Title Sequence: First Edit

The first thing we noticed about the first cut of our title sequence is the lack of music/sounds. This makes our title sequence less appealing and fails to create any significant suspense throughout the audience. Since formulating the title sequence we have also agreed that the title enters far to early, and does not give the audience a chance to process the activity in the background. However we feel the distorted background is fitting for a thriller as it is extremely difficult to decipher what is happening in the background, which creates uncertainty and we managed to draw comparisons between our title sequence and the 'SAW'  title sequence. In addition to this, we also feel that the typography does not encapsulate the essential features of a thriller/horror and we feel it is therefore misleading. The sequence is also far too short, it fails to build suspense as it seems rushed and there is a sense of urgency about the sequence. We have recognised there is a correlation between thriller title sequences: they all centre on the theme of distorted and abstract images - as these create an uncertainty that provokes a reaction from the consumer, forcing them to question whats going on, and continuing to watch the feature out of shear curiosity. The colours employed in our title sequence excentuate the themes (codes and conventions) of our selected genre: black, most obviously signifies darkness and impurity, whilst red symbolises danger, caution and blood.

Media Conglomerates

A media conglomerate is a media company that holds ownership in an array of other mass media sources e.g. television, radio, film, internet etc. In terms of revenue alone, The Walt Disney Company is America's largest media conglomerate due to it's eclectic range of media. Staggeringly, only six media conglomerates own and control 90% of the media that we view today, which enables them to passively inject it's consumers with messages that represent their views and opinions. 

Platforms

Media is delivered to us (consumers) on many different platforms e.g. newspapers/magazines, television, radio, internet etc. This allows congolmerates to reach their target demographics in a number of different ways.

Analysis: Thrillers from around Europe

Camera Angles

One technique most thrillers share is the use of camera angles - they are often deployed to conceal identities, for example, the use of a birds eye view shot does not disclose a persons identity as their face is not shown, however, their surroundings are made clear. This technique is used to build suspense and uncertainty, evoking an inquisitive psychological hunger from the audience who demand to know more in order to deconstruct the plot. Similarly, extreme close ups are used as to disclose as little information as possible. A classic example of this is a focus on a specific object, or most notably, an eye from a face - obscuring one's identity. Low angled shots are generally used to represent characters of less importance.

Plot

A thrillers plot must be somewhat distorted, ostensible in a way to retain suspense. The plot must be revealed gradually. A bold move in the film industry was made when Hitchcock whilst directing "Psycho" (1960) decided the star name and main character is killed off by Michael, leaving the audience perplexed as to how the film will culminate.

Characters







Conventions




Subcategories 

Romantic Thrillers: Hitchcock's 1958 direction of "Vertigo" is exemplary in manifesting the key themes

Camera Techniques

Camera movements are imperative in media texts, as they have an impact on how the consumer interprets the material they are viewing. It ensures that the consumer's attention is drawn into what the director feels are pivotal moments in the production.

There are a number of camera techniques/movements used throughout the film industry all used to construct different concepts/meaning within the media text, it is important we explore the nature of different shots as they could benefit us in our feature.

Tilt Shot

A tilt is characterized by a camera lens moving up or down whilst anchored to a horizontal axis. In essence, a tilt is not too dissimilar from nodding your head. Below is an example of a tilt shot, the Sistine Chapel being the subject of the tilt.

Pan

A pan shot, similar to a tilt shot, is specified by it's rotation on an axis that remains anchored. However, it differs in the sense that it moves horizontally, left and right.

Tracking Shot

A tracking shot requires a camera dolly - a set of rails on which the camera (supported by a stand) coasts across in order to follow a subject that remains within the confines of the shot frame.Tracking shots are utilised specifically to draw attention to a specific subject in order to manipulate the audience. A variant of the tracking shot is an 'onride' shot - a shot that involves filming whilst on a vehicle or amusement ride, to document a route.

Dolly Zoom

Dolly zooming is a cinematic technique employed to zoom either in or out of the backdrop whilst simultaneously maintaining the size of the subject within the confines of the camera. This gives an abstract effect very appealing to the eye.

The Process of Story Boarding

Storyboarding is a process that many film production companies utilise in order to organise scenes into seperate shots, allowing them to ponder ideas before actually shooting a scene. The process involves collating a number of different sketches and assembling them in a chronological fashion to form a full scene taking into account the lighting, camera, mise en scene and editing that is projected to be used in the scene whilst annotations are made to get ideas across clearly. Joe Ranft was a very famous storyboarder/voice acotr/screen writer who worked on every Pixar animation project from 1980-2005 before he tragically passed away. He would collect a plethora of sketches that eventually form the basis of the storyboard, before selecting which shots seem most viable and organising them accordingly. Storyboarding is an incredibly beneficial process financially, as it means actors on lucrative salaries are not being paid for more hours than they are actually required for as the scenes have been planned.

The photo above depicts Joe Ranft organising one of many storyboards for Disney Pixar.

Researching story boarding is certainly relevant to our project is it could save us time when filming, as we will have prepared an array of sketches that represent camera angles that we project to film, and will therefore allow us more time to edit/re-film certain scenes. We are going to devise a storyboard with annotations, that is meticulous and takes into account every camera angle/editing techniques we are going to use.

Storyboarding will benefit us greatly in our task, if we have a clear plan as to what we want to shoot, it will make filming more concise and therefore we have more time to edit. The storyboard can be a short sequence of pictures, or an intricate and comprehensive plan that includes almost every shot the director intends to use.

Analysis of thriller title sequences: The Godfather

"The Godfather" (1972) opens with an authentic soundtrack known as 'The Godfather Waltz' in conjunction with a plain black background, which although sounds fairly mundane, is made ambiguous by the music. After accrediting the film production companies, an emblem is revealed that reads "Mario Puzzo's: The Godfather", above which a hand bearing a puppet string that attaches to the title, presumably a signifier that makes reference to the control the Corleone family hold over the city and how they are able to manipulate the law regardless of governing bodies.

The opening titles are reeled off slowly, building suspense combined with the background music (played elegantly on the accordion). A pause is then held on the plain black background, before dissolving into the opening scene - dark lighting coupled with the use of a close up. However, it must be stressed that film technology was still fairly inchoate and production teams suffered limited resources in 1972,