Audition Trailer

 

Even with out sound, we can tell this is film is a thriller/horror genre from the first shot where the girl is sitting in the dark, this shot looks misterious and eerie. The cross cutting between her and a man who looks powerful through a low angle shot makes her look vunrable and week. There is a very long shot of her moving her head, her hair in her face hidding her identity; the slow pace creates tention and suspence as we are unaware of what is in the sack behind her. As she starts to reveile her face the sack sudenly jerks suggesting a human is in there being kept inprisioned. Then the shots get very fast paced creating dramatic tention, there is a blue tinted shot of the girl with a neadle, suggesting she is tourturing people, which subverts our first perspective of her being inoccent and now she is represented as the villian.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trailer

 

I listened to the trailer without sound to emphasise the images. The audience can see the film is a thriller/horror from the trailer because of the fast cuts, creating tension and suspense. The dark, gloomy lighting creates a scary, eerie atmosphere. There are shots of fighting and violence showing it is a horror as there are graphic, violent scenes. Shots of hacking on a computer and tracking a man's face, suggests a spy element to the film as the main character creeps around in black clothing looking suspicious like she is stalking someone; typical of a thriller. The thriller/horror genre is reinforced from disturbing photos of murdered people who look like they have been tortured  and shots of people in distress and pain who have been abducted. There is also a tracking shot that reveals a dead body covered in blood which is disturbing and uncomfortable to see; this suggests this is a graphic, violent and dark thriller. The woman gets the most camera time showing she is the main character, her role subverts the typical female role in a thriller which is often the damson in distress however this woman is the heroine  and represented as powerful and in control. The colours in the trailer consist mainly of black as it creates a mysterious atmosphere to the thriller trailer. There are also some warm colours such as orange and red suggesting danger and death.  

Filming test shots

Today our group filmed a practise of our thriller. We had limitations as we one had one car so had to use the same one for two different scenes. Three of us were the actors and one filmed it, however we realised that tension is key for our thriller so when filming the real thing we will create suspense by non-diegetic music and emphasis on the fast paced shots. In the real thing, we will have a variety of shots, such as a low angle shot for the girl, to show she in in control and has power over the man. There will be an over the shoulder shot of the assassin shooting the man in the car and a shot reverse shot between the assassin and the man shot, with his head on the steering wheel. However we will have to think of a way to create fake blood from the man without staining the car.

Preferably we will film it when it is getting dark, to create a sense of mystery and uncertainty. We need to reconsider the age of our actors as we do not want them to look too young and immature.

We want to film in a multi-store car park so that the girl can run down the stairs so we can do cross cuts between her and the man in the car; and a match on action of her coming out of the car park stairs into the second car.

Changes in our thriller

We pitched our thriller idea again to Matt, and we decided that we wanted to alter the thriller plot slightly in order to give it more of an enigma. We decided that instead of the woman being in the car when the man is killed, she leaves the car and tells him she needs to go and get her phone. We then see cross cutting of the woman walking out of the car park and sending a text, and the man with the briefcase entering the car park as she leaves. We see them meet at the door and the woman smiles at the man with the briefcase, this still creates the illusion that the woman is innocent. We then hear the man in the car being shot, and the mans head hit the steering wheel and the car horn creates a loud and shocking sound. We then have a match on action shot of the woman getting out of the car park, with the sound of the car horn still in the background, and then she gets into another car which is already waiting on the ground floor, and is handed an envelope. This signifies how killing this man was just another one of her missions and how she is an agent of some sort.

 

Font ideas for our thriller

I researched some fonts that I thought would suit our thriller. I wanted a font that looked old and distressed, that told the audience that this was a thriller.
I like these three the best, I researched into typewriter fonts and liked these disinterested eerie ones as they suit the thriller genre.

I also like the third one which is bolder than the others but gives a harsh scary effect. 

Inception Title Sequence

 

I looked at a title sequence for Inception and noted down the times, words and their roles. I noticed that a lot of actors were focused on, which suggests that this is a type of film where they can rely on the actors names to attract a target audience who are a fan of the actor; such as Leonardo Dicaprio or Joseph Gordon-Levitt.     

The simplistic black screen and white font show the main focus is on the names and animations. There is a lot of red colouring throughout the sequence suggesting danger and death. The title sequence tells us it's genre is an action, thriller and hints there is a psychological twist in the film from the annimations which morph and change throughout.

I really like the simplistic font they have used at the begining and would consider using something similar in my opening sequence.

Crave (2012) Title Sequence

I watched the opening sequence of 'Crave' on art of the title, http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/crave/
I wrote down the time and the name that came up during the opening and what job each person had eg the producer or an actor.
I really liked the way the annimation created an eery, scary effect with the non diegetic music and dark lighting.


