Results from Connor's Survey

MONDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2012

Survey Response

These print screens are the results from the survey that my partner, Connor has collected which will help us to understand what the people want in Thriller films. From the results that we have collected, we have realised that people do not like elements in movies such as predictability and silly female characters. Another question that we have asked is peoples favourite kind of Thriller and the main two that stood out was Crime and Psychological Thrillers. At least this bit of info will give us an advantage because the general public has filled in the survey and have shown what they think make the best Thrillers. There are also other questions in the survey which just iron the few details in the characters that we are going to be playing since one of the questions are 'Who was your favourite ever villain in a Thriller film?' This gives a vague idea of the type of villain that will be in our film.

Glogster - Waking Up

This is the Glogster post that me and Connor have created to try and promote our film and put out all of the ideas that we have had for this movie. We have briefly explained on the top right corner the plot of the film and the two main characters who are basically the same person. We have also linked some pictures of characters from other films who have alternate personalities or sometimes eve just act differently after something has happened to to them. For example, in Scott Pilgrim he completely changes his attitude after he dies and he realises what he has to do.
Now in the top right corner where you can see the guy with the hairstyle shows that when you see Jonathan and Nathaniel you will realise that they both have their own kind of clothing that they like to wear. For example, Nathaniel likes to have his hair spiked while on the other hand Jonathan likes to have his hair flat so you will be able to tell who is in control when you see that specific personality.
In the bottom corner we have shown the kind of area that we will be filming in. In the movie there will mostly be running shots outside where the policemen are chasing Jonathan. Which means that most of the film will be of Jonathan running and ten there will be a few cuts where we go to the flashbacks and see how Jonathan has come to the situation that he is in now. Finally we added the slogan of the film in the middle of mood board so that it will try and draw all of you lovely people in.

Storyboard - Waking Up

 These are the photos of the storyboard that me and my partner have taken so that we can show all of the steps that we have taken coming up to the production of our film. Now the picture to the right is the first page of the storyboard where we will see Jonathan running from the policemen trying to explain to the that he didn't kill Dean Fischer. The first couple of frames are basically just running scenes that we have already filmed and tried to edit but we will have record them again since we had a few errors. If you would like to see how the day went you can see my Day One and Two post.

 This is the second sheet of the storyboard and this is where most of the story is starting to be seen where we experience the first two flashbacks. The  first flashback is where Jonathan is at work and then one of his colleagues tells him that he saw him at a nightclub but Jonathan is confused saying he was at home. The second flashback includes on of the other actors who plays Nathaniel's girlfriend. But since it is Jonathan who is currently in control, he has no idea what she is talking about. Now some parts of this part of the storyboard has already been filmed but some parts will be filmed this comingWednesday.

 Next this is the third part of the storyboard which we have filmed the majority of it and now we have put a mini preview of most of the elements that are on here. This flashback is where Jonathan wakes up in Nathaniel's clothing from the night that he just had out and he finds that he has blood on his hands so he rushes to the bathroom to clean all of the blood off of his hands but when he looks into the mirror he has a nasty surprise awaiting for him.

Youtube Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq660NiYRw8

FInally we have reached the final storyboard sheet and this is a more calm like end to the film. Now some of the frames on this sheet continue from the last one from the bathroom scene because Jonathan is now sliding back and going unconscious on the bathroom floor. Next he comes back to present and for one last time he asks himself 'Who am I?' before he falls off a cliff. Now we have until the 15th to complete this film so we will definitely either be releasing it on that day or sometime during that week.

Thriller Survey Results

Results of my Thriller Survey

Below is all of the results of my Thriller survey. I have asked the general public, my family and some friends to fill in the survey to get an idea of the kind of Thriller movies that people prefer. Firstly i have realised that most of the people that answered the survey are male and are generally aged between 16-20. Most of the public don't really watch movies that often and there is probably a reasonable explanation for it. There is also a tie between what makes a good thriller and these options were chase scenes, cliffhangers and twists. There have also been many different kinds of films suggested that people thought is one of the best thrillers that they have seen. For example, Hancock or the Dark Knight Rises. As well as there being peoples favourite films, they also have added all of the films that they disliked and found badly made. These include Final Destination, The Birds. The last few questions of the surgery basically asked the general public if they preferred realistic or Sci Fi thrillers, if they would watch the movie at home or go to the cinema and if they were watching a movie, would they become uninterested if the beginning of the movie was boring. Overall, i think that most people prefer movies that put you right in the middle of the action as soon as the movie starts.

