Wednesday 17 December 2014

Winter Soldier opening analysis

After analysing 'Se7en' Benoit decided to analyse a more modern and generic action-thriller. Having watched he Winter Soldier before I can tell this film is much different to Se7en in terms of it's tone, narrative and effect on the audience due to it's difference in generic conventions. This is due to thrillers being a very broad genre with many alterations of hybrid genres, giving our group a lot of choice when we move forwards into planning.
Similarly to the opening of 'Se7en' the key conventions used have an affect of building suspense; suggesting this will be very important in the opening of our thriller. Therefore despite the narrative, sound, and tone being differing between each thriller, as the opening builds suspense it can be classed as a thrilling opening.

Opening Sequence analysis to "The Winter Solider"




"The Winter Solider" is a recent example of take on the hybrid thriller genre that incorporates both action and thriller conventions order to effectively execute a thrilling story of espionage  surrounding a super soldier working for a classified government agency is being hunted for treason.

The opening sequence to the film occurs during a search & rescue mission aboard a ship occupied by french pirates.
Directors Antony & Joe Russo boldly presented the audience with an introduction to the protagonist of the film whilst teasing the direction of the story whilst keeping the audience engaged and entertained throughout the duration of the sequence; effectively conveying its hybrid tones of action and suspense.    

The ways in which the film-makers achieves their inclusions on not only the thriller genre but on action and suspense which they emulated through various techniques.




Within the opening sequence, the film-makers built suspense by playing with both digetic and non-digetic sounds within the scene.
By adjusting digetic sounds such as footsteps by lowering the volume this allows the protagonist to seem as if he is sly and anonymous; it creates suspense due to the fact that the audience are witnessing the acts committed in the scene through the protagonist's perspective.




There by increasing the level of audio of the digetic sounds at a moment for example when the protagonist is in a conflict between the pirates, the sudden and thrilling impact of the physical punches or kicks are then emphasised a great deal due to the built up of anticipation and tension building to such a moment then plays a toll on the way in which the audience responses which is by being entertained whilst being thrilled at the stealth combat presented on screen.

In my opinion whilst watching this sequence it's most effective use of this technique of playing with digetic sounds was in the brief moment where the protagonist throws blade through a pirate's hand.
The various sounds of the blade flying through the air and its moment on impact were detailed and empathised due to the great deal of silence delivered by the minimal use of non-digetic sounds which ultimately helped exaggerate the harshness and shock of the blade piercing through the pirate's hand.




The ways in which the film-makers presented the action within the sequence is by primarily using medium shots in order to provide the audience with a close view to the harsh and brutal actions being committed which is enforced through the use of quick cuts from shot to shot as a way of emphasising the fast pace of both the sequence and of the fast movements of the protagonist whilst establishing his slick and stealthy manner.



This opening sequence was ultimately effective in regards to providing the audience with teases towards the directions to where the story may be heading whilst driving the audience's attention through thrilling action sequences in order for them to remain engaged; which the directors achieved through clever techniques which I have in fact noticed and realised it's effect towards the representation of the scenes.
Overall this opening sequence was a creative take on the hybrid thriller genre infusing both thriller with action.

Se7en opening analysis


For part of our group research we were given the task of analysing the opening to multiple thrillers. Benoit took up this task and we began to discuss which films he would analyse. We decided on the film 'Se7en' due to it's definite 'thriller' genre and bold & unique opening. After reading Benoit's analysis and watching the opening and film for myself, I decided that the colouring and cinematography was very impressive. I would like to repeat this convention of keeping the colour pallet to a minimum in our opening along with low-key lighting. Comments on the editing and sound also offer conventions our group might use to create a more suspenseful and thrilling opening.
Overall, these analysis's have offered a great deal of understanding and opportunity to our group, with multiple ideas that we are most likely to repeat in the making of our opening.


