Alfred Hitchcock

Known for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' which was known for having horror in his short stories. He is also well known for Directing the film 'Psycho' which seemed to be a huge success with a budget of  $806,947 (estimated) and a gross pay worldwide of $50,000,000. 'Rear Window' was another well known film that he directed in 1954 which again was another success, they had a budget of $1,000,000 (estimated) and the overall gross pay worldwide was $30,000,000

  http://borgus.com/hitch/openings.htm
This is a good website that I found that shows good techniques on how to do a 'Hitchcock Opening' which will help us with ideas on how we can do our Horror opening.

Dream House Trailer Analysis

http://youtu.be/ncLFpGdd8O8

I saw this trailer of a new film called 'Dream House' and it has inspired me to come up with some ideas for our own thriller trailer.
The music in the background caught my attention, with the single note on the piano being played repeatedly, causes tension and suspense in the atmosphere and gives off a warning to the audience that something is going to happen.
Also that music box being played throughout gives the impression that it is a psychological thriller, because it stays in the audience' head.

180' Rule

The 180 degree rule is where there are two characters that are shown from opposite angles (left/right), there is an invisible axis which you could call a wall. If the camera goes over this axis then it is called 'crossing the line'.
Heres an example:

Storyboard

we are trying to keep the suspense up throughout the whole task, to gives us an idea of what our final thriller preview could look like.

Possible logo (Adam Peak)

Psycho opening credits analysis (Adam Peak)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RYRT8WbSqw



Psycho (1960) 
As soon as the credits begin the music is very fast and dramatic, a very upbeat tempo of the orchestra creating suspense and tension in the atmosphere.
The credits are coming in fast, keeping up with the music. The writing is split up, and they come in from both sides merging together to create the word.
Between the showing of the credits there are black and white/grey stripes filling in the gaps, they come in from different directions everytime.

Questionnaire results (some people answered more than once) (Adam Peak)

As you can see, we asked what type of thriller do people enjpy most, and half the people we asked said they liked a Psychological thriller.

We asked what gender they wanted the main character to be, and people wanted the feamale to be the main character.

should the main character be well known or unknown or don't mind, most people wanyed to the main character to be well known.

People answered that they wanted the soundtrack to be linked with the film.

we asked if the soundtrack should be done by a well known artist or an unsigned artist, the majority said well known.

We asked the people how they would like the film to be advertised and they answered that trailers and spoilers would be best.

Adam's Interviews - audience research

I interviewed 5 people (3 male, 2 female), so that we could find out what the audience want to see in the thriller films they watch.
All 5 of them said that they like the psychological thrillers where it gets in your head and makes you feel that, it could happen to themselves.
From the interviews and the results of the questionairres, I found out that the majority of people felt that the main character should be the opposite sex to what they are.
A majority of the people i interviewed and who answered the questions, I found out that they wanted to song to be linked with the film, because they felt that the film would stick in their mind.

Group poster of characters in thriller films

Lily's poster of a character in a thriller film.

Oli's Audience research

Male: suspense\tension, realistic characters, a romantic side story, peaceful setting to show contrast between action and calmness, to be kept on the edge of your seat, to be intriguing

female: love story (man saves woman and they live happily ever after)

There has been a shuffle in the groups! The group Orion now consists of Lily Adam and Oli :D

Analysis of first 5 mins of The Sixth Sense (Amelia Waterson)

First 5 mins.

Camera- Focus on a dimly lit light bulb at the beginning. See the woman coming down the stairs from behind a piece of wood. Focuses on the fire, you can see the reflection of the couples face next to the fire, makes them look warm. Head and shoulders shot on the man to see his expression. Pans onto broken glass on the floor then up to a smashed window. Panning slowly into another room, building the tension.

Editing- Dim lighting is used in the beginning, makes it look sinister, unfriendly and cold. There is then a fire which changes the atmosphere and makes it seem more inviting.

Mise-en-scene- Woman is in a building that looks derelict. It is clearly cold but the woman is wearing a dress, this shows she is not prepared for the weather. The main characters are drinking wine which gives the impression they may be celebrating or doing something special.

Sound- Non diagetic music, creates an eerie effect. Laughter, the characters are happy, joking around with each other. Diagetic beeping from the broken phone, builds tension. The woman's scream which makes the audience jump keeps building the tension for something to happen.

Lily's Focus Group Audience Research

First i asked seven 16-17 year old's ( four boys and three girls) what they expected to see in a thriller film. They seemed to know lots about thriller films and came up with words close to those, in our definition of a thriller.
   Words like... blood, robots, tension building, cars, action, smashing , crashing, guns, women came from the boys half.
   The girls mentioned things like... the actors in it, stars in the film, psychological, blood, heart beat, murder scenes and tension music. This is interesting because girls tend to think about the working out what might be happening in the film and what might be the plot line and the boys are concentrating on the next crash or fight in the film.


