survey (audience research)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/CSU4WyRh90_2FS_2BQv8Kx6VHgD4flOI_2BiSKTKR5tJqb6hM_3D

How Does Quentin Tarantino ensure the audience know the film genre before watching?

Quentin Tarantino is a multi-award winning director and actor. his films do not dissapoint in award season however are always on contraversial topics. for example 'Inglorious'. inglorious focuses on a very sensitive subject such as the holocaust. by choosing not to satirize but explore different viewpoints of human genocide such as the horror of Nazi Germany we know as the audience that the film is going to have conflict, action, death, and mystery all main conventions of the thriller film genre. All directors have their own styles of doing things. For example Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick seemingly specialized in thriller films with important elements of horror. e.g 'PSYCHO' and 'The Shining'. another example is Ben Wheatley and his gritty, harsh films such as 'A Field In England' which are just simply difficult to watch. This therefore differentiates with Tarantino's methods whose sensitive subjects ensure thriller spectacles as the audience know what to expect and look forward to the conventions of which Tarantino specializes in and how he makes films on devastating disasters without causing offence, that is why his films are so highly rated and wipe the floor over the award season. Another example of Tarantino's sensitive subject choice would be the Slave Trade in the USA. by using famous actors i,e Leo Di Caprio and Sam Jackson a wider audience is targeted and appealed to whilst still drawing in regular audiences from fans of past films. Tarantino tends to have a large scale Hollywood actor to play the main protagonist who change in different films however he sticks with not only the award winning actors, but actors who have helped define the films he creates. for example Brad Pitt played Lieutenant Delrein in 'Inglorious' and Christophe Waltz played the Nazi Officer and likewise Leo DiCaprio played Candy in 'Django Unchained' and Waltz starred as the main supporting actor.

How is One Hour Photo established as a thriller (silent watch) - opening two minutes only.

In the opening credits of One Hour Photo the font is bright and bold with semi-continuous flashes. this is used by director Mark Romanek to show that a simple thing like photos being processed which will prove to be the main story line of how the film progresses can have physiological assets. I first watched this film opening in silence to analyse in more detail the other things in the shot. when the title 'One Hour Photo' comes onto the screen there are 3 pounding flashes which can represent the illusion the flashes cause and the quick blinking what the reader then does. it can also relate to a heartbeat and a increase in tension. in the first establishing shot we see a camera. typically with a red button to represent danger but also now the realization that along with the title the topic of cameras is likely to play a forefront in the plot. coming down in shutters to aid tension build up a man appears who we appear to be posing for a prison admittance picture. this in turn is introducing us to Robin Williams (the main antagonist) and forebodes what is going to happen once the film starts. The shot then cuts to a camera watching Robin Williams and a double sided mirror looking through to the room he is in. this therefore enforces the realization that he is under high security and he is a dangerous person to the outside world.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/CSU4WyRh90_2FS_2BQv8Kx6VHgD4flOI_2BiSKTKR5tJqb6hM_3D

A Clockwork Orange Opening Analysis - Matthew Stone

A Clockwork Orange Opening Analysis

The first few seconds of the opening of A Clockwork Orange is a red screen. This portrays danger and because it is the only thing on the screen it suggests that the danger is prominent. The music accompanying the red screen is slow and foreboding which ties in with the element of danger and adds a sense of fear as to what could happen next, which is similar to how the main character is unpredictable and dangerous. The font of the title is white, bold and very candid, which can also be said for Alex DeLarge as he does the things he does for his love of “ultra-violence” and not for any other hidden reasons. After the title the screen goes to a close-up of the main characters face looking menacingly into the camera. The close up unnerves the audience and makes it feel like Alex is looking right at you, creating an intense atmosphere. As the camera zooms out the setting is very surreal and confusing linking to the surreal nature of the film and establishing mystery. The black and white colouring of the room can be interpreted as representing the black and white stance on morality of the main character in this stage of the film. The slow and calm voice over from Alex DeLarge accompanied with the images of the milk bar shows Alex’s disturbed and psychotic nature because of the way he acts like he is in a normal place and how he talks about getting ready for some “ultra violence”. The extreme close up of Alex also shows his disturbed nature because of his heavy breathing and menacing stare into the camera.

implications in the first 2 minutes of a thriller film

Implications in the first 2 mins of a Thriller film (Isabelle smith)

The first 2 minutes of a film has many implications on the film as a whole; a mood needs to be created, a narrative needs to be established as well as a strong opening can all be important as a hook to engage the audience. If people aren’t intrigued or gripped by the opening it can have an effect of people having a more negative opinion of the film overall, so the opening to minutes is vital as it establishes certain key themes and indicates what kind of film this is going to be (genre).

