3. From the Title analysis I done, I was able to see what type of titles our thriller movie should
contain, as this can create a big impact on how the audience view your film. From this
research, I was able to develop a title sequence that is considered to be quite effective. This
included the positioning of the titles, the colour and the font, and the way they appear on the
screen.
Positioning:
The movies I researched, tended to have titles in various places, for example, the movie
se7en may have a title at the top right corner, but then the next title may appear at the
bottom left hand corner. We decided to use this technique in our film as we thought it was
quiet effective, however, we developed this as we decided to make our title disappear letter
by letter to help make our movie seem more intriguing. Also, once one title starts to fade,
another title will appear opposite.
4. Colour
■ Apart from the 'Diamond entertainment' which was
blue, the rest of our titles was predominantly
white. We tend to notice that a lot of thriller
movies use white titling as it contrasts well with
the dark background they may use in their film.
Therefore, we decided to use this strategy
because our film has a lot of dark colours
reflected amongst the scenes, however, the
makeup artists and producers, editors and
directors names are in a different colours, which
was purple.
5. Main Title:
In my opinion, the main title of a movie, is what can intrigue the audience the most into
watching your film. The title of our movie is seen at the end of the opening sequence.
Most thriller titles appear quite bold and aggressive in a way, as the title comes through
quite heavy. However, my group and I challenged this and used a title that is quite light
and suttle as we thought this could add suspense into the movie. We also made our
title fade out gently and this could be considered effective as we have a black
background behind the titles, thriller movies such as shutter island, also uses a black
background to help introduce the title of their movie, but we decided to challenge by
using light colours in our title as it is suttle and could make the audience wonder what
is the 'secret'. By using one word as well, generates more interest.
7. In our opening sequence, we used three pieces of music to help stimulate the intensity
of the movie.
For example, in our title sequences, we used music that represents danger and
intensity, we used sound that will already attract the audience into wanting to know
more.
Further on, into the forest scene, we used another piece of music, however, we used
music that will make the audience have that 'off the chair feeling', the sound generated
in this scene is almost like a heartbeat, which can be demonstrated by the character as
she is under pressure into finding a way out.
The next piece of music we used, was when Camilla walks out of the building, here, the
music isn't as daunting, instead, it creates a type of mystery into what could happen
next. The music leads us onto the title and then once the title disappears, so does the
music.
As you can see, we decided to challenge the normal code and conventions of thrillers,
as they often use one piece of music, however, we decided to use three pieces.
9. At the start of the opening sequence, our character was portrayed quite casual, in fact,
this was very similar to how the silence of the lambs portrayed their character, as she
too, was in the woods wearing jogging bottoms and a jumper.
Our character wore a jumper with casual leggings. However, throughout the course of
the opening sequence, she is portrayed as a smart young women. Most thrillers have
the protagonist as a character who is portrayed to be smart and an ordinary person,
therefore we done the same with ours.
The Antagonist however, is often in a costume that hides their identity, and we also
done the same with ours, as our antagonist hides his face and is wearing a lot of black.
11. Tilting shot: After the title sequence, our opening
begins with a tilt shot to make the audience wonder what is
going to happen. This shot was also see in the film the
silence of the lambs, similar to that movie, we also used a
forest. However, we developed their idea into ours by
making our character run straight towards the camera,
which then turns into a close up shot.
Extreme Close up Shot:
We used quite a lot of extreme close up shots. Extreme close ups are fairly popular in
thriller action films, as it makes the audience focus on what is happening on the screen
and this can further suggest that something very important is about to happen. This shot is
seen when the character Camilla is running towards the camera and also when the
antagonist walks towards the locket and the camera stops on him when he is looking down
at the locket. We used a lot of extreme close ups to show the audience that that specific
character/item might have a significant role to play further on in the film.
12. Over the shoulder shot:
We used an over the shoulder shot mainly
with the antagonist and once with the
protagonist. We used an over the shoulder
shot with the antagonist a lot because we
wanted to let the audience know/wonder
what he is up to, without giving away his
identity. The over shoulder shot used
amongst the protagonist was used to make
the audience focus on what the character
is also focusing on.
Medium shot:
The purpose of the medium shot was to
establish where the character is and an
overview on what the character looks like.
Yet again, this is another popular shot in
most thriller films as they like to establish
the type of scene that is taking place, or
to give you an overall image on what the
character might look like.
14. LOWKEY LIGHTING:
A lot of thriller films have low key lighting as it builds suspense and that 'off the chair feeling'. If thrillers
were to use a lot of high key lighting, it would be meaningless as it would contradict the message they
are trying to send to their audience.However, we do use high key lighting in the London scene. But
majority of the lighting would be lowkey.
To get this lowkey lighting, we had to film at a time where it won't be too dark or too light as when it was
too dark, we was unable to see anything, and if it was too light, it would defeat the purpose of the
movie being suspicious.
COLOUR:
Colours mainly used in thrillers are red and black, and we use the colours in the characters clothing or
items. For example, the antagonist' phone and radio is red, which could symbolize danger.
