We think that the Twitter page that we created for our film is a very good way of advertising as we have a couple of followers already. It is interesting how quickly news of a film can spread, as we are only making an opening sequence for school purposes, but we already have people following the film.
We went out with a camera to practise all the camera shots which we want to use in our Thriller opening scene. We went out to purchase a teddy bear that we could use for a prop in our production. we chose one that is not too big, but not too small so it would be easy to use. Having a teddy that is too large may distract from the actor in our scene, and take away from what is going on. A teddy that is too small may not be as noticeable to the audience watching it. We will feature this teddy bear in our film poster as it is one of the main focuses of the film.
We made a Twitter page for our thriller film to advertise it as this is what Universal and Warner Brothers do when they have a new film which is coming out soon. Making a Twitter for the film is a good example of Viral Marketing as it involves social media and it is free.
Psycho. 0:00 - 3:52 As it first starts, we see the institution's logo and name. There is then several cuts of black and grey stripes which reveal the opening credits. The fact that black and grey lines are used suggest that it is a thriller because these are dark colours. If light colours were used, we would be expecting a film such as a romance or a children's film. At 2:13, there is lot's of buildings, which shows that the film is set in the city. This is a good setting for a Thriller as it is a large place and can often be connoted with crime and danger. The scene then moves onto a dark bedroom with a woman lying on the bed and a man standing over her. This gives us an idea of the time it was set in, as well as their clothes, as it suggests that he has power over her. We immediately have the impression that these two are a couple and this suggests to us that it could be a romantic thriller. In the scene after, the plain, horizontal blinds on the window suggest that they do not have much money, and the lack of decoration suggests this too. Psychological ThrillersAlthough locations for thrillers depend on the movie itself, there are common locations that are used regularly within the genre. Common places that psychological thrillers take place in are forests and dark alleys and dark houses (such as old flats and old estates). This is to create tension and a sense of mystery. If the mise en scene is dark and dreary, it keeps us on suspense and hard to see which makes us suspect and think about what could be round the corner. For example, the psychological thriller "The Forest" is set within a dark forest where a mother's daughter is abducted. We have chosen to do a psychological thriller, and feel the best place to set it in would be a children's park and a forest. We think that the forest will create an eerie atmosphere and it would be easy to portray our thriller is psychological by setting it in a forest. Supernatural ThrillersSupernatural thrillers tend to be located in family homes, old gothic mansions or holiday homes out in the woods, which are usually all in a secluded area away from the majority of civilization. If they take place in a family home, the family have often only just moved in. An example supernatural thriller with one of these locations is The Exorcist. This takes place within the family's home and a supernatural being takes over a child's body. Romantic ThrillersRomantic thrillers tend to be spotted in a lot of different locations. However, a large number of romantic thrillers are set in exotic places or war zones. This tends to help create plot twists and a dangerous tone to the plot and to the lovers. An example of this is in Casablanca, a World War II romantic thriller of complications and love.
The scene starts off completely black and is edited so it fades in to a follow a piece of chalk being dragged across paper. As the chalk is dragged across, black writing of the credits comes up. Each time the chalk changes positions and the camera gets closer or further away, the editing is cut so that each video fades into each other. This continues the whole way through the opening scene. This helps suggest this is a psychological thriller because it is relatively simple and you wouldn't have something complicated.
The scene ends with a close up of the final drawing and the final title comes on screen. I have researched the editing of the opening of Black Swan because I felt it could potentially be applicable to our film opening as it is also a psychological thriller. The panning of the shot and the simplicity of the opening is a regular connotation of psychological thrillers, there is not usually a lot happening. In the opening, it starts off with an eerie sounding non-diagetic music which consists of the higher pitch (and in a minor key) of an organ and a xylophone. The organ has connotations of evil and supernatural and the high pitch matches with the young children. It sounds like a children's nursery rhyme in a minor key, which we decided would be appropriate for our opening too as ours also involves children.
When the children stop playing, the non-diagetic music adds minor chords in a lower pitch which suggests that something bad is going to happen. A drum is also eventually added which makes the sound deeper in bass. This creates a dark atmosphere. Just before the girls jump out the window, all instruments stop and there's just a chorus of low strings in minor. This connotes a supernatural and dark sound. As I am creating the sound mainly by myself, I decided it would be a good idea to look at different thrillers to try to see if there was a regular pattern within the different music. I found that most of the music involved in the opening sequences of different thrillers was generally rather high pitched and always in minor, which I found helps create an engaging and intense atmosphere. We don't need very many props for our film as the story doesn't involve a lot of props. The props that we are planning to use for our opening thriller production will be a swing and a traditional looking teddy bear. We wanted to include a teddy bear in our production as we feel that as a prop it reflects the child's age. A teddy is also used to show that the child feels safe with it next to him. Teddy bears are not often used in thrillers but are used in films where there is a family or a child. We thought that we would twist the usual stereotype and show the teddy bear in a different light. also wanted to use a swing because children normally go to local parks to play. The park is normally a place where you can play but instead something bad is going to happen to the child. Empty parks are sometimes featured in thriller films as they have a sense of mystery. We decided to use a child in our production as films like Orphan and Chucky have children and as the main characters.
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