Thriller Video

Orphan

Orphan is a 15 rated film due to being full of disturbing scenes that may unsettle a younger viewer. It is a psychological thriller, with lots of mystery, horror, suspense and drama. The story line is of a couple, Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga) and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) have experienced a strain in their marriage since their third child was announced as stillborn. They come to a decision to adopt a 9 year-old Estonian girl, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), from their local orphanage, who turns out not being as sweet and innocent as she seems. Kate and John's deaf-mute daughter Max (Aryana Engineer) takes a shine to Esther almost straight away, their son Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) is a lot more conscious towards her.

The film itself is cleverly disguised to show a happy family in one light, and in another- the family from hell. The lighting has many perspectives as there are many scenes that are so similar yet so different.

As the film progresses Kate notices there may be something up with Esther, due to her having such advanced knowledge on sex for her age. After an incident in the playground where Esther seriously injures a girl that has been bullying her Kate's worry increases. It becomes worse after Esther overhears a conversation between Sister Abigail and Kate, saying that bad things always happen when Esther is around. As Sister Abigail is leaving in her car Esther pushes Max into the road, causing Sister Abigail to swerve, when she goes to see that Max is okay Esther appears behind her and brutally murders her in front of Max with a hammer. She then convinces Max to help hide the weapon and the body.

John does not believe Kate that there is something wrong with Esther, so Kate goes on a hunt to see what she can find. She stumbles across Esther's Bible, as she looks inside she discovers that it is from the Saarne Institute in Estonia, which she later finds out is a mental institute. She e-mails them a picture of Esther to see if they can dig up any information on her.

The plot unravels and each character finds out that there is something seriously wrong with Esther one by one, but it doesn't become clear exactly what it is until the end...

I would recommend this film as it is filled with twists that leave you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. I recommended this film to a member of my group and she found it helpful for ideas to our thriller opening and also a good watch for herself.

Psycho Analysis

Every angle of this scene is created to be very tense- The camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene all play a major part to make the scene as thrilling as possible. There are a variety of shots used in this scene, but are mostly mid shots, by the way the camera has been angled to give a point of view shot, it gives the illusion that you are the victim/killer.

In the beginning the pace is slow and calm as she is getting into the shower, but as the scene progresses and the killer enters, the pace soon gets faster to keep in time with the quick high pitched music. Once the victim had been murdered the pace slows down to fit with the music which has become deeper to show that time is still passing.

The shower remains on throughout the whole scene to show some continuity. The sound of the knife hits hard to show how brutal the murder is, and by using a bathroom that is so pure, made up of only whites, it shows the deepness of the blood.

Shot 1

 In this scene we can see that her back is to the killer, who we can see approaching behind the shower curtain. She is oblivious to what is about to happen, which creates tension as the idea of a hidden identity adds mystery to the scene. Leaving the audience on edge and wanting to know more.






Shot 2

Here we can see the killers hand holding the knife, right in the centre of the shot. It's a close up shot so we can't see the killer, and is adding more mystery as we don't know who it is that's going to be doing the killing.









Shot 3

 This close up shot of the plug hole shows her blood draining away, with the contrast to  but also gives the feeling that her life is too.

No Country For Old Men Analysis

The first few shots are of an isolated landscape, showing how far out they are. Throughout this scene there is a narration which seems to be giving information about the past, this intrigues the audience and makes you want to watch more.






The next shot is of two figures, a sheriff and an unknown figure, this leaves mystery throughout the audience as questions are wanting to be answered as to who this mysterious character is- By the looks of it a bad guy as his hands are in cuffs.






We then see a close up of a gas canister which must have some importance to make it a shot on its own. We don't yet know the relevance of the gas canister, leaving more questions unanswered, and leaving the audience wanting to know more.





We then see a man sat in the back of a police car, he is quite a dark, mysterious character so this could be suggesting that he is one of the villains in the film. 

There is then a shot of the sheriff and a figure behind him that he is unaware of. By showing characters in different lights it is giving the impression that the good are in full lighting, and the bad are in dim lighting. This adds to the effect and eeriness of the film.

In the next shot we are shown the sheriff being strangled- This proves the theory of good guys and bad guys in different lighting. The sheriff dies very slowly which shows that the death was a struggle. 



We then see how calm the killer is and what he is prepared to go through to kill someone, it also shows that he isn't bothered if he gets hurt along the way as long as he knows he can be set free.

