Coursework Plan

Plot:  A mad doctor is killing his patients, seen on the news. A special task force is formed to catch this doctor. Police raid several suspected hideouts of the doctor. Doctor sees this on TV and smiles. The room he is in is very clean and sterile, but in the background, there is a woman taped to a chair, and covered in a decent amount of blood, next to her, a small table with clean surgical equipment.  Scene cuts to a car screeching to a stop with 2 detectives coming out, fully armed. They rush into a building, weapons in hand. The surgeon starts to put on his mask, and his left hand’s glove. At the same time, the detectives stack at the door. The doctor turns and looks at the door. The detective kicks the door in and move in, the room and dark and murky, but a slight figure is seen. The first detective fires at the figure, and it falls. The 2nd detective flips the lights on and turns out it was just a dummy. The room is dirty/filthy and old filled with barrels, they looked around confused. The doctor walks up to a laptop, and clicks on it. It turns on and is a security camera, looking at the detectives. One of the detectives opens the top of a barrel and an arm falls out, they both jump back stunned. One of the detectives uses his phone to dial his boss, while the other looks around and spots the camera. The doctor smiles under his mask and presses a button on his laptop. Suddenly there is a “BEEP!” in the room the detectives are in, and the barrels start lighting up with red flashes. The beep gets faster as the detectives rush out yelling “BOMB!” The doctor turns away and looks out the window, in a distant a rooftop explodes, the shockwave sends the building shaking a bit. The doctor turns around and finishes pulling on his gloves. He walks slowly towards the table, carefully picking out a hammer. He then turns towards the woman in the chair, lifting the hammer. He pauses and smirks for a second. The final shot is from the woman’s pov, as the hammer comes crashing down and it cuts to black. A police car with sirens on is heard passing and credits roll.

Setting: 

- Very clean and sterile room (For doctor scene)

- Room that is dirty, Very old room that has blue barrels which contain explosive and body parts inside (When detectives come in)

Film Location

- School (Clocktower)

- Outside School

Heat homework

Heat Camera Shot Types

Close up shot

Extreme close up

Wide shot

Very wide shot

2 shot

Thriller Sub Genre

Action Thriller

Take any other thriller subgenre, give it’s defining elements a back seat, and focus on the action, and you have an action-thriller. This is more common in movies than novels because of the visual appeal of explosions and violence.

- The Dark Knight

- Inception
- Heat

Disaster Thriller
In this subgenre a (usually) natural disaster is taking place, and the antagonist is either trying to stop the disaster, the extent of the disaster, or just save themselves before time runs out and the disaster has run its course.

- Armageddon
- Deep Impact
- Twister

Mystery Thriller
This is a subgenre of both mysteries and thrillers. It differs from a regular mystery by being much more fast-paced, with the protagonist on the run and the threat of another crime serving as the “ticking clock.”

- Seven
- Memento
- The Prestige

Zodiac Analysis

Zodiac

Directed by David Fincher

Genre

- Thriller
- Non-fiction
- Drama
- Crime
- Biographical

Main Character

- Mark Ruffalo
- Jake Gyllenhaal  
- Robert Downey Jr



Description

Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery-thriller film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by James Vanderbilt is based on the 1986 non-fiction book of the same name by Robert Graysmith. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey, Jr., with Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, John Carroll Lynch, Dermot Mulroney and Chloë Sevigny in supporting roles.

Zodiac tells the story of the manhunt for a notorious serial killer who called himself the “Zodiac” and killed in and around the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, leaving several victims in his wake and taunting police with letters, blood stained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers. The cases remain one of Northern California’s most infamous unsolved crimes.

Cameraworks
Zodiac offers unrestricted Showcase of characters, settings and plot
Audience knows more than the characters – Zodiac never caught, we know about killings

Long shots, wide angle, high angle

A long shot with slight panning downwards

A tracking shot which centers the car 

Narcos opening analysis

Narcos tells the true-life story of the growth and spread of cocaine drug cartels across the globe and attendant efforts of law enforcement to meet them head on in brutal, bloody conflict. As we can see in the opening scene, there are many things that seem bad such as mafia gang (0:48), Buildings being covered with fire (0:51), Army forces which implies that there are lots of crimes and murders going on frequently

Children of men

ANALYSIS: CHILDREN OF MEN OPENING SCENE

Setting: London (16th November 2017)

Characters: Audiences and A man who is focused most of the time

Plot: It starts off with the shot to audiences getting the news from TV about the death of the younger man on the planet. As we can see, London at that moment is quite dirty despite the fact that it has got rubbish, laying around the street and pavement. Also it is quite dangerous as we can see an abnormal number of polices walking around the street with the sound of helicopter. Suddenly, a building is blown up by a bomb which tells that London in the future is literally not a peaceful city as it used to be. Also there are lots of immigration as we can see tuk-tuk which normally belongs to Asian countries 

About the man: He is quite weird as he put some bottle of whisky in a cup of coffee. Also he seems to not interested in the world at that moment as he does not watch the news about the last man on the planet. 

