Filming Locations

Thriller planning

What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

 The opening of a thriller film definitely plays a massive role if not the most important one, as the opening of thrillers needs to establish either the character, genre, plot, theme , tone/ mood or the location to the audience in order to catch their attention, interest  and to give them the urge of pursuing further. Different directors choose how they want to open their thriller and what they want to establish when making an opening. As we can see from the cobweb some may want to establish one or several parts more than the other depending on the film. However directors tend to establish the genre, character and theme more often.

 For example, David Fincher, the director of the film "Se7en" establishes character very well in his opening scene. The director uses mise en scene perfectly well to establish Detective William R. Somerset's character in the pre title sequence. Firstly, the scene of Mr Somerset in his own quite minimalistic kitchen , there is a chess board which indicates that the character is intelligent and is engaged in games which involves concentration and deep thinking.

Figure 2: Kitchen

The next shot shows Somerset adjusting his tie with his spotless white shirt on, which gives us an opinion of him being a working man. Then the director shows us five items which are perfectly aligned with each other, each of the items tell us something about his character.
 The first item is a paper rose which (we can assume) he carries with him at all time. This could be a reminder of someone of importance to him for example his wife, which may no longer be by his side, presumed dead, therefore the rose emphasizes his deep love for his wife. The next object is a golden badge which shows his superiority and his high status of authority. Next to the badge there is a very nice looking pocket knife which acts as a 'Chekhov's gun' and gives a sense of violence to the character which may be accumulating inside him or, maybe just adds a sense of the anger within him. However we learn that this isn't a tool for violence , but  a key. In fact Somerset is the key holder to something big.

Figure 3: Personal Items

Then the next two items are an expensive looking pen which further emphasizes an intellectual individual and his gun which emphasizes that he's also a deadly enforcer, but the gun is in its holster, which could signify his caution to use violence. (In contrast , if this was detective Mills' gun it would probably be shown tossed carelessly on the bed free of its holster.). This variety of objects show that he is a complex character and also gives an indication to the enigma within him. The fact that they are perfectly aligned with each other ,connotes that he maybe a perfectionist who manages his things in a tidy manner. This almost obsession is supported by his fastidiousness shown his removal of a minute dust speck from his coat. 

The metronome symbolises time running out which is very significant as the film's plot is focused on a seven day deadline. It also shows that he is ''mentally disturbed' as he needs the metronome to fall asleep . Additionally the metronome is a method of blocking out the disturbing sounds - sirens and rain -  which can be seen as the city's 'sins' which relate to the film's theme "The seven deadly sins".

Figure 4: Metronome

Furthermore, through the dialogue the director gives the audience a greater insight into his character. At the time of the investigation of the murder scence he asks his colleague "Did the kids see it" which shows sympathy towards children which might be his 'soft spot' whereas his colleague does not care and replies with the happy thought of Somerset's retirement which gives some back round information that he is soon to retire.

Figure 5: "Did the kids see it"

This shot is an example of how the main character thinks and differs from his collegues Mr Fisher does this by blurring the colleague whilst the main character is largely in focus in the foreground.

Location

Terry Winson the director of 'Essex boys' establishes location very well as it is gives a feeling to the audience of the theme and tone of the film through its location, "Essex". Essex being a gloomy urban and industrial location is a perfect set for a British gangster film. Whereas dark and mysterious location would be a perfect fit for a film noir , such as "The Third Man".

The first shot to the film is a man opening his garage with an fairly old car in it. The shot simply gives an idea that this film is going to be pretty dark and not very positive spirited. The vague spotlight can be a metaphor for the small amount of hope and happiness in the city, and the silhouette of the character also emphasizes his dark and possibly depressing life.

 The use of saturated colours on the palate with grey and black colours being the dominating ones emphases the emptyness and hopelessness of the location, this gives a bleak tone to the audience as the film is being devoured by the negative and dark colours.

The use of vanishing points also shows the never ending hopelessness. Even in this shot, even thought its much brighter it still has the effect of bleak colours. This way Terry is engaging the audience in the location and by doing so, is also perfectly establishing the tone and theme of the film. The audience now have an idea of what to expect throughout the movie. Without establishing the plot. This just shows us that, you can establish one factor but also giving a slight sense of other factors without actually doing so, which gives the audience a sense of mystery and curiosity.

However you may also establish every single element in the film character , genre, themes, location, tone/mood , plot and genre. If done effectively this could instantly attract the audience if its their sort of movie. The opening to "Disappearance of Alice Creed" has it all. The character is being established throughout the opening, we get the idea that one is more dominant and serious than the other, the director does this by small detail in action for example in the van when one of the mans hands start to rattle the other man just through his facial expression tells him to stop. The director also establishes important's of the characters by constantly blurring one of the characters out in the backround while the other is focus in the centre of attention.

