I have chosen a Thriller clip called 'Orphan', and I will be discussing about the kind of editing used and the effect that it has on the audience and how the editing styles are used within the thriller genre.
In the clip there is a montage at 0.43
The nun steps on the brakes of the car sliding across the icy road. The montage is used to create suspense and excitement, as the edits are faster it will make the audience focus more on what is happening, this will also influence the audience to feel rushed and become interested into the scene as it creates excitement, and is filled with action. This is conventional in thrillers when there is a chase scene or an event is happening, the editing speeds up allowing the audience to feel a rush of excitement. The number of edits can also be interpretated as a representation of the heartbeat
Shot Reverse 0.20
A shot reverse edit has been used, when the main character is giving instructions to the little girl through hand signs ( as the little girl deaf). After the instructions have been given, the little girl has been betrayed, and is pushed on to the road, the scene immediately changed to the nun driving closer, and panicking once she sees the girl. The shot reverse shot builds tension and keeps the audience interested. Tension is built because it shows the viewers what is happening before before anything actually does - allowing the viewer to predict the event and feel mixed emotions of anger and sympathy which is typically done in thriller genres.
Reaction Shot 0.40
This shot has been used when the nun has seen the fallen victim on the road. The witness driving the car screams in terror as she sees the girl. The reaction shot has been done a more than once at this moment, to show the terrror and shock form on their faces. The audience will feel empathy towards the victim and witness, this is commonly done in thriller genre so the impact will be strong. This scene leaves a strong impression on the audiences mind as this could happen in reality.
Jump Cut 2.29
When the killer is continousily hitting the nun, there is a jump cut shot onto the hammer. This is done to show the hammer is the symbol of her death. A deep focus shot, to let the audience clearly see the weapon. The weapon is instantly given a strong, powerful status, which shows that the inanimate object is more superior than a person. From this the audience should feel fear, that a simple object can be life threatening. In typical thrillers, the jump cut shot is used to emphasise the importance of the weapon.
Timing of Shots 0.42
Timing of shots is seen when the driver has not seen the victim yet, and is still driving cluelessly. The shot goes from the car wheel heading towards the victim to the victim about to see the car. The shots start slow, then fast, this manipulates the audiences emotion, as they feel the urge to react to the clip; to shout at the driver to stop. The audience becomes attachted to the victim.
The timing of the shots are used when a character is close to death, the shots are done to bring out the emotions, which is done in thriller films.
Inspirations from other films e.g lighting, costumes
From watching films like scream I have chosen to make my film partly realistic. I have chosen to do this because I want the audience to possibly believe that such events can happen to them and I want to feel fear since they can relate to the characters. Films like scream has inspired me to use low lighting and base events in a local house, I have chosen a house because it is a local environment which everybody owns or has lived in.
Plot
It starts a single mother (Elizabeth) and a man (Tom) dating, they have been dating for 2 years and Tom finally asks Elizabeth to marry him. The couple get married and Elizabeth and her daughter Katy move in to Tom's house. A few years past by and Elizabeth and Katy's trust is gained, however Tom has a deep secret and has infact bee lying to the both of them about his identity. He isn't who he seemed to be, previously before he had met Elizabeth he had gone to jail a year before. He had met Elizabeth and instantly felt attraction, he did not want to ruin his chances.
Despite this fact Tom has treated the two with care and treated his step daughter like a real daughter.