Opening Sequence analysis to "Seven"


As I have commenced my duty in regards to gathering research and for-filling my task ; I have explicitly chosen to analysis the opening title sequence to a film that practically defined the thriller genre to this generation of cinephiles "Seven" is my first piece of research.



A film that is directed by David Fincher; a film-maker who has truly mastered the craft of shaping a thriller that perfectly embodies conventions expected from the genre such as building suspense and tension through both visual imagery and sound that reflect the emotions and characteristics the story acquires in order to embody the form of thriller that the director intended which is in fact a "crime thriller".

The opening to the film has been stylised to be in the form of a title sequence that contains various frames displaying graphic and disturbing imagery ultimately making for an effective opening sequence to a film of the thriller genre.


The title sequence is remarkable in the way in which it captivates and engages the audience's attention through the effective visuals within the sequence with the inclusion of none-diegetic sounds that really help play as a benefactor in regards to teasing a dark and gritty yet thrilling story.

The non-digetic sound included within the sequence beautifully blends with the visuals casted besides the musical track due to the profound nature of the music bestowing this eerie and sinister vibe towards the sequence causing the audience to perceive from the tone emitting from the visuals but primarily supported with the soundtrack; this film will indeed be have very dark and unsettling story that will of course thrill you beyond your expectation. The music achieves this through the use of metallic sounds which are produced by the consistent sound of the high-hat of a bass drum in in addition to the digitally created sounds in order to create a feeling of distortion and insanity.



The way in which the director has chosen to shoot these images is effective due to the nature and meaning conveyed by the symbolism within the frame; primarily is due to the fact that most of the shots are framed with an "extreme close up" of a particular object which in addition the film-maker has enhanced the audience's focus on the images presented to them by playing with the depth of field of the shot. The effects of this technique is to draw the audience's attention away from anything within the sequence that my deprive them of their attention towards the shot but to focus their attention on a certain object such as the book in the shot within the sequence. This tests the audience's ability to depict meaning and symbolism from the object in order for them to retrieve information in regards to the story; ultimately testing and preparing the audience for the psychological and thrilling story awaiting to be told after the opening title sequence has introduced valued and insightful information in regards to how in fact the director may choose to tell his story. Another way in which the editor has contributed to the concept is through the editing and pacing of the sequence; due to the vast pace of the sequence causing the audience to witness brief but memorable glimpses of these disturbing contents allowing the audience to not only further test their ability to remember details that may be need within the story but to justify that the overall tone and feel of the film's story will rely the gritty and dark nature of the crime. 

The gritty and dark nature of the story is also teased in the opening of the film through the cinematography of the sequence.
Through the inclusion of few dark colours connotes the idea of discomfort and evil due to the murky look in which the film-makers has delivered to the audience. This was important to note due to the idea that audiences naturally infer indexical meanings associate with colours depicted from the shot. Therefore this was intriguing to me simply because it established that they're many aspect of within the frame must be planned thoroughly in order to ensure that the audience are not misinterpreting any aspects of the opening to our opening sequence.  



In regards to the way in which the director has chosen to consistently use "extreme close ups" for the entire sequence is remarkably compelling due to the ideas surrounding the use of this particular shot type and the impact it must have in relation to the audience's psychological response to this.



The way this shot type has been used throughout this opening sequence draws the allusion of a obscure form of intimacy due to the close proximity in which these shot are taken which may reflect the audience's feelings discomforted and uneasy about the detail they are able to witness from these disturbing images.

Ultimately this is an effective opening due to the fact that it achieves its purpose in regards to teasing the audience on what to expect from the story and convey the overall tone and ideas to later further elaborate throughout the duration of the film.

The analysis of the opening of this film was very helpful in regards to my research due to the fact that it has informed me on technical aspects associated with the film-making process such as camera movement,framing,editing and sound must all be executed in the specific way in order to achieve the type of thriller you wish to deliver; overall this provided me with a insightful look in the many ways in which an opening to a film of the thriller genre can be executed. 