 The director directly establishes the genre and the plot of the film through the title "Disappearance of Alice Creed" and also gives us hits in the opening of them carefully preparing as they planned for the abduction of Alice. The theme and the tone is established through their choice of objects 

 We can clearly see that its going to be a dark and a bit psychotic film. The Knife, gun and handcuffs being a key objects to a thriller film acting as a McGuffin and being a plot device.

Ironically location is also being established in this film by showing that they are in a discrete place and that this could actually be happening anywhere. The only things we know is that there is a forest, supermarket and an old car dump.

This will influence and help my choice of what I would like to put in the opening of my thriller film. I will now have example of  from different films and I may choose to use some of the techniques from them to establish my character, genre, theme, location, plot and tone/mood. I have also learned that most directors tent to establish character , theme and genre as appose to tone/mood , location and plot. So therefore I might choose to do the same, and I will want to establish the character very well as I think it is a key element to an opening of a thriller film, and less on the plot because it is very hard to fit the plot in just two minutes.

How does the director establish character in Se7en ?

How does the director establish character.

The director uses mise en scene perfectly well to establish Detective William R. Somerset's character in the pre title sequence.

Firstly, the scene of Mr Somerset in his own kitchen , there is a chess board which indicates that the character is intelligent and is engaged in games which involves concentration and deep thinking. The next shot shows Somerset adjusting his tie with his spotless white shirt on, which gives us an opinion of him being a (hard) working man. Then the director shows us five items which are perfectly aligned with each other, each of the items tell us something about his character. The first item is a paper rose which (we can assume) he carries with him at all time. This could be a reminder of someone of importance to him for example his wife, which may no longer be by his side, presumed dead, therefore the rose emphasizes his deep love for his wife. The next object is a golden badge which shows his superiority and his high status of authority. Next to the badge there is a very nice looking pocket knife which acts as a 'Chekhov's gun' and gives a sense of violence to the character which may be accumulating inside him or, maybe just adds a sense of the anger within him. However we learn that this isn't a tool for violence , but  a key. In fact Somerset is the key holder to something big.

Then the next two items are an expensive looking pen which further emphasizes an intellectual individual and his gun which emphasizes that he's also a deadly enforcer, but the gun is in its holster, which could signify his caution to use violence. (In contrast , if this was detective Mills' gun it would probably be shown tossed carelessly on the bed free of its holster.). This variety of objects show that he is a complex character and also gives an indication to the enigma within him. The fact that they are perfectly aligned with each other ,connotes that he maybe a perfectionist who manages his things in a tidy manner. This almost obsession is supported by his fastidiousness shown his removal of a minute dust speck from his coat. 

The metronome symbolises time running out which is very significant as the film's plot is focused on a seven day deadline. It also shows that he is ''mentally disturbed' as he needs the metronome to fall asleep . Additionally the metronome is a method of blocking out the disturbing sounds - sirens and rain -  which can be seen as the city's 'sins' which relate to the film's theme "The seven deadly sins".

Furthermore, through the dialogue the director gives the audience a greater insight into his character. At the time of the investigation of the murder scence he asks his colleague "Did the kids see it" which shows sympathy towards children which might be his 'soft spot' whereas his colleague does not care and replies with the happy thought of Somerset's retirement which gives some back round information that he is soon to retire.

Annotate the images from the video: how does the director use composition to create meaning in the scenes from Drive?

Due to the director’s choice of filming and the use of the “quadrate technique” almost every shot has a composition of balance. Top with bottom, left and right. Due to this the director can create conventional ordinary scenes into an unconventional and mind triggering scenes.

1. In the first scene the director used a technique which shows two different perspectives of two different characters, and in stead of using two different shots or having to different scenes or splitting the screen he uses one camera which captures both points of view on each side of the screen (Left – Right). By doing so the image comes alive and keeps our eyes busy and entertained even though we might not realize it.

2. The next scene uses the same technique but instead of using left and right it uses top and bottom. The top shows the triangle of characters which are having a conversation and is giving us a sense of their character and their relationship between one another through the shoulder movement and context of the conversation . Whereas the bottom part of the screen also has a story of its own and is giving a bigger insight on the characters through the body movements and specifically through the hands.

3. In this scene the character is on the top left of the screen and the audience will assume that the next character will appear next to him in top left , however the director makes the character appear bottom left , which creates a sense of disturbance and confusion of the moment.

 4. The next scenes show a sense of balance of “power” between the two characters and shows that they both have the same ambitions. The director does this by having the two characters in the same quarter of the quadrate which emphasizes their balance and both of them are looking at the same corner of the quadrate which shows their aim. 

How does the sewer scene from The Third Man use framing and composition techniques mise en scene and cinematography to create meaning and metaphors

Figure 1

Figure 1 has been taken at a slightly tilted angle which gives a sense of confusion and perhaps nervousness as the adrenaline is rushing through his blood. Also because of the tilted shot it makes our main character seem as though hes struggling to escape and slowly falling out of his way and therefore has to hold onto the rail in order to keep calm and focused. Furthermore the director uses the quadrant technique which creates a balanced frame between good and evil and despite them being close to each other , neither of them know where each of them are which also shows confusion and desperation. Top left of the frame we can see that next to him is a ladder going upwards, with light coming through which may emphasize hope or 'heaven'. On the top right of the frame , next to 'hope' there are stairs which are leading to complete darkness , almost as if it is leading to 'hell', with the bold dark rail shadow emphasizing evil within the way and acting as an arrow pointing towards despair by his own desperation and temptation.

