Planning Mise-en-scene, Miss Georgiou

Why is Mise-en-scene important within a thriller film?:

Settings and iconography are very important within a thriller film because props use in the setting of a thriller film can give the audience insight on what may be due to occur in the film for example if the opening scene of a thriller movie is set in a forest, then it is likely that a murder, kidnapping or something negative is going to take place and this can be enhanced by the setting and iconography. In Media Studies we see iconography as part of genre, and particularly film genre. Students need to know the term and how it is used. It is quite a complex concept, that informs image analysis and the deconstruction of genre. Iconography originates from the study of art. 

Costumes and make-up are equally important because in a thriller film, the villain is usually identified by make-up used and the costume that they are in for example a vampire would have pale make-up and would usually be wearing dark colours such as black, grey and also red at times, this is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience immediately senses that the character dressed and made up in this way will commit a murder or something else negative.

Costumes are part of the visual composition of each frame of film. Just as the elements of a painting work together to create a harmonious image, costumes must work with the lighting and sets. Colour, shape, line, and texture are all considered when designing costumes for a movie. Colour, one of the most important elements in the designer’s tool kit, suggests the mood and atmosphere of a story. Warm reds produce a different effect from subdued blues, for example.

Facial expressions and body language are important within a thriller film because they provide an indication of how someone is feeling which causes the audience to begin to identify with way they may be feeling a particular way by looking at their facial expressions.

The positioning of characters and objects are also beneficial to a thriller clip or film because positioning of characters or objects within a frame can draw attention to an important character or object; this makes it easier for the audience to recognise the main character or characters of a particular film.

Lighting and colour are equally as important to the thriller genre because denotation carries certain connotations which may add meaning to a scene, connotation can also be used for dramatic effect in order to put fear into the audience. Low key lighting adds a sense of mystery to the film, the effect this has on the audience.

My thriller Film:

In my thriller film the setting will be in a bedroom, using low key lighting that will be created by using a lamp in order to create mystery throughout the audience.

The aim of the use of low key lighting in this scene is to cause uncertainty within the audience of exactly how the film is going to develop whether in a negative or positive way.

From the use of low key lighting in this scene of the film, the audience are immediately given the impression that something negative is due to occur in the film.

Because the characters in my thriller clip are based on two sisters, they will be dressed in casual clothing to give the audience the impression that what may happen as the scenes progress in the film can also happen in reality which enables the audience to feel more connected to the two sisters as they relate each scene to reality.

Face paints and food colouring will be used to create artificial blood which adds depth to the scene as well as realism, also conventional to the thriller genre and the colours in the clip will be  varied in order to attract the audience more to the film.

The audience can build relationship with my film because they are given the indication that it is very normal for siblings to have a close bond, but to their surprise, one of the siblings will become the villain suspect as she is the closest person in the clip to the younger sister which will cause a lot of suspense within the audience about who the killer really is, the low key lighting that I will use will add emphasis on the purpose of the clip which is to create a sense of fear, suspense and panic through the use of camera angles, low key lighting and diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Questionnaire results, Miss Miller

What Gender are you?

Male – 28

Female – 12

What Age Certificate do you expect a thriller to be?

12 = 0

15 = 24

18=16

What interests you to watch thriller films?

Adverts – 16

Posters – 4

Recommendations – 20

 

What Gender are you?

Male – 28

Female – 12

What Age Certificate do you expect a thriller to be?

12 = 0

15 = 24

18=16

What interests you to watch thriller films?

Adverts – 16

Posters – 4

Recommendations – 20

 

What Gender are you?

Male – 28

Female – 12

What Age Certificate do you expect a thriller to be?

12 = 0

15 = 24

18=16

What interests you to watch thriller films?

Adverts – 16

Posters – 4

Recommendations – 20

 

What do you expect to see in thrillers?

Main Characters – 2

Killer & Victim – 8

Flash backs – 4

Blood – 5

Conflict – 3

Death – 9

Chase Scenes – 5

Fight Scenes – 4

Other – 0

Do you enjoy thrillers to have a sequel to continue the story?

Yes – 24

No – 16

What types of sounds would you like to hear in a thriller film?

