Psychological films that are like what we are wanting to make - Emma Irwin

These are some examples of films that are like what we are wanting to do:

Secret window: 

This is a psychological thriller about a man who has gone/who is going crazy. This fits in with the concept of our film as the main character will have schizophrenia and will begin seeing things other people won't be able to see.

There are a lot of close up shots in the film and the use of eyes play an important role. This is because, in thrillers eyes can show a lot of emotion and some people may find eyes unsettling as they begin to feel exposed or like they are having to lean back.

The iconography of the film is mainly darkness, eyes and shovels. In our film we may include close ups of eyes and the use of different lighting. Also, we might use knives and blood to make the piece more psychological.

Research of Genre (Thriller)

Research of Genre
My chosen genre is Thriller. There are many types of Thrillers. For example you have:

• Psychological Thriller

• Crime Thriller

• Police Procedural

• Mystery Thriller

• Suspense

• Action Thriller

These are all sub-genres of a Thriller. Our chosen sub-genre is a psychological thriller. In a psychological thriller, the characters are exposed to danger on a mental level rather than a physical one.

Psychological Thrillers

• Action and psychological aspects both are used to add to the suspense.
• With a psychological thriller the conflict (battle!) is through the mind, skills, and wit of main characters, reversing the more normal thriller “plot over character” expectations i.e. a psychological thriller reader needs to understand the character, character can (sometimes) be slightly more important than plot (although I prefer both in equal measures).
• Characters shouldn’t win using physical talents or efforts, but rather using their mind, wits or smarts.
• Elements of drama, mystery and horror can often find themselves in the psychological thriller due to the emphasis on motivation and the mind.
• There are Life and death situations and certainly at the end (climax) but this could well involve death or danger to the mind or intrinsic identity or values of the hero rather than a physical threat.
• Psychological thrillers often deal with common themes such as death, reality, perception, identity, existence or purpose, and one or two of these themes should be wound through the novel.
• Motives and intentions are more important than technical aspects of how a crime is done.
• Readers expect the story to focus around both the hero and the villain, via changes in point of view and scenes involving each separately.

http://hunterswritings.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/elements-of-the-psychological-thriller-mystery-suspense-andor-crime-fiction-genres/

Examples of Psychological thrillers: 

The silence of the lambs: 
Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist. FBI agent Jack Crawford believes that Lecter, who is also a very powerful and clever mind manipulator, has the answers to their questions and can help locate the killer. However, Clarice must first gain Lecter's confidence before the inmate will give away any information.

Black swan
Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

http://www.imdb.com/list/quPHa6B-Ehc/

These are two example of psychological thriller that did really well in the cinema and both won multiple awards. 

Conventions of Romance

     

                                  Conventions of Romance

A romance film can be defined as a genre where in the plot revolves around the love between two protagonists. This genre usually has a theme that explores an issue within love, including but not limited to: love at first sight, forbidden love, love triangles, and sacrificial love. The tone of Romance film can vary greatly. Whether the end is happy or tragic, romance film aims to evoke strong emotions in the audience.

       

Romance Film examples:

Slumdog Millionaire - An uneducated boy becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire to win over the girl he loves since he knows she is a fan of the show.

The Notebook - An old man visits an elderly woman suffering with dementia who is living in a care home and reads a love story to her that centres around two lovers torn apart by life events. However, what the woman does not know is that the story is based on their lives together.

  

Love Actually - A look at eight completely different love stories that are loosely intertwined in London, England during the Christmas season that all result in a happy ending.

Generic Conventions of a romance Film:

-Often a voice over is used to introduce the love theme

-The 'boy meets girl' scenario is typically used in romance films and often most viewers watch these types of film because they expect a happy ending

-Normally includes emotional feelings, (for example, hero's dad dies, mother left etc)

-A typical romance genre includes gender, sexuality and relationships

Research into the genre thriller - Emma Irwin

I did some research into the top thriller films of the 21st century, this is list of some of the top films at came up:

• Inception
• Black swan
• Frozen

Thriller Genre conventions website - This website told me that the main aim of a thriller is to create suspense and excitement for the audience. A thriller usually has the environment of bust streets and suburban ares (e.g in Black Swan). Violence brings the film together and is key.

One of the top thrillers that came up on my research was Daren Aronofsky's 'Black Swan.'

