Log line ideas for opening sequence

1. Kidnapping - A teenaged girl is the next victim of kidnapping after her 8 year old brother got taken whilst playing out near their home. She suffers from depression and demands her family to believe her 'hallucinations' of seeing strange men watching her.
2. Paranormal - A group of friends go housesit for an auntie, however they are companied by unusual senses, creating an discomforting atmosphere changing their excitement of the night.
3. Past life - A disturbing incident changed the structure of a young girls life forever. From her comforting upbringing into her disturbed future.

Final idea - For our opening sequence to push forward the genre of thriller, we have decided to base our idea around a kidding of a young boy and the effects it has on the older sister. We need to make sure we keep enigma in mind so let the entire story out in the opening sequence, like a trailer would. It belongs to the thriller genre so we need to create a sense of tension and suspicion throughout. The atmosphere will be uncomfortable to present the thriller feel. To enable that this happens we will include non diegetic sounds over the top of our filming which creates the tension building.

Continuity editing

This is an establishing shot I took, an establishing shot sets up, or establishes the setting for a scene by showing the relationship between its important objects and settings. Its normally a long or an extremely long shot at the beginning of a scene.

 This is a shot reverse shot is when one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

This photograph establishes the 180 degree rule where by the camera is always situated on one side of two characters so the audience can establish the position of each character. The diagram bellow shows that if the camera were to swap sides then the characters positions would no longer make sense as the character on the left would suddenly jump to being on the right of the screen.

These two shots show eye line match. This is really important as it establishes who each person is looking at and orientates the viewer.

Preliminary Task

In groups than no more of four.
Continuality task involves filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another: character with whom he/she exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task must demonstrate:

• Match on action
• Shot/Reverse shot
• 180 degrees rule  

 

In our preliminary task we decided to agree on breaking the 180 degree rule. This was because we wanted to see the effects it would have when breaking it, so we could understand the relevance of the rule and also to potentially see if this effect would be useful in our opening sequence.

Although this didn't work well because it broke the seamless flow of the edits but was a useful exercise to learn. The 180 degree rule applies to the angle which the camera is shot, shot reverse shot require the 180 degree rule which involves using one side of the couple and filming on just that side. This prevents jump cuts, this can vaguely be seen at the end of the task when we would apply the 180 degree rule.

BFI British Film Institution

At the BFI, the British Film Institution. Pete Fraser gave us a presentation about opening sequences and what we should do and include in order to have a good opening sequence with top grades. He showed us 4 opening sequences grading from e-a* which we had to decide what grade it deserved in terms of genre, narrative, structure, atmosphere and character. Pete Fraser then spoke us through what they did wrong and how they could of improved their opening sequences. We identified that most sequences he showed us looked more like a trailer because they got ride of the enigma by showing their whole story in their opening sequence. From this I learnt that there should be a narrative enigma to ask questions to the audience through the opening sequence to make them want to watch the whole film.

From this presentation I learnt a lot and helped me to decide which 5 aspects are most important in an opening sequence, those being Genre, Narrative, Structure, Atmosphere and Character. Pete recommended atmosphere. 50% of opening sequences are about sound so its important that the sound is relevant to the opening sequence and film. We can create our own sound effects by using Foley. The 4 opening sequences that Pete showed us lacked in titles, or all the opening titles were shown at the start. So I learnt to make sure the titles appear merged with the imagery and not just at the beginning of the sequence. Its also interesting to  have a mixture of actors from all ages, like famous films have not just including people of my age. I must also remember that opening sequences only last for 2 minutes so not to have an opening sequence running for too long or too short.

Editing

Thriller films use different editing techniques depending on what is happening in the scene of the film.

Hard cuts

•  This edits is regularly used in thriller films because a lot of action may be happening in the film so a hard cut is when the scene changed quickly to the next without any other edit happening in-between.

Slow Pace Editing

• This edit might be seen in a thriller film when an argument is occurring or when the film is getting emotional or scary. This is because the scenes change slowly so the audience can get a good look, and feel of what's happening in the film and possibly the surroundings of the characters.

Wipe

• Wipe cuts are when one shot is replaced by another, this is done by travelling from one side of the frame to another. Similar to hard cuts this edit is used when something fast or action packed is happening.

Fade

• A fade is when the scene gradually fades and disappears into the next scene.

