Harry Buckle - Thriller analysis - The Dark Knight

As the scene starts, some dialogue is exchanged to establish some storyline and the name "The Joker" comes up as the man that these Bank Robbers are working for. This establishes the antagonist, but a protagonist is still unseen or heard from.
The characters seen in this five minute clip, although turn out to die by the end of this scene, establish what half the entire movie is based around; How "bad" The Joker is.This would normal be strange in a Thriller,as the opening usually focuses on the protagonist has done or, at least, shows the Set-up to the movie, but as this is a sequel to Christopher Nolan's 2005 "Batman Begins", these things have already been established by this point and don't need to be reinforced.
The Narrative in this opening helps, as previously stated, the spectator understand who is the antagonist and what he is doing that makes him so apparently unlawful. Although they are robbing a bank and killing one another to get a "bigger cut", there is a certain Tarantino-esque feel to the whole clip, as they talk causally with one another about the robbery, as if the were friends talking about something they saw on television. The sudden reveal of The Joker's signature face is surprising because the bank robbers talk as if he wasn't there with them
The editing of this scene is very well done, as it tracks all the major characters of the scene and differs them well enough that the spectator doesn't need to keep track of anything themselves. the shots are quick and different enough that it helps emphasise the adrenal feeling of robbing a bank that all the Bank robbers are sure to be feeling.
The Mise en scene in the clip helps the spectator distance themselves with the robbers, as they are all wearing clown masks. This also helps establish that they are all working for or have been hired by The Joker, as it is fairly common knowledge that the joker has a clown theme in whatever he does. This contrasts the act of breaking the law because clowns are associated with laughter and happiness, rather than what most people associated with doing something illegal.
The Music in this opening is what you would expect from a bank robbery and is pretty much the same all the way though the scene. As for diegetic sound, it stays very strictly to just matching what we see. As far as we know, the sounds were probably recorded with the scene.

In conclusion, this scene helps establish that the antagonist, The Joker, is evil and cunning enough to hire henchmen to help him steal a large amount of money, kill each other of with promises of more money and then have all the money to himself and no one to pay. This also shows us that Christopher Nolan doesn't feel that he needs to set-up anything for the protagonist or the story and, therefore, plunges straight into the disruption.

Mise en scene - filming locations

The filming locations, we hope to use are going to be a house and a room with a desk in it.

The ideas we have for the room with a desk location is that we want a room that is kind of bright. This wont matter in the end though as we are going to block off the windows and use the LED lights that the college has. The idea is that the desk seems isolated and surrounded by darkness is to make the desk the main focus and that there is nothing else around to distract from it.

The house setting is going to have a trashed look to as if someone has been there and is looking for something. The idea of it isnt total carnage. This will have a low key lighting used in it to try and replicate lights that are with in a house and yet at the same time we can use our lighting to help focus on important objects.

photos of ideas should be up with a week or 2

4th Febuary 2011

We are researching our opening and discussing how we could improve it. We are also finishing the post-its storyboard and starting to discuss the locations for filming. There will be a post later today with our first ideas on locations for our film. Also, we are going to have a blog post about lighting in our film after the post about locations. The Image is a rough idea of what we are think of doing for the first scene.

Story of thriller opening

The protagonist, after living in a insane asylum from the age of sixteen,  is let out. But, is still mentally unfit and blames his family for incarceration. He then proceeds to hunt down and kill his family for his "revenge".

Within the intro, we see an doctor/policeman going over a criminal/mental health record at his desk. One of the key parts of this scene is when he turns on the radio and music plays, which is played through out the scene and gets clearer as it goes.

Then, next we see the interior of a house, which has been wrecked inside. The inside shots will be dolly shots so we can see the extent of the carnage within the house. We see a shadow of the killer/psychopath walking away from the scan shot. We then go into the bathroom where we see a person sitting in the bath with the shower running onto them as they shiver in fear. As we zoom into the person, at the closest, we see hands grab the person. From here we will have a sudden fade to black with tense low note music over the top.

03 Febuary 2011

Today, we are planning using post-it notes and we are going to write up a hundred word overview of the story later on the blog. We have done a rough storyboard and are now drawing it neatly on the post-it. We drew inspiration from the 1978 John Carpenter film, Halloween, from its thriller elements although it is considered to be a horror movie. Here is the opening to Halloween.

Josh Godlington - Thriller intro analysis; The Dark Knight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0

The Dark Knight is a hybrid thriller which is mixed with action. The Intro is mainly filled with hidden identity so it creates mystery as to who it is.

How it creates enigma and thrills

• The beginning shot paces fowards into the building.
• makes us wonder if the building is important to the scene
• Creates excitement and jumps with the unexpected breaking of the window which intially makes you question if inside the building there is a gun fight happening.
• The hidden identity of the character wearing the mask who shot out the window makes you question if they are an antagonist or protagonist
• The shot of the person behind with the mask creates enigma as they may be associated with the person is the shot before with the mask.
• The camera moving in to the mask creates emphasis on the mask as it is basically what we are going to see the character as for the most of the shot.
• The Dialogue of the scene makes us wonder if the Joker character they are talking about is with them as the character who got into the back seat doesnt say any lines where as the two in the front and the two on the roof do.
• This also shows that the characters may not be sure as to who is behind the masks
• Suspense is helped built by shots back to the character in his own office which makes you ask yourself if he is a pivotal character.
• Music dynamics are built as the criminals get closer to the safe and to the objective.

 The thrill and suspense of the scene is in my eyes helped built by the building action of the characters, the hidden identity of the charcters which makes you ask if they are just normal bank robbers or if they are main characters to the film and the music which build suspense by going in motion with the film

Josh Godlington - Thriller intro analysis; the disappearance of alice creed

sorry that these are late internet connection keeps on cutting.

The disappearance of Alice Creed straight off creates enigma through the use of the characters hidden agenda where we do not no what the motive of them doing the things that they do.

How Enigma and thrill is made in the clip

• The motive of the pair is not really shown as they are seen stealing in one scene but another scene they are seen buying from a home improvement store.
• The lack of dialogue creates more mystery as dialogue can help show more about a character through the way they speak and what they say.
• The locations of the house and the woods may help show any motive as they are hidden with none of the close locations show.
• The camerawork inside the house are establishing shots which put emphasis on key areas which may be important to the rest of the movie
• The sychronised movements of the characters raises the question of have they done something like this before, as the movements seem robotic or just practised
• Low key lighting makes the atmosphere of the setting dark.
• Music adds the tension by changing each time the characters do something
• When we first see inside the house the music is more calm as the camera pans around and the music changes to a more dynamic tone. 
• This adds tension by symbolizing that the characters are infact antagonists and may play a main role in the rest of the film.
• The total darkness of the room made by them boarding up the windows may show signs of an OCD nature as there was curtains up there before so they may have wanted it perfect dark.
• Overall motive is seen after they buy the bed and fully lock doors

• This shows that they want to keep people out or people from getting and that they perhaps wish to rape someone.

In conclusion, as the mystery of the motive of the characters is revealed, the tension is raised as it makes you wonder when they are going to commit the crime.