Just like the films Heat and Collateral made by Michael Mann there are also many more action thrillers. This genre of film combines action faced paced films with a thriller to make films more exciting so they appear to a wider audience therefore making more money.
Some of the most famous films are action thrillers like the James Bond films and the Bourne films. Not only are they full of action but also thriller and in parts theres comedy and romance making these films some of the most successful widely watched films accross the world.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Michael Mann
Michael Mann is a very famous American film director as well as a producer and screenwriter. Even though he is American he has worked on various British films and has one various awards for his work. He won an Emmy in 1979 and 2000 as well as a BAFTA. Throughout his career he has made a high number of films. His most recognised being Heat and Collateral. The film Heat is set in Los Angeles and is based on a detective and a criminal. As the film was made in 1995 it is quite old fashioned in the sense that the quality isn't as good as the quality of cameras and recording equipment we have today. Its the type of film you would think of when the subject of a detective or action film comes up. Michael Mann became very well known for his film Heat as it appealed to such a wide audience.
His film Collateral was made in 2004 and had many famous people as actors in for example Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. This film is about a cab driver who finds himself hostage. Again another detective film with a lot of action thriller is portayed. You can tell that Michael Mann enjoys making this genre of film as his films tend to sell well with this genre. The fact that this film was made in 2004 shows that technology has become more advanced with time. The cameras used in Collateral are a lot more advanced as well as the editing software to that of 1995. The use of very famous actors within this film also posits the success that Michael has had from the films he has made as he is able to have celebrities in his films.
Michael is a very exciting director to study because of his success and his gradual increase of what in my opinion are better films. I think that as time has passed his films have become not only better visualy but because of the actors more interesting.
His film Collateral was made in 2004 and had many famous people as actors in for example Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. This film is about a cab driver who finds himself hostage. Again another detective film with a lot of action thriller is portayed. You can tell that Michael Mann enjoys making this genre of film as his films tend to sell well with this genre. The fact that this film was made in 2004 shows that technology has become more advanced with time. The cameras used in Collateral are a lot more advanced as well as the editing software to that of 1995. The use of very famous actors within this film also posits the success that Michael has had from the films he has made as he is able to have celebrities in his films.
Michael is a very exciting director to study because of his success and his gradual increase of what in my opinion are better films. I think that as time has passed his films have become not only better visualy but because of the actors more interesting.
Specific Questionnaire
Chloé took a Specific questionnaire to find out more about our target audience and their interest in the thriller genre. She recorded a few people being interviewed and asked them questions about thriller films, what they found effective and what they think of our ideas for our production.
This questionnaire will help us with creating our thriller film opening as we now know what our target audience is looking for in a thriller opening. Below is the video of the interview and list of questions asked.
The results we got from this interview were quite interesting and very helpful to us. Chloé found out that not everyone likes the thriller genre but for the people who do, some prefer the horror thrillers that involve murder, violence and creepy and gruesome scenes. She found that people are kept engaged when there is a twist to the film, and when theres a lot of action. Also the audience like it when the film is very tensed however one person she interveiwed said they didn't like the thriller genre. Chloé also found out that the audience find it more effective when there is music in the opening as it creates tension and suspense and that it can sometimes be effective if another voice is used at somepoint in the opening.
From this questionnaire our group learnt that most people do like the thriller genre and the people that do are more or less round the same age, it is mostly teenagers and young adults who watch thriller films. This questionnaire will help us in our production as we have now got useful information about our target audience, we know what elements we need to include to make our thriller opening appealing and effective. Without one to one interveiws it's hard to get specific information to improve our opening ideas.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Thriller Film Openings
Se7en
I chose to study the opening of the film Se7en because of the different conventions and effects used. From watching this opening you can tell straight away that it is a Thriller film. It was filled with Enigma’s, false paths and on the beat editing. The music used in this opening fits well into the Thriller genre because it was quite mysterious and eerie creating a scary and mysterious effect. The colours used within the opening were dark and miserable reflecting the fear and unknown element that you find in a Thriller film making you feel quite scared or anxious whereas a romantic film might have bright and feel good colours used.
There were also several different camera angles throughout which made it seem more exciting and as if there is more than one story line for example there was a close up of a newspaper article with some words being crossed out and a long shot of photographs being stuck into a book. The part that stood out most to me were the effects used in the film as this kept me interested and made me want to continue watching the rest of the film, the fact that some parts were shown only for a few seconds kept me intrigued as well as some clips being shown in a negative effect like some credits.
I liked that different parts of the opening were edited in quite a choppy way meaning that only a few seconds were shown for example when the photographs displaying torture were shown as this creates tension and makes the audience feel inclined to find out what happens in the rest of the film this also adds to the scary element of the Thriller as you don’t know why they are shown with no explanation.