Se7en Analysis

My first evaluation is to the opening of Se7en. The first shot we see is of several items laid out on a table, but we see there is no logical order to them. This may also give the impression that he knows what he is doing and what order he wants to use them in. A paperweight and some papers are shown; this could suggest it is a tidy person. We then see a medium shot of the dead body, but no clues are given as to what has happened, which leaves the target audience asking questions and wanting to watch more to find out- this is typical to any thriller film. The shot switches to outside where the lighting is mainly natural. This gives an illuminated outline to the body, adding tension to the scene.

The face cannot be seen, neither can any injuries- so more questions are asked as to how he died. Another outside shot, this time mid-to-long. The lighting is very dark and the only thing that really stands out is the bright yellow police tape. This may suggest that the police are the only solution now.

The mid shot is used to show one of the two detectives that we see in the opening- it is clearly noticeable that they are in no way similar to each other at all. There is then another mid shot of the two detectives walking out of a building together and there is a clear difference between the age and clothing.

The shot of the credits shows the killers preperation techniques. There are disturbing features such as the blood- still not making it clear what is going to happen.

We see a close up of the floor in what we are assuming is one of the detectives apartments. Very dirty and bugs running around suggest it has been abandoned- this is only shown in torchlight so we can only see exactly what they can see.
A close-up of underneath the table shows us the victims hands have been tied together. Still using torchlight so background shots are minimal. This adds drama to the scene as we only know as much as the characters.

Shot list

1.  Long shot/ Establishing shots of landscapes
2. Long shot of girl walking
3. Over the shoulder shot of the phone
4. Close up of the letters on the phone and her typing
5. Long shot of girl walking (continuous)
6. Girl stops (long shot)
7. Long shot of boy running away
8. Shot of girl (from the front)
9. Close up of her face
10. Long shot of her walking around the shack
11. Close up of the clothes
12. Long shot of her walking around the shack
13. Close up of her face
14. Shot reverse shot of her walking
15. Shots of the shack
16. Girl walking around and entering the shack
17. Girl looking in the shack (long shot)
18. Close up of rubbel in the shack
19. Girl walking upto the board (mid shot)
20. Close up of the board (moving shot)
21. Close up of her face (reaction shot)
22. Girl looking over at the dead body (long shot)
23. Close up of the hand
24. Mid shot of her face
25. Long shot of her moving around the body
26. Close up of her face
27. Mid shot with eyes
28. Long shot of her reaction
29. Long shot of her running away
30. Long shot of lonely landscape

Storyboard (attempt 1)

Shot list (The first attempt)

 

Shot Number	Description	Shot type
1	Sots of the landscape	Establishing shot
2	Girl walking down the road	Long shot
3	Girl on her phone	Side shot
4	Girl typing on her phone	Over the shoulder shot
5	Girl pressing send on her phone	Close up shot
6	Clothes on the floor leading to the shack	p.o.v shot
7	Shot of the shack	Long shot
8	Girl walking over	Long shot
9	Girl opening the door	Long/mid shot
10	Shot reverse shot	Close up
11	Shot from the inside of the shack and hand falling out	s.r.s
12	Shot of the hand	Long shot
13	Girl walking over to the board	Close up shot
14	Close up of the board	Long shot
15	Her face (looking confused)	Mid shot
16	Outside shot of her in the shack- slowly backing away	Long shot
17	Inside the shack- door slamming behind her	Over the shoulder shot
18	Getting her phone out	Close up shot
19	The phone on 1% battery	Long/mid shot
20	The phone dies	Mid shot
21	Shot of her worried	Mid shot
22	The girls face and a pair of eyes behind her	Close up shot

 

Props

We are using discarded clothes on the floor of the woods because that is how the girl finds the shack as she follows them. This is typical to a thriller as it adds mystery and leaves the audience wanting to know more.

Our idea was to have a hand fall out of a door to give the audience something to think about. Why is it there? What happened? How long has it been there? This will intrege the audience to carry on watching as they will want to know what happens.

 

 

 

We are using a shack-like building as that is where the story starts. We might change the shack into an abandoned building like a barn because of the convenience of the location but it will still be the main building in the opening. By using this kind of building it builds tension- lots of corners, and lots of abandoned rubbish to hide under.

We are using a footprint in the mud because that is another element that makes the girl go to the shack as well as the clothes. She does this as she is confused and wonders what it leads to. This was one of first ideas, so may not be included. However the footprint may give a clue to what kind of person it is. As it looks like a trainer, you would associate that with a male figure so this again leaves you in suspense.