One day Katy comes from school crying because one of her friends had gone out with the guy she likes, Tom had comforted her like a dad but inside he was filled with spite and churning with anger, her wanted to get back at her friend which then lead him to invite Katy's ex friend over without Katy knowing. He had made up a lie saying that Katy had a gift for her. He chose a day which he knew neither of his wife nor step daughter would arrive till later in the evening. Katy's friend comes over in the afternoon. Whilst she walks up the stairs she is pushed down the stairs and lays unconscious on the floor. He drags her body to a secret basement which he only knows about and is hidden by a cupboard. He lays her body on a table and stabs her viciously across the body countless times. He realises what he has done and breaks in down in fear and horror. He refuses to go back to jail and eventually has a mental break down. There were still hours before his wife and step daughter came home. He decides that there was no way to stop and he needed to get rid of the evidence. He goes to the kitchen and gets a hold of a kitchen knife which he then starts hacking and butchering her body. He a small amount of the body on a plate. His wife and daughter arrive home, and he cooks up dinner.The body. The evidence is eventually erased and devoured by his family and him. Few months later there is news about the missing friend, and the police begin to question. some one knew about Katy's friend going to her house and the police go to the house. The police raid the house and police dogs were near the area. eventually the scent is found and the Father gets arrested. The devastated mother and child are scarred and petrified they move away and Tom was never heard of.
The opening credit will follow landscapes in a park. This will trick viewers to think the film will be quite boring and judge the film. The fonts will be bold and in red. Which can send an unsettling emotion dwell in the audience.
Characters
Elizabeth is an ordinary mum, who goes out to work and looks after the house. She is a character which the audience can relate to.
Tom is a killer with a false identity, he is mentaily unstable in certain situations, in this case the murder of Katy's friend. Although he lied to his family he deeply cares but in a unordinary way.
The audience can relate to this character as they know the trust between families. This characters aim to add an element of suprise.
Katy's friend> A character which has had accidently upset her best friend(Katy), she is unexpected of what would happen and is unaware of Katy's crush. Audience can relate to this as they have had experiences of fights.
Conventions
The thriller conventions in my narrative are the betrayal of the character, which is Tom. The other convention are the secrets hidden behind unsespecting charcters. Thriller genres often show a sign of betrayal and lies. This then makes the audience to think that there is a possibility of it happening to them.
MES
The narrative will take place in a normal looking house. By doing this the audience will believe that such events can happen as they do not know what the neighbours do inside, this will create an errie, unsettling feeling which is also conventional in thrillers.
The characters will dress causual so the audience can relate, the clothes will not represent what their personality is like.
The props will be everyday house holds, and the colours will be bright and colourful, which will make it disturbing.
My target audience are aimed at teenagers aged fifteen and onwards, I have selected this age, as I think it is most suitable, as the narrative will contain violent scenes which are not suitable for young children. Ages younger than fifteen could be disturbed and could cause to imagine and believe that the events could happen to them.
In this blog Iwill be researching cinematography and I have chose to analyse cinematography of 'Scream 1' Cinematography means different camera angles used. For example to create a strong focus on a subject the camera angle used will be deep focus; zoomed in and focused only on that subject.
Here is a clip below.
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Fy-XBW3FA
I have chosen this particular clip as it showed a number of different cinamatography, which will allow me to chose from many different camera angles and analyse the best one.
Within the few seconds of the clip, an establishing shot has been used; the overall appearance of the house has been shown, along with some limp hanging trees.
This shot has been used to show where the scene has taken place to inform the audience, so they are able to relate to the building.
This shot is used to shows the opening of the narrative and to show misfortune is about to happen to the victim. The female victim is home alone which is another convention which the audience can relate to. In thrillers, the scene normally takes place in a small dark secluded room, school or house; a place which people feel the safest- an area where the audience can relate to, as they have been there some time in there lives. Houses are often a convention in thrillers because it seems more realistic and there can be a possibility of this happening to the audience - The idea is to make the scene more memorable and relatable to the audience.
Here shows the character on the phone to the killer: Scream. This is a close up camera angle of her but the background can be seen - the angle has been used to symbolise the importance of the phone and the importance of her facial expression whilst she talks. If the camera was not focused on the characters face it would harder to imagine how she could be feeling. The background has been shown to show which room she is, it also makes the audience concentrate more on the character - It also raised increases the impatience of the audience because they could hope that the killer could walk in to the room, it instantly makes the audience predict what could happen in the scene. The audience can relate to the character because she is casually talking on the phone which everyone can relate to. The idea of an anonymous caller can happen to anyone, because there are often telephone marketers/advertisers.
