RESEARCH INTO SOUND - Miss miller

RESEARCH INTO SOUND

In this post i will be researching different sound techniques used in a short scene of the film Conjuring. I decided to choose this film as i know from previously watching the film that there is a lot of different sounds that i can comment on and it shows good examples.

Firstly, In this clip there is a small amount of sound although the sound that is used works well in this short clip. At the beginning of this clip the scene is dark and there are two characters in the frame. The young girl is whispering which is a diagetic sound. This may show that she is scared and docent want to talk loud to scare the protagonist. Whispering shows she dosent want anyone to hear her voice and may leave the audience feeling scared as they dont know who or what she is talking to. Her facial expressions link with the sound. As she is sleeping there is a large gushing sound which is short and quick which is frightening for the audience. This is a non-diagetic sound as you cannot see the place that the sound is coming from, creating more suspense towards the audience.This wakes her up and the sound disappears quickly. This gives an effect that the sound is short and snappy and gives an effect that the character is scared and this is an instant movement. Also this wave of short sound may implicate something has just happened or arrived. After this movement there is complete silence. Silence is a diagetic sound, as you can see on the screen that there is no sound moment at all.k The characters facial expressions show that she is scared and doesn't know what to do. After a few seconds of silence the background noise starts to rise. Silence brings tension to the screen and makes the audience wonder what is happening next. There is a small humming noise which gives an effect that something is going to happen as the noise begins to get louder and quicker. The humming begins to get louder as it builds up tension on the screen.

In most thriller films there is always a background noise when something is about to happen, e.g. a heartbeat or a sudden large sound, this can create tension and suprise. Sounds in thriller films and are important and without extra sound clips that have been edited in a thriller film wouldn't be interesting and give that buzz of an thriller film everyone loves. Any film without sound would be boring. The heartbeat sound is very commonly used in thriller films as it mostly represents the victims heartbeat as they are being apporached by the antagonist or scared for some apparent reason. A heartbeat sound is non-diagetic as you cannot see the sound taking place and creates a sense tht the audience are in the victim or antagonists shoes. This creates an image that we can actually hear there heartbeat and gives us an insight into what they are actually feeling. There are three important things that involve sound when creating a film; human voice, sound effects and music. These three things are mixed and balanced together to produce the necassary emphases which in turn create desired effects. Background music is used to add emotion and rhythm to the film.

Furthmore there is a diagetic sound at the beginning of the clip. Diagetic sound means the sound is part of the film world, e.g. dialouge or a dog barking. The door creaks after the young girl wakes up. The door creaking creates suprise for the audience and suspense as it brings the idea forward that something is there and waiting to jump out. Although you cant see anything there and the images that are being talked about in the girls head you can still hear the creak of the door, this scares the audience and the charachter. A creaking door is conventional to a thriller and creates as sense to the audience that they are actually in that scene.

Overall i feel that i have learnt that sound is very important in thriller and overall in any film. I have learnt the conventional sounds that occur in thrillers and the ones that arent usually found in them. The sounds that create the most suprise are the ones you dont expect, e.g. a loud bang that gives the serialism that you are actually in the film and you are frightnened for the victim. Furthmore there is alot of tension caused through sound and without it you wouldnt have that lump in your throat that makes you frightened in a thriller. When looking at creating my opening scene for my thriller, i will look closely at the sounds and music that i use. I will use conventional sounds e.g built up music to build up suspence for the audience and sounds that will create suprise and shock like the creaking door in this clip.

RESEARCH INTO CINEMATOGRAPHY - Miss Miller

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Cinematograpy is all about the camera work in a film, it includes angle, movements and positions. Cinematogrpahy plays a massive part in the making of a film especially of the thriller genre. Cinematography is the art of camerawork and photography in film-making. It plays a massive part in the making of a film especially of the thriller genre. Cinematography can be used in different ways to enhance a film's audience reach. When used in a film of the thriller genre, it tends to make them more tense, jumpy and edgy. 

The film i have chosen to analyse and look at is 'Scream 2'. This is a small clip of this well known thriller film and invloves alot of cinematography.

 

Firsly in the opening scene of this short clip, i can clearly see the camera is focusing on the main charachters back. The man in the background is blurred out and you can only see the colours he is wearing and the main outline of his body. This is called shallow focus. This is when some parts of a scene are blury. This creates an effect on the audience as it shows that you should be focusing on the main characther as it may be building up to a main scene or something dramatic going to happen, also building tension and suspense. Furthermore, the character in the background may not be a great focus in the film anymore and may not need paying attention too.