I then asked what the groups favorite thriller film was. There didn't happen to be any correlation as to what gender liked a certain film and film names like Psycho, The silence of the lambs, Rear window, Terminator, Die hard and Sweeney Todd.
The fact that the film 'sweeney todd' came up, shows that asking this question can result in getting unreliable data as this film isn't a thriller film.
Also, using group of teenagers doesn't give all the information we need, using other age groups above the teens, might give more reliable data.


So then i asked seven 17-25 year olds the same questions.
The females mentioned that the thought the thrillers should always keep you guessing and make you on edge throughout.  They said that they like more famous actors and stars to be in the film. They said that they should be 'weirdly creepy and scary'. to keep them hooked on watching it.
The results from the males  were very much like the younger group of males.They mentioned that cars action keep the movement of the film going, and crashing will often result in the main characters friend getting hurt, gun shots and women were mentioned again.
 More popular and recent thrillers were mentioned like inception, Bourne Ultimatum, taken, 88 minute and The happening.

The DaVinci Code Group Analysis

(first 5 minutes)
Camera- the establishing shot was panning over the pictures which sets the scene to be in a museum, and there are low angle shots of the man running, this makes him look paniced, also they also use a close up of his face to show the emotion, and the glowing sweat on his forehead. This tells the audience that something wrong is about to happen. Theres an ariel shot of the museum below, showing the scene. They pull focus between the gun and the face which would make the audience notice his facial expression, and the fact that he has a gun.

Editing -  They use jump cuts to show the contrast between the audience who seem intruiged, and the man who has been shot. The cut rates are very fast to show the suspense and to make it look frantic.

Mise En Scene - The light on the mans face was artificial, which shows the time of the day. One of the men is wearing a suit, which gives the impression that he is upper classed, which contrasts to the other man who is wearing a robe, which gives the effect that he is involved in religion. The audience were smartly dressed and appeard to be a mix of cultures, which could indicate they were university students. The books on the des show the audience show what is taking place in the scene, this also shows he is famous. Linking to this the flowers on the desk, also show his popularity.

Sound - Before we see the people from the film , the non-diegetic music fades in and it starts suspense and we hear diagetic footsteps running down a corridor which makes us want to know who it is and why they might be running , when the camera turns to then the man , we start to hear him gasping for air. this builds tension in the audience and make them preempt and guess what might be going on.
When the other dark figure comes into the scene the music begins to get faster paced like you could imagine the heart beat of the man who is running away might be. And this adds to the feel of panic in the scene.
Another example of non-diegetic sound was when the gun shot goes off and the bullet falls on the floor. The slow motion pin-drop noise makes the audience have time to think about what has just happened and give time for their emotions to change.
The use of silence when the men are talking make the audience relate the panicking moments with the music that was on previously.This also gives a moment of strangeness because the man is holding a gun at the other man.

The Happening Audience research

The Happening -  This shows that the people viewed the trailer by watching it on other websites than youtube, and are sharing it, because the amount of views go up because people are typing in 'happening' or 'the happening'









This shows that it was most popular in America and it was mostly aimed at males in the age group(s) of 25-34, and 35-44. where as the female audience age was 13-17

from the 27/06/2008 to the present day the views are still increasing

The day after tomorrow audience research

For the Day After Tomorrow -
the most popular countries were america and canada, england, australia, and a few parts of europe. india was also popular.

it was most popular with males aged from 35 - 54. it was popular with a younger audience of females.

within 6 months of being posted, the trailer increased in views by 33 thousand to 121 thousand. this shows how popular this film got within the 6 months of views.

Déjà Vu Action Thriller movie 2006 (Adam Peak)

http://youtu.be/KTC3KYAYRwA

CEMS (first 5 and a half minutes)
Camera - at the beginning of this film the camera angle included are long shot, establishing shots, ariel shots to set where the scene is. With these shots they are showing a party on a ferry for the navy sailors and their family and friends. The camera is slown down into slow motion to show the expressions on the people's faces which helps to create the mood. Also P.O.V shots are used to show the mood of the families, friends etc, this gives off a happy, excited atmosphere.

Editing - in the opening credits, as soon as the film is beginning they show one bit twice, which relates to the title of the film. The cut rate of this film at the beginning is about 5 seconds, which creates a calm atmosphere. The camera is put into slow motion to show all the people on the ferry, their facial expressions, of laughter, being tired, excited. There is also another slow motion bit where this little girl drops her doll into the water, and her voice is drowned out over all the music from the orchestra. The cut rate soons speeds up to about 3 second, and this starts to make the audience suspicious and the tension starts to rise. There is a bit in this scene where it shows a man on the bridge watching, its a long shot away and the audience only see him for about 3-5 seconds in that part of the scene, then it shows him again, riding off on his motorcycle. When the bomb goes off the cut rate is almost instant, it switches from underwater with people screaming, to people on the boat crying and running away, this cut rate is about 1- 2 seconds no longer.

