Me and my group had to create our own questionnaires individually in preparation for our opening we will create later in the year. Its vital that we produce a questionnaire in order to gather information and indicate what our target audience want to see making them satisfied but sticking to the thriller genre.
What themes would you like to see
in a thriller? (please circle)
Obsession
Revenge
Vengeance
Kidnap
Torture
Other, please state …………….
Do you prefer thrillers based on a
true story? (Please circle)
Yes
No
Do you find thrillers based on a
true story more interesting?
What type of character would you
like to see in thrillers? please circle as many as you want)
antagonist
protagonist
victim
old lady
child
What type of setting/location goes
well with a thriller scene?
Do thriller films frighten you? (please circle)
yes
no
sometimes
For this question it was important to find out who watches
how many thrillers so we know if they have a good knowledge to define if they’re
good thriller audiences so that when we ask them questions based on planning so
we’ll get suitable answer in order create a successful thriller opening.
These question was asked because it was essential in helping us to plan and build a base for creating our thriller film as we could always relate back to our target audiences answers. The questionnaire would therefore help us when it comes to creating a certain impacting effect on the audience; furthermore, when added to our research of other thrillers, it is able to help us to make our thriller conventional to the thriller genre.
It was vital that we asked a question on location so that we
know what the audience would like see for example the ‘forest’ was the most
popular option. Not only was we able to find what the audience prefer but it
helps us find out what’s conventional to our genre as we asked “what location
do you prefer?” based on thrillers.
The creation of the questionnaire has helped us with our
planning towards our thriller as we are now more likely to create a successful
thriller in relation to the publics’ response. Furthermore we now know how to
make our thriller more convention for from based on the answer we gathered for example
crime was the most popular sub-genre and revenge was the most popular theme was
revenge therefore we have a thriller based on a student getting revenge after
being bullied in his media group. By looking at this questionnaire it was
obvious that our target audienceage
group is from 15 to roughly around 24.
what is a theme? Themes are conventional to genres, they adapt to genre giving an impact on the storyline and it engages the audience by helping them what kind of genre and sub genre a film is. Moreover different themes set different atmospheres and mood for example if they were watching a film with the theme love they would also start to feel the same emotion as they connect with the film. Another example is war as the audience would become engaged and have confidence in one army keeping them on the edge of their seats hoping they would win
Examples of themes within different genres... Thrillers -death -revenge -obsession
Action -violence -racing -revenge Sci fi -disaster -aliens -survival Crime -drugs -gangs -money Rom com -love -friendship -relation Some of the most conventional themes in a thriller are, death, revenge, obsession and corruption. They're suitable as they all automatically put the audience in a thrilled uncomfortable mood in addition they bring out the bad side of a character making it more interesting but unpleasant for the audience at the same time which is why film makers come across these themes when making a thriller.
Thriller film examples... Scream scream is an example of death because throughout the movie an unknown antagonist decides to target and randomly kill a various amount of teenager brutally at unexpected moment.
Nightmare on elm street This may have death however the main themes are revenge and obsession which leads to death. In this thriller film we have the main antagonist, Freddy krueger who was once bullied as a kid and now seeks out for revenge by targeting his bullies' sons and daughters and killing the people in their dreams, resulting in their real death in reality. The dark knight In The dark knight the themes Crime and corruption have been demonstrated throughout the film. At the beginning of the film the Joker robs a bank which is committing a crime. Then throughout the film the Joker is decides he wants to corrupt Gotham city just like how he had a corrupted childhood. overall i plan to use death and survival because there two which link most and are more conventional to the thriller genre. I've planned to utilise survival as that builds tension the most grabs the audience attention by finding out who survives and who doesn't
what is the bbfc? The BBFC (British board of Film classification) are a highly expert and experienced regulator of the moving image world. They serve a social function within society which is to advise and protect viewers from harmful moving images/films/movies.The BBFC provide public information that empowers them and parents to make appropriate viewing decisions for themselves and those in their care. They developed a systematic way of rating films for different ages.
The age certificates... U(UNIVERSAL)
PG (PARENTAL GUIDANCE)
12&12A
15
18
Thriller age ratingsThriller film age ratings vary from 12 and upwards depending on its use and display on things such as drugs, illegal acts, portrayals of sex or violence. Most thriller films are rated at 15 as they usually contain violence and which may harm kids younger than 15, however there have been exceptions within the industry, such as, the film Spiderman which was labelled a 12A even though it shows fighting scenes that may harm a 12 year old. This in turn was why the rating 12A was formed, so that parents were able to go with their 12 year old children and see if the film is suitable for them to watch.
what is film censorship? Film censorship is when a film is re-edited to either cut out or change scenes due to the content it shows as it may be considered harmful to the public.A film can either be banned from a country or asked to be to cut a few times so that the content is not too disturbing and the BBFC find it suitable for a certain age group.