Typical Thriller Conventions

There are several things that are expected when you are filming and watching Thriller films. In this post i will list all of the typical features and even some uncommon features the some people don't realise. First of them all is a chase scene.
To be honest, thrillers wouldn't be called thrillers if there wasn't an exciting chase/fight scene. Imagine watching James Bond and instead of him fighting through about 20 goons, he just walked straight to the boss and killed them; it wouldn't be an exciting movie. This is exactly why directors have to think about the chase scenes to try and entice the audience and make them want to watch and see what happens afterwards. Next is the Male Hero. Well in today's society, normally the main hero is a male and it has been the same since the beginning of films but recently females have now been given a more important roles in films than in previous years. Take for example, Janet Leigh she didn't get a big role in Psycho but now actors such as Angelina Jolie get massive roles in films where they can even be the main character, which is good for women because then they can show off their acting talents. Could this be the beginning of a new era of film??

Cliffhangers and Red Herrings are generally used in Thriller films because they can fool the audience into thinking that something will happen but instead nothing does. It is a very clever technique that if used correctly will make a film exceptionally good. Cliffhangers are normally used if the movie will be continued in another period of time such as The Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars etc. But there are some films that actually use Cliffhangers to make the film seem as though it will never end and the threat is still at large. This is used in The Birds because at the end of the film, all we see is the car driving away and a large screen of all of the birds then the movie just ends. Alfred Hitchcock says that he used this as the end of the film so that "The threat is still looming out there".

One typical thing that is guaranteed to be in Thrillers are Love Interests. There always has to be one person that falls in love with the main character in the film or they are either already married to someone and something goes wrong but in the end they always either stay together or marry blah blah blah. But there is always that odd occasion in a film where the main character actually loses a loved one and that is actually the drive of the film. Revenge. This is especially present in the film Bourne Identity where he loses his loved one and then looks for answers which is exceptionally done throughout the entire film. But also the women in the films are typically blonde and very attractive although now in today's film era  that has been changed since as long as they're beautiful no one really cares about what hair colour they have. Though that would have been very different in the days of Alfred Hitchcock who definitely like having blonde's in his films.

There is always a Threat or Deadline that the heroes have to accomplish before time runs out. For example, in nearly every Bond film there is a "Save the Planet" mission where he has 24 hours to save us and does accomplish the mission. But there are always deadlines in thrillers, no matter which movie you watch. think about it. Is there always a head of department that says you have so and s time to save the world? Thought so. And now were used to it but to be honest, we don't really care about the time we just care about how the hero is going to finish the mission.

There will always be Obstacles in life and especially in movies because without them they would be completely boring. As i said above the hero would basically just go up the the main villain and just kill them and that wouldn't be any fun. SO they throw in a couple traps, goons and maybe occasionally a sort of mini action sequence. For example, The Transporter, his job is simply to just deliver packages and stuff to their destinations with no questions asked. But something always goes wrong and he starts getting in trouble with the baddies and this is what really brings us into the movie. Will he get the package back? How will he get out of this one? These elements make thrillers worth watching and add suspense throughout the entire movie.

The Villain is always well prepared and assumes to have thought about everything to make sure that their plan is going to work but that in most movies is not the case and obviously their pal is thwarted by the Main Hero. An example of this is in North By Northwest where you have the innocent Cary Grant and you have the villain which is well equipped and knows exactly where he is going to go and has all his goons and cronies following him to get back the Microfilm (MacGuffin). The villains in the film always seem to ave an infinite amount of wealth and will do almost anything to make sure that their plan goes ahead perfectly.

There is always going to be Deaths in thrillers because of all of the action and fight scenes and there seems to be no consequences of the actions of the hero. He could take down a whole army of evil goons and then not have any remorse for them and this makes me think. Would that really happen in real life? I mean you wouldn't feel that much remorse because you're trying to save the world at the expense of a few people but they must feel something.  Whereas if a assistant or side character was to be killed in the film, All of the good guys would try even harder to take down the villain for their fallen comrade but this isn't the same for the evil side, it is as if everyone is for themselves yet we still work together.

In most films there will be Background Music or Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound because it adds impact to the film and can even sometimes build up some of the best suspense. Birds is a great example because there is no diegetic sound in the film at all which means that there will always be suspense because you will never know when the birds will attack. Which is what makes a good film, i believe. Another important feature is the background lighting and shadows. Villains are always seen to be on the 'Dark' side so they will often be in the shadows which can add to the effect of the character and make it even more effective.

We all know that some women cause trouble. You can just feel it inside whenever you watch them in the movies. Do you know what they're called? Yes? Well ill tell you anyway, they're called Femme Fatale. Theses are the women in the background that usually smoke cigarettes and just look at the surroundings. Take North By Northwest for example (sorry its a good example) he was about to get caught and then a women just offers to hide you away from the goons. Who does that?! Think rationally. I would have gotten a bit suspicious and had questioned her. But the film did have to go on. Now generally the women are the sidekicks that help the Main Hero complete their mission and help solve the problem or throughout the whole film are the actual problem but then the Hero only realises this at the end of the film most of the time when it is too late.