I look forward to analysing opening sequences to other films and understanding the ways in which those directors have chosen to execute their take on the thriller genre.

Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory

Throughout both courses, I have found it beneficial to study how different social groups are presented through media. Therefore our work in Miss Brown's lesson on the study of social groups can cross over into our research because by featuring social groups we are also commenting on the whole group. Therefore we could wither follow or avoid generic conventions in order to change or follow the stereotypes of the groups we feature. Here I took a look at the theory of the 'male gaze'; a theory which comments on gender and how it's represented in film-making.

Laura Mulvey was a theorist who studied and compared how both genders (male/female) are represented in society. She argued that men often think of themselves as the more dominant and important of the two genders. Most importantly, Mulvey constructed the theory that men aim to create a society where women are of a lower dominance and males are supreme.


After looking at many film clips from various film genres it was made clear that this theory does have strong proof. Most films featuring women represent them as more of a love interest or possession. To achieve this, directors commonly focus on the curves and sexual features of a woman with little action or responsability in achieving the re-equilibrium.


Mulvey's theory confirms this as she stated a womans role in a film is to:


  • To be an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view.
  • As an erotic object for the audience to view.



However, in some films a female is cast as the main protagonist, such as Kill Bill, where Uma Thurman plays an extremely dominant role - breaking some stereotypes Therefore the audience see her as more of a masculine character through the use of various conventions. Despite this, her character is treated like an object throughout the film to create realism in our society; even though she is not a typical woman, men continue to view her as weak. In effect, this only emphasises the directors point that women should not be treated as weaker or less dominant and that women are often misjudged in society.




Wednesday 10 December 2014

Titanic essay and improvement






Titanic clip analysis

After having the Dr Who essay marked I decided to look back at the previous essay we had written. Here I realised how the planning was a lot more basic and unorganised. However it did feature some important conventions such as how colour can connote different tones.
With the method I use now to write notes I can fit in many more notes and locate the points I require much faster, which will be very beneficial in my exam. Moreover, by knowing what to look for when analysing a clip, I will know what is important to include in opening which will result in helping our final piece of work.


Representation of gender - clip evaluation

From my essay I achieved a low band four. For a higher band four mark I must improve on every point, despite just scraping all of them. I believe to achieve this I must write more content in more detail and develop my points.

From this task I have learned how the exam takes place and have a better understanding of how to achieve a high mark. By repeating these mock essays I will hopefully be more prepared for the exam.

I also discovered through completing this essay, that a lot more goes into media than I first anticipated. For example, each part of mis-en-scene can be analysed in a shot and had some affect on the audience. Therefore I will have to consider every single detail when making the opening, as well as just camera shots and dialogue. I feel that by improving on my deconstruction of slips from television and cinema, I may be able to achieve a higher quality opening as we will understand the techniques necessary a lot clearer.


Representation of gender - essay and improvement

Before writing my essay I read the mark scheme to understand what I needed to include. I understood that the main goal in the essay was to relate detailed points back to the discussion topic. Therefore I spoke mostly about the conventions used throughout the clip which could be linked in to how gender is presented. I then explained their effect on the audience and why the makers might be presenting gender in that way.



Representation of gender - clip analysis

In our lessons with Miss Brown we are currently watching video clips from TV and film. We then record ways in which the makers have used conventions to present topics in a certain way. In our first lesson on this we looked at a clip from Dr Who and how gender was presented. We each then filled out a grid that would help us to write a full essay later on.


Overview of important camera angles

In order to further my understanding of camera shots we looked more specifically at some of the basic shots used in film. I found these definitions extremely helpful as well as the numerous camera shot definitions that are featured in the revision booklet. I believe that in our final piece we could create a convincing and engaging opening by just using these shots alone. However, we may use various others shots that possibly make the opening even more thrilling or unique.