Panic room: the first 2 minutes is solely the opening credits in the background of New York City, while this could be considered as not particularly gripping, it is done in a way which sets the mood and tone predominately through sound and the films score. In the opening indents there is a sound of thunder as if a storm is brewing, as well as this sound unnerving the audience it could be argued foreshadows later events in the film. The score (by Howard Shore) is important as most of the pieces follows a similar sort of pattern to the overture in the opening credits; it begins with a double bass playing a very minor, deep base tune, so the audience begin to feel more unsettled and are made more aware of the tone of the film and an implication that something unpleasant or bad is on the brink of occurring. This is reiterated by the sound of police sirens suggesting that crime is one of the key themes. The music gets noticeably more in the minor key as it slowly pans across Jodie Foster’s name (which is in white bold text and appears to be a part of the one of the cities buildings signs)which signifies her importance, and may also suggest that she is in danger. Not long after this we see the film title which appears to be floating in the city among the buildings as soon as it cuts to Kristen Stewarts name the music’s pace increases dramatically it has a much more staccato pace it is much shorter and faster which successfully keeps you on edge and arguably it could be foreshadowing the theme claustrophobia, the fear of being trapped. The music reflects this theme by the increasing intensity of the music, it becomes more jerky and a tapping begins and gets faster (possibly mimicking the increasing heartbeat). The implications of the opening are effective in foreshadowing like feeling uncomfortable (e.g. when Kristen and Jodie are hiding in the panic room from the criminals) later events and keeping the audience intrigued by the unnerving sounds and music  and the new York city setting and therefore would have a more positive opinion of the film as a whole as openings are often crucial in setting up ideas, key themes and symbolism in the film so when done effectively has the implication of making the rest of the film more engaging as it relates to the start of the film.

Inception: the opening of the film has lots of implications on the rest of the film as we don’t really understand at this point why certain things or people are there as we are not aware of what significance they carry yet. This leads us to asking a lot of questions in our head, the mystery arguably helps us to pay attention to what’s going on in the opening 2 minutes as we are trying to engage ourselves to understand what it all means. The film begins with brass music, its very deep and increases in pitch and intensity throughout the company idents. The opening shot is an extreme close-up of some strong waves smashing up against rocks, the music previous to this reflects the wave’s strength and power, the fact that the music has stopped when the waves are shown could imply that a harsh sea storm has just passed. The next shot leaves us asking questions in our head;  an extreme close-up of Leonardo Dicaprio swept up from the sea, we are intrigued as we want to know how he got there. It then cuts to two young children playing and laughing on the beach, the shot is slowed down and the shouts and cries sound echoic almost as if they are not there, this is also reiterated when Dicaprio tries to reach out his hand to them whist still on the ground which suggests that he cannot reach them in the sense that they are fictional and that they are significant to Dicaprios character. When he closes his eyes this is foreshadowing later events ‘ the dream within a dream’ theme. Significant objects are shown in the opening 2 minutes which implies that they will be important to the narrative later on. The spinning top for example; the man who has taken Dicaprio to his house is intrigued by it, “I've seen one of these before” which connotes that is more than just a regular spinning top and speaks about it as if it is of great rarity. The opening in Inception whilst unclear is very intriguing as it helps us identify narrative and has the implication of gripping us and helping us understand later events as they are foreshadowed in the opening.

The last king of Scotland: establishing narrativein opening 5 minutes of films +detailed CEMS analysing opening of film

the narrative is very quickly established within the first five minutes of the film; for instance within the first 30 seconds of the film starting we already know from the headings and subtitles that “this film is inspired by real people and events” so we the what its based on has a lot of truth to it and we also know the setting at the start of the film “Scotland 1970” (from headings). During the headings being shown towards the end of them we hear shouting and laughing from people of a Scottish heritage , it then cuts to the opening shot of a group of young people running across a field (most of them in their underwear). The narrative the narrative is very quickly established within the first five minutes of the film; for instance within the first 30 seconds of the film starting we already know from the headings and subtitles that “this film is inspired by real people and events” so we the what its based on has a lot of truth to it and we also know the setting at the start of the film “Scotland 1970” (from headings). During the headings being shown towards the end of them we hear shouting and laughing from people of a Scottish heritage, it then cuts to the opening shot of a group of young people running across a field (most of them in their underwear). The narrative is effectively established here by the Mis en scene; many of the young people who are not already undressed are wearing uniforms which conveys to us that they are students, but not just any kind of uniform, they are wearing graduation gowns which puts the fact the many of them are in their underwear and holding large bottles of champagne into context because they are celebrating because they presumably have just graduated. As the group race to the water, we get a long shot of the dock which emphasises the setting being Scotland as we associate with Scotland not having good weather (it often being cold,raining or overcast) and the long-shot depicting the landscape fits with this stereotype:the sky is overcast and grey, the lake is vast, it stretches out for miles, the vast woodland and hills as the graduates jump into the grey dark lake, all fit with our immediate associations with Scotland and helps maintain the narrative and the stereotype of the Scottish man is also implied when James Mcavoy is shouting and cheering in the water this matches up with the stereotype of the Scottish male being loud and boisterous.