I like this opening as not too much is given away about the storyline but it gives you an insight to what genre the film is. You can see from the way different pictures were shown of people being tortured and crossed out that it isn’t a comedy or family type film as these images make you feel slightly uncomfortable or frightened. Parts of the opening were very original like when the skin was scraped off using the metal tool giving the effect of inflicting or feeling pain or when the book was being sewn together with a needle and thread which represents extraordinary events happening through ordinary situations.
I think that the way the opening of this film was set out was really clever through using the book pages being turned. This is because at different parts of the opening the pages were shown being turned over showing photographs being stuck onto it and being written onto giving the impression that the protagonist was writing or using this book giving you a little insight to his actions that we don’t yet know of being written down.
An opening of a film is very important as it gets the audience into the mood to watch the rest of it and keeps the audience interested and lets the audience know the actors that will be in it without this the first scene can’t be set properly as there would be no introduction. I think that the opening to se7en was created really well as it made me want to watch the rest of the film because of the effects and editing used
Mimic
I thought the way the titles entered the scene helped continue the fact it was a thriller film. The names often appeared when the music became suddenly loud or when a flashing image happened with the use of on the beat editing so that the names really stand out to the audience.
Dexter
I have chosen to analyse the opening of the film Dexter as it is very different from most thriller film openings. The use of everyday objects representing different methods of torture is a very unique idea that works. The music was not faced paced or scary but almost comical. This was used to represent every day life for example the orange being squished and squeezed dennotes a person being squeezed to death. Also the t-shirt being put on and for a second looking as if it had suffocated the character shows another method of torture. In fact throughout the whole opening of the film you get the sense that someone is being tortured but not in a scary or shocking way.
Without the editing the effect that it has on the audience wouldn't work.This is because it needed to have different parts shown quickly for you to understand that everyday objects were shown as a representative of torture. I also found that the titles/credits didnt appear throughout the whole opening which posits that the opening was a very important part for the rest of the film. This could be because this comical morning routine relates to the characters personality and that maybe the main character enjoys torture. By not showing credits at the beginning of the film also makes the audience intrigued to watch the rest of the film to find out about what happens.
A lot of close ups were used within the scene to really make you question why this was done. I think that the director wanted the audience to wonder what the significance of the close up of the objects were. There wasn't much diegetic sound in this opening, however some objects you heard as the character would hear it for example when the character is shaving at the beginnign of the opening you can hear the blades scrape accross the skin.
The main part of the opening which creates interest for the audience is the fact that you can tell it is a thriller film from ordinary situations and day to day routines. This ineterests the audience and makes people question to why the film has started this way. You can tell straight away that the main character is the one in the opening as he is the only person in each clip shown you can also tell this from the way that he walks out with a smirk on his face.
This film opening made me want to watch the rest of the film more so than Se7en or Mimic because of the fact that it was set out so differently from all other thriller films that I've seen. I also felt inclined to watch it because of the way so many enigmas were created.
I chose to study the opening of the film Se7en because of the different conventions and effects used. From watching this opening you can tell straight away that it is a Thriller film. It was filled with Enigma’s, false paths and on the beat editing. The music used in this opening fits well into the Thriller genre because it was quite mysterious and eerie creating a scary and mysterious effect. The colours used within the opening were dark and miserable reflecting the fear and unknown element that you find in a Thriller film making you feel quite scared or anxious whereas a romantic film might have bright and feel good colours used.
There were also several different camera angles throughout which made it seem more exciting and as if there is more than one story line for example there was a close up of a newspaper article with some words being crossed out and a long shot of photographs being stuck into a book. The part that stood out most to me were the effects used in the film as this kept me interested and made me want to continue watching the rest of the film, the fact that some parts were shown only for a few seconds kept me intrigued as well as some clips being shown in a negative effect like some credits.
I liked that different parts of the opening were edited in quite a choppy way meaning that only a few seconds were shown for example when the photographs displaying torture were shown as this creates tension and makes the audience feel inclined to find out what happens in the rest of the film this also adds to the scary element of the Thriller as you don’t know why they are shown with no explanation.
I like this opening as not too much is given away about the storyline but it gives you an insight to what genre the film is. You can see from the way different pictures were shown of people being tortured and crossed out that it isn’t a comedy or family type film as these images make you feel slightly uncomfortable or frightened. Parts of the opening were very original like when the skin was scraped off using the metal tool giving the effect of inflicting or feeling pain or when the book was being sewn together with a needle and thread which represents extraordinary events happening through ordinary situations.
I think that the way the opening of this film was set out was really clever through using the book pages being turned. This is because at different parts of the opening the pages were shown being turned over showing photographs being stuck onto it and being written onto giving the impression that the protagonist was writing or using this book giving you a little insight to his actions that we don’t yet know of being written down.
