Heath and Safety Briefing

Before we were allowed to roam the streets filming our title sequence, we needed to participate in a health & safety briefing. During this exercise we were told the do's and dont’s as well as the proper use of crucial equipments like the tripod and the camera.

I learnt things like;

• How to check the camera was in full focus.
• How to make sure the battery was fitted properly.
• How to make sure the camera was fully stable on the tripod, as there was a risk of it falling off if unsecured.
• Making sure the tripod itself was stable and straight. If not checked properly, the camera angle will be tilted.
• Keeping the camera in top condition for optimum use of its features like auto-focus.

As well as these basics on how to use the equipment, we were briefed on the necessary precautions we should take before going out to film. Such as;

• Making sure the battery was fully charged and taking spare battery packs if we were out to film for a long time, to ensure filming would go as smooth as possible.
• Checking that all our previous work was saved on the memory cards and the hard drives, so we could use the full capacity of the memory cards given to us.
• Making sure to check the weather forecast, if raining, it is necessary that we protect the camera with an umbrella (and also for continuity editing)

After this exercise we all felt more comfortable with the equipment and were ready to film our title sequence.

- Mehmet Tarhan

Analysis of the film ' DEAD CALM'

I will be talking about my analysis of the film ' DEAD CALM'.
The film starts with a black background with white writing which is used to introduce the production company. This very same font is used to introduce the cast of the film and people who worked behind the scenes. For example, directors, writers, costume designers etc. When the title of the film is introduced 'DEAD CALM' comes up in the colour red and is in big, bold capital letters.


In the opening scene tracking shot is used to show all the male sailors who are in the train. The tracking shot is used as the train is going past and all carriages are shown. A medium shot is used when the sailors are getting off the train but the cameras main focus is on Sam Neil, who we as viewers identify as one of the main characters as all the other people are out of focus. An establishing shot is then used to show all the sailors being greeted by their family members. A panning shot is used on Sam Neil as he is standing on his own looking around, he is waiting for someone but we do not know who, he looks at the time on his watch and at this point a close up is used on his hands. This shows that he is waiting for someone as seems to be getting impatient. As Sam Neil is leaving the train station a long shot is used from a far distance to show what is going on inside the station and all the people there. This may represent his loneliness as he is the only one who seems to be alone as no one has come to pick him up.
When he is in the car, a close up is used on his face. His facial expression shows that he is worried and sad and in some sort of dilemma.

Mise en scene is also used in this scene. The opening is set in a train station. It is quite a big train station, very clean so we know it is located in quite a wealthy area. At the beginning when they are all in the train, the light from the outside is pitch black whereas the inside has a very bright light. The costumes the men are wearing are navy sailor suits with a white and navy cap, whereas Sam Neil is wearing the exact same suit but his cap is all white. This identifies him as the captain of the ship. All the characters body language is very loose and free they are jumping aronub with excitement, their facial expression shows that they are happy to be reunited with their families. Sam Neil's body language is very reserved and he is holding himself up in such a way that shows he has authority and is mature. He is greeting people but not in the way the other sailor are.

Diegetic and Non- diegetic sounds are used throught the scene. Non- diegetic sound is used when the name of the film and the cast are being introucuded, the music used is very eerie opera music. Towards the end of the introduction diegetic sounds are used. We can hear the sound of a far distant train approaching as the train approaches and we are shown the train, the volume increases. It comes unexpectedly and creates an excitement among viewers. We can hear lots of loud happy and excited chatter when the sailors get off the train to reuinte with their family. One of the sailors comes and says 'merry christmas Captain' to Sam Neil. At this point we know that they have all arrived home for Christmas and are happy but Sam does not seem to be sharing their excitement.

The editing used in this scene are shot reverse shot when the sailors are talking to their family.

Technical Audit Of Bait Tutorial

In this tutorial we learnt how to use Final Cut Pro, a film editing software which we are going to use in this coursework. For the tutorial we had many video and audio clips of Bait. Our task was to create a time line sequence of our own edited version of Bait telling a story. During this editing we also learnt how to use the basics of the film editing software such as
- Dragging a clip into the timeline
- Cutting a clip
- Adding music into the background
- Inserting a clip in between two clips
- Match cutting
- The formal layout of the software
- Deleting and filling of a gap
- Using the razor cut tool
- Locating and functioning the browser

The tutorial was very useful to learn the basic uses and to get familiar with the software. In the next coming months I will be using this software for my coursework and I would learn much more than just the things listed above.

Photo Words Activity

In this exercise, we were given a selection of words and were asked to take pictures of anything, which are relevant to the word.

