Pre Production: Lighting In Thriller Film

We have learnt that there are three different types of lights in film. These are; the main key light, the fill light and the back light. These are all needed in order to fully light up a subject. 

The Main Key light is the most important light as it provides the most amount of light to a character or subject. It is placed slightly towards the right of a character. Even though there is normally another light towards the left, if there is only the main key light on the right it creates "low key lighting", this is normally used in thrillers to make tension. 

The second light, positioned slightly towards the left is the Fill light. This light adds to the Main Key Light as to fully light up someones face. It mainly gives the character a more bright and important look. Having these two light s on above gives the effect of "high key lighting". 

The final light is called The Back light and it is obviously positioned towards the back of an actor. This light almost gives a halo like effect on the character and is sometimes used to highlight the characters hair. This light is sometimes used to make a character seem more intelligent or angelic, normally used with an protagonist to make them seem more important. 

We will make sure we use all of this lighting in order to give our film the best and most professional look possible. 

Editing Techniques In Film

cut A visual transition created in editing in which one shot is instantaneously replaced on screen by another. 

continuity editingEditing that creates action that flows smoothly across shots and scenes without jarring visual inconsistencies. Establishes a sense of story for the viewer. 

cross cutting
Cutting back and forth quickly between two or more lines of action, indicating they are happening simultaneously. 

dissolve A gradual scene transition. The editor overlaps the end of one shot with the beginning of the next one. 

editing The work of selecting and joining together shots to create a finished film. 

errors of continuity Disruptions in the flow of a scene, such as a failure to match action or the placement of props across shots. 

establishing shot A shot, normally taken from a great distance or from a "bird's eye view," that establishes where the action is about to occur. 

eyeline match The matching of eyelines between two or more characters. For example, if Sam looks to the right in shot A, Jean will look to the left in shot B. This establishes a relationship of proximity and continuity. 

fade A visual transition between shots or scenes that appears on screen as a brief interval with no picture. The editor fades one shot to black and then fades in the next. Often used to indicate a change in time and place. 

final cut The finished edit of a film, approved by the director and the producer. This is what the audience sees. 

iris Visible on screen as a circle closing down over or opening up on a shot. Seldom used in contemporary film, but common during the silent era of Hollywood films. 

jump cut A cut that creates a lack of continuity by leaving out parts of the action. 

matched cut A cut joining two shots whose compositional elements match, helping to establish strong continuity of action. 

montage Scenes whose emotional impact and visual design are achieved through the editing together of many brief shots. The shower scene from Psycho is an example of montage editing. 

rough cut The editor's first pass at assembling the shots into a film, before tightening and polishing occurs. 

sequence shot A long take that extends for an entire scene or sequence. It is composed of only one shot with no editing. 

shot reverse shot cuttingUsually used for conversation scenes, this technique alternates between over-the-shoulder shots showing each character speaking. 

wipe Visible on screen as a bar travelling across the frame pushing one shot off and pulling the next shot into place. Rarely used in contemporary film, but common in films from the 1930s and 1940s.

Editing Practise: Pre Shot

This is a short film that I shot and edited myself in the summer of 2015 and uploaded to Youtube. This involves the whole film being editing on iMovie, and filmed on a portable camera and my iPhone using techniques such as time-lapses.

Initial Planning: One Page Sypnopsis

One page synopsis

The name of our film will be "Jack" and it will be a thriller. 

A young boy named Jack leaves his sisters’s house to walk home, haunted by the ghost of 'Fred'.

We will have Jack shouting goodbye to his friend, and his friend responding “Bye, Jack!”

Following this, Jack will shut the door and leave the house

He will be wearing generic teenage-boy clothing: A hoodie and jeans

He will have his headphones in and be walking happily

There will be no other speech in this part of the film

Walks through the graveyard, and notices his name on a gravestone 

Jack will enter the graveyard (possibly in Middleton Cheney)

By this point it will be starting to get dark

He still has his headphones in, listening to music, walking happily

The camera will follow his gaze as he reads some of the gravestones

The camera will them skim past “JACK ADDIS” written on a gravestone

Jack will suddenly stop walking and take a step back to reread the name

He will slowly take his headphones out and stare, open mouthed, at it

He will then proceed to slowly kneel down to it

Sees a group of dead-looking children walking towards him

Jack has his head down, focusing on reading the gravestone

As he slowly looks up, he notices a row of dead looking children emerging in a row through the fog

They are all dressed in tatty, mangled looking Victorian style clothes, with blood on them 

He shouts out “HEY, WHO ARE YOU?” to which none of them reply

They slowly walk towards him, gradually getting closer

Jack scrambles about to get to his feet, and begins to back away

Runs away, trying to get home quickly

The camera shots go between Jack frantically running, getting faster and faster as he gets more freaked out, and the dead children seemingly walking quite slowly, but not getting any further away.

The music will by fast pace and scary, as well as having Jack’s heavy breathing and the children’s laughter over the top of it

It will be very dark

He will run through a field, towards what looks like an abandoned shelter

Is found hanged

The final shot will be of inside the abandoned shelter

You will see the children sat around in a circle, laughing

Whilst the camera shot goes up to see a noose around Jack’s neck and a final shot of his feet swinging slowly back and forth Runs away, trying to get home quickly.

