Art Of The Title

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

This website specialises in looking at Tilte sequences in movies and television from around the globe and rating them on how unique and interesting they are and how they relate to the movie/program.



Scott Pilgrim vs the World


Most recently they looked at Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Collateral opening sequence

In our media class today we watched the opening sequence of Collateral. We did this because as it was showing us that in the opening of a film you don't necessarily have to have all the opening titles at the start but you can get to know the characters first then do the titles. 

Panic Room opening sequence.

We also watched in our media class the opening credits to Panic Room. We aslo watched these opening credits to see what information we would have to put on our own opening credits.

Se7en (Opening Credits)

We watched the opening credits of the film Se7en in our media class. This was to get a variety of things that we could do for our own opening credits to our thriller.

Sabotage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJphwVjUF9E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOfln1alLTU&NR=1

In class we watched part of the film Sabotage made in 1936 and diretced by Alfred Hitchcock. The part we watched which is shown above is where the bomb goes off at the Lord Mayor's Show. We watched this scene as it is thought to be the best way of doing suspence in a movie to date. Many other directors look at this scene for inspiration on how to create the atmosphere to the audience of suspence. Hitchcock does this in with numerous techniques. One technique is dramatic irony. This is because the audience knows that the bomb is in the canister which the boy is holding but the characters in the text don't so makes the audience more involved in the plot as we know something that the characters don't. Also throughout the scene there is a close up of clocks as time is running out for the boy as the minute hand gets closer to the 45 which we know is when the bomb will go off. This makes us wonder if the boy will make it in time to the destination or not? Finally the music is parallel to the scene as its a clock ticking which emphasises if the boy has enough time or not as he goes very slowly and leisurely along the way. Furthermore this drags out the scene and the suspension as you want the boy to hurry up with the bomb.  

Audience Research

For our audience research we were asked to create a survey on Survey Monkey. This is so we can collect a wide variety, along with our vox pops, of answers and views on the thriller genre.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=F1CCaoEsqZbAa8Rw1bC4Y36hvuFJp%2bduRxQg4ET22aQ%3d

Audience Research

I uploaded my Thriller Movie Research survey on facebook to get a variety of people's answers to the questions. Also i found i got a lot more people to complete the survey when I did it this way.

North By Northwest

 

The second opening sequence of a film we watched in class was North By Northwest in 1958. This film starts with a Graphic Match as shown above. It goes from the title of the film to a typical New York building which has the same patterns and line structure . This is useful as it goes from the title straight into the location then into the streets of New York to the action. This is also shown as this film gets straight into the plot within the first 5 minutes. At first we meet the main character Roger O'Thornhill and his secretary getting into a cab. This is when the audience gets to know his character's personality. Roger is a vein man as he casres about his apperance more than his women and is very business like in both his work and his personal life as it is all structured. His costume, hair and make up are all immaculate with him wearing a smart suit, which he wears all the way through the film and his hair is slicked back to the side. Alfred Hitchcock uses an Enigma in this opening sequence very effectively to create mystery and action in the story at the very start. This will make the audeince want to watch on to find out the enigma which I hope to do in my thiller film.



Alfred Hitchcock made a cameo in the film North By Northwest



Vertigo in 1958 (the first 4 minutes)

Vertigo

The third film that we watched in class was Vertigo in 1956. This film also starts with a graphic match from an eye to swirling vertigo patterns to an eye. This film starts with action as the main character, John Ferguson, is chasing someone with a fellow police officer across the room tops of San Francisco. This is when he realises that he has vertigo which is phobia of heights. This starts the plot of the film off as the rest of the film is about him dealing with the problem. Alfred Hitchcock does this as he is not giving too much away but giving enough mystery and action so that the audience will watch on to find out what happens to John.

Shadow of a Doubt

The first film we watched in class was Shadow of a Doubt from 1943 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film starts with the opening credits in front of dancers. The music which is played in the background is called Merry Widow which is very opera style and parallel to the scene. You as the audience wonder why this is significant to the film and is a mystery as to why. This then makes the audience what to watch on to find out which I hope to do in my thriller film to create that atmosphere. It then goes to a pan shot of an American setting to San Francisco's bridge to children playing in the street. The camera then zooms into a typical hotel room where the main character, Uncle Charlie is lying on the bed in the darkness. The room number is 13 which is seem as an unlucky number which gets the audience thinking if this is a safe place. This is the first time we see Uncle Charlie positioned on the bed static. His costume is a suit which is immaculate and his hair and makeup are done to perfection. This tells us that he is very wealthy and because he has a cigar and money set on the floor this supports this.  However because the money is thrown on the floor and he is in a little, shabby hotel room shows that he doesn't think too highly of money. The inn keeper then walks in and has a mainly one sided conversation with Uncle Charlie. Hitchcock does this as there is not a great deal of dialogue so the audience can concentrate on the character and the music in the scene. When she is there she tells Uncle Charlie that there are two men asking for him. This makes the audience wonder why the two men were looking for him and why it is so urgent that they do. This also makes us question if we can trust this character and if he is the protagonist or the antagonist. Moreover when the inn keeper closes the blind on Uncle Charlie he goes into the darkness which suggests he has a dark personality. Hitchcock does this because he is going from light to dark. Also the music goes very dark and is parallel to this scene as a few moments later he smashes a glass against the wall. This illustrates that he has a very sort temper and is hot headed. We then go to the American location of Santa Barbara. Hitchcock chose this specific location because at the time it was considered the nicest place to live in America. We then see the next main character also named Charlie laying on the bed in the light. This is mirrored to Uncle Charlie when he is laying on the bed to her laying on the bed. Hitchcock does this duality to imply that one of these characters is the protagonist and one is the antagonist as they are the same but opposites of each other.

Charlie laying on the bed in the light 

Uncle Charlie Laying on the bed in the dark

Shadow Of A Doubt in 1943

9

Opening Scene Analysis

Alfred Hitchcock

In our media class we watched three openings to thriller films all directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899 -1980). Firstly we watched the opening scene to Shadow of a Doubt, then North By Northwest, then finally Vertigo.We watched and took notes on various parts of the scene and each individual frame from the mise-en-scene to other techniques. We did this so we could look at the props and settings, lighting and colour, facial expressions and body language, positioning of characters and objects and makeup, hair and costumes to give us ideas about what we could do for our own thriller coursework.  Also what works and what doesn't work for an opening scene of a thriller as you don't want to give too much away as it's only the first 5 minutes but in contrast you don't want to give too little information so the audience don't watch on.