The next shot (as the jump into the lake) is slightly slowed down. The slow-motion enables us to capture the moment more easily as  it has the effect of making it seem more significant as the image of them jumping into the water  lasts longer so we have more time to process it. The sound of the them jumping in and splashing around is amplified, and purposely made louder. This may also enforce the importance of this moment as it could be argued  that it symbolises how much freedom the main character has at this point and arguably its foreshadowing the limited freedom he has later on in the film.

 The narrative is well established through the dialogue of the main character (James Mcavoy) and his parents; it fills us in on what  Nicholas has achieved (a degree) and what he is planning to be in the future (a family doctor).

However the narrative dramatically changes after this when Nicholas gets out the globe in his bedroom later on and says “first place you land you go” as it implies to us what the basis of the narrative is going to be; he is going to travel to a different country(to do his work). The first time he spins the globe the camera remains on him. We know the second time that he spins the globe it is more significant as there is an extreme close up of it 
spinning around which indicates that where it lands will greatly impact his life and have a lot of meaning to it. The narrative is well established when the globe stops spinning and there is an extreme close up of Nicholas’s finger on the country Uganda( on the globe), so we instantly know the location of where the story is going to take place which greatly helps us to establish and understand the narrative further within the first few minutes.

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Vertigo opening analysis : Joshua Jeffs

Vertigo opening analysis 

The clip starts off by showing the company idents and playing tense music to set the atmosphere, it then goes to a persons face and is the frame is at an extreme close up to their lips, It then shows an actors name as the music reaches a high point. This creates tension and shows the stars of the film, the stars are in a bold font that is hollow, the stars names are by themselves showing their importance.
It then goes to the persons eyes which then look left then right which is a sign of worry, another stars name shows as the music plays a louder note, it then zooms in further to the persons right eye which then has a red light put on it, Red portrays danger, and Vertigo comes out of the persons eye.
A swirl pattern then comes out of the eye and takes over the frame, it then shows the co-stars in a large block structure in a smaller font, this shows them as less important.The swirl patterns start far away and then zoom in towards the camera, This makes the viewer feel like they are falling towards the swirl and this fits the pattern of the film which is the fear of heights.After showing all of the co-stars it fades back to the persons eye and shows that it was directed by Hitchcock showing importance to his name.     

The Birds Opening Credits : Joshua Jeffs

The Birds opening credits analysis 

The Birds starts off by having a still frame with crows flying past the screen, the crows also have squawking sounds and the sound of there wings flapping playing loudly over the top of the shot.The sound starts off quite loudly then goes quieter and then becomes loud at the end, this is done to create a tense atmosphere for the start of the film after the credits.The sounds and rapid movements create an unsettling atmosphere for the viewer. 

They use a bold simple font and have every letter in upper-case. This is the typical thriller styled font which is used to leave an impression on the audience and give away no clues about the film so that the tension is higher, films such as 'Seven' use a font similar to 'prison wall writing' which shows the audience that it will probably involve psychological elements. The font changes as the crows fly past and is laid-out in a structure that has many of the actors in a group but then stars in a section by themselves in a larger font, for example this is done to Doreen Lang.    

Audience Research

Name: Isabelle Smith

Age: 17

Relationship Status: Single

Favourite film genre:  thriller,Scifi and comedy

What do you prefer a films story to contain?

I like films which have a build-up of tension so when something dramatic happens it is more exciting and seems to have more meaning and purpose to it. I like films that make you think, they have clever plots and twists as opposed to just throwing money at a film having lots of effects is only good if you have built up tension prior to the action or there is a meaningful purpose behind it.

Who is your favourite director and why?

Wes Anderson pays a lot of attention to detail and a has a very unique concept of how he makes his films and all his films are  very much stylised.