Dissolve

• Dissolve is when there is a gradual dissolvent of one scene to the next, the tend to fade out then fade back in again and are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image.

Fast Edit

• Fast cuts don't last any longer than 3 seconds. They show several brief shots of what's happening in the film. It can be used to convey information quickly, or to show there is a lot of chaos in the film. Fast editing is regularly used when two people are talking or arguing so that the audience can see both characters facial expressions and movements.

Textually analyse of opening sequences

In the opening sequence of the film Se7en thriller is represented through camera and editing, mise en scene and sound.
The opening sequence uses fast edits which portrays the film as a thriller because its fast and shows that action is going on within the film. The jump cuts also show tension that something different is going to happen next and gives us a quick preview of what happens in the film.

Coventions of opening sequences

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History of opening sequences

Title Sequences

A title sequence is the method that television programmes or films use to introduce and present their title. This includes the key production and cast members or both included in the film or programme.
The history of title sequences

Title cards were used in silent films before cinematograph was invented. The silent cards were presented in order so the audience would be able to identify the film and the production company that was used. The silent cards were also used at the start and finish of the film, so that the audience also knew when the film started and when the film finished.

Years later, sound was introduced and title sequences were accompanied by a musical prelude. The use of music became very popular and was used for many of years until the advent of television studios had to invest into developing cinemas so they can gain a wider and bigger audience.

Cinema's title sequences grew longer, graphic designs also influenced cinemas title sequences in the 1960's. Such as Sual Bass, the graphic designs created interesting strong led sequences for many different shows.

Then in the 21st century, filmmakers were open to many options to make their title sequences. Some films superimpose opening credits over the opening scenes. Whilst on the other hand others elect to do away with titles by including title sequences at the end of movies.

Film opening sequences

Credits often appeared to be against a background of something moving, for example clouds. This is seen in the film 'Wizard of Oz', 'Oliver twist' and 'David Lean'. Some opening credits form from water falling into a fountain. These types of backgrounds were chosen to attract the audience and grab their attention to want to watch the rest of the film. Also because its shown at the start of the film they have to give a good impression.

Ben Hurr in 1959 put his opening credits against a background of the 'Creation of man'. As the years went on, credits changed and progressed. This trend was very common until the late 1950s.

This is a clip from YouTube of Saul Bass's title sequence, he was a fantastic graphic designer of the 20th century.
Television sequences

Generally television title sequences show a point badge with a stereotypical logo. Short shots are then included to highlight earlier episodes or shows and key presenters' or cast members' names. So that new audiences know what's happening in the programme, and the regular watchers get to refresh their memory before watching the next epoxide. Music may also be included by either an instrument or a song, also to engage the audience to remember the programmes popular theme song. An example of a well none theme song before a television programme would be seen on the Simpsons. An image may also help to convey the tone and mood that the programme tries to portray.

 

Log Lines

Log lines

In class I learnt that a log line is a two line description of the film, which attempts to in tread the audience to watch the film. Examples of loglines are:
'Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.' - This log line is from the film juno where an issue occurs about a teenage girl getting pregnant making decisions if she is going to keep her baby.

A log line always poses a question in the audiences mind to help hook them into watching the film.

Gender Representation Of Females In Thriller

Women Represented in Thriller

The "Damsel in distress" is a classic theme that is run through literature art and film for years, the damsel has become a stock character over the centuries and encompasses many variations. John Berger, author of seminal "ways of seeing", an introductory essay on art criticism, states that 'men act and woman appear'. Laura Mulvey essay on 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' published in 1975, is one of the most influential texts on the role of women in film history. Mulveys theory, applied to classical Hollywood films at the time, centred on the objectifying male gaze, which saw women as 'passive' and not 'attractive' and not 'attractive' within film.   For example young women are represented as being innocent and naïve. Whilst woman who are older are portrayed as having mass sex appeal. These older, sexy woman can also be portrayed as being sly and secretive. For example Glen Close in Fatal Attraction.
A stereotypical representation of woman can be seen in the films, Spiderman 2 with Kirsten Dunte starring in a very definition of a damsel in distress. Also another stereotype was the iconic Janet Leigh staring in the infamous shower scene in the film psycho.

A film that subversives a female stereotype is the Girl with the dragon tattoo. As the protagonist takes on the role of the tough almost masculine lead.

