following on from today's lesson about possible problems, i have thought about 5 things that i could do to make the shooting run as smoothly as possible.

1: keep concentration
2: keep continuity
3: have as detailed a shot list as possible
4: make sure to do good shots, not rushing everything.
5: not get sidetracked

final idea

wow!

right.

opening of a serial killer, planning his next move, targeting young women, lots of props like maps and polariods, opening like the credits for se7en. lots of detail, of him preparing, montage style, with titles and stuff like him X ing on a map, and getting on a suit.

cut to black, with title of film on, hear sound of doorbell, cut to finger ringing on bell, and then have the door opening ots of him, as she opens the door we cut to ots of her (bringing in continuity editing), and he starts selling her stuff, like glass or something, and then she goes to close the door to shoo him away, cause he's creeping her out, and he puts his foot in the door and starts to muscle his way inside. sho t of floor with the sound of a thud and you then see her red wine fall on the floor where the camera is. This makes the audience want to know what happened but still guess she is dead.

James and Luke

notes on last year's thrillers

Successful elements:

silent water: fab storyline, is actually spooky, builds up good tension, music helped build up tension. a few great shots, e.g. end shot of girl in the water, the shot where the girl's dead friend is seen in the mirror is in my opinion one of the best shots from all of last year's thrillers. good credits.

the stepfather: Great cinematography, continuity editing of cooking sequence is almost seamless, use of small girl is great, adds eeriness. Use of children is generally effective. some fab shots, e.g. the cutting of the cucumber, the shot of the girl where there's loads of space above her head


things that i think could have been improved on


silent water: I think that the lighting could have been inproved on, as alot of the scenes are too dark. Also, i think the final shot of the dripping tap doesn't add anything, and they could have just ended on the shot of the girl lying in the bath

The Stepfather: The credits could have been easier to read. Again, there are some points where the lighting could have been brighter, especially in the kitchen. although there is a contrast with the bright outside and the dark inside, which makes a good binary opposite, it is quite hard to see. I think that the dialogue could have been clearer, as it is hard to make out what the characters are saying.

In summary, for my own thriller i will try to make sure i keep as simple as possible, and have some good shots. i also need ot remember to keep my credits as readable as possible, and to make sure that all my scenes are well lit.

Analysis of the opening scene of "Mememto"

I think that this is a fantastic opening sequence. it establishes most of the main themes of the film, with no dialogue, which is what i am trying to achieve with my own thriller project. It manages to set up the theme of going backwards in time with an enigmatic shot of a polariod photo developing, but in reverse. The fact that there is over a minute before anything even happens is effective, as it gives the audience long enough to consider why there is a polariod photo of a dead person (even the fact we don't know gender or age adds to the enigma) who has obviously been killed violently. It also is effective, as it gives enough time for a fair amount of opening credits.

The reversal effect adds even more enigma, where the character is shaking a polariod, but instead of the photo becoming more clear, it makes the photo less developed, which an audience wouldn't expect. It takes another 30 seconds for the photo to "undevelop". This is a very long shot, which gives the audience even more time to think, and take in the fact that time is reversing.

The time reversing theme only becomes totally apparent when the main character puts the photo into the polariod camera, then takes the photo, and we are given for the first time a shot of the protagonist's face. he has scars on his face, and looks slightly shaken, indicating that there may have been a struggle, and that he is probably either the murderer, or the discoverer of the body, the latter being more probable since he is taking a photo of the body.

He then puts the camera away, which is actually taking it out in real time, and looks at the body. There is then a shot of the blood dripping up, which anchors the fact that the body was only just recently killed, which shows that this man probably did, infact, do the killing.

there are then 3 very strong images of an empty bullet shell, a pair of glasses on the floor, and then the body, face down on the floor. It is only here that we can get a better look at the victim, and can tell that he is a 40-45 year old male, as he has a short haircut which has a few grey hairs in it. This adds even more enigma as it makes the audience wonder why he was killed in the first place.