Examples of some words:
Quick
City
Silence
Mysterious
Dark
Paranoia

I chose to do ‘mysterious’, ‘quick’, and ‘city’.

City

This picture represents the city. It shows in the distance many skyscrapers, and closely it shows cars and houses.


Mysterious














This picture shows a mysterious setting. The effectiveness of the bars infront of the camera makes me believe that this area is not allowed to go into, which then makes me think, ‘why not?’. This emphasises a sense of danger, and also mystery.


Quick














This represents ‘quick’ as there is someone who is running. The blur around the person also highlights that he is running quickly

Thriller Sub-genres

There are many different sub-genres in a thriller, directors often use a combination of many to try and hook as wide an audience as possible.

-Action thriller

-Conspiracy Thriller

-Crime Thriller

-Medical Thriller

-Physiological Thriller

-Spy Thriller

My personal favourite would be an action-thriller or a spy-thriller. Usually because these type of films entertain me more than a crime thriller. Action thrillers, generally involve explosions, guns, violence, with a protagonist fighting against the antagonist often in a race against time. James Bond series and The Bourne series are a great example of action thrillers. Spy thrillers, like Mission Impossible are were an agent or a group of agents try to take down a organisation capable of causing a massive catastrophe.

- Mehmet Tarhan

Technical Audit of Bait

In this lesson, we learnt and got a basic grasp on how to use editing software. We edited ‘Bait’ using Final Cut Pro. We were given some tips and hints and were asked to create our own short story comprising of the shots from Bait. This exercise gave us a unique experience on how to use this software, as for our own film, we were needed to use it also.

I learnt many new things about editing and put into effect many different camera shots and angles. Such as ‘match cut’ and ‘shot reverse shot’ and ‘tracking’ as well as ‘low angle and high angle’ using the footage provided.
We did this by using tools such as the ‘razor cut tool’ to separate scenes. We also learnt how to change the layout of the software, deleting unwanted scenes, adding music to change the atmosphere and dragging a clip onto the timeline.
Overall, the exercise was great in helping us how to use the software and getting familiar with the software.

- Mehmet Tarhan

Photo Word Activity

In this activity we had to choose words and take pictures to represent the meaning to it. The words that we choose are calm,quick,city,confusion,mysterious and spiky.

Photo 'Words' Activity

For this activity, we were set a task to choose six words from a list and take pictures, which would represent the following word. The six words we chose were city, mysterious, calm, spiky, quick and confusion. The three I am going to talk about are city, quick and mysterious.

City

In this picture, the representation shown is the city. The picture represents the central area of London and shows that it is a busy area with traffic, buses, cars and people. Buildings are shown such as the Gerkin and other big tall buildings to represent working offices in the city of London. A long shot has been used to take this still and to capture not just a building but also the surroundings such as the roads, trees and pavements. The picture also shows how busy the city can become. This can lead to danger and the awareness of someone’s safety. There are various types of transport shown in the picture like cars, buses, motorbikes and bicycles other than just walking. This shows London has a diverse way of transport for the public to use.

Quick

The picture above represents the representation of quick. The picture contains various people doing different actions one of which is of a man running and involves cans and vans shown driving fast. The representation of quick can be seen in the man running in the city that links back to the previous image. The image is a medium shot of the normal city day during near midday. The cars and other transport on the road can also represent the representation of quick as the transport are driving at a fast speed and are in moving action. A man can also be seen crossing the road not on the crossing but through the middle of the road which can also add to the representation of quick as he may be going quick to get to somewhere.

Mysterious

Mysterious is represented in this picture above. The picture contains a long shot of a long pathway with gates leading downstairs to a dark underground basement. It questions the sense of what could be happening and concludes the representation of mystery upon the audience. The sense of darkness, which is used in the far pathway, also adds to the mystery. The picture does not show any people suggesting that it is deserted and shows further representation of mystery.

Photo 'words' activity

this picture represents the city. the city we live in is london. there is a red transport for london bus which shows the transport londoners use. there are a lots a lot of buildings in London and the 'angel building' represents a typical london building.

This picture represents quick. the man is running for the bus and he has to be quick.

Technical audit of Bait Tutorial

In the Bait tutorial we had a version of the film Bait which we then had to learn and experiment on how to edit. We used the tool bar to cut,paste and the razorblade botton as these icon lets you do various thing with the clip. We used these icons to edit a piece and make it look better, we also had to add sound to the clip that suited the clip to make it sound like a real piece.