In some thrillers the Main Hero may drink or may even be an Alcoholic and you continually see this throughout the film. For example in James Bond we have the infamous line of "Shaken not stirred".  Even though it shows he likes a drink like any other person it also shows a certain level of professionalism by the fact that he wants his drink a certain way. But then there is the opposite in films such as Hancock where you can see that he has lost his way and all he does all day is sit on a bench and drink alcohol. I think that this is typically used in the film because then it shows that nothing really comes out from being drunk and that the occasional drink is fine. There is normally some kind of Puzzle or Enigma in thriller films that the Hero has to think logically to figure out how to progress. This is seen in Indiana Jones where he is in old ruins and he has to figure out the old puzzles to continue on his quest. This is also used in recent films where they have programmers and background characters that help the Main Hero continue on their mission and in the end finish the task that they have been given.

Finally to the last point of this post, Sub Genres. Although we still call some movies thrillers some f them have sub genres that they also fall into. Say for instance, Final Destination could be seen as a Horror/Psychological Thriller because there is always the suspense that something is going to happen. The psychological part of the film could be seen as the fact that the movie kind of plays with the mind and makes the audience think "Did that really happen?" or "What is really going on?". It really makes the audience question themselves about what just happened or what is happening in the film. (Miami Vice was a really confusing movie for me to watch).

And this is all of the techniques that i have found that are found in Thrillers. Keep watching my blog for more recent posts about Thrillers and Movies.

James Bond Thrillers

We all know who James Bond is and if not then we have at least heard of him. If you have, I'm going to go over it briefly for those who haven't. Basically James Bond is an MI6 agent with the designation code of 007. It is one of the longest running films since it was started filming in the early years of 1962 and since this time there have been 22 continued films from the company Eon Productions.

Dr.No (1962)
This was the first James Bond that was to be released and starred Sean Connery. In the storyline, Bond was sent to Jamaica to figure out why one of his British operatives had been killed. This then leads him to meet Dr. Julius No who is trying to disrupt an American space launch with a laser weapon but of course, Bond comes and saves the world (which we see several times in the movies that come to follow) Although the film was filmed in a low budget, it was a financial success and they were able to get a lot of money for what hey had payed for which is basically a $58,000,000 difference of how much they spent.


On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
This is the sixth movie of the James Bond franchise and was considered to be to poorly shot because of the actor George Lazenby. He was thought to have made the film boring. In this movie though there is a slight hint that James Bond would leave Her Majesty's Secret Service because he was falling in love with Countess Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg). As you can see from the previous and first movie there is always a villain that is better equipped and have henchmen to do the work for them while you have the agent i.e Bond that has to use their initiative to overcome all of the obstacles that they will come across while Bond will probably only have one gadget to help him throughout the entire mission.

Golden Eye (1995)
Golden Eye is the seventeenth film in the Bond series and is the first to start Pierce Brosnan and was also the first of all of the Bond films to not initially follow the book. The basic plot of the story is that Bond prevents an arms leader from using the Golden Eye satellite from firing on London and causing a massive financial breakdown. The budget for this film was quite big since they spent $58 million and got a gross profit of $356.4 million which is an exceptionally big margin between how much they spent.

Skyfall (2012)

Now to the most recent Bond film. This is said to be by critics and film reviews to have been the best Bond film to be released yet. I would give a rating about it too but i haven't watched it (Hey Hey Hey some of us can't afford to go to the cinema so often!) But from all of the ratings that the film has gotten and to be honest it hasn't really been out for that long, i would say that this is definitely a must see film. I think that what makes it as good is Daniel Craig. Ever since he starred in Casino Royale, people have been wondering about how he would top it and i would say that he really has changed the way that people now see James Bond because it really was beginning to get boring the storyline was just way too predictable.

Thriller Survey

Underneath, i have created a survey which i would like you to fill. Basically it is just 10 simple and easy questions that ask you about your favourite kind of Thriller. This survey will help me a lot in the filming of my new film that i am making in my media class so it would be especially nice if you could share it with your friends and ask them to fill it in, it would be a big help.

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Focus Group & Results

To get more of a good response from the people that were in the classroom at the moment we have created a kind of survey so that we can see the type of film that the audience would like us to make. The first idea is like the North By Northwest where there is an innocent man who is wrongly accused of taking an apparent  important object to the storyline but really has to relevance to the film at all. As you can see above, the first idea is the hero is being beaten up by the lackeys of the villain who wants the hero to give up the object only to find out that the the hero hasn't got it.

