research3

Phonebooth
In the movie the director uses a variety of diffrent shots to portray the power of the killer and the weakness of the victim, The director repeatedly uses shots from a high angel when the killer is talkin or bein shown This is portray the killer in control and dominate over the victim who is very often seen in low angel shots to show how he is small and weak. This was very useful to us because it showed us how to portray strength and weakness in our film. The director also uses a variety of diffrent camera shots to show diffrent things for example when he wishes to show the despair of the victim he uses close up shots to show emotion and when he wishes to show what is happening he will uses a wide camera shot that encorperates the surronding buildings. This was very helpful because it showed us how to portray emotion and also how to establish the scene for the audience in terms of an establishing shot. The film was also useful because you do not see the killers identy and its this voied of human contact that makes him seem ruthless and almost like an animal stalking its prey and this showed us how we could portray people in our film. The director also uses a variety of diffrent editing speds to show diffrent things for example when the victim attempts to escape and the killer loses control he speeds it up to show how quickly events are moving but when he wishes to show the killer talking he uses slow editing to give a sense of its not going to end for the victim and this was useful because it showed how we can change the speed and pace of the film by using fast and slow editing and it also showed us what kind of editing a action/thriller envolves. We also looked closely at what the director was trying to portray for example the begining sequence starts of in new york with lots of buildings, peoples and cars and then cuts to the main actor, he has done this to connect him with the surronding area. this was useful because it showed how we can connect our character to the surronding area and to the audience. The director also uses in this film alot of diffrent sound and music techniques to change the mood of the movie and to pull the audience from a relaxed position to an intense one with the change of music. For example he uses very slow sinister music to show how the killer is calm and very fast jumpy music to show how the victim is stressed and paniced. this was useful because it showed us how touse music and sound to portray diffrent things and also how to control the audiences emotions.

The second film we watched was
Natural born killers
In the movie the director uses a number of diffrent camera shots to portray diffrent things for example he uses close up shots of the 2 main characters to connect them together and uses mnnect them with their victims, this is useful because it gives us further impresions of what camera shots we can use to show diffrent things. The director like the first movie uses diffrent camera angels to portray diffrent things for example when the main characters are gettin married he uses a high angel shot to show they are on a bridge and this gives across the impresion that they are on top of the world and this further showed us the importance of good camera angles. The director also clever uses editing speeds to fit in with the film plot. for example in the beginning the editng is slow paced when you see there first kill but by the end it is fast but at the very end it goes back to a slow pace of editing. This was rely helpful because it showed us how the pace of editing cuts can dictate a movie and it is vital to get it right. This movie further showed us the impact of sound and music can have on what the audience feels for example he uses comical music to de sentive the audience to the violence of the film. and this reiterated the power and importance of music and using it correctly in our film
This research was very helpful and greatly impacted on what we included in our film because it showed us the conventions of an action thriller, how directors of action thrillers use a mixture a editng, camera shots and angles and music to portray things and change the mood and feel of the audience. It also showed us what sort of audience an action thriller is aimed at and this gave us a good impression of who to aim our movie at.

Planning 2

After we had chosen to do an action/thriller style movie we felt that we should do more in depth research into what a movie like this may include. we felt the best way to do this was to watch films that fall under this sub genre and to tke notes about key aspects that would effect our film, theese were

camera angles

styles of camera shots

editing speed

what the director is attempting to portray

sound/music and what it achieves

research 2

we chose to do a thriller style of movie because when we analysed our inital research we felt that it would be the most logical one to do. This is because when researching thriller films we felt that because of the broad options in terms of what we could include so it fell into a specific genre of film thriller gave us the most option because a thriller includes at least 1 other genre of film and it also allowed us to do appropriate shots with the media devices that were at our disposal. It also would allow us to pick and mix diffrent ideas and we felt that because of our research we knew what to do in our film in terms of editing and filming so we could accuratley include the styles and conventions of seperate genres into a good flowing film. after we had chosen to do a thriller style of film we felt it would be best to research into all diffrent aspects of thriller films and the sub genres in them.

Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger: law enforcement officers, spies, soldiers, seamen or aviators. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident.