Technical audit of Bait tutorial

We were shown how to edit a piece of film and then we got the chance to experiment for ourselves and we edited a scene from the film 'Bait'. We used a software called Final Cut Pro which we will be using to edit our films. We used 'razorblade' a technique to cut the lenght of the film, move clips around. I moved clips of the film onto a timeline so the film ran in order of events. I cut the lenghth of the film so when the director said action it will not be shown in the final edit and sometimed the scene dragged on so i cut those bits so it creates interest in the viewers. I also used 'match cut' to show what the kid was doing and what the old, tramp who came in to take the kids food was doing. This built up suspension as to what is going to happen next. It is clear that the old man is the antagonist and the little boy is the protagoinist. For this scene we got to use dramatic music which built up the curiosity as the music increased towards the end of the scene.

Analysis Of Arlington Road

In class we watched various thriller sequences of films which included Arlington Road, Dead Calm, Marathon Road, Seven and The Shining. I have chosen to talk about Arlington Road where I would be discussing what happens in the clip, camera, sound, editing, mise en scene and the titles of the clip.

In the opening sequence of Arlington Road starts with a picture of a fence, set of buildings and the name of the production company ‘Polygram Filmed Entertainment’. It runs on screen in the middle of the screen. Production companies and associated companies follow on after the name of the production company. The writing on the screen moves from the centre to the left and then shows the main actors’ names. A low toned darken shot of a sunset and a house is shown as the background. Fences are then shown more followed by the title shown on a road board. The title of the film is then shown on the right of the screen. This is then followed by more names of the cast. Various things such as trees, flags and a dog are shown .The back of people is shown many times of different people walking down the road and also the sky. Little girls are shown running in a park with swings, flowers and birds in a little bird nest. It shows the casting is made by, co-producers, who the music is made by, costume designer, production designer, the editor and the range of producers. It ends with the director’s name all throughout them images.

There are various type of shots used in the opening title sequence. It starts with a close-up shot of a fence which it then starts to shake to give an effect of being a handheld camera. It then cuts to a far establishing shot of a set of buildings with a lamppost. A close-up of a fence is shown again and a tracking shot is used to which is fades into a image of the top of a house showing the sky and chimney. It switches back to fences and slowly fades into a low toned picture of the sunset and a house. A medium shot is then used to subject the title of the film which has been shown through a road sign and it zooms into a close-up shot. The title also runs through fading in and out blacking out various times from left to right. Fences are then shown again and a low angle shot is used to show the fence and a house with the sky. A dog is shown eating with a medium shot and zooms in to its mouth but then cuts back to fences and tracks along to a medium shot showing the back of people. The sky is shown in a low angle establishing shot and fades into showing an establishing shot of a house with children riding pass on their bicycles. It blackens and reappears to show girls running in the park which tracks along with their movements using a medium shot. It then tracks through a pile of flowers and zooms into show an image of a fence with a bush behind it. A medium shot of a room is shown with an item dangling down using a low angle shot. Windows are shown using the handheld camera effect which contains shaking. A close-up of a windmill is shown which jumps to a shot of a bird nest. A dog jumps in front of the screen with other fast various images shown including a baby. It then ends with the camera shaking and blackens out. The title of the film runs throughout the title in a fats motion going from left to right at various scenes and is sometimes used as a transition from one image to another.

The music played in the title sequence is quite gothic. It sounds threatening and suspenseful and it stays at the same volume all throughout the sequence. Various noises are made at times and a screeching effect is put on by a voices. They make the sequence more haunting and terrifying. The scene which has a shot of the dog eating has a great effect with the music to create the suspense and tension towards the audience. Various voices can be heard in a muttering effect to act as if something can’t be said properly or is similar to being subliminal messaging.

The title sequence has been set in many different locations including a field with set of houses, fences, roads and a garden. The lighting of the title sequence is very dark and gives the effect of a dramatic suspenseful atmosphere. It changes colour many times throughout the sequence from red to grey and to black and white. There are various people, items and props shown such as children, a dog, lamppost, flowers and fields. The location of the sequence suggests it is in an abandoned place which seems to empty but has a few number of people.

The editing of the title sequence has been done moderately fast. It is negatively filmed to add to the creation of the dark atmosphere. The sequence runs with many zooming and shaking and has many jump cuts to create tension. It has a lot of fades of shots of which they are mostly repeated but in different angles.

