Sabotage.

During one of our lessons, we watched the opening extract of Sabotage; a thriller film made in 1936. This was again another one of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous British films that demonstrated several things. It included dramatic irony, meaning that us as the audience know something that the character does not. In the case of this film, a man called Verloc who is part of a gang of foreign saboteurs operating out of London  gives a package to his wife's younger brother to take it to Picaddilly Circus. His wife's younger brother follows the orders he has been given as does so even though that he doesn't know the package is in fact a bomb and will go off at 1:45. Although Verloc drumbs into the young boy's head that the package must be at Picadilly Circus by 1:30 he is unfortunately unable to make this deadline and therefore we see the end of his life.

During the film, suspense and tension is built up in many ways. For example, while watching the film we get several close ups of the package which is in fact the bomb. This is helping us believe that time is getting on and the bomb could go off anytime soon. We also hear the dramatic change in music. Whilst watching the young boy on the bus with the package, we hear a contrapuntal sound which comes across as a 'tik tok' which coudl therefore relate to a clock or a bomb which shows that the time is getting nearer to 1:45.

Thriller research interviews!

We carried out this research to find our target audience to see what type of thrillers people like and why they like them.We interviewed several people in this clip and the questions that we asked were,
What is your favourite thriller?
What do you like about this thriller?
What do you think makes a good thriller?

Conventions of genre (film language)

First of all there is:

Lighting & Colour

The lighting in a scene helps to express the mood and atmosphere that we are experiencing. The audience's attention can be grabbed by brightly lighting an object or gesture that is very important to the story line that we are following whilst keeping other details in either complete darkness or relative. A director can also use shadows to build up suspense and the tension by keeping elements in the scene from the audience.

In a studio the lighting comes from three main sources such as:
Key light- it is the most brightest light and makes the most difference.
The back light- this type of light makes a character/object look more 'rounded'.
The filler light- this light fills in the gaps and softens the hard shadows that the use of key and back lights create. There could be several filler lights used in a studio.

Lighting can be directed from different angles and heights to create different effects, such as:
Underlighting- this type of lighting is when the source light comes from beneath the object. This creates a distorting effect on the character or object and is often used in horror films.
Top lighting- this is when the main source of lighting comes from above the, highlighting the features and facial expressions of a character. It can also be used to make a character look glamorous.
Back lighting- this lighting comes from behind the subject. This type creates a silhouette, if little or no other lightings are used.      

The director of a film is the person who is responsible for the lighting within. They have to manipulate the studio lighting format to achieve the atmosphere that they are trying to convey.
Low-key lighting- this is achieved when only the key and back lights are used. It will then produce a sharp contrast of light and also dark areas on the screen as shadows are created. This effect that is formed is known as chiaroscuro. This is italian words for light (chiaro) and dark (oscuro).
High-key lighting- this is when several filler lights are used. This is lighting that appears normal and realistic to our eyes as the audience; shadows will also appear in this type of lighting. 

Thriller montage at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I decided to create a montage of several images that come into my mind when i thought of a thriller. 

My Montage 12/17/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com
This is a montage that I created to show how Uncle Charlie and Charlie are both presented in the same ways when they are introduced to us in the film, 'Shadow of a doubt'. 

Shadow of a doubt

Shadow of a doubt is an American thriller film made in 1943 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film stars actors like, Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Henry Travers and Patricia Collinge.                                                                 

While in class, we watched the opening scene of Shadow of a doubt. By watching this, we was able to analysis the mis en scene. The five different parts of mis en scene are, settings and props, positioning of characters and objects within the frame, costume hair and make-up, facial expressions and body language and lighting and colour.

Settings and props;
The opening scene first opened with a look of a bridge over a river. This looked like a run down city, as there were two burnt out, broken down cars and two random men sitting on the edge of the pavement looking helplessly like a pair of tramps. We also come to learn that the opening scene is set in New York California. The main props in the scene are money, a cigar, hat and a telephone. We first see the money on the cabnet next to the side of the bed. Hitchcock then cleverly moves the camera to show us around the room, which shows us more money on the floor. This money lying around on the floor and on the cabnet show us that Uncle Charlie doesn't really care about the money, as long as he is wearing a smart suit and smoking his cigars.
Positioning of characters and objects within the frame;
Whilst watching the opening of the film, in the first scene we see Uncle Charlie laying on the bed with his hands placed upon his chest. As we know, next to him on the bedside cabnet lay a pile of money and on the floor. Similary, when we first get to take a look at Charlie, Uncle Charlie's niece she is again laying on her bed with her hands behind her head in the same position. Above is a montage that will show you this.
Facial expressions and body language;
By watching the scene when Uncle Charlie is laying on the bed, his facial expressions and body language tell us that he is very relaxed and calm. He is basically laying there peacefully with a relaxed face and his hands just resting upon himself. However, soon after this scene Unclie Charlie receives a phone call and he starts to get very angry and serious. He is very undeciable, not knowing what he actually wants.
Costume, hair and make-up;
Unclie Charlie has a very old fashioned hair style. He has it gelled back and is always smartly dressed. This shows that he is a very important person with lots of money.
And lastly is lighting and colour;
Whilst Uncle Charlie is laying on his bed, the room is very dark however there is light shining onto his face. This could mean that he is important as he has light shining onto him. Also, when we see Uncle Charlie on the phone making a call to his niece, the light is only shining from down his eyes. This could show that he is very ominous.