The font reflects the horror/thriller genre of the film, letting the audience know instantly it is a scary film. The black and orange colours and harsh, irratic font create an uncomforting atmosphere which is very effective.
I learnt from this that the directors name sometimes comes first on the credits. However on certain films the production company comes first followed by the list of other financiers. I will remember this for my own title sequence when I film in January. Especially important to note the list of names included are not limited to just the actors.

Developed plot of narritive action for our thriller

Our idea now opens with a couple parking up in a car in a car park. We then see fast/short cuts of a person dressed in black. The cuts reveal parts of his identity but do not reveal all, i.e., half of his face in shadows or his feet walking. It shows that he is in a deserted building walking up flights of stairs. It will then cut between the two different scenes to establish the contrast between the two atmospheres surrounding them. The couple are happy with jolly music playing on the radio although the woman seems to be on edge but still enjoying each other’s company whereas the man in black will be eerie and will come across as a villain type character.

The car park resembles where we saw the man in black walking around. We see the man send a text saying 'all set?’ It then cuts to the lady in the car who checks her phone but we do not see what it says. The man in black opens a case he was carrying and pulls out a gun. It then cuts to the couple getting a lot closer. We see an over the shoulder shot of the man's gun pointing at the couple in the car. As the couple are about to kiss, we see the woman send a text saying 'set'. As she looks into his eyes we see her shed a tear and then the man she is with gets shot in the back of the head by the man in black.

 

Shot by shot list.

• Two shot.

• Mid shot from behind

• Close up of man holding brief case

• S ide shot of woman in the car (shows anxiety).

• Dutch angle of man moving up stairs

• High angle shot over man in car (venerable).

• Wide/establishing shot of mysterious man entering top floor of car park

• Close up of woman getting her phone from bag.

• Over the shoulder shot of mysterious man typing a text saying 'all set?'

• Medium shot of her checking phone.

•  Various close ups of mysterious man undoing the brief case and pulling out a gun.

• Two shot of couple getting closer

• Close up of woman sending a text saying 'set' as she leans in to kiss the man

• Over the shoulder shot of gun pointing at the couple in the car.

• Close up of the couple face to face to show that there is a tear falling from the woman’s eye.

• A mid shot from behind the lady shows the couple in focus and the surroundings unfocused.  Couple become unfocused as the surrounding become focused and sharp which reveals the  mysterious man standing in the background pointing his gun.

· Two shot from behind to show man is dead with his head flopped on her shoulder and she is splattered with blood

·  Close up two shot of her moving his head away and saying ‘I’m sorry’

Prop list.

• A gun
• Two mobile phones (preferably blackberries)
• A car
• Briefcase (to hold the gun)

Costume.

• Woman: Mainly dressed in red (modern)
• Partner: Casual clothing (shirt)
• Murderer: Dressed all in black and along black coat

Vertigo opening credits

The extreme close up of the woman's face in black and white suggests hidden identity and not showing the whole picture. The panning upwards reveals more of her face and uncovers her character more. The extreme close up of her eyes darting around shows her anxiety and uncertainty, when the screen turns red and the music deepens creating tension and a sense of danger, her eye widens suggesting she is seeing something unpleasant. The swirls inside her eye take over the screen and seem hypnotic and connotes the swirls are going deeper and deeper into her thoughts.

Kyle Cooper's work

Se7en
I really like this opening as the music is the main focus, creating anxiety and uncertainty.
The fast paced extreme close ups of disturbing images create an unnerving response and hide the man's identity, intriguing the audience. The lighting is dull and effective suggesting a cold, eerie atmosphere.
The font is very effective, with the handwritten words and scratched text that unpredictably appears on the screen. It is visually interesting as the font appears vertically and horizontally, revealing parts of the writing.

Our thriller's target audience

I made a survey and interviewed people on their views of thrillers, and found out information we have used to improve our thriller opening idea. I found that males watch films that they find exciting and their favourite genre was often thriller. However most girls watch films with actors they find attractive and films which their friends had recommended or had an appealing trailer. 

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper was born in 1962, and is a modern designer of motion picture title sequences. He studied as a graphic designer at Yale and then worked as a creative director at R/GA. He also created the title sequence for the 1995 American crime film Se7en, raising the bar creatively.

In 1996, he co-founded Imaginary Forces however he wanted to focus more on his creative work, so left Imaginary Forces. In 2003, Cooper founded the creative agency Prologue, and continued to create film and game title sequences, such as 'The Mummy' 'Braveheart' and 'The Orphan'.