The titles on the title sequence start with the distribution Company in the middle of the screen. It also shows after the association distribution company. It shows the production company and then shows two of the actors’ names, one on the left and one on the right. It then shows the title of the movie on the right followed by a list of actor names. Halfway through the sequence you are shown who the casting is by, the co-producers, music, costume designer, production designer, editor, the director of photography, co-executive producers, executive producers, the producers and writer and lastly the director. The titles are shaky and move into the screen and stay still for a moment before moving and fading away.

List of Thriller Sub-Genres

A thriller is used to describe a genre in media such as television, film or books. Elements which identify a thriller are the use of protagonist which is the hero and the antagonist which is the villain. Other elements to make up a thriller include cliff hangers and suspenseful scenes which add to creating fast paced action. There are however different types of thriller which are identified in their own aspect.

These are a list of different sub-genres of thriller:
• Action Thriller

• Conspiracy Thriller
• Crime Thriller

• Disaster Thriller
• Drama Thriller
• Science-Fiction Thriller
• Horror Thriller
• Erotic Thriller
• Legal Thriller
• Medical Thriller
• Political Thriller
• Psychological Thriller
• Spy thriller

• Techno Thriller
• Religious Thriller


The sub-genre of thriller which inspires me at the moment is action thriller. Action thriller contains suspenseful scenes and cliff hangers which create tense drama and a dramatic atmosphere. Gun, explosions, weapons and fight scenes add to building a diverse action thriller. Blood and violence is elaborated all throughout an action thriller which amazes me a lot at this moment.

How Is Suspense Created In The Film Collateral?

In the film Collateral, many scenes have been made to create suspense. The action and anxiety puts the audience in great suspense into thinking what might happen next to the characters. The movie contains a hero and a villain, which have been identified from the start. The movie directed by Michael Mann a famous American director and was released in 2004.

A scene which contains and creates suspense in Collateral is the scene when Vincent (Tom Cruise) is out to kill Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Max (Jamie Foxx) is trying to help her. Max is shown in the car park beside the office talking on the phone to Annie telling her to get out as Vincent is inside. He warns her telling her that Vincent is inside the building. Vincent then cuts off all the power supplies which caused total darkness in the building. This adds to creating suspense as now the screen is unable to be seen clearly creating a scary and dramatic atmosphere. The music plays a good role in creating suspense as it adds to the effect of creating that atmosphere. As the power goes out the music also deepens to show the sudden change in mood.

Max is shown trying to get inside the building with a lot of effort to help rescue Annie. Various camera shots and effects are used to show Vincent’s whereabouts and movements such as close-ups, medium and long angle shots. Music builds up as Vincent enters the same room as Annie and then the music’s volume is lowered. Various close-up shots are placed on Annie as she slowly moves round the room in the dark.

When a shot of a gun is shown pointing at Annie music is turned up loudly and the camera shots are shaking to create a fast up-paced effect. You are then shown a shot of Vincent holding up a gun and the music stops and Max is then speaking also pointing a gun but at Vincent. He then shoots Vincent and the camera does a jump cut. Music is put up again and is a violin playing a fast beat matching the characters chasing each other out of the building.

Collateral Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6qK43KykCA

What Is A Thriller?

A thriller can be in different formats. It can be found in movies, books and plays and it comprises of a plot involving genres such as crime and mystery. There are different type of thrillers which include psychological, action, conspiracy, crime, disaster, drama, erotic, legal, medical, political, spy, techno and religious. These sub genres vary from each one and all create a different systematic sense of suspense and thriller for the audience.

Each thriller is made of be fast paced with a lot of action to keep the audience entertained all throughout the film. Suspense is used mostly a lot in thriller to create this effect to keep the audiences stuck to their seats. Thrillers use a main hero and a villain in which disaster always takes place between both characters.

Casino Royale is a thriller which falls under the category of action and spy thriller as the plot of the story is based around a spy James Bond and a lot of action is used in the movie to create an amazing fulfilling thriller.

Casino Royale Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5WHj0bZ2Q

Suspense In Collateral

Collateral, released in 2004, directed by the critically acclaimed Michael Mann, is about a gun-for-hire hitman named Vincent and taxi driver turned chauffeur for the night Max, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Early on in the film we can identify with Max, a taxi driver who has ambitions of owning a limo business; however he has no time to dream when Tom Cruise enters his car and asks him to drive around LA while he shoots targets. We now understand that there will be bloodshed in this film and therefore action and suspense and thriller genres come to mind.

A particular scene where this can be seen is where Vincent nearly has Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) starring at the barrel of his gun. But the protagonist Max has other plans as he tries to save her from the hands of the villain.

In this scene, Max warns Annie about the presence of Vincent. The music for this scene is long and eerie, this already tells us something is about to happen, which is proved when Vincent finds out Annie is two floors above. The music suddenly changes the atmosphere and creates more and more tension as the chase begins.

