An analisis of a thriller opening. The Day after Tomorrow

Camera
The first shot we see is a pan over icy water. Setting the scene and location.
Establishing shot after the pan, helps to set the scene more, which then revolves around a small camp.
Close up of an American flag, which then pans down to show to men from behind.
Mid close up, coming from the side, of both men. They are dressed in large coats.
One man (Jason) is appears to be younger than the other. The older man is operating something, then Jason steps up to do the same, hinting that he is an apprentice of the older man, or is being taught by him.
Mid close up of older man's hands as he picks up a silver tube, emphasising the importance of the tube as a prop.
Third man is introduced inside a small room, with a mid close up, he is using some form of scientific microscope instrument, hinting that the men are scientists.
Close up of a drill spinning and breaking the ice, followed by a mid close up of the ice cracking, hinting that the two re connected. A tracking shot, which then turns in to a pan/rotate up follows the crack as it spreads across the ice, towards Jason.
Brief close up of Jason's face, which quickly cuts to his hands as the drill suddenly shoots down.
Close up of Jason as he looks over his shoulder.
Mid long, high angled shot if Jason and cracking ice, making him look weak and venerable.
Reaction shot of third man, and older man in single mid close up.
Tracking rotate as the third man steps towards the door.
Over the shoulder shot (from third man) of Jason.
Reaction shot of third man.
A quick mid long shot of Jason as the ice breaks, which quickly cuts to a crane long shot of whole camp.
High angled mid shot as the older man and the third man try to save Jason, which becomes steeper and pans forward in to a birds-eye view of a huge hole in the ice.
Close up of third mans feet as he jumps over the hole.
Mid shot from the side of third man jumping.
Close up of his feet as third man lands.
(shot reverse shot)-Over the shoulder reaction shot from third man of older man.
(srs)-Reaction shot of third man.
(srs)-Reaction shot of older man.
Pan over hole in to a birds-eye vies of third man.
Long shot of third man hanging and ice collapsing.
Over the low angled shoulder from third man of the other two.


Editing
Simple black and white text is overlaid as the titles are displayed during the ice pan.
Continuity, slow paced at first, but becomes much faster when the ice starts to break.
Cuts are used to make it flow easily.


Sound

Before any visuals (excluding text) is shown, a faint tune, of a choir singing with classical string instruments is heard in the background. This gives of a mysterious atmosphere.
The ice cracking is slightly exaggerated to emphasis it more.

The Day After Tomorrow is a disaster thriller and it has many conventions of one, firstly, a disaster thriller revolves around a disaster, either natural or man made, during the opening five minutes it this becomes and obvious theme as the men nearly die due to collapsing ice. Another convention supported by this film is the use of continuity editing, that uses cuts and gains pace throughout the scene. This is often use because it builds suspense and grips the viewer while not confusing them with rapid scene changes or disorientating jump cuts.
Also, disaster thrillers usually start with some sort of scientific tests, which we can assume is happening here due to the scientific equipment, such as the microscope. The tests are usually being carried out in a far,m distant place, usually a very harsh environment. In The Day After Tomorrow the opening scene is set in an icy area, presumably near the north or south pole, this is used to give a feel of isolation, and, as those conducting the tests often discover a warning of the natural disaster, it stops them from warning the rest of the world.
The opening credits of thrillers usually try to make as much tension as possible, using dramatic text and colour types, however, in The Day After Tomorrow the text is simple, and the text colour black or white. The music though, ties back to the usual conventions as the choir/classical string style music is strange, mysterious and quickly builds as the scene progresses. Thrillers also often like to identify the heroes and the 'red shirts' (a term that means characters that are only there to die so as to build tension and present a sense of the danger the protagonists are in in the viewer) quickly, usually by placing the 'red shirts' in mortal peril and having a hero save the day, we see this in the opening of The Day After Tomorrow, as one man, Jason, almost falls to his death while the other two have to save him. Thrillers also use age as a guide to who the heroes are, in a disaster thrillers, the youngest scientist in a project is usually the least experienced and the first to go, The Day After Tomorrow supports this as Jason, who appears to be the youngest, is the first to be placed in danger.
The Day After Tomorrow seems to support this, as all the characters we meet in the opening sequence are obviously scientists. Another thing about most disaster thriller heroes is that they tend to be American, which we can easily see in this opening as it features an American flag, which is emphasised with a close up of it.

