Opening credits

The opening credits of a movie is the opening sequence and introduction of the movies themes, name and genre through a series of relevant images, names and transitions before the opening scene of the movie.
Purpose and information:
The purpose of these opening credits is to display the content and genre of the movie so it gives people who may not want to see it a chance to stop watching. It is supposed to tease the audience in thriller films by giving away only some parts of the plot to intrigue the audience to keep them fixated on the film before most of the film has even started. It is also to advertise the film producers name as this appears on screen after the name of the film usually.

The opening credits usually provide the setting in an establishing shot, the name also in an establishing shot in the first part of the movie.The opening scene shows information such as the names of cast typically in long shots to show background usually in order of appearance to create a theme for that character, usually after the name of the film company has been shown. The name of the film is usually the first to appear in opening scenes, then the setting and iconography, it usually shows symbols of the themes in the movie that are underlying.


Effect on audience:
The opening credits are usually put together to make the audience feel on edge about it building up tension and nervousness to what they are about to see. They condition the audience to believe that the opening contains important information about the film. they are arranged a certain way to make they audience feel a pattern and so they know what to expect.

Thriller opening: Seven





This first shot shows the name of the film to show its genre




This shot shows the name of the film producer before the names of the actors.

The names of the actors are given here after all the names of the people who made the film were shown.

Age certificates

The role of the BBFC is to classify films on whether content is appropriate for a certain age groups. They are important because they determine what films are released and what aren't released to the public.

Age ratings:

18= Basic instinct, Scream
15/13A= Woman in black, taken, butterfly effect
12A= 10 clover field Lane, the sixth sense, the amazing spider man
PG= Corse bride
U= Shrek

12A rating:

12A rating means that people aged 12 can view it but only when accompanied by a responsible adult. This applies to films such as spider man and other marvel hero films because they want to keep their younger audience at people aged 12 but when they bring the themes to life in a live action movie it may encourage the young teenagers to try the stunts so that's why an adult is required to accompany them. The themes are generally fantasy based and possibly unrealistic but mature action may go on to make it enjoyable still.

Most thrillers tend to take a rating of 12 to 15 because they include highly perilous situations and themes for the protagonists which need to be viewed by mature people in order to be enjoyed, they often go graphic and explicit in action scenes to increase adrenaline enjoyment of film all of which may be unsuitable or not preferred by younger children as they may become disturbed and frightened by the themes.

I would consider giving the thriller I make a certificate 12A because if the age ratings is too high my target audience will be very limited, this rating also gives the opportunity to include mature themes without focusing too much on explicit scenes so I can develop the theme more in the characters mind and personality.

Conclusion:

I have learned that the certificate a film is given depends on the content, themes and explicitly in the scenes, leading to me considering my target audience in age groups as this is usually accurate. I know that I need to consider language, habits of characters, amount of violence and stunts, nudity, maturity of themes, these aspects are usually based on what the character does and says so I should consider what themes I include.

Film censorship

BBFC stands for the British board of film classification is an independent non governmental body which has classified films since 1912, they classify films in age groups based on the content and the message portrayed in the film. They pass films based on if they meet requirements of a certain category.

Their role is important because they inspect films made in the film industry and make sure they get a rating so they can be sold and retailed they do this based on the rating they give them. They make sure films are appropriate for specific target audience and not any other group, and this typically dependant on age.

Things that get censored:
Language used gets censored because of language that some people of certain groups may find offensive so they use age ratings to ensure maturity.
Violence gets censored as it may be too graphic or disturbing for people who may be younger or from a certain background.
Nudity gets censored in sections of the body for certain audiences of different belief systems or because some parts may be considered inappropriate for younger viewers.

Films being cut means they have had parts taken out of them  as they may have been deemed unfit for viewing. And films being banned means they are not allowed to be shown altogether

For and against:
One example for media censorship is the hypodermic needle theory suggesting views from the media are injected into the audience which makes them share the same beliefs, therefore making people fear the younger generation will be influenced by bad role models in the media. It has also been said by Albert bandura that after a group of small children watched adults playing aggressively and afterwards they wanted to replicate the violence they had seen, which leads them to make the conclusion that young people watching violent films leads to damage and violence towards other people. So without censorship the majority of the public would think that the film industry had a lack of morals.

Arguments against censorship may be that it stops some films being enjoyed because of what is going on around them suggesting unfairness and absolutely no freedom of speech because of some insignificant like fear and if people don't like the film or program they shouldn't view it at all. Some critics have suggested that it imposes will on younger audiences and brings them up to be closed minded and not having a real perception of the world instead only seeing it as perfectly as they do on TV which can lead to deception.

In my opinion I agree with the against arguement as it thoroughly demonstrates that all target audiences are separate and people who aren't looking for specific content shouldn't view it, because when censorship occurs it creates monotony in films and only one set of morals, therefore not encouraging open mindedness or decisiveness in younger children leading to them staying dependant on parents.

