TASK 1
- 1. Mis En Scene We decided to use a man in a suit so that he was approachable and relatable. It allows the consumer to feel as if it could be them, or their father or husband. Everyone knows a businessman who wears a suit to work so we felt that this would make him easier to identify with. This character is stereotypical in film and appears in almost every action film. It applies to the conventions of a thriller, as does the setting. By putting him in a dark room we are applying to the stereotypes in thrillers. A dark place connotates as danger. Also because it’s dark, you cannot see the identity of the villain, which is common in films like this as it creates tension and fear in our consumers, as well as leaving them wanting to discover who the villain is and what his motive is.
- 2. Use of Monitors We used the monitors in our film because they increased the tension. By having the victim shown twice it confuses the consumer as they don’t know what angle they are seeing the scene from which also helps the villain hide in the shadows which is again, tense. Also, it gives the impression that the victim is being watched and is isolated, which makes the viewer question the situation. Also, applying to the conventions of thrillers as this is used in quite a few other thrillers, we have the kidnapped child shown on a monitor. This creates panic, as because she is not actually in the room she cannot be saved, as well as hiding from us her location. She could be in the next room or in a different country, we don’t know and this makes us feel uneasy.
- 3. Use of the Eye The eye is a very common convention in thrillers. From the Grandfather of all thrillers, Psycho, the eye makes our audience uncomfortable and unsettled, particularly a shocked, bloodshot one as this has an enigmatic effect as we as the consumer wonder what they are looking at. It also connotates that something bad is going to happen. By having our first image as an eye following something across a room we accented even further, because this meant he was watching a person, and because he eye is bloodshot, it insinuates he is scared and upset. By being able to get all of this across to our consumer before they even see his location means that from the very start the audience feels uneasy and unsure of what is going on, which is the effect we were trying to use throughout. They way we used this however challenges the way this convention is stereotypically used.
- 4. Use of a blue glow The lighting in our piece was meant to seem as if it mostly came from the monitor, so when the monitor turned blue it created an eerie effect. We chose to do this because it not only gave the room a weird glow, but accented the smoke from the cigarette. By using an unusual lighting we applied to the conventions of most thrillers and this portrayed to the audience that the scene was meant to be tense, allowing them to know how to feel.
- 5. Text over scene Originally we thought we would have the titles over black, but then decided to have them over our piece. This is a split convention and both styles are typical of thrillers. We chose this as we felt that it would interrupt the flow of the piece to much if we separated the titles. Also this technique works well for us as the names and companies we are putting up aren’t big stars, like in Se7en, when the titles are over a black screen because they have big names like Brad Pitt.
- 6. Knife Scene We chose a knife as our weapon because we felt it created the most tension and suspense. By having a knife not a gun, the audience feels as if the villain could attack the victim at any moment and to any degree, where as with a gun, one shot and you are either fatally injured or killed. Also, we applied to the convention of thrillers by using it as a threatening object, rather than an object actually used for violence as from my experience of watching thrillers, once violence occurs, usually the tension is broken. It is prior to this that the audience feels uncomfortable as they are unsure of what will happen next.
- 7. The use of fire This is a torture technique commonly used in thrillers. By dangling something close to the face of the it is not only a way of increasing the tension, but also a way of making the villain seem more malicious as he is almost teasing the victim. This indicates to the audience that the villain is a stereotypical psycho type character. This is as opposed to if we had left our piece with the villain only threatening the victim when he wanted information, then the consumer may feel as if he is just after the information, and that he is happy to let him go if he does. We wanted the consumer to get the impression that the villain is enjoying torturing and kidnapping the victim, as this is more intense.
- 8. The use of a close up The close up is a very emotional shot. It makes the consumer feel sympathetic for our victim as they can see in their eyes that they are seeing something sad or painful, and because we are on their side, we automatically obtain their feeling. This effect only works when you can very clearly see how they are feeling because it is the slight details that make us feel sorry for him. For example, the slight welling up with tears, our the small gasp. It intensifies the emotion, while at the same time creating an ambiguous scene, as we aren’t sure what he is looking at that is making him feel upset.
- 9. The use of a title over black We decided that although our titles were over the video sequence, we would apply to the convention of a title over black as we felt this was a good way to end our sequence. Also, this made it so that the only thing that you focused on was the scream, which is important.