Moreover, the camera is zoomed right onto her face in this screenshot. Zooming means moving right onto a certain object or onto something that needs to be seen. I can clearly see here that the victim is on the phone to the antagonist. From this zoomed in shot, you can see clear emotions and rage in her eyes. Her grip on the phone shows she is angry and the zoomed in features create the audience to feel scared and worried about what is going to happen next. The camera zooms closer into her face as the conversation moves on and tension begins to rise quickly. The zooming In almost represents the graduale build up of tension. 


Furthermore, this technique is a long shot shown in this screenshot. A long shot shows all of a larger object and a large amount of background. In this shot you can see the venerable young woman running away. The camera is zoomed out showing all f the background behind her. The scenery behind her is greenery, and a door which is her escape exit. Also in front of the camera there is a shallow focus on drink and food on the table. A long shot shows to the audience a full picture, giving a full image of the ladies clothing aswell as anything Infront or behind her. A long shoot it used in this scene to intrege the audience and show to them that the antagonist may be in sight so a long shot is shown to keep them on the edge of their seats.

HISTORY OF THRILLER FILMS

HISTORY OF THRILLER FILMS

The word 'thriller' is a type of genre in a film. A thriller film involves a lot of action, tension, suspense and excitement. A thriller film can bring many emotions to the audience and create a lot of fear and suspense. A thriller film is usually scary and keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next scene to take place, this is what is intended to be done when the producer is producing the film.


Looking at the history of thriller films I have researched some well-known thriller films from the past decades/years to show my understanding of how things have changed and stayed the same in thriller films now-a-days.




Before I hang


The first film that I have chosen to analyse is a 1940's film called Before I Hang. This film was well known in this year and was a great hit with the public, I found a short clip on you tube which I have used to look at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ykt1pgpE8
This is a trailer of the film, the trailer would have been shown as a preview before the film was released, this may have given certain emotions to the audience to watch this thriller. The film is about The film is about a physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminal's blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&- Hyde. This film demonstrates convention of a thriller, the key convention 'blood' is used throughout, also being used by the key/main character. The blood is not only used for the characters purpose but leaves the audience asking questions at why he is using his victims blood. The behaviour used makes the audiences suspicious of the characters in sight. Furthermore, the use of him secretly testing this experiments on himself discreetly conventional to a thriller genre because this creates enigma as it is mysterious of why he has to do this experiments secretly which builds up the tension and suspense as the audience wonder why he is acting in the manner. Also the fact that he is a Jekyll-&-Hyde shows that he constantly alternating between good and evil behaviour (convention of a thriller) which builds up suspense and tension because we do not know why he is acting in this way. There is a constant switching of behaviour between them, which shows that he is clearly hasn't got his mind set showing that he is not being himself,  building up tension between the audience and the characters.




And soon the Darkness

1970

This is a 1979's film which shows improvements in the thriller film industry and when released saw a very violent start. This film is about two nurses having a biking holiday in France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEOl29iy8c
This was an English film, directed by Fuest and Produced by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. This film was made by the same person who created the hit TV show The Avengers.
 Although after arguing leaving one another isn't the best idea as one of the nurses is murdered in a near by forest. Unlike most horror films this film used two women to be portrayed as the victims, although only one of them is hurt the other is still in the frame. In most thriller films only one sexy female victim is used, which is why its un usual to see this. One women used in thrillers is conventional in thrillers as it leaves the audience feeling sorry for them and creating a strong relationship between the two. In this trailer the opening scenery noise is a police siren, immediately setting of alarm bells to the audience leaving them wondering what has happened. One thing I noticed from this trailer is that there is a lot of good uses of sound used, the scene soon arises into the sun, but the director is clever and uses a crackling sun which almost sounds dangerous, the crackling stands out and grabs the audiences attention quickly. This trailer uses a lot of conventions of a thriller film, the location  is set in a forest, instantly meaning that the victims are trapped and abandoned in such hard place to get out of.

Fatal Attraction
Fatal attraction is a thriller film made in 1987. This film is a American Psychological thriller directed by Adrian Lyne. The Budget of this film was very high, meaning they knew it was going to be very popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3oF8Po4qWc
This film became very popular in the USA and also the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. This films narrative is about a married man who has an affair in the state of New York City, this man becomes the victim of innocent stalking and emotional blackmail, but very suddenly ending with the sudden death of the antagonist. The audience in this film plays a large part, engaging with the audience easily and portraying the characters differently in their eyes. This film is very eye catching and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout.