Conclusion:
I have learnt that I carefully need to consider my target audiences as some views on content may be conflicting so I need to only produce content relevant to the plot and be specific relating to target audience.

Narrative themes

Themes are the main idea or atmosphere of a scene or a film these are important to identify because this can specify genre mainly as genre is dependent on theme. Indicating theme tells us of the action that may take place in the rest of the film.

Themes and genres:
Themes are dependant on genres because sub genres can indicate certain iconography present in the movie which then forms into a theme leading to a genre. For example iconography like a sports car which is a prop may give a theme of some sort of battle or competition, giving the impression of anew action genre.

Common themes:
Thrillers often contain themes of battle/competition because most thrillers contain scenes of adrenaline rushing fighting scenes for example fast and furious

Another one may be loss of innocence as characters in most psychological thrillers as the person digs deeper into their physce this is too create mystery and fascination in the character. For example American psycho

Revenge/anger is also a common theme in thrillers as it is a plot scheme in which a thriller film is based on. This is a common theme in a thriller because of violent satisfaction it often gives the character in the film is thrilling to the audience.

Impact of themes on audience:
Themes can have many different effects on audience's perception of the events taking place in the film. Iconography in themes can make an emotional response of shock, fear, violence etc. The theme of loss of innocence can create shock and suspense no and make the audience either love or hate what the character has now become. The theme of battle can get the audiences adrenaline pumping and boost thriller factor as the audience will start to pick sides. The theme of violence can spark fear in the audience and make them worry or feel sorry for the character in the bad situation.

Conclusion:
After this analysis of themes I have decided to use the theme where it is

Narrative theory

A narrative is the story telling of a film and the sequence of events otherwise known as the plot. It is important to the audience as it provides main information of the films genre with the main story line, by using mis en scene and other important elements to determine future events in the film creating the narrative for audience.

Four elements that allow audience to find meaning:
Genre creates consistent meaning and flow of ideas in the film without this there would be no meaning.
Characters are the people that provide depth into the story which is usually emotional and supports the plot.
Connotations and denotation adds meaning to iconography like props Costume as the audience will associate themes with what they see.
Structure of a film allows audience to put events in chronological order and make them understandable.

Theorists:
Vladimir Propp theorized that there are seven different characters. One being the victim hero the center of the villains attention and the seeker hero aids the villains victims both restore equilibrium to the story. For example katniss in the hunger games is the victim hero as she is targeted by the capitol and starts a revolution. The villain causes disruption in the narrative and causes the hero to have to restore things, for example president snow in the hunger games. The donor is the one who provides the hero with necessary tools or skills to continue with their perilous journey, for example Haymitch provides katniss with physical assets such as bow and arrow which highlights the importance of his character. The helper is the one who aids the hero in their quest, Peta joins katniss throughout the quest to defeat the hunger games and also adds a romantic sub plot. The Princess usually female is the prime victim of the villain, katniss's sister could be considered the princess as katniss has to save her from going into the hunger games. The dispatcher is the one who sets the hero on their journey and acts as the voice of wisdom. The false hero is the character that appears to be good throughout the film but then is revealed to have deceived the hero.

Torodov said that films follow an equilibrium structure from the first equilibrium to disequilibrium, then new equilibrium peace. This is were all characters seem stable in the beginning the the dilemma strikes and they have to solve it, in which the narrative is closed by. For example in the film Halloween the begging is where all the people are having fun then the female victim is stabbed starting disequilibrium. The new equilibrium is created when the antagonist is revealed.

Aritotle believes it to be essential to have a beginning middle and end, he claims it important to arouse emotion from audience through themes presented. For example in psycho the plot builds up from the exposure in the shower to the climax were she's stabbed and goes through a painful death adding to tragedy.


Barthes suggested that the seismology theory which the narrative consisted of denotations of cultural understanding and symbolism of iconography of evil and good suggesting that this reveals something about the plot such as scream where we saw knife as a symbol of death
,pain and violence.


Thrillers tend to take the theory plot that Aritotle put out because most thrillers portray theme through iconography to arouse emotion from the objects seen or camera angles, shot size etc. which mostly
out of everything create suspension.

Conclusion:
The narrative that interests me most is Barthes theory, as I would like to take a more symbolic psychological approach to suggest to the audience the intentions.

Conventional thriller openings

Film openings are important as they depict the films content through images and specify the films name, producers and genre. Sometimes the openings of psychological thrillers have metaphorical meanings to iconography in the opening. Thriller openings also add first impressions to the film to entice the audience and get them interested from the beginning they also can patterns of the films action

The purpose of these openings is to show the audience or tease the audience with clues of the plot which will later be revealed to make suspension in mystery In the thriller. They reveal characters personality or past experiences so you can get to know the character and have a basic understand the film further before hand.

Conventions of thriller openings:
Usually thriller openings contain visual effects and transitions to stop the opening revealing to much and to bring all the pictures together into a short story of the film. The opening of a thriller would conventionally include location, introduction to main characters, main theme tune which is repeated throughout the film, roll through of actors names.