Many types of camera shots show us the whereabouts of Max, the protagonist running to save Annie, compared to the position of Vincent, the antagonist who is out for the kill. We see a bird’s eye view of Max running hard, and then a close up of Vincent cutting the power and adding to the dark mood already created by turning the lights off.

As the room is filled with darkness, some music is overlapped; however we can still hear the movements and footsteps of Annie as she desperately crawls around the carpet. This adds realism and keeps the scene natural, and adds a lot of tension with the choice of music. Annie is caught by Vincent, but Max shows and the music is slightly toned down, he shoots Vincent and they run.

Many elements are grouped together such as music, camera movement and body language to create an overwhelmingly suspenseful scene.

Link to 'Collateral' scene

- Mehmet Tarhan

Suspense In Collateral...

In the film Collateral, there has been scenes where it puts you into suspense, it makes you anxious on wanting to find out what happens next.
The example that i have found are when the police pulls over Max and Vinci who are in the car for driving to fast. what happens is that the police officer pulls them over while taking a look at the car they notice blood on the windshield of the car, they then tell Max and Vinci to get out of the car to empty the boot this is where the suspense begins it takes you to the edge of your seat, but then the poilce officers get called to investigate another scene.

A suspenseful moment in Collateral

A suspenseful moment in the film "Collateral" was when Vicent and Max got pulled over by the police on the road. They had a dead body in the car and the windsheld was smashed when they were told to get out of the car and empty the boot as it is not safe to drive the car, that created a lot of suspense because it made you think that they are about to be caught and we as viewers are waiting to see if the police are about to catch them or not and what will the consequences be.Everyone would want them to get caught so Max can be set free from the hands of Vincent.

what is a thriller?

A thriller often has many elements of suspense in it. There are many twists in thrillers that always keeps the viewers guessing and makes them think that something is about to happen but story turns and the unexpected happens, it is very unpredictable. There are many differnt types of thrillers. For example, physcological, legal, spy, disaster, action, political and conspiracy thrillers.

What Is A Thriller?

A thriller is often characterized as a fast-paced suspenseful film or book that is designed to keep the reader/viewer on the edge. The thriller genre in a film is often accompanied by many sub-genres. These again show different elements of the film/book to the audience. They can be medical related thrillers, or crime or psychological or action thrillers, or even a combination of many. The Bourne Ultimatum in my opinion is a great example of a conspiracy, crime and action thriller.

Thrillers such as this offer the audience red-herrings, keeping the audience unsure and making unpredictable plot twists just when the audience may have figured out the plot. So it is almost obvious from the outset that there will be many elements of a suspenseful-action thriller used to portray the typical conventions of a thriller such as Bourne, things like explosions, guns, high octane chase sequences, and another key element, knowledge. Knowing something the villain or the hero might not can be the important piece of information that is needed to figure out what will happen next. Alfred Hitchcock’s example of ‘the bomb under the table’ is a prime example of the piece of information.

All of these keep the audience on the edge of their seats, not just watching.. but also trying to engage and keep themselves ahead of the plot.

Trailer for Bourne Ultimatum

- Mehmet Tarhan

What Is Suspense?

Suspense is used as an element of a film, it is conveyed in many ways to create unparalleled tension and uncertainty for the audience, allowing for the scene to develop. However, other than uncertainty, suspense keeps the eye's of the audience firmly open by creating excitement and peaks of anxiety by giving the audience a degree of apprehension which only a thriller, and not a comedy or romance can deliver.

- Mehmet Tarhan

What is Suspense?

Suspense makes the audience want to know what happens next. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. For example if someone is at the top of the building and their looking down it makes the viewer want to know if the person is going to jump or not.

What Is Suspense?

Suspense is something that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It creates tension and the audience are made to be shocked and surprised by the following scene. The audience can be put in doubt or put on edge fearing for what could come next. This feeling creates a state of anxiety and develops a scene for a bigger intense scene.

A famous director Alfred Hitchcock revolutionised how suspense was used in films to target audiences. His vision of how an audience should experience suspense was when they expect something bad to happen and a total thought of uncertainty is gained questioning what is going to happen next. Anticipation is made and mystery is sustained by the audience.

What is suspense?

Suspense makes the viewers eager to know what is about to happen, it keeps on the edge of their seats. it makes viewers draw their own conclusion to what is about to happen. for example, in a film or drama when a person is hiding from the villain it makes viewers wonder if they are about to be found and killed.

SADIA BEGUM