All of these thrillers that I have researched are very popular (still are and used to be). The thriller industry hasn't changed much, a lot of the same techniques are still used to portray the audience and keep them engaged.

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RESEARCH INTO MISE-EN-SCENE

RESEARCH INTO MISE-EN-SCENE

•Settings & Iconography

•Costume, Hair & Make Up

•Facial Expressions & Body Language

•Lighting & Colour

•Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

MES means everything that is put into a scene. This consists of the five things above. Mise-en-scene is used in most films but is most commonly seen in thriller films. I have picked the thriller film 'Scream'. The clip above only shows a short time frame of the film although throughout the whole film mise-en-scene is used.

(1)In this first picture is shows the scene of the house. It is very dark and mysterious outside. Inside the house there is few dimmed lights on, this makes the character stand out more to the audience and giving the bakground of the house a dark and gloomy look. The house is very old fashioned which gives the feeling the house has been there a long time. This creates tension for the audience, also making them feel scared for thr young lonely girl, as we can see more things than she cant. The audience feel the urge to shout at the vunrable woman and explain to her what se is getting herself into.

(2)In this picture you can see the characters eyes glancing at the main object of the room. Her white jumper indicates that she's an innocent young woman who is in this large house on her own. There is a very restricted amount of lighting on in the room and her and the knifes stand out and are the main focus for the camera. The camera is zoomed into her face and the direct point for the camera is the knife. The knife is the main feature of the room and makes the audience feel scared. I as the audience feel scared for her aswell as us, we dont know what is going to jump out or scream in her/our faces, creating a sense of mystery.

(3)Thirdly, you can now see that the character is playing mind games with the 'scary' voice and her facial expressions soon change. Her smiling face shows that she is happy with chosen weapon and is right in her eye frame. Her position shows that she is directly in the middle of the room with all sharp kitchen utensils around her. This shows although she may look sweet and innocent she is in fact very clever inside.

(4)Lastly, the popcorn popping in the background gives a huge effect for the background noise. As there is no music and just background silence, the phone call going on is all you can hear. From the phone call you can hear a dark and deep voice coming through the speaker, this is done intentionally so the audience can hear the full conversation going on between the two. Although this victim doesn't seem to be bothered that her popcorn is ready to eat, her main focus is on playing mind games with her secret caller and her position is still on the main weapon in the room. Her facial expressions do not seem to show her being frightened at all, she looks as though she has the main power. This creates an overall suspence for the audience and in the room. Her mind games are winding up the murderer and the long lasting popcorn noise is a typical conventionn of a thriller film. 

The film Scream is a prime 'thriller' film for mise-en-scene. This film has all five of the features, making it a great film. This character has a petite young looking woman, wearing a slim fitted cream jumper. This could influence that she is very innocent. The fact that she is left on a house in her own at night time in the middle of no where is a prime scene for a horror movie to take place. There is also limited lighting which gives the effect that no one is home and it would be easy to scare someone. Unlike most horror films her facial expressions show that is she is not afraid of this cold caller and feels she has no reason not to answer the phone. Her house is very old fashioned which could implicate that her / family have lived there a very long time. Furthermore, the fact that its night time would mean blinds/curtains would be closed, unlike the background scene in the first picture which shows the house is on full display and the lights being on implicates that some body is in that room. This clip will help me to create my own thriller as i have looked at the background, for example, in this film the background is in the middle of the no where giving a greater effect to the watcher. Furthermore, the knife is creating suspense and she grabs it, making the audience scared. This has helped me as i will now explore what objects i am going to use to create suspense for the audience.

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RESEARCH INTO BBFC - Miss Miller

BBFC

The BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification. It is a highly expert and experienced regulator of the moving image. They ensure that every film released has the appropriate age certificate for the target audience. 

U

The U symbol stands for Universal. U films are suitable for young children over the age of four. Although any U film could upset a child and parents should be wary of what is the main story line of the film they are about to watch. In U films they only use very mild bad language and nothing that should affect a young child. Violence will be very mild throughout the whole film. A U film may include include small fighting scenes or moments where characters are placed in danger. However, moments of emotional stress or threat will be quickly resolved and the outcome will be reassuring. Not all U rated films are for children, some adults may watch them although they are mainly targeted at young children as there is no violent fighting and no frequency swearing. An example of an U rated film is 'Toy Story'. Toy story is a cartoon film which is enjoyable for young children, they use young children's teddy bears and toys with a very small amount of violence. Although there is a few arguments during the film between the characters they are not aimed at the audience and soon become friendly. There are no potential dangerous or anti-social behaviour within that may influence children, making it suitable for such a young age to watch.

