In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In our film introduction we used a range of shots, angles and camera movements to give off certain representations enhancing the quality of our film. In this evaluation question I will be analysisng 9 different shots taken from our film introduction "
Good Mourning" and comparing them to similar techniques used in other media products.
One of the first tasks we had to do was to analyse generic film openings, my finding can be found on this blog. Once we had understood the film world and generic conventions we regrouped and focused on one genre for us to develop into a film introduction. We chose to study Thrillers and looked further into the conventions present in those. One thing that became apparent, correlating with our initial audience research, was that people preferred the story to be told aesthetically and visually more so than through dialogue.
Shot 1 (Title Sequence)
To build up drama and suspense, key themes of a thriller, the audience had to be capitvated from the beginning and one way most film do this is by having a unique title sequence, which could foreshadow, hide or envoke certain things or feelings. This is what we have tried to achieve in our title sequence.
Taking inspiration from Se7en (1995), a David Fincher film, we have tried to create an atmosphere in which the audience feels uncomfortable and confused. Above, when stopping both film introductions when the name of the film has been stated, there are many similarities. The font used in Se7en is that which one would most associate with a young childs handwriting, scruffy and messy. Partnered with the
non-diegetic parralel screaming of a child and the noise of the chainsaw one begins to feel very unnerved. The film tells the story of David Mills, a young detective who is partnered with the retiring William Somerset and soon tasked with tracking down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy and pride) as tropes in his murders. The films title seqeunce therefore has represents and foreshadows the plot as children are not prone to these deadly sins at such a young age and often have no awareness of them. The simple white childs writing on a black background envokes a sense of innocence and immediately implants sinister undertones into the audiences mind.
We have aimed to achieve a similar affect. Like most psychological thrillers there is some sort of twist occuring in them and our film introduction is no different. It tells the story of a woman, played by Izzi Harrison, who one assumes is in a relationship with the man walking up the stairs due to the physical touching and stroking. However it soons becomes apparent that this woman has actually been killed in her own home and therefore we have tried to capture this immediately in the title sequence. A common phrase to say to your loved one is good morning and the colour red has connoations to love and affection. We have played on both of these by changing the morning to mourning. Partnered with the deep red font and classic love letter esque font the representation of this film completely changes and creates an immediate sense of suspense and unnervningness. Red also is the colour of blood and the mourning is defined as the expression of sorrow for someone's death. Therefore through the title sequence alone, much like in Se7en, representation has been built up to create high levels of suspence and unnerves the audience.
Shot 2 (Setting)
In many respects our location is not that dis similar to that of other classic psychological thrillers. As we can see from the audience research earlier in the blog many people thought it would be best if the 57.69% of the voters thought it would be best if the film introduction was set in a private building. We applied that to both halves of the film introduction. The aim was to create an atmosphere in which the audience felt very uncomfortable and to slowly build up the tension, whilst sticking to the idea of having a twist in the film introduction, that being that the victim had no relationship with the antagonist. By filming it in a house it would hit harder on the audience as a house is an area where one is supposed to feel safe and private in their own confounds. However we have tried to break this safety barrier by placing the murder scene in the victims bedroom where she is extremely vulnerable. This convention of breaking down the safety barrier and making the audience members feel on edge is something that is not unheard of in the thriller world and is actually the norm.
Most notably this has been applied in the film Psycho (1960), a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (whom 17.39% of voters in the audience research said was their favourite director). This film is about a man called Norman Bates who 10 years previous had lost his mother in a supposed suicide. However as the story unfolds the audience comes to realise that Norman dresses up as his mother and murders many people in attempt to prolong the relationship he had with her. This only becomes evident in the final stages of the film and therefore inspired the twist seen our own film. The idea of breaking down this safety barrier occured also in Pscho. The idea of a hotel is somewhere you can feel safe to stay for the night and you are trusting the person who owns the hotel to look after your safety. However Norman Bates' character breaks this down. We decided to film our scene in a house to add to the intimacy and enhance the idea of breaking the safety barrier between the audience and the film.
Shot 3 (Props #1)
The scene where the tap is left running just before the Antagonist (played by Ben Nixon) walks into the room where the victim lies was inspired by the Usual Suspects, 1995 (directed by Bryan Singer). The film follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint, a small-time con man who is one of the only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He tells an interrogator a convoluted story about events that led him and his partners in crime to the boat, and about a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze who commissioned their work. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex. In the opening scene on the burning boat we see the oil dripping onto the deck from what looks like barrels. When it comes to the final drops we hear the diegetic synchronous sound of the oil dripping. This is symbolic of the final drops of the victims life and acts as a warning foreshadowing this person's death. Following on from the questionnaire which stated that over 70% of the voters wanted the film to be told through visuals rather than dialogue. The device seen in The Usual Suspects inspired us to use something very similar. The taps foreshadowed the death of the victim acting as our very own timer.