There are also alot of sub generes in a thriller

Action thriller: In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place

conspiracy thrillers: In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes.

Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects.

Disaster thriller: In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster.

Drama thriller: In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists.

Science fiction thriller: in which there is normally a hero or heroin battling for ither there or earths survival against aliens good examoples are predator and alien.

Horror thriller: In which the main character is put in danger and their main enemies are unrealistic creatures in which they must destroy to achieve their goal.

Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives.

Psychological thriller: In which until the often violent resolution the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.

After doing this research we felt that it would be good if we got some feedback from our audience, so we decided to do a questionaire that were aimed at dicovering what peoples favourite styles of thrillers are.

The results were

psychological thriller = 15

legal thriller = 11

drama thriller=6

action thriller=18

disaster thriller= 3

science fiction thriller=7

horror thriller =9

crime thriller =11

conspiracy thriller =3

1=psychological thriller

2= legal thriller

3=drama thriller

4=Action thriller

5=disaster thriller

6=science fiction thriller

7=horror thriller

8=crime thriller

9=conspiracy thriller

This research told us that the most populr sub genre of a thriller is action/thriller, this was very useful because it showed us what would be popular and what the majority of people liked and it was this popularity that drove us towards doing an action/thriller style of movie. Aswell as it would give us a chance to exsperiment with diffrent techniques in the editing and filming process.

research

We looked at the main diffrent generes which we felt we would be interested in doing theese were
-horror
-action
-thriller
-comedy

We did research into all theese diffrent genres by using the internet and watching films from the style of genre. we did this because we felt that if we had a good level of understanding about each genre then we could make a good informed decision about what sort of conventions and representation that we could use to keep in line with our chosen genre. The first key thing that i noticed was that There is a very small line between the diffrent generes and there are very often more than one style in a movie for example a comedy and romatic films can come together and this is known as a rom/com suchas the break up or you can have an action/thriller movie suchas Predator.

Horror
Horror films are desighned to prey on our worst fears whether they be monsters, psychopaths or the unknown. They very often use a combination of quick and slow paced editing that is desighned to create both suspense and terror. they also very often use a mixture of camera angels to represent diffrent things for example they may use a high angle shot fused together with a tracking shot to give the impression of someone being stalked. This is evident in the first horror film which i researched which was shrooms. The first thing that i realised about the genre of horror films was that there are very distinct styles of horror films. They are either very bloody and violent and rely on a shock an aw tactic by using a variety of special groosom effects and make up suchas the saw movies. Or there are the ones which use the power of the human mind to imagine and theese kinds of movies only imply or suggest the horror in subtle ways, rather than blatantly displaying it, i.e., Val Lewton's horror films, by using clever script writing and planning and a clever combination of editing, camera angels and representation. However both styles rely on the audience being shocked by what they see and frigthened and disgusted.







Horror film 1-Shrooms



i decided to watch this film because I felt that it was easy to identify the diffrent techniques the director Paddy Breathenach has used to make sure the film falls under the catergory of horror.
The plot is that three american couples travel to Ireland to gather shrooms and have a psychodelic trip but when one of the girls eats a bad Shroom she begins to see things and it ends up with a lone survivor with the rest getting massacred. I noticed in this film that the director uses camera shots and editing to represent what he wants to portray to the audience and he uses shots which scares us because they represent our fears of being stalked and the audience can pick up on this and relate to the fear.







This told me that if we decided to do a horror style film then we would have to use this same representation to portray that it is a horror to the audience. This film was useful because it showed me how a quick edit can instill shock into the audience and a slow edit can instill suspense that allows the fear to manifest.







Horror film 2- Saw 5



i decided to watch this film because I knew from the previouse saw 4 that it heavily relied on the use of special effects and make up and felt that it was give us a good impression of what is expected in a horror. Directed by David Hackl the basic plot is Following Jigsaw's grisly demise ( the main bad guy from the other films), his apprentice to the serial killer is deigned a hero. Meanwhile, Agent Strahm is tested and follows all the leads he can get until it boils down to a gruesome and bone-crushing finale.








