The brief

Brief:

 Foundation Portfolio: The Brief 

You have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fiction film in thethriller genre.

The sequence should last a maximum of two minutes.

You may work in a group of 2 - 4 students.

As acting is not assessed you are free to use actors that are not members of your group.

The film is worth 60% of your coursework grade.

The accompanying blog is worth 40% of your coursework grade

Together the Foundation Portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS Level.  

Welcome post

Hello, welcome to my AS media blog. I am Billy Martin aged 17 i live in Barking and Dagenham and i currently study at Robert Clack Sixth form. I thoroughly enjoy media lessons and i find them really interesting.

Modern Thriller Openings

Unknown

First of all, Unknown is a film that comes under the category of a modern thriller and this happened to be published in 2011. Additionally, the film is about a man who wakes up from a long coma, that he ended up in from an incident from a car accident, to only discover that his life, his wife, his everything had been taken by someone else that he doesn't know. As well as, no one believes him and that is including his wife, with the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who is, yet he finds out a terrible truth about himself that he forgot.

Secondly, the director of this film is Jaume Collet-Serra. Not to mention the writers of the film were Stephen and Oliver Butcher, who just so happened to have worked on the screenplay of the movie. Last but not lest the stars of the film are Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones.

Thirdly, the trailer of the thriller "Unknown" is used to give the fans and the viewers a little taster of what the film is going to be about. Also, this trailer is used to show people who the people are that are going to be acting in it for example: Liam Neeson being the main character will make the fans and viewers think that the film is going to be interesting because he is a very well known actor. Furthermore, in the trailer we see plenty of technical skills used that give the audience a thrilling effect. Also, at first we see the start of the trailer with Liam Neeson and his wife arriving in Berlin, Germany, then there has been a use of fast paced editing to show that there is action and a strong use of danger. There is also a part of the trailer with an effective use of a rolling shot to show the confusion between the two characters, and as the trailer progresses we see there has been more use of fast editing to show us the dangerous uses and the action used within this film.


In addition, this film has efficient characteristics which happens to make it an interesting thriller, this is due to that fact that of the moments of such highly used tension and drama. A great and useful example of this is the scene that is set at the hospital when Liam Neeson is trying to grab the scissors to get himself out of the stabs on the hospital bed as well as leading to him murdering the evil doctor. Fast and effective editing was used to show that there is a scenes of danger and a limit of time that he must get the scissors to escapes before the murder comes in.

The Birds

Within this post I am going to be speaking about a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock named "The Birds"

The film "The Birds" is a thriller that has also been notified as a horror. The film its self is up to 119 minuets long(1 hour and 59 minuets). The writers of the film are 'Daphne Du Maurier' who wrote the story and 'Evan Hunter' who wrote the screenplay. Also, those who stared in the play are 'Rod Taylor', 'Tippi Hedren' and 'Suzanne Pleshette'. However, within the trailer there are certain aspects that are used to show that it is a thriller. One of the aspects are the change of mise-en-scene. At the beginning of the trailer it starts of with light and bright colourful colours and then towards the end the colours turn dark. This shows that the film is unknown to all due to the fact that isn't many hints that this film is going to be a horror or a thriller. Take a second to think why would your average every day crow and seagull want to attack humans that have done absolutely nothing to them. Could it be the fact that the birds feel there are being invaded by humans or could it be a curse?  

Firstly, the film 'The Birds' is about an external threat from nature. Often in Hitchcock's films there is nowhere to hide for example: In this film the setting is in a town called 'Bodega Bay'. This shows that Hitchcock represents the town 'Bodega Bay' as a dead end(No where to hide). Furthermore, the thriller conventions that are used within this are a mysterious use of cinematography for example: when the birds are chasing the children the speed of the editing is increased. As well as, when the people are inside the café hiding away the speed of the editing is decreased due to the fact that the people are very scared and upset that "The Birds" are killing people. Moreover, Hitchcock stated "resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains". The question is 'Is this true of the birds'. Truly speaking this quote is very true due to the fact that the people couldn't come up with a correctly plan as to solving the mystery of the killer birds. During the film another thriller convention that is used is 'suspense'. This film has used one of the most successful suspense scene's of its time and possibly of all time. This film is full of dramatic and tense moments for example: sound is very quite and then a minuet later you h ear a bird and then all of the birds at the same time attack the building. This causes an effect on non-diegetic sound as the sound refers to the birds attacking. Nonetheless, it also refers to the tension of the music when it is being played to make the scene seen more dramatic.

