Research in making a good thriller.

According to the Thriller Press ( http://www.thrillerpress.com/whatmakesathriller.html ) starting a movie clip with a serious problem or our hero or the bad guy to build imagination from the start.

• Thrillers usually have a great deal of action, cinematic landscapes or cityscapes or interior "mindscapes." Thrillers are very dramatic even when they focus on someone's mind as in a psychological thriller (like Hitchcock's PSYCHO).

http://www.ehow.com/how_7824040_make-good-thriller-movie.html sets a step by step way in how to make a good thriller. it explains the why's and how's in making a good thriller, for example simple cuts can simply be spliced together for scenes that evoke the feeling of suspicion.







This trailer is a good example of how to portray a thriller because it includes a touch story line, the aural and visuals link in very well together and the camera shots tend to be fast, sharp, edgy and close up.

by Rana

Research on thrillers

What is a thriller film? 
*A genuine thriller is a film that rentlessly pursues a single-minded goal; to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. They heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced.


Thrillers use:
*Tension, suspense and excitement as the main elements.


Characters in thrillers:
*Convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitious individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. 


Themes of thrillers:
*Terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. 


Primary elements of the thriller genre:
*The central protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's
*The force(s) of antagonism must initially be clever and/or stronger than the protagonist's
*The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who cannot be put down
*The main plot line focuses on a mystery that must be solved
*The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view
*All action and characters must be realistic/natural in their representation on screen
*The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals
*One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world
*The protagonist/s and antagonist/s may battle not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
* Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve

by Lauren

Directors of the Thriller Genre - Christopher Nolan (Unfinished)

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

World famous director Christopher Nolan was born in London, England in 1970. He has been responsible for directing some of the most successful feature films of the decade, and three short films - for many of these, he is also credited as the writer and producer.

Feature films

Nolan has directed 7 feature films;

• Following, 1998, neo-noir / mystery / drama, rated 15
• Memento, 2000, psychological thriller, rated 15
• Insomnia, 2002, psychological thriller, rated 15
• Batman Begins, 2005, superhero / action, rated 12
• The Prestige, 2006, mystery / thriller, rated 12
• The Dark Knight, 2008, superhero / action, rated 12
• Inception, 2010, science fiction / action / thriller rated 15

Two future film projects have also been confirmed;

• The Dark Knight Rises, 2012
• Man of Steel, 2013 (written and produced by Nolan, but directed by Jack Snyder)

by Rebecca

Planning

Main characters: Thulani and Rana
Party scene: Theatre in the school
We are going to arrange this by asking people in our year to come on a particular day and time and dress in a specific code. To make it look like a party, we are going to use the flashing disco lights we have in the school theatre. We are also going too use the computer in the theatre to play music out loud.

Before the party scene we were going to include footage of the people(actors) going into the theatre as if there is a queue outside. This was to make it look realistic and if it was actually a nightclub.

Our group are going to arrange a day where we go to London and take different shots of the lights and atmosphere there. We think that we could use some of these shots in the film, either to set the scene / make the location clear or create the right atmosphere for the other scenes. Another idea we had is that we could use the London footage as the background to our credits, as this would be more effective than putting them over a blank screen, or over the other scenes.

For the attack scene, we are going to experiment with different shooting styles - for example, we are going to try to film the attack from different angles / points of view and in different lighting. It is also important that we choose the right location for this scene; one that is both realistic and practical. We will have to do some further research in order to make the right choice on this.

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

Review of Preliminary Exercise

During the production, i starred in the clip, edited and directed. With the editing i added and deleted slots of shots and reviewed it as a whole, then i looked at the sounds and how they could be improved. On iMovie i learnt how to cover unnecessary sounds and replace them with sounds that fitted the scene.
   When i was editing the clips, i rearranged the scenes, cut parts and replaced them.

Things that i've learnt throughout the production was the 180 degree rule and why and how it was affective. I've also learnt how to edit clips and sounds, how to use iMovie and its technical use and how to produce a final piece.

I found the camera and tripod use easy as i've experienced their use previously.

The success  of the finishing product was producing the actual clip and perfecting it with the editing.

What went well was:

• my group and i worked well together and produced a good edit
• We used all the technicality we can to explore all the different aspects to create the clip                                                                                                                           

by Rana

Review of Preliminary Exercise

In the production of this task I created the shot list and was a character acting in the exercise. We all took part in editing the clips into the final outcome of the exercise. 


Through filming and editing the exercise I have learnt four specific things:

• This includes using I-movie to edit a film. I used the sound editor tool to add specific sound effects to clips and replaced unwanted sounds e.g unnecessary voices and background noises
• I also learnt how to use the continuity edit to make the film flow and go together. I cut and copied different parts of clips to do this. 
•  I learnt about the different shot sizes and what works well with the scene and what does not.
• Finally, I took directions from other members of my group and improvised with dialogue to improve the scene. 

Overall, the finished product was quite successful as it told a story and all the clips flowed well. For example, we added more clips into parts of the film in order to make the continuity better. When we first filmed the preliminary exercise it did not go to well as the camera dropped down at one point and there were lots of unnecessary sounds and voices within the clips. However, we used I movie to edit these things and the film turned out better than expected. Finally, the aural sounds went well with the visual aspects and we learnt from the mistakes we had made in the task.


by Lauren

Review of Preliminary Exercise

For the preliminary exercise, I wrote the script and the storyboard, and filmed the clips for the video. Together, we all edited the clips into the final outcome of the exercise.

Through filming the preliminary exercise, there were a few important things that I learnt;

• I learnt how important it was for the pace of actions in clips that follow each other to be the same, so that when editing the clips together, you can use match on action to create a flow between them. Also, whilst filming I had trouble moving the camera smoothly at first and ended up with some clips that were jolty. However, as I got used to using the camera equipment, I think I learned how to follow the pace of the action with the camera better. This will be very useful when filming our 2 minute film opening.
• Another thing that I learnt was that sometimes it is best to adjust the script as you film if something is clearly not working out as you expected. The same goes for the shot list, due to a change in filming location, some of the angles and shots had to be changed in order to keep to the 180 rule and make the clips look continuous.
• Finally, I think that the most important thing I learnt from the exercise was how to be able to give and take directions with more confidence and work well in a group. At first I wasn't very confident in expressing my opinion on your progress, but as we went along, we all realised that we needed to give our own input because when we put all of our ideas together to create scenes and solve problems, that was when we produced the best outcome

Our preliminary task turned out quite well, although there were quite a few mistakes that we made that we will know how to avoid in the future. For example, as I mentioned before, in the scene where Lauren (the second character to appear) was walking into the classroom, I dropped the camera down too quickly and you could hear the sound of it and see the clip jog a little. We managed to tone down the sound during editing, but in the future if I was trying to capture the diagetic sound of the scene, I would ensure that there is no outside noise present that isn't meant to be there. I liked the cuts as Rana entered the door, which were not there when we first edited the scene (there was only 1 cut originally), but Lauren suggested making more cuts and it looked a lot better this way.


by Rebecca