Mise en Scene - in 'Déjà Vu' there are men wearing a navy uniform and they are all with their families. There are children all over the boat doing their own thing to entertain themselves, thres a boy with a gameboy, a girl with her doll, which she drops in the water, a whole group of young children poking, and picking on one of the sailors for fun. Everyone has a smile on their face which sets the mood. But in the car park area of the ferry that this party is held on, the radion suddenly turns on really loud. leaving one of the guards suspicious, you see it on his facial expression that there is something wrong and hes weary of this car. The whole mood changes after the bomb goes off, it turns into panic, screaming, crying everywhere.

Sound - At the beginning of Déjà Vu the music is very slow and calm, but has that little feeling that audience would feel about it being suspicious. When the credits are being typed in, you can hear the typewriter for some of them. in the background you can hear all the people's excitement for this party, theres laughter, cheering etc. As the ferry is setting off the beat of the non-diagetic music speeds up a little bit creating tension for the audience. In the car park area when the radio swithes on, it keeps switching from the radio to the orchestra which is a very up beat song. The lyrics on the radio, ironically are 'Don't Cry Baby', and straight after that the bomb goes off, creating manic everywhere. The sound of the explosion is amplified so that the audience can get a shock just as the characters in the film would be getting. Theres no music playing at this point all you can hear are, screams, splashes etc.

Se7en - group analysis, CEMS

Camera - in 'Se7en', camera angles include low angle shots and two shots to make the men took superior and that they know what they are talking about. This gives the audience the impression that they are professional and they have a mission to complete.

Editing - At the beginning of the clip from 'Se7en', the glow from outside is a pinky, purple colour and therefore it is artificial looking and un-natural, so the clip starts off very unusual and the thriller theme starts. This colouring coming from outside, contrasts to the dim indoors lighting and therefore the mood changes and theres an uncetain feeling to this part of the film. This could give the impression that something is about to happen that is going to give quite a scare to the audience. Editing in this way, additionally makes the audience pre-empt whats going to happen next, and wants to see more.

Sound - In 'Se7en' there is a heartbeat sound in the background which is non- diagetic to the characters in the film. This sets the atmosphere to be quite tense, making the audience feeli like there is something about to happen. You can tell that its a gloomy day straight away because you can hear the wind outside, when the man is inside the building. As soon as the two men stop outside, you immediatley see the people with umbrellas and see the rain. Throughout the whole scene you can hear a diagetic sound of police sirens that implies that something bad has happened, so the audience know that the film will be about a crime investigation. When the man was in the building and the credits were going on you could hear a sound,  like a radio which had lost signal, which creates a suspicious atmosphere. You can tell in the scene that its quite a rough area beacuse of the men's accents. When the man is lying in bed, you can hear a ticking, then some non - diagetic sounds come through, and that shows the audience that the man is thinking back to an incident that he had been involved with. Then the music of the credits kick in and it raises the tension.

CEMS

Camera- Angles, two shots, panning and birds eye view are examples of camera techniques.

Editing- Process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audiable and film media. This is the process of correction, condensation, organisatrion and other methods of modifications. Many different ways of editing.

Mise-en-scene-  Everything that appears before the camera, the setting, costumes and makeup, use of figure and movement by the actors and the lighting.

Sound- Diagetic- Sound whos source is visible or present in the action. For example, voices of characters, sounds made by objects, music made my an instrument in shot. Non diagetic- Sound whos source is not visible and has not been implied. For example, narrators commentary, sound effects for dramatic effect, mood music.

Paragraph on Seven. Amelia Waterson

Mis-en-scene
In seven, mis-en-scene is used effectively. The police officers are wearing suits and ties which gives off the impression of them being superior and smart. They also wear coats which are smart, this shows that they dress appropriatley for the weather.
There is a close up on the mans glasses which could give the audience the impression that the man is old due to the style, size and shape of the glasses. This would cause a reaction of sympathy from the viewer.
In the introduction you see objects such as needles and razor blades which appear malicious. These give off the impression of pain, which may indicate to violence in the film.

What is a Thriller.

Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, and television programming that use tension, suspense, and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers stimulate the viewer's moods  to high level of anticipation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, tension, excitement, and terror. Literary devices such as red herrings and cliffhangers are used. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, fight and chase scenes are commonly used in all thrillers.


Common methods in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the audience trying to figure out who did it. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement or deathtraps, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers.  


Thrillers cause a reaction from the audience being fear or suspense. Several characteristics help to define a thriller. Thrillers typically involve sudden plot twists and red herrings, like, keeping people unsure about what is going to happen. Thrillers also have a lot of action, which is often chaotic, and they typically feature resourceful heroes and exotic settings. The plots of thrillers can vary. Some are supernatural, e.g. centering on mystical antagonists. Others are scientific or medical, forcing their protagonists to contend with biological agents or mysterious scientific happenings. Some are simply straight mysteries with, horrific, or intriguing story lines, while others be focused on the inner workings of the legal system, environmental threats, technology, or natural disasters.