Introduction 

This is my AS media studies blog, it contains all the of my coursework which has helped me to further my knowledge of the subject and for me to produce my final piece of an 'opening to a thriller'. 

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Alfred Hitchcock - Directors research 

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in London, England on August 13th, 1899. At the age 80 years old he passed away in Los Angeles, California, United states. He was a great producer and directer and had many successful films, he was renowned as Britons best director. he is often referred to as the 'master of suspense' because of his many successes in the thriller genre. After graduating from the London County Council School he got as job as a draftsman in a local film studio in London, after this he soon worked he way up and had his directing debut in 1925. he directed 'the gardeners pleasure'. The film studio he went to work for as a draftsman and who he later went on to direct for is now one of the largest film production companies, it is now called 'Paramount Pictures'. By 1930 Hitchcock was on of the most respected producers and directors in the UK.   

Alfred's childhood had a lot of influence on some of his films. His Father used to have him locked in police cells for misbehaving or any wrong doing when he was a child. In many of Hitchcock's film he portrays being mistreated frequently. One of Alfred Hitchcock's successful thrillers, 'Psycho' was mainly influenced by his mother. She would often have harsh consequences on any of Alfred's wrong doings, on many occasions she have him on the foot of her bed addressing her for up to 3 hours. This had a large influence on the character Norman Bates in Psycho. 

Some of Alfred Hitchcock's successful thrillers are:

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Various Camera shots, Angles and Movements

Before I produced my continuity piece I did some research into the various different camera shots, angles and movements I could use. I did this so I could further my skills and to ensure I can maximise the standard of the films that I am going to produce throughout the year. 

Camera shots

The main aim for camera shots is to show different aspect of the setting, characters and themes within that specific frame. Camera shots are very important when shaping the meaning of the film.

Examples:

Extreme long shot

An extreme long shot (also known as an establishing shot) usually contain a large amount landscape. These shots are used to show the audience where the scene is going to take place. 

Long shot

These are similar to extreme long shots but they are used to show the audience more specific detail and to put more emphasis on a certain part of the shot. They often include whole bodied characters.

Two shot 

A two shot is simply a shot of 2 characters usually from waist upwards. This  shot is used to show the relationship between the 2 characters.

Mid shot

Mid shots can contain one or more characters from the waist upwards. They help the audience get a sense of the characters emotion through facial expression and their body language. 

Close up 

Close ups can contain 1 characters face or an important object in a scene. They allow the audience to see in more detail the content of the shot. They can see the characters face a lot more clearly so they can see what emotion they're feeling. 

Extreme close up

Extreme close ups are used to show very specific detail. They only usually show part of a character or an object. They are often used in thrillers and horror films as they can be effective to set the mood within the audience. 

Over shoulder shot 

This shot is behind one character facing directly at another character. They are used when 2 characters are having a conversation. This can help to show the relationship between the characters depending on which character has the most camera time and the amount of the character that is shown when facing them. If one character takes up more than 2 thirds of the shot then they often are more superior, also if the character has more camera time then they are usually superior.  

Camera angles 

Camera angles are very important and can show a lot to the audience. different types of angles can portray many different things to the viewers, for example, they can show the relationship between different characters.

Examples:

Birds eye view 

This shot is looking down on a scene from a high point of view. They are used to show a large space of area and to establish where the scene is or will take place.

High angle 

High angles cause the audience to look down onto an object or character, as someone is standing above them. These type of shots are used to make the characters look inferior.

Low angle 

Low angles mean that the audience I looking up to the audience. Often at this type of angle you can see the ceiling of a room or the sky, this helps gives portray the character as being bigger and superior. this is often used so the audience fear the character in the scene. 

Camera Movements 

Movements of the camera can help show the meaning of the film to the audience

Examples:

Panning 

This is when the camera scans across the set horizontally from left to right or vice versa. this is used to show the audience the content of the scene.  

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Continuity Editing Research

Editing is a very important aspect of producing a film. The main objective of editing is to try and make it as realistic as possible to make the viewer think that it is real life events. There are many different techniques that can be used to make the audience believe that it is real, some of them are very well explained in the video below. Each of these techniques are very effective at fulfilling the desired effects. 

A very important part of continuity editing is that there is no changes in the shot, whether it would be with the setting or characters. for example a change in clothing or an obvious change in lighting. Also props that are used in the scene aren't missing and are in the same position as they were before. This helps to make it a close to reality as possible and helps the viewer have a better understanding.

When watching various videos on YouTube for tips on how to edit effectively, this was was very helpful and explained numerous amounts of techniques such as such as editing point of view shot, flashback shot, reverse shot and reaction shot. This was extremely helpful when when editing my continuity piece and will prove to be very useful when editing my final piece as I will take many tips from this video.

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Thriller opening analysis - Memento and No Country for Old men

After producing my continuity I started doing research into my final piece, an opening to a thriller. For me to understand an opening of a thriller in more depth I chose to analyse 2 openings to successful large budget films. We had studied a some films in class and I decided I am going to analyse memento and no country for old man I chose these films because I have been inspired by the idea of mental health issue and films that have a psychological twist. I have a rough idea that I want to base my opening to a thriller around an antagonist that has mental issues. To ensure I can maximise the quality of my final product I have analysed various different aspects of these openings such as sound, editing and lighting. 

