Vanishing on 7th Street Opening Scene Research (Thriller)

Vanishing on 7th Street.
(I viewed this opening scene on Netflix and there is no YouTube Clips of it, so i have included some photos as an idea of what is happening.)

Credits:

• Momentum Pictures
• IM GLOBAL
• Herrick Entertainment
• Mandalay Vision
• In association with The Circle Of Confusion
• And Forest Park Pictures
• A film by Brad Anderson
• Hayden Christen
• Thandie Newton
• and John Leguiziamo
• VANISHING ON 7TH STREET
• Introducing Jacob Latimore
• Music by Lucas Vidal
• Executive Music Producer, Howard Herrick
• Visual Effects Designer, John Bair
• Costume Designer, Danielle Hollowell
• Editor, Jeffrey Wolf, A.C.E.
• Procution Designer, Stephen Beatrice
• Director Of Photography, UTA Briesewitz
• Co-Producers, Pam Hirson, Peter Pastorelli, Riva Marker
• Executive Producers, Elayne Herrick, Michael Herrick, Peter Graves, Lawrence Mattis, Kelly Mccormick, Ken Hirsh, Nick Quested.
• Produced by Norton Herrick, Celine Rattray, Tove Christensen
• Written by Anthony Jawinski
• Directed by Brad Anderson

 The credits that are in this opening scene all have the same theme within the 3 minutes it is shown for. Each title is in electric blue font with the name of the person in bold and capitals. The font that is used is presented so that it has been prevously typed onto the screen which suggests secrecy and showing that the person typing may be unidentified. Each title is slightly flickering against the bright background which looks like a projector in a cinema which catches the audience's eye. This effect makes the audience concentrate on reading it as they are intrigued on why it is flickering and who has written it.
The sound in the background of the opening scene is slightly disturbing to the audience as it is a low key piano with small whispering voices over it. This will make the audience feel very uncomfortable due to the idea of secrecy and hidden identities. The piano sound is a slight crescendo of which changes throughout the whole opening scene, making it louder at some points and quieter at others. This effect creates an unsettling atmosphere within the audience as it may feel like  The whispering sound which is used sounds like children which will more than likely create a nervous atmosphere and unsettle the audience. A sinister effect is created when this sound is heard as the audience may feel as it could be dead people or children talking and whispering.
There is no characters within the opening credits but during the first minute or so of the film, a man is shown in a projection room of a cinema, clearly working there. The mise-en-scene shown in the first three minutes of the film shows the room dark and mysterious. This effect will make the audience nervous and tense as they may feel like somebody is watching the young male character working. His costume is a red polo shirt , a name badge on his chest and a head torch attatched to him. The character is reading a book, with the chapter named 'MYSTERIOUS DARK MATTER' and then the next page showing the title, 'THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE'. This confuses the audience as this prop suggest that the film may have something to do with mysterious darkness.
The camera angles used in this opening scene are very limited until it reaches the beginning as the film begins. During the opening credits, there is only one camera angle used to show the credits in a dark room with a projector behind them. However, when the film begins, there are camera angles to show the young male character in his place of work; a cinema projection room. For example, a long shot is first shot used to show the audience where the character is and how dark the room is. Also, a mid shot is used to show him at his desk, presenting him to reading a book about darkness. An over the shoulder shot is used to show the book that the character is reading and is a close up of the text, showing the audience what he is reading and what is happening in the book. The text in the book is talking about the mysteries of darkness and what is in it, which creates a very tense atmosphere within the audience. The characters face is also shown in a close up as he is reading the book closely.
This opening scene is worth looking at for my own opening scene as it shows mystery very well and easily creates a thrilling atmosphere.

Thriller Research

I watched a video by Steven Spielberg (director of Jaws, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan and Minority Report) on "What Makes A Good Thriller" and found some information I can use to help me with my own thriller.
He mentions the fact that thrillers must make you feel so anxious that you want to bit your nails/fingers. Also, i found out that there is a story that has to be told, even though thriller films have a twisted and deranged plot, the audience should somehow understand the story.

 

Thriller Research

I researched 'What is a thriller' into Google and found a lot of answers explaining what they are and the typical conventions of them.
The aim of a thriller film is to create suspense and a tense atmosphere, also they are to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seat. 
The camera angles usually used in thriller films are close-ups which emphasise the danger on the protagonists face, or the nervous actions of the antagonist. 
I found out that a thriller is "a novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage." (according to Google). This suggests that it will make the audience feel uneasy or excitable at parts in the film.

Thrillers can be divided into countless categories; i.e., action thrillers, psychological thrillers, military thrillers, spy thrillers, sci-fi thrillers, romantic thrillers, etc. 

