What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

By Amber Mackenzie

The opening of a film is always there with the intention of establishing main factors regarding what’s to come, foreshadowing in a way. This is done through establishment of character, tone/ mood, location and many others.

“The Disappearance Of Alice Creed” is a great example of how character and mood/ tone are set and established. The character is greatly displayed through this single shot.

The symmetry between the two actors and their actions displays the organisation and methodical elements incorporated within the scene. It also gives the audience a sense that the characters have a lot of control. The element of teamwork also occurs here providing the sense they’ve known each other a long time giving synchronicity. In addition, the character on the rights curtain closes first which may hint towards a power balance displaying him as the more dominant of the duo. The fact this is used in addition to the technique using no dialogue and only non-diegetic music builds a cynical tone providing this dark atmosphere creating mystery as to what they’re doing. Furthermore, the characters are closing curtains which is literally removing the light from the shot. This may metaphorically foreshadow the non-literal dark themes that occur later on such as the kidnapping of Alice Creed. The characters are shown darker as they’re up against the light, this gives the audience the sense these characters are most likely evil and not to be trusted further setting this dark tone through mise en scene.

Character is also effectively set and established within this shot from the thriller “Se7en”. The line of items lets the audience know that the character is most likely a perfectionist due to the order displayed within the shot. However, this may seem so ordered as perhaps it’s the only element of his life he’s able to organise and this could in fact be the only way of which he can establish control and dominance that he may feel he requires. The items seem particularly violent which suggests maybe his job is also. It also draws attention to the odd item, the paper flower. The delicacy of this item in contrasts conveys there’s another side to this character, most likely more emotional and gentle. Furthermore, the dark background of the table within the shot may represent a metaphorically dark past for the character.

Essex boys is one of the most effective thrillers in terms of establishing the location early on, which is convenient due to its name. This shot has a mysterious vanishing point which makes the audience question where it leads as well as developing the element of mystery within a single shot. Furthermore, it leads to light yet the light seems to be trapped within the tunnel, light may display hope and positivity so this shot suggests such things are rather limited within this location. Moving along, there are many lights at the top of the tunnel yet many appear broken which emphasises the urban aspect of the location. By contrast the symmetry of the light we imagine before they broke suggests the city once had order and control yet it’s now, clearly, been lost. The shot is wide and narrow which almost traps the car within the shot forcing it to go through the tunnel further emphasising this lack of control in regards to location.

Furthermore, this shot is also effective in regards to established location.

The vertical bars across the screen give a sense of entrapment almost as prison bars would. This represents how the character is trapped within the scene by trapping him within the shot. In addition, the bars split him into sections which may represent his inner conflict and lack of clarity in regards to what he’s doing or even where he’s going. The bars also implying power imbalance between him and the person behind him displaying him as the more dominant.

How does the third man establish and use elements of film noir in the sewer scene?

How does the third man establish and use elements of film noir in the sewer scene?

By Amber Mackenzie

“The third man” effectively uses and establishes many elements of film noir, especially within the sewer scene. Elements include lighting, composition and mise en scene. All of these are used to emphasise the themes within the film including the disorientation and dark atmosphere in a literal and metaphorical sense.

This particular shot uses deep shadows. These convey the fear displayed in the scene as the darkness of the shadow dominates. In addition, the element mystery is also emphasised through the use of shadows. The darkness makes the audience question what lies within it as well as altering the atmosphere. The geometric lines divide the scene creating separation between the characters. This dissociates them from each other creating a sense of opposition which foreshadows the violence that proceeds to take place within the sewer scene. These geometric lines, as well as adding division to the scene, creates a sense of disorientation. This replicates what would have been experienced by the characters in the chase scene. This allows the audience to feel as if they are also within the scene.

This particular shot uses light to create a representation of character. The rest of the shot is dark, emphasising and foreshadowing the dark natured events that take place within the tunnel. Then the light draws attention to the dark figure in the middle coming closer towards the camera. This allows the audience to know this is not a character that can be trusted and most certainly has a dark side. Furthermore, the leading lines create a vanishing point which goes off screen adding to the audience’s confusion as to where it eventually leads. Adding this element of curiosity through shadows and geometrical lines engages the audience allowing tension to build. This makes other themes of film noir more effective such as big events being dramaticised.

Another shot emphasising the film noir elements of “the third man” sewer scene is this one. The mise en scene of the balcony is leading a line for the audience to follow the characters. Doing this adds drama to the scene as the intensity builds up. In addition, the vertices emphasise the disorientation illusion which has always been a running trend in film noir due to the depression causing confusion of the time inspiring this.  In the bottom left corner, this dominating shadow emphasises power and fear in addition to further emphasising the metaphorical darkness, as such, within the characters themselves. The shadow allows things to be hidden, making reference to the hidden secrets characters may contain or “darker sides”

In summary, the sewer scene in “the third man” uses elements of film noir through composition of shots with geometric lines in addition to large, ghastly shadows. The mise en scene of the shots further emphasises this through this dark atmosphere.

