Within our film we employed numerous ways in which to portray, develpop and challenge thriller conventions. The main ways that we used to contribute towards showing the conventions are shown below in the 12 frame storyboard of shots from our actual film. Each picture represents a technique/element that portrays, develops and challenges thriller conventions.
1: Camera work:
Firstly, when we look at the first picture in the frame, it is an extreme close up of the characters hand reaching in to his draw to get a lighter and a roll up tobacco. By observing this shot, the audience now knows that this person smokes and could very well be addicted. This gives an insight to his character and lifestyle. This shot attracts the audience’s attention to make them focus on the centre of the screen, in this case which is his hand picking up the lighter and roll up. This also indentifies conventions as it encloses the characters lifestyle and well being to identify if he could be the antagonis. Also the way he picks up the objects from the draw is slow, this builds up a sense of suspense and tension within the audience.
2: Lighting
2: Lighting
Secondly, the second picture in the frame is off a clock ticking away on the wall. When taking this shot we maintained the lighting in such a way that it’s not to dark but still visible. We did this to add a sort of shadow and darkness to the image. Moreover, we took special care into getting a little bit more light onto the dial itself so the audience can see that time is ticking away. This gives an indication that the story could be revolved around time. Could the character be running out of time to do something? Is something due to arrive or take place at a certain time that could put the character under heaps of pressure? These are the types of questions that will be circulating around the brains of the audience and exactly the impact we wanted to the audience to experience while seeing this shot. This again steers the genre of the movie to the thriller side as we know later on in the movie something might happen for example, a murder, kidnapping all mixing with the idea of time. I think the lighting we employed in this shot really acknowledges conventions.
3: Story, and how the opening sets it up
The third frame image shows a pile of crack cocaine and an unrolled roll up cigarette. We intended this shot to really create suspense and a good portrail of the thriller genre. This shot is actually the opening shot of our film and we think this shot can tell a possible storyline. We started by fade in effect slowly panning left of an extreme close up of the drugs. The reason we chose to do an extreme close up is show the importance of the drugs and get the audience's attension. In a way this shot can be an establishing shot as the audience can see that the setting is in a dark room perhaps a bedroom. This shot escalated the storyline as the audience knows that this film could be drug related, or the person consuming these drugs maybe a controversial character in this film. Also by the low key lighting in further enhances the genre and also gives a hint to the audience that this film is potentially scary and thriller based. To sum it all up i think that this opening sets the story up by the use and effect of this shot and also represents the conventions well.
4: Title of the film and credits
The fourth picture in the frame above illustrates our film title, 'Mindgames'. Firstly, the effect in which the text enters the screen is usually used in movies to depict the narrative. The letters fly in fast and vigorously, this effect was used to show that this movie is serious and will a tense feel to it. Secondly, all the letters are in block capitals, this makes to title bold and noticable hence grabbing the audiences's attension, which was our main aim of the title. Additionally, we searched for a long period of time to find a font suitable for this genre. We were after a font which physically looked as if it had been abused and also looked violent. The font of 'Mindgames' is an exact presentation of what we wanted because it looks as if the letters have been torn, worn out and damaged. This immediately has an effect on the audience because it builds up tension and suspense. Moreover, we chose to have the background pitch black as this again adds to the effect if tension and suspense and also gives it an eerie atmoshere which again related to the chosen genre. The colour of the text is also a main contributing factor as if represents blood and fear, red usually these days in these circumstances often mean danger, this is why we employed this colour into our title. If we draw our attension to frames 10, this is one of our actual credits from our film. This again present to worn out damaged font and also the black errie background. However, we opted to make the colour white as we did not want the effect of the main title to fade away. As 'Mindgames' durates on the screen we have used an effect seen as a white shadow going from left to right in someway illuminating the font. This again draws the audiences attension shows the importance. In conlusion, the titles and credits develop the conventions of the thriller genre.