PG

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.A PG allows the parents to be able to decide whether or not the content may upset or affect their child, although not all PG films are made for younger audiences. PG films can include and explore challenging issues such as racism and bullying, though, will not include any themes inappropriate for a child's viewing. Violence will usually be mild. There should be no detail of violence in a PG work, so while there might be some blood, we would not see how the injury was inflicted in strong detail. Whereas if drugs or alcohol is mentioned in a PG film it would be made clear that this is a bad thing to do and not encouraging the watcher to do this or think this is a good thing. Nanny Mcphee is rated a PG film. Although i see Nanny Mcphee to be a film for all ages as its fun and enjoyable for all ages. This film has no violence and uses a lot of references to do with magic and spells. 

12 and 12A

Films classified 12A and video works classified 12 contain material that are not suitable for any persons under the age of 12, this is specifically for reasons to do with safety and the understanding of the child. With a 12A film you need to be accompanied with an adult. 12 and 12A works are quite similar in the fact that this 12 years old 'barrier' is in place, however, 12 rated films may contain slightly less uses of strong language, certain ant-social behaviour or drug or sexual references. Parents have control over what there children watch and 12 and 12A films means they have to have parents connect or a parent/guardian with them.12A works require anyone under the age of 12 to be accompanied by an adult when seeing the film in the cinema (otherwise cinema's are at risk of loosing their licence).A 12A could be pushed to a 15 with some 15 certified film features contained in it, however, other features, say if the film is particularly positive, may stop this change in category. 12 and 12A films are roughly the same although with a 12A you need an adult with you, this may be because it uses more violent actions or language or it contains nudity that would only be allowed to be allowed to be seen with an adult. An example of a 12 film is Wild Child. Wild Child has mild language with a small amount of sex references. This film is practical for young people the age of 12 and above. Although there is no strong voilence with no blood or gore, this film has mild references to swearing and shouldnt be repeated by any persons younger than 12. Wild Child uses alot of recent sound tracks, although none with involve swearing. Furthermore, an example of a 12A film which has to be watched being accompnied by an adult is Mean Girls. This film has uses of strong language and small sex references. Although unlike a film which wouldbe rated a 15 this film shows no nudity and sex references arent aimed at the audience and shouldnt be repeated. Although this film is a 12A to watch it in the cinema when you are 13 or below you need to be accompnied by an adult for the young persons understanding of the film.

15

A 15 rated film means that No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. A 15 rated film meas it involves frequent swearing, some nudity and sex references. There will also be strong violoence, scenes of drug taking and strong verbal references to sex. This is not to be seen by anyone under the age of 15. In a 15 rated film, there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language which could upset any one under the age of 15 or may cause a distrubance. Obviously film producers and the bbfc do not want this to happen this is why there is strict guidlines for who can watch what films. Super bad is an example of an 15 rated film. Superbad, directed by Greg Mottola is a good example of a film with a 15 age certificate as it includes adult humour, a lot of sexual references, nudity, a lot of bad language and some violence. This film is about 3 boys leaving high school and getting ready for college. These 3 boys are interested in girls and find any way to grab their attention. Children can easily copy words and phrases used in this film which could harm young children. Alot of the words used are for the ears of 15+ only. Like most most 15 age rated film, superbad does use homophobic terms and these shouldnt be taken into consideration by the audience.

18

18 rated films are Films rated 18 are for adults only and are defiantly not suitable for children. Unlike all the other rated films an 18 uses extreme language with no restrictions. They include very strong violence, strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore and real sex (in some circumstances) (bbfc website). 18 rated films can use any type of language and also explore discrimination, this can be horrific for anyone under the age of 18 to watch. An example of an 18 rates film is The inbetweeners. This movie / TV series involves and uses a lot of strong language and mild usage of sexual references which may be disturbing for anyone under the age of 18. 

Overall, the BBFC are precise about all of the age certificates that they award to each film and it is in their best concern to consider how a film may effect those of different ages. They take alot into consideration and make sure sll she groups are watching what is suitable for them. research Into the BBFC has helped my understanding into age certaificstes and when creating my opening sequence I will have full understanding on why and how to rate it, depending on the language used.