We are using a mobile phone because after the girl gets locked in the shack she pulls out her phone to see if she has a signal. The phone will help create suspense as the signal bar will go down. This is typical to a thriller- a girl on her own, stumbling across an old shack, leaving the audience wanting to know more.

 

Location

 

We have had many ideas for our film such as, internet dating gone wrong, mental asylum/museum and then the idea that we decided to go with ‘the abandoned shed with a hand, the reason why we decided to go with this idea was it is a very unique idea that we can adapt with ease if needed, this was not the idea we originally wanted to go with, our first idea was the internet dating gone wrong, the reason why we decided not to go with that idea was because the internet stalker idea sounded a bit cliché and we wanted to try something different e.g. the shed in the woods idea.

 

 

· We have had many ideas for a location, one idea that we had was to film it in a wooded area.

· Some of the negative sounds of that would be the lighting may not be on our side as it could be too dark and we would not see anything that we had filmed

· There could be some very bright patches of sunlight that come through the trees that may make some of our shots barely visible.

· We had a look at different wooded areas around Bourne and Thurlby and we couldn’t find any old sheds that we could use but we couldn’t find anything that we could uses that fits the thriller genre.

· We then had a look on Google maps to see if we could find any old farms with sheds and or barns in abandoned areas

· We found one on south fen road which if located just off the back of cherry holt road (behind the big Tesco’s)

· We still need to ask about using the barn but it may cause some difficulties as there is no one around the area and also no houses so we wouldn’t know who to ask about the use of this location

 

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design.

Here we can see great lighting effects on the bike to give it the shine it’s looking for. The bike has been left in view of the audience to show them they are serious characters, and are not to be messed with.

We can see here the characters are in good light, yet behind them an even brighter light to illuminate their outlines. This tells the audience once again that they mean business.

 In this shot we see that the lighting is directed from one side of his face which gives a shadowed effect on the other side.

The audience know he is a bad character and this leaves them not having any sympathy towards him, only hatrid.

The location is set outside and has the biker theme runs throughout. The costumes are tattered and dark in colour. And the use of the bike keeps up with the theme of the scene.

Shots and stills from Harry Potter

5 shots and stills of Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 2

This still shows Hermione blurred out but her hand clear, holding up a hair. This gives an intriguing effect for a head-on shot.

By blurring out the face and having a close-up of the hair, it shows the audience the importance of the hair to that particular scene in the film.

 

Here shows the character gazing into the distance, with another character behind that doesn’t show their face as it has been partly blurred out.

Here, by blurring out the characters in the background it is showing the audience how he is injured and this may make them sympathise for him.

We have a character here that is shown lying down as they are dead. The shot is taken from above the head at an angle, so is looking down not just on the face. By having the close-up of the face, this may also make the audience sympathise for his loss.

Here it is shown that Harry is on the ground. It is a head-on shot that shows us the expression on his face. You can also see the wand he is looking straight at which tells us that is an important part in this scene.

 In this over the shoulder shot it shows two characters having a discussion. By the expression on this characters face it tells the audience how serious the conversation must be.

Costume

 

In our group we have discussed what costumes would work accordingly to our thriller opening. We decided to go with casual wear (for the male)- perhaps a black hoody and jeans for our mysterious hooded figure, and (for the female) an innocent white dress for our victim. By choosing these outfits we are setting the scene for the unknowing audience.

Thriller questionnaire

Thriller Questionnaire

How old are you?

10-19    20-29   30-39   40+

What is your gender?

Male      Female

What is your job title?  

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Do you read a lot of books?

Yes            No

If so, what kind?

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Do you watch a lot of films, if so what genre? 

Yes       No

Thriller      Sci-fi      Romantic comedy      Action      Adventure

 

Do you like thriller films?

Yes           No

What your favourite type of thriller?

Psychological thriller         Action thriller           Religious thriller     Crime thriller

 (Black swan)                      (Taken)                         (Da Vinci code)           (se7en)

Medical thrillers                dystopian thriller

(Contagion)                         (Hunger games)

 

 

What makes a good thriller?

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What do you expect from a thriller?

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In what way would the opening to a film make you want to watch more?

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What things should we NOT include in our opening?

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Do you think two minutes for an opening is enough to persuade you to watch the rest of the film?

Yes                            No

If yes why?

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What music would you typically link to a thriller film?

Dramatic/tension building             slow and calming                upbeat           other

If other suggest what kind

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