What is a Thriller?
A thriller film is that of a genre with specific
features and conventions, these include the likes of mystery, crime and the
atmosphere of suspense and excitement. The overall experience of watching a
thriller film is intended to be intriguing, impelling and tense atmosphere is
created to maintain audience interest throughout. The thriller genre has a wide
range of sub genres, these include action, crime, psychological, horror,
mystery, sci-fi and these are just some of the most popular of sub-genres.
Personally, in our production we chose a psychological/horror sub-genre of
thriller, this was because a main point of interest of ours was to explore the
psychological genre itself and see how were could manipulate it and use it to
create tension. We thought that the psychological thriller sub-genre was best
for the creation of such tension as we had the opportunity to explore a wide
range of psychological themes. With this ability to be able to create such a
greatly intense with the psychological genre we wanted to reinforce the
psychological ideas and themes with aspects of the horror thriller sub-genre.
We chose to use the aspects of the horror sub-genre as we thought that it would
add to the tension and the overall aspects of the psychological sub-genre, if
this case, we thought that using the horror sub-genre alongside the psychological
sub-gene would almost emphasise the general psychological narrative we created.
In creating our thriller opening, our goal was to
meet the expectations of our audience. We had to meet their expectations of the
genre especially. I think that the main expectations audiences have of the
psychological and horror sub-genres include mainly the key conventions that
will create a tense atmosphere, keep them on the edge of their seats and
overall keep them interested throughout. Ways of presenting these conventions
in these sub-genres include; using imagery (shots) to physically show objects,
characters or settings that have implications related to the sub-genres,
examples of these could be showing psychologically horrific props like deranged
tools or weapons, abandoned or unstable, dark locations could be shown and also
parts mise-en-scene could be used effectively such as costume and actor to
create a crazed psychological idea. Other features of these sub-genres
audiences may expect could also include editing pace, shot types and, music and
sound. In these thriller sub-genres pace of editing and suitable shots are
vital in regards to what audiences expect. In the two sub-genres audience
expect fast paced cuts due to the amount of tension that is created by it, on top
of this the quantity and the content of the shots is just as vital, audiences
expect thrillers with these sub-genres to often not show too much content in
shots, audiences enjoy suspense and this build and suspense cannot take place
if too much information is shown all in one go.
On the whole, we tried to used, developed and
challenge as many elements of these genres as we thought was necessary. For
example, one of the clearest elements we used was the whole theme of tension
and creating a suspenseful atmosphere. The main elements used were the sense of
tension, edginess and suspense. We managed to develop various features of the
sub-genres, an example of this is the idea of building up tension and creating
the atmosphere to go along with it. When developing these key elements, we had
to consider how we could enhance some of the features to match the themes and
conventions of our chosen sub-genres, to do this, we looked at how we could use
things like props, costume and sound. We developed these features by exploring
how we could actually use them and what different ways they could be revealed
to the audience in the thriller. When deciding on what props to use we had to
be very particular in choosing which props would be effective and suitable, in
our case, our props were to be tools which are implied to be able to inflict
pain on a person, tools which could be used in an act of torture. In choosing
the torture tools we had to get the right amount that would fit on a work bench
or table, we did not want to overcrowd the table yet we wanted a good enough
quantity for the sense of variety. We wanted the tools to seem old, possibly
over-used or that they had clearly been used in the past.
Costume use was also very important to us, for it to
fit the narrative we had to make sure we used it as efficiently as possible,
this meant that we had to have as much of an idea of what our narrative is as
we could, for example each character had to have a specific costume with
reasons behind it. The most important character features that we had to think
about in regards to costume included, age o the character, their gender,
occupation, social group, etc. We also had a great deal of developing to do in
regards to the soundtrack and sound in general throughout. To begin with, our
main goal with the soundtrack was to create an eerie, tense soundtrack that
created atmosphere. Originally we had a soundtrack which met the majority of
our hopes for what it should be however we felt that it was missing something,
with it being a psychological thriller we wanted to create an almost crazy and
psychological theme to all the sounds in the soundtrack. So with this in mind,
we developed the soundtrack by editing the soundtrack itself, many of these
parts of editing included distorting the track, creating echoes and increasing
base.
