Research: Narrative themes - Miss Begum

Narrative themes

A theme is a subject which is applied to a film for the audience to understand, at length what is expected of it. They are important to the audience as it helps them understand the narrative more. For example if a theme is violence in the movie then the audience would expect there to be a lot of fights in the film.

Themes and genres

Themes are dependent on the genre because for example if you had a romance movie there would not likely be a theme of death and violence but if it was a thriller and an action movie you would most likely see those themes in those movies.

Common themes in thriller and why

Common themes in thriller are:

Violence

Religious

Supernatural

Death

Gore

Rebellion

These are common themes in order to make the movie scarier and have a psychological and physiological effect on the audience.

Impact of themes on the audience

The impact it has on audience are either psychological or physiological in thriller as these themes normally scare the audience because thriller films are meant to frighten and scare the audience. Furthermore the themes have effect on the narrative as well because if there is a theme of death in the narrative then obviously someone is going to die in the movie.

Conclusion

In conclusion researching about narrative themes as helped improve my understanding on why different themes are used. This has also helped me decide what theme I am going to use for my thriller opening scene which will probably be things like violence, death, gore and supernatural stuff.

Research: Narrative theory - Miss Begum

Narrative theory

What is narrative theory?

The narrative theory is the way the story of a movie is told and how meaning is constructed to achieve the understanding of the audience. The narrative refers to all the events in a movie. The narrative is important because the audience need to understand what is happening in the movie in order for the story to make sense.

Four element that allow the audience to find meaning.

Genre: the genre creates more meaning to the audience as they can understand the narrative more by knowing what the genre is. For example if the genre was romance the story would normally be about two people in love and if the story was thriller you would expect to see violence and gore.

Character: the way characters are presented in movies is important because it allows us to create meaning and context for the characters. For example if a character is wearing black you would think he is an evil character. And if a character was wearing white it would show purity.

Structure: The structure of the movies is important because the structure of the movie will help the narrative for example every movie has to have a start middle and end or it wouldn’t make sense.

Denotation connotations: connotations and denotation create meaning in movies because the denotation will be something like a pan using to cook something but the connotation would be like using a pan to hit someone in the head to knock them out.

Theorist:

Propp: Propp was meaning mainly interested in narrative folk tales. He believed that folk tales were about the same basic struggles. Therefore he has the same characters. Characters have a narrative function, they provide a structure for the text.

Propp’s characters include:

·         The Hero - A character that seeks for better things

·         The Villain - Who opposes or actively blocks the hero's quest

·         The Donor - Who provides an object with magical properties

·         The Dispatcher - Who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

·         The False Hero - Who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims

·         The Helper - Who aids the hero

·         The Princess - Acts as a reward for the hero and the object of the villains plot

·         Her Father - Who acts to reward the hero for his effort

Event Order (Stages):

1)      Complication - Hero acts towards the villain via plan

2)      Transference - Hearo reacts to the donor

3)      Struggle - Villain has to be overcome

4)      Return - Hero arrives home

5)      Recognition - False hero or villain is unmasked

Todarov:

Todarov believed in the idea of an equilibrium and disequilibrium and new

Equilibrium

Equilibrium: is the beginning of the movie where there is no problem and

Everything is a peace

Disequilbrium: this is the climax of the movie and where everything goes wrong.

New Equiblrium: is the idea of a new beginning and everything is at peace once

Again.

Aristotle:

Aristotle was centered his theories round themes and emotions his structure consisted of it going from an exposition in which the audience gets to know the character.

1)      Exposition - The audience gets to know the main character

2)      Rising Action - Protagonist understand her or his goal and beings to work towards it

3)      Climax - Greatest overall tension; the phase in which everything goes mostly wrong

4)      Falling Action - The turning point of the story, where the main character makes the decision that defines the outcome of the story

5)      Denouement - The resolution is that all mystery is solved

Barthes:

The last theorist is Barthes his narrative can be defined through connotations and denotations and cultural understanding.