Shot 4 (Props #2)
Again we tried to use props to create a sinister atmosphere for our film introduction. In this analysis it the presence of school bags in the scene. This topic comes under my earlier point about making the audience feel unsafe and uncomfortable. Firstly the house in which we filmed the first half of our film introduction it was based underneath and above school grounds. In addition as you can see from the shot beneath from our film there were 3 or 4 black school bags. Not only is the fact that the murder scene occured in a stately home but also the fact that the victim may have children of her own. This adds another sinister dimension to our film introdiction because children are something the audience may have and something one should take great care of. With the safety barrier ruined in this film it puts the lives of innocent children at risk.
This convention is also used in modern day media products. We wanted to create our thriller film opening as sinister as possible and so we searched online for recent conventions in modern day media products which highlight the innocence of children and how they are used in the media to portray a sense of drama. This can be seen in The Fall (a BBC production). The Fall is a psychological thriller that examines the lives of two hunters -- one is a serial killer who preys on victims in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the other is a female detective drafted from the London Metropolitan Police to catch him. During one of the episodes the man has come home from killing another woman and is questioned by his son who is sat on the staircase. We see the serial killer version and then the parent, something the audience can relate to and therefore this makes the thriller more chilling, how this man can be so ruthless and yet have so much responsibility in raising a child. In terms of the child he is sat at the top of the stairs with a teddy bear in his hand. This symbolises comfort but the worried look on his face tells another story. This idea of using the theme of or an actual child inspired us to use this in our own film production to enhance the sinister aspect.
Shot 5 (Camera Angles)
Building upon my earlier point, we aimed to have a massive twist in the story. Throughout the film introduction the audience is fed hints that the female is the victim and not in relationship and the antagonist is the threat, achieved through high angle shots, low angle shots and lighting, all to be developed later on. The one I will be analysing is that of the twist in the film introduction. Inside the first 30-40 seconds of the film introduction one would assume that the eventual victim and antagonist were in some sort of relationship. Even 2 seconds before we see the victim is dead one would still assume that they are a couple due to 2 shot seen in which the antagonist is stroking the arm and legs of Izzi Harrison. However her vulnerability and death soon becomes apparent. Throughout the scene in the room the victim is only seen in extreme close ups in which she is still or in a high angle shot looking down on her. This highlights her inferiority to the antagonist as he is often seen in an eye level shot or in a low angle shot looking up, providing a sense of superiority.
Unlike the other shots we mainly draw this technique from our own knowledge. Candice Feddis has been studying Media Studies for almost 3 successive years and after using the preliminary task and the educational lessons before hand we had a sound reseme to produce a strong foundation in our film introduction, throgh using techniques that enhance representation picked up throughout the year. Even though it was our own decision more so than the study of other films that led us to use this technique that doesn't mean it is not commonly used in films and other media products today. As a group we recently watched Gone Girl, 2014 (another film directed by David Fincher). This film is much like the idea for our film. et in Southeast Missouri, the story begins as a mystery that follows the events surrounding Nick Dunne, who becomes the primary suspect in the sudden disappearance of his wife, Amy. Throughout the film the audience are set up to question and possibly be afraid of Nick Dunne as you fear he may be involved in the murder or dissapearance of his wife. Throughout, high angle shots looking down on Amy make her seem like the vulnerable one and her diary entries state how much she fears her husband and that he may 'kill her'. The plot ends up with her actually being alive and how she set up her death to go on a killing spree but it goes to show what impact camera angles and movements can have on the audience in creating certain atmospheres.
Shot 6 (Lighting)
Not only did we use many camera techniques to provide a sense of dominance, or inferiority but we also played with the lighting to create some sinister and serious scenes. This could be seen in the first half of the film introduction inside the house when we saw the ray of light shining onto the bed in which Izzi Harrison, the victim, was lying. This white which shone on it's own away from the dark surroundings was symbolic of purity and innocence which has some connotations to vulnerability. However it was most notable that we played around with the light in the detective scene. We used a spotlight to focus solely on the conversation and the relationship/chemistry the antagonist and the detective had, drawing the audience and almost forcing them into the action. Whilst the light in the first half was more symbolic with the white light around the victim symbolising innocence and the grey and black light when the antagonist was on screen being symbolic of sinister undertones the light used in the detective scene focused in on the conversation and the black edges provided a sense of mystery. This convention is extremely common in crime thriller especially. The example I am using can be seen in The Dark Knight, 2008 (Christopher Nolan). In this Batman is interrogating the Joker (the antagonist). There is a dim light which only lights up the faces of each character and then the surrounding light around these characters is dark. Again this not only forces the audience to really focus on what is saying, understanding the intensity of the conversation but also how the dark edges surrounding the characters may be symbolic of their dark pasts or things they are going to do, providing a sense of mystery (a key aspect of a successful thriller). So rather than change this around for our own film introduction we decided to use this to our advantage and enhance the drama being portrayed in the 2 minutes given to us.