Conventions of a Thriller
The Thriller genre has many specific conventions
that make it effective, these include the types of shots used, the editing
techniques, mise-en-scene choices, sound and narrative. Firstly, shot types are
an incredibly key convention of thrillers, this is mainly due to the fact that
the way they are used can have great effect. Typically, the majority of the
most effective shot types used in thrillers are mid-shots, close ups and
extreme close-ups, these shot types are often used in very quick succession.
These shot types are very conventional of thrillers, these shot types
particularly can create effect because shots such as the close-ups and extreme
close-ups can be used to focus on specific props or characters’ facial
features, this use can create tension if the close-up is of a weapon of some
sort or if the shot is of a specific facial feature of a character then it can
indicate to the audience a possible emotion of the character. These shot types
can also be very effective in thrillers as they can give the audience vital
information, however shots like this can also hide vital information but can
imply something else regarding the narrative, thus creating suspense for the
latter stages of the film. Another conventional shot type of thrillers is the
tracking shot and the point of view (POV) shot. These shot types are very
conventional in thriller in scenes of action and fast pace. Shots such as POV
shots and the tracking shots are very effective in action sequences because
when they are edited in such a fast pace that shot type can almost make the
audience feel as if they are looking through the eyes of the character, it can
also create a very intense atmosphere because these shot types will make the
audience feel as if they are in the action themselves.
Thrillers have specific conventions in terms of
editing aswell. The majority of editing in thrillers is done to a very fast
pace. This is done primarily to create such a tense atmosphere, and to excite
and thrill the audience. Obviously, the pace of editing will not be the same
throughout the entire film yet when these highly intense action scenes occur
the editing will be incredibly rapid. Considering the fact that the editing
will be at its fastest in these sequences of action, the editing pace
throughout the rest of the film will by no means be completely slow and dull,
there is conventionally always quite consistent editing pace throughout, thus
maintaining the tense atmosphere. In thrillers, there is often an order or
pattern in which each individual shot is edited with another in an entire
sequence. In many shot sequences in thrillers including one or more characters,
an order of shots is easily noticeable. For example, in a scene containing
intense action due to editing, the audience will be shown certain
aspects/angles of the scene in a particular order, there often would be long
shot or mid shot showing part of the setting and the action together, after
that there may be a close up of a characters face, then a mid-shot may be shown
but action is still present and being shown, then it may go back to a close up
of another character and etc. This type of sequence created by editing is
conventional of thrillers and proves to be have effect as it presents the
variety of shots and shows the audience the action or whatever the subject of
the scene is from almost every angle.
We definitely followed these conventions in our thriller
opening, with these conventions in mind we certainly wanted to use and develop
them as much as possible. In using these conventions, we definitely developed a
variety of shot types and angles all with a specific pace of editing. To create
tension and an atmosphere we used certain types of shots and editing pace in
specific parts of the opening sequence, for example, we used montages of close
ups of the tools and along with this there was a very fast pace of editing. We
combined these two conventions in certain parts of our opening to create
tension because the pace of editing and the amount of cuts from the variety of
shots reinforced the psychological theme of our entire opening, the chaotic
speed of the editing with these montages reinforced this theme greatly.
