Josh Godlington - Thriller intro analysis; Signs

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Signs
The introduction of Signs creates suspense and mystery with mise en scene and its look on classic family life and long running scenes that go with the missing sense of direction that are also apparent when the girl and the crows are screaming.

Mystery is first created by the main male character waking up randomly and suddenly and this may have something to do with any future antagonist within the film as their is no apparent reason for him waking up. The first sign of an antagonist is when he is disrupted by his daughters scream and to help build this sense of an antagonist is near by is helped by the setting which is a tall cornfield. This helps build the mystery and suspense around the antagonist as it further hidden by the tall cornfield.

The cornfield, i feel plays a great signifigance in creating tension as when Mel Gibsons character is running through and it makes you wonder if he ever gets there as he just runs fast in a straight line.

The antagonist or atleast the idea of one is shown towards the end of the intro when the camera zooms out slowly to reveal what they are standing in and what the girl was scared of which is a crop circle. this Reveals that the antagonist of the film are aliens.

This is more rare for a thriller as they usually have a human antagonist but in the film, the aliens are put into a more human role in the way they attack or are seen. Overall the suspense and mystery is conveyed less by an antagonist but more by a sense of mystery that it creates within the characters aswell as the audience.

Josh Godlington - Thriller intro analysis; Sin City

Sin City
The introduction of Sin City, straight away creates the essence of mystery through use of unknown characters that dont show that they are either an antagonist or a protagonist straight away, the implied knowing of each other and the use of a narrator.

Characters
The characters in the clip are shown to know each other which is odd for the beginning of a thriller film as they usually have a introduction that help us understand who the antagonist is or what problems the protagonists may face. The characters throughout the clip are calm around eachother which creates an enigma because of the tension the music creates which gives the idea that something may happen soon. With this you become unsure if the characters are both in threat from a common antagonist or they are a threat to each other.

Use Of Narration
The Narration of this clip is done by the male character and in the narration he uses analogies to describe the female character. The Narration in the clip is the male character describing the situation as he goes along. It is almost like it is his thoughts as he goes along. The first thing that is narated is "She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree". This use of narration helps show that perhaps the female character is growing weak but has stayed on strong like the last leaf on a tree. The idea of length told by the naration may show that the female characters time is up. Thia naration may also help show that the male character is the antagonist.

Mise En Scene
The overall of the clip is meant to be a film noir style so it has an old style city look to it. The Open space on the building top that they are on, i believe helps show that either one of them could be the eventual antagonist that the idea of thriller introductions show. The open space of the set helps because it is an open space with just two characters so the emptiness helps with the mystery and tension. The costume is meant to have a classy style and although the male is wearing just a classic suit the female characters costume is more questionable. Although the female character is the protagonist/victim she is wearing a red dress in which the colour red is usually associated with danger that the character wearing it represents. In this case, the red may show that she is in danger but it still could show that she is/was a dangerous character and she was killed for perhaps a reason.

Overall, the sense of mystery and tension is created by the characters knowing of eachother which isnt usually seen in the beginning of a thriller. The narators use of analogies also helps us see who is the anatagonist and protagonist. Overall the intro Creates a lot of enigma.

Harry Buckle - Frist Thriller Reseach - The Dissapperance of Alice Creed

The opening five minutes of this movie shows so much about these two characters without showing as much as the spectator may want to see. It is clear at the start that these two men lack in morals, as they break into and steal a van from an airport parking lot. Yet, the removal of both dialogue and any clear actions of an antagonist makes the spectator continue to wonder what they are doing. As the scene goes on, they continue to show the spectator that they do not have a problem with stealing whatever - and, judging by the title of the film, whoever - as they steal a license plate from a broken down car. The spectator would, by now, put together the two acts of theft and figured out that these men don't want to be caught doing something illegal with the van. After a while, they are shown in an torn up flat and begin their make-over. As they nail, drill and remove broken furniture, the two men do it together in unison. accompanied with the continued, eerie silence between the two, shows that they are clearly very close. The preparation of the flat and the van is mundane to say the least, then, once they have seemed to have finished, their true objective is blindly clear, as one of them packs ski masks, masking tape, hand-cuffs and even a gun, into a bag. The display of items that would normally be seen in an evidence bag or scattered in a crime scene, reassures these two as the antagonists.

In conclusion, although this scene lacks in, a clear protagonist or antagonist , dialogue or even anything that could be considered "heart-pumping" excitement for the majority of it, all the actions of the two characters that we are following helps set the story up well enough to help the spectator establish their role in the film.

Adam Marshall- First thriller research- The Matrix opening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPtk7mweahY

The mise en scene in this first scene is used to show a lot of mystery and suspense, the use of low key lighting and extreme close ups on the SWAT teams eyes show their fear. the actual setting is dark itself, in an abandoned building that seems to have been out of use for years.From the way we can see the fear in the eyes of the police watching anyone watching the film for the first time would naturally think that Trinity is the antagonist, a clever piece of filing to deceive the audience.The black leather suit she wears also gives the impression that she is not a pleasant woman, as the film progresses we find out this is not the case.
The cuts in this scene vary a lot because the action also varies, like in all films, action scenes contain a lot of short cuts with long shots so we can see what is happening.
The Matrix is such a uniquely styled thriller film in both visual effects and storyline that it has become one of the thrillers that will be remembered for pushing boundaries in genre.  

Adam Marshall- First thriller research- Silence Of The Lambs opening.

http://s567.photobucket.com/albums/ss116/mickeytopdog/?action=view&current=SilenceOfTheLambsPart1.mp4

The opening to this thriller is quite different to the ones we have studied in class. There is a vast ammount of mise en scene that tells us more about the character and setting. The protagonist is obviously the female character who we are watching as she runs through the forest and through the FBI building. This building seems to be in the middle of the forest, this could be because a secret government building. one of the ways that shows that this film is under the thriller genre is the use of mise en scene in the mans office. The photos and newspaper articles about the serial killer. These murders are not shown in the plot but are part of the story. it is a restricted narrative, therefore it creates mystery and we want to know what's been happening.

The camera work when following the female protagonist is taken in quiter regular cuts, this show's that she is calm and in no danger. Even when she is running through the forest we can see by her expression and the limited camera movement that she is not in danger.When she is walking through the building the camera is on a dolly to show her movement, there is panning as well for when she walks past the camera.

All the editing is done as cuts between shots, the shots are generally around the same duration. There are are no fades or wipes because we are following the same character in the same time period

Editing- post by Adam Marshall

We edited our raw footage on Final Cut Pro as we thought that we would be able to get better results and a more flowing film. Michael and I put all the footage in the order we wanted and deleted the raw footage we didn't want. After this the whole group sat in the editing suite and put our ideas forward about different ways of making the film reach the criteria, for example when the main character walks through the door we had to cut the clips perfectly to make sure it worked well and had effective continuity. 

5th January 2011

We have started to do the final bits of editing and had to transfer across our footage across to another computer.