5: How the characters are introduced
If we look at pictures 5 and 6. They 2 shots of when both characters are first introduced into the film. We decided to take extreme close ups of both characters. We did this becuase we want the audience to realise who the main characters are and what role they might play within the film itself. Firstly, we introduced our antagonist first, this challenges thriller conventions as usually the protagonist is shown first however, we decided to manipulate this becuase we wanted the audience to realise who the main character is and whom the film revolves around. When looking at picture 5 itself, it is an extreme close up of the antagonist. Since we decided to challenge the convention we thought that this shot has really got to have an impact on the audience. We decided to use low key lighting as this darkens the atmoshere, also we manipulated the light in so that just the outlines of the front of this face are seen and everything else is in thr dark. The effect that this has on the audience is tension and suspense because the shot shows how evil this character could be and by use of an exrtreme close up, how important this character could be in the film. On the other hand, we introduce our protagonist a few moments after. We again wanted to audience to realise what type of character he plays. The costum instantly gives his role away as everybody these days refer to policemen as heroes. To further put the point across that he is the protagonist we had an extreme close up of the car mirror of him looking into it clearly spotting the police badge on the hat. Morever, we shot this in complete daylight to show that this character is in the ligtht and he is a good person. We did this to contrast with the lighting shown in the shot of the antagoniost. All in all we used various techniques and elements to show the introduction of the characters, and lastly, developed and challenged thriller conventions.
6: Genre, and how to opening suggests it
The seventh shot of the frames above depicts the antagonist with his ear to the door listening out for the policeman holding a knife. This shot clearly demonstrates that the genre of the film is a thriller. The antagonist has heard the piloceman park up outside his flat and is scared that he might knock on his door and find him. Without taking any risks the antagonist listens out for the policeman and grabs a knife. The audience can now clearly tell that the antagonist is going to kill the policeman if he knocks on his door. This shot shows a successful film opening as this portrays the chosen genre and has an impact on the audience. At this very moment, questions will be cirulating around the minds of the audience, whats going to happen next? Is he going to kill the policeman? Will the policeman arrest him? Does the policeman knock on his door? By the flow of these questions throughout the audience means that we have achieved our aim. These questions have created a tense and dramatic stroyline, and by these questions the audience will be intruiged to know the answers to these questions hence the rest of the film will have to be watched. In conclusion, the opening very well suggests the genre and clearly develops it.
7: Editing
As far editing is concerned, we have used a few editing techniques in which to show thriller conventions and cteate tension and suspense. If we gaze upon pictures 8 and 9, they show to completely different shots, one a medium shot of which is inside the room of the antagonist turning off the radio and the other, a close up of the foot of the policeman walking up a flight of stairs. We used these two and a couple more shots to create cross cutting. This particular cross cut shows the polieman walking up the stairs and at the same time, the antagonist panicing and turning off the radio because he knows the policeman is coming up the stairs.Sometimes a particular scene of a film carries on in a linear manner, which can be too predictable, which makes it boring to watch. However, with cross cutting we can show the moment when something important happened in the past present or future.In our case we used it to show the present as the antagonist is panicing while the policeman is walking up the stairs. In this way the action can be broken up to enhance tension or the narrative. The use of this cross cut gives an indication to the audience that something is going to happen., this again builds up tension and suspense. To summarise, i would say that the use of cross cutting develops the form and conventions of this product.
8: How the suspense is created
Penultimately, shot eleven shows a close up of our protagonist the policeman knocking on a door. From watching the previous moments later, the cross cutting and the the way the storyline progressed, the audience is thinking that either the antagonist will be arrested or the policeman might be killed. This is an excellant represntation of a final shot as it leaves the story on a cliffhanger. The audience at this point are anxious to know what happens next and also grabs thier outmost attension. A few moments after, the shot transtions into a black screen, this really puts the icing on the cake as it further enhances the cliffhanger and the way it suddenly comes to a black screen really brings the tension and suspense to its peak. This scene creates factors of which a successful thriller film should consist of. Hopefully we conveyed this effectively.