Another major convention of thrillers is having very
specific choices of mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is built up of everything put
into the scene, this includes props, costume, setting, lighting, make-up and
actors. In thrillers each individual sector of mise-en-scene is specifically
chosen to great effect to some extent. First of all, props are a very important
part of mise-en-scene are conventionally used a lot in thrillers. Mostly props
in thrillers are shown to either become one with the setting or they are simply
used physically in the film. Typically, the most common type of props used in
thrillers are weapons, often guns, knives and swords, however this is dependent
on time the thriller is set and where the thriller is set. Props in thrillers
will often be used by both protagonists and antagonists, the props in thrillers
are typically used in important times or scenes which would make the use of the
prop seem significant. In our production, we were very dependent on props and
their idea that their presence could create a sense of atmosphere and also that
they could help the narrative. Our most noticeable use of props was the tools
and weapons that were set out on the table. A key aspect of our opening was
focus on tools and weapons, with the amount of screen time these props got we
believed that this backed this up. We mostly adhered to the conventions of
props in thrillers, we considered the location we filmed in, this being a
countryside building, therefore it would unconventional and unrealistic for
some of the props to be expensive advanced tools, or weapons like samurai
swords due to the fact that they wouldn’t realistically be in locations such as
these or in possession of a character such as this psychopath. Also, our props
reinforced the narrative as well, the most of the props told a story about the
psychopath character; how he is isolated from society, also, there is
foreshadowing in the opening that is easily noticeable, this was when at the
beginning of the opening you see the psychopath character wielding the baseball
bat in the flashback, and then later on in the opening the same baseball bat is
seen in the countryside building and at end of the opening there is an almost
identical shot of the psychopath wielding the baseball in the same way he did
before he attacked the victim. This was done so that the audience could
recognise a familiarity between both the flashback scenes and the torture
preparation scene, and this familiarity was carried through this prop.
Costume is also an important part of mise-en-scene
used in thrillers. Costume can be used in thrillers in many ways, some of the
conventions include showing occupation, social group and overall possible
characteristics of the character wearing the costume. Conventionally, in
thrillers costume is most significantly used to present specific characters in
a specific, unique way, conventionally showing a character wearing a different
costume to other characters showing significance if they are an important
character. This is quite a key convention because audiences will typically
relate a character to what they are wearing therefore costume is designed and
chosen very specifically if that costume is to have effect on a character. We
used these conventions very much in our production, for example we made the
character of the psychopath a memorable one due to costume as he wore a one
piece overall, this was a memorable costume choice due to the idea that it
isn’t really a common choice of clothing, also, the costume did present occupation
and social class, these representations being that this character could work in
the countryside, and he is again very isolated from society.
Setting
is also an important part of mise-en-scene in regards to thrillers. Setting is
very important in consideration with the narrative and characters, the
setting(s) is where scenes take place whether it is an indoor place or just the
geographical location itself. Following conventions, there are often a variety
of settings in thrillers, this is conventionally due to the idea that in
thrillers the protagonist(s) will often travel to various locations far away
from their home or wherever the film actually started, even exotic locations
leading up to one iconic location where the protagonist(s) will conventionally
stop the evil and restore the equilibrium. Quite a common convention of
thriller settings is for them to be urban location, this is most likely because
in these urban, densely populated areas what happens in the film itself may be
more realistic for the audience. We did follow these conventions to an extent however,
there are some conventions mentioned that we did in fact challenge. In our
opening, the most obvious convention of setting that we adhered was the use of
different locations and having the locations linking to the narrative. We did
in fact use two locations, the first being the main countryside itself for the
flashback scenes and then in the torture preparation scene we used a
countryside garage that we renovated to seem like an abandoned building. These
two settings did conventionally follow the narrative due to the fact that both
locations were in the countryside area and it seems realistic and believable
that the psychopath could be familiar or even own a location such as the
abandoned building due to the fact that the state of the building could reflect
his mental state and his character in general. The convention that we did
actually challenge was that conventionally thrillers take place in urban
locations that are densely populated however, we challenged this convention due
to the fact we did almost the complete opposite, our setting was in a
countryside area that is seemingly unpopulated or populated very little. We
chose to challenge this convention because we wanted to really create and
reinforce a psychological theme, to do this, we really wanted to reflect the
psychological state of the villain with use of location, the idea that the
settings are very desolate and seemingly old and not regularly visited by
people, we chose these settings so that these characteristics of the villain
character could be reflected by the setting.
Lighting is another key aspect of mise-en-scene,
which can be used to great effect in thrillers in various conventional ways.