Examples of thrillers
Action thrillers; Kill Bill, Die Hard, The Bourne Identity
Psychological thrillers; Momento, Taxi Driver
Sci-Fi thrillers; Aliens, Inception, District 9 
Crime thrillers; The Usual Suspects, Jagged Edge, The Fugitive.
( Information found on http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/thriller# )

The Exchange - AS Media Studies [Preliminary Task]

Prelim - Editing Part 2 / Thriller Research

On Friday 21st November we completed editing our Prelim task. This just included tidying up and sorting out unnecessary parts of the film. We all decided on the final sound as the film ends and then we had finally completed our Prelim task. 

I am very pleased with how our Prelim Task looked when it had finished and I strongly believe that the editing, filming and planning were all done well and to a high standard.

For the rest of this lesson, I started researching opening sequences to thriller films and also watched a few AS Level work to help me research and give me ideas for my own thriller opening sequence. This helped me a lot in deciding what to do for mine. 

Prelim - Editing

On Wednesday 19th November we began editing our Prelim task. 

Firstly, we found all of the raw camera material that we need to add to the film and deleted all of the ones that didn't go well. When we had all of the right material together we began editing it in Adobe Premiere Pro. This included adding transitions such as a dissolve or sound effects including a gun shot and background talking sounds, and also cropping each individual film to the correct time so we didn't have any unnecessary film in our Prelim task. The editing part of our prelim task also included adding a title and credits to the beginning and ending. We also edited the contrast on a few shots as some of them were too dark. 

Each person in our group took turns in editing the film and found sound effects and decided on transitions together.

Prelim Task Completed

Prelim - Filming

On Friday 14th November we filmed our prelim task. I was set the task of getting the correct camera angles including over the shoulder shots, an establishing shot, a pan and a few others. I also used the tripod stand to make sure that the camera was not moving or wobbling around a lot. I set the camera to focus on a few things during the film as it created a more tense and dramatic atmosphere. For example, we focused on Matt holding the Gun from Dan's POV but it was only focused on the gun, not anything around the screen. The gun was pointing at the camera which was also a close up. 

Matt and Dan also helped me film a few shots so we took it in turns but Dan and Matt were the actors within the film.

Our filming of our short film went very well as we managed to get the lighting correct and all of the dialogue fit perfectly with the area we set it in. 

Prelim - Planning

In this two hour lesson we set off on planning our prelim task. The task was to create a short film including multiple shots and dialogue. Therefore, this lesson concluded in using a story board, my group and i planned out each shot by shot using the story board. This included over the shoulder shots; panning shots; establishing shots; extreme close ups and POV shots. We also decided on props such as a fake gun, cigarettes, police badge and drugs. The dialogue was also briefly planned but we are planning to change and edit it slightly to fit with the theme and accents each character will have.

Thriller - 'Se7en'

The movie 'Se7en' is a thriller film, about a serial killer that murdered several 'innocent' victims of the seven deadly sins. This is due to the killer's belief that the world has a such ignorance for the Seven Deadly Sins that he believes that the world should know that it is against the bible. The Seven Deadly Sins in this film are:

• Gluttony (A man was tied to his chair and force fed to death
• Greed (A lawyer whom had a pound of his own flesh taken from him)
• Sloth (A man was tied to his bed for over a year, and there were photos taken of him all over the room, documenting the year. Although he wasnt dead, he was in fatal condition)
• Lust (A man at a club who was forced to have sex with a prostitute but had a device strapped to him which killed the woman)
• Pride (A model who had her nose cut off to spite her face, the killer gave her the option of suicide or living disfigured by gluing a pot of sleeping pills to one hand and a phone to another, she chose suicide)
• Envy (This was the killer John Doe himself as he was envious of Detective Mills' wife and family. John Doe told Mills that he 'visited his wife' and she begged for her own and her unborn child's life, which Mills did not know, therefore Mills shot Doe leaving Doe the person killed for Envy)
• Wrath (Which was when Detective Mills killed John Doe)

Mills, played by Brad Pitt and Somerset, played by Morgan Freeman are the detectives working on this case. Somerset was preparing to retire before being put on this last case with a very different to himself, younger and 'cocky' detective. This is due to Mills being less experienced compared to Somerset. The two investigate the first murder together and then the second, by this time, realising that they have a link, along with the further 3 murders as the last one is with John Doe and then the Wrath sin being Detective Mills. 

I believe that this movie is a thriller due to the idea of mystery. Despite there being a lot of blood or the murders actually occuring, this movie is a thriller due to the viewers ideas on the thought of the murders and the aftermath. There is a creepy and tense mood throughout the movie. The murders are complicated and leaves the audience with a lot of questions such as 'who is the murderer?' and 'how will he kill the next victim?'. The element of secrecy and mystery easily connotes the fact that it is a 'crime thriller'.

Most of the movie is dark, which suggests the idea of scary and evil idea of the town and serial killer, John Doe. This is a thrilling and suspenseful experience throughout the whole film. Also, Kevin Spacey's name was purposely removed from the opening credits to surprise the audience when his face was finally shown towards the end of the film.