David Fincher - Thriller Director

David Fincher is a successful thriller director, he has directed films such as Se7en, Fight Club, The Game and Panic Room. When he was 18 years old he went to work for Korty Films where he worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981 - 1983 however left there to direct his own television adverts and music videos. Fincher then made it to directing films by founding Propaganda in 1987. 


Fincher has some trade marks that he uses in his thriller films such as a single inserted frame, for example in Fight Club he used several single frames that flashed on the screen in the middle of a scene. He also uses he characters as silhouettes during a scene in the shadows so you cannot make out their faces such as Kevin Spacey in Se7en. Fincher's films often end in suicide whether it be attempted or successful. They also often have green or blue tinted colour temperature and low key lighting. And his most used shots are low angles and wide shots.


Here is a list of all the films David Fincher has directed so far in his career;
- Alien 3 
- Se7en
- The Game
- Fight Club
- Panic Room
- Zodiac
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Social Network
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

"People will say, 'There are a million ways to shoot a scene,' but I don't think so. I think there're two, maybe. And the other one is wrong." - David Fincher.

Analysis of Thriller - After Life

After.Life

After Life is a psychological and supernatural thriller. The name suggests a supernatural however while watching the film there are 'mind tricks' involved as you do not know whether the girl is alive or dead or in the afterlife.

Conventions

For psychological

-Anna wakes up and is being told she is dead however she is breathing and talking therefore we do not know the truth about her identity.

-Anna has the trauma of her life and the car crash which she still has nightmares about.

-She is not sure if she is real or not. 

For supernatural

-The antagonist is said to have an ability to see people between life and death.

-There is a plot twist at the end where we do not know if this is true or if he is the one killing them.

Mise-en-scene

Props - The first scene the antagonist only has four items, a flower which he puts on the dead man's suit, and a needle, medicine, and a camera on a table. The next scene there are very little props as they are in a apartment where the only prop used is a cigarette. The scene changes again to a school where there is are chicks in a class room which also makes diegetic sound. As this is parallel editing the scene flicks from Anna to Mr Hutton. Anna has props such as paper, pen and also a pot of pills and Mr Hutton has a coffin and a board showing his profession.

Costume - Anna - a red under garment. The colour red was a good colour to choose as it stands out from the rest of the white apartment and is also the colour associated with death and blood. She later has on working clothes of a school teacher of dull colours.

Paul - wears a suit for work which also has dull colours apart from a blue tie which stands out showing he has importance in the film.

Mr Hutton - He is also wearing a suit with all the colours different shades of grey showing his relation with death.

Body Language - Mr Hutton also stands up straight with pride as if he were better then others. Paul is more slouched however is trying to reach out to Anna by putting a hand on the glass she is showering behind. Anna also stands up straight however more with tensions then pride however there are times when she seems to each up, this is when she slouches against her desk.

Editing

-The opening of this thriller uses parallel editing, showing the protagonist and the antagonist in their lives before they have met each other. 

-The main transition used is a cut. When the filming goes from the antagonist to the credits there is a flash dissolve to a white screen using a flash from a camera as a link. The same transition is used to go back to the storyline.

-The credits are red writing on a white background where they dissolve slowly in and out of focus. 

-A dissolve is used each time the filming goes to a different location. Making the change in location important.

Camera work 

The different distances of the camera goes from one extreme to the other, this makes you anticipate as you feel someone bad is about to happen, it also makes you disorientated. The different angles of the shots lets you see who is the important character in the scene for example at the very beginning of the film there is a low angle shot of the antagonist and a high angle shot of a dead man who he is talking to. This shows that the antagonist has the power in this situation has control on the man in the coffin. In a lot of the shots there is a small amount of movement that could be described as hand held however it is too smooth and precise to be. The movement seems to follow the movement of a character, this also makes it disorientating and makes you feel as if you are really there watching them. They also use some slow zooms. Here is a list of some of the shots in sequence;