Most of the time, the most basic use of lighting in thrillers is the natural
outside light (for scenes taking place outdoors), however, in certain scenes
which take place indoors lighting is often chosen to be a very specific way due
to thriller conventions. Mainly, lighting in thrillers in indoor scenes is
usually used to create tension and a specific atmosphere. Examples of lighting
that are used purposely to create tension include flickering of the physical
lights themselves. Another example could be the choice of lack of light can
create great effect. We were inspired greatly by the lighting used in the scene
in Captain America the Winter Soldier in which a character is tied to a chair
(similarly to one of our characters being tied up). The lighting used is a very
clinical white and is almost medical therefore the white light is very
prominent in this scene. In our opening sequence we definitely followed
conventions and we took great inspiration from the scene mentioned, we used ceiling
beam lights which were very bright and they almost created a spotlight effect
which put emphasis on the victim character and his overall presence in this
scene.
Make-up can also prove to be a very important part
of mise-en-scene in thrillers. The major use of make-up in thrillers can be for
creating the impression of wounds. Make-up altering the look of characters’
bodies or facial features is very conventional of thrillers; this is mainly
done to create realism. If there has been a fight scene blood or dirt could be
on a character’s face. Make-up can also be used to create an inhuman image for
a character, for example in a sci-fi thriller make-up may be used on a
character that is an alien and may have abstract facial features. We did in
fact use make-up in our opening, even though it was not anything overly
incredible
Actors/characters choices in thrillers do often
follow conventions. Typically, in thrillers there is usually one main
protagonist or group of protagonists who is/are the main actor(s) in the film. Similarly,
with antagonists, there is conventionally one or a group of antagonists. As the
film progresses however new characters will be introduced thus conventionally
joining the protagonist(s) in their quest to restore the equilibrium. The main
protagonist is conventionally brave, bold and courageous, or they are like this
by the end of the film if they are not at the beginning. In regards to the
antagonist(s) of the film, following conventions they usually do not get as
much screen time as the protagonist(s), the actual main antagonist themselves
may be kept very secret throughout the entire film or even in some cases never
be seen until the big last showdown of the film. When the antagonist is shown
in the film, conventionally, they are presented as very sly, sometimes cowardly
and often seemingly more powerful than the protagonist(s). Sometimes, the
antagonist may have body deformities or in general may look unusual or complete
visual contrast to the protagonist.
Sound in thrillers certainly follows conventions in
terms of creating effect. Sound on the whole in thrillers mainly aims to create
atmosphere and affect the audience’s thoughts and feelings. In thrillers, both
diegetic and non-diegetic sound is conventionally used. More often than not, in
thrillers diegetic sound is used in the majority of the film, this can include
sound created by props, the setting and actors, overall, this diegetic sound is
used a lot due to the fact that they create realism yet they can also create a
great deal of tension because these sounds are in fact real. In thrillers
however this diegetic sound is often altered slightly in the editing process,
this would involve still using the original sound but possibly making it
louder, changing pitch or editing an echo all in an effort to create more of an
effect, which in turn will create more of a suspenseful atmosphere.
On the other hand, non-diegetic sound is used
frequently in thrillers also. Non-diegetic sound can most commonly be music or
soundtrack in a thriller, this use of non-diegetic sound is very conventional
of thrillers because music plays a very big part in creating atmosphere in the
film. Mostly, music in thrillers conventionally creates tension in thrillers in
various ways. For example, synchronous sound is very typical of thriller music,
soundtrack or simply sound in general, synchronous sound is sound that matches
the action happening in the scene, an example of this could be an action scene
in which drum beats may match the contact of punches exchanged between
characters, overall this creates a great deal of effect because the use of loud
sound over the top of an action such as punching can almost emphasise the
contact of the punches making the overall scene seem more dramatic and tense.
Non-diegetic sound can also be used in the form of a seemingly real sound, an
example of this could be in a sci-fi thriller, there could the sound of a
spaces ship or a futuristic piece of technology, due to the fact that the sound
doesn’t exist in reality the sound has to be created in a non-diegetic way.