Role of the bbfc
The BBFC is responsible for the national film classification of the united kingdom. Their job is to protect the public from any harmful and offensive content that could potentially harm any members of the public by stopping it from being released into the cinemas until changes are made to the film. e.g. specific scenes are cut etc. However For cinema releases, the BBFC have no legal power. This in turn means that films do not have to be submitted for classification simply because it is mainly the councils duty to decide which age group should be allowed to see a certain film. Most films apply the BBFC's certificates which make them legally-binding; this means that an agreement has been consciously made between the film creator and the BBFC and the council.
Films get censored to keep the audience away from content that is seen as too disturbing or potentially harmful; In some cases films are sent back to the editing stage due to religious reasons or the representation of real life events e.g. a film that is identical to the story of the twin towers.
Contents of a film that may get censored
extreme violence
rape
sexual content
drug abuse
sexual violence
graphic scenes
toture
When a film is Bannedit is removed from cinema viewing completely due to harmful or offensive content. This is done to protect the public from any harmful material that they may be exposed to while watching the film. Within a thriller it may be banned or cut due to it being seen as harmful or too disturbing for young audiences.
A example of a banned filmed is the Cannibal Holocaust which is an Italian horror film that is banned to this day in over 50 different countries due to the film's content being too disturbing.
When a film is sent to be Cut certain scenes within the film is then either edited or completely removed. This is done to make the film more appropriate for public viewing.
For example, the Exorcist which released in 1973 was sent to be cut or else it would be banned from cinema viewing. Although changes were made to the film it was still banned in many different towns and countries across the world as the film was described as '' horrifyingly scary ''.The Exorcist eventually passed the British Board Of Film Censorship (BBFC) and was given an age rating of 18 however, the film wasn't available in the UK until 1990 when it finally got the all clear pass from the BBFC.
Forna Vs. Kermode debate: In 1999 Channel 4 broadcasted a short season of programmes about censorship. During this season it showed two short programmes; one of them was about a case fighting for the use of censorship, and the other was against the use of censorship. Fighting for was a journalist and broadcaster called Aminatta Forna and fighting against was a film critic and broadcaster: Mark Kermode.
Three arguments made by Forna for censorship were...
The public associate themselves with different characters and may be influenced to put themselves in that situation
Some films may start to break down the barriers us as humans put up, for example there may be a film about a woman being raped however the woman starts to enjoy even though before they watched the film the audience would think it wrong for her to do so.
The power of words and images featured in some films may affect the audience and have the potential to stir racial hatred etc.
Three arguments made by Kermode against censorship were...
Everyone has different reactions and interpretations on what they see in the film.
It is unfair that we are being told what we can and can't watch. As human beings we know what is right and what is wrong so it should be our choice whether to watch it or not.
The issue of responsibility; policing films is impossible, the films we watch should'nt be seen to be encouraging however they should be seen as showing the audience realistic situations e.g. rape/ murder etc.
Out of these arguments I find Forna the most persuasive because when we go to watch a film we don't always know what to expect because trailers do not want to give away to much information, however we are able to read the story line on the IMDB website which will enable us to judge if we want to watch a certain film or not and also give us an insight on what we should expect from the film. Furthermore I see Kermode's debate as legitimate however insufficent in key knowledge, this is beause he is relating his arguments to his own beliefs and ideologies, he has not looked at how all different people in the public may react towards a certain film whereas Forna has.
Lighting Lighting helps convey the mood and atmosphere in a scene or film. There are many different types of lighting, lighting which is one of the few micro element are split up into many different categories due to what they are used for, or how they look etc. Lighting is an important convention because its sometimes used to guide and draw the audiences attention to an object, a character emotion/reaction or gesture for example when someone is looking up at something then top lighting may be used etc. To create this light could mean the use of daylight or artificial light such as a lamp/torch etc.
angles of lighting... under lighting Under lighting is light which comes from below the person this creates a distinguishing effect on the character. However this is also seen to sometimes show someones shadow behind them while standing next to a wall or this is also seen in films where someone is telling a scary story. its mainly used on antagonists to produce sharp shadows to make them seem more scary and make the audience feel uncomfortable
top lighting Top lighting comes from above someones face highlighting the key features of a character however this can be natural daylight or artificial light unlike under lighting. This used to signify something such as something scary or interesting in the sky or it could just be a sunny day with a clear sky. it could also be used for a victim making it clear to the audience that they're trapped somewhere, the fact that light is coming from above.
back lighting back lighting is light source which is behind the person its can either be artificial or natural light (typically sunset or sunrise) when too much light is used silihouttes are created this as it get the audience to focus on something specific such as body language rather than facial expression
Here is another example but because the camera is close to the person, you still capture detail of the face but the girl in the back is almost a silihoutte the gold sunlight colour represents power because bright gold is a rich colour showing the audience that he's a character with high power
Types of lighting... Low key lighting
Low key lighting in thrillers is used to increase the sense of fear, in addition the lighting i s dark with small areas of light, which also creates shadows They are also used to convey different atmospheres and moods within scenes and shots.