The second idea is something like the Manchurian Candidate where there is a group of military fighters who are out on a special mission somewhere in Asia and they get ambushed and one of their battalion members has been kidnapped and all of the group are trying to rescue him and then they find him but then the screen fades to black and then they all end up in a completely different area.

The last idea is the one that we have made up and is the one that we that we will start filming and produce. The storyline is where a man is running from a mental asylum since his split personality killed someone, so now he is one the run from the police and while he is running he is starting to remember some points from the previous nights. Some are from Nathaniel while others are the memories from Jonathan. These flashbacks continue until he comes to the end of a cliff where he stops for a a couples seconds, asks the question "Who am I?!" before he falls of the cliff.

Now we got with a group of people who were in the area and asked them if they could listen to all of the ideas that we had for out films and what they thought of them. Overall we got some really good feedback from all of the ideas, the two that mainly stood out were the last two ideas. The listeners said that they liked both of the films because they were both psychological movies. But also since most people like these kind of films it draws the audience to watch and see what will happen next.

Analysis of Student Thrillers

In this post I'm going to be commenting on 3 videos that are on our Robert Clack Media Studies you tube channel. All of the short films are 2 minutes long but all have different techniques, camera angles and techniques that they have used which makes all of them unique in their own way. The three that i am going to comment on are:-

-Finder's Keepers
-The Nightwalker
-You're Mine

First of all i think that i am going to comment on the film Finder's Keepers. Personally, i really like this film because it really follows the storyline of North By Northwest (which you can see in one of my other posts) because there is basically an innocent guy that gets falsely accused and ends up running for his life. One of the really good techniques that they used in the film with none of the other films i have watched used was a Red Herring. This technique is basically when hey make the audience think that something bad is going to happen and it turns out to be completely nothing. This was one of Albert Hitchcock's signature moves whenever he was making films. They also use very good camera angles in the film as if someone was watching the chase scene happen while the guy was running which gives it the real chase scene kind of feel. Also one of the last elements tat they used in the film that was good was when the guy decided to run underneath into the tunnel and then all you can see from the bad guys is their silhouette and then the ending of the film comes with the title. Out of the, i think i would give this a 9.5 because it has been filmed excellently, the angles are used correctly and one of Albert Hitchcock's signature techniques is in the film. I think that the only bad thing that let this down was the text and the end of the film. It was very plain, boring and didn't really look that appealing. I think that it was the plain Ariel font which isn't the most exciting font that they could have used.

Link to the Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGX_pag43XU&feature=plcp

Next is The Nightwalker. This isn't one of the best films that i have ever seen but it is one that uses some techniques really well. One of them is where the girl is running and the camera is bobbing up and down as if we were looking through her eyes and we can see what she sees. This is commonly used in thriller and horror films so that we get to feel and see what they see, or as Hitchcock said that we dip out toe into the cold water of fear to see what it feels like. Which is exactly how this thriller makes us feel. Another good technique that they used was when the girl was in the car and the bad guy was in the back of the car. It is the classic "He's behind you!!" part of the film which basically means when the audience knows more than the character in the film and which kind of gives all of the power to the audience. But on the other hand, some parts of this film is really confusing. Also after the guy got the girl, i like the way how they got the car to slowly back away from the car as a sign of basically saying that she is dead. Firstly, the part where the girl runs out of the house, i had so many questions. Why was she in the house? What has she got to do with the beginning credits? Why is the Nightwalker coming after her? So many questions... Finally the last thing that i have to say about this film is at the final scene where the guy gets the girl in the car, he magically happens to appear outside of the car and starts walking at the camera. Also another bad thing that i don't really think that they planned in the video was that it was really dark so you couldn't really see what was happening, of course you could see that she was running but everything was blurry in the background and honestly it didn't look that good. Really strange. Anyway, out of ten i think that i would give this film 7.1 because it has some of the typical features of becoming a good thriller but some parts of the film got lost along the way i think.

Link to the Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ43CqyqC24&feature=plcp

Lastly there is You're Mine. This thriller penning scene is the second most realistic out of all of the ones that i have talked about so far (Of course Finder's Keepers has to be first if you have watched the video) because instead of doing the film in total darkness like The Nightwalker, they done it in broad daylight and there was traffic going by which made it look a lot more realistic than the other films as there was ant other movement but the main characters. Also there is a mix of diegetic and non diegetic sound in this film because at the beginning the girl is probably shouting to her parents of siblings to say that she is leaving. Another good thing that they used in the film was the final shot when she was tied up in the chair, all that the audience and that she can see and hear is the basement door slowly opening with the obvious creaky sound. It id very effective because we know from watching precious horrors and thrillers that this sound is never good. Finally the only thing that i think lets this movie down is the background music. It doesn't fit in at all with the pace of the film and overall ruins the film i think.

