Location Decisions

When we had decided on doing a film about a fancy dress party to increase the uneasiness of the thriller, we knew we had to use a house to film in, which obviously raises a lot of complications. Initially we planned to film at a mutual friend of the groups house. Reason for this was that he had a pool and while we were planning a film we thought re-winding someone falling into a pool would be a brilliant shot and ultimately it would be original compared to shots that other groups have made. However because we needed extras to make the party look authentic, and our friend lives far away, we had to change location. Jake, a member of the group has the most conveniently positioned house which turned out to be the biggest house out of the group anyway ended up being our set. Here were the photos that were took when we looked for shots based on our drawings of the narrative.

The first idea for the second narrative, was a boy being sick, so naturally we began taking shots of the bathroom. Because the first time our protagonist is seen, is while he is being sick we thought a side angle shot of him dropping to his knees, then throwing up would be a good way to surprise audiences and also show enough of Jake's face to establish who he is, the shot fits everything we needed in.

This is where we planned for a tracking shot to come out of those to doors at the far back, it's a good shot to show the smokers sitting in the back, and establish more groups that our loner protagonist isn't friends with.

This is a shot of the alley by the side of the house, originally we wanted someone to be followed down it, however after the wall ends on the left it didn't really look right considering the shot types we wanted to use it, and then another member of the group suggested we put some extras on the wall to the left.

This was actually one of the shots we were determined to use, because of the angle of the shot and the way the curved wall makes the shot look like, it would add quite a sinister feel especially if the killer was standing in the far right while the Boy leaned against the wall.

At this point we had already decided the Boy's body would be around where the camera is now, where the two people are standing on top of the hill, would be where possible the killer is standing the home owner considering it's a place where the most powerful character would stand.

This is a shot taken from where the two boys were standing in the previous photo, as you can see there are three levels of paths and on the bottom one we wanted to have the body. the reason for this being that the party goers can be on different levels when they gather round the body.

Shutter Island influence

Another one of Scorsese's films actually fits the same genre as ours. His Psychological thriller 'Shutter Island'. Unlike 'Goodfellas' however it wasn't the opening that really made me want to mention it. It was more the narrative, the constant tension in scenes, the way the tone of the film made you always suspicious of the characters and the locations that the main character 'Teddy Daniels' found himself in.

 The film was beautifully made, the editing constantly gave a bleak feel, the music of the film which we actually took some, due to the fact it was so moving and we felt it fitted our film well. Lastly the acting from Leonardo Dicaprio who had a difficult part to play, especially towards the end where he confronts the truth about his wifes death, worked together wonderfully to give the sense of paranoia, and make audiences distrust characters and always be routing for 'Teddy' to be the character who is telling the truth. This is the direction we would want our film to go if it carried on, a film where sanity is questioned and audiences don't know who the 'good guy' is. It really makes use of it's cast, having Ben Kingsley as Dr John Cawley, an actor who can really make the most pleasant of characters have a sinister feel. Having Mark Ruffalo as 'Chuck' really helped audiences relate to him (before the ending) as he just does everything 'Teddy' says and doesn't know who to believe.

There are several reasons why I want to mention this film but I think the main reason is that it has a lot of 'Wait, What!?' moments in it, much like 'Donnie Darko'. For example the scenes with the rats coming out of the rock, just after he is convinced Chuck has jumped off a cliff, the audience begins to question the reality of the events, which I think a successful Psychological thriller needs to be able to do. Another example would be towards the end where he blows up a car and the backing music quietens for a few seconds as his dead wife walks towards a little girl and watches him. Our attempt at element in Thriller would be where our Protagonist is facing the camera and the killers hands rub his body. We did this to be creepy and unsettling, it doesn't have meaning exact meaning, we wanted it to be a talking point, a moment that's open to interpretation. We just wanted people to be uncomfortable watching it and making them question what's really happening.

'Goodfellas' Opening Sequence influence

'Shutter Island' is our most recently made influences for this film. Directed by Martin Scorsese, a very well known director for his gangster thriller epics, 'Goodfellas' and 'Casino'. Despite these films being a different part of the Thriller genre, their openings both display some of the forms and conventions of Thriller.