Initial Planning - One Paragraph Sypnosis

One paragraph synopsis 

A young boy named Jack sets out on his usual walk home on a glum winter night, but his evening doesn't go as planned. He gets a shock when he sees his name engraved on a gravestone. Scared and panicked, he tries to run, only to discover he's being followed by what can only be dead children. Will Jack ever make it home?

Film Techniques: 180 Degree Rule

The 180 Degree Rule is a basic rule that means two characters should always have the same left and right relationship together. When the character crosses the axis connecting to two subjects it is called crossing the line. The new shot is called the reverse angle.

This schematic shows the axis between two characters and the 180 degree arc on which the cameras may be positioned (green), when cutting from the green arc to the red arc, the characters switch positions.

Initial Planning - One Sentence Synopsis

One sentence synopsis

A young boy's walk home turns into something much more, something that will send shivers down your spine ...

Film Techniques: Codes in film

Enigma Code

Enigma codes pose questions to the audience which are then answered shortly after or later on in the film. For example, who is she? Where is she going? Why is she doing that? They're questions enabling the audience to get intrigued with the film and wanting to find out the answers to these questions, therefore watching more of it. Enigma codes entice the audience to watch the rest of the film as they're curious as to what will happen next; they also help to move on the narrative.

Silence of The Lambs Example With Codes

The use of enigma codes:

The opening of this movie features a woman running through some sort of misty woods, this makes you question yourself: who is she? why is she running? As she runs on, you then see her climb over part of an assault course which then answers one of the questions for you. You then see an FBI agent tell her that Mr Crawford wants to see her. You then ask yourself: who is Mr Crawford and what does he want? As she makes her way to see Mr Crawford, just befoer she passes through a lot of other agents and weapons, she walks past another women who high five's her, she says 'Hey Clarice'; this then gives the female a name as well as a personal link to her. This then makes you realise that she must also be an FBI agent. But you ask yourself: why are most of all the other agents male? She enters the office which shows a wall full of newspaper cuttings and other pieces of information, this makes you question yourself as to what the importance of the images/cuttings are, the scene ends a few seconds after.

Action Code

Action codes are significant events which move the narrative on in a particular direction. For example, a phone ringing or a knock at the door. Both actions are used to change the scene/narrative for specific reason but to also keep the narrative alive. They teach the audience new things, for example, something new about a character or possibly the plot itself. They give the audience needed information.

The use of action codes:When an agent asks the woman to see Mr Crawford, this is an action code. This changes the narrative and the direction of what would of happened. The lift scene could also be seen as an action code as it represents some of her characteristics of being a strong, independant women as she's in a lift full of men. If she had taken the stairs, things could've also been different; she may have missed Mr Crawford and we wouldn't have found out what he wanted. When she enters the lift full of other men, they're all wearing bold red uniforms where as she's wearing a pale blue uniform, there is also a huge difference in height. This emphasises the fact that she's an individual and that she stands out from the rest of the agents. Another action code used is the behavioural services sign as this reveals more about the location she's in.

Semantic Code

This code refers to parts within the text that suggests to referes  to additional meanings. Elements to a semantic code are called semes.

Symbolic Code

A code that is about symbolism in the text. it opposites to show contrast and create a greater meaning and create tension.

Referencial Code

This code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.

Initial Planning: 60 Second Pitch

This is our 60 second pitch for our film called 'Jack'. We made sure it included all the information needed for the film to be clear to the audience, and tried to make it short as well so its snappy and the audience will not get bored from it.

Initial Planning: Target Audience For Our Film

My film opening is in the thriller genre. Due to this my group and I need to think about what age our target audience will be, this target audience needs to be the right age so that the film will appeal and will be liked by this specific group of people. We also need to think about the primary and secondary genders that our film opening will appeal to. We have decided that the target audience should be 15 as it contains graphic content such as the character 'Fred' being hung at the end, which may scare some of the audience, so therefore have decided to make sure the audience enjoys it and realises it's not real.

Intital Planning: Mood Board of a Thriller

Initial Planning: Genre Research

Genre Research

Using his love Genre is French for type or kind. Every film that has been made is in a particular genre. When a film is created it is then categorised into a genre depending on storyline and content in the film. For example a film with comedic and romantic pleasures would be classed as a Romantic Comedy film.

Sub genres help to categorise films better as each sub genre has a set element. Some genres of films have sub genres like Horror and Action and Adventure. These particular genre of film have set types which therefore sort them into sub genres. In Horror films the fixed element is usually a threat towards the protagonist.

Film genres have to be recognisable so when a viewer goes to watch a film and knows they do not like horror if they see the genre of the film then it will stop them from going to see a film that they will not enjoy. Film genres can also help the writers know what kind of script and film appears to types of audiences. For example writers of Romantic Comedy films are written in a certain way and f the film is enjoyed by the audience they know that the next rom-com film should be written in the same style. If the audience has enjoyed a film like Love Actually then the writers and director know that if they create another romantic comedy film they know they would be expecting the same audience to watch the new film.

Genres are important to audiences because in film genres there are usually pleasures which the audience would expect from a film. A pleasure is something that the audience expects from a film that they are going to see. For example if a viewer was to go and see a horror film they would expect tense, scary and jumpy pleasures.