From this trailer taken from the thriller 'Black Swan,' I could see many examples of what brought it together to be a thriller. For example, lighting is an important key factor. From the very beginning of the trailer there is an obvious contrast of light and dark that foreshadows that the movie will be dark and scary, however the protagonist in the film will try to turn things around to light. Another important factor for a thriller is sound. The sound captivates the audience and builds the tension. It makes the audience think of different possible situations that could happen next. A lot of close up shots are used in this trailer to make the audience look at different and important aspects in the story line which will help to drive the plot. Also many fast cuts of shots are used to speed the scene up and make it more thrilling and exciting to watch.  

Sub-genres on thrillers


The types of character generally used in thriller movies:

There is usually an antagonist (the character that opposes the protagonist) and a protagonist (the leading character of the film). The film is usually set from the protagonist's point of view following the events that that character must overcome. There are usually flash-backs and clips from the antagonists point of view also to help the story come together and for the audience to understand why they are in the bad. There is often a lot of action between the two characters that keeps the plot moving forward and is designed to make the audience keep on guessing (often wrongly). Usually the relation between the two characters will be explained in the end therefore the audience will be able to understand why they acted the way they did. However if it is not explained then the audience will go away thinking about the film on a note of suspicion and confusion.
    The heroes in thrillers are often male due to the fact of their jobs (e.g. spies and policemen). They are usually ordinary citizens. The villains are also usually men that are tall and have a shady sense about them, pointing at that they should not be trusted. Other supporting characters are usually on the protagonists side to help them, and these are often female due to the fact that they are seen as weak and helpless.


Thrillers - characters and mise-en-scene examples of films

From this website I found a few examples of the mise-en-scene used in thriller movies. I will use an example from The Illusionist (2006). The sound in this film is said to be silence due to the fact the attention of the audience needs to be on a specific character. The camera shots and angles that were used were mainly high angle shots, close ups and crane shots. These shots were used mainly to build tension, make the audience look at certain things in particular and to show power. The lighting used mostly was high key which means that the lighting is generally dim and casts a lot of shadows. This is important in a

thriller as it will build more tension and make the film more scary. The characters are dressed in the specific period it is set in to help the plot work and also for it to look realistic and convincing. Finally the film is edited together on chronological order so the audience is not too confused and has an easy understandable 3 act narrative.

Iconography used in thrillers:
Iconography simply means symbolic representations, which often has a conventional meaning attached to an image or object. Thrillers are usually easy to analyse because they often have specific things that are linked with them that creates the mise-en-scene. Here are some examples:

Knives:

Fist of all knives are a very typical symbol used in thrillers as they have connotations of death, blood and pain. An example from a film of this is from Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Psycho,' with the famous shower scene.

Shadows:

Shadows and silhouettes in films helps give thrillers the mystery and tension. They also build up the fear of the audience by prompting that someone is following or watching the the protagonist. This helps build the plot as it leads the main character on a journey. The shadow is usually of the antagonist and isn't usually revealed until the end of the film. An example of a film that shadows are used in to help build tension is the film 'Paranormal activity.'

Confined spaces:

The use of confined spaces in thrillers helps the use of aesthetics which is how the audience feel. They also feel trapped too. When the protagonist is in a trapped space they will start to breathe heavily making the audience feel tense. An example of some films this is used in is, 'Buried,' 'Cube' and 'Phone booth.'

Running water:

The connotations of running water in a thriller is death and life draining away. It can also be associated with blood dripping which builds tension and helps the plot move along. An example of this is in Hitchcock's 'Psycho,' in the shower scene when the blood is draining down the plug hole.

Clips and pictures from thrillers:

This is a still taken from the thriller, 'The house at the end of the street.' From this still I can tell what type of film it is by use of the gun and the lighting. The lighting is dark so suggests the film will be rather dark and scary, and the gun suggests danger. The girl in the picture is blonde and is wearing heavy make up, so it suggests that the film is a horror or thriller, as usually the blonde girl in it is weak and screams a lot.

This still is taken from the film, 'The purge.' From this picture the iconography suggests that it is a horror or thriller. With the use of the knife and the creepy masks that juxtapose each other it is clear that this film will be scary or unpleasant.

This still is taken from the film, 'The silence of the lambs.' From this picture it is very clear that the film is either horror, thriller or a psychological thriller. The use of the character's eyes in this picture predicts that the film will be scary as they are wide and look like they're filled with lunacy. The fact that he's wearing a mask suggests that he belongs to a mental asylum which shows that the film will be a thriller or a psychological thriller.