This is so effective because of the casual situation in the car, the calmness on Ray Liotta's face when driving, and then just normal conversation when they talk about the potential that he has a flat tire. The reason why i find this sequence so successful for introducing a film is just because of the shock at the end, it hits you hard and it is only a minute and twenty seven seconds long. Joe Pesci's stabbing is almost comically it's done that casually without any tension build up or eerie music leading up to the violence. Even the music contradicts the violence because up-beat and happy at the ending. I thought the opening to this film is probably one of the most impressive Gangster openings made in modern cinema, purely because of it's shock factor in the end and being able unsettle an audience a minute and half in. It would be hard to take an element of this thriller and place it in our thriller as we are doing a Psychological thriller not Gangster. However I wanted to put it on my blog as when we were writing our Thriller, their were several points where we wanted to do something violent or just shocking right at the start, not exactly stab someone, but something uncomfortable to watch, that sets the tone of the move, for example our vomit scene 15 seconds in.

Russian Roulette - Continuity Piece

AS Media Continuity Piece - Russian Roulette from Jake Hipwell on Vimeo.

Cast:
Ben Hume
Jake Hipwell
Alex Hyden
Sam Askey
Crew:
-Lighting
Ben Rodger
-Camera
Micheal Gwynne

This was an awkward video to post as it had copyright infringements due to our original soundtrack on Youtube so it has been changed now and so has the host website. 

This was our first attempt at a serious thriller piece, we were limited on time, space and props. However personally I think that our idea was successful and has played a huge part in making our decisions for our actual thriller, more effective. We filmed just outside then inside the Drama Studio, reason for this was just because we new how dark we could make the scene and then illuminate it with just one light. The main prop we had was a gun, we were trying to see if we could put a gun in an amateur thriller and still be able to make it look convincing, and while it worked fine in this film we felt it was a bit unnecessary and it seemed as if we would be using the prop for the sake of just having a gun in our film.

The narrative was pretty simple, a cult of depressed teenagers decide that instead of waiting for God to kill them, their going to take their own lives despite what the Bible says, the reason for our simplicity was to avoid what most other groups do for their continuity, someone being chased which results in a misunderstanding, so instead we went with an original idea. We used this opportunity to try out the standard cameras we might be using for our Thriller, to see what lighting we would need and which shot types we like. From this all of our group found a preference in the team we would be working in for the thriller so overall I found this a successful experience.

Probably the main learning point that was made after this was created, was the editing stage of our film. We used the Macs that school provided for us with this production, and we found it to be very basic and not very appealing, we made this decision for our final that one of us for use a more professional editing software for our Thriller to ensure that the final piece wouldn't be a similar standard to this one.

 I think when this is compared to our Thriller, it will be more clear how this production has benefited us.

Original Narrative and Final Idea Story Board

My initial suggestion to the group for a thriller opening was more of an emotional take on the task. With a lack of action, loud noises and fast paced shots. I thought it would be an interesting idea just to show a relationship between two characters where the violence is suggested not shown.

The intro would begin with all the credits, getting them out of the way, then it would show a crippled man in a wheelchair drinking and smoking, this character would be played by an old man. The next shot was the mans son just staring at him, then a collection of photographs would be flashed up on the screen as well as a knife while emotional music played in the background. This we decided wasn't allowing us enough opportunities to show off some skills in editing or be able to pay homage to our influences.

So after several discussions we tried developing another idea which was about a killer who left kiss marks on his victims, and the intro was set at a teenage party so we wouldn't need to get any adults or younger students to help out in our project. Everything fell into place, we were having ideas of shots straight away unlike the original idea. The element of him being sick in the opening, which I came up with seemed like an original idea to instantly give the impression to the audience that our film wasn't a standard action, it would have uncomfortable scenes aiming to distress.

 The music came straight away, which gave us ideas immediately of how we wanted it to look, the shot types and durations etc. We wanted the lead character of the intro to die in the end, and we wanted him to be a loner, which would be a personality feature him and the killer share. The reason for the sick and isolation was to make audience make connotations about the film if we were to make a full length feature.

Essay on the Forms and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

With reference to Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ (1960) and a least two other thrillers you have studied, as well as your wider research, discuss the thriller and its forms and conventions.

The Thriller genre is one of the broadest genres there are meaning it can be sub categorised into several different types of thriller such as these for example, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers or prison thrillers. This is because thriller is very popular with film audiences and many people try and take a thriller and put their own spin on it, the evidence that it is a popular thriller is that the three highest rated films, as rated by the world, are thrillers on www.imdb.com. However despite the fact many directors try and make their thriller film different to many others of the genre, most thrillers all share the same forms and conventions, these are the elements of the genre that make it so appealing to audiences all around the world.

