AS coursework thriller

The brief
The titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last a maximum of 2 minutes.
The coursework is 50% of the course.
The maximum group size is 4

As acting is not a skill that is assessed here, candidates are free to use actors who are not members of the group to appear in front of the camera for your productions.

The production itself is worth 60% of the marks.
The coursework also compromises a written component of the blog.
This is worth 40% of the marks

Marks are awarded as follows;
-Planning and research-20 marks
-Construction-60 marks
-Evaluation-20 marks

The only shared element allowed is the storyboard and audience research.

Marks are awarded for showing excellence in the following criteria;
-Holding a steady shot
-Framing a shot
-Using a variety of shot distances
-Shooting material appropriate to the task set
-Editing so that the meaning is apparent to the viewer
-Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects. Eg titles
-Using sound with images

Preliminary task evaluation

In our preliminary task Character 1 and Character 2 have a discussion about Character 3's girlfriend. Character 3 then walks into the room rather angry. This preliminary task went rather well and we used all the aspects which were required in the film. Although we did struggle to have the correct lighting and on the first take all the characters where in silhouettes.

Preliminary task

Preliminary task; brief

-Not awarded any marks
-Not completed you will lose marks
- A demonstration of continuity editing
It must show you can successfully use;
-Match on action
-Shot/reverse shot
-180 degree rule
-eye-line match
Match on action
Character start an action in one shot then continue into the next.

180 Degree rule
Basic guideline that states that 2 characters in the same scene should always have the same left right relationship.

In the task wee should see;
- A character walks towards a closed door
-A character enters through a door and crosses a room to where another character is seated.
-Exchange dialogue
-Exit room

Stock character

A stock character is a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality.

Primary and secondary socialisation

Primary socialisation- the process by which children learn the cultural norms of the society into which they are born. Occurs usually in a family.

Secondary socialisation- Behavioural patterns reinforced by socialising agents of society EG school or religion.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are socially constructed beliefs, ideas or opinions about specific social groups or types of individuals. A stereotype is used to categorise a group of people. The majority of people don't understand that type of person, so they put them into classifications thinking that everyone who is that or similar to that needs to be like that, or anyone who acts like the classification is one.

Features and rules of thrillers

There are many features and rules which can be taken into account when making a thriller. These can include such things such as;
Antagonist
A protagonist
Dark- Low key lighting
Tense scenes with suspense
Faced pace editing
Such scenes such as The antagonist always come back at the end
Point of view shot

Do films follow rules?

Some film makers will claim that there is no rules or that the rules are there to be broken. However most would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream observe to be acceptable for a mass audience.

Definition of a thriller

Thrillers are films of suspense that are supposed to instill terror into the audience. There are many types of thrillers such as;
Spy thriller- Eg. James Bond
Political thriller- Eg- Ides of march
Conspiracy thriller- Eg- State of play
Legal thrillers
Psychological thriller

'Source Code' Analysis

This starts with a helicopter shot to give the audience an idea of the setting of the film. There is faced paced music which gives a tense feel to the opening of the film. Then the music stops to a close-up of the main character who is very tense and is very confused. This makes the audience think what is going on and why he is confused. There is then a massive explosion and ends the opening scene on a massive cliff hanger wondering what is going to happen.

'Inception' opening scene analysis

In the opening scene of 'Inception' it starts off by making the audience immediately ask questions to why the character is lying on a beach passed out and why there is a guard there looking at him. This also carries on further into the opening scene when the character is eating and it makes the audience question further, why he is there and what he has to do with, what looks like, the villain of the film. Also at the start of the scene there is very dark and deep music which makes the audience realise that they are seeing a thriller genre of film.

Zodiac Analysis

The opening sequence to Zodiac is once again just a normal scene showing people celebrating 4th of July. The girl in this scene looks anxious as she is driving through the diner. This builds suspense as the audience ask why she is like that. It then moves to the scene on the hill and the fire crackers being thrown at the car makes the audience on the edge of their seats. Then the car pulls up to them which builds suspense as we wonder why that person has pulled up next them and what they are going to do. But the suspense ends as the car goes away but then we hear an off-screen sound of tire screeches and another car come towards them. This time a man gets out of the car but we can only see an outline of the character as he has a flash light and car lights on. The characters in the car think that it is a police officer but as the man comes towards them he pulls out a gun and shoots both if them. This leaves the audience questioning why the man done that and they end up watching the rest of the film.

No Country For Old Men Analysis

In the opening sequence if No Country For Old Men there is a narrator speaking while there is shots of just scenery to show the audience that it is a vast setting in the middle of no where. Then it shows the sheriff arresting a man but it does not show the mans face, this creates suspense as the audience wonders why we cannot see his face. it then shows the scene of the sheriff on the phone and we can see in the background the man walking towards the sheriff getting ready to kill him. this will make the audience anxious as the sheriff has no idea of what is going on. As the man is strangling the sheriff he starts smiling as if he is enjoying killing him. This tells us that the man is a maniac. After there is another scene were the man has taken the police car and has pulled over a civilian. This builds up tension as we already know what the man is capable of. Once again the man calmly kills the civilian as he did the sheriff. This opening sequence makes the audience ask why the man is killing all of these people and makes them want to watch the rest of the film.

A History Of Violence analysis

The opening 5 minutes of A History Of Violence starts of as a slow boring scene, which looks like a normal film with no suspense at all. There is no sounds which create any suspense or tension within the film. Although towards the end of the opening scene, tensions start to build and as one of the characters walks into the reception there is two people dead, at this point tension and suspense start to build as we wonder why they have killed them. When the little girl comes out the room we think that he help but he tells her to be quiet then shoots her. This shows that the characters have no mercy and did not show any emotion. Ending the opening scene there leaves the audience on a cliff hanger to see why they did it.

Alfred Hitchcock's North by North West

After watching the first 15 minutes of Alfred Hitchcock's North by North West I can already see classic thriller elements such as a car chase, fast pacing action and the villains are very powerful compared to the hero who is usually innocent.

Thrillers

Thriller is a broad genre of film, television and literature. Thrillers mainly consist of fast pacing and frequent action with use of suspense and cliffhangers to make a film a thriller. Thriller is a flexible genre with different kinds of social, political and psychological tensions. There are many type of sub-genres to thrillers such as spy thrillers, horror thrillers and action thrillers.

Welcome!

Welcome to my AS media studies coursework blog. This blog will chart my progress for my coursework on planning and research, construction and evaluation.