Favourite Films

The Lovely bones

Hanna

Amelie

Kick- ass

Coraline

How I live now

Atonement

Breaking bad (tv series)

Moonrise kingdom

Never let me go

Last King of Scotland

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How is Breaking Bad established as a thriller

Breaking Bad was written by Vince Gilligan who was already know for his writing of gritty thrillers such as the 'lone gunman'. Breaking Bad however is not a film, yet there are significant elements taken from thriller films that Vince Gilligan has incorporated into a 50 minute per episode TV series. At the start of every Breaking Bad episode regardless of importance there is two minutes that distinguish the mood in which the episode is to revolve around. for example there is an episode that starts with a teddy bear floating in a swimming pool, foreboding the final moments of the episode in which a plane crashes and the bear falls from the plane and into the main protagonists swimming pool. In this particular scene there is High pitched screaming noise which further forebodes the latter events but also is painful to listen to and therefore further illustrate Breaking Bad as gritty thriller. The music in Breaking Bad offers a key convention that are found in all thriller films as it is erratic and immediately puts you on edge. The main story is about a chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and cooks crystal meth in order to provide for his family. Another thriller convention apparent in Breaking Bad is the idea that the main protagonist 'Walter White' is visible within the first two minutes of the first episode. Gilligan also uses periodic table elements to fit into the cast members names. The idea of science and symbols also contribute to a psychological aspect of thriller films and this method is used in many thriller films including 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Se7en'.

What your company makes and why your ident -

Our company is called 'Third Person Pictures'. We make films that focus on the gritty, psychological aspects of thriller.  the idea of the camera lens in our ident offers a significant link between the ident and our film 'The Pursuer'. The man you can see in the background of our ident also links to the synopsis of our film which is about a man who is 'hiding behind a camera' and taking pictures of innocent children thus we decided to include the flash to further enforce the idea of a camera. Our company make thriller movies and they specialize within the perfect balance of distinguishing thriller from horror. The font we used on our ident is bold and enters in an erratic way. This helps to symbolize the unique and original films our company makes and how they seem abnormal and clash with an idealistic world. the first flash is an establishing shot to focus the audience in on the camera lens. The reason we put the writing of 'Third Person Pictures' on after the first flash is so that your eyes are automatically drawn to it having examined the camera and what is already happened as it is now the only thing in the shot that is moving. there is a final camera flash once the title is fully established which we intend to be the flash of 'The Hunters' camera and get straight to the film.

Third person pictures ident

Third person pictures logo (Group)

Matthew Stone - Audience Research

Name: Matthew Stone
Age: 16
Relationship Status: Single
Favorite film genre: Action

What do you prefer a films story to contain?

I prefer films to have some sort of problem that the protagonist must solve because it gives the film a straightforward path to follow with a satisfying end. I prefer the story to contain action and drama to keep the story driven and enjoy twist endings.

Who is your favorite director and why?

Stanley Kubrick because of the extreme attention to detail, tension and immersion in his films

Favorite Films
Pulp Fiction
Gran Torino
Full Metal Jacket
The Raid Redemption
Total Recall
Commando
Predator
Alien
Million Dollar Baby

The differences between a trailer and the opening two minutes : Joshua Jeffs

The differences between a trailer and the opening two minutes

Features of a Trailer

• Can show various parts of the story 
• Shows mostly highlights/high action parts of the story 
• key features of the story are shown
• used to draw the viewer in
• little detail

Features of the opening two minutes

• Chronological (mostly)
• Only the start of the story is shown 
• Main features of the story are a mystery 
• viewer is told the start of the story in detail
• may not contain high amounts of action

Trailers usually show highlighted parts of the story containing high amounts of action to draw the viewer in to watch it and key parts of the story and shown but no answers are given.

In the opening two minutes the story starts off and is usually done in chronological order and displays who the protagonist is, it goes into large amount of detail about the story and why the protagonist is doing what they are.  

Credits/Font Ideas : Joshua Jeffs

Font ideas for the opening credits

What type of fonts are used in thrillers?

Usually thrillers use plain bold fonts that are to the point. but some thrillers (mainly psychological) use 'wall writing' style fonts that look like what you would see on a cell wall, we can see this in Seven since the main antagonist is insane the font reflects off of him.

What type of font would best suite our thriller?

Our thriller is going to be a psychological thriller, this could lead us to use a 'wall writing' style font but the credits will be playing over people walking around a town and this type of font would not go very well with the scenery, so we should use a bold and to the point font. 

Examples of what fonts we could use 

• Helvetica 
• Impact
• Pegasus
• Univers 
• Cornerstone 

Audience research : Self Profile : Joshua Jeffs

Audience research

Profile

Name: Josh Jeffs

Age: 16

Favourite film genre :Thrillers 

What type of thriller go I enjoy most?

I mostly enjoy action thrillers that have a well developed plot but have a lot of fast paced scenes.

Psychological thrillers can be extremely good if done well.

What do I except from the first 2 minutes of a thriller?

In the first 2 minutes I expect that the protagonist has been defined and that the story is hinted at but not all answers are given.

My Favourite Films

Pulp fiction
Seven
The Shining