Test 2

Click here for BBFC

This is a link to the BBFC website proving that I am able to add links onto blogger.

test 2

Click here for board of classification

test

A Test

Test

This is the trailer for the film Gravity. I put this on blogger to prove I am able to attach video clips from Youtube onto Blogger.

Genre Thriller Research

THRILLER GENRE 

Some examples of thriller are films like: The Hunger Games, Now You See Me, World War Z and Black Swan.
Black Swan is like our film might be as the main character in that film seems to have an illness that makes her think she's a swan. This is like our film as the main character  has schizophrenia and see her life in a different way to everybody else. Even though there is no ballet in our film Black swan is more like our film because of the 'illness' of the main character.
thrillers are fast paced and full of frequent action. I think that our film might be a psychological thriller because it may have a violent resolution which will be the conflict between the nurse and the girl.

Iconography 

The film Black Swan is very much like our film Delusion will be. Black Swan is a psychological thriller and the way in which the main characters illness grows is how we have decided to display our character.
Iconography's are objects our icons that you would find in most films with certain genres. In this case  thrillers use are: objects and icons such as finger prints, guns, knifes and bibles. This is what the audience unconsciously expect to see in a thriller.

Settings In Thriller Genre 

A lot of thriller take place in small towns but during some point there will be a scene of being followed. This scene is normally located in a forest or on a scary looking street. however in the film THE KILLING ROOM a lot of the film takes place around the killing room. The fact that there are not many locations brings the film together. I think that this psychological  thriller in a way is similar to the psychological thriller we as a group will be doing.

Lighting, Sound and Costumes.

The film frozen is like our film Delusion will be as the lighting is very important and so is the development of the characters. Even though this film is only a thriller and not a psychological thriller the events that take place are very similar
In most thrillers the lighting changes between being very dark to a normal light colour however, the music in the background of a light scene gives the audience the feel that there being watched or that something is coming. Costumes play a big part in thrillers as it can sometimes define between the film being a thriller or it being a horror. In thrillers the director is only trying to create suspense and tension rather than creating fear in a horror film. Sometimes like in the film Frozen 'below' small prosthetics are used to create suspense. It is when the girl is pulling her hand off the metal bar that it is frozen to.

Storyline and Characters 

In the film 'frozen' there are 3 main characters. This will be the same as our film when its been made.
The reason i have chosen to use this film as an example is because, these three characters are forced to bond during there short lived time on the chair lift. This is kind of like the short lived period of normality.

In most thrillers there are a small group of main characters. A thrilling event happens and normally only one will survive or at least one of the main characters will die. often there is a weak character, one female character and one who is trying to be the hero.


A film I believe to be really like the film my group are going to produce is memento. The film memento  is presented as two different sequences of scenes; a series in black and white that shown chronologically and a series of colour sequences shown in reverse order. the two sequences meet at the end of the film producing on common story.  The reason I believe that this film is like our storyline is because, memento starts at the end of the film and then goes back to the start and through out the film it reveals more and more information to tell you how they got to the end. Also because, in this film on of the characters has a mental illness. This is like our main character who has schizophrenia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_(film)

Rebecca's story line ideas

First idea

Thriller:  My first idea is to create a thriller. Where we have a girl who is petrified of the coming to terms with her boyfriends death. She tries to carry out her days as normal but an unknown moment in her life has led her to think that this monster is now following her around everywhere. Unbeknown to the audience, she is actually been followed around by her nurse. She has schizophrenia. The girl is in a constant struggle with how she wants to think and how she actually thinks. The reason for her schizophrenia is because her boyfriend died and she thinks she can still see him. 

Beginning: It begins with (character) who believes she has seen her boyfriend stood chatting who his mates. She begins to run along the corridor to reach him, but when she gets to them she is taken back to find she was seeing things, she breaks down and begins to cry. She goes to his gravestone, and we see her struggle with coming to terms with her loss. On her way home she sees who she thinks is her boyfriend and yet again it is just a random man. She cries out, screaming. 

Middle: She is laid in bed. not able to get to sleep. She begins to hear noises coming from underneath her bed, she panics and curls up into a ball. only protected by her duvet. There is no noise except for the noise she can hear. We then see her cuddling her giant teddy bear, which then cuts to her hugging her boyfriend in bed, and then cuts back to her and the bear. The next morning she has a huge argument with her mum, and she storms out the house. She the begins to panic (again) and thinks that the noises she heard from under her bed are following her. She tries to block them out and meets up with her best friend who tries to point something out to her. We as an audience are still un aware as to what is following her and what everyone else see's but (character) doesn't want to admit to herself. 