Tension Building – 14

Sound Effects – 8

Loud Music – 6

Silence – 12

Other - 0

What characters would you like to watch in a thriller, and why?

Male – 6

Female –6

Villain – 10

Victim –14

Group of People –0

Psychotic – 4

Other – 0

What type of setting would you like to see?

Forest – 14

Abandoned House – 12

Park – 2

Old Basement – 4

School – 6

Other – 2

Would you enjoy other sub-genres to be used? If so which ones?

Psychological thriller – 6

Conspiracy thriller – 6

Crime thriller – 14

Other – 0

What type of setting would you like to see?

Forest – 14

Abandoned House – 12

Park – 2

Old Basement – 4

School – 6

Other – 2

Would you enjoy other sub-genres to be used? If so which ones?

Psychological thriller – 6

Conspiracy thriller – 6

Crime thriller – 14

This information shows the the majority of individuals that we questioned for our research were females as the pie chart shows; less than half of the people that we interviewed were male. This indicates that females may be more interested in thriller films than males.

Evidence from this pie chart shows that half of the people that we questioned confirmed that recommendations from other people such as friends and family, interest them to watch particular thriller films, 40% confirmed that they are persuaded by adverts to watch thriller films and only 10% of the general public are persuaded by posters to watch thriller films. This confirms that the audience of thriller films are persuaded both visually and by recommendations from people that they are familiar with rather than posters as they do not provide a lot of information about the content of the film.

This pie chart shows that the majority of the general public expect the age certificate of most thriller films to be 15, this could be because they feel that 15 year olds are mature enough to be exposed to certain themes in a thriller film that people of younger ages may not be able to handle.

The pie chart shows that death is expected to be seen in thriller films more than other things such as: main characters, killer&victim, flash backs, blood, conflict ,death chase scenes and fight scenes. The majority of the general public may feel this way because previous thriller films that they have previously watched which may have an impact on what they would expect to see in another thriller film.

The results on this pie chart show 60% of the general public enjoy having sequels after movies to continue the story, this may depend on how much each individual enjoys the original film. If they do enjoy the film then they would most likely be eager to watch a sequel of the film.

This pie chart shows that 35% of he general public expect tension building sounds in thriller films, the reason for this could be because most very successful thriller films include tension building sound effects.

Thriller Questionnare, Miss Georgiou

  Questionnaire Outline:

1.     How old are you?

2.     What gender are you?

3.     What age certificate do you expect a thriller to be?

                                    12        15       18

4.     What interests you to watch thriller films?

Adverts         Posters       Recommendations

5.     What do you expect to see in thrillers?

Main characters killer and victim   

Flash backs

Blood

Death

Conflict

Fight scenes

Chase scenes

Other

6.     Do you enjoy thriller films that have a sequel to continue the story?

7.     What types of sounds would you like to hear in a thriller film?

Tension building

Sound effects

Loud music

Silence

Other

8.     What characters would you like to watch in a thriller, and why?

Male

Female

Villain

Victim

Group of people

Psychotic

Other

9.     What type of setting would you like to see?

Forest       

Abandoned house      

Old basement        

Park

School

Other

10.                        Would you enjoy other sub-genres to be used? If so, which ones?

Psychological thriller

Conspiracy thriller

Crime thriller

Disaster thriller

Supernatural thriller

Other

11.                        What would you like the purpose to be?

To scare

To create paranoia

Enigma

Other

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questionnaire Outline:

1.     How old are you?

2.     What gender are you?

3.     What age certificate do you expect a thriller to be?

                                    12        15       18

4.     What interests you to watch thriller films?

Adverts         Posters       Recommendations

5.     What do you expect to see in thrillers?

Main characters killer and victim   

Flash backs

Blood

Death

Conflict

Fight scenes

Chase scenes

Other

6.     Do you enjoy thriller films that have a sequel to continue the story?

7.     What types of sounds would you like to hear in a thriller film?

Tension building

Sound effects

Loud music

Silence

Other

8.     What characters would you like to watch in a thriller, and why?

Male

Female

Villain

Victim

Group of people

Psychotic

Other

9.     What type of setting would you like to see?

Forest       

Abandoned house      

Old basement        

Park

School

Other

10.                        Would you enjoy other sub-genres to be used? If so, which ones?

Psychological thriller

Conspiracy thriller

Crime thriller

Disaster thriller

Supernatural thriller

Other

11.                        What would you like the purpose to be?

To scare

To create paranoia

Enigma

Other

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What would you like the purpose to be?