An opening of a film is very important as it gets the audience into the mood to watch the rest of it and keeps the audience interested and lets the audience know the actors that will be in it without this the first scene can’t be set properly as there would be no introduction. I think that the opening to se7en was created really well as it made me want to watch the rest of the film because of the effects and editing used
Mimic
I’ve chosen to analyse mimic because the opening really captivated me. It made me feel nervous because of the on the beat editing that took place. The music made my heart become fast paced and the constant flashing images of dead butterflies and pictures of young children gave me the illusion that the film has something to do with crime or murder. I thought that the voice message that was heard in the opening was particularly captivating as I heard the words “Pandemic” which made me feel anxious as if the police force was out of control.
This really fitted the thriller genre well as the lighting was dark and mysterious and the negative effect used on the computer made the butterflies really stand out. I thought that the use of dead butterflies was clever as it showed what is considered a “pretty” and “happy” creature to be scary and dead. The fact that this opening kept me guessing at what the storyline was about really made me intrigued to watch the rest of the film.
This really fitted the thriller genre well as the lighting was dark and mysterious and the negative effect used on the computer made the butterflies really stand out. I thought that the use of dead butterflies was clever as it showed what is considered a “pretty” and “happy” creature to be scary and dead. The fact that this opening kept me guessing at what the storyline was about really made me intrigued to watch the rest of the film.
The music used was quite slow at first but it became fast paced and there were parts where the music became really loud and sharp to hear. Also the use of diegetic sound through the telephone or walkie talkie helped get the audience to feel as if they are now a part of the film.
I thought the way the titles entered the scene helped continue the fact it was a thriller film. The names often appeared when the music became suddenly loud or when a flashing image happened with the use of on the beat editing so that the names really stand out to the audience.Dexter
I have chosen to analyse the opening of the film Dexter as it is very different from most thriller film openings. The use of everyday objects representing different methods of torture is a very unique idea that works. The music was not faced paced or scary but almost comical. This was used to represent every day life for example the orange being squished and squeezed dennotes a person being squeezed to death. Also the t-shirt being put on and for a second looking as if it had suffocated the character shows another method of torture. In fact throughout the whole opening of the film you get the sense that someone is being tortured but not in a scary or shocking way.
Without the editing the effect that it has on the audience wouldn't work.This is because it needed to have different parts shown quickly for you to understand that everyday objects were shown as a representative of torture. I also found that the titles/credits didnt appear throughout the whole opening which posits that the opening was a very important part for the rest of the film. This could be because this comical morning routine relates to the characters personality and that maybe the main character enjoys torture. By not showing credits at the beginning of the film also makes the audience intrigued to watch the rest of the film to find out about what happens.
A lot of close ups were used within the scene to really make you question why this was done. I think that the director wanted the audience to wonder what the significance of the close up of the objects were. There wasn't much diegetic sound in this opening, however some objects you heard as the character would hear it for example when the character is shaving at the beginnign of the opening you can hear the blades scrape accross the skin.
The main part of the opening which creates interest for the audience is the fact that you can tell it is a thriller film from ordinary situations and day to day routines. This ineterests the audience and makes people question to why the film has started this way. You can tell straight away that the main character is the one in the opening as he is the only person in each clip shown you can also tell this from the way that he walks out with a smirk on his face.
This film opening made me want to watch the rest of the film more so than Se7en or Mimic because of the fact that it was set out so differently from all other thriller films that I've seen. I also felt inclined to watch it because of the way so many enigmas were created.
Conventions of Thriller films
There are various elements to a thriller film which makes you almost automatically recognise the genre. For example at the openings to thriller films there tends to be faced paced music to help the audience create different scenarios in their heads. Music is key to relate to the audiences feelings for example at the sad part of any film there tends to be classical slow music to help the audience engage with the characters involved. Without music it almost becomes harder to get the audience's interaction with the films content.
Another key convention to thriller films is a dark or mysterious setting. This tends to give the audience a scare because if a character is shown in the dark like this one for example it becomes unknown and unpredictable. I think that if this scene shown in the picture was set in the countryside in broad daylight it wouldn't seem anywhere near as scary and it would not fit in to the thriller genre. When creating my film I must make sure there is a scary and mysterious element to the setting to ensure my audiences recognition that my opening is for the thriller genre.Personally I think that a Thriller film should have these elements within them so that they make the film stand out from any other genre :
- Music that creates tension
- Enigma's
- Various computer effects/techniques
- Dark settings
- Crime
One to one Interveiws
As part of my group Lauren found out about the one to one interviews she wrote out 12 questions to do with the thriller genre and asked three people to answer each question. Lauren's original idea was to film everyones answers, however nobody wanted to be put in front of a camera so she changed her idea to writing the answers down to get the questions answered by asking her peers. Lauren interviewed three people who came from different age groups; one from the elderly, one from middle age and lastly a teenager, from doing this our group can see the age group who are mostly intrested in thrillers and who we should base our target audience on.