Secondly, there are more specific techniques that are used that show the thriller conventions. Another one of the techniques are 'Dramatic Irony'. This is used when the audience know that "The Birds" are going to attack the people and the people don't know that "The Birds" are going to attack them. Also, another example of when 'Dramatic Irony' is being used is in the schoolyard scene when Tippi Hendren does not know "The Birds" have been gathering around the schoolyard. However, the audience knows. This suggests that we have knowledge denied to the character. Additionally, in the schoolyard scene the underlying score of the innocent child's song is in contrast to the evil in nature. Tippi Hendren's character is only guilty of taking nature for granted. Similarly, in the scene outside the café the high camera angle is like the glaze of a pitiless god who cannot be bothered to intervene.

Thirdly, the famous quote stated by Alfred Hitchcock "A thriller is a villain driven plot. Obstacles are presented that the hero must overcome". This indicates that "The Birds" are the villains and the people are the hero's. Nevertheless, are there any hero's? Due to the fact that the mystery is unsolved as to why the birds had plot the attack on the humans. The thriller technique that is presented by this is the 'MacGuffin' as it turns out there is a 'catch 22' you may have noticed that wherever Tippi Hedren goes the birds go. This could mean two things! This could mean that its Tippi Hedren's fault that the people where killed by "The Birds" because she is an attraction to them or it could mean that Tippi Hedren is the villain and "The Birds" are the hero's. But weather or not that is the case the mystery is still unsolved.

Additionally, did you know that the scene where Tippi Hedren is savaged by birds near the end of the movie took a week to film. This is because the film was shot realistically as they needed to collect all of the birds and get them in one spot. Equally, "The Birds" were attached to her cloths by long nylon threads the so that they couldn't get away. The film features 370 effects shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements. Within the film there are a very wide range of shots that are used for example: there is a close up on Tippi Hedren's face when she is bleeding due to the attack of the birds. This gives a dramatic effect as it focuses on the damage which the birds have done to her. Also, there is a lot of high angle shots. One of the main high angle shots is the one when all the people in the town are by the café and the petrol leak gets set on fire and there is a mighty explosion. There are plenty of other shots that where taken but they where two of the main ones. In addition, a number of endings were being considered for this film. One that was considered would have showed the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered with 'Birds'. However, the film doesn't finish with the usual "The End" title because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to give the impression of unending terror.

Finally, Alfred Hitchcock uses a famous quote and saying that he invented being 'Dip your toe into the lake of fear'. Nevertheless, when the audiences left the UK premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees out of peoples way to scare them further. During the making of this film Tippi Hedren was actually cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots. Also, there is no musical score for the film except for a short electronic music sequence and the children singing in the school. Also, Alfred Hitchcock's thoughts of this film where that mankind has abused birds throughout history. We are shown 'Deliberate irony' in the café scene with the elderly 'bird loving' lady. She interrupted by an order for three southern fried chickens. In addition, one of the other characters initial reaction is to shoot "The Birds" and kill them. Hitchcock said that in the film "The Birds" the usual 'safety nets' such as (Science/religion) are denied to us. This indicates that we are on our own.

Psycho analysis

The film "Psycho" is a thriller that is directed by 'Alfred Hitchcock' and was set in the 1960's. Also, Psycho was written by 'Joseph Stefano' who was in charge of the screenplay and 'Robert Bloch' what wrote the novel. Furthermore those that stared within the play are 'Anthony Perkins', 'Janet Leigh' and 'Vera Miles'.

Firstly, within this film Hitchcock thoughts were that the audience know that there is a murder within the house. However, the audience don't know when he/she will attack again, but in order for them to be suspenseful they must know it could happen any minute. As well as, Hitchcock stressed that as the apprehension increases there is less and less violence on screen.

