Character representation revolves and understanding the choices that are made in a characters portrayal. Some aspects of the personality and character can be emphasised so that the viewer will focus on them.
Sometimes stereotypes can be used in character representation so that the viewer can recognise aspects of a character straight away.
Examples.
This in picture Britney Spears is represented in a positive way, a loving mother to her two sons. They look like a happy family.
Never the less in this picture Britney is represented in a negative way, she looks like shes out of control not the loving mother we see in the other image. the shape of her mouth looks like as shes swear or shouting at someone.
In this image Blade/Eric brooks is represented as the hero, looks very masculine. The way his dressed and how his standing is way like a superhero would stand , ready to save the world. His face looks very serious, like he don't play games just wants to get the Job done.
In the film illegally blonde the blonde girl is smart but represented as the girly Blondy that loves the colour pink. What she wears doesn't emphasise her actions although she's dressed smart.Her character representation isn't quite clear as the audience might stereotypical think "she's the dumb blonde girl" however this is to try and play with the audience expectation of 'blonde girls are dumb'.
Overall this helped me think about my own characters in my thriller and how i want them to come across to the audience .Also how i can challenge stereotypes within my characters. In my own thriller I'm thinking of challenging stereotype of how old men are seen are innocent and warm loving , instead i want to make one of my characters an old man that's messed up , a psycho that's obsessed with his daughter.Really unusual.Another thing i want to do with my character is to dress him in a way that will emphasise his actions.For example dirty clothes dirty fingers his facing looking like he hardly never gets any sleep. Also I'm going keep some of the conventions of a character in thriller, with dark mysterious clothes and make up to really set the mood.
To help me get some sort of idea of what target audience my thriller should be, i made up a questionnaire and gave it out to a couple of people. This research helped me get to know my target audience more as i now can add all the things they would like to see in a thriller to get them more engaged
These are the
questions we asked our audience. When counting up the results, we found that
that the majority of the people we asked liked and watched thriller films more than the
other genres , this made it easy for us , however we had to know what different thing they want to see in a thriller film instead of the usual , this gave me and my group the idea of confusing the audience playing with their mind , for them to expect something different.
These questions we asked was essential in helping us to plan
our thriller film as we could look back and relates it to our target audience answers.
The questionnaire would therefore help us when it comes to creating a certain
impacting effect on the audience. Moreover, when it came to the research of
other thrillers, it is able to help us to make our thriller conventional to the
thriller genre.
We asked people “what type of thriller do you enjoy”, this
is where the idea of our thriller film being based on psychological came from
as it was the most chosen them, due to us setting the film inside a house with
a mystery character. We decided that
this would be the best place to have the biggest impact on the audience as a
home is supposed to be safe.
The next important question we asked was “what creates a
thriller?” when asking this, we was relating to suspense, tension and mystery.
The most important combined elements were suspense and tension with mystery
trailing by only two votes. My group
decided that all of these elements were needed inside our thriller film in
order to have a much needed impact on our audience.
With this question, the picture above, it made me and group release that our soundtrack needs to be really creepy to build that tension and suspense and also along with the low key lighting as its conventional to a thriller film.
Creating a questionnaire has helped us to know our audience
a bit more because we are able to make the film relate to the public’s
responses. Additionally, this would help us to make our thriller film
conventional to the thriller genre as we are able to use the questionnaire to
create our thriller around. The theme chosen was psychological as that’s what
our audience would enjoy watching more therefore we have based our thriller
film around the theme of psychological disturbance. When looking at the
response from the questionnaire, it was clear to me and my group, that our
target audience will 15-21 year old people of a mixed genre who all wish to see
a thriller film containing suspense, tension and surprise. These figures are essential
to our group as we now know who our target audience is and what they would like
to see within our thriller film.
Storyboards are drawings of the sequence of shots for a script.It helps to pre-visualize how the director wants the screen play to be shot. Some directors will storyboard every scene and camera angle to save time and money when they are on set. Also the information shown in the storyboard is important as it makes it easy to write down the micro-elements that are going to be used, e.g ; sound , lighting , cinematography and Mise-en scene. The main areas where story boarding is regarded as essential are in the planning of elaborate stunts , special effects sequencers and designing make-up and costumes.
A storyboard is also important for developing ideas in the
making of the film. When planning the film in a storyboard it can help to bring
up more ideas on how the film should be edited and put together as well as the
process in which it should be filmed.
These are all conventional to a story board! -The number of shot -Duration -Cinematography -Location -Iconography -Lighting -Actors - Sound/dialogue -Narrative description In thriller storyboards , the use of lighting , cinematography and Mise-en scene will define the genre.