Conclusion: researching about these theorist has improved my understanding about narritives and has helped me to decide what narrative I am going to do for my thriller opening scene and the narrative I am probably going to use is todaraov’s theory because it is the most used theory in thriller films today.

Research: Typography - Mrs. Quinlan

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point size, line length, line-spacing, letter-spacing, and adjusting the space within letters pairs.

Typography and connotations

Thriller genre:

The thriller genre’s typography is normally creepy and frightening. This one connotes that something bad is going to happen in the film as the title is on fire and it has a black background and fire and black both show darkness and destruction. The three I’s in the title both look like a cross which shows that the movie to going to be about religion somehow.

Rom-com:

Romantic comedies typography is normally bright and colourful this is to connote that the movie is going to be a positive movie and it is not going to show any destruction death and violence. The colour of pink and blue shows that one of the main character is a female and one is a male and the heart at the bottom shows that the movie is about love.

Action:

Action movies typography normally looks cool and exciting as it stands out. This one typography stands out as well as the letter are bright. There is a black background to show that something bad is going to happen in the movie.

Typography and thrillers: screen shot examples from thrillers and their and their connation

The typography used in the ending scene of purge anarchy shows that the film was a movie with a lot of blood and gore as the colour of the text is black and the colour of the background is red. This connotes that the movie had a sad ending as the colours are quite dark and negative.

The typography used in the opening scene of Arlington is simple and plain in order to show that the area is a normal and calm area in order to make the accident of the kid of look more shocking as stuff like this doesn’t happen every day. The dog in the background also shows this because it shows the average family of a mum dad and kids and a pet in this case the dog.

 

Typography is used in different ways in order to show hints to the movie or sometimes just to make the movie look stylish. For example the typography for se7en makes it look like it is a mysterious movie as the letters are blurred. It also shows that there is a possibility of computer hacking being in the movie as that what the typography looks like. The typography for casino royal make the Os stand out in order to make it in line with the 7 in order to show 007 this is used to make the movie look like there is going to be a lot of action because there is a gun next to the 7

Conclusion

Overall researching about typography has improved my understanding on why different typography is used. This has given me ideas to think about of what typography to use for my thriller opening. For example I will make certain letters stand out and have the typography have meaning to the opening scene.

Research: Scream analysis - Miss Begum

In the beginning of the opening sequence slow paced editing is used to show that everything is stable in the home and there’s no problems because it seemed like someone dialled the wrong the number. The women is also going to watch a movie, so everything seemed calm which was supported by the fact that she wanted to watch a movie. On screen sound is used in the beginning of the scene when the damsel in distress is talking to man on the phone and the on-screen sound is the voice of the man. Talking on the phone is an everyday activity, so the atmosphere is non-threatening this is conventional to s thriller opening because the beginning tends to be very non-threatening and safe. A close-up is also used in order to show her facial expression when she is on the phone and she has a flirtatious look when she is talking as she initially feels comfortable with talking to him. Also the iconography in this scene is the phone as that is the significant object that provides the audience with the understanding that all the torture that the damsel in distress is going to receive is going to be from the antagonist. All this is conventional to a thriller opening because thriller films like to often show a calm atmosphere in the beginning of the movie in order to shock the audience when they see what is going to happen next.

As the scene develops things start going a bit out of hand as the man keeps repeatedly calling the women and putting on a creepy voice. The sound that is significant in this section is the non-diegetic sound of the music as the music suddenly goes loud when the women starts panicking this is conventional to a thriller opening because the sound normally starts being louder and creepier when something bad is happening in the scene. The editing used in this section is fast paced in order to show that a lot of things are happening at the same time, this is done often in thriller opening sequences because they want the audience to get scared. In this section low key lighting is used in order to show something bad is going to happen because the low key lighting shows darkness. This is used a lot in thriller opening sequences because something bad always happens in thriller movies.

