One Hour Photo Notes

Production Log Week 1

Research into Possible Locations

Me and Jamal went out and looked at different alley ways because we thought that they might be suitable settings for our thriller opening. Although we don't have a clear idea yet we thought that ts would be helpful.

Law Abiding Citizen

http://www.zshare.net/video/715051697a3d3826/

We looked at the opening sequence of Law Abiding Citizen. The gene of the film is a legal thriller, this is because the film is based on the justice system and how it can be undermined and manipulated to avoid maximum punishment. This film really questions your morals to which you decide for yourself if the father is the antagonist or protagonist.

The music and sound in the opening is used to control the audience’s feelings and emotions this is typical for a thriller. t he very start it sounds like they are listening to the radio. Then after when you hear the door being banged where you are waiting for something to happen the music is slow, quiet and mysterious. Then when the attackers storm in the music becomes more subtle however represents the struggling, pain and hopelessness of the father. The screams and moans from all the two characters are echoed to play on the emotions of the audience.

The opening supports the typical conventions of an opening to a thriller in the way that it creates questions to the audience. The questions left in the audiences head in this opening are, Why is the intruder killing the man’s family? How are they associated to him? What did the he do to the little girl? Another why that this conforms to a typical opening to a thriller is that it leaves the audience wanting to what more. They are intrigued by the action which happens abruptly within the first two minutes of watching. From the opening it seems that there is a clear protagononist who is the father of the little girl. However contradicting to that in the opening sequence he is working with tools we can assume this could be his job which is normally the types of jobs that antagonists do..


In the opening scene there are no clear conventions used. However there is a use of a close up of the bracelet that his daughter gave him which will probably feature throughout the film as the incentive to carry out his revenge.

Overall the opening is not like a typical Theiler this is because of the lack of conventions shown through codes, also the antagonist and protagonist are not displayed clearly. this is because the protagonist has antagonist qualities for instance the Manuel labour shown at the beginning. How ever also just like a typical protagonist the man has a respectable life style and is a man.

Survey Monkey, Feedback

Thriller Questionnaire[1]

Research into Thriller Conponents

Thriller Protagonist
-Respected job e.g police, detective, journalist
-Normally well respected men
-Middle class
-Feel the same as the audience
-Help the story along
-Represent good vs evil!
-Live in class detached house
-May act paranoid. A flaw in there personality which the antagonist plays on.


Thriller Antagonist
-unsociable job (night shift
-Loner
-Look like a normal person
-Hidden identity
-Creepy weird
-Out to kill and stop a happy peaceful ending
-Screw loose- past experience
-Usually a white man
-Not always visible throughout the whole film


Typical Thriller Conventions
-Dark isolated location
-Black, red, grey colour pallet
-Jumpy fast pace or slow and lingering
-Affective use of silence
-Women alone
-Cat and mouse chase
-Misleading
-Weapons and blood
-Weird symbolism throughout the whole film with some significance to the antagonist

Thiller Research

Decided to look at a variety of thriller trailers and opening clips. I did this to clear the difference between a trailer and opening and to also get a feel of what a thriller really is and not confuse it with a horror.

Here are the trailers for Flight Plan & Harry Brown.





Here is the opening to the thriller The Dark Knight & Gothika.





What i have learnt from these openings is that there is always an element of surprise. Also a thriller can be about anything not the typical common storyline that may initially come to mind. The way this is going to help me is that i will reflect what i have learnt in own opening. For example now i understand that not everything has to be given away in the opening, also the full movie ahead doesn't necessarily have to e apparent at this stage. Also i learnt that the use of music and titles can add to the atmosphere alot when used effectively.

Previous openings of Thrillers

In lesson i watched 4 different thriller openings from previous students, Parrelle Touch, Deadline, Gardener & Witheld. Although witheld wasn't my favourite it was the opening that go he highest mark so i decided to focus my analysis on.

holding a shot steady, where
appropriate; 3- was good bu cold of been steadier in places.

framing a shot, including and excluding
elements as appropriate; 2- i feel that more thought could be u behind this.

using a variety of shot distances as
appropriate; 4- loads of different angles used.

selecting mise-en-scène including
colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; 3- good location and use of props.

editing so that meaning is apparent to
the viewer; 2- the fade wasn't clear enough to me that it was going into a flash back.

using varied shot transitions, other
effects selectively and appropriately; 2- only one fade used through out the whole clip.

using original / copyright free sound
with images and editing appropriately for
the task; 2- used there own music and sound.

using titles appropriately- wern't memerablehad no imapct on the audience.

From watchin these clips i was abe to give myself targets for when i do my own opening to a thriller.

-Use titles in an effective way.
-Variety of shots.
-Editing add to the atomosphere.

Feedback Analysis

Generally from the feedback they liked my story. They thought it was a good idea yet simple to understand. Also another aspect that contributed to the understanding was the cuts. Y se of digital technologies was said to be good, with the camera angles however more shot types could be used. My post production was complimented as well as my choice of music. And finally the ending was effective because they liked that you was left wondering.
From this exercise I am going to look into more use of dialogue. Although my music was said to be relevant when I do my thriller I am going to make sure the volume of it doesn’t interrupt with the dialogue like it did in this exercise. As well as that when it comes to filming it ia m going to make sure that I use more shot types I feel this will be essential to help the audience get more into my opening. An idea I may use for my thriller opening is a cliff hanger his seemed to work well in this case.
In conclusion I feel that doing this exercise was useful. Because I haven’t done media before it gave me an introduction into the process of making a production. I have learnt a lot from what I done right and also the mistakes I made. As well getting a group together and discussing the feedback made it evident the aspects that needed to be improved on. This was helpful for me to make my thriller better than this.

My Video Feedback

Prelimary Exercise