Link to the Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEiEE6qC7YA&feature=plcp

Now to be honest i think that Finder's Keepers is the best out of all of the films that we have talked about above by far. But all of the other films do have good things in their own special way but Finder's Keepers crushes them all!! Just kidding...

The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate (2004) is a film where there is an army group of soldiers that get ambushed while on a recon in Kuwait. The actors that starred in the film were Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight. They all remember the incident but then start to get these weird dreams about the event and it all starts coming back to them. He begins to remember that they all gave the same exact description of the incident which gave Raymond Shaw (Liev) the prestigious Medal of Honour. But it turns out the Raymond got infected as well and now he becomes and unwilling assassin for the Communist party since he is part of a powerful political family. Will they be able to uncover the truth behind what really happened in Kuwait or is it all just a dream?
Now to be honest, when i first saw the beginning 5 minutes of the film i thought that this would be a boring political film about the army and blah blah blah. But it was actually quite good. The storyline was well presented, the was always the feeling that what they were doing to the soldiers was just a dream so it always kept the audience guessing at the same time and that during the storyline everyone assumed that Ben Marco was crazy.  As well as the disgusting bit where Eleanor Shaw has sex with her own son (Ewwwww!). Even though i haven't seen the older version of the film, i do like this version because it has futuristic features in it but yet it is set in the past. This more recent film didn't get the best of ratings out of ten, only getting 7.1 which isn't that bad but i would expect that it would have at least gotten an eight.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is an American Cold War suspense film which stars Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh and Laurence Harvey. The storyline of the film is set around the time of Korean war. The storyline is of course the same as the recent film that i have explained before except that in the recent film, Meryl Streep has a much bigger role in the film than Janet Leigh because in the older films women weren't given big roles and men were the main people in the story. I don't really have much to say about the older version since i haven't actually seen all of the film so all i can say and hope for is that the original version is as good as the more recent version.

Opening Analysis

In today's lesson we were deciding to look at the different types of openings that films have. The beginnings of films that we decided to watch were:

-A History of Violence
-Brick
-No Country For Old Men
-Zodiac

I have decided only to discuss A History of Violence, No Country For Old Men and Zodiac. Firstly, i will talk about Zodiac. At the beginning of Zodiac, it is very slow and we get a nice feel to the beginning of the film. First, there is some radio that is played at the beginning before the title is shown. I think that first many people believe that it is non diegetic sound (Sound the characters cant hear) because it plays before we are given the scenario but on the other hand, it could have been the car radio which we see at the beginning. There were also loads of fireworks in the background which also adds to the whole nice, quiet and friendly scene. Next, we see two teenagers in a car driving to a diner but they change their mind and decide to go to a deserted area to chill and talk. But then a car decides to pull up behind them and then suddenly drive off. This makes us think that the car has gone away but then we hear the the car screech and then it begins to come back. This ends up with both of the teenagers being killed. Apparently this movie has been created after real events which started to happen on the 4th of July which they still haven't found out the killer.

In No Country For Old Men we have a weird beginning to the movie because we are first greeted with a voice over then all we see is a sheriff putting someone into their car and driving them to the station but what is most strange about the villain is that we don't actually see his face until later, all that we see it his silhouette and hair. Which we can see he wont be a good character because since the beginning he has always been in darkness. In the first fight, the evil character strangles the sheriff to death which is seen as a very rough fight but later on when the character kills his next victim, it is very calm  and easy which is the opposite of the first fight that we encountered so the pace basically calms down. I think that after watching the opening for this film i would definitely want to watch it.

A History of Violence is an especially weird film because at the beginning it just looks like two guys that are checking out of a hotel. But then they go into the head office and then we find out that there are two dead people in the office. After this, the guy goes back to the car and then they find out that they don't have anymore water left so one of them decides to go into the office and fill up their water then return to the car. but then a little comes out of the back of the office door which the guy shoots. We then come to a clip of a little girl screaming as if she was having a dream. This is weird because at the beginning at the first shot we see, it is one continuous shot and an annoying humming in the background (which i believe is the sound of the flies from the dead bodies in the office). It is a very strange and boring opening. i think which is why i don't really want to continue watching the film because it hasn't really drawn me in to want to watch more of the movie.

Overall, i think that the best opening of all of the beginnings that are shown above has to be Zodiac because it was the one that stood out to me and honestly i would want to watch the rest of the movie.