Camera shots in The Good The Bad and The Ugly

To further my understanding of camera shots in cinema, I took a look at one of my favourite scenes from 'the good,the bad, and the ugly'. I looked at various camera shots and noted their effect on the audience


From this task I achieved a better understanding of how different camera shots can represent a character or event. Thankfully, the director, Sergio Leone, uses a variety of shots to build suspense throughout his films. Therefore this further understanding of camera shots will be very beneficial when my group and I are planning our opening. Moreover, I learnt that by included a variety of shots the film-maker can achieve a film that is far more engaging to the audience, where as films with repeated shots will appear dull and monotonous to the audience. 

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Animatic review (group discussion)

After creating our 'terror in the night' storyboard and animatic we decided to review it in a group discussion:


I believe the most valuable benefit of achieving this task was to see how changing the narrative would change the overall short film. We discovered that by changing the order of shots and narrative of the story, it can become more or less engaging. However in order to enable the audience to follow the story, the order of shots must reveal plot points in an easy to follow way. This therefore risks the audience not understanding certain plot points or character arcs, but if done correctly, can make the experience much more impacting.

Through this task my group also learnt how parts of the planning process worked. We now have a better understanding of how we can plan our final opening, visualise it, share ideas, and therefore make any necessary changes.

Monday 17 November 2014

What is/makes a thriller? #2

After researching the similarities of thrillers and conventions used throughout all thrillers I feel we are ready to apply this to our planning. We can now discuss the options we have for our thriller as we are aware of the conventions we must include for our final piece and have a clearer direction to follow through our planning.

One most significant discoveries through research is that thrillers are often hybrid-genres with another genre e.g. horror, action, adventure etc... Through knowing this we are able to take our planning in many different directions. However, to ensure we keep the project a hybrid-genre there are conventions of thrillers we must include for the final piece.

The plot often revolves around a main conflict which each character is involved with, directly or indirectly. This pulls the characters together creating multiple character arcs which help the audience to engage and sympathise for them. As a result the audience experiences more emotion which is by definition; the main focus of a thriller. In order to keep the opening thrilling suspense must be creating through varying the length of shots: long slow shots to build suspense followed by fast paced action shots to create a thrilling climatic arc to the story.



The conflicts featured in thrillers often contain a violent motive such as: kidnapping, ransom, a heist, crime or revenge. This fuels the film making it more exciting for the audience as well as giving opportunities for tones which are emotionally engaging. Moreover if a scene is well executed and the audience is made to empathise or feel good for a character affected by the violence then the event can be made extremely thrilling and engaging. However if there is no emotional engagement from the character to the audience then the violence may seem unnecessary; possibly disturbing the audience.

Monday 10 November 2014

Group animatic

For a class project our group constructed a storyboard for the introduction of an opening to a horror thriller. The aim of this project was to see how the order of camera shots and change in narrative can effect the tone of the film:


We then decided to evaluate different parts of the project in a group in order to understand the ways in which narrative can affect an audience and how the film reacts when it's changed:

Sunday 9 November 2014

Mis-en-scène

Through our lessons with Miss Brown we are understanding different conventions film-makers use in television and cinema. As a result, my group and I will have a much better understanding of the different factors which go into making our opening.

Mis-en-scene is everything that goes into a scene or frame, we can break this down into six elements to help us analyse them in more detail. These elements are:

- Settings and props.
- Costumes, hair and makeup.
- Facial expressions and body language.
- Lighting.
- Colour.
- Positioning of characters/objects within the frame.

Settings help create/build expectations for the audience; these can also establish a situation.

Costumes can establish a characters lifestyle/career.

Facial expressions can express a lot about that characters thoughts and feelings.

Lighting can draw the audiences attention to a particular character/object and give tone to the character, object or setting.

Different colours have many connotations that may be reflected in the situation or character.

Positioning of characters/objects often represents their authority in the shot, this can change throughout the scene as characters gain/lose power.

So far in this course I have found that understanding mis-en-scene is one of the most valuable and interesting lessons. Now, when watching a film, I can decipher how the film-maker has positioned items or people in the frame in order to express tone or represent a relationship between characters. Ultimately, this will help us when planning our shots and deciding what to include in each shot as using mis-en-scene is an easy and creative way of expressing something to the audience.

