During my research, I watched the film 'The Dark Knight Rises' which is a thriller that came out in 2012 and it had a big success, attracting millions of people from all around the world. It was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard and Anne Hathaway, very big Hollywood stars.
This film can be included in a number of genres, like action, crime, and, more importantly, thriller, and I found aspects of it that made it belong to the thriller genre and the crime thriller sub-genre.
The film is very action-packed, with several fighting or car chasing scenes and there is a lot of use of special effects, which is very typical of a thriller film.
The music is very suspenseful throughout the whole film, giving the audience a sense of imminent danger.
The title sequence
The title sequence of this film follows the conventions of a thriller film opening, especially through the music, which builds tension and gives the audience a sense of the mood of the film.
Following conventions, it opens with the production company logo or ident, followed by the names of the actors and producers, and the name of the director.
Another title sequence that I looked at in my research is from the film 'Machete', an action thriller directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, starring Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro and Jessica Alba. This title sequence follows the conventions of a thriller opening.
In my research about film openings I looked at several title sequences of thriller films. One of the films I thought followed conventions of a thriller opening was 'Domino', a action and crime thriller directed by Tony Scott, starring Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke.
The first things we see during the opening are close-ups on several characters of the film, which follows the conventions of a film opening as it establishes the main characters:
The titles then start appearing over the images, starting with the production company, following conventions, with a discrete title sequence structure, very highly stylized, during which we are shown key props and images, but these do not give away the plot of the film:
Another title about production companies is shown over an establishing shot of the city skyline where the film takes place:
The title of the film is shown over a shot of Domino, who is the main character:
The actors' names are shown, following the conventional order of a title sequence:
At the end of the title sequence, the director is identified, next to several shots of different characters of the film, with Domino, the main character, in the front.
This opening features mostly non-diegetic sound, which is the song that is played over the title sequences, but also some diegetic sound, the voices of the actors at the beginning of the sequence. The song sets the tone and mood of the film, suggesting that it is filled with action.
Intertextuality is a term to describe the visual referencing between films. Films can borrow different elements from each other and the audience may recognize certain camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing in some films that they have seen in others.
Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is a very well-known film, particularly the shower scene when the protagonist gets murdered. Many filmmakers have used elements from this famous shower scene to create their own scenes.
A film that uses intertextuality with the "Psycho" shower scene is "Fatal Attraction". This time, the antagonist is a woman and there are two protagonists, a man and a woman. The scene happens in a white bathroom; the woman uses a knife and stabs the protagonists; there are close-ups on the transparent shower curtain as they are fighting, which are all 'borrowed' from Hitchcock's film.
"What lies beneath" is also a film that uses elements from "Psycho": the white bathroom setting, the shower head, the transparent shower curtain. The woman is the victim, she is vulnerable.
Intertextuality is a term to describe the visual referencing between films. Quite literally, films borrow from each other, and you, the audience, may recognise certain camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing in some films that you have seen in other films.
An example of where intertextuality is used is in 'Psycho', directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The shower scene, where the antagonist kills the protagonist, is 'borrowed' in many other films.
Examples of films that 'borrowed' the scene:
What lies beneath
This scene is the protagonist being killed and then taken to the bathroom to die. This 'borrows' the idea of the female victim, the male killer, the scene in the bathroom and the shower head from 'Psycho'.
Fatal Attraction
This scene is of a female killer attempting to kill the female victim, but before she can the man comes and saves her. The antagonist is thought to be killed off by drowning her but she gets back up to be shot by the female victim. This 'borrows' of the female victim, the knife, the shower curtain ripping and the scene being shot in the bathroom from 'Psycho'.
We made a remake of a scene from the film 'Collateral'. We filmed inside the college and we tried to use as many shot types as we could so that our remake would look similar to the original scene. We also added our own shots to explore the ways in which we could make the scene interesting. We had fun doing this and we learned a lot about filming and shot types, but also editing.
This is the opening for Saw the first movie. It demonstrates the conventions as it builds a lot of tension via its sound- the cutting edge sounds and the diegetic sounds from the actual scene. It establishes the genre, which is thriller/mystery/crime/horror. This opening scene contains the titles of the producers, directors etc, as a good opening scene is meant to contain.The producers ident is also shown, which is LGF Lionsgate. This is a little teaser of how the film will be like- trapping people and forcing them to suffer. The characters are also show established from the opening. We as the audience see how the movie is starting off and how horrifying it is, this then hooks us and keeps us watching the whole film.