The main things that i noticed was the way in which the director used diffrent camera shots to portray things, suchas when he wished to show violence he got close and personal using close up shots and when he wished to show the victims dispare he used long and mid ranged shots. This was very helpful to me because it gave me an idea of how we could portray violence and aggression by the use of camera angles It was also useful because it showed me the level of violence that would be exspected if we decided to do a horror style movie.







This research was very useful because it showed me the ways in which diffrent directors used diffrent styles of filming and editing to portray diffrent things but still keep within the conventions of a horror film, the research also showed me what the conventions of a horror film are. The main conventions are Blood, Violence, in human actions and things desighned to scare and shock the audience. the research also showed me how you can use visual effects suchas makeup to portray thing to the the audience and the way in which sounds can be use to create diffrent feelings.The research also helped me because it definatly aided us in our decision not to choice a horror because we felt that we the constrictions of time and also our ability to acuratly portary the film to feet in line with the conventions of a horror film.







Action



Action films are desighned to get our blood pumping and heart racing, they use a fast style of editing to portray speed and keep the audience on the edge of their seats and use a variety of camera angles and shots to portray things to the audience. A good example of this is the film The italian job which i watched. The director uses faced, short editing along with a mixture of tracking shots to show how fast the cars are moving. I noticed that unlike horror films action films always envovle this kind of fast and aggresive camera work. They are also very often intwined with other generes suchas romance like the second film i watched which was Sharpes sword which although is filled with action it also has a love story intwined in it.







Action film1-the italian job



I watched this film because i felt that it would give me a good idea of what a main line action film envoled. The plot of the film is that a group of thieves steal some gold but are betrayed by their friend so they attempted to steal it back. A key thing that i noticed in this film is how the director uses a mixture of close ups of actors to almost put the audience in the passanger seat while using quick editing and tracking shots to keep up the pace of the scene.






This film was very useful because it gave me an idea of the diffrent techniques that we could use to portray speed and action, it showed me what an audience exspects from an action film and it also aided us in our decision not ot do an action style film because of the amount od media devices that we required and it was feklt that it was not plursable with the time constrictions we had.







Action film2- Sharpes sword



The reason i watched this film is because i knew that although it was an action film it had a lot of sub generes mixed in with it suchas it was also a period drama. The plot of the film is that Richard Sharpe a rifleman captain in wellingtons army is sent to attack a french fort but is betrayed by a fellow officer so he trys to get revenge culminating a personal battle between him and his betrayer.






In this film i noticed how the director uses wide and long shots to represent the scale of the battle while throwing in close ups to show the ferocity of the fighting. The film was very useful because it showed me how we ccould use a mixture of shots to captivate the audience and keep their attention.





This research was very helpful because it helped me identify the conventions of an action film which are fast paced editing, a mixture of shots to captivate the audience and a good well planned story which is easy to understand. It was also very hekpful because it led to the decision that because of the large amounts of media devices we needed to use it was just not possible to acuratly portray the film so that it fell under the genere of action.



Comedy



whether its based on basic everyday occurences or extreme situation it is purely desighned for the sole reason which is to make us laugh, They use a range of diffrent camera angles and shots normaly desighned to connect the audience with the character, they do this so that the audience finds what happens more funny because they feel that they know the actor. They also use a mixture of editing speeds either to amplifie a siuation or to make it seem like reallife and the audience picks up on this. A key thing i noticed is how humour and the way it is portrayed has changed over the years a good example of this is the contrast between the movies i watched and researched which were laurel and hardy(Beau Hunks) and Scary Movie 3 for example in Laurel and Hardy it is based around everday things that could happen and this is funny because we relate to it where as scary movie 3 envovles unbelivable events.



comedy film1- laurel and hardy Beau Hunks

I watched this film because i felt that it would be a good contrast between an old black and white film a new film. The basic plot is Oliver Hardy is dumped by his girlfriend and runs off with his friend stan laurel to join the foreighn legion and the movie is just about what funny incidented they cause.

A key thing i noticed about this film was the way in which the actors relied on each other because without both of them it would not be as funny. I also noticed how the director uses a number of diffrent camera techniques suchas close ups to connect with the audience and also the use of props and the setting to portray normal life suchas it starts in a house. This movie was useful because it gave me an idea of how directors use to portray thing because they did not have the technology we have.

