Thriller Survey

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Alfred Hitchock

Alfred Hitchcock was a widely successful film director. He influenced many film directors to this day, and many still use and copy his techniques, such as the MacGuffin.He is an English film director born in Leytonstone London, England on the 13th of August 1899 and later died in 29th April 1980 at the age of 80. Hitchcock had a strict catholic upbringing. Hitchcock is widely known as England's greatest film director, producing over 50 feature films within his career which lasted six decades. Hitchcock was noticed after producing many successful films within the UK, where he then moved to Hollywood and went on to produce even more highly successful films.

James Bond 007

James Bond is the fictional hero of a series of novels published from 1953.Referred to as 007, Bond is a British Secret Service agent who attempts to save the day from the better equipped villains plotting something& devastating. The novels were created by the journalist and author Ian Fleming, who produced his first James Bond novel in 1953 called, Casino Royale. Fleming went onto publish a further twelve novels and two collections of short stories, created at his ;Jamaican home Golden eye and were published annually. However two of his books were published after his death in 1964. James Bond later moved on from novels and became a highly successful series of films, and bond being played by a variety of different acknowledged actors such as, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton.


Recipe for a James Bond Thriller

• A dashing, Heroic secret agent
• A villain of equal/greater strength
• A number of gorgeous women Bond will make love to
• Exotic locations and plot devices
• Exciting chase scenes and stunt-driving action
• John Barry music
• A pop song that will promote the film 
• An opening action scene
• Bond provided with his mission and gadgets from 'M'
• Fights and car crashes
• Bond finding himself trapped or in a difficult situation
• Final scene where Bond overcomes the odds and triumphs 

The opening scenes which are often eye-popping, stunt-driven action from the top shelf bottle of absurdity.

Below is the opening scene from Casino Royal showcasing the above statement;

Chuck Jones & The Rules

Chuck Jones

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going "beep, beep."
2. No outside force can harm the Coyote — only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.
3. The Coyote could stop anytime — if he were not a fanatic.
4. No dialogue ever, except "beep, beep" and yowling in pain.
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road — for no other reason than that he's a roadrunner. This rule was broken in Beep, Beep, in a sequence where Wile E. chased the Road Runner into a cactus mine. And also in "Fastest with the Mostest" when Coyote lures Road Runner to the edge of a cliff.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters — the southwest American desert.
7. All tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation. There were sometimes exceptions when the Coyote obtained other items from the desert such as boulders to use in his attempts.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote's greatest enemy (e.g., falling off a cliff).
9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

Types of Thrillers

The Thriller genre covers a wide range of films and is therefore difficult to pin down.
The Different types of thrillers are;
- Spy Thrillers e.g The James Bond films, the Bourne Legacy
- Political Thrillers e.g Munchurion Candidate
- Conspiracy Thrillers e.g State of play, Conspiracy Theory
- Legal Thrillers e.g Pelican Brief, Jagged edge
- Psychological Thrillers e.g Psycho

Preliminary Task

The preliminary task is a demonstration of continuity editing, to show that our group can sucssesfully use; Match on Action,Shot/ Reverse shot, 180 degree rule, eyeline match.

Within the group we had one camera-man and three actors.
Camera man- Terry Bridges
Actors- Michael Hayes (Haribo Thug 2)
           - Samuel Nweje (Main Character)
           - Jhabed Abdul (Haribo Thug 1)


During the video, we used the match on-action. For example the first scene sees one of the group start an action in one shot an continue it into the next. This is where he enters the door in one shot and exists it in the next. Throughout the video we made sure not to break the 180 degree Rule. We also made sure to include an eye line match shot during the video, for example in the shot where the main character sam looks at the other characters when he enters the room. Finally we used the Shot/Reverse shot.

Unknown (Thriller)

"Unknown" Thriller

Trailer for unknown:

Unknown is a 2011 British psychological thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra,  Starring Liam Nesson.

A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Budget / Box Office

•Budget:
•$30,000,000 (estimated) 

•Opening Weekend:

•$21,856,389 (USA) (20 February 2011)

•Gross:

•$130,786,397 (Worldwide) (12 May 2011) 

Tension

The Films has essential characteristics of a good thriller, it uses scenes with moments of high tension. For example, the Hospital scene where the star, (Liam Neeson) reaches for the scissors  in an attempt to save his life. As he attempts to reach it, suspense is raised as we see his life on line and as the hero of the film, we want him to survive. The editing etc. of this scene adds to the suspense  For example, the editing in the scene. The use of fast editing and close ups, leading up to the escape of Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) adds to the suspense of the scene. As well as this, the soundtrack used within the scene is effective when adding suspense, the disorientating sounds also add to the suspense of the scene. It provides the viewer the emotions and feelings of the character as he fights for his life, engaging the viewer in the suspense of the scene.  
Throughout the film the viewer believes that the film is about the prince, when the film is actually about the corn that the scientist is planning to create. The use of the Maguffin in the film adds extra tension and suspense within the scene, producing a more entertaining film.

camera angle shots

Today I started filming my first piece of work on camera angles. Me and the group I was in, filmed all the shot angles, shot zoom and camera movements on objects within our school. In this activity I identified the different types of camera angles and attempted to re-create them myself.

Recipe for Thriller

The Recipe for a Thriller

The Recipe for a Thriller includes;

- Fast pace, frequent action to keep the audience engaged and entertained at all times,
- Hero's that go on to save the day,
- Villains who are more advanced or better equipped than the hero, 

- Devises such as; suspense, red herrings, cliff hangers. - This helps add to the tension of the film making it  more enjoyable and entertaining for the audience,

- Villain throughout the film produce obstacles that the hero must overcome in order to successed.

Convention's of a Thriller

The conventions of a thriller include;

- Build up music, to add suspense and tension within the scene,
- Tension, to keep the audience engaged and entertained,
- Fast editing, to produce more tension
- Maguffin, to provide a back story for the film
- Red hearing, to keep the audience guessing throughout the film making it more entertaining
- Cliffhanger, to provide more suspense and tension within the scene
- Setting (usually in a city, e.g LA, New York)
- Dilemma, used to add to the story creating more tension and suspense
- Chase, a common scene used in thrillers, used to crate fast pace action with suspense and tension
- Suspense, used to make the film more entertaining
- An antagonist stronger than protagonist, creates more tension and suspence

Mise-en-scene

Today I learnt about mise-en-scene, which is everything that is in a single frame. This includes the set, props, actors, costumes and lighting.

Narrative and Genre

The genre that I will be focusing on the thriller genre.

Coursework Brief

The Brief 

 You have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fiction film in the thriller genre

The sequence should last a maximum of two minutes.

You may work in a group of 2 - 4 students.

As acting is not assessed you are free to use actors that are not members of your group.

The film is worth 60% of your coursework grade.

The accompanying blog is worth 40% of your coursework grade

Together the Foundation Portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS Level.  

Welcome Post

Welcome, my name is, Michael Hayes and this is my AS media blog on thrillers.