Camera angles


In one media lesson we looked more deeply into camera angles and how they're used in film and television. As well as being able to define different types of shot; I am now also able to interpret why a particular camera angle is used and how it effects the audience.

For example, the distance from a character/object the shot is taken has many connotations. Long-shots and extreme long-shots are often used to establish a setting or more than one character in a scene, where as medium-shots, close-ups and extreme close-ups enable the audience to focus on the character/object featured in the shot; this helps to signify the emotion and further meaning of the character.



The angle at which a shot is taken also reflects the tone that a character acquires. High-angles on a character allude that the character is below the audience, making them look smaller and therefore weaker or of lower authority. Opposing this are low-angles, the audience is then looking up towards a character connoting they are of high authority and power in the shot.



As well as just the angle and length of shots, the movement of shots is also very important. Tracking shots follow an object suggesting that the audience should pay attention to it as it's important. Similarly, ariel shots follow an object but from above the object.
Tilt shots feature a stationary camera that tilts to reveal an object. This helps signify the scale/perspective of something to the audience. Furthermore the 'reveal' part of the shot is often used to shock the audience as the object is shown. Much like tilt shots, pan shots are stationary cameras that move to reveal objects. However panning moves horizontally as oppose to vertically to create suspense or represent distance.



Monday 3 November 2014

What is/makes a thriller? #1

What is a thriller?

A thriller, by definition, is a novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage.

Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewers moods through creating suspense and great anticipation; engaging the audience. Through creating a high amount of suspense, the film-maker can manipulate the audience to feel shocked, frightened or excited.

There are many sub genres such as: crime-thriller, action-thriller, sic-fi-thriller and horror-thrillers. This gives my group and I a lot of flexibility with the content we can shoot for our opening. However, we must ensure the conventions used throughout all the sub genres are used, ensuring our opening remains of the thriller genre. For this to happen we must use various conventions; so long as they create tension and suspense to thrill the audience.

What's included in a thriller?


Events are often repeated throughout different films in the 'thriller' genre, including: heists, kidnappings, revenge, ransom etc...
These events are often accompanied by similar plot-lines and characters. This allows for a safe guarantee that the film would be successful in having the same effects of a thriller.




The primary elements of a thriller:
  • The protagonist faces death, either his and/or her or somebody else's.
  • The force of the antagonist's must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.
  • The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character that cannot be put down.
  • The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
  • The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
  • All action and characters must be credibly realistic or natural in their representation on screen.
  • The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
  • One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt 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.

Monday 13 October 2014

Binary opposites

Binary opposition is a theory that originated from two French theorists; Claude Levi-Strausse and Roland Barthes. The theory states that reality can inly exist in the form of ideas, and most importantly, everything comes from something else. For example, the reason we know what 'hot' is is only possible because we also know what 'cold' is. I do believe this theory as it is proven correct in all cases I can think of, especially in film. For example, a villain in a film is only unmoral because the audience know what moral is.




The theorists go on to explain how we, as humans, do this subconciously, that binary opposition is the basic way we learn to understand what things are. As a result all peoples understandings of all things are shaped and determined by knowing what other things are.

Monday 22 September 2014

The Horror Cycle

In todays lesson we were introduced to how the impact of social and psychological forces in films affect society and the audiences feelings. The idea that the Horror genre is in a cycle suggests that the horror genre is now repetitive and continuous, however it has not always been this way:

In the 1930's horror genre in films was initially formed through films such as 'Nosferatu' and 'Frankenstein'. Most horrors in the 1930's through to the 1940's included a Monster and a very similar narrative, which would eventually become repetitive and boring to an audience; desensitising the audience. . Therefore in the 1950's films introduced aliens to horror films; creating the irrational fear that monsters could come from outer space as well as just the outside world.

