Film certificates

Certificates are given to movies to control the appropriate footage that is used in the film for the certain target audience. From this research I’ll be able to decide on the most appropriate certificate suited to the thriller opening, although I will have to remember there is no budget in the making of it. The props and overall organization of the opening will be paid with our own money; this means we will have to use our imagination to create suspense with minimum resources.
For a thriller movie, nothing lower than a 15 would be suitable.

Certificate of 15:

• Language:

- May be frequent use of strong language and extremely strong language will only being excepted if justified. Use of extremely aggressive strong language won’t be accepted.

• Nudity:

-Nudity may be allowed but not in strong detail.

• Sex:

-Sexual activity can be portrayed but again not in strong detail.However there can be strong verbal references to sex.

• Violence:

-Violence is allowed but the effects shouldn’t be focused on and scenes of sexual violence should be discreet and brief.

• Imitable techniques:

- Dangerous techniques such as self-harming, suicide etc should not be shown in detail. This is the same for the accessibility and use of weapons.

• Drugs:

-Drugs are allowed to be shown but not to be shown promoting drug misuse

Certificate of 18:

A film with an 18 certificate will indicate that anything could be shown throughout the duration of the film, as 18 is considered as adult.

18’s could include extremes such as:

-Extreme supernatural gory horror scenes

-Sadistic violence

-Sexual violence

-Hard drug use

-Detailed attention to sex verbally and visually

I believe our thriller should be targeted towards a 15 certificate. I feel it would meet are target audience more specifically as the characters will be of a similar age but no younger than 15. To produce an 18 wouldn’t be appropriate as no one in our group/ year is over 18, it would also cost a lot more money that we don’t have to produce it.

Making a 15 still means we can have references to most aspects as long as its not in detail.

Thriller brainstorm

Thriller Brainstorm

Mystery – thriller

• School location

- bulling
- social status’
- stereotypes (chavs, emos etc)
- unknown unrealistic events happening
- least expected person

• Complex plots/character twists.

- Notes explaining ‘rules’ in which they have to follow.
- If rules aren’t followed, characters will have to suffer the consequences.

• Create tension by the unknown.

- Silhouettes
- Shadows
- Sound effects
- Darkness
- Missing people



Physiological thriller

• Physical, blackmail, touchier

- pedophilia
- racism
- wearhouses
- emotional blackmail
- threats


Teen horror-thriller

• location

- cinemas
- parties
- clubs
- school
- friends house
- boyfriends/girlfriends

• steryotypes

- makeup lovers
- nerds
- sluts
- try hards
- bullies
- drink/drugs

• romance

- killing of partner
- jealousy

Real continuity task

We were set this task to create a fluent piece of filming before making our actual thriller to ensure our capability and for general practise.
Whilst filming we came across a few problems, these being that we still were not confident using the camera and editing equipment, but whilst filming we began to improve using better angles helping to represent the narrative. Although, some of the shots could still be improved as some where unsteady and jumpy. The worst part of the film i would say is the editing, especially at the end where the sound is out of sync. Again this is something we will be able to majorly assess and improve but whilst editing the piece we were able to become more familiar with the software. Another problem was unwanted sounds due to our location. Unfortunately there weren’t any other practical locations to shoot in the time period we had.
Our male actor Lewis delivered the lines perfectly, however I wasn’t the best actress to use. Half way through the film i start smiling, completely ruining the narrative. We should have cut this out. Other than this i am pleased with film. My group and i both agree the best part of the piece is the shot reverse shot as it helped with the flow of continuity most considerably.



All of our pieces got peer assessed during class time, the majority of pieces were graded as a level two, including our piece. From seeing the higher grade films we are now aware of what we need to do and include to have a successful final piece.

The critiques we received from our teacher and peers were:
-Make sure are camera is steady at all times, although unfortunately our tripod was to blame as it wasn’t secure.
- To constantly assure the characters with the main importance or dominance are visually shown by the positioning of the characters and the camera. We didn’t really do this in our piece as our characters where often both marginalised.
- to include reaction shots not just shot reverse shot, this would help with the audiences understanding of the narrative.

This critique will defiantly be able to help us with our next filming.

We where given a task to create our first continuity task to try out using the filming equipment and using the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot.

For this piece, I took the role of acting aswell as amber. Although this isn’t all I did. Both Amber and me also helped with the direction and the decisions made whilst Sehb filmed. We did find the task challenging, as all of us are more creative with the ideas and planning so we found it slightly difficult to get used to the technology side of the filming. Especially when it came to panning and moving the camera about as we where in such a small confined space. We also had to make sure we didn’t break the 180 degrees rule and I don’t believe we did break it. Although we weren’t able to finish the task, we included the key elements that we had to include.