This is storyboard of the film psychobecause the way the two characters are represented is quite effective as we can see different shots of their facial expression and their body language. Its also clear, we can see whats happening in each shot. We know its a thriller because the use of iconography which is a knife the connotation this is murder, pain and blood and the shot sizes used are mostly close up to show the facial expressions of the characters.
This is another effective storyboard i found ,it shows the drawing and the actual image. this is one of the main reason why story boards are useful/helpful. It shows you exactly what u want to show in your film. The drawings are clear , we can see whats happening.The use of low key lighting with some lighting to highlight the main features to create an effect. From the narrative, it seems like the genre of the film might be horror.Also from the facial expressions of the girl , she looks scared at one point , its like she hard a noise in some other room so she tries to find out what it is. The house is conventional to a thriller because in most thrillers its normally set in a house to kind of play around with the idea of a house being safe.
Advantages
-It also helps the director avoid shooting useless footage or having to pick up additional footage at a later date.
- Used m as a way to communicate vision to producers or investors.
-Storyboards allow every crew member to have exactly the same vision
Disadvantages - Can take up time to draw it out - A lot of details needs to be put in.
Overall looking at storyboards helped me understand why storyboards are important when it comes to filming. Not only it will save time when it comes to filming it will also make it a lot easier to know what to do and how you want the shots to be shown. In my own storyboard i will be thinking about the use of Mise en scene and cinematography as well as the type of lighting used.
Opening credit is the written information presented to the audience on who is starring in the film and who has what role. The purpose of an opening credit is to is set the tone of the film and inform the audiences and get them engage and also to show at the beginning of a film, and list the most important members of the production and actors.
Opening credits are effective in thrillers when accompanied by sound to create tension and fear. Also images that do not make complete sense, making the audience question what is going on.
What things expected to see? -Names -Most significant -Character roles -Executive producer -Company Se7en opening credits analysis
In the opening credit of Se7en, there are few information shown to the audience such as names of actors in order , they mention the familiar ones first as some audience might like that actor in other films so they may consider watching this film to.Also the name of the film then appears so people know what the film its called. Most of the lighting is low key lighting but there are some high key lighting. The colours used are the typical colours u would see in thrillers ,e.g. red/ white, black all conventional to a thriller film. The way the audience see it is all in point of view , Most of the angle shot sizes are close up or mid shot to make it easy for the audience to follow whats happening. Some of the actual action going on behind the text are quite confusing but that's okay , that's the whole point wanting the audience to wonder. The front style of the credit opening is Gothic font text and the white colour fits in with the genre as the background is black.The lighting and colour throughout the opening
credits is dark. The low key lighting makes the opening appear mysterious and
compliments with the images shown throughout the credits.
It’s also a conventional thriller film as it’s
presented to the audience in the opening credits. There is a constant use of
close ups throughout the opening credits which allows to see detail such as
keywords (as above) as well as emphasizing horrific elements which relate to
the narrative. From the close ups used the audience can see the characters
dirty finger nails; this disgusts the audience and already creates resentment
towards the character.
I think that the opening credits from 'Se7en' create impact
on the audience because the opening credits are used to confuse the audience.
However they contain important clues to the films narrative which catch the audience
attention and provoke the audience to work the clues out. 'Se7en' is a good
example on creating an impact on the audience because it also makes the
audience focus on the film by leaving them to guess the narrative. This opening
credit scene has influenced me with my own thriller film as it gave me and my
group ideas on what elements to use to slightly confuse the audience.
Typography
Typography is the term for font that is used within the
media world; this also includes font size and colour.
This
screen shot of typography is taken from the film 'Se7en'. The typography used
within the opening credits of this film help emphasize the thriller genre of
thefilm.
When editing our thriller film me and my group has decided
to use on screen opening credits which means the audience can watch the film while
seeing the opening credits. The font
color will represent pureness so it will be white this is so we confuse and
kind of play of the audiences mind when they start watching our thriller film
which will be conventional to the thriller genre
Overall the search of opening credits and typography has
helped with the creation of my thriller film. I have identified what typography
is conventional to a thriller film and how to make it look professional by
analysing other thriller opening credits.My target is to make the audience question their outlooks of
a thriller film which will create suspense among the audience and cause them to
feel anxious. Last but not least using opening credits will set the atmosphere
of the film so we must make them effective and conventional to the thriller
genre.