Se7en

How directors use elements of media to establish character- the big Lebowski

Preliminary task

Media Blogpost

Preliminary task

By Amber Mackenzie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5H_L-6T_j4

Our preliminary task was a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair across from another character followed by a short conversational exchange.

Planning

Before anything could be shot or edited, we had to plan our scene in order to make sure the shot was well organised and smooth. Planning is an effective way of beginning this task as it lays out something clear to follow and stick to. The first stage of planning was to decide upon a location to shoot in, after talking in our group we went off around the school to decide if our suggestions would be suitable.

When we had decided our location, we went back to class to create a floor plan. Creating this floor plan was very beneficial when it came to filming later on. Deciding where we could place the cameras allowed for a smoother, faster set up. Also, planning gave us a rough idea of how many shots we would need to take which ensured our time efficiency as a group. With each cameras position planned, we could then decide what each would be used for in order to achieve maximum effect and what parts of the scene each angle fitted best.

Within our plan, we incorporated the 180 degree rule to ensure our scene had continuity and ran fluently as well as making sense to the audience. Breaking this rule would possibly cause disorientation to the scene. Selecting where the clear 180 degree line between the characters would be placed made sure this did not happen. Doing this planning ensured we didn’t waste time trying to figure out camera positions when we had filming time and, more importantly, that when it came to editing we didn’t realise we had shots we couldn’t use due to lack of continuity therefore having to get rid of entire chunks of filming.

As well as a floor plan, we had to create a script, it was important to decide on this as early as possible due to the fact it allowed for time to learn lines as well as using the dialogue and actions when planning the scene in regards to camera position.

Techniques

For our preliminary task, we used a wide variety of techniques when it came to our editing as well as filming. We used the skills we had learnt in our first term of lessons in order to make our work seem as professional and well put together as possible including variety in order to showcase our ability and learning.

There was a specific technique we wanted to place emphasis on in our scene. In class, we learnt that the Coen brothers filmed conversations from within the space, between the characters. This meant having the camera placed on the table between the two characters shooting single shots for each characters direction. As many conversations are shot from over the shoulder, we thought using this alternate method would draw more attention due to the fact its less commonly used.

Doing this is effective for a number of reasons, this includes isolating the characters in turn, as opposed to having a close up of the other character in the background, it displays the character alone. It also gives a more personal feel to the conversation and allows the audience to feel as if they are almost eavesdropping on the conversation like they would if they were spying. As well as this, it reveals more of the frame as its not dominated by the other characters shoulder for example. This gives the audience a chance to observe the surroundings, therefore gaining more information about the location and how it links to the character and plot.

In addition, we used shot reverse shot to allow both characters to be clearly displayed in turn and allowed each character to have head/ nose room through rule of thirds. All of courteney’s shots were filmed at a slightly lower angle which gives the audience a sense of looking up to her. This demonstrates her power control and dominance in the scene. In contrast, my character had an extreme close up of fidgeting with hands, this emphasised the nervous energy in the character showing it had less power.

Main learning points

By doing the preliminary task, I have acquired a lot of skills that will help later on when it comes to creating our thriller project later on in the year. Personally, I had no previous experience with working with cameras or editing so creating this task was a big leap yet with the knowledge built up from lessons and peers I was capable of producing the scene.

I learned a lot about how to edit shots with in and out-points in order to crop the scene down to the section we need and piece them together into a fluent sequence using dip to black when its necessary.

peaky blinders

Peaky blinders blogpost

By Amber Mackenzie

The expectations of what the characters will do next can relate to the colour pallet, the fire in the corner appears to be the only bright thing in shot placing emphasis on possible danger, also red may symbolise hell due to its violent nature. It also contrasts with the dark background which may imply the future path for the group is hellish. The fact that they are upside down is meant to slightly disorientate the audience giving the effect that the scene is possibly dream like. As well as this, the group has a large amount of head space which emphasises their dominance and importance; this is also shown as they are the main focus of the shot.

Within this still, the director is able to portray that the characters displayed are a united group. Their steps appear almost in sync implying that they are on some sort of mission. They also walk straight through this puddle without even noting its existence which makes them seem superior as they pay it no attention and don’t see it as an issue whereas most others would.

In this image the cameraman has used a slightly low angled shot. Low angled shots imply the characters are more powerful as being shot from lower down makes them appear larger and take up more of the screen therefore showing their dominance. Rule of thirds has also been used in this shot; this gives the characters in focus more nose room which eliminates errors in filming. The fact that this is used on one character suggests he’s the main focus of the shot or even the leader. All characters in shot are in dark suits, this shows the unity and that they probably all have the same goal. The dark also contrasts with the, again, hellish background colour pallet generally making the whole image unpleasant on the eye.

introduction

hi, I'm Amber Mackenzie and this is my media blog