Gender Represntation Of Males In Thriller

Men Represented in Thriller

Men in thriller films are stereotypically portrayed as being physically and mentally strong. Men are less emotional than woman and are the team leaders that everyone listens to as men are the ones in charge especially the protagonist's (hero's). Men in thriller films are intelligent and brave, although come across as mysterious and secretive.The protagonists are
 independent and always solve the problem or issue.






For example in the film Taken, Liam Neeson plays the protagonist. This is evident because he follows the conventions of being intelligent, brave and strong. He is represented as being masculine and manages to be heroic whilst facing many obstacles and still being able to stay alive and complete his goal of saving his daughter. Protagonists in American thrillers are stereotypically American, white males.

This is a trailer to the film Taken, where you can identify the stereotypes and conventions which have been discussed above.

 

Audience Positioning

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Film Ratings

Film Ratings

All classification decisions are based on the BBFC's published and regularly updated guidelines. The guidelines in which are also the product of public consultation, research and accumulated experience of BBFC over many years. They also reflect current views on film, DVD and video game regulations. Films are rated depending on what is shown within the film, for example if the film shows violence and has extracts of fighting and weapons with bad language or sexual scenes then the film would be rated for an audience suitable, if these sense was shown the rating would probably be an 18.

http://fun.familyeducation.com/movie/values/57498.html
This is a link I found, with information on the basic ideas on the ratings on films and movies. It also teachers what particular things scare children.

http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/ratings-history
This link is to a website which gives information on when film ratings were initiated.

Research Methods

Research Methods

How do we measure media audiences? - We research media by sales, subscriptions, ratings and figures.

Who measures audiences? - NRS, ABC, BARB, Bookseller.
http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.836  - This is a link which will take you to find some of the companies who monitor audience sizes.

New Media
Views and trailer clips on YouTube and Google are new media which we can measure audience with. Also along with social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter trends.

Quantitative research: Questionnaire's.
 They are number based and the people are asked closed questions so that they can generate the exact straight answer. They are also very factual.

Qualitative Research: Interviews, focus groups.
Its an analysis of existing products, open questions are asked to generate answers which then open to interpretation and individual preferences.

Considering Audience

• Audience Engagement - This describes how an audience interacts with a media text. Different people react in different ways to the same text.

• Audience Expectations - These are the ideas the audience have in advance of seeing a media text. This particularly applies to genre pieces - don't forget producers continually play with or shatter audience expectations.   

Audiences

What is audience?

An audience or  group of different people who read of consume any media text. When texts are made the audience are kept in mind. 'Does it have an audience' is a question asked when media texts are being produced. Audience are important because they bring in the money.

Without an audience there would be no media. The mass media is becoming even more competitive to attract a wider audience in different ways to keep an on going profit.

Katz and Blumler believe that audiences passively receive messages are long gone. They proposed from their research into audience behaviour that audiences use media texts for a variety of reasons. They believe there is 3 reasons. -

• Information - Finding out about events, satisfying curiosity gaining a sense of security through knowledge.  
• Personal Identity - Reinforcement for personal values finding models of behaviour insight into ones self. Such as following people on social networks who reinforce our personal values.
• Integration and Social Interaction - Insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, interaction, enabling one connec6t with family, friends and society. For example television sitcom or soaps which lets us relate to the character and situations they're going through.

 

Impact of New Technology on Audiences

Old media such as print, radio and TV used to have a high audience. The media must now work harder in order to maintain a high count of audience numbers.

Digital technology has also led to an increase uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the general agreement that a large group of people reading the same thing at the same time is outdated and that audiences are now seen as being 'fragmented'.

Audience
Demographic - The audience's age, race, gender, class/status, nationality.
Psychographic - Audiences interests, beliefs and hobbies.

Types of Audience
Mass audience - Often termed 'broadcast audience'. Those who consume mainstream or popular texts such as soaps or sitcoms. Media and communion which targets a very large group of people (woman, men, children, adults). Aimed to and have a large audience.

Niche audience - Much smaller but very influential. A niche audience is a small, select group of people with a very unique interest. For example these may be magazines about fishing, gardening bird watching or car racing. Also a film such as submarine.

Michael Winterbottom -
Small/ Niche/ Independent Films -   'I want you'    'Butterfly kiss'
Mass Audience -    'Road To Guantanamo'    '24 Hour Party People'  
 

Audience research
Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, pre-film screening and spend a great deal of time and money finding out who would be interested in their product.
 