Memento 

The first scene of memento is an extreme close up of someone's hand holding a polaroid photo, this photo seems to be of a room covered in blood. This leaves the audience with suspense because they question themselves of what the photo is and what significance it may have for the rest of the film. The opening minute of the film is the man, which turns out to be the main character, is just holding the photo, after 15-20 seconds he starts wafting the photo for the first time, he does this 3 times in the first minute. this creates confusion with the audience as they are unaware of what is happening. Unexpectedly the photo becomes less clear and its not until just 1 minute 17 seconds when there is a close up of the characters face and the camera that the scene is being played in reverse order. The man places the photo back into the camera, this will puzzle the audience. There are various close ups of the bullet and what appears to be the dead mans glasses this makes the audience pay attention to great detail of what is being shown and portraying that the content of these shots may be important. As the opening unfolds we soon realise that it appears to be a murder scene, this is suggested by the dead body on the floor, the amount of blood and the main covered wearing blood splattered clothes, sweating and appearing that he is in an agitated state. throughout the scene the music gets increasing louder which which creates tension within the viewers. This is until the main part of the opening where it gets revealed that the man holding the photo has killed someone, the diagetic sound of them shouting appears to be a lot louder than the other sound in the clip. by this point the audience are very confused at the fact that the opening scene has been re-winded as such. The music in this opening is quite slow and calm until the killing this helps gives the impression that a sad and unfortunate event has reached its climax.

No country for old man 

The very opening scenes of the film are various extreme long shot of where the film could of possibly be set. This occurs for the first 1 minute 30 seconds, with the police officer narrating throughout. After this we see the back of the police officer, this is the first of any characters we see, he is taking a handcuffed man to the police car. The criminal is dressed in dark clothing so the audience may make the assumption that he is the villain. we do not see the villains face in this opening clip as the there is low-key lighting in the back of this police car, this could cause tension within the viewers because they will want to see what the antagonist looks like. Also when the policeman arrests him he places what appears to be some kind of weapon in the car which could also confuse the audience of they will be unaware of what this object is. The police car drives off and the next scene is at the police station. here the police officer is on the phone and in the background we can see the villain putting his legs through the handcuffs so his hands are in front of him. He then walks up behind him and starts strangling him. This causes shock early on in the film to see something so horrific. During this scene the focus seems to be on the villains face which seems to showing little emotion and slight struggle when killing the police officer. This can be disturbing for the audience as it is such a cold blooded attack. The sets the film around a violent man which the audience may suspect he has killed many people before this. There is very little sound in this opening scene, this portrays the dramatic events well. Usually thrillers use sound to create suspense but the directors (Ethan and Joel Coen) didn't think it was necessary and this decision may help the film have such a dramatic opening. 

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BBFC research

The British board of film classification (BBFC) is a private organisation that gains revenue from the film industry. The BBFC specialise separating different types of media products into categories so they are suitable for different viewers. The main categories are U, PG, 12a, 12, 15 and 18. Every media product must be classified before release otherwise it will be breaching the video recording act 1984. 

Suitable for 12 years and older

Anyone below the age of 12 years old are not legally allowed to view any media product that has a certification of '12'. 

Products that suit '12' rating:

• Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is allowed if it is clearly condemned.
• The misuse of drugs must not be frequent, if shown, it is not to be in a positive, light or any instructional manor.
• Moderate physical or psychological threats are acceptable as lang as they aren't frequent. 
• Dangerous behaviour should be dwelled on in order to prevent viewer from imitating (e.g. suicide)
• Nudity is acceptable, sexual content must be discrete and brief.
• Themes can be mature but must be suitable for younger teenagers.
• no dwelling in detail of moderate violence but is allowed. neither blood nor injuries should be emphasised but the occasional 'gore' moment is acceptable.

Suitable for 15 years and older 

Anyone below the age of 15 years old are not legally allowed to view any media product that has a certification of '15'.

Products that suit '15' rating:

• Discriminatory language is acceptable but as a whole must not be endorsed.
• During the film the consumption of drugs is allowed but the film as a whole should not promote/endorse drugs to the audience.
• Strong humour unless sadistic or sexual.
• Dangerous behaviour should be dwelled on in order to prevent viewer from imitating (e.g. suicide)
• Sexual activity may be portrayed without a large amount of detail. Productions whose main primary focus is arousal or stimulation is probably not acceptable.
• As long as its in light detail, nudity is allowed in a sexual context.
• Any themes may be permitted if the product is acceptable for persons above the age of 15 years old. 
• Strong violence is acceptable but infliction or pain should not be dwelled on in great detail.
• Extremely gory images as unlikely to be acceptable in a 15 rated production. 

Suitable for 18 years and older 

Anyone below the age of 18 years old are not legally allowed to view any media product that has a certification of '18'.

Products that suit '18' rating: 

Media products that have the certification of '18' do not have strict limitation unlike some of the other certificates. for example there is no limitation on the language that can be used, drug use is acceptable, as well as sexual or violent references. there are also no limitation on other aspects that may not be acceptable for other age ratings.

The classification of a film can be very important, the lower age classification the film can get the better it can be for that product. This is because more people are able to view or play a specific piece of media, this can help gain more revenue and eventually make it more profitable for the production company.