Thriller opening plan

Thriller opening plan

Hope to achieve for this project

- Produce a 2 minutes film (Hybrid spy, espionage, international and action e.g. James bond)

- Evaluation (summarise the whole film) 

- Identify the strength, the weakness and EBI

- Able to understand and explain the different sub-genres of thrillers

Plot

Most of the time, the hero faces challenge to complete many missions. Along the way, he has to face many villains to gain more experience. Sometimes hero loses, but despite the fact of being a hero, he will never die. Finally he meet the boss beat the boss in the end. 

Western Credit

By importing sound as a background music in audio section and the image that has shown at the top right corner is the layer of video sections. Also I can add more effect using the tools at the bottom left corner.

Story Board

Conventional credit structure

1. Columbia pictures - Studio
2. A Hofflund/Polone - Production
3. An Indelible - Picture
4. Jodie Foster - Actor
5. Forest Whitaker - Actor
6. Dwight Yoakam - Actor
7. Jared Leto - Actor
8. Panic Room - Actor
9. Kristen Stewart - Actor
10. Anne Mgnuscai - Actor
11. Ian Buchanni - Actor
12. Patrick Bauchau - Actor
13. Paul Schulze - Actor
14. Laray Mayfield - Casting
15. Michael Kaplan - Costume designer
16. Howard Shore - Music
17. James Haygood.A.C.E - Film editor
18. Angus Wall - Film editor
19. Arthur Max - Production designer
20. Conrad W. Hall - Director
21. Darius Khondji - Director
22. Gavin Polone/Judy Hofflund/David Koepp/Cean Chaffin - Producers
23. David Koepp - Writer
24. David Fincher - Director

Difference between Connotation and Denotation

Connotation represents the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional meanings associated with a sign.

Denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the 'dictionary definition.'

How fears are used for entertainment

Why do we watch scary films ?


Catharsis: Long back, Greek Philosopher Aristotle posited that people were attracted to scary stories and violent dramatic plays because it gave them a chance to purge their negative emotions- a process he called catharsis. So, if we go by his theory, that means we watch violent movies and play violent video games to release the pent up feelings of aggression.

Psychoanalytic theory by Freud and Jung: To Freud horror was a manifestation of the “uncanny,” reoccurring thoughts and feelings that have been repressed by the ego but which seem vaguely familiar to the individual. Jung, on the other hand, argued that horror gained its popularity from the fact that it touched on important archetypes or primordial images that he said resided in the collective unconscious. 

Curiosity: As human beings born with a super active brain, we are a curious lot. We loved to be shocked and what drives this is morbid curiosity.
Intense emotions: Some people like to watch horror because they want to vicariously experience complex and extreme emotional content.

Adrenaline rush: When we watch scary movies, we can face your fears, but since we know that it's just a movie we don't have to face anything in reality. For the time being, it tickles certain fight or flight responses that are entertaining, the release of tension, over and over until a hopefully cathartic ending. So, just for a short span of time, we are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end. We seem to enjoy the adrenaline rush of being scared while being safe.

Excitation transfer process: This is another important theory about scary movies. According to Glenn Sparks, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie. Sparks’s research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases. After the film is over, this physiological arousal lingers, he said. That means that any positive emotions you experience are intensified. Instead of focusing on the fright you felt during the film, you recall having a great time. And you’ll want to come back for more, he said.

Excitement: A scientist also says that people enjoy excitement, even if it’s from a negative source, otherwise, things could be pretty dull.
Sensation-seeking: Other theories relate to the sensation-seeking personality types. People who seek higher levels of arousal thoroughly enjoy the response -heightened feelings of awareness when their bodies go through intense experiences. These experiences range from watching horror films to skydiving and bungee jumping.

Dispositional Alignment: People seem to enjoy the violence in horror movies when it is directed against those they believe are deserving of such treatment. This observation gave rise to dispositional alignment theory in which it is hypothesized that a person’s emotional reactions to events portrayed in a horror film can be traced back to the dispositional feelings they have for the person involved. 