End: The last part of the video is her skipping school. We know this because we see her teacher trying to sign her onto the register but she isn't there. We then see her nurse, at the school who is looking for her, trying to find her as she thinks something bad is going to happen to her. We then have a chase with the nurse trying to find (character) before she thinks the worst possible thing happens. She goes in search of her, she looks by the boys grave, and in a coffee shop that they always went too. But she is know where to be seen. She is then found with a noose around her neck preparing to commit suicide.

Second idea

Indie: My second idea is a spin off of the wizard of oz type style story. It will be about a girl who goes in search of the most amazing chocolate in the world. It begins with her setting off on her journey. On her way she comes across different obstacles. These obstacles are different types of people telling her that different kinds of chocolate are best. She first encounters a crunchie kid, who is dressed in all gold. He tells her journey is pointless and that the sumptuous honeycomb and milk chocolate is mind blowingly awesome. She bats off crucnhie kid and continues on. She next meets mr botton, He is dressed in suit covered in buttons... he takes her 

Vicky's story line ideas

1) Genre= Action 

Main characters = Lexi and Jack

Lexi has just moved to a new town she seems like a normal girl but really has a terrible past. At her new school she meets a boy called jack who is very inquisitive. (he wants to be a journalist) she is a reserved person and doesn’t want to tell jack too much as it could endanger his life. One day jack follows Lexi home and finds that she has been living in a squat and he wants to now why. Lexi tells jack that he has to leave her alone because something bad could happen. Jack walks out and is shortly picked up by the people Lexi is running from. They want to know where the key is jack doesn’t know what they are on about but when they threaten to kill him he says he will find out where it is from Lexi.

            When jack asks Lexi where the key is she is stunned that he knows about it and tackles him to the ground. He tells her what has happened. Lexi gives in and tells jack where the key is.( the key opens a box that contains a data chip that has all the information about how to break out all the criminals in the world out of prison, the chip was created by Lexi’s dad who is in prison but she wants him to stay there). Jack goes to the bad guys with what he thinks is the key.

             When they find that it isn’t the key that fits the super unbreakable box they tie him to a chair and send Lexi a video message of them beating him up. So Lexi runs to try and save him but she knows the only way to do that is to die as there is no data chip in the box that’s just to fool people as, the data is imprinted on her brain. When Lexi tells them where the data is they tie her to a laser and are about to drill into her brain when jack knocks out the man holding him and jumps in front of the laser causing it to malfunction. Jack lays on the floor still and unmoving. Lexi releases a chemical bomb that she had in her watch and it blows the building up, with everybody inside of it. There all dead even Lexi and jack but are they. 

2) Genre = Horror 

A group of long term friends decide to have a sleepover as they are all about to go off to different colleges. At the sleepover they decide to play dares but, not just normal dares. The chant that they say is haunted and bring the souls of the dead to life. (but these girls don’t know this)

The first girl gets dared to go into a forest at midnight and walk through, but she had to have some evidence that she did it so she takes a handhold camera. When she gets back the girls decide to watch it. In the corner of the footage there is a white figure that appears and disappears slowly getting closer to the girl. Suddenly the camera goes black and the girl who filmed it screams.

            When they have got over what just happen they dare the second girl to go into any house she wants but for some reason that even she doesn’t know she goes into the house where when she was a little girl she saw someone get killed. The cold quietness of the house brings her to a complete stand still and the others have to go in and drag her out before the police come.

            The third girl then gets dared to jump of a bridge into a lake the girl is willing to do it, so when she does jump off the bridge in to the lake, she starts to drown. the others jump in after to her but it is too late when they pull her out of the water she is already dead. 
the girl  that  dared her to jump off the bridge has a mental breakdown and says it should have been her. all of a sudden the third girl starts to breath and the fourth one drops dead. everyone is in shock and after they have got over what has just happened they decide to stop playing the game. however the evil souls that are now bound to them leave them a frightening message on a wall. the writing is written in blood and says that four started the game and four dares most take place. so the third girl dares the first to go home and so she does. When she gets there everything seems normal but when she goes in to the bathroom someone stabs her in the back with a knife.
when the others find out that she is dead they are so mortified that one of them kills herself.
        30 years later the second girl who is the only one left goes to sleep and sees her three friends chanting the same chant that they said that got three of them killed. it slowly fades out to a glowing figure, then blackness, with the chant getting louder in the back ground.