Group Meeting 14th February

Today we decided that we would start developping the story and writing the script. We all know what the story for our film is but we all had different interpretations of it so we needed to clarify what is going to happen in our film.

thriller poster analysis

This is the advertising poster for one hour photo. the first thing you notice is Robin Williams, a well-known actor which suggests that the film is good because he is known to be a good actor. He has been in the thriller film Insomnia (2002) and plays a similar character. The colours used are sinister - red symbolising danger and the grey is used in contrast to the red and emphasizes it. The burning orange letters stand out against the black shadow on Williams' face, emphasizing 'truly deeply scary' which again adds to the sinister tone to the image and film, and suggesting that the film is a thriller. This film is a psychological thriller and tells the story of a man who was abused as a child and because of this, attempts to intergrate himself into a family's life by stealing their photographs and engaging in sinister fantasies. At the end he completely breaks down and terrorizes the husband and his lover at a hotel. The film creates a lot of tension and suspense as the film goes on, building to the climax where Williams finally breaks down.

This is another film starring Robin Williams. The fact that the majority of the image is in darkness suggests the sinister tone to the film. The red writing symbolises danger and perhaps blood. The lighting is in a typical film noir style and creates a mood of mystery and suspense using shadows. It looks like the characters are on the run - how the spotlight shines on half their face, and the other half is in shadow, as if they are in hiding/are undercover. This suggests that perhaps they are involved in a crime or are trying to solve a crime secretly. This film is a crime thriller.

Like the other two posters, the colours in this poster are very dark, creating a sinister atmosphere which is typical of the thriller genre. The fact that the woman is smoking is very 'film noir' because in a lot of film noir films the woman hero is smoking a cigarette to show that she is tough and not a typical girl.

conventions of thriller films

-suspense
-cliffhangers
-crime
-tension
-mystery
-heroes/villains

preliminary task

This is the preliminary task that Sheree and I filmed. This is the version that i edited. I added a title clip and shortened some shots to make the film cuts smoother. :)

Preliminary Task

Today Sheree and I created a short film for the preliminary task. We had to use shot/reverse shots and the 180 degree rule in our film.
This is a diagram explaining the 180 degree rule:

This was the plan/script we created for our film.

• Emily walks in and sits down
• SHOT/ REVERSE SHOT
• Sheree: Hey Emily, did you watch that film on Channel 4 last night?
• Emily: I watched that thriller film Taken if that's what you mean
• 180 DEGREE RULE SHOT
• Sheree: Yeah Taken, I thought it was pretty good
• Emily: Yeah same, I thought it was going to be really scary but I don't think it was that bad
• Sheree: Apart from the part when the girl was dragged from under the bed
• Emily: oh and when he found the dead girl!

end of film.

instead of cutting between each person talking, we filmed the whole script from each person's view and then using the 180 degree rule, and then we were going to edit it so that the shots are mixed. During the filming, I furthered my knowledge on using the 180 degree shot as I hadn't really used it before.

History of Thriller Movies

The History of the Thriller Genre.

Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. There are lots of subgenres of thrillers, 3 of the main ones being mystery, crime and psychological thrillers. Thriller films became very popular after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, specifically political thrillers. One of the earliest 'thrillers' was Harold Lloyd's comic Safety Last (1923), with the all-American boy performing a daredevil stunt on the side of a skyscraper. The most famous thriller movies are the Hitchcock movies, specifically Psycho, a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Click to watch Psycho - the famous shower scene

This timeline shows the increase of thriller movies made and watched from 1960-2010

Thriller Film Timeline

1920s: 
Safety Last (1923),
Blackmail (1926) - directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Alice White, detective Frank Webber's girlfriend, is invited by an artist to visit his studio. The man tries to rape Alice and she kills him with a knife to defend herself. A criminal sees the murder and he keeps the lady's glove from the crime scene in order to blackmail her. Frank is assigned to the murder case
The Cat and the Canary (1927) the cat and the canary clip

1930s:
The Bat Whispers (1930) the bat whispers clip
M (1931)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug it is already too late...
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)

1940s: Rebecca (1940)
Laura (1944)
Gaslight (1994)
The Spiral Staircase (1945) Disabled women in small town at the beginning of century are becoming prey of a serial killer. Helen, mute girl who works for the Warren family, fears that she could be the next victim.
Notorious (1946)
Sorry Wrong Number (1948) watch clip
the Lady From Shanghai (1948)
The Third Man (1959)

1950s: Strangers on a Train (1951), Rear Window (1954), The Wrong Man (1956), Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959)

1960s: Pyscho (1960), The Birds (1963), Torn Curtain (1966),

1970s: Frenzy (1972) The Godfather (1972), The Godfather, Part 2 (1974), Jaws (1975)

1980s: The Shining (1980)

1990s: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Leon (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), Fight Club (1999)

2000: Memento (2000), The Dark Knight (2008)

2010: Inception (2010)

Group Meeting #2 - 24th January

Today we assigned people to the characters in our thriller. Steven is to play the husband, Lauren is to play the woman who he is having an affair with and I am to play the wife/murderer.
We also consolodated our plan and decided on the filming location. We are going to film our forest scene at the Ercall which is the hill before the Wrekin.