High key lighting
High key lighting is appearing more natural as it portray a more upbeat mood in a scene such as a sunny day. However it can be used during daylight or at night to show contrast between characters through shadows and brighter areas. For example to emphasize who is the victim a high key lighting will be shown on her and also that she is possibly the main character in the scene
Natural lighting Natural lighting is when no lighting lighting has been added, it is what you expect to see so daylight is the only lighting used.
All the types of lighting are conventional for thriller for example high key lighting would be placed on a protagonist or a victim to reveal their identity as they're innocent and also they have nothing to hide. For low key lighting it is used for an antagonist because to keep their identity hidden to make it seem as if they're isolated from everyone else.
Colour in a scene... Colour in a scene have different connotations to them and can give different interpretations of the scene. Red lighting Red lighting creates a sense of fear and makes the audience feel terrified. The fact that the red light is directly behind him shows shows what he represents which is danger, anger, fear and also the fact that his sweater is red, its another piece of evidence to back the fact that he represents the colour red.
orange lighting orange lighting can be used to refer to seasonal periods of the year which is mainly autumn. In this scene he seems to be creeping down the corridor and the colour orange in this scene represents danger and activity. Blue light Blue is the colour most commonly associated with harmony, faithfulness, and confidence and possibly sadness. In this scene he appears to be walking and there is blue light, it represent that he's calm and composed plus he has one hand in his pocket and the other to show that he's comfortable. This also makes the audience feel comfortable because of the blue light as they expect nothing hectic to occur. scene analysis
The back lighting went well in the scene because it didn't reveal the characters identity. creating silihouttes which then creates fear and leave the audience unsure about the characters facial detail as they only see there body language. Low key lighting is also used to keep the antagonists identity hidden this creates mystery and suspense also the audience is left anticipated. in this scene we see a few glimpse of red light and automatically we no know that danger, pain and negative activity will occur in the scene keeping the audience left on the edge of their seats.
Setting is the location or place where the a film or scene is located, it help us identify what could happen in the scene or who could live there etc.
Types of setting for thrillers...
-Deserted house
ghosts/spirits
dead bodies
Paranormal
haunted
-Forest
murder
rape
dark
isolation
mysterious
Setting and sub genres...
-Action
city
motorway
overseas/middle east
-Crime
forest
favelas
police station
warehouse
-psychological
house
basement
church
prisons
hospitals
What is Iconography?
The word Iconography is another word for the images and the symbolic representations that may be used to represent a person or an object. For example you may associate large holding containers and cobwebs with a warehouse etc.
In the opening scene of scream introduces the young girl believed to be in her teens and still going to high school as she later refers to her boyfriend who is on the ''football team''. The girl is first seen as friendly and in a happy mood towards the anonymous caller, but that is soon portrayed to be vulnerable and scared. The mystery character over the phone also comes across to be friendly and outgoing as he was having a casual conversation with the young girl until he stated person facts of the young girls life e.g. her name, at this point that is when the soundtrack changed into something more serious which suggest tension would then start to build,as soon at the the antagonist says "I want to know where i'm looking at" sound effects occur such as a dog barking, this builds tension as the audience feels as though someone is actually watching the young girl.The first 5 minutes keeps the audience on the edge of their seats which relates to the popcorn the girl put on the stove which starts to pop up signifying the build up of tension. opening scene plot The opening scene of scream gives the audience a feel of the mood of the film and how the storyline may flow. First off the first thing the audience see is a phone ringing and then a young blonde girl named Casey comes to pick it up and responds to the phone call flirtatiously towards the mystery character which at first seems friendly as he continues to ask the girl questions. Straight away we see the first character where the audience may consider as the victim. As the scene continues the audience are bombarded with irrelevant dialogue suggesting that this girl may be older than she looks or has done something wrong causing her to be targeted by this mysterious caller. The situation starts to escalate slowly and tension starts to build amongst the audience as the mystery character's phone call turns aggressive and threatening and he threatens to take her boyfriends life is she doesn't get the question correct. Once seen the girl sees, then kills the boyfriends and threatens to kill her if she does not cooperate with the antagonist . We then see a mysterious man enter her home wearing a black cloak and a white ghost mask, as the girl tries to escape she is unfortunately caught, attacked and murdered by the masked person who then escapes after leaving her body hung on tree awaiting for her parents to find her.