This is conventionally done in thrillers with such a sub-genre typically just
to create unreal sounds that are a necessity in the film. Finally, soundtracks
are conventionally used in thrillers aswell. A soundtrack would often feature
in the opening sequence of the film but may often be added in certain other
parts of the film such as the mid-point or ending just to overall maintain the
theme of the film. If the opening does include a soundtrack the soundtrack will
often conventionally set the mood and tone of the rest of the film, for example
if the soundtrack is distorted and has an almost psychotic theme then this will
set the mood for the rest of the film. An opening sequence soundtrack that
greatly inspired us was the American Horror Story soundtrack, this was almost
exactly what we wanted to recreate and develop . The soundtrack for American
Horror Story inspired us greatly due to how themed it was around the
psychological/thriller genre. It created this atmosphere and reinforced these
themes by distorting sound and creating sound in the soundtrack that was very
unnatural and seemingly tampered with due to editing.
Narratives in thrillers also follow various
conventions. However, these conventions almost always depend on the sub-genre.
The most common basis of a narrative for thrillers is for there to be
protagonists and antagonists and the overall narrative is for there to possibly
be an event that occurs towards the beginning that will diminish the
equilibrium and from that point the protagonists will have to go on in a quest
to restore the equilibrium. In some thrillers the overall narrative can be very
creative, in some cases there can be dual narratives, a dual narrative is when
there are two narratives going on at the same time, however, more often than
not one narrative is more dominant in the film than the other while the lesser
narrative does have significant impact on the dominant narrative by the end of
the film interlinking to join to form one big narrative. Another popular
convention of thrillers in terms of narrative is for there to be regular
flashbacks that are shown to the audience at specific points of the film. When
these are used in thrillers they can be very effective. Flashbacks can be very
effective in thrillers in regards to the narrative when it comes to making it a
strong one, flashbacks can be most commonly used to have effect on a specific
character, often a protagonist, the flashback will typically show moments from
the protagonist’s past that are possibly very influential to the way that
character is currently. In addition, the flashbacks about the protagonist may
also affect the main narrative itself and this can put an interesting twist on
the narrative overall.
Conventions of a Thriller Opening
In thriller openings there is a wide range of
conventions that make them effective. Firstly, the shot types and the content
of the shots follow many conventions. The shots in thrillers are often either
very simplistic or very complex with a lot of information in them. It is very
conventional of thriller openings to have very simple shots and shot types,
this is often so that little information is often given out to the audience but
there is enough information for the audience to want to keep watching and be
intrigued for the rest of the film. On the other hand, thriller openings can
also conventionally be very complex in terms of variety of shot types and the
amount of information given by the shots, however, with these complex openings
the information actually given to the audience by the majority of the shots is
very purposely unorganised and is often given in an unorderly fashion to often
confuse the audience. Even though there will be a lot of information given in
these types of thriller openings, the information given will often be mainly
full of implications or loose pieces of information that does still relate to
the narrative but is quite difficult to interpret until the film others.
Conventional shot types in thriller openings are
usually close ups and extreme close ups, these shot types are very conventional
due to the fact that it is very easy to use framing to only show certain pieces
of information, and with the use of close ups and extreme close ups it is very
easy to focus the audience’s attention on certain subjects. With the idea that
with using these shot types it is easy to not give out too much information it
allows the producers to focus on giving the audience certain images that may
impact on the film itself but do not give away too much. Another common
convention of thriller openings is to include flashbacks or a dual narrative.
It is also very conventional of thriller openings to use a certain pacing of
editing of shots. Typically, shots are edited together very quickly, this is
very conventional of thriller openings because it creates much tension having
such pace.
Usually in thriller openings, there is a soundtrack
running throughout. The use of a soundtrack in thriller openings is almost
vital in creating an atmosphere. Conventionally, the soundtrack will be tense
and jumpy, thus coursing discomfort among the audience and overall creating as
much tension as possible. Also in thrillers, mise-en-scene can conventionally
be used a great amount. If mise-en-scene is to be used a great deal in an
opening of a thriller the majority of the opening is often very much centred
around specific parts of mise-en-scene.
