Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Treatment for the Opening Sequence "In Your Mind."
FADE IN! James walks into a library/student room and sees an empty table with a pair of earphones. He walks to the table puts them into his ears and realises that he can hear what people are thinking. A girl walks past him and he can hear her thought "Wow he's hot!" A nerdy guy or girl runs past and the thought is "I'm so late, I'm so late, I'm so late." James looks forward and there is an innocent, dressed in pink Eris sitting behind it. He sees her sideways and her hair is covering her face. Eris looks up, she has a lot of black make up around her eyes and the thought he can hear is "DIE!" James closes his eyes and as he opens them Eris is gone and so are the earphones. James's friend Tony comes up to him and James tells him what happens. Tony doesn't take it seriously, thinks James has either studied too much or partied too much and tells him to go home and get some sleep James quickly walks out of the library/student room and as he shuts the door behind him, he looks up and sees Eris. She puts earphones around his neck and starts strangling him. CUT OUT to title of the film "In Your Mind."
Questions for Audience Research:
1. Do you like thriller/horror genre?
2. Out of all thriller/horrors you have seen which one is your most favourite/memorable and one reason for that?
3. What is the reason for you to go see thriller/horror?
4. One expectation that you have from thriller/horrors?
5. What is the most important feature in thriller/horror? (Cinematography, Sound, Editing, MES.)
6. I am doing an opening sequence with an unusual/unconventional element, element of mystery and element of murder does that sound like an interesting combination or something you would be interested in seeing and why?
Monday, 23 January 2012
Unknown Opening Sequence Titles Analysis!
Unknown Opening Sequence Titles:
00:00---
00:04-The Weinstein Company and IFC Films present.
00:09-In Association with Rick Lashbrook Films.
00:13-And Eleven Eleven Films.
0018-Unknown.
00:25-Starring (in alphabetical order).
00:29-Jim Caviezel.
00:33-Greg Kinnear.
00:41-Bridget Moynahan.
00:48-Joe Pantoliano.
00:56-Barry Pepper.
01:00-Jeremy Sisto.
01:04:-Peter Stormare.
01:12-Also Starring.
01:15-Kevin Chapman, Clayne Crawford.
01:22-Wilmer Calderon, David Selby.
01:30-Chris Mulkey, Mark Boone Junior.
01:37-Casting by Shannon Makhanian.
01:41-Costume designer Jane Anderson.
01:48-Production designer Chris Jones.
01:55-Music By Angelo Milli.
02:02-Edited by Paul Trejo, A.C.E., Luis Carballar.
02:07-Director of Photography Steve Yedlin.
02:11-Line Producer Brent Morris.
02:16-Co-Producers Ross M. Dinerstein, Bobby Schwartz.
02:22-Co-Producers Russ Chasney, John Yull.
02:27-Executive Producers Ariel Veneziano, Cedric Jeanson.
02:33-Executive Producers Randolph De Lano, Tamara De Lano, Frederick Levy.
02:39-Produced By Darby Parker, Rick Lashbrook, John S. Schwartz.
02:44-Written By Matthew Waynee.
02:48-Directed By Simon Brand.
02:52---
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Media Convention Analysis: THRILLER/HORROR!
The genre I am going to work in is thriller/horror, but the thriller genre will dominate, while there will be presence of some horror elements. These films usually create intense excitement, nerve-wracking tension, level of anticipation, expectation and anxiety. The purpose of this genre is to thrill and scare the audience and keep them at the "edge of their seats" and this is achieved with a puzzling plot that usually leads to a climax. There is always a mystery, dangerous setting, the idea that escape is impossible and ofcourse life threat with dangerous and deadly situations. Great examples to emphasise this points are films like "Saw" and "Unknown" where this is pretty much what happens to the characters. There are conflicts involved between the characters or outside forces and there can either be one lead character or several. The protagonist is in thriller/horror as important as antagonist as they both play an equal role to create tension and fear. Romance is an element that will be involved, as there will always be something about a partner, loved one or even children and family. The narrative of these films can be be both linear like in "The Exorcist" or "The Shining" or non linear like in "Memento" and "Pulp Fiction," however for higher thrill and suspense the non linear narrative is often chosen by directors and film makers. There is a specific visual style, as you can always expect hard, fast cuts at tense moments, extreme close ups and shallow focus for mystery and a few jumpy moments, so the audience is not relaxed. The iconography of thriller/horrors would involve running water, artificial lighting weapons, confined spaces, street lamps, shadows and even bars on windows. The main difference between thriller/horrors and normal thrillers are that the protagonist usually encounters combinations of mental, emotional and physical confrontations and that the antagonist is often monstrous. "The Silence of Lambs" is a great example to that. There will always be either a creepy soundtrack, a hard rock soundtrack or soundtrack so innocent that it scares the audience like the "Lullaby" used in "Rosemary's Baby." The sound effects would include shots, banging, hitting, clapping, shouting and sometimes there would be complete silence to make the atmosphere even more tense. The instruments used for sound effects would be violins and pianos, played in low key. The setting would be isolated, dark and abandoned to set the scary, nervous mood for the audience. Budget is usually quite low with thriller/horrors, "Cube" had a very low budget of $CAD365,000 and they are also often independent films. Probably for that reason this is one of the genres that gets the lowest ratings in the film industry, but at the same time attracts enough of the male and teenage audience for it's popularity to continue. By combining horror with mental puzzles and enigmas, the film makers achieve success within the audience as the combination of the genres in thriller/horrors will be liked by audiences who like thrillers and by audiences who like horrors.
