BBFC Ratings

The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984.

Films for theatrical release are normally classified by at least two Examiners using the published Guidelines. Examiners base their decision on discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence

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  Suitable for all - The U stands for Universal and will be suitable for ages 4+.
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  Parental guidance
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  Cinema release suitable for 12 years and over
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  Video release suitable for 12 years and over
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  Suitable only for 15 years and over
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  Suitable only for adults
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  Adults works for licensed premises only
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Practice shots

Here's a sneak peak into the location and setting we will be filming in..

The top picture is actually only at the end of my road and is part of the 'journey' we make towards the cabin in the film. This then leads into the woods in order to make it have a rural, isolated feel.

The bottom picture is actually inside the log cabin showing the rough setting, trying to make it as natural and 'chilled' as possible. (excluding Sav and Brooke as they took the picture)

These are the two areas used in the whole opening but set as though it is all one big area.

(Btw please don't kill me for the photo El)

Storyboard for Nocturnal

 So, here is our storyboard for our opening. This will give the main gist of the storyline along with a lot of the shots we are going to attempt to use. There is 3/4 shots that we've not added as a picture and just mentioned them in the instructions underneath, as we didn't was to use 100 pages to do this - ok, well maybe not 100.

Also, what looks like the birds eye view shot is not actually this, but is high angle due to it being rather awkward to draw at this angle.

All pictures done by Savannah Salt (which i think for stick people, is quite artistic).

Risk Assessment

Nearly there with the main bulk of research and planning, just a few more vital things to post... With this being one of them! Ok, so this is our risk assessment. As you can see a few of the risks may be a little over dramatic to say the least, but I guess its better to be safe than sorry! Its no as if a bear is going to be appear in my back garden (touch wood). Anyway back on track, these are our risks and how we would attempt to make them less 'risky'.                           

Pitch video

Hey guys this is our one page pitch video for our thriller opening - Nocturnal - Hope you enjoy!

Examining Past Thriller Openings

Ok, so today we watched a few past AS thriller openings and attempted to mark them based on what we thought was appropriate. Generally the trend was that we tended to give the piece a lower mark than what they actually got. So I don't know whether this was because we're just harsh or is actually a lot harder than it looks.
Many of the pieces to me, lacked a lot of continuity between shots, the editing and the sound, and so made it look jerky and unfinished. Roughly, we tended to give a whole level less than the examiner gave them. However, we didn't look at the grade as a whole as we didn't see their blogs, which, of course makes a significant impact on their grade.
This is one of the examples we watched and I actually thought all aspects of this - camera work, editing, sound and mis-en scene - were really effective other than one. To me, this came across rather boring, and yes I know this is only the opening, but I think the saying about judging a book by its cover, is really rather relevant here, and think the opening is a crucial part, as the audience will decide whether to carry on watching or not. However, the bits I especially liked was the editing. The focus pulls, flickers and blurriness all added to the creepy effect, which I'm guessing was their intention. I also thought the continuity and pace made the clip as a whole look more professional and so not making it look like a school project.

Examples of Thrillers

Top Thrillers:

Information from filmschoolwtf.com and Wikipedia.

1 - Silence of the Lambs is and American thriller made in 1991.
In the film, Clarice Starling a young U.S. FBI trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Lecter to apprehend another serial killer, known only as "Buffalo Bill".

2 - Seven is a 1995 American psychological thriller and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey and Kevin Spacey. In the film, Pitt and Freeman are partnered as detectives.

3 - Psycho is a 1960 American horror-slasher, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film centers on the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Leigh), who ends up at a secluded motel after embezzling money from her employer, and the motel's disturbed owner-manager, Norman Bates (Perkins), and its after math.

 4 -  The Sixth Sense was produced in 1999 as an American super natural horror film. The film tells the story of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him.

5 - No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American neo-Western black comedy thriller directed, written, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen.  It tells the story of a Texas welder and Vietnam vet to whom chance and greed deliver a fate that is neither wanted nor denied.

Nocturnal screenplay

Screenplay from charlcooke

One page pitch

One page pitch from charlcooke

Audience types and theories

There are three theories based on an audience which is based around the relationship of a text and the audience:

1. The Effects/Hypodermic Model
2. The Uses and Gratifications Model
3. Reception Theory

The Effects/Hypodermic Model - This model suggests that the audience is passive (accepts a text without relating or questioning it), and so the media has an influence or effect on the audience, therefore will believe whatever if given to them.  The hypodermic syringe part, believes the media is injected into them. This theory believes that there is a correlation between what is shown by the media and the way the audience react, for example, if violent behaviour is shown to a younger audience, that younger audience will become violent due to watching this.

The Uses and Gratifications Model - This is opposite to the effects model and believes that the audience is active (The audience can relate to the film using their own experiences, and so may question whether something is right). Therefore, the audience use the texts rather than being used by it. The theory should identify (consumer can relate to what is shown by media or create aspiration), educate, entertain or create social interaction (gives a topic of talk) through media.

Reception Theory - When a text is constructed its encoded with some type of message. This message will either be understood by the audience, misinterpreted or failed to understand at all. There is three types of audience decoding (the way they understand the message.