Shot 7 (Detective)
Unlike the rest of the cast we are introduced to the detective in a two shot with the antagonist at an eye level. The antagonist has his head drooped down whilst the detective, played by Candice Feddis, holds a strong powerful pose. Despite the majority of thrillers or dramas being based around males dominating against woman, with over 70% of the voters favourite thriller films involving women who are abused, killed or harmed in some manner, we wanted to provide our own little twist. Inspired by the recent realease of Suicide Squad, 2016 (David Ayer) we wanted to include this powerful female figure in our film and break some of the sterotypes most commonly used in thrillers over the ages. In Suicide Squad we see Viola Davis play the role of Amanda Waller. Initially we see how she is in a restaurant with men in smart suits and bodyguards around her. What seems like a male dominated environment, talking about crime and how they intend to improve the armed forces, she remains strong and dominant in a high pressured situation. We wanted to implement that into our own film. Candice Feddis is a strong actor and has had experience working on a film set. In our film we managed to implement this role of a strong female with the detective questioning and scrutinising a psychologically disturbed antagonist in the wake of a high pressure situation, hightened by the use of the spotlight. The roles of male and female have not only been used in the sense that the vulnerable victim is played by a petit female but also subverted in the use of a powerful female figure.
Shot 8 (Antagonist)
Inspired yet again by The Fall we aimed to make the antagonist seem like an ordinary character to start of with. Through the use of low cut jeans and a black top the idea was to make people feel comfortable to start off with as he would seem perfectly normal. However once the audience had found out that this character was a murderer who was psyhcologically disturbed it would make them unnerved and enhance the sinister tone to the film. It would envoke the idea that this seemlessly normal person has an unnusual personna causing some of the audience to be uncomfortable. In additon when he is walking up the stairs and when he is in the bathroom the camera is always looking up at him. This gives off the impression that this seemlessly normal man is actually quite a dominant figure and someone who is a threat. This idea is not one of our own however. It is inspired by the recent BBC production The Fall. As I have talked about before, in reference to the innocence of children, we see how the antagonist in The Fall (played by Jamie Dornan) kills women at night and then comes home dressed not in a mask or outfit that one would associate with a murderer but of that of a normal person, someone you may see walking down the street. This is a successful method as it envokes fear that you can't trust anyone on face value and many people have dark histories or mysteries of there own. This is the effect we have tried to implement on our film introduction. This idea of them being normal and someone the audience may initially warm to is furthered. In The Fall Jamie Dornan is seen as a supposed attractive man and so to is Ben Nixon in our film opening. In this respect the audience may feel attracted to these actors and build some sort of connection and so the when you find out this character is a murderer the sinister tone is heightened as it comes as more of a shock to the audience.
Shot 9 (Victim)
Within the opening seconds of seeing the victim we aimed to build up some sort of representations and played into many stereotypes. Often in thrillers the first victim of film evolves around a female victime who is supposedly beautiful with Psycho, Ex Machina being an example to name a few. Using this idea of them being petit and pretty we puposely played into that stereotype to create the idea that our victim would be someone who could be vulnerable in any situation. In the film opening we initially see a close up of the victims hand. She is wearing nail polish and is wearing a beige dress. This supposed attractive look invited danger in most cases and despite being quite predictable it did enable us, as film creators, to use this stereotype in our twist. Wearing a thigh cut dress and high heels one may assume that she is dressing up for a loved one and so even though we played into strereotypes envoking plenty of symbolism it is also worked for our twist. This idea of playing into sterotypes but with a twist can be seen in Ex Machina, 2015 (Alex Garland). The film follows a programmer who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot. The robot uses her sexuality and looks to lure the programmer into falling in love with her and eventually enabling her to escape. In one scene the robot is wearing a short skirt and is wearing a wig. This plays into the idea of her being vulnerable and petit as soon after she puts on the skirt the CEO breaks her arm off and she is prone to male dominance. Therefore after analysing this film we wanted to implement that idea of beauty and being petit with vulnerability, especially in thrillers.