Aaron and Connor's Even Better Media Film

This work is even better than our previous video because of the silly music and camera shots in our old piece of work. We have added more different camera angles so that it will look a lot more naturalistic and fit together. This includes match on and eye line match, although we were not able to put in a graphic match since we were not able to figure out a good time for it to be placed while we were filming. As well as shot reverse shot we forgot to include. We believed that it would be best if we set down the camera in one area and then film what we needed from that angle and then when we were finished with that area, we would move to the next area to film.
After we were finished filming we began to edit our footage in Final Cut Express. this took an hour and a half for us to finish editing which is actually really quick since we were able to film the whole movie in one lesson as well! Then we had to cipher through all of the footage that we had collected and put all of the pieces back together to make sure that it looked at its best. After we had completed all of that, we began to choose which music we were going to put into the movie. In the end we had decided to put in the music called Slitheen, which was also involved in the Doctor Who Soundtrack. We believed that this was the best music to be used for the background of out film because it was fast paced and it fitted exactly into the time line of our film.
Overall, i think that this video was a lot better than our previous one because this work has a lot less errors, it is a lot easier to watch with appropriate music and everything fits in together perfectly.


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Alfred Hitchcock Thrillers

Alfred Hitchcock's Thrillers

Hitchcock's Films have inspired generation after generation with different techniques and ideas that he had used over the years. Even though I have only watched two of his movies, Psycho and a part of The Birds, I'm liking what I see. I will probably make another post of The Birds movie after I have finished this blog, which i am really hoping to see the end of the movie at some point. i believe that what makes Alfred Hitchcock's films so different from other films is all of the different techniques that he uses and of all of them, i believe that the most successful one has to be the MacGuffin. He uses this technique very well through all of the films that he makes. i think that the best example of this would be in North By Northwest. The MacGuffin originally in the film was the Microfilm which would stop the bad guys from taking over the world but as the film goes on, we forget about the Microfilm and begin to focus on how Cary grant is going to survive through all of the baddies throughout the film. This is again used cleverly in The Birds. In the beginning of the film, the aim was for Tippi Hedren to deliver the Lovebirds to Rod Taylor as revenge for tricking her when they first met in the pet store, as the movie goes on and gets to the end we start to think that the Lovebirds have something to do with the attacks by the birds but then the movie ends and we will never figure out what actually caused the Birds to attack. One thing that Alfred Hitchcock especially had a thing for was blonde's in his movies. He seemed especially fond of Tippi Hedren which is bad for her since she then got real birds thrown at her which she was not expecting. Also you can see that there are also blonde's in Psycho and North By Northwest.

The Birds

The Birds is a horror/suspense film which has been filmed by the great mind of Alfred Hitchcock. The cast includes Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Plashette and Veronica Cartwright. The basic story outline is that Mitch (Rod) arrives to a pet sore to get some Lovebirds for his sister's eleventh birthday where he meets socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi). After knowing about her infamous reputation around town, he tricks her into trying to convince her to buy Lovebirds. He then tells her that he knows she doesn't work her and he leaves without the Lovebirds, she then decides to get the Lovebirds and personally deliver them to him as a way to get back at him. After she arrives into Bodega Bay where Mitch lives, she shortly gets attacked by a seagull. The beginning of the end maybe? This then leads to a series of mass bird attack which leave Bodega Bay in mayhem. Will Melanie Daniels and Mitch be able to come out of this trouble? Well you're gonna have to watch it for yourself.

Alfred Hitchcock has many ingenious devices that he uses in his film, one that he especially uses is the MacGuffin. This MacGuffin is cleverly used throughout the film and is use effectively at the end, in this sense the MacGuffin is the Lovebirds. The birds have been in the film throughout and at the end we begin to realise that they have absolutely nothing to do with the storyline. This technique is nicely used by Alfred Hitchcock which he has used in a number of him countless movies such as North by Northwest, Brighton Rock, Marnie etc. I think that Alfred Hitchcock end the film a very different and unexpected way than you would see in most films today. He ended the film with just the car driving away in the distance with all of the birds still left in the frame. I believe that this was cleverly used because it means that the threat that the birds might still attack is left open. But I think that everyone who has watched the film really thinks that there should have been a complete ending because you will never see Melanie get healed or taken care of and you wonder if they will ever escape the threat of the birds.

Also, it was said in Tippi Hedren's autobiography that during the filming of the birds, at the scene where she went up the stairs to the attic, Alfred Hitchcock didn't tell her that she was going to get actual birds thrown at her. Apparently, one of the scratches of blood that was seen on her was actually real! This lead her to have years of psychological therapy just to get over her fear of birds. Another thing that is specifically weird about Alfred Hitchcock is that he likes to make people have phobias after they watch the films. I can explain this further because in Psycho, we gain a slight phobia in showers because it shows just how vulnerable we are in those kind of situations while in The Birds, it is an attack against nature which was very unexpected back in the olden days and this changed the way that films were produced, which lead to films such as Snakes on a Plane.