To the left, Lauren took a picture of the questions in which she asked; as they are not clear they are:
1. Name?
2. How old are you?
3. Do you enjoy watching films?
4. What do you think of the thriller genre?
5. When you watch thrillers do you understand the storyline?
6. What types of thrillers do you enjoy more, action or horror?
7. In thrillers, stalkers and murders are usually men, would you find a film more intresting if it was a woman?
8. My idea is (i then explained) what do you think of this idea?
9. Would you be intrested to go to the cinema to see this film?
1. Name?
2. How old are you?
3. Do you enjoy watching films?
4. What do you think of the thriller genre?
5. When you watch thrillers do you understand the storyline?
6. What types of thrillers do you enjoy more, action or horror?
7. In thrillers, stalkers and murders are usually men, would you find a film more intresting if it was a woman?
8. My idea is (i then explained) what do you think of this idea?
9. Would you be intrested to go to the cinema to see this film?
10. What part of a film captures your most attention, beginning, middle or end?
11. If a thriller is set in a dark environment do you find this more intense?
12. Do you like films which are mysterious and leave you guessing?
The first person who Lauren interviewed was Tracy who is 43 years old. From Tracy's interview Lauren found out that she enjoys watching films and that Thriller is her favourite genre so was intrested to hear my idea of a storyline. Tracy prefers to watch horror thrillers rather than actions as they intrest her more, and says that she will only understand the storyline depending on how good it has been directed. From this our group will have to take into consideration of how we are going to direct our film so that everyone will understand our storyline.
When Lauren asked Tracy the idea which we have in mind for our film she found it very intresting as she said it leaves her with questions which she wants answered that would make her carry on watching the film. Lauren found out that it would be best to set a thriller in a dark environment as it sets up more tension.
Secondly she interviewed someone from the older age group of 63. From interviewing this person, Lauren found out that elderly people do not really enjoy watching up to date films which in our case means that it wouldnt be a good idea to base our target audience on elderly people as most do not like to watch thrillers.Pat was interested in the idea which we have in mind for our thriller opening as she said that she would be interested to see the outcome, however she also said that the way we film it would have to grab her attention to make her want to carry on watching as she doesnt usually watch many thrillers.
Pat commented that the most intresting part of a film which captures her attention the most is the ending as it concludes the story, in this case we would not have to take this into consideration as we are only filming the opening sequence.
Lastly Lauren interviewed Keeley, who is a teenager of our age group. Keeley is 14 years old and is very interested in films which are only aimed at her age group. This shows that it would be a very good idea to aim our opening of our films at teenagers as we would mainly know what they would be intrested in. Keeley likes the thirller genre as she likes films which make her jump alot, this could be taken into consideration when we make our opening as we should make it heart racing and jumpy to keep the audience engaged. Keeley didn't like the idea of us having a stalker as a woman as she is use to watching a man commiting a crime so she therefore thinks that the woman would just be 'crazy.'
When she asked Keeley what she thought of our idea she replied 'I think it sounds very good and interesting, i would pay to watch the film. I also think that your setting sounds good, scary and dark.'
When Lauren asked if she likes films which are mysterious and leave you guessing, she replied no because she would like to know whats going on and doesnt like cliff hangers. When making our opening sequence however I think that it would be a good idea to leave a cliff hanger as it will make the audience want to watch the rest of the film.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
General Questionnaire
I took a general questionnaire to explore the audiences veiws on film and music so that I can improve and think about my thriller opening. By taking this questionnaire I have now developed a helpful audience profile. It will help me when creating my opening as it means that I have more knowledge on the type of music and films people prefer and how to capture their attention when watching my thriller opening. The results show that different age ranges and genders influence peoples likes and dislikes. Below shows the questions I asked in my questionnaire.
 |
| General Questionnaire. |
1.)
2.) What age bracket do you fall into?
3.) Do you buy films online?
4.) How often do you go to the cinema?
5.) Are you male or female?
6.)What is your favourite film?
7.)Who is your favourite actor?
8.) Do you own more than five DVD's?
9.) What genre of music do you listen to most?
10.) What was the last film you saw?
From completing this questionaire I found that the younger people I surveyed prefered rock and pop music and owned more DVD's and brought more films online. Whereas the older people I surveyed went to the cinema more and prefered more romantic and comedy films. I gave out my questionnaore to 15 people and received a variety of results, however I found similar results to those of similar ages. This could show that nowadays the media around us has changed and influenced us differently. I have learnt that when creating my film I need to take into consideration my target audience because if I dont refer to what they want to watch it wont appeal to them. This task has helped me to understand that I need to make sure my film will captivate my target audience. From these results I will develop this further into a specific questionnaire as well as a one to one interveiw.
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