Audience resesarch - Responses

Analysis of Other Students Work - Sacrament

The second video from a previous student I watched was called sacrament. The sound in this clip is good and despite the scene being filmed outside there is no sound of wind or other unneeded non-diegetic sounds. The pace of the clip is quite slow and the shots are very simple but just seeing the little girl in a bright red coat in the woods is enough to create suspension. The sound placed over the top could have been done a bit neater but overall it was very good.

Analysis of Other Students work - Torn

The first video from a previous student I watched was an A grade example called Torn. I decided to watch this video as it would give me inspiration for my piece as I am aiming for a high mark. The camera work in this clip if very good, it has multiple different shots and the camera angles are very good. Chloe and I took inspiration from the various things flashing up from this video. It creates suspense really well and caused the audience to question what is going on. The mise en scene in this clip is done really well, his costume makes him seem quite normal, if not a little bit geeky. It causes the audience not to suspect him of anything, the lighting being very bright an natural also makes the scene appear quite normal. However the music juxtaposes the setting and lighting. The drawn out high pitched sounds create and eerie feel to the clip, that's what creates the most tension in the scene. The font and colour of the titles work really well, the white sans-serif font appearing over the scene is simple enough not to distract away from the scene but bold enough that the audience realises they are there.

Primary Reasarch - Questionnaire

These are the questions I asked in my questionnaire.

1. How old are you?
2. Male/Female?
3. Do you enjoy the thriller genre?
4. What was the last thriller you watched?
5. How often do you watch thrillers?
6. What colour do you think would be most appropriate for titles in a thriller?
       - white         -red        -black      - grey      -dark blue
7. What kind of character is most appropriate for a thiller?
       - Young man   - Old man   - Young woman   - Old woman

This will really help me in the process of making my thriller as it will show me what my target audience is and it will help me make difficult decisions such as who should be cast and font colours.

Secondary Research of Thrillers

The top Grossing thriller on IMDb is Jurassic World (2015). However the top grossing thriller on Box Office Mojo under the category of Psycho/Stalker/Blank from Hell, is  Fatal Attraction (1987).

Jurassic World however is not classed as a proper thiller, it is more of an action/adventure film, with underlining thriller conventions. Jurassic World is number 3 on the top grossing movies of all time, just below Avatar and Titanic. Overall, on the opening weekends world wide it achived:

$524,418,134 (worldwide) (14 June 2015) (23,886 Screens)

Which proceds the budget which was $150,000,000 (estimated).

Fatal Attraction achived on its opening weekend in the USA only $7,602,740 (USA) (20 September 1987) (758 Screens). However it has now grossed to $320,145,693 (Worldwide).

This shows me that Thrillers are more popular when it is only used as a sub-genre, if it is paired up with other genres such as action/adventure then its more successful. Thrillers don't apeal to all audiences.

Jurassic Park

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Michael Crichton (Novel), Michael Crichton and David Koepp (Screenplay)

PG-13

Adventure, Sci-fi, Thriller

The Universal Pictures logo is shown as they own the rights to the film and they own the brand of Jurassic Park.

Non-diegetic drum beats followed by a deep choral crescendo, it sounds almost like ritual music and gives a very powerful feel to the beginning of this scene. The deep vocals then transition into a sound bridge of rustling; the scene then cuts to a shot of an unknown object pushing its way through the trees causing them to part with the force its coming through. This creates

tension as it the audience doesn't know what is coming through the trees, it could be a dinosaur and all the people standing around are about to die.

The lighting is very dark, obviously shot at night time, the location is also somewhere deep in the jungle which makes the setting very mysterious. It puts the audience on the edge of their seat as danger could be lurking anywhere in the dark. The low key lighting casts shadows, which is because there are few lights at location but enough to light up the scene so you can see the actors faces. The darkness of the scene and the setting creates tension as anything could be hiding in the woods or shadows waiting to be attacked. 

A point of view shot is used when in this extract and when a growl is heard. It's made known that this shot is supposed to be seen through eyes that are not human and the growl suggests a creature that is aggravated and possibly dangerous. The fact that we can only see the humans through a small rectangle shows us that we are looking through the eyes of the creature in the box. Guns are also visible in this shot which emphasise the danger of the creature in the box.

On screen titles

Universal Pictures Presents

An Amblin Entertainment Production

JURASSIC PARK

The font and colour of the title is an orange and red futuristic type font, the dirty orange colour could symbolise dirt and the production team might have used this font because it could be symbolic of big dinosaur foot brinks in mud, and the red could possibly foreshadowing some danger that while occur during the film. The Font is big and bold and is placed at the centre of the screen. All these aspects cause the audience to pay attention to it.

Fargo

Director: Joel Coen

Writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

18

Crime, Drama, Thriller

These two logos are shown at the beginning of the film as these are the production companies that own the rights to the film.

Non-diegetic music starts playing when this statement appears on screen. The music is very melancholy giving a sad feel to the scene, at this point of the scene it is only being played with a piano but after that writing cuts to a muggy grey screen a violin is added to create more of a creepy feel. It creates tension as nothing is visible in the shot but the music is very loud and melancholy.