The role of BBCF and why its important to the film industry. A highly expert and experienced regulator of the moving image.The BBFC serves a social function in society which is to advice a protect viewers from moving image.Also Provide public information that empowers them(and parents) to make appropriate viewing decisions for the themselves and those in their care. They help to protect vulnerable viewers and society from the effects of viewing potentially harmful or unsuitable content while respecting adult freedom of choice. Age certificates are provided by the BBFC and this is judged depending on the content displayed , which is in hope to protect all film viewers. A certain viewing material is only appropriate for a certain age group.
Here are the different type of age certificates
It is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child.A U rating film should be suitable for audience four and over.Should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.
High school musical is an example of a U rating film
its suitable for all age.
General viewing ,but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.It shouldn't disturb child aged around eight or older.Parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset them.
an example of PG rating is tangled
This has some scenes of fighting
These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in General , only for those aged 12 and over.May upset those that are under the age of 12.
The 12 category exists only for video works , no one under the age of 12 can rent videos.
King Kong is an example of a 12 rated film , it contains violence which wont be suitable for anyone under the age of 12.
12A is fairly new age rating that came as a result of spiderman.(2002)
Viewers argued that spiderman was too violent for children, and had a controversial narrative , so it should not be given a pg rating.
Therefore the BBFC gave it a 12 rating
Other viewers argued that spiderman was a childhood comic hero so it was only fair that children were allowed to watch it.
It was then given a 12A ratings which meant those under 12 could only watch it if accompanied by an adult.
Spiderman is an example of a 12A rated film.
Content may have some controversial elements to it,but on the whole , there shouldn't have any discrimination. Drugs may be touched upon but not promoted, lot of violence are displayed and strong language.
Paranormal activity is an example of a 15 rated film contains strong threat and language.
At 18 the BBFC's guideline concerns will be not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Materials may touch upon criminal law and display criminal offence. Also violent or dangerous acts, illegal drug use may be shown but should not cause harm to the public health or morals. sexual scenes may be shown and strong bad language.
St George's is an example of a 18 rated film ,contains very strong language and violence.
what age certificate rating thrillers get?
thriller get rated 15 and 18 due to these contents. Strong violence strong language sexual/nudity scenes Gory images Torture. Any age below 15&18 are not allow to watch these kind of films due to the content that's been shown and is not suitable as its disturbing to the younger ones.
My Opinion in my opinion i think age rating is a good thing , it stops young people from seeing certain things they shouldn't be exposed to i also agree with the way the rating aged is categorised , especially with the thriller age rating because anyone under 15 shouldn't see a horror or a thriller film due to so many aspects. Some kids may get nightmares or it may effected them in some sort of way and also pick up bad language if the film contains strong language.
Overall looking at age certificate helped me decide what age my thriller trailer should be ,because its a thriller,my thriller needs to be rated either 15 or 18 because it's going to contain violence and some disturbing scenes of murder. At the moment I'm thinking it will be rated age 15 due to violent scenes.
film censorship is when a film is revised due too the content it shows. A film will either be banned or asked to be cut several times before the BBFC are happy with it. Going through the BBFC is a legal requirement for all films as they need to make sure that the contents of the film is appropriate for the chosen age rating.
The British Broad Film Classification Their role is to protect the public from anything offensive or could cause any harm. Decisions they make: Age certificate for a film.They will need to ban it completely, cut or censor it depending on the content.
The things that get censored! -Violence
-Sexual violence
-Corrupt the young
-Sex and nudity
-Language
-Animal abuse
-Drug abuse
Banned-When a film is taken away from cinema viewing completely due to indecent, harmful or offensive material. An example of a film that got banned and still is in the UK today and many other countries is Mikey. The reason why it got banned is because there were many graphic scenes of torture and murder. Also the fact that two young boys tortured and murdered a toddler in 1993.
Another example of a film that got banned in many countries is The Exorcist. It was released in 1973 banned for horrifyingly scary and in some cases for religious.
Also Natural born killers is another example The film was about two lovers who embarked on a vicious murder spree. The movie was banned completely in Ireland, and denied distribution in the USA because the amount of blood and gore.
Cut-When a film is edited or has had a scene taken out , to make it appropriate for the viewing.
An example of a film that's been cut to suit its audience is Shrek 2, a scene where Cameron Diza's character headbutts prince charming has been changed to neck chop in the U.K version. This is because BBFC thought that children will copy and might try the headbutt where the neck chop is not so easy for them to try and do it.
Venus in Furs is another example ,was rejected in 1970 but later released in 1970 .
Reasons for cuts - scenes of a graphical sexual nature
Forna vs Kermode
Don't Look Now: A case for censorship (Aminatta Forna)
The power of the words and images on public. Freedom of expression is following.
