During lessons, we looked at a variety of different thriller openings in order to identify how they create suspense and think of ways we could include some of these elements in our film opening.
The Dark Knight
The film starts with an establishing shot, informing the audience that the action is taking place in a city in the daytime. As the camera zooms in closer, suddenly a window in an expensive building is shattered and there's a man in a clown mask with a gun; who is presumed to have shot it. This is done so that the audience are instantly feeling tension, this character is committing what looks to be a crime in the making in broad daylight, he doesn't have the shadow of the night to protect him from witnesses or cameras. As the scene continues, it's made clear that there's than one of these people and due to their similar dark clothing, which is a convention of the antagonist and their matching clown masks; it's clear they're working together. These first set of characters that the audience sees in the film is a group of clowns performing a heist, which adds the element of mystery, because the audience can't see their identities and we instantly know they are the antagonists and therefore are not supposed to be trusted. We hear the clowns talking about their boss 'The Joker' and it's clear from the way they focus on this character and talk about how they've heard of him, both groups of clowns, that he is the main antagonist of the film and therefore much more powerful than the rest of them; so powerful in fact it appears he's sitting the heist out - but still insists on getting a cut of the money. As they rob the bank, the non - diegetic music builds in the background insistently which creates suspense; as the audience are aware that something is going to happen and this heist won't be successful. In a way that's almost overlooked, one of the clowns kills his partner and continues on his own; the music picks up informing the audience this is not what should have happened. A bank teller decides to grab his own gun and protect the people in the bank by shooting at the thieves, with the non diegetic music almost screeching with string instruments being played; drawing attention to that fact that something major is going to happen. As he inevitably runs out of bullets, one of the clowns kills him as the music dies down, subconsciously ensuring the audience that nothing shocking will happen. It's then that the clowns reveal that the boss 'The Joker' told them that each member of the team's job had been fulfilled, that they were meant to kill each other. It eventually leaves two clowns and after pointing guns at each other, it's revealed that the last remaining clown was supposed to kill the bus driver. Just then, the bus driver smashes through the bank wall, killing the clown and leaving the last one standing - who happens to be The Joker.
Source Code
Source Code starts with the main character awaking in pain against a glass window, a tannoy plays in the background with the sound of bombs exploding in the distance. Suddenly, the sound of a passing train, jolts him from his seat; it's now clear that he is on a moving vehicle, a train. As he looks around in shock, a woman talks to him informing him that she took his advice and thanks him for it; he stares at her in confusion. Seemingly normal background noises such as people talking, beer cans opening, make the main character, Sean, jump and look around frantically. This creates suspense, because it's unusual to see people react in this way to normal daily life sounds; the audience so far also haven't been given been much information and are just has much confused as Sean. As the woman talks to Sean, he doesn't pay much attention instead taking in his surrounds, which is shown to the audience using short establishing shots and jump cuts. The conductor asks for his ticket and Sean jumps back violently as the woman he was talking to reaches for his jacket to get his ticket; however she doesn't seem fazed by this; this also builds the the suspense, surely she would have said something if Sean was acting strange, is this normal behaviour for him? So far, there has only been diegetic sound used, the background noises of conversation and the array of sounds trains make. This makes the audience feel at ease, so far there is nothing subconsciously to make them fear or become weary. As the woman asks Sean if he's okay, the camera cross cuts to a variety of different people complaining about the delay and if they'll make it up in time - this is a new piece of information for the audience, but not quite beneficial as it doesn't tell them much. It's then as suddenly the non diegetic music begins that Seans leans forward and tells the woman that he doesn't know who she is and that she has been calling him by the wrong name. She laughs this off and he staggers to get off the train as he notices more 'normal' things happening on the train, the non diegetic music builds. As he stands by the doors of the train, he asks another passenger where he is to which the passenger replies 'Chicago', this adds to the suspense, because the audience are now aware that not everything is as normal as it might seem. There is another quick establishing shot to show the train at the station and another to show it moving off as if to force the idea that this is normal and nothing is out of the ordinary. Sean returns to his seat, and the camera cross cuttings to a birds eye view of the train moving off towards Chicago where the non diegetic sound builds louder this time using string instruments. As Sean looks out the window, brief flickers of what seems to be his own reflection confuses him and makes him look away. He asks the woman if she saw that and when she replies that he is make her feel uneasy, he quickly leaps out of his seat and to the bathroom. He looks in the mirror and is shocked to see a completely different face staring at him, as he looks through his pockets he finds ID confirming that he is Sean Fentress, a teacher; however this is not what he looks like to the audience. This is very climactic, because not only is the main character confused but so is the audience and they have been given hardly any information about what is going on or what is going to happen. The non diegetic sound increases as the main character looks once again in the mirror, seeing a face that isn't his before opening the door and finding the woman outside. He jumps as she asks him if he's okay and he repeats that he doesn't know who she is or who Sean is. The camera cross cuts to the train passing another, causing the passengers inside to jolt to the side, before cross cutting again to show the train approaching the heart of Chicago; meanwhile the non diegetic music is getting more and more intense. As the woman tries to calm him down, without much success, trains keep passing each other causing them to shake in the carriage. She says they'll get off at the next station and talk things through, promising him that 'everything will be okay'. Just as she finishes that sentence, the train they're in explodes. This creates suspense, because of the shock factor, the audience didn't see it coming and therefore they want to know what will happen next. In our film opening, we will keep to the convention of keeping the antagonists identity a secret seen in The Dark Knight as this will build suspense for the audience, as they don't know what they're fearing. We will also try to include a plot twist or an element of shock at the end as this will keep the audience enticed and wanting to see what happens next.
Over the course of two lessons, we watched Sixth Sense in order to help us identify suspenseful moments.
Sixth Sense is a film released in 1999, staring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment; it's a supernatural thriller film about a young outcast boy, Cole, who is able to see and talk to the dead. He gets help from a child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm, who is going through personal problems himself and the film ends with a major plot twist.
There are many moments throughout the film where the suspension builds adding to the thriller genre, however for me there is three main scenes where this is shown well.
The Kitchen Scene
The first is the kitchen scene where it's a school morning and Cole and his mother are going about their daily routine. Cole's mum walks from another room which seems to be the laundry room and into the kitchen. She sighs and closes a couple of cabinets that have been left open, she isn't surprised by this and calls Cole - it's seems as if it's a normal thing; that Cole opens the kitchen drawers and never closes them. Cole then enters the kitchen and sits at the table eating his cereal, whilst his mum walks back into the other room to retrieve a piece of clothing (Cole's tie), when she returns, seconds later, Cole is in the exact same position; however all the kitchen cabinets and selves have been opened as if something or someone was looking for an object. She screams in shock as it's clear that Cole couldn't have opened all of those drawers in such a short amount of time. As she closes the cabinets slowly, Cole looks terrified with his hands placed firmly on the table and lies claiming that he was looking for Poptarts, He then rushes off to school and Cole's mum notices the hand prints he left behind from sweating so much on the table. Diegetic sound plays with a radio in the background, and the sound of their dog barking; this is to make the audience feel at ease - these are familiar sounds that we're used to hearing on a regular basis.The mid shot shows both Cole's mum, Cole and part of the kitchen, which allows the audience to trust the scene as they can see everything of importance and therefore they don't feel like anything is being hidden from them. The camera tracks Cole's mum as she leaves the kitchen and so because of this the audience can't see what's going on in the kitchen, there are no sounds that indicate that anything sinister is happening either. The camera pauses on Cole's mum as she turns around and walks back into the kitchen, which means that the shot turns into a over the shoulder shot; the audience see the frightening scene at the same time Cole's mother does - her scream scares the audience and creates a similar reaction. From the camera angle, the audience can see Cole sitting in the same place but all the cabinets open, the camera shakily zooms in closer; this increases the suspense as it's unclear whether the disjointness represents a found footage camera shot/angle or that it's used to add to the uneasiness tension in the room. Non - diegetic sound isn't used in this scene, as it's clear that the intention for this scene is so that the audience couldn't detect that anything scary was going to occur, it was a true surprise. This adds to the realistic element, because even though the diegetic sound fades during the climax of the scene, it slowly returns reminding the audience that it's a normal day, similar to the one that we all experience daily.
Stuttering Stanley Scene
The second is the stuttering Stanley scene where Cole is at school and his teacher asks the class what the building was used for, nobody knows the answer and so Cole speaks out claiming (correctly) that it was a place where people were hung. The morbid quality of the answer for someone of such a young age surprised the teacher and so he, as the audience would expect, denies this instead claiming that the school used to be a legal courthouse. They bicker back and forth, before the teacher ends up staring at Cole in disbelief along with members of the class; this angers Cole and he tells them to stop quite forcibly. The camera angle flickers between the two of them in a shot reverse shot, as the diegetic sound of a clock ticking in the background is heard adding to the suspense. As Cole then shouts at his teacher calling him a 'stuttering Stanley', non diegetic music builds in the background. Cole's teacher walks towards Cole slowly, which makes the audience apprehensive as they know something bad is going to happen soon enough. The camera changes between close ups of Stanley and his teacher to show their facial expressions, it also zooms in meaning that the audience can't see what's going on in the background. As Cole's teacher begins to stutter, Cole closes his eyes which in turn makes the audience want to do so too, the non diegetic sound is much louder at this point and Cole begins to shout as if trying to be heard over the sound. Cole chants 'stuttering Stanley' continuously with non diegetic sound surging noisily over the top, it reaches a climax until the teacher slams his fist on Cole's desk, labelling him a 'freak'. This is suspenseful, because the audience know something is going to happen due to the non diegetic sound, but they don't know what or when; this makes them nervous and wanting to look away.