The Setting is very foggy and isolated. The fact the only thing you can see is two headlights in the distance shows how the location of the town is very far away from everywhere. The isolation of the setting creates tension as there could be on coming danger anywhere. It could also suggest that things could happen in the town without repercussions. 

There is a long take, and the editing is very slow paced, it takes 1 minute and 25 seconds for the car to be fully in sight and another 14 seconds on top of that for the scene to cut. This creates tension as the audience really have no clue about what’s going on, it intrigues the audience and draws you in to watch more. Something this simple can really draw you in and encourages you to watch the rest of the film.

On screen titles

Polygram Filmed Entertainment presents

In association with Working Title films

Frances McDormand

William H. Macy

Steve Buscemi

Harve Presnell

Peter Stormare

FARGO

 When the names of the actors come up they appear over the scene, and they fade in. They all appear at the bottom of the scene in the centre. The font they have used is sans-serif making the film appear more modern, the first and last names of the actors are separated, and the last name has spaces between each letter. This causes the audience to focus on the names yet still pay attention to the scene.

The title of the movie appears in big bold letters in the centre of the screen, the letters are spaced out to fill as much space as possible, this draws attention to the title. The font is sans-serif like the actor’s names, and it appears over the scene. The background of the writing is the same muggy grey shown throughout, this implies that the town of Fargo is isolated and completely on its own.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Suzanne Collins (novel), Peter Craig and Danny Strong (screenplay)
PG-13
Adventure, Sci-fi, Thriller  


At the very beginning of the opening scene, the screen is completely black and there is a sound bridge of a woman talking, the scene then cuts to Katniss sat alone in the dark. Katniss is chanting something under her breath, she is hugging her knees and seems nervous and twitchy. This shows that she has been through something distressing and traumatic, she is tucked away in the corner of a room, which could suggest that she feels safe and comfortable there.

The lighting at the beginning of the scene is extremely dark it is difficult to even see Katniss' features. the dark lighting and the fact she has secluded herself to a dark corner in the room gives little of her location, it is doubtful she is in any real immediate danger as all we can hear is hear is her whispering and an ambient sound of blowing air. But the darkness could suggest something is lurking in the shadows. A white light is then shone on Katniss sending her into a panic and she retreats further into the corner, when her features are finally shown it can be seen that she looks tired and appears to have been previously crying. This suggests that she is scared of the people who found her and that she has been through a deeply disturbing event.

After the light is shone on her, there is a long take. There is dialogue of a voice that is quite clinical and condescending that tells Katniss 'you need to sleep. We can help you sleep.' This suggests that the people are taking care of her in the unknown location, Katniss refuses the help suggesting she the woman may have an ulterior motive. A mysterious figure dressed in all black descends down the hallway and goes to grab Katniss. This creates tension as the audience doesn't know who the figure is and where they are taking her. There is more use of dialogue as Katniss shouts for the man to let her go, this could possibly suggest a fear of where they are taking her.

The scene cuts to Katniss lying on her hospital bed. the cameras focus changes from close up of pearl to Katniss. this suggest that the pearl is of great importance and is significant to the character. the fact if focuses on it for so long is to make the audience remember it, this film being a sequel so the pearl might have been something she was given or she found in the last film and it is focused on so the audience see she still has it. The focus then pulls from the pearl to Katniss' face as she sits up after Katniss hears crying. This suggest that the pearl brought her comfort when she was alone and it was silent, but when she hears crying the pearl cannot act as an object that takes her from the reality she is living.

During the duration of the scene the editing is at a quite slow pace, which suggest there isn't any sudden danger and Katniss is safe where she is. In the scene they have used a handheld camera which make the scene seem shaky. This could suggest Katniss has a fear or reluctance to be there. It creates tension as it shows us that even though everything seems quite quiet and relax she is afraid of something we haven't been shown on screen.

The font is very simple and minimalistic. It is a basic white font on a black background, they font is also very big, bold and in capitals which makes it stand out a lot. The 'mockingjay' is bigger than the other words because it is the actual name of the film and the most important part in the titles. 'The Hunger Games' is also bigger than 'Part 1' because the film brand is more important than the fact that it’s only the first part of the film.

Lost Highway Opening Scene

The lighting at the beginning of the scene is so dark you can only see the outline of his face which is lit up by his cigarette, which creates a sense of mystery around the character straight away we cant see the surroundings he is in or his face. The dim lighting creates shadows across his face so we can barley make out his features, this is very effective as the audience cant tell if he is the protagonist or not.

There is an ellipsis of time used in this scene, the lighting used gradually fades from very dark to quite bright, this is to show that time is passing, that he has been sitting in his chair smoking from night until day, without wasting time showing it. This suggests to the audience that he doesnt have much to do during the day, perhaps he is unemployed or lazy.

Diegetic sound is used when there is an extreme close up of the speaker. There is white noise coming from the intercom system in his apartment, it then goes silent before a voice states that 'Jake Murrant is dead'. The voice is bad quality as it is coming though an intercome system, this makes the scene more relalistic as, most sound isnt clean and perfect in real life. The mysteriousness of this voice creates tension as there is unknowing around the whole scene.

What is a Thriller?

The genre of thriller is typically a film or book that creates suspence and tension in the viewer/reader.