Social stereotypes 'kkk'
TV adverts create an impact,public associate themselves with the characters they see.
Undesirable acts such as rape and illegal incidents encourages the audience to carry out these acts.
Manipulate human desires , seducing the audience.
Films start to break down barriers. A film about a woman getting raped then enjoying the rape.
Eyes Wide Open: A case against censorship(Mark Kermode)
Being told you can't and can watch,audience know the difference between right and wrong.
Fear of expression - freedom of speech
Sex /drugs/violence doesn't occur during the making of the films so there's no need to consor it.
The public should be able to distinguish between fiction and non-fiction.
Everyone has their own response to things not just a general emotion.
Responsibility-policing film is impossible- are films encouraging people or just showing them realistic situations.
My Opinion; Personally i think films should get censored because most of the things we see is inappropriate even though there's age rating, its still not acceptable for the people to see people getting tortured or murdered and also corrupt the young minds. Just because its just its not real it doesn't mean its okay to watch it. If people keep watching these kind of films they'll get the idea that its fine when the situation occurs in real life and won't be as shocked due to these films they watch.Some of the female audience may have experience sexual violence's such as rape and may be effected by it and ,as some are watching it to entertain themselves.
Conclusion;
Overall film censorship and the BBFC made me think about some of the contents not to include in my thriller trailer and thinking about it carefully. Also what the age certificate for my thriller, For now I'm thinking the age would be 15 as i will need to discuss it with my group because we might decide to include some violence scenes.
How is the opening sequence of scream conventional to a opening?
I'm going to be analysing this opening scene of scream using these 4 elements; Cinematography which is the way the shot is framed and the angle its taken in and also the movement of the camera. Also going to be talking about how lighting effects the mood and the atmosphere in this scene/film as well as the angle of the lighting and the types of lighting. I'm also going to be looking at the sound and how it creates suspense and tension in this scene and what responses it creates from the audience from the type from the of sound used. Within mise en scene I'm going to look at the elements of mise en scene. Mise en scene is everything you see in the frame/scene.The elements of mise en scene are:setting, iconography, lighting and colour,costume and body language facial expressions.Within this scene I'm going to be looking at how these 5 elements of mise en scene bring something effective to the scene that the audience will response from. Lastly I'm going to be discussing how editing is used to represent meaning and represent characters and action in this scene.
Parallel sound is used, when shes on the phone talking to the killer. This is used to have the audience on edge as the girl looks scared and clueless also its effective because they can actually hear what the antagonist is saying to the female victim.This has an effect on the audiences because they don't know whats going to happen which gets them nerve racking .
Diegetic sound is used when the phone is ringing , this is used to create a scene that shes going to pick up the phone and the phone is the most significant iconography that later leads to her death. Diegetic sound is used when the girl is talking and screaming this is used because its to let the audiences be aware of the fact that shes scared. The audience have sympathy towards her as she looks innocent. None Diegetic sound used as she starts running , the killer then says something about her which freaks her out , creating a reaction from her.The sound slowly builds up and gets faster, scarier,this is to build up tension. Makes the audiences jumpy ,unaware of the next movement.
Close up shot is being used when the girl is on the phone to the antagonist as he scares her and realises that the killer isn't joking around with her. This shot is used to capture the girl's facial expression and let the audience know how the character is feeling. Also long shot is used after the second phone call from the killer where it shows the setting, showing outside the house, its dark outside the house is big and seems to be the only house we as the audience can see, the audience get sense of fear.Another effective shot is mid shot, it being used when the girl is walking out of the kitchen towards the living room this is to give information to the audience in whats happening in the scene. When girl sees her boyfriend in the chair tied up and the killer keeps frighting her , she starts crying and that's when the camera zooms into her face here's where the audience feel sorry for her and it also grabs their attention. The shot sizes used are conventional to thriller because in thriller films they use a lot of close ups to capture the characters facial expressions making the audience be aware of how the characters are feeling.
When the girl is setting next to the TV on the phone and crying at the same time , low angle is being used, this angle is effective to the audience because it shows how small/innocent the girl is and how weak and terrified she is.
There's a lot of camera movements in this scene but the ones used the most is panning shot ,crane shot and point of view and some others. Panning shot is used as the girl is walking , the camera follows her allowing the audience to see whats going on. When the girl is looking at the garden the camera movement its taken from is point of view which creates tension and adds suspense to the scene and also when she turns the garden lights on and we see her boyfriend tied up we as the audiences see this as the girl's point of view to what shes looking at as we see her reaction afterwards.
