Feedback on 'The Following'

Questions asked:
Do you have a car to use?
yes we will be using christians car.

Where will your film be set? what forrest?
Moynes park, haverhill.

How many characters are shown throughout your opening sequence?
there will be three characters used throughout the opening sequence.

what shots will be used?
Long shot, close up, mid shot, tracking, panning, handheld, canted angle.

what use of editing will shown?
continuous editing.

What props will be used throughout the opening sequence?
Car, piece of ripped clothing, hammer, dark clothes.

what soundtrack will be used?
classical non diegetic music, diegetic sounds e.g. characters running.

Comments:
Was different in comparison to a number of thrillers, which is a positive.

The following-final Idea

Name - The Following
Sub Genre - Crime/action Thriller
Set - Dark, Foggy, Mysterious, Countryside lane.
Opening Scene Plot - Derick waiting in his car, in a quite country lane early in the foggy morning, knowing his  ex-bestfriend 'Ollie" will have set off for work. Derick wants revenge on Ollie as he was unfaithful with his girlfriend and lied to him. As the guy walks past in the morning, Derick follows him in the car. While Ollie's walking he knows somethings up, so start to run. Derick sees him running and decided to go on foot and chase him through a forest but looses him. He eventually finds him, but the twist is, when he finds him he's already dead, someone else got to him first. 


Location: forest - isolated area in which the murder can remain hidden.

In the beginning we intend to establish our ideas as an action thriller, As there is a chase scene in the opening sequence. 


Who's is the killer?
who is the victim?
reasons for murder? 
why it is set in this location?


camera shots: 
quick cuts used to increase speed throughout chase scene. 
tracking shots used when following characters.


Key Point: End of the opening camera zooms in on a peice of clothing that has been accidently left behind by the killer, brings the investigation to a start and traces are followed up.  


Lighting: A dark setting to increase the tension throughout the scene.

Opening Sequence Idea's

1.
Name - The Following
Sub Genre - Crime Thriller
Set - Dark, Foggy, Mysterious, Countryside lane.
Opening Scene Plot - A killer waiting in his car, in a quite country lane early in the foggy morning, knowing his  ex-bestfriend will have set off for work. The killer wants revenge on his ex-bestfriend as he cheated on his girlfriend and lied to him. As the guy walks past in the morning, the killer follows him in the car. The guy walking knows somethings up, so start to run. The killer sees him running and decided to go on foot and chase him through a forest. The killer looses him. He eventually finds him, but the twist is, when he finds him he's already dead, someone else got to him first.

2.
Name - Missing
Sub Genre - Psychological Thriller
Set - Everyday life.
Opening Scene Plot - Things seem to go missing and no-one knows why, is it a paranormal activity, or is someone playing tricks. People start getting scared and start going crazy. The opening scene shows one event of something going missing, which get the audience thinking. Very mysterious.

3.
Name - Conscious
Sub-genre - Psychological Thriller
Set - Populated City
A man is walking through a city... Looking lost and not knowing what is going on around him. He sees everything in a disorientating way with people looking more scary than they are. He looks confused, worried and very full of panic. He sees a man lying on the floor and doesn't show too much concern but looks back at the man's face and recognizes it... A flashback begins. MYSTERIOUS?

4.

Name: Anonymous 

Sub genre: Action thriller

set: ollies mums house 

Opening sequence: An anonymous character is browsing the Internet social site 'Facebook' when he selects a teenage school boys profile and looks into the personal details given about him. This anonymous character then hunts him down and secretly spies on him finding out information on his personal life.  

Analysing a Post Student Video

P1-05 Thriller Project - Suspect

A steady shot is used throughout the whole clip to a level three standard. The camera is also very steady whilst on a  zoom shot and also when the camera tracks. This makes the opening scene look professional, however as its a thriller they could of shook the camera to give a distorted view, and make it more mysterious. 

At the begging of the opening scene the shot is framed very well, by including branches from a willow tree to overfill the frame, and this makes it a good, mysterious opening as you can only just see the victim through the branches.
However the framing at 0:35 needs to to exclude the white object that fills up a third of the frame, it does make it a little distorted but it doesn't look very professional. 

There is a good range of shot distances at appropriate times. There is uses of close shots,medium shots, and long shots, for example when the victim is being followed there is a good long shot across a large green/park of both characters within the shot.