In an opening sequence to a thriller, there are a
wide range of key conventions to consider. The main conventions being a
production ident, titles themselves and obviously the necessary footage. The
ident appearing in the opening should be the logo/ident of the production
company, this is a very important part of the opening as it introduces the
producers behind the film and this informs the audience, in the majority of
actual thriller openings the ident is typically shown just before the opening
fully starts and this is very effective as it clearly states to the audience
who produced the film and this often gives the audience an insight on what to
expect if they have seen films by the same production company. Just including the
company ident can make an audience want to keep watching if they have enjoyed
previous work by this production company.
Titles are another vital convention in thriller
opening sequences. Some of the most important features of titles in thriller
openings include the actual font itself, the titles’ transition in and out of
the shot, and finally what the titles themselves actually read. The font of the
titles is very important as It can create effect and present theme or
atmosphere, an example of effective use of font could be in a thriller with the
spy sub-genre or a thriller involving cars such as Fast and Furious as the
openings in these types of films may have a font on the titles that is very
metallic, bold or shiny, thus representing metal of cars or guns. The entering
or exiting transition of the titles is also very key because again, it can
present the genre of the film itself and can set the theme and atmosphere of
the opening, using the example of Fast and Furious, the titles enter the shot
in a quick dash or swipe, this creates effect in the opening of Fast and
Furious 7 as it indicates the genre being a fast paced thriller with the
involvement of fast cars.
Another important role titles play in the opening of
a thriller is simply crediting people who played important parts in the
production of the thriller film itself, the names credited can also give the
audience an idea of what to expect, this would most commonly occur with the
crediting of the director, executive producer or actors.
The most iconic thriller openings we studied
included both ‘Se7en’ and the opening of ‘American Horror Story’. Some of the
most noticeable uses of the conventions in both of these openings include; a
relatively quick shot pace, purposely specific choice of framing, an intense
and distorted soundtrack, flashbacks, close ups and extreme close ups and focus
on mise-en-scene. Both openings use all of these conventions in very similar
ways as in our opening. These two openings particularly inspired us due to all
of these conventions, the soundtracks especially in these openings inspired us
the most, this being because synchronous sound is used and also a lot of focus
on props is used.
What Thrillers inspired us/influenced our work
Mainly openings of ‘Se7en’ and ‘American Horror
Story’ inspired us and influenced our work. First of all, ‘se7en’ was
incredibly influential to our work in regards to narrative and shot types. We
were inspired greatly by the narrative due to the concept of murder, serial
killers and the whole psychological theme on the whole. This influenced our
work in terms of our narrative due to the obvious fact that murder and
psychological concepts are very apparent in our work. It was very inspirational
to us mostly due to the idea that murder and exploration of deranged
psychological of people is a very popular convention of thrillers and is
arguably one of the best themes of film in general in terms of creating tension
and atmosphere. With Se7en itself, we were inspired greatly by features such as
close up shots and extreme close ups.
American Horror story was also very influential to
our work. Similarly, with Se7en, we were inspired by the murder and
psychological themes. With American Horror Story, what really inspired us the
most was the constant and effective use of mise-en-scene, particularly the
effective uses of props, costume and actors. These parts of mise-en-scene are
constantly used and developed in American Horror Story and are a key part of
its success in creating tension and creating suspense.
How we used conventions in our work
Overall, in creating our thriller opening we tried
to use as many typical conventions as we possibly could. Firstly, in our work
we used a range of shot types, however there are specific shot types we used
more frequently than others. For example, what is clearly noticeable in our
work is that we primarily focused on creating effect with the use of close ups
and extreme close ups. We mostly used these shot types to draw the audience’s
attention to props and specific physical features of actors. In using close ups
and extreme close ups to draw attention, our goal was to create the image that
every prop has significance to the narrative. Our example is the close ups and
extreme close ups of the tools that will be used in torturing a victim of the
killer. We used mainly close ups and extreme close ups of the tools as we
showed each tool individually. With the close ups, the rule of thirds was
applied, thus centring the tool and drawing all attention of the audience
towards it.