9: Setting and location
Ultimately, if we look the final shot number 12, it illustrates a long shot of the antagonist sitting up after he hears seombody outside. This shot was intended to reveal the location and setting. We can see the it looks like a bedroom, its very poor lit and wierdly, there is no cushions of duvet. When the audience sees this room, they can just from observing the room figure out what kind of person the antagonist is. We rearranged the room to look like as if they antagonist had a mixed personality, and also removed the cushions and duvet to confuse the audience into thinking, what kind of person sleeps without a cushion or duvet? Also we drew the curtains and blocked out any naturaly light, we did these to seem like the the room is secretive and the protagonist is trapped and does not want to be seen by anybody. Also in many thirillers, the antagonist has a hideout/retreat where he gets up to know good, this is exactly the idea we incorporated into our film, his room is his hideout, where he is segregated from everyone and everything. The setting and location of our film represents a thriller genre well and clearly shows conventions.
3: Story, and how the opening sets it up
The third frame image shows a pile of crack cocaine and an unrolled roll up cigarette. We intended this shot to really create suspense and a good portrail of the thriller genre. This shot is actually the opening shot of our film and we think this shot can tell a possible storyline. We started by fade in effect slowly panning left of an extreme close up of the drugs. The reason we chose to do an extreme close up is show the importance of the drugs and get the audience's attension. In a way this shot can be an establishing shot as the audience can see that the setting is in a dark room perhaps a bedroom. This shot escalated the storyline as the audience knows that this film could be drug related, or the person consuming these drugs maybe a controversial character in this film. Also by the low key lighting in further enhances the genre and also gives a hint to the audience that this film is potentially scary and thriller based. To sum it all up i think that this opening sets the story up by the use and effect of this shot and also represents the conventions well.
4: Title of the film and credits
The fourth picture in the frame above illustrates our film title, 'Mindgames'. Firstly, the effect in which the text enters the screen is usually used in movies to depict the narrative. The letters fly in fast and vigorously, this effect was used to show that this movie is serious and will a tense feel to it. Secondly, all the letters are in block capitals, this makes to title bold and noticable hence grabbing the audiences's attension, which was our main aim of the title. Additionally, we searched for a long period of time to find a font suitable for this genre. We were after a font which physically looked as if it had been abused and also looked violent. The font of 'Mindgames' is an exact presentation of what we wanted because it looks as if the letters have been torn, worn out and damaged. This immediately has an effect on the audience because it builds up tension and suspense. Moreover, we chose to have the background pitch black as this again adds to the effect if tension and suspense and also gives it an eerie atmoshere which again related to the chosen genre. The colour of the text is also a main contributing factor as if represents blood and fear, red usually these days in these circumstances often mean danger, this is why we employed this colour into our title. If we draw our attension to frames 10, this is one of our actual credits from our film. This again present to worn out damaged font and also the black errie background. However, we opted to make the colour white as we did not want the effect of the main title to fade away. As 'Mindgames' durates on the screen we have used an effect seen as a white shadow going from left to right in someway illuminating the font. This again draws the audiences attension shows the importance. In conlusion, the titles and credits develop the conventions of the thriller genre.
5: How the characters are introduced
If we look at pictures 5 and 6. They 2 shots of when both characters are first introduced into the film. We decided to take extreme close ups of both characters. We did this becuase we want the audience to realise who the main characters are and what role they might play within the film itself. Firstly, we introduced our antagonist first, this challenges thriller conventions as usually the protagonist is shown first however, we decided to manipulate this becuase we wanted the audience to realise who the main character is and whom the film revolves around. When looking at picture 5 itself, it is an extreme close up of the antagonist. Since we decided to challenge the convention we thought that this shot has really got to have an impact on the audience. We decided to use low key lighting as this darkens the atmoshere, also we manipulated the light in so that just the outlines of the front of this face are seen and everything else is in thr dark. The effect that this has on the audience is tension and suspense because the shot shows how evil this character could be and by use of an exrtreme close up, how important this character could be in the film. On the other hand, we introduce our protagonist a few moments after. We again wanted to audience to realise what type of character he plays. The costum instantly gives his role away as everybody these days refer to policemen as heroes. To further put the point across that he is the protagonist we had an extreme close up of the car mirror of him looking into it clearly spotting the police badge on the hat. Morever, we shot this in complete daylight to show that this character is in the ligtht and he is a good person. We did this to contrast with the lighting shown in the shot of the antagoniost. All in all we used various techniques and elements to show the introduction of the characters, and lastly, developed and challenged thriller conventions.
