No Country for Old Men

The next film we watched is 'No Country for Old Men' which is an American crime thriller film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. 'No Country for Old Men' tells the story of an ordinary man to whom by chance delivers a fortune that is not his, and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama, as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas. The film examines the themes of fate and involves a lot of fast paced action and violence. 


The opening of this film is very effective because within the first 5 minutes of the film, there is fast paced action, and two murders by the antagonist. This leaves the audience wanting to watch on because we know its going to be very entertaining and we want to know why these murders are happening. It can be broken down into the form of CLAMP:


Costume - The villain is dressed in all black which we automatically associate him as being a dark, evil character


Light - At the beginning we do not see the villains face as it is covered by shadows. Therefore his facial expressions are not shown and nothing is given away about him


Actors - The film has recognisable actors which also makes us want to watch on because its obviously going to be a good film. However in the opening, we only see the villain. 

Props - In the opening, the villain uses a oxygen tank to kill one of his unfortunate victims. This is significant to the rest of the film and the villains personality

Settings - The setting is a deserted landscape in the western lands. This gives us the sense of loneliness, and when the victims are caught by the villain, we know no one will be around to help.  

The Manchurian Candidate

Another Thriller I watched is 'The Manchurian Candidate' (2004). This is a different type of thriller to the likes of 'North By Northwest'. It is a paranoid thriller about Sergeant Ben Marco who is trying the regain his sanity and solve what's going on. This film could also be classed as a political thriller.

The story of this film is about an army group, led by Sergeant Ben Marco, are captured and are brainwashed by scientists and are led to believe Raymond Shaw, a member of the team, saved everyones lives, for which he receives a Medal of Honor. The director elaborates and makes the film bigger than life; sadder, darker. Its purpose is obviously to entertain and provoke thought about politics and the idea that todays society could be corrupt. Throughout this film the audience are unsure on who's the hero and who's the villain which keeps us wanting to watch on.  

The 2004 differs from the the original in 1962 in many ways. Firstly, when Senator Jordon dies, in the original Shaw shoots him, where as in the new version he drowns him. The director said drowning represents the characters better, in the sense that their trapped.

Film Language

There are certain aspects and techniques which need to be considered when making a thriller, in terms of film language. I will hope to take these into consideration when I making my thriller, to get the best possible results.


Lighting
Lighting is used in films to create all types of effects.


Under lighting - is used, mainly in thrillers, to create a distorting, scary effect.
Back lighting - Again is mainly used in thrillers, and it creates a silhouette effect, which is very mysterious as we can only see the outline of the person and not there features; builds suspense.
Low key lighting - is also used in thrillers. This is when only back lights and key light are used and no filler lights. This gives a sharp contrast between light and dark areas. Making it seem scary. Low key lighting was used in film noirs.





Colour
Colours can be seen in two ways; through its denotation, or its connotation. A denotation is a literal description of a something, and a connotation is the assosiations and the ideas that it carries with it. For example the denotation of the colour blue is that it is the fifth colour in the colour spectrum. It's connotation is such things as cool, sad, cold, ect. In thrillers in particular, dark colours are used to suggest or foreshadow certain things, or to create a particular mood. A thriller wouldn't be a good one if it was filled with bright colours.


Sound
Sound in films is used to create a certain mood, build tension and express feelings of characters. There are two types of sound; diegetic and nondiegetic. Diegetic sound is sound which is part of the film world where everyone can here it, viewers and characters alike, for example, radio, dialogue or music, from a duke box or CD player etc. This may be on screen or off screen. Nondiegetic sound is sound that is not in the film world, and only the viewer can here. This can be in the form of background music or narrative.
Sound can also be parallel or contrapuntal. Parallel sound is when the images on screen match the music or sound being played with it, building suspense and tension. In contrast, contrpunctual sound is when the images and sound do not match, creating a sense of false pretence. For example, scary, dark, low music with images of children playing in the park would be contrapuntal.  


Camera framing
This is what can be seen within the frame of the screen, concerntrating on how far the camera is from the subject, and from what angle the shot is taken. The closer the camera is to the subject, the more emphasis there is on detail. When looking at angles, a  low angle shot is when a camera is placed below eye level making the subject look powerful, whereas in contrast a high angle shot is when the camera is placed above eye level making the subject look weak and vulnerable. Another type of shot is a point of view shot, where the camera shows whats going on, through the eyes of a character.


This is a extreme close up (ECU)


This is a high angled shot, making the boy look small and weak.


This is a high angle shot, making the basketball player look big and powerful.


Camera movement

The movement of the camera can be used to enhance our involvement in the film action, by directing our attention or emphasising a particular viewpoint. Camera movement can include:
A PANNING SHOT- where the camera moves from side to side on a fixed axis.
A TILT SHOT - where the camera moves up and down on a fixed axis.
A CRANE SHOT- where filming is done, mounted on a crane, or from a helicopter.
A TRACKING SHOT- where the camera follows the action on tracks laid out.
A ROLLING SHOT- where the camera moves diagonally , creating an askew image, often suggesting a character is ill or drugged

 Speed of editing
The speed of editing helps determine the mood of what is taking place. In an action sequence, the speed of editing will be really quick because it matches with what's on screen, where as if the actions on screen were slow and relaxed, the speed of editing would be slow. 

Style of editing
To make a continous piece of film which is fluent, the style of editing must create smooth transitions between scenes and shots. There are various methods used to do this. Amongst the several ways, those that myself, Beth and Dan will use in our thriller are a straight cut, a fade-out (where the screen fades to black- usually showing time passing) and a dissolve (where one imageis slowly brought in beneath another one).



This action scene in Spider-man 3 has quick edits.

Definitions

Recently in media, i discovered the definitions of some particular terms used in film making.

An autuer is a director with a clear style, often using specific techniques and similar themes throughout their films, for example, Hitchcock and Speilburg

Voyeuristic Viewing is when the audience is watching something that they feel they should not be watching something they should not, or would not usually watch.

North By Northwest

The first Thriller we watched as a class was 'North by Northwest'. This is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959 starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. It is about Roger Thornhill, a New York advertising executive, who gets mistaken for the mysterious George Kaplan by an organization. Many classic techniques are used in this Thriller such as:

MacGuffin - The organization trying to kill Roger Thornhill are trying to prevent him from interfering with there plans to smuggle the microfilm out of the country

Red Herring - When Eve Kendell pretends to shoot Thornhill, the audience think he is dead then we later find out it was a set up and he really isn't dead.

Cliffhanger - The audience are on the edge of their seats in the final scene on top of Mount Rushmore.

Furthermore many other techniques are used to keep the audience entertained like suspense, tension, violence, fast paced chases, action ect. I thoroughly enjoyed this Thriller because of these things.

There are also many famous scenes in this film such as the auction house, the pretend shooting and probably the most famous thrilling scene which will be remembered for a long time is the crop scene where Thornhill is being chased by the plane trying to kill him.

Our Project

This year in media, myself, Beth Berrett and Daniel Lawrenceplan to make our own thriller film opening. To make it a success, we will first research into examples of good thrillers, and componants of a good thriller. To get the highest marks possible we must use the range of techniques we have learnt about in class, such as different types of camera shots.

What is a Thriller?

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub genres. Thrillers are fast paced with frequent action and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains. 

Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is flexible and can engage the audience through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social and political tensions. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience to "put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what its like".


Most thrillers have a MacGuffin. The term 'MacGuffin' was popularised by Alfred Hithcock. It is something in a film that is used to drive the story of the film, yet whatever the MacGuffin is isnt actually important to the audience.