Cantered low angle

extreme close up

close up high angle

Pan of body

birds eye view close up, zooming out moving to side

...

establishing shot

over the shoulder

extreme close up

slow zoom

hand held

extreme close up

establishing

long shot 

over the shoulder

...

tracking 

extreme long shot

long shot

extreme long shot 

close up 

extreme long shot

close up 

Sound

At first there is no soundtrack which makes the scene creepy as the only sounds are diegetic such as foot steps, water dripping and a sudden camera flash is well as speech. After the camera flash the sound track begins with the credits. The sound track is mainly played by the piano in a slow minor key which makes it mysterious, upsetting and very eerie. There is also heavy breathing and cymbals this adds to the feel of the music. The music then turns quiet however is still played over the footage and non-diegetic sound for a little while until it stops at the change of location. When the soundtrack starts again it is very quiet however builds in volume for a few minutes until it then stops to the sound of echoing footsteps and lights fuzzing then sparking out.

Filming Analysis

Good Points 

• We had our actresses assigned long before our filming began
• We didn't have to retake many shots because most were successful the first time.
• We had all props close at hand from planning.
• Our actresses had previous experience in amateur dramatics so they were confident.
• We worked well within our group and took on different roles to best fit our personal skills.
• We already had two locations available which were perfect for our scenes.
• Our two locations were easily acssessable as they were owned by members of the group.
• We had effective costume and make up.
• We got all the shots we needed from the shot list.

 Bad Points

• The actress who played Jade got very cold, her arm actually going numb due to the unheated location used for the hideout scene.
• We had to wait for it to get dark before we could film the kitchen scene, to avoid continuity errors.
• Some of the shots in the hideout scene were too dark and had to be manually lit with a torch or edited in Final cut to make them visible.

Target Audience

The target audience for Disconnected would be teenagers and young adults. This is because conventionally thrillers are aimed at this age range. Younger children may find scenes disturbing.we are going to appeal to our target audience through the micro elements.

Focus test.

Certificate Rating

Our chosen certificate for Disconnected is a 12 because it conforms to the criteria of a 12 film from BBFC, which include:

Discrimination: Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs: Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror:Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour: Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language: Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language must be infrequent.

Nudity: Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex: Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme: Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence:Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

Story board

How we'll get high marks.

-Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate:
During the house scenes, we have already thought about this, as we have planed to have a few shots of centering around the phone. Because we want the audience's focus to be on the phone, the only prop in the for ground ill be the phone. During most of these shots we will also have the mother in the background, so as to communicate how oblivious she is to the phone call.

During the kidnapper's hideout near all of our shots will be close ups, or extreme close ups, of Jade (Holly), this means that the rest of the room is generally hidden from audience view.

-Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate:
This one may be a slight problem, as a lot of our shots will be close ups/mid close ups of Jade. However, although the shots in the house are close ups of the phone, they are also long shots of the mother, also, because the shot distances have to be appropriate, and most of the time the most appropriate shot for our scenes would be close ups, then we still fit the criteria.

-Shooting material appropriate for the task set:
Seeing as we will only film previously planned material, which is all task appropriate, we will be able to avoid inappropriate content.

-Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting objects and setting:
As said in the first point, during the home scenes, we will make the phone the key prop, so will dominate most scenes.

The walls of the house are yellow, which communicates a happy and positive atmosphere, which would contrast the greys of the hideout. The clothes of the mother also give off a homely feel as she will be wearing a red apron, blue jeans and a light green jumper., all these articles of clothing and colours are friendly, and the apron gives off that she's stero typical mother.

Jade will wear ripped leggins and a white top. The white top shows her innocence.

Font Research

Test Shots

 

The video above shows different shots, transitions and sound that we may use for our thriller opening. 

When editing the shots together we need to make sure the black screens inbetween shots are shorter then the film it self and so they keep the interest of the viewer withour being boring. In this video we have used a 'Fade in, Fade out Dissolve' for all transition between black screens, on the video this gets very repeatative however as there are going to be less shots in our opening we are going to keep the 'Fade in, Fade out Dissolve'

We tried different angles for the shots as we could not decide which would look the best, after watching through the test shots we have decided on which angles and distances we now want. For example, an extreme close up of Jades eye instead of a close up. a birds eye view shot of Jade lying down and with the phone next to her instead of a a straight angle from the floor. We also tried two panning shots, one using a tripod and the other hand held we decided to go for the use of a tripod.