Figure 2

In figure 2 the director uses German expressionism composition ,through a lot of sharp and angular shapes with very random chiaroscuro lighting surrounding the scene which creates a angry and uncomfortable atmosphere almost as though hes trapped behind bars in a prison, Also due to the frame being covered by approximately 1/6 of the frame with a pole , it creates a very claustrophobic amount of space which creates a sense of anxiety and paranoia while he is slowly crawling up not knowing what to expect. With the high angle which the director has chosen it makes the character look powerless and full of despair with the help of dark shadows in the background.

Figure 3

In figure 3 the use of quadrant between the upper frame and lower frame creates a sense of balance between good and evil , good being on top having the superiority of looking down on evil and evil trying to escape from "Gods" judgment. By doing this is creates a sense of morality between the two parties. The fact that evil is being careless of not being observant means that he is in desperation and has no time for being careful. Also because of the two parts of the frame upper and lower it gives more details to the audience as our eyes are looking at both scenes and instead of having two different scenes the director fused them into one which creates a much more interesting shot and furthermore creates a sense of confusion. Also , because of the cameras framework and it being a mid shot with walls taking up most of the framework it creates a claustrophobic moment and emphasizes our characters desperation to get out while paranoid and anxious. Chiaroscuro lighting with dark shadows adds to the disorientation to the shot and not giving us clues to the sewers massive maze.

Figure 4

In figure 4. Intense chiaroscuro lighting plays a massive role in this particular shot. Due to our character blocking the light, it instantly connotes the loss of hope. He has nowhere to run and is facing the 'good' straight on and perhaps being 'purified' by the good. Unique lighting on the walls of the tunnel has created a German expressionism like composition which gives a tense and aggressive atmosphere which is surrounding the character. This shot has a different vanishing point in comparison to the rest of the sewer scene as now it is leading to the middle of the frame and may emphasize clarity and an end to confusion and distortion, where as in the other scenes the director used vanishing points in an odd angle and position in order to create a confused scene. Also the dark shadow besides the character symbolizes the clear view of the evil inside him. The dark shadow that is cast upon the water beneath our characters feet can also be interpreted  as though there is an even greater evil which is flowing underneath the city.

Anton and Ruth's Preliminary task.

Preliminary task write up. 
 Our task was to film a walking scene which included a door opening and  then lead to a conversation between two people. We had to make a floor plan with all the different camera angles and we had to create some kind of a script for our dialogue. At the end of filming we had to edit all the scene and put them together to create a continues short clip.
 We worked in a group of three and each of us contribute to the task. We all had different ideas for a story board ,floor plan and a script which was proven to be quite difficult to come up with and so we kept that for the end. We all thought of different camera angles which we could potentially use and concluded in a final decision which everyone agreed upon. We rehearsed the walk and took a few shots in order to see how it would actually look on the screen. The location that we chose to have a conversation was a pagoda which made filming it sitting down a bit problematic because we either kept breaking the 180 degree rule or the pole kept getting in the way. So we decided to film it while standing up. Which solved the 180 degree issue. However that was our only problem duo to our team work which in the end resulted in success. If we had more time to plan this task it would probably have resulted without any problems and a much more improved version of this clip. Because we relied on natural light where as we could have added extra effects and include shadows to emphasize the anger and power in Ruth's movement and actions. Also due to the location we did not have the control over sounds in the clip as it was outside and the sounds of the wind and children playing.

 We tried to incorporate the following techniques such as lead and nose room so that the audience sees that she is determined to a specific location and also head room to give a sense of power. We used a variety of camera angles to show the continuity of the clip in order to make it look more smooth to the audience without making anyone confused . The 180 degree rule was a bit troublesome in the location we chose. As the pole kept getting in the camera's way, and even though when we did break the 180 degree rule we personally thought that it looked interesting and cool. However that was not part of our task and therefore we kept it plain and simple. We used a electronic door in order to show that she is the powerful out of the two characters the door open for her! Not, the other way round.
 I have learned a lot during the process of making a short clip. I learned that in order to get a good clip, you really need to put effort and time into your planning other wise you just make mistakes throughout and it is very time consuming which in our case we did not have much. I have also learned that there are actual rules to filming a conversation such as the 180 degree rule. I never realized that filming from different sides of the scene at once can create such a confusing and create a distorted sense of location and also due to the different camera angles you can create a great sense of power depending if it low or high angle. I was reassured  that tripods are actually needed and it is very hard to keep the camera still. All of these thing will help me in my future clips and probably the most important thing was planning , because i realized what chaos it creates when you are not fully prepared.