  The mise-en-scene is mostly good in the opening scene. The bad person in the clip is wearing dark,black clothing this is normally the stereotypical colours a murderer/bad person is assigned to. However the lighting isn't to good, it's supposed to be a thriller, which are supposed to be mysterious. And the light set doesn't make it this, it would of been better if the could of made it darker, either using software on a computer or if they shot it at a later time in the day.

A key prop used is the knife in the victims hand, which is introduced to the audience with a zoomed shot, giving us a close up on the object. This is a key shot because this tells the audience there will most probably be a death, but it also describes the character showing he is weak, but also dangerous.  

Marking Criteria

Level 3 (36-47 marks)

There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:

- holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
- framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
- using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
- shooting material appropriate to the task set;
- selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
- editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
- using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
- using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
- using titles appropriately.

Level 4 (48-60 marks)

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

- holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
- framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
- using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
- shooting material appropriate to the task set;
- selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
- editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
- using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
- using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
- using titles appropriately.

Evaluation of Opening Scene of Memento

Opening few seconds of Memento

Memento

The opening sequence of Memento shows the credits layered on top of the background video. This is a common way of opening modern films.

In the foreground you see a hand holding a picture which shows a man against a wall with massive amounts of blood. This gives a disturbing image which makes the viewer want to know what the photo is all about. As the clip continues, you see the man shaking the photo which is meant to make it more clearer as it was taken with an older camera which uses ink. Oddly though the opposite effect occurs when he shakes the photo which makes it go back to it's original state before it was shaked. This gives a distortion of reality disruption of time, repetition + loss of memory.

The image after it has been shaken

Sound

The sound in the opening sequence is slow paced and done by violin. Stringed instruments give a very tense sound and this makes the sound heard give a dramatic + mysterious feeling. When the protagonist is shown completely, he is shown sitting on a bed and you hear him talking, but his lips don't move which means he is speaking through his thoughts. This gives a stream of consciousness and makes this character seem more like he doesn't know what is happening around him and so he uses his mind the majority of time.

Psychological Thrillers

A psychological thriller is a thriller which is based on the use of the mind. It normally refers to a person's memory, identity and perception, common uses of the memory are amnestic or identity-related to make a enigma.


Identity
Can include mistaken, stolen or dual identities as well as amnesia. Identity can add confusion to the thriller, adding a whole new level to an enigma, often, even the protagonist will be confused about his or her identity.


Memory
Memory ties in with identity through amnesia, often, the protagonist is the one who is having trouble with his or her memory, the problems could be of suffering from, and being tortured by traumatic memories, from the loss of a memory or even the inability to make new memories at all.


Reality and Perception
People's perceptions are commonly explored, with what is and isn't real. These are commonly shown from the viewpoint of multiple characters by showing their PoV or what surrounds them which is to show what they percept. 

Opening Scene of "The Birds"

'The Birds' is a thriller, so has many thriller conventions. The open title text is done in a old-fashioned way because in old films the opening titles, where today the titles show only the main people involved, instead show all people. Also, the way the text appears on the screen is somewhat disorientating. After the opening credits the opening sequence is done in a stereotypical fashion, an establishing shot is shown to set the scene and introduce the main character by keeping her as the main focus of the frame (using a tracking shot).

This classic thriller was filmed in 1963, it is shown to be old fashion as the credit are positioned at the beginning were as the credits are based at the end of productions created in these days. It also uses a basic form of editing for the opening sequence, using only black and white colours while introducing the cast for this film. The colour black is generally associated with death and misery, which fits into the theme of this production. The high contrast between white and black is used to represent opposites, in this film the black birds may represent death or something bad, and the white background may represent freedom.

 

"The Birds" opening scene is set in San Fransisco, America. The blonde woman is surrounded by large skyscrapers, trams and busy streets which helps communicate where the location is set and that it's very densely populated. The woman is well spoken and wears a blazer, pearl jewellery and has good posture, showing her as a stereotypical member of the upper-middle class.

 

We are also introduced to a male character. He also come across as an upper-middle class sort as he wears a suit, tie and a hat. He is also rather well spoken and has a good posture. Also, both the characters are in a shop, which looks to be an upmarket place, as it has large gold cages.

The man is shown to be of higher status than to woman as, when he and the woman are talking, he is given a low angle shot, where as she is given a normal close up, and he takes up more of the frame in the over the shoulder shot, so he is shown to be more important. 

 

PRELIMINARY Task

Here is our Preliminary Task... We did a simple conversation.