Comedy film 2- scary movie 3

There were several reasons why i watched this film. The first was that I knew it was part of a new kind of movie that used other movies to create it for example it takes the micky out of 8 mile which is a seriouse film and it adapts events in it so it becomes funny. Another key reason i watched and researched this movie was because i hoped that it woukd show me how to adapt other movies to fit into the genre and conventions of comedy and i felt that this would be very useful. In the third installment of the Scary Movie franchise, Cindy has to investigate mysterious crop circles and video tapes, and help the President in preventing an alien invasion.

I




noticed in this film that the director has taken alot of other movies and has incorperated it into a new movie alltogether, i also noticed how he has used diffrent camera angles and shots to turn normal movie sequences into funny movie sequences for example he will use a close up to turn a normal event into something funny suchas a women bending over.

This research was very useful because it showed me how i coukd use camera angels and editing to change ordinary curcumstances into something funny for example using a close up to exagerate something so it becaome funny. It also showed me how the use of sound effects and facial actions can portray things. It was also useful because it showed me how to adapt current movie ideas into something new and change the genre that the movie falls under. The reasearch was also key in the fact that we decided not to do a comedy because we felt that we did not have the ability to accuratley portray to the audience the conventions of a comedy.

Thriller

Thriller films are desighned to encapulate the audience into the film by using a range of camera shots and editing speeds. A key thing that i noticed about the thriller films i watched and researched are that they very often incorperate styles from other generes of films for example there is some time a very thin line between an action film and a thriller film or between a thriller film and horror film. This is because a thriller film relise on fast paced editing like a action films do but also camera shots that create tension like horror films do. Another key thing that i noticed was that in a thriller style film there is always a main character normally a hero and a director will work very hard to make sure that the audience recognises this and connects with the main character and this makes the audience more interested in what happens to him or her.

thriller film 1- Pulp fiction

The reason why i watched this film was because i knew that it incorperated all the diffrent styles and generes of films. For example it has the thriler side to it in the fact that everyones after each other, the comical side of how it finishes, the action side with all the fighting and the love story between two of the actors. the main plot is about The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

The first thing which i noticed about this film was the way in which the editor portaryed diffrent stories of diffrent people he did this by using diffrent paced editing and the same shots of different people to connect them. This was very helpful because it showed me the diffrent techniques that i can use to connect diffrent characters and stories together and also what sort of editing techniques i could use to achieve a good thriller. I also noticed how the movie has all the diffrent generes rolled up together but how the director has made them work together to create a thriller movie

Thriller film 2- Godfather

The reason that i watched this movie because i knew that it would further give me ideas of how to use camera and editing techniques to put all the genres together. The movie is a good example of how there is no real barrier between the diffrent generes because you could interpret it in diffrent ways, you can see how it is an action film because of the fight scenes and fast editing with a variety of shots, you can see it has a romatic side to it because of the way that the music and speed of editing changes when diffrent actors are envolved.

This film was very useful because it further showed me how all the diffrent generes can be put together and how to use camera techniques sound and editing to make a film that flows.

This research was very useful because it had a great impact on our decision to do a thriller style movie, we chose a thriller because we felt that having the ability to incorperate large number of diffrent generes into out film clip would give us a large pool of ideas that we could use and we also felt that it would give us the chance to use a large number of media devices, techniques, camera shots and diffrent paced editing.

We also briefly researched sub generes which are identifiable sub-classes of the larger category of main film generes with their own distinctive subject matter, style, formulas, and iconography. Some are them are prominent sub-genres, such as: biopics, 'chick' flicks, detective/mystery films, disaster films, fantasy films, film noir, 'guy' films, melodramas, road films, romances, sports films, supernatural films, and thriller/suspense films.

Planning1

The first thing that we needed to do was to reseacrh into the diffrent stlyes of film genre, we felt we had to do this because it would give us a good idea of what didnt things each style of genre envovlved in terms of camera shots, pace of editing, use of sound and visual images and what sort of story each followed.

intro

hi im Andrew Bond and this is my yr 12 media resit blog. In this blog i am going to be evaulating and anylysising my video. I am going to begin by explaining the planning process then the research process then i will answer the questions which are relevant to the course.