The audiences are categorised into different groups -
Group A
• Lawyers
• Doctors
• Scientists
• Well paid professionals

        Group B

• Teachers
• Middle management
• Fairly well professionals

     Group C1

• Junior Management
• Bank clerks
• Nurses
• 'White Collar' Profession

       Group C2

• Electrician
• Plumbers
• Carpenter
• 'Blue Collar' Profession  

      Group D

• Manuel workers - Drivers, Post sorters

      Group E

• Students
• Unemployed
• Pensioners

Three Act Structure Of Thriller

Three Act Structure Of Thriller 

Act 1 - Exposition
 This part introduces the characters and shows some relationships between the characters. This usually lasts for 30 minutes, mainly getting a feel for the main character and getting to know there character. This is a freeze frame image of the start of the film between the dad, mother and daughter when they allow her to travel to France with her friend for a music tour.


Inciting Incident -
This is part of the film which is half way through the first act. Its an event which sets the plot of the film in motion, for this specific film 'Taken' this part is when the daughter (Kim) arrives in France after trying to persuade her Dad to let her go alone. In this act Kim also meets a French guy who she gets talking to outside of the airport who she then shares a taxi with and her friend tells him they are staying alone in France.


Plot Point
A plot point is an event which leads the plot into a new direction, leading into a new act of the screen play. In Taken this is the scene in which Kim is on the phone to her dad and from the window she can see that people have broken in and grab hold of her friend. Whilst on the phone to her dad she waits anxiously knowing that they're coming to get her too.


Act 2 - Obstacles
In the second act the main character comes across an obstacle which stops them from achieving there plan or goal. In this Film when the dads on the phone to his Daughter (Kim) he tells her to go to the next room and lay under the bed then shout out the kidnappers identity when they grab her. The obstacle which happens is that the dad manages to speak to the kidnapper but then loses trace of the number and cant track down the number or location from where his Daughter was taken from.





















First Culmination -
This is halfway to midpoint of the film when the main character comes close to achieving the goal then something happens and it all falls apart. This part would be when the Dad flies out to Paris to try find his daughter and her friend, find the French guy who they spoke too, he then gets run over so the dad then needs to get hold of more people in order to find his daughter.



Midpoint - Halfway through
Half way through the film when the main character is not yet close enough to achieve/complete their goal. In this part of taken the Dad comes across prostitute's and kills men who have been involved with his daughters kidnapping. He finds Kims friends who's dead laying in bed over dosed on drugs, but there is still no sight of his daughter.



Plot point
Liam Neeson (Dad) gets closer and closer to finding out information on where his daughter may be and finds a location where he could possibly find her.


Act 3 - Climax
Lee Neeson finds his daughter is being sold as a prostitute. He follows the men that have hold of his daughter and tracks them down on a boat. He then kills them all and is safe with his Daughter (Kim) in France.




Denouement -
This is the ending of the film, the part which is calm and is where the state of equilibrium returns. In taken Lee Neeson and Kim return home safely and she is reunited back with her mother.

Genre Coventions Of Thriller - Pinterest

http://www.pinterest.com/frankiealexiex/coventions-of-the-thriller-genre/

Comprehending Time

Very few screen stories take place in real time. Whole lives can be dealt with in the 90 minutes of a feature film, an 8 month siege can be encompassed within a 60 minute siege. There are many conventions to donate time passing, from the time/date information typed up on each new scene of the X-Filed to the aeroplane passing over a map of a continent in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Other devices to manipulate time include:

• Flashbacks
• Dream sequences
• Repetition
• Different Characters POV
• Flash Forward
• Real time interludes
• Pre - figuring of events that have not yet taken place

 Inception uses Dream sequences.

 

Film Genre Conventions

The Western

The western is a genre that has long held fascination for a film audience, partly because of its 'mythical' context. This is because its set in the past, in isolated places removed from the rules and laws of modern society. This allows the film makers to explore moral and social ambiguities without any reference to any issues. In the original westerns a fight between forces of good and evil would happen. The heroic cowboy being victorious and the audience faith in humanity restored. However, the western has experienced a series of changed, adaptations and revivals in its cinematic history.