In the next bit things start going downhill because the man won’t stop calling, the women is scared to death and the boyfriend has been tied up by the man somehow this is where the scene starts going into the disequilibrium because everything is chaos right now. In this section a close-up is used in order to show the facial expression of the women as she has a scared face, at the same time you could say that it is a reaction shot as well. Slow paced editing is used when the women is sitting next to the TV talking on the phone, this is because they want to emphasise the moment because she is sitting there scared and were wondering what is going to happen to her so they want to make it slow in order to keep us waiting and make us more anxious. The one important iconography used in this section is the blue TV in the dark room. This TV is important because it is ironic because this type of things happen in movies and she was just going to watch a movie so it’s ironic that it happens to her. All of this has been conventional to a thriller opening sequence because stuff like slow paced editing to emphasise moments and close ups to show facial expressions happen a lot in thriller openings.

Near the end of the scene things are getting worse because his boyfriend has been killed by the man so now she has no hope of anyone saving her. In this section a long shot was used in order to show the body language of the women as she was trembling and crying this makes the audience feel pity for the character as she has no hope of surviving. Slow paced editing was used in this scene in order to slow down the women’s last moments as she is the next victim for the man and they tried to make her death as slow as possible in order for us to have a psychological effect of sadness for the character.

In conclusion I have found this scene to be a very conventional scene because it goes with nearly all of the conventions of a thriller film such as low key lighting, both fast paced and slow paced editing used at appropriate times, important iconography such as the phone she uses to talk to the man and diegetic and Non-diegetic sound such as scary music. So this scene is very conventional to thriller opening scenes                                                                 

  

Research: Age certificate - Mrs. Quinlan

Age certificates

What is the role of the BBFC and why are they important to the film industry.

The role of the BBFC is to give age ratings for film in order for people to view the right thing for their age. BBFC are important to the film industry because without theme, young kids could think it is suitable to view a film which has sex violence and gore in it and the BBFC prevent that from happening without them people won’t know what is appropriate to watch.

What are the different certificates?

Universal is the age rating to show that it is available for every age group. These type of films are particular kids films and fairy tales.

Parental guidance is the age rating to show that it is suitable for most people but it can be inappropriate for kids under the age of 4. These films can contain a bit of violence and a emotional story line.

  

 

This age rating shows that this film is only suitable for people over the age of 12. This film can contain violence and death and mature language. These films are normally action and adventure films and dramas.

Only used in cinemas, this age rating shows that this film is going to be more violent and have more mature language than 12. This rating was introduced because of the original spider-man film as they felt the film was too violent for a 12 and too soft for a fifteen.

 

This age rating shows that this movie is only suitable for people over the age of 15. This film will contain strong violence strong language sex scene and mild drug use. These films are normally thriller horror war action etc.

This age rating shows that that this movie is not suitable for anyone over 18 because this movie contain strong violence torture strong sex scenes and heavy drug use. These movies are normally thrillers and dramas.

What age ratings are thrillers and why?

Thrillers are normally 15 and 18 because they will always contain strong violence, sometimes they have a lot of crime and heavy drug use and the movie is supposed to scare the audience so it is not appropriate for anyone under 15 to watch as it can have bad effects on them.

What age rating will my thriller be?

My thriller opening will most likely be a 15 as I don’t plan for there to be heavy drug use and torture in the scene. Also because it is the most used age rating for thrillers and more people will be suitable to watch it because of this.

Conclusion

In conclusion researching age ratings has improved my understanding of why they use different age ratings in different films and it has helped to decide what age rating my thriller opening is going to be.

Research : Thriller openings - Mrs. Quinlan

What is a thriller opening?

A thriller opening is the opening scene of a thriller film which most of times displays credits and plays music in order to introduce the movie.  In thriller openings common conventions are used in order to affect the audience. Some conventions in thriller openings are non-diegetic sound such as music, credits to show who stars in the movie, low key lightning.

What is the purpose of a thriller opening?

The purpose of a thriller opening is to give the audience the understanding about what is going to happen next in the movie. For example if the opening scene of the film is bad the audience wouldn’t want to continue watching the rest of the film because they think that the rest is going to be bad as well that is why it is important to make a good first impression on the audience with the thriller opening.