Overall, this is a very good film if you like a quick ending. But be wary, this film isn't for the faint hearted!

Psycho



Psycho is an American suspense/horror that was made in the 1960's. It starred actors such as Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin,Vera Miles and Martin Balsam. This film is very loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murders and the grave robber Ed Gein.

The storyline is about Marion Crane (Leigh) that runs away with $40,000 that was meant to be banked to try and run away with Sam (Gavin), though her plans get stopped while staying at the Bates Motel. Days later, a private investigator called Arbogast (Balsam) tries to figure out the missing case of where Marion has disappeared until he disappears as well at the Bates Motel. So that leaves Marion's sister, Lila Loomis and Sam to find out what happened to Marion. What is going on at the Bates Motel?

Psycho is said to be one of the best films of all time and to be honest i agree. The plot is excellent, the MacGuffin is used especially well and it keeps the audience in suspense throughout the film because they are unsure about what will happen next. (SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO)One thing that i especially noticed about the film was that whenever something bad is going to happen, you can always hear dramatic music. i noticed this when Marion was killed, you could definitely see it coming. Also it could be classed as a horror but to be honest with you, there isn't really any killing because you don't actually see the weapon go into the victim as you normally see in modern films today but it leaves it to your imagination to what the injuries and wounds look like which is ingeniously used in the film. There is a very planned and admittedly, very well planned part at the end of the movie that happens very quickly and you need quick eyes to see it. Finally, Alfred Hitchcock made this film in black and white strangely even though colour films had been out for years, he decided to think outside the box. This kind of adds to the effect of the film, especially with the killing and the blood because it doesn't turn out red, just dark grey.

But altogether, this movie is a must see. Even though it was in black and white (which we definitely take for granted now) i really did enjoy the film and would say if you haven't seen it already, i would really recommend it. Out of 10? It would have to be way over 10.

Recipe For A Thriller

Recipe For A Thriller

There are many things that can describe a thriller. Fast car action? The cute blonde in the back? It all depends on what we think makes a successful thriller. One good example is Albert Hitchcock's North By Northwest. It has excellent plot and storyline which is constantly making the audience wonder 'what's gonna happen next?'. One element of the film that Albert Hitchcock himself made was a MacGuffin (Explanation is in my North By Northwest post). 

There are two things that are especially used in a typical thriller and these are:

-A villain driven plot, whereby the villain gives the hero obstacles they must overcome

-Resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains

In all fairness for thriller movies, they wouldn't be anything without the villains very evil driven tasks. But at the end of the movie, do we really think about the heroes getting the MacGuffin or saving the world. Not really. All we care about is "Will they survive?", "Are they gonna get out of this mess?". This adds to the thriller movie because most of the audience never really care about the storyline as much as how the hero/es will get through the challenges that have been put in front of them.

There are many examples of thriller movies:

-Bourne Legacy

-The Avengers Assemble

-Twilight

-The Hunger Games

There are so many examples that it will be so hard to count all of them. But for the bare basics of a thriller, theres the plot, general action or a fight scene and normally some sort of love scene.

Aaron and Connor's amazing video

http://youtu.be/o1CS6Q4XbRI

This is a video that me and my media partner Connor have made with loads of different angles. We were asked to film a short sequence and experiment using different angles. Afterwards we edited all of the footage to make up the video that you can see above. To make sure that the video had the images and sound that we needed, we had to edit the footage with FinalCut.

North By Northwest

North By Northwest is a typical American thriller made in 1959 which has been directed by the brilliant mind of Albert Hitchcock, written by Ernest Lehman and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.

The story is of an 'innocent' New York executive who is mistaken for a government agent called George Kaplan. This works out very badly for Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) who then becomes kidnapped by Philip Vandamm's (James Mason) henchman and brought back to his house for questioning. Roger then escapes, drunk in a car, goes to the police and tries to pursue this 'George Kaplan' which then ends up with him being chased by foreign spies, fleeing for his life.
After fleeing for days, he stows away on a train to find this 'George Kaplan' and runs into the beautiful Eva Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) which then makes them emotionally connect and maybe fall in love...
The plot inevitably continues and unravels the secret that Eva Kendall has been hiding all of this time. Using his cunning wit and intelligence he is able to recover the object that the villains want and foils the plans of Philip Vandamm. And as far as we know, the movie ends with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint travel back together on the train.

Albert Hitchcock used many very successful techniques while he was making this film, it is a magnificent plot and storyline with an 'almost' cliffhanger ending. One of the techniques that Albert Hitchcock used in the film is Red Herring. This is a very superb technique which deliberately fools the audience to think a certain way about a particular character. An example of this is Eva Kendall. Our initial thought of her is that she is evil because she works with Philip Vandamm, but we find out she is an agent which changes our opinion about her and justifies it. One thing that Albert Hitchcock has created himself is the MacGuffin. He explains a MacGuffin as "a plot element that catches the viewers attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". 