Nearing to the end of this clip, when she walks out of the kitchen to another room the camera steadily follows; the camera starts to use the panning technique. The character is still on the phone whilst walking. The panning technique is used to show the film is starting to develop and move further along the storyline. The pace of the camera is at a slow speed to create suspense and tense atmosphere. This will get the audience to follow along and become wary of what will happen. The panning technique is conventional to he thriller genre as it is usually used during a chase scene or an emotional scene to create a strong atmosphere.
When watching the clip, I found that the camera angles changed according to the characters movement, the camera concentrated on the character to capture the expressions and emotions she is feeling. The camera movement could be interpreted as someone watching her talk, this could be done on purpose to allow the audience to experience what screams feels and sees through his eyes.
Many of the events happening in the clip are relatable and realistic - This produces a stronger impression.
In this blog I will be researching mise-en-scene of a 2-3 minutes long clip of 'Kill Bill'.
Mise-en-scene is the the french term for 'in the scene' which means the things the scene contains.
This includes the following: -Settings and Props: Settings and prop are quite important. Although the main focus are on the characters, the back ground increases the expectation of the film. In films the settings and props are carefully thought out and detailed to emphasise the genre. E.g. in a thriller the props would be dark, broken and dangerous. -Costume, hair and make up: The costume, hair and make up informs the audience of the date it is set; whether it is set in the present or past century and the culture. They also display the characters personality, attitude, job or status. Before a character uses dialogue the appearance give us a prediction of how we would imagine the character to act and to speak. -Facial expression and body language The facial expression on the character allows us to know how he or she is feeling in their current situation, or their emotions towards another character. E.g. A guilty character would have their eyes darting side to side, avoiding gazes or others; contact overall. -Lighting and colour The lighting informs us of the time of day and the weather. E.g. bright lighting means that it is sunny which would mean it is warm or hot. The lighting also sets the atmosphere e.g. in thrillers the lighting is dark to create an eerie, suspense atmosphere. Lighting highlights the importance of the character and also the emotion; dark;sad or bright;happy;jolly. In films there are three main lightings; -The main lighting (Key lighting) The main lighting is usually used for the main focus and attention. -The back lighting This is used to highlight some parts of the background, to show the setting a bit more. -The fill lighting The fill lighting is darker than the key lighting, it is used to create or fill unwanted shadows. -Positioning of character/objects within the frame The positioning of the characters and objects are important because where they are positioned will effect the focus on the characters. E.g. the characters are mostly the main focus/attention because they are in the centre, however if a character was to be placed at the background and a vase were to be at the front the character would blend in with the background and the vase would be the main focus. The position also tells us the relationship between the characters;whether they are close or not; if they are close they would sit next to each other comfortably. And if they were the opposite, they would sit a seat away.
In the clip the characters are in the kitchen, they start to cuss at each other during the conversation, however the women in blue turns her back while getting a box of cereal. Surprisingly the cereal box contained a gun, which shocks the audience. This also proves how quickly the situation can turn bad.
Costume, make up and hair
Her hair is ties back, which means she would be doing some kind of movement and wouldn't want her hair to get in the way; she wants her view to be clear; this can mean she has a goal or a focus. On the other hand her hair looks slightly messy and damp which could be the reason she tided up her hair. Her face seems red and there are patches of dirt on her face; this could mean that she could be involved in a fight which included a lot of movement not long before she entered the house. Her face colour could represent her anger towards the other character; inside she is filled with anger.
Compared to the character in blue, she looks much more cleaner, like she had just finished getting ready, this makes me think that she may have planned to go out.
She rests against a kitchen cupboard with a cup of coffee or tea.. In this position, this informs me that she is relaxed, she acts like she is at her friends house, this is unusual because they start to cuss at each other.