Location and scene setting The opening scene is set in a modern house where a young girl, who lives in the country side and away from society as we see farmed crops and oak land forest, this is all shown in the establishing shot at the beginning of the scene. The scene actually starts in the girls house then later as we see it escalates to just outside her home as that is where she is attacked then murdered. The scene setting was conventional towards the thriller genre as it was a typical victim isolated in the middle of no where bound to be attacked by an antagonist. Additionally by having the first glimpse of the house the audience can infer straight what the genre of the film could be which also links to connonations and can make the audience feel comfortable at point to be jumping of their seats the next minute.
Narrative
The opening scene to this film evidently shows the genre of the film, which is a horror/thriller. we can tell by the atmosphere and the voice of the two characters involved in the scene especially the antagonists voice who makes the opening a lot more creepy.The phone call keeps the antagonists identity hidden but even after killing her boyfriend and we realise he's in the house we still cannot see his face as he is a mystery masked murderer which may have the audience assuming he is going to go on a killing spree later on during the film, specifically target teenagers However, from this the audience can also infer that this is more of a horror movie as it is all maybe too predictable which is why this follows Vladimir Props theory as this is a layout of a traditional Beginning, middle and end movie.
How are micro-elements used conventionally in the opening of Scream?
Cinematography...
Zoom and reaction shot
When the mystery character says something about her boyfriend it changes her whole mood towards the Phone call and this is where the Zoom shot and reaction are both used in the scene to have emphasis on the change in mood to give the audience a better understanding. As soon as the mystery character say "i know who i'm looking at," instantly the camera zooms into her face to capture her reaction also this is where the soundtrack is then changed to create a more spine chilling and cold atmosphere and starts to build tension. This mainly done to capture Casey's facial expression to express her insecurity and shock.
Medium shot
Another perfectly executed camera shot was the medium shot was when Casey is seen yelling over the phone revealing to the antagonist and the audience that she starting to become frightened and showing that the anonymous caller is actually saying things which are affecting her. She begins to speed walk around the house to show sign that she paranoid.
Furthermore the mid shot also captures a character's body language for example if you look at the picture below you see that her body is tensed up, her arms are tucked into her belly to, this all shows how terrified she is and is conventional towards the genre once again. All of that in one shot just goes to show how easy the director was able to show that shes a vulnerable character.
Dolly shot
Another conventional shot was the dolly shot when we see Casey making an attempt to escape the masked antagonist. This shot captures the whole garden showing the size of the it and continues to follow Casey's running movements also the lighting automatically goes from high key to low key. The camera angle then changes as we see her parents arriving at home.
Sound (diegetic and non diegetic and on/off screen sound)
Most of the sound in the opening sequence was diegetic for example when we see a phone on the table and hear it ring at the same time so the audience expect to see what they hear. This is also on screen sound aswell because as we hear the phone ringing we also see it on screen.
The opposite of diegetic sound is non diegetic which is also used in the opening scene for example straight after the anonymous caller says "i would like to know who i'm looking at" and are sound effects added in making them non-diegetic sounds to build tension and the background music starts to slow down and become more dark making it conventional to the thriller genre once again.
Costume and iconography
Costume is a key element in film making it partially define the personality of a characters, their culture and what time zone they're in for example by looking at Casey she is wearing a loose baggy cardigan and bootcut jeans relating to the 90's fashion industry whereas today women would wear tighter clothing. As we move onto colour of costume she is wearing white, it is conventional to ensure the victim is wearing bright clothing because they're represented as a target so they should be eye catching plus if they get attacked if would be better to see blood on white rather black clothing. The costume also tells us about the culture and what country the film is set in for example Casey's boyfriend was wearing a jockey jacket which American footballers usually wear. By looking at these characters costume its easy to infer that they're still in school and still have a lot to learn for example with Casey, to not talk to strangers over the phone.
Finally near the end of the scene where we see the antagonist, we him wearing a black cloak, the black cloak represent the fact that he's an antagonist so he has to be dark and mysterious. The unknown antagonist also wears a mask to cover his identity making the audience attracted to the movie as they'll want to find out who the antagonist is on the other hand with the two characters it makes it interest because the audience have and understanding of who the characters are.
Within in the house the furniture and the colour of it is very dull for example with the telephone its wired rather than a modern day wireless telephone also referring back to when the movie was set which was probably the 90's. Another key prop is the popcorn on the stove once again if it was set in modern day times it would be microwave popcorn however you can tell this is old fashioned once again.
