Detailed Analysis of Thriller clip watched in class - Tyrone Gaskin

In our recent lesson we we shown four different sample thriller film openings to help us constuct our openning.

We were shown:

-The Shining
-Marathon Man
-Arlington Road
-Dead Calm
-Seven

But the thriller film openning I've decided to analyse is Dead Calm because when I saw it in class it had a suspenseful openning because of the moving typography which made me wnt to watch more.

Openning can be scene: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_ca00XMjIxMTQyNDA=.html

In the openning there is good use of high angle shots of the the officers comming off the train while at the same time diegetic sound of the train breaking and peoples footsteps is used effectively to show a tense scene build up and also the the realism at the station. There is slow paced editing used, and mise en scene of the officers uniforms are also shown. Furthermore the typography in the opening is very eye catching with big red fonts which cross over from left to right.

Technical audit of Bait Tutorial - Tyrone Gaskin

Above is a screen shot of an Apple video editing software called Final Cut which we used last lesson for practice for when we would want to edit our videos of our thriller openings. In the lesson we had to use the knowledge we knew already about camera, sound, editing and mise en scene and apply them for series of video and sound clips to join together effectively to create one whole scene, in this case we were mainly using non diegetic sound the match cut editing technique.

Detailed Analysis of Thriller clip analysed in class - Bradley Peppett

We were shown five different openings to Thrillers movies in our lesson. They were the following:




The Shining


Marathon Man


Arlington Road


Dead Calm


Seven





The opening I am going to look in depth to is 'Marathon Man'. Marathon Man is a movie that was created in 1976, starring actors such as Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier. It is about a history student who is caught in the middle of an international conspiracy involving stolens diamonds, as exiled Nazi war criminal and a rogue government agent.


During the opening, we see a man who is jogging through the parks and streets. We also see a man with a large box who eventually opens it to put what is inside into his pocket. This seems parallel as they seem to be two completly different storys put into one. Through the editing it has made us wonder how these two storys come together and how are they related to each other, causing us to want to continue watching and find out.


Non-digetic music is played throughout the opening. When we see the man jogging, it is slowed paced and it seems to build up with more tension as he is jogging, adding more wierd noises and creating more suspense. When we switch to the man with the box, the non-digetic music changes to one which leads us to believe that something is up, it is not as slow as before. When we switch back to the man jogging, it is the same non-digetic music leading us again to build more tension. Once again it switches back to the man and the box, with the same type of non-digetic music that leads us to believe that he is up to no good. This is typical in a thriller, instantly seeing who is the good guy and hwo is the bad guy.



Mise en scene is used well. The jogger is dressed in a hoody and jogging bottoms with a cap. He also pulls out a timer/step counter looking at how well he is doing. This gives us the feeling that he is an average guy with no bad intentions. He is also jogging through parks and streets, just like a normal person would do, this creates a normal atmosphere around him. When we see the man with the box, he is well dressed. He looks to be in a secure room with locks and safes. This gives us the feeling that he is in an enviorment which he wants protected, this makes us think immediatly that he is up to no good.


Lots of different camera shots are used. For the jogger, we have tracking shots of his shadow and foot steps. As we get further into the movie we eventually move up to his chest, and then his face. This gives us a long introduction into who he is.

How suspense is used in Collateral - Tyrone Gaskin

Collateral is a crime thriller film staring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It is directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie. The film is set in Los Angles and the main story behind it is a taxi driver called Max (Jamie Foxx) having his everyday life changed when he meets a girl he grows close too. Meanwhile and a hitman called Vincent (Tom Cruise) gets into the taxi and commands him to help with his dirty work, only then to find out one of the targets is the girl who he then has to save.

The first scene which i found quite suspenseful was the scene where in one of Vincents hitman missions he tells Max to hide the body in the boot of his taxi, only then to be pulled over by the police who nearly takes a look into the boot but does'nt, by using camera shots to show facial emotions also builds tension and suspense.

The second scene which i found quite suspenseful was the scene where the girl Max likes is getting stalked by Vincent and he shuts off the power, Max races to save the girl and successfully does, by using tense non diegetic sound it creates a tense suspenseful scene.

The third and final scene which I thought was suspenseful was the scene where Max and the girl are being pursuited by Vincent who jumps on the train and later confronts the two with a gun, by again using camera shots to show vincents angry facial expressions also creates suspense.

Suspense scene can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b8hcdcMw9I

Techical audit of Bait Tutorial - Bradley Peppett

Today we had a tutorial on how to use Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is a movie editing software developed by Apple in the early 2000's. We were given a task to create a story with the bait clips supplied. There were several clips and soundtracks given in order to do the task. We had to organise the clips into what looks like a real movie, we could add music/soundtracks, jump cuts etc. Anything we wanted.

Above is a screenshot of Final Cut Pro. The top left hand shows the video and audio available to use when creating your movie. Next to this is the video you have selected to use. Next to this is the your final piece you have mad. Underneath all this is the timeline which shows everything you have added to your final film.

This task was particularly helpful as it showed us the basics of Final Cut Pro and helped us gain experience with it towards are final task, the opening of a thriller.

What is a thriller? - Tyrone Gaskin

A thriller in the movie or film industry is a type of genre which consists of sub-genres. Films which can be classed as a thriller are films that have fast pacing, frequent action and villain driven plots whereby A hero is presented with obstacles he must overcome.

Thriller sub-genres: Action, Conspiracy, Crime, Disaster, Drama, Erotic, Legal, Medical, Political, Psychological, Spy, Techno and Religious.

Out of those several sub-genres, the one that inspires me the most is the crime thriller, because after watching Collateral I have seen how suspenseful and entertaining they are, and how I can apply a story and genre like that into my thriller openning project.

What is suspense? - Tyrone Gaskin

Suspense in watching movies and tv dramas etc is a mixture of feelings of uncertainty and anxiety on what is going to happen next in a scene. Furthermore suspense is generally built up if something bad is going to happen in which leaves audiences on the edge of their seats.