Thriller Film Ideas - Prezzi

The Opening sequence of Insidious has helped us come up with ideas for our own Opening Sequence. This is different to the normal opening sequence of a horror as it doesn't start slowly and build into the scary scenes. We will give a hint in what the film will be about and not give too much away.

Poster Analysis

To make this poster, I used photoshop. I began by sketching ideas and planning what I wanted the poster to look like. I took a picture of my classmate and uploaded it to my poster. I removed the bodies of the protagonists and adjusted them according to the rule of thirds where their eyes are placed at the point where people looking at the poster lay there eyes on first. I used the resolution tool to put the male and female bodies behind  the blooded/damaged hand. I then applied the burn tool to make the images fit with the genre. I applied a font that was typical of the horror genre. I made the poster include these particular people because I wanted the victim to be a typical blonde innocent girl who is vulnerable and an older man to take advantage of that and is the villain.

Lighting

3 Point Lighting.txt:
Three point Lighting adds dimension, as the goal of three point lighting is to create the illusion of a three-dimensional subject in a two-dimensional image.
Using light and shadow is a powerful way to accomplish three-dimensions, and three point lighting is the lighting technique most commonly used.


The Key Light- This is the main light used on your subject.
The Fill Light- The purpose of this light is to fill in the shadows created by the Key Light, preventing them from getting too dark. It should not create a second shadow. If there are two shadows, this means it's too powerful and needs to be reduced.
The Back Light- This is used to separate the subject from the background.


A good rule of thumb, if you're trying to create a standard look, is to put the Key Light on the side of the camera in which the subject is facing.


Scrims are designed to reduce the light without softening it.
Neutral density gels to reduce light.
You don't have to use a separate light as a fill light.


A common misconception with three Point Lighting:
There's no need for three separate lights as you can go outside in the evening, when the sun is about 45 degrees up in the sky, and shoot the video of a friend. You need to place your friend with their back to the sun, and put your camera in front of them. This will mean the sun will be the back light.
You can then use a reflector to reflect the sunlight into your friends face. This will add a Key Light to their face.

What makes a good opening sequence:

• Introduction to the main characters
• good use of sound and effect
• Title
• Use of costumes on the characters to give meaning
• Mise-en-scene needs to be perfect in advance
• The props need to be fully prepared
• Research how to do certain shots in advance
• A script needs to be planned in advance
• Less is better, don't need to give too much away
• Needs to make sense to the viewer
• Lighting and the shot composition needs to be good

Recommendations for film:

• Avoid predictable locations
• Avoid using the school
• Try not to start a film with action
• Shouldn't tell you everything about the film, only a small glimpse

This sequence enables the audience to get a sense of the tone of the film, without revealing too much of the storyline. By using a crane and highlighting a car going further up a mountain, we get a sense of the isolation of their location. This is important as it tells us the film is going to be about a desolate setting but doesn't reveal too much about the plot. The sound is also important as it gives a sense of the films serious nature and tells us it's going to be within the horror genre. Watching this has helped my own ideas for my opening sequence as I now know that I should not reveal everything in my sequence and only give a snippet of what the film's about.

Scream analysis

how can I spot that it is a horror film?
-The music non-diegetic -
Screams
-diegetic
-Voice on the phone was creepy/ scary
-Setting is isolated, no one to help -
Alone in house, lots of glass
- being watched, more vulnerable and can be seen from outside wherever she is. 
  -Costume of killer, scary stereotype -Knives in kitchen (props)
-Mask, prop
- Lighting is dark (inside/outside) gets darker gradually in house
-Makeup blood on boyfriend
-Popcorn on fire foreshadows danger, increases drama
-Blonde woman more vulnerable
-Woman wearing pure and innocent colours which juxtapose to the killer wearing dark colours Camera:
- Fast zoom in to a .close up on her face when she realises he is watching her to show facial expressions
-Wide shot on outside of house to show isolation and darkness
-Camera tracks her around the house
-Medium close up at beginning of phone call works together with diegetic sound, highlights her innocence and shows she stereotypical 
Sound:
-Diegetic sound of phone ringing, represents danger arising
-Non diegetic sound of intense music starts to increase which shows tension building up that we should be scared
- heartbeat 
-Synchronous sound of swing, creepy
-Tone changes in killers voice when he gets angry
-Diegetic sound of dog barking outside, someones outside, dogs bark at intruders
Editing:
-Cuts become quicker to match the sound of the music 
-Slow paste at beginning shows her vulnerbility, making popcorn-stereotypical girl, innocent 
-Match on action of telephone when she see's it again and picks it up this further highllights her naivity.
-Slow paste playing with knives, no cuts 
Mise-en-scene:
-Stereotypically making popcorn 
-Killer wears mask
-Teenage girl is the victim

How sound is used in Kill Bill

Sounds:

• Shovelling mud
• groaning
• kicking the wood
• Heavy breathing- panic
• Slurping of the drink- hillbilly
• Crickets- isolated location
• Truck driving off- underestimate the girl
• Hammering nails- buried alive
• Music- western sounds make it sad
• crying
• Laughter- no mercy/underestimate
• Torch- hope
• Dirt on the wood- buried alive (hopeless)

Second Scene:

• Music signifies hope
• non-diagetic sound represents heartbeat
• non_diagetic music stops to show she's triumphant.
• Light is brighter-hope
• Coffin looks bigger
• Extreme close up- looks determined
• eye line match

Analysis of Opening sequence of Scream

This is a thriller film and by watching the first 3 minutes of the film (Opening sequence), I could tell it was a thriller film because it used:

• Non- diegetic sound
• Knives, which draws attention to the object that will later on kill her 
• Setting is a isolated house, shows mystery and fear.
• Crickets in the background show a mystery noise.
• Violence and weapons represent a thriller 
• Mysterious man with a mask covering his face in order to hide identity, which is a setting mystery 
• Blood
• The continuous phone calls to build up suspense and fear
• Her victim status- a typical blonde teenager that has a boyfriend who likes sport
• Eye line match out the window- she isn't looking at anything 
• Tracking shot to show she is alone and a sense that she is being followed. 

Analysis of the Opening Sequence of Scream

The first thing in the opening sequence that the phone call is diegetic, but also non-diegetic in order to reflect a heart beat which represents life. Through the use of editing there is a match on action of the girl picking up the phone the second time aswell in order to show her vulnerability. Also, it is stereotypical that there are always blonde teenagers that are the victim and in this film the camera shows us clearly at the beginning that it is a typical thriller/horror film. This is because there is a medium close up to show her as a sweet and innocent girl. Her clothing also connotes this, due to the positive colours. Within this opening sequence, the camera uses a tracking shot, which adds to the tension and it signifies she is being watched. Then, the camera moves down slowly to build up suspense to show that the girl is doomed. This camera angle is also to show the setting, where crickets are heard to signify the isolated area. Also, the tree was shown to foreshadow the hanging of the person that is about to be shown. Mise-en- scene is clear as it is dark outside to represent horror and light inside to show the innocence of the person living there. The juxtaposition of lighting highlights the danger in which she is about to put herself into. Moreover, there was a change through non- diegetic sound and the barking to signify that the intruder is close and therefore implying danger within the scene that is about to appear. The eye line match is done to show she is looking around to see where this person is, which worries her more. Therefore, a fast zoom is used into her face to show her facial expressions, and with non- diegetic sounds, it tell us she is frightened with the diegetic dialogue.