Conventions of a thriller opening?

Some of the conventions in thriller openings are:

·         Credits: to show who is acting in the film and who produced it etc.

·         Low key lighting: to show something bad is going to happen

·         Non-diegetic sound such as music in order to have more of an effect on the audience

·         Parallel sound: sound that makes sense in the thriller opening

·         Close-ups: to show facial expressions of characters in the openigns.

What information needs to go in a thriller opening?

In a thriller opening there need to be credits to show who produced the movie and acted in it. There needs to be things to introduce the movie to the audience such as narrators or characters from the movie. You also need to show the name of the film.

Analyse a thriller opening and bullet point your findings.

Batman begins opening scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOtP82E0ZHM

·         It shows credits of who the film is owned by.

·         Iconography: It has the bats forming the batman sign

·         It fades from the bats to the woods.

The purge opening scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0lcdgDCytA

·         Credits to show who owns the rights to the film

·         Shows camera scenes of people destroying things which will make the audience interested in the film

·         Iconography: the camera the videos the people, even though you can’t see it, it is significant because the camera is what is showing the people.

Conclusion

In conclusion researching these thriller openings has improved my understanding on why they do things in thriller openings. For my thriller opening I will include credits, have low key lighting and show stuff happening from the film. This research has now helped me to create my own thriller opening sequence.

Research: Mise en scene: costume, hair and make-up - Mrs. Quinlan

Costume hair and make-up

Costume is the clothes that characters wear in movies it often show what type of character they are, for example if the character was wearing black you’d think that he’d be an evil, dangerous and devious character. Hair and make-up make the audience understand more about the character. It can guide the audience to particular personalities. For example if a women was wearing make-up you’d think she is just the generic damsel in distress in thriller film but if a man was wearing make-up for example a character like joker you can see that he is meant to be a creepy character as men don’t normally wear make-up. What hair they have could also make the audience think what type of character they are for example if a character has brown hair you would think they are a normal character because brown hair is common but if a character has dyed their hair yellow the audience would think they are a creepy character.

Costume hair and make-up discuss connotations

Some of the stereotypes for costumes come from what the colours of the clothing is, for example if a male wears red you would think he is evil or a devil type of thing and if a women was wearing red you would think they are mysterious and provoking for men. Another one when you wear light colours such as white shows purity and innocence. Lastly a suit show intelligence and experience. For hair and make-up hair shows kind of person you are such as for a blonde girl the stereotypes is that they are divas and not that smart. But black and brown hair normally shows that the character is brave and strong because most protagonist either have black or brown hair.

Protagonist

A protagonist normally wears smart clothing and don’t look scruffy so that the audience can have faith in them because if the protagonist looked like a homeless man the audience wouldn’t believe that he can be the hero of the situation. He can also wear a suit to show that he is intelligent and experienced because a suit shows this. Overall protagonist have to look smart in order for the audience to have hope for them.   

Damsel in distress

The damsel in distress or the female victim dresses like an average lady most of the time and as I said before they are normally blonde which shows that they are not bright. It is also conventional for them to be wearing white as it shows purity and innocence because the audience should believe that the character has to be saved by the protagonist.

Antagonist

The antagonist normally wears dark or red clothing in order to show darkness and evil. The hair of the antagonist is normally black the show that they are an average human or an odd colour like red or green to show that they are creepy and possessed. Antagonist will often have make-up on order to show that they are unusual people such as the joker or the clown from scary or die.

In the scene of Sherlock Holmes costume is used to show that both the antagonist and protagonist are intelligent and experienced. This is during the last fight scene in the movie. Even though they are both in suits its clear who is the protagonist because the protagonist is younger and more handsome than the antagonist because naturally the antagonist has too look unattractive in order for the audience to hate him.

Conclusion

In conclusion the research I have done has made me understand more about how people with different costume and hair are presented in thriller films. I have decided that in my thriller I am going to make the antagonist wear make-up and have an odd colour for hair in order to make them looked possessed and the protagonist will wear a suit in order to show experience and intelligence.