Aristotle



he thought that people were attracted to scary stories and violent dramatic plays because it gave them a chance to purge their negative emotions – a process he called catharsis. 




Glenn D. Walter



1. Tension - created through mystery, suspense, gore, terror, or shock.
2. Relevance - it has to be relevant to potential viewers. This relevance can take the form of universal relevance – capturing the universal fear of things like death and the unknown.
3. Unrealism - we all know at some level that what we are watching is not real. So we have to feel safe

Conventions of thrillers

Audience Segmentation

Audience Segmentation
Audience segmentation is a process of dividing people into homogeneous subgroups based upon defined criterion such as product usage, demographics, psychographics, communication behaviors and media use.

1 min film analysis

Talking about micro elements, in introduction (0:00 - 0:23) I have used in this film. I uses sound effect since the opeing "Liongate" played by synthesiser (sound of piano) and sampler (voice) to create an effect of mysterious, cold, dry and creepy plus the contrast colour of background (red) of "Liongate" to grab audience attention. Move on to the walking part, clicking finger part and squeezing the hand part, I decide to use the tick-tok clock sound effect with finger click to create the feeling of someone is waiting for me to come and squeezing the hand to make audiences feel like "I have been waiting for you for a long time" and uncomfortable. The editing I use is approximately 3 seconds of walking, 1.5 seconds of finger clicking and 2 seconds of squeezing the hand, The shot I use, is close up shot to make the audiences focus on one thing and blur a bit to make the scene even more mysterious and unpredictable.

Moving on to the body part (0:24 - 0:42), When I turn on the light, I use the sampler (like monster is roaring) from high pitch to low pitch makes audiences feel like I am there to do something and synthesiser (like blasting sound) the part where Tan is covering her face with hands with sudden flash of light to create the feeling of something has begun. The shot I use when Tan comes in, is close up shot to show her emotion of uncomfortable. Moving on to the part I grab a chair and sit on it, makes audiences feel like something is about to happen and can grab audience attentiion pretty much. Moreover, the loud sound (0:38) that appears when I sit on a chair makes audience feel uncomfortable and might scare. The part where I put my both hands on the table, make audiences feel like I am about to speak.

 Moving on to the climax part or conclusion (0:43 - 0:58),At the start, I use extreme close up shot to make audiences look into make eyes and feel the pain. And then the camera goes to Tan, who feels like I have done something wrong (close up shot). Moving on to the climax part, when I start to speak "Let's begin" create a feeling of darkness and the tone of voice is not pleasant (big close up). The last part where Tan looks up, show the emotion of argument and like want to beat me up

Overall the good thing about my 1 min film is 

- Expression through sound effect and the use of sound effect

- Timing (putting sound and actions)

The areas to improve

- Acting (more emotional)

- More advance editing

Theory note + 1 min film

4 Micro-Elements
1. Camera
2. Sound
3. Editing
4. Mis-en scene

1 min film by Sunsun Tan Im Saimink

Semiotics = the study of signs
Sign = are made two parts
Signifier = a sign's physical form (shape, touch, sound)
Signified = the meaning/idea of the sign


Denotation - signified = common sense, obvious meaning
Connotation - signified = cultural, personal association


3 types of sign

1. Icons = The signifier has look like to the signified

2. Index = The signifier is connected directly or casually

3. Symbol = The connection Arbitrary/Random


P.E.T.A
= Point Example Terminology Analysis


















An Example of Analysis



Camera Shot Size, Angle, Movement and Composition
Shot Size: The human figure is used here to give a sense of distance from camera

Extreme Close-up
- Closeness to the human
- Distortion
- Create shock

Big Close-up
- Detail without distorting the subject
- Convey emotion
- Connection with character

Close up
- Showing emotion
- Communicate emotion

Mid Close up
- Dialogue between characters
-  See some background
- See part of the other character in the edge of the frame
- Orient each of them in relation to each other

Medium Shot
- Show enough of the figure to be able to communicate facial expressions as well as body language
- Include some of the setting for character

Medium Long Shot
- See the character in context
- Characters can be seen in relation to other characters and significant objects
- Body language is easy to read

Long shot
- Often used at the start of a scene as an establishing shot (Character needs to be located in a particular context (location, setting)
- Character's relation to their environment

Extreme Long Shot
- Showing scale
- Wider contexts
- Locations in relation to character
- Appear or weak in their context

2 Shot
- A shot with 2 people in it
- Used to establish the spatial relationship between characters