 

Thrillers will often use suspense in a film, moments where the viewer is on the edge of their seat anxious of what is about to happen, this is used to keep the viewer watching and have excitement in the feature, keeping the audience uncertain on what’s going to happen to the characters by using tension and playing with the audiences minds is a key component of the thriller genre. For example in the film ‘Taking Lives’ Directed by D.J Caruso, suspense is used in the ending scene and when she is in the murderers mothers house.

 While Illeana is in the killers mother’s home, she finds a room in the cellar, we are convinced something bad is going to happen from the use of music while she is looking at the killers toy men. We are then lulled into a fake sense of security because the eerie music has stopped and she is lying on the killers bed and finds a clue to the identity of the murderer, all of a sudden a hand comes through the bed and grabs her, the fact this has happened has raised the level of suspense throughout the rest of the film because we now feel uncomfortable and frightened anything could shock us at any time.

 After a huge plot twist which has changed the view of the audience of the murderer who we originally assumed was just an innocent artist, who has been the victim the murderer when he has his desk smashed. Illeana is pregnant and when the serial killer Costa is in her house at the final fight between the two characters the films has been made in a way where we are just nervous by Costa being there, not only because of what we know of his character but also because it is typical in thrillers for there to be a conversation scene which raises the tension even further.

In ‘Seven’ there is a scene where they are looking to find the suspect who had been involved with child abuse, who actually turns out to be a victim of John Doe because he has committed Sloth. As the police approach the bed, we are pretty certain that the Victim is dead and that is why there are several air fresheners in the room to cover up the smell, however the man then screams after the audience thought he was dead raising the tension for the rest of the film making us feel less comfortable .In ‘Psycho’ there is a conversation between Norman Bates and Marion, throughout this scene we as viewers are uncomfortable because of the stuffed animals showing death all around the room and the way he watches her eat makes the audience feel uncomfortable however she continues to have a conversation with Norman raising the tension and making the viewer frustrated with Marion for not seeing the obvious signs of danger. The audience will be uncomfortable watch this because they can see that Norman is strange and considering the genre of the film that is showing the viewer will be anxious throughout. Also while Marion is in the shower, there is quite a long time period between when we first see the figure open her bathroom door through the shower curtain and when the shower curtain is actually pulled back, the time gap has been used on purpose to scare the audience, the longer it takes for the killer to get to Marion the more uncomfortable we feel as we watch the film.

 This is a huge part of the Thriller, raising tension and suspense but not doing it throughout the whole film, there are several other films that use this element as well. In ‘True Romance’ there is a conversation where Clarence’s father is being interrogated by Vincenzo and towards the end, his father gets quite offensive towards the Sicilian people, however Vincenzo is just laughing along with Clarence’s father but the audience can feel that there will be conflict and the film is raising tension through a conversation, this is used in other Tarantino films as well such as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

In a thriller, the story and plot must be intelligent. This component is vital to a thriller as it was makes the genre, and differentiate on several occasions from a thriller. Thrillers will use plot twists and not just keep giving the audience information, it allows audience to have their own opinions about what is going on. This adds suspense for the viewer which interlopes with my previous paragraph about suspense. The lack of information that is just spoon fed to the viewer will mean that they will have to pay more attention to the story and the characters involved and that the viewer can’t just come into the film at any time and understand what is going on, thrillers are known for not treating their audience as a ‘dumb’ person and the film will be as complicated as the director and/or writer chose it to be.

 An example of this is Richard Kelly’s ‘Donnie Darko’ a film with an extremely complicated plot about a boy who suffers with what we assume is a mental illness. I believe that one of the main reasons that this is a popular film, (which I know that it is popular from the fact it is the top 130^th film on the internet movie database) is because, it rarely explains what is going on in the plot, for example, the rabbit that only Donnie can see, is not really understood by the viewer until near the end, and this sort of element makes the Rabbit, who is named Frank, all the more scary and mysterious keeping the viewer interested in his character.

 This sort of plot is a lot more intense for the viewer it requires all the attention of the viewer and they might not understand it the first watch. Unlike most films as well, a thriller might not stick to Tzvetan Todorov’s theory about equilibrium, for example David Fincher’s ‘Seven’.

 Todorov’s theory is that all narratives will have an equilibrium at the beginning which then gets turned into disequilibrium due to a conflict or a new character or some plot point that drives the narrative in a different direction and finally, there is equilibrium restored where everything is not exactly back how it was but everything is normal with no conflict. In ‘Seven’ there isn’t really an equilibrium restored as the film ends very shortly after the conflict between John Doe and Detective Mills, however it could be argued that equilibrium is restored because once again Summerset is alone even though he is not working again but still this shows that the plots for a thriller are a lot more complicated than what a theorist’s view of a storyline is. 