In this scene most of the lighting low key lighting as its a thriller, everything needs to be dark with small areas of light to add shadows and grab the audiences attention to a particular objects or the character's emotion.Also its to set the mood and the fear in the scene.
The second time the phone rings and as she turns around and walks towards the it , we can see that low key lighting is used and the lighting is coming from the back of the character also the angle of the lighting used is top lighting, its highlighting the objects seen.
Every object you see in this scene is put there for a reason and creates meaning to the scene. The phone is a symbol of her death as it lead to her death. The colour of the phone is white ,white can sometimes relate to death. The knife that she gets killed with is a typical iconography to thriller films, the denotation of this object is pain, death , blood all these are conventional to a thriller and what the audiences expect to see.
The protagonist is wearing a white jumper,shows that shes innocent. In addition her wearing lipstick makes her appear more feminine and the audience assume that the character is being represented in a sexy way also this is conventional because in thriller films you always see the protagonist wearing light clothing to signify the characters purity.The antagonist is wearing a black custom and we as the audience can't see his face ,this makes him emerge mysterious and black associates with darkness and evil, from watching it.We notices that its clear that the killer knows the victim so the audience wonder and get drawn in.The Light clothing and dark clothing is conventional to thriller films because those colours between the protagonist and the antagonist represents 'good &bad' and the audience recognise the who's who by the colour clothing of the characters.
This scene is set in a big house. The connotation of a house is that it is warm, safe and the audience think that the character is in a safe place and there is no harm to be bought upon her. However, the audience learn that she is alone and the killer is very close by, so this information makes the audience respond in a very cautious and scared way for the female victim. Through out the scene,we realise that as she keeps talking to the antagonist , that he knows every part of the house. He reveals that he knows that shes alone and there is nobody to help her.This makes the audience feel nervous and scared for her as they know that her death is near.
At the beginning the girl's body language is quite flirty towards the antagonist , we can tell this from her facial expressions and the tone of her voice. The audience respond to her in a friendly way they warm up to her.
Never the less her body language changes through out the scene as the tone of her voice changes to scared , you can see the fear in her eyes because her gestures emphasises her words and when shes next to the TV kneeling down her body language shows that shes trying to protect herself.
Further more the body language of the antagonist is aggressive because of the way his holding the knife when his about to stab the girl as she runs from him and tries to get away , sadly she don't.The audience respond to this in a ireful way this is because they are sympathetic towards the girl. In a thriller film the antagonist is always meant to be evil and have some sort of haterest towards the protagonist therefore the opening of scream is conventional to thriller films.
Meanwhile the more she gets scared, we see her facial expressions change through out the scene this is conventional to thriller because the characters normally look scared.From her facial expressions it can tell the audience a lot about her emotions. This helps the audience understand her character.
Straight cut editing is used when the girl hangs up the phone for the second time and the shot goes from inside the house to showing outside this editing shot is used to not confuse the audience Another editing shot used was reaction shot when the victim sees her boyfriend tied she reacts to it and starts shouting at the killer shows sense of anger. The more the girl talks to the killer the more tension that's being built up, this is where slow editing is used and its also to capture the actions like when his about to stab her and when he breaks through the window. when she starts running fast editing is used and that's when suspense and tension kicks in to add more thrill to it and get the audience shacking and jumpy,this is conventional to thriller films because in thrillers tension is the main element. Zoom editing is used when she says what did you say, it slowly zooms in to her face for the audience to see her reaction.
Over all i think analysing this opening scene of scream made me think about my own opening scene when it comes to making it.This opening sequence of scene of scream is conventional to thrillers because it had all the typical conventions of a thriller. We see blood and the girl getting murdered by the killer its something the audience expect to see. However the director plays around with the setting of this scene because a home is meant to be a safe place as the house looks comfy and homely but he plays with that idea and changes the expectation of the audience. The lighting is mostly low key but he uses different angles of lighting to create different effects on the audience.Also the sound he uses to build up tension and suspense is another conventional.The iconography the killer uses to murder the girl is a knife , which shows pain. For my own opening sequence of a thriller ,i would want to play around with the typical conventions and want the audience to have that expect the unexpected feeling and make it more thrilled. Most of my editing i would want it to be slow and fasting editing get my audience on the edgy. more over i want to use dramatic irony to get the audience talking and get involved and also for them to have that connection with that certain character. The setting is not something i would change conventionally because to me the setting plays a big part of a thriller film , the audience would know a lot about the genre by the setting.
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