The characters wear casual modern clothes, which gives them the sense of normality, because the audience can relate to wearing casual clothing. The costumes, are not over exaggerated, to give away the sides the characters are on ; bad or good. This gives a sense of mystery, which convenient in thrillers. The mystery, makes the audience interested and intrigued, this will make them become more focused in characters and narrative. The characters have a small amount of make up applied, which show that its a normal day in their lives.
One of the characters are wearing a tracksuit which could mean she is a sporty person or someone who likes to keep fit or like to enjoy comfort.
The little girl at the end is wearing a bright pink cardigan and a t-shirt, which shows she likes the colour pink and she could be girly. Her hair is the same as the victim which gives the hint that she is the victims daughter. The daughter seems to have no make up to show her innocence and purity.
Positioning and objects placed
When the characters are talking to each other, they are positioned opposite each other with a distance, this represents how the characters aren't close and how aware of each other they are. Although they are in the same house, they are still cautious. The characters remain distant through the whole clip even whilst fighting, neither of them attacked at a close range, to protect themselves. There aren't any importance in objects, surrounding the characters, placed besides one of the characters was a cup holder, this was probably included to show that, there is nothing different about the house. On the victim's side of the kitchen, were organised furniture; we learn that the character doesn't like a mess.
Lighting and colour
The main lighting came from the window in the room, this shows that neither of the characters were in a higher status and that neither were stronger than another. It also tells informs the audience that when the event happened it was a nice sunny day. Sunny days are assumed good from a vast majority of people, it shows that whilst other people are enjoying their day, this character is dieing, the lighting highlights the expression on the victims face. Which makes the scene seem cruel and more effective. The colours, seen are all bright in the clip, the colour can represent a persons emotion, this could've meant that the victim was happy before she was interfered.
Facial expression and body gesture The words are spoken with a spiteful look to each other. When a back was turned a dirty look was given, this shows that they continue to hate each other, even without each other knowing. When the victim talks, she starts to walk angrily when coming to and from the fridge, her actions become more aggressive and grumpy. The victim faces the killer when talking, he face filled with sarcasm and arrogance. When the shot is fired the killer jumps back in shot. Their gestures reveal how they feel towards each other. The killer remains calm whilst the victim gets agitated and irritable.
Settings and prop The scene is set in a house in a kitchen, this is a conventions as thrillers set place in a relateble environment.
The setting, is a symbol that something will happen, because a kitchen is the most dangerous place because of its accessible sharp weapons.
Make up- Here the blood isn't over exaggerated, this tells us that she is injured on her head however it isn't splattered everywhere. The blood doesn't empathises the damage but the position of where the blood is applied; the head; it shows that she is in danger and because it is on the head it she won't be thinking straight.
Evaluations
By researching online and analysing different thriller genre films - I am able to learn many techniques and skills needed in a typical thriller, such as the different types of lighting, how they are used and the effects they create, also the colours/ tone which I should stick with. e.g dark, grey tones etc.. and even more.
I will be able to focus on little props and how much meaning I can send to the audience and become more expressive through posture and actions. By watching clips I can highlight the features of the film which I like and create
What inspirations did I have
Whilst watching 'Kill Bill' I got inspired to include the element of surprise - 'Kill Bill' took place in a kitchen filled with bright lights and colours which gave me the impression of watching a friendlier gene film like a comedy or a romcom. I would like to do this as it will be unexpected and different from the typical dark secluded room. By using strong lighting and include a variety of colours, I will be able to get the audience to be interested and possibly confused.
I would also dress the characters in normal clothes but instead of the clothes representing which side they are on, I would swap the colours of the clothes to trick the audiences mind to think a certain character is bad when they are the opposite - good. This might not influence the entire audiences mind to think as one which is good, as it will cause a clash of different opinions and cause confusions and doubts.