‘Seven’ is another thriller with an intelligent storyline that is also extremely popular, (It is number 28 on the IMDB top 250) it is the story of two Detectives who are investigating the murders of people that have been killed for breaking one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The film shows us the lives of both Detectives and how they differ in lifestyle and the way they work. Summerset is retiring and has a strong belief that Mills is very inexperienced, and that this case is going to drag out. As the days pass the murders continue each a brutal murder justified by a sin, eventually the sins involve Mills and Mills murders John Doe making him commit Wrath. As you can see this plot is also quite a complicated story where the characters will need to be very detailed and three dimensional to work. Another film that does not apply to the Todorov theory is Psycho, there is no equilibrium restored because the main character is dead so it appears that most thrillers either brake the laws of Todorov’s theory or at least bend them.

Another convention of thriller that is important to make it a real member of this genre is that the Characters should be well developed and realistic, despite the plot being something complicated and slightly unbelievable like ‘Donnie Darko’ it will still need realistic characters to help keep the narrative interesting. This helps the audience empathise with the characters keeping the viewer interested in the narrative and make them actually like the character by making them human. In ‘Seven’ for example, both of the Detectives have rarely ever used their weapons, Mills says that he’s only fired his gun twice in 5 years of homicide which is a lot more of a realistic figure than what would be in a standard action film, this helps the characters become relatable and more enjoyable.

 Also Mill’s reaction to his wife’s death, despite the fast what Summerset is saying, telling him that if he shoots John Doe, John Doe will win, Mill’s reaction is like most people you would think, in that situation would do, which is to kill the man who killed your wife, this helps us make a connection with the characters, it helps us become more involved in the film, which is why this genre is so successful and why this convention plays a big part in that. It is very uncommon that in thrillers any of the characters could be summed up using Propp’s theory, this is because the characters all have to appear realistic and the descriptions that Propp gave the characters were originally based on Russian fairy tales, but even so, most action films, all of its characters will have Proppean roles in the film, this is because unlike thriller the characters are all simple and have simple objectives and are easy to sum up.

‘Psycho’ doesn't have a Proppean roles either and all the characters are very relatable to a certain extent and obviously not including Norman Bates, we can understand why they do the things they do, and when a character does something that we wouldn’t, we get anxious and it raising the tension, for example when she continues her conversation with Norman Bates despite his appearance, or later on in the film where Marion’s sister is in the house looking for Norman Bates mother and chooses to just hide barely below the stairs, this links in with my first paragraph about how directors of thriller use suspense to keep the audience excited and nervous.

In Conclusion, I generally believe that thriller is the most successful genre of film because of its use of all three of these main points.  The genres use of these forms and conventions all add together to give the genre it’s well known level of intelligence, they add to the depth of the film making it more popular and captivating for an audience. This is useful because an audience will to see a thriller with the intention to be on the edge of their seats and watch an interesting protagonist that the audience can relate themselves to, and the audience enjoys seeing characters in realistic situations and having realistic reactions to things increasing the fear and tension when something bad happens.

Donnie Darko influence

While we were 'mind-mapping' ideas for our thriller, there was a joint realization that we wanted to pay homage to 'Donnie Darko'. The reason for this was that we wanted to do a more psychological thriller and Richard Kelly's 'Donnie Darko' is a perfect fit considering the age of the characters in the film, and the age of the characters in our piece. Donnie himself is a massive influence on my idea for our lead character, a complicated teenager, even if it is cliché, I consider it the perfect protagonist for a psychological thriller, so the hoodie as seen on Donnie here, is included in our thriller to add further reference.

Our narrative isn't similar to the film, despite being the same genre, I just felt like ours should be less supernatural, as ours is an amateur performance. It was suggested in the group that we use the track from 'Donnie Darko' called 'The Killing Moon' by Echo and the Bunnymen. I felt that the track gave a retro vibe to our film as well as referencing our inspiration, it's dark tone really adds to the feeling I wanted audiences to have while viewing our intro.

As well as the track, the final element of 'Donnie Darko' we aim to take ourselves was the tracking shot at the beginning showing all the different groups in the school. My first ideas for this Thriller piece was to have a tracking shot through a party. The school tracking shot that establishes the period of the 'Donnie Darko' diegesis is a perfect use of it, in a similar style we wanted to establish to our audience the same sort of setting, just more modern day.