The next shot reveals that he was definately shot by the main character, as the gun flies up into his hand, as if he had thrown it down. The bullet then leaps back into the gun, and the glasses start twitching, and The body "comes to life" and we get shown the killing of the victim.

The use of enigma codes is very important in the film, especially finding what happened before, and it sets up the importantness of seeing things in reverse order.

Applying Levi-strauss' Binary opposites to "Fight Club" (SPOILER WARNING)

Fight Club is a typical Action-Thriller hybrid, containing both the shocking elements and deep plot of a thriller with the high budget action scenes of an action film.

In the film, Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites is very noticeable, especially in the portrayal of the two main characters, Tyler Durden, and The Narrator, who's name we never really find out.

Just looking at an image of these two characters shows obvious binary opposites.

Although they are both wearing jackets with shirts, the character on the left is wearing a bright red leather jacket with a garish shirt as opposed to a dull grey suit jacket with a plain white shirt. This shows the opposite of sloppy vs smart dress.

The way they address each other is

another opposite, as Tyler Durden is standing more upright with his shoulders back and his head held high, addressing the other character with a confident expression on his face, making direct eye contact. The narrator character however is standing more defensively, with shouched shoulders, looking as if he is expecting something to happen, not looking Tyler in the face, but still at him.

These are obvious physical juxtapositions, but there are also pairs in their characterisation. The Tyler Durden character is a strong character, an obvious leader, who always pushes the boundaries of social norms. The narrator character, however, is more of a follower, who idolises Tyler and plays along with Tyler's schemes.

What is interesting about the film, is that in the end it is revealed that Tyler is just a projection of the narrator's imagination. Tyler is who he wants to be, and is himself a binary opposite of the narrator character, and it is therefore the binary opposites that drive the film.

i have had an idea for our dvd cover, it could be the first of a "thrillogy"


this idea is easily stealable, however, but if you check the posting times, i blogged it first.

This DVD cover has many things that make it a perfect cover for the film itself. The main striking image is of a polaroid photograph, or a polaroid, of a polaroid, infinately. this has connotations of obsession, as it goes on infinately, and also has the connotations of paranoia, as the main character is looking over his shoulder toward the infinate photos. The white edge of the frame is a stark contrast to the black background, making it stand out. The female character is on a shadowy background, while the main character has pale, warm colours. this instantly makes us think that he is the protagonist, and that there is something sinister about the female character. the fact that you can only see part of her face, as it is in the corner adds to this.

the name of the film is scrawled in bold letters on the bottom of the polaroid, something that happens in the film with polaroids, and as such makes us think that the polaroid photogrraphs are a main theme in the film, as the seemingly most important part of the film's identity, the title, is written on the photo. the fact that the title is written in black, on a white background, which in turn is written on a white background is significant, as it is a series of contrasts which can be quite shocking.

There are a number of enigma codes on the cover, mainly the title itself. "Memento" as a theme could represent many different things in the film; the photographs he takes, the tattoos he gets, or even the underlying memory of his wife, when all short term memory was lost.

The tagline is another enigma code on the cover. It makes the audience ask questions such as "what memories?" or "why are they best forgotten?"

The cover features all of the conventions that a dvd cover contains. it has the starring actor names at the top, the "DVD video" symbol at the bottom left, a certificate, in this case a 15 cert, at the bottom right, and a short 5 star review at the bottom centre.





looking further into the dvd cover of memento, i found 2 alternative covers:
This is the UK special edition of the cover.

it is the same photo as the regular edition, except it has been put into negative. this is more dramatic, and has connotations of photographs, as they are negative images before you get them develloped, and it also has the connotations of looking backwards, which the film definately does.

having put this cover into negative, i can see that it is not a complete negative of the other cover, but has had the contrast upped a bit.

this cover also has the "3 disc special edition" on the cover, just to show that it is the special edition.









This version of the cover is the USA release version. I think it is not as effective. the central image is larger, which decreases the impact, and has less of a connotation of isolation. the yellow text also decreases the effectiveness, as it is less harsh than the shocking scrawl of white on black.