by a loud booming sound

Shot 1: High Angle shot from behind Trevor in the chair
Shot 2: Long shot diagonal from Trevor in the chair
Shot 3: Long shot opposite picture 2 on a diagonal slant from the chair
Shot 4: Long shot directly in front of Trevor in the chair, dissolve into
First shot at the next location

 

Sequence 2 - Location 2 – Cutty Sark-14th January 2014

Shot 1: Pan shot from Cutty Sark onto Trevor in front of the Thames
Shot 2: Over the shoulder shot of Alex walking towards Trevor while he looks out towards the Thames
Shot 3: Medium shot of Trevor turning around to establish Alex’s presence.
Shot 4: Medium shot of the two men shaking hands on encounter

Shot 5: Low angle/long shot diagonally behind Trevor of Alex saying something to Trevor

Shot 6: Over the shoulder shot of Alex producing envelope from inside his Suit Pocket

Shot 7: Close up of envelope exchange between the two men

Shot 8: Over the shoulder shot of Trevor’s reaction to him passing him the envelope

Shot 9: Long shot of Trevor walking away from Alex while Alex looks in his direction

Shot 10: Medium shot of Alex standing emotionless pulls out his phone and types something
Dissolve back to Location 1

Sequence 3 - Location 1 – Waste land

Follow on from sequence 1 picture 4

Shot 1: Long/Medium shot of Trevor on chair, closer than S1 pic 4

Dissolve to location 3

Sequence 4 – Location 3 – Trevor’s house-3rd January 2014

Open from dissolve

Shot 1: Over the shoulder shot of the envelope on Trevor’s coffee Table
Shot 2: Extreme Close Up of the word “Confidential” on the envelope and Trevor removes envelope from the screen
Shot 3: Medium shot of Trevor examining and opening up the envelope to read a letter, looks off camera with a wave of apprehension/uncertainty in his face

Straight cut to Location 1

Sequence 5 – Location 1 – Waste Yard

Follow on from sequence 3 picture 1

Shot 1: Camera directly on Trevor in the chair closer than S3 pic 1

Straight cut to Trevor at location 3

Sequence 6 – Location 3 – Trevor’s House

Shot 1: Medium shot of Trevor taking jacket off the hook and putting it on
Shot 2: High angle shot of Trevor walking towards and opening the door
Shot 3: Long/Medium shot of Trevor coming through the door on the outside
Shot 4: Close up on Trevor looking left and right on his doorstep
Shot 5: Pan shot of Trevor walking out of his front garden
Shot 6: Long shot of Trevor walking towards the camera until he gets close enough so that it becomes a close up and then Trevor is punched by a hand from off screen

Straight cut to Location 1

Sequence 7 – Location 1 – Waste land

Shot 1: Close up of blooded Trevor on the chair and then being punched from off screen from the audiences’ right by Claudius

Shot 2: Low angle/Long/Medium shot from Trevor’s right of him falling off the chair

Shot 3: Medium shot of Trevor being dragged across the floor by Claudius towards the car in the background

Shot 4: Medium shot of Trevor further being dragged from the perspective of the side of the car

Shot 5: High angle diagonal shot of Trevor being propped up against the car by Claudius
Shot 6: Medium shot on the opposite side of the high angle shot of Trevor on the car
Shot 7: Medium shot behind Claudius of him making a punching gesture and Trevor falling to the side by the car
Shot 8: Low angle shot of Trevor being dragged by Claudius towards the boot of the car

Shot 9: Medium shot of Claudius partially blocked by the car seemingly placing Trevor in the boot
Shot 10: Low angle shot of Claudius producing a gun and as the camera pans away there a loud bang of a gunshot. The sound of the boot being closed is heard and then the car begins to drive off. As it gets far enough away, the camera pans back to Claudius staring straight ahead holding the gun at his side, he turns around and walks away. There is a fade shot into the title of our film.

Thriller Conventions

Thriller Coventions and Key Components

In the genre 'thriller', devices such as suspense,tension and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers also try to stimulate the viewer's moods, often giving audiences a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty,suprise and anxiety.
Usually thrillers are fast- paced, adrenaline and gritty.

The primary elements of the thriller genre:

• The protagonist faces a terrible fate or death.
• The antagonist is usually more powerful and/or clever than the protagonist, it is up to the protagonist to over come the obstacles set by the antagonist.
• The quest set for the protagonist is usually one that is forced upon him, he can not back out of it/
• The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
• The narrative is usaually told from the protagonist's point of view, focusing on his experiences and reactions to the events in the story.
• The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
• One essential factor, which is often unnoticed, is that the protagonist is portrayed as innocence in a more or less corrupt/dark world.  
• The protagonist and antagonist may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
• Either by accident or their own curiousness, each character is dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.

Protagonist are often characters who lead normal, ordinary lives, which do not encounter risk or danger whereas antagonists are usually powerful criminals, assassins, stalkers or any powerful influence.

Some Key Components of A Thriller

Macguffin
This is an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion but in reality it does not have any self value or importance.

Red Herring
This is a clue which is unimportant but is used to stop people from noticing or thinking about something important in the story. It is used to distract viewer from the real culprit, it could be a character that has the traits of the culprit, only to discover later that he/she is innocent.

Enigma
This is a question, character or action, which is thrown into the thriller to make audiences think and answer why it was done. It is usually hard to explain or answer at first but gradually the answer is revealed throughtout the thriller.

Suspense
This is a feeling or state of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen. Thrillers can cause this happening by adding a sense of mystery in narrative such as knowing that the protagonist has a limited amount of time to perfom a task, usally set by the antagonist.

Cliff hanger
Ofren thrillers end on cliff hangers, this means that the future for charcters after the events in the story is unresolved or certain;this leaves the audience eager to know what wiil happen next.

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

This is a system of editing using cutting to maintain a continuous and clear narrative action by following a set of rules.
There is also a consistency of characters and events as scenes look the same as before and the cutting from scene to scene seems to be 'invisible' as it is not consciously noticed by the viewer.

Some media texts may have flashbacks and flash forwards but the narrative will still have a realistic or expected progression forward.

There are certain rules to follow when editing for continuity:

1.Eye-line Match

2.Match on Action

3.Graphic Match

4.180 Degree Rule

5.Shot/Reverse Shot

6.Establishing Shot

Eye-line Match

A cut between two shots, in which we see a character looking at something off screen in the first shot and in the second shot, we see object that the character was looking at or a person looking back in exactly in the opposite.

Match on Action

Also a cut between two shots, showing a character start an action in the first shot and see them continue that same action in the next shot.

Graphic Match

When two shots are linked with a similar shape or composition of an image.

180 Degree Rule

This is a basic rule that states that the angle between two consecutive shots should not exceed 180 degrees, the characters in the scene should always maintain the same left/right relationship to each other. 

If the camera passes that 180° line that is connecting the two characters/objetcts, it is called crossing the line.

Shot/Reverse Shot

Two shots are edited in a way that the two alternate characters are shown having a conversation or argument. The characters in one shot are looking left and in the other looking right.

Establishing Shot

A long shot or extreme long shot, which is designed to show the viewer where the action is taking place.