 

 

Group Narrative, Miss Georgiou

Individual Ideas:

Deanna

There is a child having a nightmare and she dreams about being in a park on a swing, playing happily before he killer takes her away. I would set this in a
de-tatched house and a park which is surrounded by forest. I would use cinematography for example a high angled shot to portray the child as the victim and music & sound effects to build suspense.

Ayesha and I (similar idea):

Our ideas for the narrative that i would like to create were inspired from, the lawn mower scene in the thriller Sinister because of the director's use of editing styles, Inception because of the surreal imagery and camera angles and also the thriller movie Orphan from the 1960's because of the trailing blood in the water.

Our thriller clip will be based on a stalker who is obsessed with a young women and would even kill her and himself in order for them to be together "forever".

In order to create low key lighting a paddling pool will be purchased an d a blanket will be covering it as well as a torch being used.

to make blood ketchup will be used to trail in the water to create a more realistic,gruesome effect.

Our intention is to film the clip in a dark place in order for the low key lighting needed to be more effective as well as parallel sounds to add emphasis to the things that take place in the thriller clip.

Group Narrative:

Characters:

• Killer


• Victim


• Victim's younger Sister
Settings:
• River setting
• Bedroom

The clip will begin with two sisters running  running through a forest looking for their lost dog, then the younger sister falls over and hits her head making he unconcious and then she later finds herself on the ground with blood on her head.
Whilst she is unconscious she imagine's a stalker trying to drown her sister which will leave the audience feeling confused when they realise that there is evidence of events from the young girl's dream when she becomes conscious, then the clip will end suddenly leaving the audience wondering ether the older sister was drowned or wether it was actually just a figure of the younger sister's imagination.

Vladmir Propp, a Russian critic, active in the 1920's, published his morphology of the folk tale in 1928. while the Soviet cinema was producing excellent films, Propp was essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales.
Folk tales were similar to

Opening Scene Analysis, Miss Georgiou

Halloween:

The purpose of an opening in the thriller genre is to give the audience insight into what is going to occur in the thriller; by using a range of such as camera angles, sounds and editing. These all contribute in the development of a thriller film from the opening scene because the opening scene of a thriller film plays a key role in making the audience feel either scared or paranoid etc. Opening scenes in thriller films usually contain main characters who by using facial expressions are able to set the scene for the audience. The location of the opening scene is also vital because it makes the audience aware of the possible things that may occur as the film further progresses which in the audience creates a fear of the unknown.

Camera angles:

The Opening sequence begins with the camera zooming in to the house which indicates that as the film progresses, the house is always going to be a very important part of the storyline, this is conventional to the thriller genre as in most thriller films, there is always one or a few key elements in a film that will be in the film, this also gives the audience the idea that something negative will take place in the film.The camera also then focuses on one particular part of the house which is the living room;giving the audience watching the film the impression that whatever is going to take place would occur in the living room, the camera zooming in slowly to the living room causes the audience to feel weary of what is due to occur as the film progresses.

Narrative:
 The opening scene also begins with an anonymous character that heads upstairs after he pulls a knife from the kitchen drawer. The audience would automatically assume that the person is anonymous because the face and body is nnot shown i the opening scene, the footsteps and movement of the person are the only things that are revealed which indicates to the audience that the person with the hidden identit may be a murderer.

Editing:
The scene includes a jump cut from the stairs to the bedroom when the girl is sitting in front of the dressing mirror brushing her hair; causing the audience to feel sudden panic unsure of what is going to happen next. The jump cut is used in this part of the opening seen to insinuate that something such as a murder would take place in the bedroom very shortly.