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is seen as a Macro Element. It is also a lot of elements that can make up a a film. They are:

-Props

-Lights

-Locations

-Costumes

The words shown above are all of the things that make up mise-en-scene. Props are many things such as clothing, cars, weapons etc. These can be things that the characters use or wear during the film. Sometimes even the smallest of props can make a big impact on the film and make it look even more realistic.

Film Set Lighting

Lights are one of the most important things that will be used on a movie set. If a director uses lighting in the correct way, they can create some truly amazing scenes. Like for instance, in a horror film, the director can shine a light behind a character to find their facial expressions which can give a real horrific look and adds to the effect. Another great example of the use of lighting is in Brighton Rock. Light is seen as a key element in the film because the main character Pinkie, is always seen to be in the darkness , while Rose the female character, is always seen in the light. This is a classic example of the excellent use of lighting.

There is 3 different types of lighting:

Key Light- This is usually the brightest and most influential.

Back Light- Helps counteract the effect of the key light, which makes the character/object look more 'rounded'.

Filler Light- Helps to soften the harsh shadows that the use of the key and back lights crate. But there may also be more than filler light.

A typical Rom Com scene

Locations are basically essential to any film that is created. The location has to be correct for the kind of scene that the director is trying to create. For instance, if there was to be a car chase scene, we expect that they will be driving on a very busy road or motorway and trying to duck and weave in between traffic in a busy city. This can also be used in films such as Rom Com's where the location will need to be romantic and calming for the viewers to that everything fits in together as one.

A Futuristic Costume

Finally, there is the costumes. These are also important because we don't expect a 19th Century character to be walking in the middle of New York City, so we will be expecting that the costumes will be right for the time that the film is set in. One example could be Total Recall (2012), the characters are in the future and all the outfits that are in the movie are very futuristic and advanced which is appropriate for the time that it is set in

Narrative and Genre

Narrative and Genre

Narrative and Genre are two different things. Narrative means the way that the story is told and presented to the audience, while genre means the type of setting inside the film. For example, Saw can be classed as a Horror/Thriller because the audience never knows what will happen next so it adds suspense which thrills the audience. There is another type of of narrative called Linear Narrative. This is a normal type of narrative style because this means the the story line has a right order from start to finish and is easily understandable. While on the other hand, we have the Non-Linear Narrative. This means that the storyline for the film is mixed up, so the end of the film could be at the beginning. A good example of a Non-Linear Narrative is the film called Memento. This is where the storyline starts at the end and the storyline slowly goes back to the beginning of the film. This technique is excellently used in this movie.
Being able to use narrative in my own movie will be especially important because if the audience don't understand what the film is about, it might be easier if a narrator explains the story and says what has happened.
Genre can be seen as the way people define a movie. For example, The Avengers could be seen as an Action/Thriller because of the fighting scenes and the storyline. But it could also be put into the genre of Science Fiction because the characters are made up with unnatural superpowers and are not real.
This knowledge will help me majorly with my own movie because if I can use both of these techniques correctly, I will hopefully be able to get top marks when I am making my own film.

My New Blog Again....

Welcome to another one of my blogs... Since i started doing film Studies for A Level then decided to switch to Media, i kinda have to start my blog all over again! (Silly me) Well i think that this will give me a new start. This will also be good because i can improvise with my film studies blog, now i can turn it into my movie blog! Now i can record all of movies that i have seen and post them on here for all of you lovely people to see. If you want to check my movie blog, ill put a link underneath this post so that you can check it out for yourself. Well i guess that's my best welcome. be sure to come back and check up on my blog because there will always be new things being posted and that's a guarantee!

Coursework Brief

Coursework Brief

I have been given a brief that i need to read that will outline what task i need to do. The site that i need to go to the get the brief is the Robert Clack Media and Film Studies Blog. The address for the website is:

www.rcmediaandfilm.blogspot.com

I have been asked to make a title and opening sequence for a thriller type genre film. I have been given an example of a Thriller Film that was called North By Northwest. The Thriller genre can be seen as a movie which has action scenes, such as car chases, fights and brawls etc. The aim of a Thriller is to excite the audience. We have been restricted to having a maximum of 4 people per group to make sure that the teams aren't overcrowded or that there is enough work so that everyone in the group has something to do. The film that we are going to produce is going to be worth 60% of our total mark, while the blog that I am currently working on is worth 40%. Although the film has the most marks, both are equally important for me to achieve the top marks that I can get. Also the Foundation Portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS level.