During the 1920's-1930's a big amount of westerns were made. Alan Lovell identified four principals which contributed to the form of genre:

• A structure dawn from 19th century melodramatic literature, involving a virtuous hero and a wicked villain who menaces a virginal heroine.
• An action story, composed of violence, chases and criminal appropriate to a place like the American West in the 19th century .
• The introduction of the history of the migration westwards and the opening of the frontier signalled in such films as 'The Covered Wagon' in 1924 and the 'Iron Horse' also in 1924.
• The revenge structure, which was presented by the time Billy The Kid in 1930.

Narrative

Narrative -
Narrative is the organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience. http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=narrative

Levi- Strauss
Levi Strauss built upon philosophers Aristotle's statement that 'all drama is conflict' with his theory of binary oppositions. Strauss said that all stories are 'Accelerated forward by conflict which is caused by opposing characters or events.

Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes proposes that there is codes within film which engage audiences. The enigma code controls what information an audience is aware of within a narrative and holds their interest throughout the film. Puzzles and problems are introduced which must be solved a long with mysteries which must be uncovered.

Tvestan Todorov
Presented with his theory which is basted on his study of folk tales, which implies mainstream film follows a similar narrative. Its consist of 5 stages:

• Equilibrium
• Disruption
• Recognition
• Repair
• New equilibrium

ProppNarrative Devices

Valadimir Propp also proposes narrative structure which is similar to Todorovs. Although Propp is more detailed.

• Complication - Keys or clues to the direction of the story
• Transference - The donor events
• Struggle - Dealing with the complications
• Return - Back to "home" however there are still issues remaining
• Recognition - Lose ends are tied up

Propps character theory which identifies more character roles than the previous clear identify protagonist and antagonist.

• The villain
• The Donor - Prepares the hero or gives them a magical object
• The magical helper - Helps the hero throughout the quest
• The princess's father - Object of the heroes desire, sought for during the narrative
• The princess's father - Rewards the hero
• The dispatcher - Character to send hero off
• The hero/villain/seeker - Reacts to the donor, weds the princess, completes the quest
• The false hero, usurper or anti- Hero

Hybrid Genre

Hybrid Genre

A hybrid is a combination of two or more genres. Hybrid can have a larger audience due to appealing to more people through their multiple genres. This would be more lucrative for the film companies. Some people consider them more exciting and creative.

Some examples of hybrid are:

• Horror romance - twilight
• Horror war - Dead snow
• Horror Historical Drama - pride and prejudice and zombies
• Horror RomCom - Shaun of the dead

"Genres aren't static but they do evolve. Therefore, their common attributes change over time. Most films are hybrid genres, since they possess the common attributes of more than one genre."

Sub Genre

Sub-Genres

Are identifiable sub-classes, almost like a sub heading, within the larger film genre, with their own distinctive subject matter, style, formulas and iconography.
 You can get many different types of action adventure. For example, spy, espionage, political thrillers, material arts film and races against time.
These are all different sub genres for an action film. if were putting the film 'Sky-Fall' into sub genre within a genre, which one would it be?

Genre - Category
Sub genre - Subcategory

Case Study Of Genre

Genre

Genre is a category to which a type of media belongs to, according to certain content and manner. Genre also works as a template, for film makers a certain genre will have expectations to present through their film.


Conventions and paradigms -
Genre function according to set of rules and conventions, which govern their capacity and range. They respond to these rules and conventions by developing formulas and patterns. Over time, these formulas and patterns may acquire not only typical, but even archetypal force, dominating ways of seeing and representing the world around us.

Paradigm = The overall pattern created by a film that helps us categorise is, almost seen as a template.

Conventions = The individual elements which help specify which genre a film belongs to. For example the conventions of genre would be weapons, explosions, car chases etc.

Why do we categorise films?

We categorise films so they're easy to find. Categorising separated the different interests. Making it easy for the viewers to find, so they can watch a film in the genre that they like.
For example romance genre should represent love, romance, happy endings, break ups. Films also belong to certain genres to make it easier for the audience, so if they are interested and enjoy a certain genre it will be easy for them to find a film which suits them by finding films under the category of their chosen genre. Furthermore film stars can associate themselves with a particular genre that they like to take part in e.g. Will Ferrell is known for slapstick comedy, when his face is shown the audience they will suddenly recognise what kind of film they are likely to see if he is being shown.

The idea of genre grew with the evolution of the film industry, although it was particularly developed in Hollywood in the 1920/1930s. If you know the genre you want to categorise you can target the correct target audience.

Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct from artistic style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconography