Treatment

We fade into a forest, illuminated by the cold mid winter dawn. A man is seen venturing through the woods. The leaves crunch beneath his feet, the snow gathers on his toes.
Twigs snap in the background; he thinks nothing of it.
Seconds pass, and he begins to dwell on the sound.
fearing a presence, he takes a brief look around, as if someone was there.
He reaches down to bury the contents of his pocket, wrapped in a small plastic bag.
In the background, a suited man wearing a venetian mask appears, just watching.
He stands up again, the venetian masked man in the distance behind him.
he looks around, noticing the man.
He promptly starts walking forward to leave the forest.
Everytime he turns to look around, the man is closer than before, but standing perfectly still, in the same position as ever.
we cut to a darkly lit scene of him sitting in a room, evidently trapped.
It begins alternating between him walking through the forest, slowly being caught up to, and him locked in the room.
The final scenes involve him stopping, with the masked man less than a metre away, staring at the back of his head.
It cuts to the dark room again, the man is sitting in the corner, clutching his knees, whilst the masked man is staring at him, looming over.
It ends as he looks up to the camera.

What do directors try to establish in the opening of thrillers?

In the opening of thriller films, directors can use a variety of different techniques to captivate the audience and draw them into the film. Though these methods vary, it is important to note that the aim is always to engage head on with the audience. By definition, thrillers feed off suspense and mystery and therefore this is what the director will often hope to establish in the opening few minutes. This can be done, as in Casino Royale, by dropping the audience in mid-way through a running case/narrative, or it can be done, in a TV series like Whitechapel, by dropping the viewer immediately into the story and at once giving them a dark, shadowy mystery to solve, in this particular case who the dark silhouette standing in the gate is and what relationship the teenager with the gashed throat has to them. Similarly Double Idemnity opens with a shocking revelation that traditionally would be found at the end of the film but instead is located at the start; this draws the audience in the same way a punch in the face would snatch up someone’s attention.

Arguably though, the most important thing to do in a story before it truly starts is the location. This is done extensively in LA Confidential where a roughly five minute exposition explains carefully both the physical and the moral setting of the film and, though it gives away nothing of the storyline – which doesn’t truly start until almost half an hour into the film – this opening skilfully sets the tone and, in this case at least, the tempo for the rest of the movie.

Yet the primary tools of a story are the characters it involves and oddly this is not always prioritised in the opening few minutes of the film, The Third Man, for example, spends a lot of time explaining about the lawlessness of post war Vienna and doesn’t get onto introducing the characters until relatively far in. In contrast to this, Se7en uses meticulous detail to establish the steely façade of central character Detective Somerset (of course as the film progresses we see far more of this character’s inner persona come through). David Fincher, the film’s director, goes about this very simply but very effectively, showing how ordered and logically placed everything in the detective’s apartment is and leaving it mainly up to the viewer to deduce what they can from this. Comparisons can be drawn between the routine opening scenes of Se7en and the scenes in Whitechapel that establish its own lead character.

Of course, as much as everything else, the tone is very important to set up in the opening stages of a movie. As I have already said, this is very successfully done in Se7en and LA Confidential, but maybe one of the best examples of tone setting is the murky and violent Essex Boys that uses everything from pale and grainy lights to ragged voices drowned out by the suburban hysteria that surrounds them and shots that don’t quite show you everything to establish that if there’s one thing this film isn't then it’s nice. Similarly in the much lighter Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the film appears is over exposed, giving the picture a dull, almost sepia appearance, but at the same time almost cartoonish that coincides with the films comparatively light spirit and humour. Layer Cake, as oppose to this, makes its opening sequences look very cool, smooth and professional which sets the tone for the rest of the movie just as the grainy footage and over the top slow motion sequences do in Lock, Stock.

It might seem a little odd to say that thriller directors seek to establish the genre in the opening of thrillers, but this is because it is the easiest thing to establish. To make someone assume they're watching a thriller, all that really needs to be done is for someone to mention criminal activity and have a shot of a gun or a dead body. Of course, some classic thrillers, Rear Window springs to mind, doesn’t quite go about doing this in that way, but in that instance the tension is established by the claustrophobic camera work. However, normally the genre can be established just through a combination of everything else the director tries to establish in a thriller opening.

Themes, however, quite separate from storyline, are often much more easily established. The most common found in thrillers of this kind tend to corruption, crime, deceit, lust and alienation/isolation, all of which are present in a film like Se7en although only the crime and alienation are explored in the opening with the character of Somerset and dark city that he inhabits. In the game LA Noire, which is about as close to a film as a game can get, themes are prioritised in the surprisingly slow moving opening cut screen. It talks of the ideas of dreams – Hollywood – and the reputation that the city has and the reality that counter balances this, perhaps not impacting much on the plot, but definitely opening up a theme present throughout the rest of the game.

Thriller Mood Board

ideas on Prezi

How Has New Technology Changed the Film Industry?

To some extent a film is only as successful as the technology it is made with and the money with which it is funded. Quality becomes somewhat irrelevant when the budget is big enough, take the examples of Michael Bay's Transformer movies and a film like Submarine or Kill List. It doesn't matter that the latter two independent films are by far the superior to Bay's monstrosities, but the fact that the Transformer films were made with superior effects, an almost endless budget and a high profile director immediately guarantees the film success.
            The last decade especially has been revolutionary for film production with the introduction of truly massive special effects in pioneering effects driven films like Independence Day and the Lord of the Rings trilogy both of which were box office smash hits and reinvigorated the cinema experience. Films like Avatar, that spearheaded the revival of 3D, had the same effect, helping cinema climb out of the low it had been in at the start of the decade and the mid 90’s. However, perhaps it is not surprising that effects films are now the highest grossers. It is now very easy to watch a film from the comfort of your own home and as a result cinema – and films you view at the cinema – have become something of an occasion again. As Matthew Vaughn, director of such high profile cult films as Layer Cake and Kick Ass, says “I’m a big believer that if you're going to pay your six quid, you're entitled to see a movie”. What Vaughn is actually saying here is that only certain types of genres are truly deserving of a cinematic touch. For example, to use recent releases, films like Skyfall and Paranormal Activity 4 are going to be more of an experience to see in the cinema than a slow moving drama such as Anna Karenina or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy. Of course there have been exceptions to this rule: independent films like Once and This Is England have enjoyed almost unbelievable levels of success and attention, but it’s wrong to sample these kinds of films and call them regular occurrences – it is still the high budget films that bring in the most profit.
            This change in the market has effectively separated films into one of two categories – you either have the huge budget films that are bursting with effects and an A-list cast, or you have small, independent films that instead rely on their script and their unique, quirky takes to pull in an audience. The middle ground where films like Memento, District 9 and Donnie Darko used to sit has effectively been destroyed by this polarisation of the industry.
            In addition to the obvious changes in audience taste, the film industry has changed too partly because of the temptation to experiment and try out new ways of filming and new, more ground breaking effects. In a way, films like Clash Of The Titans and various other action, fantasy and sci-fi have been created solely to showcase the development of effects – Avatar too if you apply the same ideas. Also it has to be said that it is more attractive to a cast and a director to make a huge budget film that perhaps sacrifices the script and authenticity for special effects and A-list directors as, after all, acting, like any profession, is still a job – money remaining the ultimate goal. It is this money driven circle that keeps this process going and makes films with a higher budget the most popular not just to see but also to act in.
            Yet production is not the only thing that has been affected by the changes in technology – distribution has also taken a game changing beating. With new technologies such as illegal downloads and streaming, it has become not only much more convenient but also much more common to illegally pirate a film instead of paying for it. People can now sometimes see films even before they are released. This threat from downloads has also changed the film industry: whereas before there would often be long waits for a DVD/VHS release of a film, the gap between cinema screening and physical release has shrunk down to often just a few months, if that.

Therefore, in conclusion new technologies have not only changed the film industry, but everything about it, from the actors involved in it to the date of its release.

Submarine Trailer

Submarine, which was always going to be more of a cult indie film than an international blockbuster, doesn’t shy away from capitalising on this in its trailer. There are no real wide, panning shots; the location is immediately established as a bleak, working class town somewhere in the north of England. Like the films of Working Title, this location immediately makes it appear more attractive to a series of specific target audiences, one of which being the American’s who the film producers hope will be naturally drawn to the aesthetic and the atmosphere of early 80’s Britain.

Quirkiness is obviously a major selling point in this release and one that, again, the producers deliberately emphasise in the trailer. Not only is this film written and directed by the much loved but, by his own admission, eccentric Richard Ayoade (best known for his role as Moss in the cult series the IT Crowd), but the clips shown in the trailer are deliberately the films strangest. More than giving us an idea about the film’s narrative, this makes the movie appear more ambiguous and intriguing to the audience which is one of its major selling points as, realistically, the kind of storyline explored in film rarely comes across exciting or especially attractive in trailers to audiences not specifically looking out for that particular genre.

However, easily the biggest selling point of the film was the soundtrack – written and performed by Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys. Strangely though the songs he wrote for the film are barely featured in the trailer until the end. Turner’s voice is distinctive enough to be classed as instantly recognisable and the image of the Arctic Monkeys, from the industrial hub of Sheffield, perhaps contributes as much to the trailer as clips and voiceovers themselves, implying that the spirit carried through in many of the songs and the persona associated with Turner, will somehow find bearing with this title.

Third Man Sewer Scene Analysis

The third man sewer scene is an incredibly dark, atmospheric sequence that incorporates many aspects of film noir, most notably in its lighting and its setting: the cavernous sewers of Vienna - the innards of Post-War Europe. This is perhaps more representative than it seems. Film noir grew out of the spirits of war torn Europe so therefore in many ways this scene could be representative of film noir as a whole and is arguably one of the most significant scenes in any noir film and is laced with metaphors.

     Most notably is the actual setting of the sequence - in the bowls of Vienna. In a city that is so typically associated with glamour and the upper classes, it is a unique and somewhat chilling experience to watch the lowest of the criminal classes scuttle through the tunnels and the waste that lie beneath the city. In a way this alone is a study in film noir - to strip back the glamour and facade of purity and success to reveal the sleaze and the corruption that lies beneath.

     In more ways than one the tunnels and the frantic chase through them represent Harry Lime's entire existence. We don't learn much about Lime's life over the course of the film, but from what we do see and hear of his life we can assume it was always a constant and chaotic sprint from authority as he pursued his own leads and his own initiative. In that respect the sewer scene is just Harry Lime's life story sped up into one chase scene that swings near constantly in and out of his favour until eventually he is cornered, arguably through his own blunders and the sheer numbers of police and soldiers that pour into the tunnels after him. Constantly, Lime is chasing after the light at the end of the tunnels, but every time something stands in the way. Whether this representative of an, albeit perhaps fictional, pursuit of an honest existence, hindered by the constant blockades he himself builds around him.

     Perhaps the best part of the entire scene is Harry Lime's frantic bid for escape through the grating of a street gutter where just his finger tips protrude through the grates. Something about this is chilling. From the exterior shots it looks as though some bizarre growth is rising up through the grates - like the children Lime's morphine has been disfiguring. Somehow in these last few moments of his life the audience feels incredible pity for Lime. What he has done is beside the point and we see, in all its striking horror, a man who is terrified of death and so close to freedom that he can feel it. The noise above ground is deliberately louder and more noticeable than the constant rush of water and babble of German, Russian and English. This is done to emphasise how close Lime is to his goal, but also it suggests that even he does escape he'll still going to have to contend with the rushing wind and the lashing rain - a metaphor that tells us that even if Lime does manage to escape the sewers, he is by no means free.

     Lime is filmed in a curious way throughout the scene. We feel that as an audience we are following his every move, not just the most important ones. We watch as he stoops through low passages and, in one of the scenes best camera angles, see the real fear on his face as he presses himself against the sewer wall as the police pass him by mere meters away. It is odd to have this much of a connection with a character not introduced until half way through the film. Typically of film noir the lighting is dim and normally from just one single point, throwing one half of Lime's body into sharp relief while the other remains unreadable in the shadows which is perhaps a good enough summary of the scene as any.

Shooting a Conversation

Film Noir

The Third Man - often
considered the conventional
film noir

Typically Film Noir is a sub-genre resting somewhere between Crime and Drama that deal with mature themes such as corruption, sexual desire and lust, deceit and betrayal, crime and human nature and its capacity for cruelty. Born mostly out of the European, particularly German, directors fleeing to the USA before after and during World War Two, the genre is charactorised by darkness and long shadows and a prevailing sense of unease that had its routes in Post-War Europe. It could be said in film noir that the lighting is used to put emphasis on what is not there as oppose to what is there. The set is usual only lit up with two point lighting  - key and back lighting. Fill lighting is normally forgotten all together. The camera work is often sporadic and 'on the tilt' that creates a sense of unease and unnaturalness - two major qualities to film noir.  The sets and the locations are normally just as iconic as the camera style the moral ambiguity of the lead characters. Without exception film noirs are set in the city which help develop themes of urban alienation and isolation. Examples of cities regularly featured in film noir include LA, New York, Vienna and Chicago.

A still shot from The Third Man which
more or less sums up the traditional
camera work and lighting of film noir

     Yet there are definite borders to film noir - Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is not classified as traditional film noir despite being set in New York and dealing with themes such as alienation, disillusionment, lust and violence, where as Citizen Kane, that barely touches on themes such as violence and crime, is classified as film noir. This is partly because films like Citizen Kane was made in the first and main era of film noir in the forties and fifties, but also I believe because the characters fit more comfortably into the archetype of the morally ambiguous leads and the femme-fatale.

Heroes in Film Noir



Bud White (Russel Crowe) in
LA Confidential - a good example
of the brutal, amoral hero



The one word that sums up the lead character in any noir film is ambiguous. Rarely, if ever, does the hero in this genre ever stick to one side of the war so to speak. They are constantly jumping from side to side of the moral fence. However, this role can often develop in two key ways: either the hero, however hard he might try to hide it, has high morals but deals with situations presented in a highly immoral way. A prime example of this is from the film LA Confidential in which one of the three main character - Bud White (Russel Crowe) - breaks into the house of a kidnapper and rapist and shoots the suspect as he tries to surrender. Another common feature concerning heroes in noir is corruption. Most commonly in the form of a woman as in the film Double Indemnity where Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray) is talked into murder and insurance fraud by the beautiful Ms Dietrichson.



Orson Wells as Kane in Citizen Kane



Fred MacMurray as Wlater Neff in
Double Indemnity

Hardly ever do the mail leads come out of the story well - in LA Confidential one character is killed and one grievously wounded. In Citizen Kane, Kane's memory is desecrated as he dies lonely and unfulfilled. A typical role of the hero is to be a detective or a criminal, but whatever profession they belong to - be it legal or illegal - they almost always share the same characteristics. The hero is normally well spoken, well dressed and smart. They are generally impassible and ruthless and often blur the line between right and wrong, demonstrating both great cruelty and great compassion. As an audience we are meant to understand but not sympathise with the hero. A perfect example of this is Kane in Citizen Kane. We see, through lengthy expositions, a man driven by greed and greed alone, eventually forsaking everything - love, appearance, trust and everything in between to try and fill the real void in his life which, when it is revealed in the last minutes of the film, alters our perception of the plot and the characters completely.





how to: Film People Having a Conversation

Although filming two people having a conversation is much more simple than filming someone walking, there are still a definite set of rules and techniques it is important to follow during filming.

In order to set up there scene there needs to be an establishing shot - this is usually the simplest of the shots. If, for example the two people are sitting down at a table then the establishing shot would generally be of the table side on, showing the two subjects sitting at it. For example, as the picture to the right demonstrates, this would become the master shot which the camera returned to every so often. These shots would be filmed on the first camera.

While this is going on the second camera will be capturing what are known as pick up shots. Generally speaking these are the irregular camera angles which are returned to at least twice in one scene. The nature of pick up shots can vary massively, but good examples are birds eye shots (e.g. over the table) and close ups. Both of these give new outlook on the scene and keep the conversation as interesting to watch as it is to listen to.

Often also there are separate cameras on each charachter. Though this is not a rule set in stone it definitely is very common in films. The way to do this is normally to have a camera set up at an angle to the actor/actress in an over the shoulder shot of the opposite charachter.

Film Noir Collage

Although filming two people having a conversation is much more simple than filming someone walking, there are still a definite set of rules and techniques it is important to follow during filming.

In order to set up there scene there needs to be an establishing shot - this is usually the simplest of the shots. If, for example the two people are sitting down at a table then the establishing shot would generally be of the table side on, showing the two subjects sitting at it. For example, as the picture to the right demonstrates, this would become the master shot which the camera returned to every so often. These shots would be filmed on the first camera.

While this is going on the second camera will be capturing what are known as pick up shots. Generally speaking these are the irregular camera angles which are returned to at least twice in one scene. The nature of pick up shots can vary massively, but good examples are birds eye shots (e.g. over the table) and close ups. Both of these give new outlook on the scene and keep the conversation as interesting to watch as it is to listen to.

The Rules

The 180 degree rule - This is essentially the same as the idea of not crossing the line. Simplified this rule means that the camera can shoot from any angle so long as it is in the 180 degree radious. If this rule is not followed then it can often look as though charachters have switched sides which can be confusing to look at.

Shot variation - As I have mentioned above, it is important for a variety of shots to be included in a scene. If a whole scene was being shot from one specific angle then it would be dull to watch and it is therefore important to feature many differing pick up shots and one strong master shot.

Continuity editing - Continuity is one of the major problems in filming. It is enevitable, considering how many takes a scene takes to film correctly, that problems will occur but with careful editing it can mostly be avoided or else smoothed over.

Shot/Reverse shot - In films this is a rechnique often employed. Put simply it is when there is a shot of a charachter is looking at something and then the camera angle changes to show what they are looking at and then back to show the charachter again. It is useful to display expressions without having to vocalise them.

Master Shot (see above).

ECU (pick up shots - see above).

Below is the  famous 'tipping scene' from Resevoir Dogs. In this clip of conversation are examples of the  very sophisticated camera techniques that helped establish Quentin Tarintino as one of the finest modern directors.

Camera Angles Explained

Camera Angles Explained

how to: Shoot People Walking

When you shoot people walking with a camera there are a number of main rules to remember to maintain the audiences attention and to add an effect of realism to the shots...

• The camera must keep changing angles - only very rarely can extended shots of people walking from one single camera angle keep a viewers attention and prevent him or her from losing interest. By shooting from lots of different angles it builds up an image of the character and their surroundings as well as being interesting enough to keep the watcher entertained.
• Do not cross the line. When filming someone walking it is important for there to be an imaginary line in the directors head that the cast and crew may not at any point cross, though this sounds complicated and abstract, it is in essence very simple. For example, if you are filming a person walk right from left then the camera should always be positioned to a particular side of them e.g. their left in order to make it look like the actors are waling the same direction. If you suddenly switched to the characters right then it would look as though they were walking the opposite direction. This rule ensures continuity and prevents the potential for confusion.
• Shots. The kind of shots the cameraman uses are almost as important as the actors movement in making the journey look convincing. Typically there should be long shots that show the subject(s) in full, but equally important are mid shots showing us the character in more detail and close ups normally of a character's feet - to show the rhythm of the walk or the pace adopted, not to mention for interest's the sake - or the character's face. However this latter shot would normally be more about the character as oppose to creating a fluent feeling of movement. Wide shots are normally imperative in order to put the subject of the shot in some context, be that an environment or to create a mood or undertone to the shot.
• Camera movement. It might seem obvious but the way the camera moves during filming is one of the most important aspects of shooting people walking. Though in theory any of the main camera techniques could be used to film movement the most popular and efficient are usually a selection of crab shots from side to side, tracking shots that can follow the character from behind or move just in front of them, or dolly shots that can go whichever direction they please and more closely shadow the actor/actress.

The actual film in question aside, the opening credits of Saturday Night Fever (1977) is one of the best examples of the effectiveness of combining all these rules into an ultimately very well thought out and choreographed sequence that establish the mood of the feature and the personality of the subject without any dialogue.

a tornado sucking up flames

TRAMPOLINE!!

This is my first post from my finally fixed blog... it can only get better from here

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