The opening of 'The Taking of Pelham 123' is a good example of a film that follows the conventions of a film opening. The opening begins by establishing the location of the film and introducing the main characters featured.The use of music creates a sense of tension, but also gives the audience the indication that the the film is action-packed creating a general hostile mood/ tone, also establishing the thrilling and adventurous genre. The use of gripping sound FX and music also create a fast pace further suggesting the driven tone. In addition all these features provide a sense of stimulation for the audience, keeping them engaged with the film in order to keep watching it. The opening also follows one of the main conventions, including the titles and labels of those in which produced, distributed, directed and starred in the film.
This is an over the shoulder shot that demonstrates the rule of thirds.
This shot was successful because the person facing the camera is taking up two thirds of the screen. This obeys conventional filmmaking technique.
This is a close-up shot. Close ups are used to show that a character is the protagonist of a film or to show a character's emotion and draw the audience in. This is a successful shot.
This is a long shot of an area, an establishing shot that is often used to set the scene in a film and show where the action is taking place. It is a successful shot, as it shows the setting in a wide frame.
This is a tracking shot of someone walking up the stairs, with a close-up on the feet. It is very slow, which can be used to build up tension. This shot is successful because the feet were filmed in an interesting way.
This is an over the shoulder shot, which is used in filmmaking to show that two characters are having a conversation or that they are linked in a particular way. This shot is successful because it demonstrates the interaction between the two characters.
This is a shot of someone standing in front of the window. There are lighting issues that can come up in such a shot, because the room is often dark and the light coming from the window contrasts with it and the person ends up looking very dark. This shot was not very successful, as this window was very large and the light in the room was similar to the light outside.
This opening sequence to the film 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' directed by David Fincher is an example of an opening that follows the conventions of a film opening. The music is very suspenseful and intense. There are extreme close-ups on things like eyes, hands, faces and other creatures that are quite scary, which suggests that there is going to be some violence in the film. The title sequence includes the names of the actors, the director and production company.
An example of a thriller opening scene which demonstrates the conventions is 'The Taking of Pelham 123'.
This demonstrates the conventions as it uses fast pace music suggesting it is more action pact. This is also shown through the fast pace tempo and pace of the editing and scenes. Sound Fx are also used such as the train noises which helps create a city like atmosphere. Characters are also introduced as we get close ups onto their faces and it indicates that they are linked somehow. There are many shots of the location which shows us that it is set in a city. Titles also appear but it pops up to help go with the quick pace tempo of the scene. All this helps to hook the audience in and it helps them to get a sense of the genre.
The film opening: The opening of a film introduces the characters in the film and locations, includes teasers from the plot and provides a 'hook' for the audience in order to engage and intrigue them into watching the rest.
The title sequence: The opening of a film is required to include the names and labels of those who took part in the production of the film. These include, in chronological order:
Producers
Distributor
Director
Actors/ actresses
Sound FX & Music:
It is crucial for the opening to include music and sound FX, as they build and create tension and give the audience an indication of the mood/ tone of the rest of the film.
Example: One film that demonstrates the crucial elements of the opening of a film is the thriller Seven:
music and sound Fx - this helps build up tension and it also gives an indiction of the mood and tone. For example sharp spooky songs will help create a tense and anticipating opening.
It introduces characters and gives a teaser of he plot. It also introduces the location which provides a hook giving something to engage the audience making them want to watch the rest of the film.
It helps to establish the genre which determines the tempo/pace. For example a more action pack film will have a quicker pace and tempo to it where as a film with more intensity will have slower pace and tempo.
Titles - The order in which the titles are shown is; The Producers indent first, then the distributer, director comes next and then the stars. However it varies whether the star comes before the director or after depending on how well known the star is.
We were taught how to use the filming equipment in a tutorial during one of our Media lessons. We were introduced to the equipment:
The JVC camera
We learned how set it up to record footage, how to use the focus, and how to use lightning to our advantage.
The tripod
We learned how to set up the tripod and place the camera on it in order to make it sit still and take good shots. We were also shown how to pan and tilt the camera, which are very useful techniques.
The lighting equipment
We learned that lighting is not always perfect and that we could sometimes use some of the equipment to make our footage look more professional.
The still camera
This will be used to take still photos for either planning and making storyboards or getting behind the scenes shots while we are filming for our projects.
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