Sounds:
The pitch of sounds in the fim clip creates tension in the minds of the audience because the sounds are relatively high pitched in order to emphasise on the fear that is created in the opening scene. The sounds are mainly non-diegetic as there is music to accompany the opening scene as well as diegetic sounds such as: footsteps, talking and the sounds of doors creaking and closing. These all make a heavy impact on the audience causing them to panic and feel startled at the slightest noise in the opening scene.

Characters:
The identity of the killer in the opening scene is very deceptive as it leaves the audience uncertain of who the murderer is; the impact that this has on the audience is that the audience then engage more in the film in order to find out what is next to occur in the other scenes. A new character is then introduced (a young boy) that was not in the scene at the begining and this character s introduced with the same knife that was used to kill the girl in his hands.



In conclusion the camera angles, sounds and character would all be vital in the opening sequence of my thriller fim because these each play important roles in the quality of film produced. By using appropriate camera angles for scenes, emotions such as fear, trauma and panic can be felt from the intended audience of my thriller film. Sounds are equally as important because the audience should be able to sense what is about to happen in a movie without necessarily watching the film at the same time just by sounds that have been used.

Research Into Sounds, Miss Miller

Along Came The Spider(2005):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPbDFxXU_74

Diegetic Sound:

Sound which is part of the film for example, dialogue and music from a radio. The sound can be on or off screen.

Non-Diegetic Sound:

Sound that is not part of the film for example soundtracks.

The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening.  We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are  represented as coming from outside the space of the story events. 

On Screen Sound:

You can see where the sound is coming from.

Off Screen Sound:

You can hear the sound but cannot see where it is coming from.

Parallel Sound:

When the sound you hear in a film is what is expected for example children laughing whilst playing.

Contrapuntal Sound:

Is when the sound does not match the expectations of you are viewing.

The clip from the film Along came the spider begins with both diegetic and non-diegetic sound; diegetic sound because of the speech from the main character  when he says through the FBI piece of equipment "This is our man" this is supposed to make the audience feel as though they are on the same page as the FBI agents as they feel anxious to see what will happen and wether the criminal will be arrested or caught. Non-diegetic sound from the soundtrack makes the audience feel a sense of danger approaching,which is conventional to the thriller genre because thriller films are supposed to make the audience feel like something unexpected can always occur at any given moment. The sounds coming from the flying helicopter and moving car are also examples of diegetic sound as  these sounds are expected from the film because there is visual evidence of where these sounds are coming from.

The villan in the scene begins to shout when he realises that the woman he is with is an undercover agent which is is an example of parallel sound because the shouting is expected from what is occurring in the scene.

An example of On-screen sound is when the car starts to skid on the road because the audience is able to see where the sound is coming from which enhances the fact that the car is falling off the bridge.

The sound becomes contrapuntal when the other FBI agents are running after the car that is falling off the bridge because the sound is quite upbeat which could be in order for the audience to feel slight confusion as they are not completely sure of what is going on in the movie.

Through research into sounds, I have been able to gain an understanding on how sounds are a vital part in the development of thriller films as they are able to convey emotions that should be felt by the audience and also bring effectiveness to each of the scenes in the films.

Research Into Thriller Conventions, Miss Miller

Thriller Conventions:

Thriller conventions include mise-en-scene, cinematography and iconography. These particular features contribute alot to thriller films because they add alot of emphasis in the mood or theme of the movie.

The clip that i have chosen to analyse is from the film Casino Royale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9fyOFefirQ
The positioning and facial expressions of the characters sitting around the poker table show that there is a lot at stake and whoever loses the game will be affected, the effect that this has on the audience is that the audience are anxious whilst the game is going on because they are unsure of the meanings behind the expressions on the characters faces.
The music in the scene is parallel because the background music of suspense matches the intensity of the facial expressions on the characters faces.

Low key lighting is used in the scene of the clip which is conventional to the thriller genre and contributes to the the spooky mood of the clip which is because the audience is unsure of the occurrences about to happen.

A close up shot is used on the main characters opponent so that the audience would get the chance to imagine what is going on through is mid during the game of poker.

In conclusion this will benefit me in making my thriller film because all of the conventions that i have mentioned are used in thriller  movies contribute in making a successful film that viewers will enjoy,I can also use these features to make a thriller film of high quality and standard.