6: Genre, and how to opening suggests it
The seventh shot of the frames above depicts the antagonist with his ear to the door listening out for the policeman holding a knife. This shot clearly demonstrates that the genre of the film is a thriller. The antagonist has heard the piloceman park up outside his flat and is scared that he might knock on his door and find him. Without taking any risks the antagonist listens out for the policeman and grabs a knife. The audience can now clearly tell that the antagonist is going to kill the policeman if he knocks on his door. This shot shows a successful film opening as this portrays the chosen genre and has an impact on the audience. At this very moment, questions will be cirulating around the minds of the audience, whats going to happen next? Is he going to kill the policeman? Will the policeman arrest him? Does the policeman knock on his door? By the flow of these questions throughout the audience means that we have achieved our aim. These questions have created a tense and dramatic stroyline, and by these questions the audience will be intruiged to know the answers to these questions hence the rest of the film will have to be watched. In conclusion, the opening very well suggests the genre and clearly develops it.
7: Editing
As far editing is concerned, we have used a few editing techniques in which to show thriller conventions and cteate tension and suspense. If we gaze upon pictures 8 and 9, they show to completely different shots, one a medium shot of which is inside the room of the antagonist turning off the radio and the other, a close up of the foot of the policeman walking up a flight of stairs. We used these two and a couple more shots to create cross cutting. This particular cross cut shows the polieman walking up the stairs and at the same time, the antagonist panicing and turning off the radio because he knows the policeman is coming up the stairs.Sometimes a particular scene of a film carries on in a linear manner, which can be too predictable, which makes it boring to watch. However, with cross cutting we can show the moment when something important happened in the past present or future.In our case we used it to show the present as the antagonist is panicing while the policeman is walking up the stairs. In this way the action can be broken up to enhance tension or the narrative. The use of this cross cut gives an indication to the audience that something is going to happen., this again builds up tension and suspense. To summarise, i would say that the use of cross cutting develops the form and conventions of this product.
8: How the suspense is created
Penultimately, shot eleven shows a close up of our protagonist the policeman knocking on a door. From watching the previous moments later, the cross cutting and the the way the storyline progressed, the audience is thinking that either the antagonist will be arrested or the policeman might be killed. This is an excellant represntation of a final shot as it leaves the story on a cliffhanger. The audience at this point are anxious to know what happens next and also grabs thier outmost attension. A few moments after, the shot transtions into a black screen, this really puts the icing on the cake as it further enhances the cliffhanger and the way it suddenly comes to a black screen really brings the tension and suspense to its peak. This scene creates factors of which a successful thriller film should consist of. Hopefully we conveyed this effectively.
9: Setting and location
Ultimately, if we look the final shot number 12, it illustrates a long shot of the antagonist sitting up after he hears seombody outside. This shot was intended to reveal the location and setting. We can see the it looks like a bedroom, its very poor lit and wierdly, there is no cushions of duvet. When the audience sees this room, they can just from observing the room figure out what kind of person the antagonist is. We rearranged the room to look like as if they antagonist had a mixed personality, and also removed the cushions and duvet to confuse the audience into thinking, what kind of person sleeps without a cushion or duvet? Also we drew the curtains and blocked out any naturaly light, we did these to seem like the the room is secretive and the protagonist is trapped and does not want to be seen by anybody. Also in many thirillers, the antagonist has a hideout/retreat where he gets up to know good, this is exactly the idea we incorporated into our film, his room is his hideout, where he is segregated from everyone and everything. The setting and location of our film represents a thriller genre well and clearly shows conventions.