In our work, we edited it together in a specific,
conventional way also. For the majority of our production, we edited with quite
an amount of pace, however this pace of editing was in fact determined by the pace
of the soundtrack. The soundtrack consisted of a piano key chorus with various
distorted sounds throughout and the editing process was mainly revolved around
getting each cut to be in time with each beat or sound in the soundtrack.
Another reason why we wanted the pace of editing to generally be quite quick
was so that we maintained the psychological, deranged theme, with a quick pace
of editing this was achievable because each montage were edited in such quick
succession that the audience may struggle to take in some information, as much
as this sounds negative, it is in fact purposefully done so that the audience
almost feels as if they are looking through the eyes of an insane person, this
insane person being the torturer.
With mise-en-scene, we did use and develop
conventions in every part however there are certain parts of mise-en-scene we
used more than others. First of all, props are definitely the part of
mise-en-scene that we used the most. The most recognizable props we used were
the tools on the torture table. This table consisted of purely props, mainly
everyday old tools which could easily be used to inflict pain on a person and
there were a few actual weapons as well. Props were by far the most important
part of mise-en-scene in terms of influencing the narrative and character
backgrounds. The clearest point of having the tools and weapons as props was to
portray the concept that they are going to be used to torture someone and
eventually kill them. The way the tools were presented on the table indicated
that they were ready to be used and they all will be used in one way or another
to inflict pain. Another clear reason for using the props in the opening was to
present the character who was going to use them. The fact that the props on the
table mostly consist of DIY tools and they are paired up with actual weapons
implies that the character sees them as two of the same things, it implies that
the character has use for either the tools or weapons put for inflicting pain
on people. An even clearer representation given off by the props for this
character is that they are a psychopath.
Costume is also a noticeable element of
mise-en-scene implicated into our work. In our production costume mainly
depicted characteristics and social backgrounds of the characters themselves.
For example, with the character who played the victim of the torturer he had
two types of costume in the opening, one in the flashback scenes, and another
in the scene in which he was tied up and captured by the psychopath. This character
who is eventually captured, sis very connected with society, the character
themselves is very fit and active and goes on regular trecks across countryside
areas, and this I exactly what this character is seen to be doing in the
flashback scenes. With this in mind he is wearing trainers, a warm jacket,
jeans and a hiking rucksack. All of these items of costume were chosen due to
the ideas that he is an average person who is trendy, he is wearing the kicking
rucksack due to the fact that he is out walking and obviously needs somewhere
to put his belongings. In the second scene where this same character has been
captured and tied he is wearing the exact same items of costume without the
rucksack, and jacket however they are in a very different condition, they are
dirty, ripped and have a bit of blood stained into them. These changes were
made to the costume in the scene in which this character is captured due to the
simple fact that this character was knocked out and presumably dragged to this
second location and with these locations being in the countryside his clothes
would have picked up mud, this procedure would have most likely been difficult
for the psychopath thus meaning he would’ve easily ripped his shirt. Also the
blood on the shirt could have dripped from his head injury.
With the second character-the psychopath, we also
chose costume very carefully so that we could achieve our goal in creating
enough of a background story by just looking at what he wears. With this
character, in both scenes in the opening he wears a one-piece dark blue overall
and with that he wears thick black ski gloves. These items of clothing were
chosen because with this character being the psychopath he is very isolated
from society and has little contact with the outside world.
Setting was also a part of mise-en-scene we chose
very particularly. In the two scenes that we had we chose two separate
settings. For the flashbacks we simply used a countryside location, the
roadside and then muddy dirt tracks where clearly a vehicle has been. We chose
this setting because of the fact that the psychopath character lives in a very
isolated, away from society location and a countryside area such as this one
fitted this role. Secondly, what we wanted to create from the second setting
was an abandoned building type of location, something that seemed desolate, old
and possibly unstable. The narrative for this setting is that this building
belongs to the psychopath and this is the place where he takes his victims to
their death.