Fight Club Opening Sequence Analysis!
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/28/fight-club/
Fight Club Opening Sequence:
The opening starts with a quick sound of an old classical music and after about 2 seconds the soundtrack changes into a loud, full of beat tune and it being low key creates a creepy atmosphere. The movement on the screen is fast paced in dark colours and it is supposed to reflect the inside of someone's brain. The camerawork shows very precise details and there are sort of electrical impulses running through the brain that can represent different feelings, in case of this atmosphere it is more likely to be fear and confusion. The scale is changed the whole time, so the audience are able to see close ups of different lobes and also medium shots of other brain chords, nerve connections and particles. What is also interesting to notice that as the sequnce goes on the pores seem to be more and more clogged. Overall this represents and shows that the film will have a lot to do with someone's thinking, mental stability and there is going to be a lot to think about for the audience as well. The credits are going on at the same time and Brad Pitt has one of the main roles, which will attract more audience. As the credits finish the pulling out of the brain fades into an extreme close up of what we discover to be a gun inside someone's mouth. At the same time there is diegetic narration that mentions the name "Tyler Durdan." This establishes two characters for the audience and creates and enigma, as we are wondering what is the link between them. At the same time another enigma is created as the person who holds the gun diegetically speaks, but we can only see a close up of his arm and later backside, which creates a mystery of who he is. He mentions the time of "3 minutes" and asks if the other person has any "last words to mark the occasion." This is another confusion for the audience, as we are wondering why he is so specific with time and if the occasion is killing the man or something else. There is a slight humour to break the tension as the man attempts to talk with the gun in his mouth and when his mouth is free he says "I can't think of anything." This little moment in the opening is a huge enigma, as the film has a non-linear narrative and as it starts at the end, we have no idea what is the story behind what is going on. The antagonist-potential killer and the protagonist-victim are established, as well as the mysterious persona Tyler Durdan. The setting is in the dark and the atmosphere with gun is very tense and nerving, which creates a worrying mood. Just from this little clip the genre of the film can be established as a thriller and there are a lot of enigmas and puzzles created for the audience right from the start!
Fight Club Opening Sequence:
The opening starts with a quick sound of an old classical music and after about 2 seconds the soundtrack changes into a loud, full of beat tune and it being low key creates a creepy atmosphere. The movement on the screen is fast paced in dark colours and it is supposed to reflect the inside of someone's brain. The camerawork shows very precise details and there are sort of electrical impulses running through the brain that can represent different feelings, in case of this atmosphere it is more likely to be fear and confusion. The scale is changed the whole time, so the audience are able to see close ups of different lobes and also medium shots of other brain chords, nerve connections and particles. What is also interesting to notice that as the sequnce goes on the pores seem to be more and more clogged. Overall this represents and shows that the film will have a lot to do with someone's thinking, mental stability and there is going to be a lot to think about for the audience as well. The credits are going on at the same time and Brad Pitt has one of the main roles, which will attract more audience. As the credits finish the pulling out of the brain fades into an extreme close up of what we discover to be a gun inside someone's mouth. At the same time there is diegetic narration that mentions the name "Tyler Durdan." This establishes two characters for the audience and creates and enigma, as we are wondering what is the link between them. At the same time another enigma is created as the person who holds the gun diegetically speaks, but we can only see a close up of his arm and later backside, which creates a mystery of who he is. He mentions the time of "3 minutes" and asks if the other person has any "last words to mark the occasion." This is another confusion for the audience, as we are wondering why he is so specific with time and if the occasion is killing the man or something else. There is a slight humour to break the tension as the man attempts to talk with the gun in his mouth and when his mouth is free he says "I can't think of anything." This little moment in the opening is a huge enigma, as the film has a non-linear narrative and as it starts at the end, we have no idea what is the story behind what is going on. The antagonist-potential killer and the protagonist-victim are established, as well as the mysterious persona Tyler Durdan. The setting is in the dark and the atmosphere with gun is very tense and nerving, which creates a worrying mood. Just from this little clip the genre of the film can be established as a thriller and there are a lot of enigmas and puzzles created for the audience right from the start!
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