• Dominant or preferred - The audience will decode the message as the writer wants and will agrees with it.
• Negational - The audience will neither accept or reject a message, or may be disinterested in what is being said.
• Oppositional - Where the message is recognised however is rejected for cultural, political or idealogical reasons

Marco Polo - Textual Analysis

Marco polo ta from charlcooke

Screenplays

What is a screenplay?

A script or screenplay is the written work done before a film. However, there is a difference. A script is all the dialogue said by each character. A screenplay, includes the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated, and so are much more detailed than a regular script.
The format is structured in a way that one page usually equates to one minute of screen time. In many cases a screenplay is based on an existing book that is being attempted to be made into a film.
They usually consist of 90 - 120 to be an average length film.

We looked at a screenplay from the opening of the film 'Jaws' (underneath). This was by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, from the original novel by Peter Benchley . It showed the different scenes by numbering them in order of play, the basics of the setting, actions of characters and the angle/way that scenes are shot. This is set out so that the number of the scene is clearly at the side, then in capitals, a basic description of the setting or the type of shot e.g. CLOSE UP OF CASSIDY, and then the description of what happens including dialogue.

Fact -The font I have used on this is the typical font used of screenplays as the equal spacing between the letters is the way that a page of writing is roughly a minute of a film.

Elements of a screenplay:

• The scene headings - the parts in all CAPS - is a way to set the scene. It explains the location, the type of angle or shot and maybe movement. Here, EXT. means the scene is outside.
• Action - is basically what it sounds like. Its the main bulk (bar the script), of the screenplay. It is all the actions and movements of the characters, explaining to the reader what is happening.
• Character - Character elements are in UPPERCASE and are just the name of the character that is about to speak and so are followed immediately by Dialogue.
• Dialogue - What it sounds like!
• Parenthetical - These come after a character or piece of dialogue in brackets, to show how it is spoken or acted. 
• Transition - these are used to transition between one scene to another. For example, this is when it says "cut TO' or "fade in".

Example of screenplay from 'JAWS'

                                    OVER BLACK

               Sounds of the innerspaces rushing forward.

               Then a splinter of blue light in the center of the picture.

               It breaks wide, showing the top and bottom a silhouetted 
               curtain of razor sharp teeth suggesting that we are inside 
               of a tremendous gullet, looking out at the onrushing undersea 
               world at night. HEAR a symphony of underwater sounds: 
               landslide, metabolic sounds, the rare and secret noises that 
               certain undersea species share with each other. Also, the 
               hint of familiar music, twisted and distorted by the depths.

                                                                    CUT TO:

               EXT. BEACH – NIGHT – SHARK'S POINT OF VIEW – RISING OUT OF 
               THE WATER, LOOKING AT

               It is a pleasant, moonlit, windless night in mid-June. We 
               see a long straight stretch of white beach. Behind the low 
               dunes are the dark shapes of large expensive houses. Hear a 
               number of voices singing. It sounds like an eastern 
               university's alma mater, no longer distorted.

               EXT. BEACH – NIGHT – ANOTHER ANGLE

               Around a blazing bonfire, a group of young men and women, 
               beer cans (or maybe a keg) in evidence, as well as the bota 
               Spanish leather wine-bag much in favor by beach and ski-bum 
               types.

               The group is swapping sentimental alma maters, weepily singing 
               eastern Ivy League anthems -– Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard, 
               Penn, etc. Two young people break away from the others. They

               are Tom Cassidy and Chrissie. Behind them, there is 
               considerable necking activity; Tom and Chrissie are more 
               serious.

               TOM

               Makes a clumsy attempt at snaring Chrissie, cups her from 
               behind. She squirms playfully out of his grasp. We discover 
               he's not especially sober

Se7en - Textual Analysis

Se7en textual analysis from charlcooke

Thriller - initial ideas

 PLOT:

      Basically, the opening will introduce our main characters. A few friends have gone away for a girly weekend (which includes a gay guy), and have rented out a log cabin which, typical of a horror, is in the middle of no where.  After having a few drinks a phone rings but no one is on the other end, but think nothing about it. When the gay guy nips out for a wee, he hears a noise and viciously gets dragged away... 

            

Lighting task

Lighting task from charlcooke

Genre conventions of a Thriller

Genre conventions of a Thriller

 

Thriller - a novel, play, or movie with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage normally with a high level of tension and suspence.

 

Types of thrillers:

·         Medical

·         Political

·         Forensic

·         Spy

·         Military

·         Psychological

·         Horror

 

Conventions:

 

Normally thrillers may involve a murder or some sort of grand crime and so usually have a hero and a villain, however a lot of thrillers are recognised through there shooting, editing and sounds. Common camera angles used in thrillers are low angle shots and quick moving shaky shots. Also the lighting used in the shots Is normally quite dark and gloomy and if any light, is usually a grey tinge giving a cold and uneasy feel, and is normally filmed in quite rural areas. The editing usually has a fast pace between shots with less continuity sometimes giving an ‘unedited’ feel as though its being filmed In real time. Added sounds are used quite a lot in thrillers to emphasize a certain action. Sounds such as footsteps or a telephone ringing are usually quite loud and emphasized compared to the other sounds and are normally added in a very quiet moment.

 

Other key elements: (picked certain features from a blogspot post)

·         Cliff hangers

·         Plot twists

·         Red herrings

·         Adrenaline

·         Mind games

·         Paranoia