We did find the editing difficult, especially getting the sound in sync with the shots. We did try really hard though and I do believe it was a good first attempt of using the camera and getting used to the rules.

I also think we work as a good team and once we get used to using the equipment/used to the rules and elements of filming, we will produce quality work.

animatic

This animatic was our first chance to experiment and learn how to use the programs Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe Sound Booth. At first I found it difficult to understand the technical side to the production of the piece, but with the help of my group we where able to produce the final outcome, even if it took a few attempts. We where able to use a motion tool to create a panning effect, allowing the audience to familiarize with the characters, we also used directional arrows for the drawings to be more clear of how the shot would be filmed.We were also able to edit the shots to create tension. We did this by lengthening and shortening the shots allowing the tension on the audience to build to the climax of the introduction to the vampire. We also created our sound through Adobe sound booth. We used a pre recorded backing track, which fitted in perfectly for the setting as the music is fast passed and builds up in texture, helping build up the tension. We also used pre-recorded footsteps that worked effectively.However we recorded the rest of the sounds by ourselves, for example the screaming and heavy breathing. I think overall the piece is good as it was our first attempt of using the programs and understanding how you produce film work. However next time we should be more organized and try and produce the work faster, but I feel this will happen as we’ll naturally become used to using the programs.

Conclusion

what to expect in a thriller opening.

• Depending on the thriller genre the camera speed and techniques will differ slightly. Generally the openings tend to be shot slowly, however when the film begins with action straight away, over the shoulder camera shots tend to be used to create hype and mystery.

• The first establishing shot is often a long shot, used to establish the settings and location. Although, depending on the genre again, close ups of a certain feature or object may be used to confuse the audience and increase the suspense and mystery. During the opening scene the majority of shots tend to be close ups, identifying the characters and their rolls, again this may differ from the type of thriller.

• The colour schemes tend to consist of a low saturation, creating cold and unwelcoming environments using the contrast of deep red, connoting the danger of which lies ahead, creating suspense.

• The music normally has a slow pace with the use of instruments like violins and piano to create a sinister feel and a sense of tension. However, some films use music completely opposite. Some often use fast, loud paced music, often reflecting on the genre.

thriller opening 5: Sin city - Frank miller

Action - thriller.

Camera:

• Sin city opens with an establishing shot tilted downwards upon the city location and an elegant woman in a low cut slinky dress. The use of this first shot allows the audience to recognise the editing techniques that have been applied, being the greyscale shots with the signifiers coloured in red. In this case, the women being the victim who is about to die.

• Close ups are further used to express their flirtatious body language and facial expressions. The camera focuses on the woman’s face, making it clear to the audience that she appears memorised by the male figure as her eyes are fixated on him. However whilst the male appears to be devouring her with compliments the camera uses a mid shot, expressing that he doesn’t feel that connection to her, he probably doesn’t care for her at all, thus being shown by the distance he is being shot away from her.

• The next mid shot is filmed in front of the two characters. This is used to show the camera slowly zoom in, emphasising the importance of the dialog in the shot. It could be suggested that the camera zooms in to represent the feelings growing and her sense of closeness towards him.
  

• Whilst the two character hug in the rain the camera tilts down on the woman showing her sense of security, then tilting up to show his facial expression, which appears to be blank as he gazes out rather than inwards towards her.

Sound:

• At the beginning of the extract a subtle short shrilling noise is used to dictate the atmosphere of what will become next. Faint ambient background noise of the location is also used to help the audience to recognise it is based in a city.

• Non –diegetic sound of saxophones and piano are also played faintly in the background, expressing the classy, romantic atmosphere of which is supported by the characters costumes.

• Ambient sound is again used further on during the scene. As the couple expresses their ‘feelings’ by dialog and body language, thunderstorm sounds are played. This intensifies the moment making the scene appear passionate until he shoots her, where the thunderstorm sounds become louder, actually expressing the unexpected negativity brought upon his actions

Editing:

• The director cleverly uses a limited colour range of black, white and red. The majority of shots are simply black and white, although all the shots have been edited to high contrast, making the colours oppose each other thus creating a comic book effect.

• The use of red has been use to emphasise the object in which is in colour, expressing their connotations. The woman is wearing a long sleek red dress, symbolising her elegance and class, reinforced by the red lipstick. However the use of the red also symbolises the danger she is in and that she is in fact the next victim.

• The woman’s eyes are emphasised by a slight tinge of green as the man expresses his love for them. This also draws attention that her eyes are completely transfixed on him showing her adoration for him.

• During the scene, black and white shots of their silhouettes showing what appears to be their closeness and affection, rain is used to intensify the moment. This has also been used to carry on the black and white comic book theme to the movie.