Preliminary task

Story board

Rope 1948

tells the story of two young wealthy men, brandon and philip, who strangle and murder a friend of their just to see it they can get away with it
they then invite other close fiends( including the murdered mans parents) to their apartment for a dinner party, whilst hiding the body in a chest box in their siting room. just to see if they can get away with it
the suspense created through the body in the cheat-box
what will happen?
will the body (and the two men be discovered and brought to justice?
do we, the audience even want this to happen?

suspense and shock

suspense:
imagine a scene in a film similar to this (classroom, students, teacher). the camera reveals that there is a bomb under the table to the audience buy we ( students teacher0 are unaware of it.
shock :
now imagine the same scene except that instead of the camera revealing the bomb under the table it, explodes and kills all present

Aalfred Hhitchcock

he was the master of suspense whose films can be the benchmark for 'psychological thrillers.
under the strong influence of Alfred Hitchcock, thrillers often began with crime and the accusation of an innocent bystander, where the accused to contact the authorities, no doubt the case could be promptly solved, but instead from the law thus further jeopardising life and limb'
ricky altman
for example
39 steps 1935
north by north west 1559
"in the thirty nine steps, suspense films abandon both thrills and suspense when the falsely accessed character finally reaches safety

do the films follow rules

some films - markers will claim that ;there are no rules; or rules are there to be broken
however most would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream films observe in order for them to be acceptable to the mass audience

the rules

!) the the road runner cannot harm or upset the coyote except by going MEEP MEEP
2)no outside force can harm the coyote, only his own ineptitude or the failure of acme products
3)the coyote could stop anythime-if he were not a fanatic
4)no dialogue eer, except MEEP MEEP
5) the road runner must stay on the road
6)all action must be confined to the natural environment or of the two characters
7)all materials, tools weapons or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from acme corporation
8) whatever possible, make gravity the coyotes greatest enemy.
9)the coyote is always more humiliated than the hard by his failures.

Chuck Jones

animated director chuck jones worked at warner brother for decades making short movies starring bugs bunny, daffy duck and company.
he also made the road runner cartoons and from the first episode, on elaborate set of rules.

Jerry Sienfeil (sein language 1993)

"when you enjoy something, you must never let logic get to much in the way. like the villains in the james bond monies. whenever bond breaks into the complex;ah my bond welcome, come in. let me show you my entire evil plan and then put you in a death machine that doesn't work"

the thriller' what is it ?

the thriller is a very difficult genre to pin down because it covers such a wide range of films, thrillers are films of suspense that are into the audience.susan hayward, key concepts in film studies.

cliffhanger

often feature a main character in a difficult dilemma with a shocking revelation.
this can entice the audience to keep watching in order to see how it ends.

red herring

a red herring is the name given to a device which intend to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance
can work with other devices(enigmas) to create suspense. for example is saw two characters lie dead. thought the film both characters appear to be guilty of a series of murders until it is disaccord at the end that third person in the room is not actually dead but he is the killer

preliminary task

Zoom Lenses

A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image. On a still camera, this means that the photographer can get a 'close up' shot while still being some distance from the subject. A video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, either very quickly (a smash zoom) or slowly, without moving the camera an inch, thus saving a lot of time and trouble. The drawbacks to zoom use include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over-used by many directors (including those holding palmcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist. Use with caution - and a tripod!

The Aerial Shot

An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement. A helicopter is like a particularly flexible sort of crane - it can go anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration — so long as you don't need to get too close to your actors or use location sound with the shots.

Crane Shots

Basically, dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane (or jib), is a large, heavy piece of equipment, but is a useful way of moving a camera - it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and camera are counter-balanced by a heavy weight, and trust their safety to a skilled crane/jib operator.

Hand-held shots

The hand-held movie camera first saw widespread use during World War II, when news reporters took their windup Arriflexes and Eyemos into the heat of battle, producing some of the most arresting footage of the twentieth century. After the war, it took a while for commercially produced movies to catch up, and documentary makers led the way, demanding the production of smaller, lighter cameras that could be moved in and out of a scene with speed, producing a "fly-on-the-wall" effect.This aesthetic took a while to catch on with mainstream Hollywood, as it gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot. The Steadicam (a heavy contraption which is attached a camera to an operator by a harness. The camera is stabilized so it moves independently) was debuted in Marathon Man (1976), bringing a new smoothness to hand held camera movement and has been used to great effect in movies and TV shows ever since. No "walk and talk" sequence would be complete without one. Hand held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

Dolly Shots

Sometimes called TRUCKING or TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.

Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame

Camera Movement

A director may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera often takes a great deal of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes several second for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. Not only must the style of movement be chosen, but the method of actually moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic methods

Low Angle

These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Eye Level

A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.

High Angle

Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

The Bird's-Eye view

This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.

Extreme Close-Up

As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable.

Close-Up

This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.

Medium Shot

Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interation. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

Long Shot

This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance. 

Extreme long shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

5 types of thrillers

·            Spy

·         Political

·         Conspiracy

·         Legal

·         psychological

Sound Bridge

you will notice that sound from one scene will often continue even through the visual image has moved on to the next scene. this is known as a sound bridge and helps to create a smooth transition from one scene to another as the film would seem very disjointed if the sound if the sound changed every time the picture on the screen changed. in this way the sound is said to be enhancing the continuity of the film.

Non Diegetic sound

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. 

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.  A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy)

◦               narrator's commentary

◦               sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect

◦               mood music

Diegetic sound

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world 

Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.

◦               voices of characters 

◦               sounds made by objects in the story 

◦               music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

source code

Colter Stevens, a US Army helicopter pilot whose last memory is flying in Afghanistan, wakes up on a commuter train. However, he discovers that he has assumed the identity of another man. 8 minutes later, the train explodes and Stevens finds himself in some kind of pod. He then talks to someone named Goodwin, who tells him he has to go back and find out who the bomber is. He is sent back to go through the whole thing again and attempts to find who the bomber is but fails. The bomb goes off and Stevens finds himself in the pod again. He is sent back another time, yet still cannot find out anything. When he returns, he asks what is going on. Goodwin and Rutledge, the scientist in charge, tell him that he is part of a project that can put someone in another person's consciousness during the last 8 minutes of their life. Stevens then asks why he cannot just stop the bomb.