Conventions of an opening sequence

Any thriller opening sequence always has similar techniques to others. A thriller's opening sequence includes this following things to make it a successful good thriller film:
- Eerie music
-Alot of close ups
-Hide crucial information from the audience
-Could include flashbacks
-Set the opening sequence in reverse order
-Twists
-Mystery's
-Something unexpected

Conventions of a Thriller Genre

In todays lesson we were introduced to the new brief which was to create the following: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last maximum of 2 minutes. We was also handed our As Media Mmark scheme and discussed as a class that every part of the brief mentioned above needs to be at a excellent standard grding level 4's in each Research, Planning, Practical work and Evaluation.

We then expolred the conventions of a thriller, after establishing the difference between a thriller and a horror as they are very similar. An example of a major difference between the two genres was as followed; Thrillers have crime and murders withing but the audience is prevented from seeing this. The audience is made to feel scared and have to interpret what happened or is happening themselves. They need to be wanting t ask lot of questions and work out the mysteries alone(for a more sophisticated viewer).
Horrors on the other hand, make it very clear to the audience their murder and grime scenes, with extremely exaggerated movement. The audience is able to take it all in at once and not need to work anything out (for a less sophisticated viewer).

The conventions of a thriller:
- Jumpy at times
- Unexpected
- Suspence / Tension
- Up tempo music / Eary
- Spies / Detectives
- Dark / Night time
- Violence
- Questions?
- Shock
- Mist / Fog
- Crime
- Victims
- Actions
- Intelllegent / Sophisticated characters
- Split personalities

Analysis of Memento (Nolan, 2000, US) 15

Memento is a thriller film which includes all of the conventions of a typical thriller film. These things are the use of cinematography, sound, editing and mise-en-scene. Another crucial element that a thriller film must do is make us ask questions when we are watching the opening sequence. They hide information.

Cinematography:

• Close ups of the crime scene to hide information of the surroundings
• Close ups of the weapons
• In the opening sequence the main types of shots that we see are close ups. The reason for this is because they want to make the audience ask questions about what is going on.
• Camera shots vary so that the audience are intrigued into the movie and what to know more.

Sound:

• Eerie music being played within the titles
• The bed of music in the background builds up tension to get the audience engaged into the screen
• The music that we here being played gives off a sense of sadness
• Hyperbolic sounds

Editing:

• We are shown the opening sequence in reverse order
• This is typical of most thrillers because they try and confuse and twist the minds of the audience
• Black out when the man gets shot. Unexpected.

Mise-en-scene:

• The picture that the man is holding is slightly tilted
• This could represent that something is not right
• This could then relate to the person holding the picture that something could not be right about him and later on in the film we find out that he has an illness
• The blood dripping down the walls shows violence

What questions does the opening sequence make us ask?

1. There is blood on the floor but how did it get there?
2. What the picture is that he is holding?
3. Why is the opening sequence in reverse order?
4. Why did he kill the man?
5. Who is he?

The reason I like the above parts is because I was intrigued when watching the beginning of this film. These were the sections that stood out, really caught my eye and made me want to watch more.

The Brief

The brief of this course is to create titles and an opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 2 minutes.

Including, Research and Planning, Practical work and Evaluation.

I shall be working with Paige Arnold and Nathan Kent.

My Preliminary Task

Evaluation

WWW : We included all sections of continuity editing and have a finished piece that each of us are pretty much proud of
EBI : We had a better storyboard to begin with so that we could crack on with our filming straight away and not have to squeeze it all in at the last minute.

As a group we certainly stuck to the continuity editing rules and have a marvelous piece of work to be shown.

Reflections on editing

When our group began editing, as i have never done media studies before it was very new to me and i had no idea what to do. As member of my group did the editing i was learning how to do it also. It seemed pretty easy linking each shot to the other and we were pleased with our outcome.
The equipment used was the imac on the apple computer and the camera used to film being plugged in with a lead to the back usb slot. The imac on the computert then allows you to cut, copy and paste clips in any order and style, allowing you to make effects on them also like swipe outs and fading, blackouts etc.

Reflections on filming

Generally using continuity editing is pretty easy, you just need to make sure you allow a 5 secong time gap before and after each shot, incase of any cutting required. Some parts of my groups continuity editing went slightly off target when using the match on action, this was because we didnt finish filming in time and then wearing different clothing the next time was a small problem but resolved.The equipment we used when filming were ourselves, a camera ( in it's bag for safety ) and a tripod; being opened and closed when used or not. Other equipment used were just small props for the film such as table and chairs, a cup, a kettle and spoon and the sugar bowl. We also used the common room as our set as it also has a kitchened area, therefor people in there were also used to make the atmosphere by the use of there voices in the background.

Reflection on planning the sequence

Planning our squence was pretty annoying and hard work. Each group member had such brilliant ideas and neither of us new what idea of whos to use at what stage. Our story became fixed at the very last minute as at first none of us really knew waht we were doing.
Continuity editing didnt even enter our minds untill we finally cracked on and got ourselves filming. I think this was probably the most hardest part of the task.

The Preliminary task

The task set was to, in groups, film someone going into a room, sitting on a chair and having a conversation with of course someone else in that room. If this was to be done just as plain as this, there would be no affectivness about the film. Therefore, each group made a small and very brief story board, as to what was going to happen in there film, each different shot had to be shown and a smal explanation as to where the camera would be at and sounds etc.
When we were ready we began filming, different groups were in different areas. We had to film these peices using, continuity editing; master shot, 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot.

Continuity Editing Definition

Continuity Editing is the predominant style of editing in narrative film clips. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical change between shots. In most films, logical changes are achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasizes smooth transitions of time and space.

Examples of continuity editing methods that are mainly used are:

- Master Shot : This shot is usually used when there is a change of location so that the audience or viewer is aware where it is taking place, and what the surroundings are like out of the shot.

-180 degree rule : This is usually when two people are being filmed and the filmer makes out in their mind that there is an imaginery line between the two people. The camera cannot cross that line unless panning, as if so it would become a reverse angle.

-Shot reverse shot : This shot is usually used when two or more people are having a conversation. The shot focuses from behind one persons shoulder to the other face, and swaps to other side when the other person begins to talk.

-Match on action : Is where you film shots to make sense for example if you, in one shot was holding a glass of water being half full, your next shot must have the same amount of water in the glass to look continual. It must look the same as it was in ya last shot otherwise the filming wouldn't look realistic and would be very jumpy.