The sound in this video is of 'Audio Track 33' which is of ambient sound, it was not long enough to fit to the end, therefore we had to have another to the end, however it does not truly fit as it goes quieter after building up the tension. In our opening we will either have a different sound or we will cut it so that the tension stays the same. 

In our thriller opening the kidnapping scene will be darker and Jade will be wearing torn and muddy clothes.

Analysis of Production company & Film comparison

For our Thriller Project the production company that would distribute our film would be 'Lions Gate Entertainment' as they do a range of films from comedy, such as 'Dogma' to horrors like 'The Descent' and thrillers like 'Crank' and 'Gamer'.
Because Lions Gate Entertainment has a wide audience from producing various different genres in film, this would come to our advantage as people will trust Lions Gate with previous films they've enjoyed.

Our Thriller opening is similar to the film 'Taken' which was produced by 'EuropaCorp' in 2008.
 'Taken' is about a former spy who relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade.
Our film is similar to this film because a girl has gotten kidnapped and all the mother has left is a voice mail, and struggles to find her daughter with barely any help from the detectives, and in 'Taken' the daughter is kidnapped and her father takes matters into his own hands to find her.

Call Sheet

Location
- Kayla's house, Isleham.
-Alistair's pig sty, Isleham.

Props
- Mobile Phone
- House phone
- Rope
- Washing up plates

Kit
-Camera
-Tripod

When to Film

 

Film the kidnapping scene on a Tuesday.

Film the kitchen/house scene on a Wednesday.

Why Thrillers Thrive

The public visits the cinema to see life reflected on the screen, however not real life which we experience but life with a difference or 'thrills'. we feel that we need these 'shake-ups' to make life iinteresting, but not experiencing them first hand, so we experience them artificially, so that we feel safe and secure. although we feel involved in the experience, and feel the characters 'thrills', in a well made film we not only spectate it we participate in it.
the audience thrives on thrills, the cinema thrives on the audience, the director thrives onthe cinema and everybody is happy.
however horror films are very different to thrillers. thrillers are wholehearted and exciting, the authentic thriller will live and thrive and the horrow film will die.

Action and Crime Thrillers

Sonic mood board

Why thrillers thrive

Summary of 'why thrillers thrive' article.

The majority of people who go to the cinema to see thrillers, don't go to spectate the film but to participate in the film while watching and that's the main way people can be filled with adrenaline, without having to be put in a dangerous situation themselves. A thriller is designed to thrill people by showing the audience something scary like a plane crashing from the safety of their seats fully knowing they're secure. Blackouts can be used to unnerve the audience when something dangerous or worrying has just occurred and thrillers can convince the audience there's danger with good camera shots and editing. I feel like the article was a little bit bias when talking about horrors when compared to thrillers, as it stated that thrillers ''will live and thrive''whereas horrors ''will die'' because the public at the time the article was written had rising opinions against horrors being created and the person who wrote the article said that the public is ''healthy-minded'' making that a reason why they feel horrors were ''bound to fail'' but i don't feel that is a supported enough reason against horror films, and their prediction that horrors would fail was quite wrong as today horrors are a big section in the film industry. But despite the bias view on horrors and thrillers, the article mentioned that the main difference between horrors and thrillers, put simply, is that thrillers are created to excite the audience whereas horrors are designed to scare the audience.

Script

 Jade: (Whispering) please pick up, please please pick up

Mother: (voicemail Service) Hey you've reached the Camden Residence, sorry none of us can reach the phone at the moment
Jade: (voice mail Service) MUM!
Mother: (voice mail service) guys shhh.. im trying to record the voicemail, oh i will just do it later, (hastily) please leave your message after the tone... GUYS!
Voicemail service: BEEP

Jade: Mum, help me, please, im scared, please mum help me, you need to tell someone, im in a barn, i dont know where, theres two men, im so scared, mum, i love y-

Potential Risks and Hazards