Secondly, in this film there are many thriller conventions that are used. This film has a sudden twist to it, as this time the external threat is from a crazy man, A.K.A: a deranged mind. Thrillers are currently characterized by fast pacing frequent action. Therefore, there are some examples in the film "Psycho"; when the women is standing in the shower and is naked due to the fact that she is taking a shower, the past of the scene starts to increase immensely, this then shows that something terrible is about to happen. Also, another example of this film being characterized is at the point of the staircase when the police inspector has been stabbed and fell down. The past beings to build up as the creates the tension between the killer and the inspector as the increase of the speed and frequent action represents danger. Another example is when the car is being drowned in the lake and it takes its time to sink, the pace of the film is decreased and the frequent action is changed as the car is taking its time to sink.

Thirdly, throughout the film "Psycho" there is an unknown mystery up until the very end. We know this because, resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains. This indicates that the murderer within this film is very powerful due to the fact that he/she managed to kill two people being the inspector and the first women who stayed in the motel and it was the women who had been killed and her lover was the person who found out who the murderer was and therefore i fill that if there had to be a hero the hero would be the man who had stopped the killer from killing the girl who had died sister. Therefore you have to give him credit as well as the police catching him.

Finally, the mise-en-scene was well presented within this film as it was set in black and white. Black represents darkness, light-less, scariness, dampness ETC. Therefore this shows the the film is going to be about an unknown danger and a un-solved mystery. Also, the film is set in the United-States of America and was set in the 1960's. The body language of the killer was very invidious as at times you couldn't tell what sort of mood he was in. The title 'Psycho' was shown in the film by the murderer. At first everyone had thought that the murderer was his mother. However, it was an overall inverse operation, due to the fact that all viewers were made to believe that his mother killed the girl and the inspector. Nevertheless it was the man who worked within the motel and he was pretending to be his mother. Nonetheless, she was died already and he just wanted to take after her and live her life.

Media theorist

Media theories blog 2

Media theories and theorists

Traditional Hollywood narrative structure:

This is a three act structure and this is the typical Hollywood narrative. The first part of the structure is set up and that is 25% of the structure. Furthermore, the middle part of the structure is conformation and this is 50% of the structure. Additionally, the final part of the structure is film time and this takes up 25% of the structure. In addition, Linear also known as chronological has few and if any there will be sub-plots and tendency used towards closure at the end of film.

Tadorov- Narrative theory

Tadorov in 1969 had produced a theory in which he believed to be applied to any film. However, he believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. Furthermore, they all went through stages of narrative. Each stage had a different meaning to it. There are five different stages the narrative can progress through stage 1); this is a state of equilibrium in other words its perfect and all is as it should be. Stage 2); this is a disruption of that order by an event. Also, Stage 3); this is a recognition that the disorder has occurred. As well, Stage 4); this is an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption and the final stage which is stage 5 is a return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

Tadorov shows a great representation of an equilibrium in the film "North by North West". This is because at the start of the film all the people that are featured in it are living there everyday normal life. Then there is a mysterious event that happens including a man and a women getting into a problem. Next, the problem starts to repeat its self and the story gets bigger and bigger and the problem increases. On the other hand the man takes action for it

Vladimir Propp-character types

Vladimir Propp- character types are analysed traditionally for folk stories and there are eight different key character roles. The eight key roles that there are, are Hero/Villain/Helper/Donor (this is the provider)/ Father/Dispatcher/Princess/False Hero.

Representation of women in film

The ‘Male Gaze’ is a tenure conversed by Laura Mulvey in her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. This is used to designate when the audience is put into viewpoint of a (Heterosexual) man. However Female characters are sexualized and the camera may zero in on female genitals that are measured as being sexual. Furthermore, in 1975 Laura Mulvey showed representation of women in film by showing “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. Likewise the representation of women is show in the film “Rope”. This is presented because of the male gaze. This is where the women were viewed as the objects of male erotic desire, this is shown in film and by the audience. Also, Men were seen as active and Women were seen as passive. Similarly, Women do not have agency, this indicates that they do not move the plot forward. Equally, the audience is forced to identify with male gaze. Therefore, the cinema reflects a ‘Patriarchal’ society as the cinema is dominated by men.