Eventually this genre became repetitive again forcing a new change in the genre of horror films, and this film came with the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film: Psycho. Hitchcock redefined the whole horror genre in multiple ways through his revolutionary directing style. One of the most effective changes he made to the genre was setting the film in a simple house with a murderer who seemed harmless to most people. I can see how this change greatly impacted the industry as the irrational fear of being unsafe from certain things was now exaggerated dramatically; nowhere and nobody is safe. Audiences were left in fear and running out of the theatres when the movie was first released as before 'Psycho' no movie had ever been as horrifying. In addition the changes to characters and setting, Hitchcock played with desensitisation further by making subtle changes to things audiences were used to seeing in the real world. For example he sped up the fps of the clouds moving and filmed water moving anti-clockwise down the plug-hole; toying with the audiences comfort. As a result of these minor and major changes to the genre being so effective in cinemas, some devices used and the film as a whole is extremely iconic.



Moving onto the 1970's horror films began to feature gore a lot more, films like this were labelled as 'slashers'. Films such as 'Driller Killer' and 'Hitcher' were two of the original slashers. Further on in the 80's the 'Film Nightmare on Elms St.' took the idea of insecurity and danger into our dreams. This again had a huge impact on society as audiences were left in fear of going to sleep.

Finally this cycle was coming to an end through into the 90's as most areas that horror movies could venture had been explored already. Horror films made since the 90's until present are often recreated genres that have already been established, for example the 'Saw' series is a throwback to the slasher genre. The most significant evolution in the past 20 years of horror films is that 'teen-horrors' are much more popular. However these 'teen-horrors' often recycle a phase of horror films from the past, but appeal to a younger audience and aim to entertain the audience as oppose to put them in fear. By doing this I feel horrors made in the present are slightly mocking classic horrors.


Sunday 14 September 2014

Introduction to genre

Throughout the first week of media lessons I was introduced to the subject and what we would be studying. I learnt multiple ways media is used and what is used to achieve, mostly in film but also in other areas such as in TV & education in schools. One of the main areas of media we focused on during the week, and will continue to study over the course.

The first big ambiguous question our class was faced with was “What is genre?” Which at first I believed to be quite simple. Previous to this lesson I had always assumed ‘genre’ was simply the main groups pieces of media ,such as films, are categorised into e.g. Horror and action. However I have now learned that the term ‘genre’ is much broader and how many pieces of media can be grouped in to multiple genres.

To further my understanding of genres we looked at the similarities within different genres. Part of this was looking back on how films have used genre over the years. Back when Hollywood films were first being made in the early-mid 1900’s each film fell into a very specific genre such as romance, and most romances would have many similarities including cast, narrative and Mise en scène to allow the audience to familiarise with the film. In affect when someone wanted to watch a romance they often saw exactly what they expected to see, this resulted in having satisfied customers; making the movie more successful.

However as more and more films were produced audiences would eventually get bored of seeing such similar films, therefore when a genre was becoming less popular more successful genre’s would be produced. This system still continues in todays film-making, however genres are not as definite now and most audiences are more satisfied after seeing a unique and entertaining film, often with a twist on what they were expecting.

In addition to this we studied not only how movie genres determine how they are successful commercially, but how they affect the audience through re-presenting real life lessons and laws. For example if the villain in a film commits a crime they are often punished before the end and the hero is rewarded; this re-presents how in real life if a person is to commit a crime there will be consequences. One pout that was brought up through this discussion was that there may be a correlation between peoples actions and what is shown in films; some crimes have been though to be influenced through violence in films/video-games. Personally, I believe there is some relation because some of my opinions and thoughts have been influenced through what I’ve seen in the media e.g. the clothes I wear, the music I listen to etc…


So far what I have learned in media is far more interesting than I was previously expecting after only the first week. I am mostly keen to look deeper into the whole concept of media plays a part on the publics daily lives and views, including my own, and I hope there is much more to learn throughout the course.