Münchausen Syndrome Scene
In this scene, Cole and Malcolm have attended a funeral in order to reveal the way young Kyra Collins died. Her dad watches a video surrounded by the entire funeral guests, in which Kyra's mum is seen intentionally making her daughter ill in order to look after her for longer; but it backfires and Kyra dies. The main part of the scene alternates between the video playing and a close up of Kyra's dad's face in a shot reverse shot; this is done to show the emotions and reactions play on her dad's face caused by what he's seen. Every time the camera cuts back to the video, it zooms in subtly; whereas originally the TV was in the frame as the scene continues on, the camera zooms in adding tension and atmosphere - as it's clear that there's something that the audience need to see and therefore need to play close attention to. The video shows Kyra's mum walking in and after placing the tray on a shelf, returns with what seems to be poison and once again the camera zooms in to highlight this; to emphasise that what is currently happening is wrong. When zoom is used, it makes the audience submerged in the action and feel more involved in a scene, which therefore heightens the suspense. Eerie non - diegetic plays in the background building up as the scene reaches the most climatic moment, which adds tension as voices from the video is heard in the background. The camera shot changes to an extreme close up as Kyra eats the poisoned soup, which draws attention to the main point of the scene that Kyra was wrongfully murdered by her own mother. The scene shows an over the shoulder shot of Kyra's mother, as the non diegetic music changes to atmopsheric violins; this camera angle is used to show the reactions of the other funeral guests as the audience feel like Kyra's father approaching the murderer of his daughter - his wife. The sound increases volume as the camera angle changes to medium shot of Kyra's dad, it zooms in shakily reflecting the hostility in the room. The camera does the exact same when focused on Kyra's mother as she tries to come up with an excuse.
For our preliminary task, there was a number of things we had to include; such as the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, match on action shot, a conversation and a clip showing someone walking through a door. In my group, it was myself and Milly; however because there was only two of us we needed a third person, so we managed to get help from someone else who isn't in our media class, Jess.
180 degree rule is when all camera work has to be on the same side, this way the audience won't get confused and the actors in the film will match eyeline and be facing the same direction. Break the 180 degree rule and the audience will become disorientated. Shot reverse shot is an editing technique used during a conversation when the camera shots flick between each character in order for the audience to see the facial expressions of the characters. Match on action is a variety of shots used to show one action continuously, this technique allows the audience to stay interested in a simple action.
I was happy with the camerawork we used throughout our preliminary task, as we showcased a variety of different camera shots and angles, which I'm pleased with; however during the shot reverse shot - character B isn't in the centre of the shot which means that the attention of the audience isn't on the main character; this is something that we can learn from and ensure we correct when filming our film opening.
I think the editing of our preliminary task was done well, there are some shot that perhaps don't work for example at 0.20 when character B looks to the left and right which is filmed as an over the shoulder shot - we didn't edit this as smooth as we would have liked and there's also a pause in the background sound which can be picked up. Overall, I think our continuity of the editing was something we did well, as it all flows together and doesn't cause the audience to feel confused. I think our preliminary task did make sense, despite the overall idea of it being rather basic - I think it works as due to the shortness in length it doesn't need an elaborate plot line.
I learnt that when filming in a real location with members of the public, mise en scene is very important especially when filming a variety of shots that all need to continuity amongst them. I also learnt to make the most of your mise en scene, for example the camera shot/angle used at 0.08 where character B runs past the windows and looks in; this is a very effective shot and adds an element of comedy - however we didn't think of this shot until we had arrived at our location and seen the mise en scene.
Whilst I don't think we managed to create an element of suspense, we managed to hopefully generate interest as there's a lot of dialogue said that suggests suspense, which could draw the audience in. I think one the best ways to create suspense is by using music, we didn't use a lot of this and so therefore in our coursework, we'll be sure to do the opposite as use plenty.
When filming, we forgot to film a more detailed shot of match on action seen at 0.16; initially we just had character B walking through the door and so after reviewing our preliminary; we went back to film. The next problem we had was that I wasn't wearing the same clothes, however this was easily resolved when we decided to just film an extreme close up of my hands opening the door so that way you wouldn't see my clothes.
We got a lot of good feedback from Mr Higgins after he had watched it back; he also pointed out about characters being centre when filming shots and the lack of match on action that we had initially used. Other than that, he said we had a lot of good ideas, great editing skills and that he looked forward to our film opening.
I hope to gain from AS Media a deeper understanding of the media skills that I learnt in GCSE. I'm interested in the film industry and so learning about media will help immensely; in order for me to gain knowledge about the creative development behind it all.
Working in a team will help me work with new people and be able to combine a variety of ideas to create one final piece.
I'll also gain an understanding for the planning process behind creating film trailers as there's much more to it than what most believe.
Understanding how the media actually works is something I'm looking forward to, as well as the way major companies in the film industry create excitement by marketing and promotion.