Even though lighting didn’t play a huge role in
creating effect in our production is was apparent and it did have its uses. In
the flashback scenes, simply natural light was used due to the fact it was
outside. In the second scene in the abandoned room/building the main source of
light was old, glitchy and possibly unstable ceiling beam lights. This type of
lighting was used because the light given off was a very fine white glow, this light
type being used medically in hospitals reinforces the whole torture and psychological
theme.
We used actors in accordance to the narrative. The
victim was lean and physically active while the psychopath was relatively
skinny.
We did in fact also use make-up of sorts in our
work. Following conventions, we used blood appearing on the victims face and we
also used mud and dirt to go on the victims face and body.
In our production we used sound to create as much
effect as possible. The primary use of sound was the actual music soundtrack.
This soundtrack was created to be as edgy, jumpy and as distorted as we could
possibly make it, we made the soundtrack in such a way so that we could create
great tension and discomfort among the audience. In creating this edginess
throughout the soundtrack there are a mix between incredibly high pitch notes
and incredibly low pitch notes, thus creating great contrasts between sounds.
Diegetic sound was also used in our opening; this sound is hearable over the
soundtrack itself. Diegetic sound was used in two instances, once was the sound
of the knife being sharpened, and this sound heard as the action was taking
place on screen, the second sound was the heavy breathing of the victim when he
is taunted by the psychopath by wiping the knife across his mouth. We decided
to include these sounds in the soundtrack because it almost creates a sense of
realism that these events being showed to the audience have in fact happened.
Overall, we thought very carefully about the
narrative and how we could structure it to make it as effective as possible.
The narrative of our opening sequence is that a random person is out trekking
through the countryside, he passes a ‘No Trespassing’ sign all beaten and damp
on the floor and he seems quite lost as to where he is. As he continues walking
a figure emerges from not far behind him watching the trekker while wielding an
aluminium baseball bat. Then, the trekker is knocked out by the psychopath
after being hit with the baseball bat. After this, the victim presumably wakes
up in the second location and comes to the realisation he has been kidnapped,
as he struggles in discomfort the psychopath is in the room preparing a table
full of tools and weapons, this psychopath navigates over this table assessing
each individual tool. He begins to taunt the victim, wiping the knife across
the victim face horrifying him, with more repetitions of all this throughout
the opening it draws to a close with the psychopath picking up the baseball bat
again and standing directly in front of the tied up victim thus implying this
is the beginning of the torture. That
was the complete narrative of what seemingly happened, however, the narrative
was not told in the opening in chronological order. We decided to begin with
the victim waking up and then throughout the opening there is intercutting
between the scene where the victim is tied up and the flashbacks which tell the
story of how he got there. We though that this would be a more effective way to
present the narrative because it also showed the contrast in physical state of
the victim from the flashback scenes where he is clean and in full clothing and
then in the second scene where he is dirty, bloody and is without his bag and
jacket.
Here is the shot from our production of the
syringe/needle, compared to a shot from the American Horror Story opening
sequence of a presumably medical tool in a tray full of blood. These shot types
are very similar as they are both taken at a relatively low angle but still
looking down on the subject.
Here is a shot from our production of the villain
holding a prop of the knife and seemingly sharpening it. Alongside it is
another shot from the American Horror Story opening of a character handling the
prop of a balloon. These shots are quite smile and create effect since they
both purposely frame out the fact of the character, this being done to create
tension and a sense of enigma.
This shot from our production is of the villain
handling the gun prop. Alongside this is a shot from the Se7en opening of
presumably the villain handling some photographs. These shots showing the
character handling a prop again are very effective because they may be very
significant to the character themselves. In the shot from Se7en could create
effect and be significant towards the character handling them, in this case the
photographs could be photographs relating to this character’s past or
profession. With this is consideration we used a similar technique this shot
from our production, this gun implies the type of character this character is
and possibly what he plans to do.
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