Information that needs to be in a thriller opening:
A thriller opening should contain information such as the films title to establish the name of the film which could also play a part in identifying genre, production company name advertise the company making the film, and possibly a symbolic reference in the iconography to the films plot or specific important events in the film before they unfold.

Scream analysis

Sound:

The first and foremost sound heard by the audience is a high pitched scream from a young girl. Displaying the genre horror but as well also thriller because the scream is fearful creating suspension in the audience. The scream is non Diagetic suggesting that will be the main focus of the film that the characters are unaware of therefore giving the audience knowledge that the victim is unaware of therefore making the audience worry for the character. The Diagetic sound of the phone ringing make audience on edge as the response would be to want to know who's on the other side. Her voice is calm at first then continues to be more distorted as a result showing her fear as it escalates, this makes gradual changes to the atmosphere intending to make audience on edge. The killers voice is a bit pixelated on the phone making it hard to hear the man on the phone making her reactions almost unpredictable and to create suspense as this is usually a chilling way to set the mood suggesting danger when we hear his voice.

Lighting:

The lighting in the house of the protagonist is 3 point and high key to emphasis the main character and draw attention to her face in particular so the audience can see emotional depth. The 3 point lighting allows us to view her body language in what seems like 3D for audience to empathize with what they see. The lighting is high key on her side and typically low key and dark outside a window on the antagonists side to present light and dark, binary opposites

Costume, hair and make up:

The main protagonist is dressed in a white sweater to portray typical innocence of the victim in the situation. The clothing is suburban to show that victims are unprepared and vulnerable to attack, where as the antagonists is typically wearing a mask and protective clothing to hide identity making the killer more scary than they were in the first place. The make up and hair style used may have been used to give the protagonist a more young look like mousy short hair to match typical victim expectations of the audience. It is also used to create the appearance of sweat symbolizing terror.

Characters:
The characters in this sub genre of thriller are typical because the victim is stereo typically young, female and naive making her an easy target, as she has no skills on how to defend herself, and she relies on her male counterpart who is also captured making her completely helpless, she is emotional in response to this adding to gender stereotypes. On the other hand the killer is typically crafty, intelligent and quick allowing them to play mind games with the victim. The killer is male as we hear on the phone making adhering to gender stereotypes, the killer also sounds like he enjoys her fear on the phone so is typically sadistic and lacks emotional depth opposing the protagonist this uses binary opposites theory

Props:
She plays with a knife symbolizing violence and pain, thinking that it may happen to her. The popcorn in the pan suggests typical night activities as teenagers stereo typically like to watch horror films at night making time of day clear. The phone suggests that the killer is deceiving and sketchy.

Mis en scene: Costume hair and make up

Costume, hair and make up are the important micro elements of a characters physical appearance such as clothes, hair style and colour, skin tone and facial colours. This is an important convention because it helps to represent the characters personality or daily routine, it can also show how the character is feeling and thinking based on their choice of clothing. Colours of skin can depict the characters physical health or role in film, so if they are significant or not. Hair style may show how careful or serious the person is based on how self conscious they are.

Costume hair and make up:
Different types of costume hair and make up, can indicate a characters level of confidence,  significance and how much they blend in to their setting. For example a character who wears bright or revealing clothes shows someone who inst really bothered about what people think these people are usually strong female heroins in thriller films. wild hair can show that the character is comfortable in their own skin, furious, determined and disorganized. If the character wears a lot of colorful make up it can show that they may be outgoing and wants people to notice them more most of the times they may assume roles of characters who are mischievous and may be a significant role because of this, or if they have a more dull skin tone or appearance it suggests they are a more inferior passive role in the thriller film and doesn't like to show themselves.

The stereotypical victim in a thriller film may wear clothing that makes them appear timid and vulnerable such as dull colours so they can blend in and hopefully not be noticed by the antagonist or it may not be expensive or fancy to add to make them seem powerless and easy targets. their skin tone is usually fair to give them an innocent look, they do not always wear a lot of make up.



An antagonist may wear clothes that makes them appear dark and mysterious, crazy or unrecognizable. Some villains may have costumes which make them appear rich and powerful to make them seem intimidating. Villains may have dramatic facial make up, or be pale to make them appear scary as their stereotype.

Thriller opening scene: Lucy

In this scene you can see that the victim/hero is stereo typically blonde like most victims in films although she is wearing bright clothes, make up and wild hair, showing the audience she is careless like most turned strong female characters in movies.

The antagonists here are stereotypically dressed in black clothes to symbolize their role, the are wearing professional clothes to seem powerful and intimidating, their hair is shaven and slick showing they are serious and unsympathetic.

Mis en scene Body language and facial expression

Body language and facial expressions are important in a movie because they show a characters emotions and possible mental state to give an idea of what to expect from them and their character roles. It gives an indication of how the character may be feeling showing the type of atmosphere the scene gives off. It is an important convention in thrillers to make the audience share the emotions of the character making the film more of an experience to watch in terms of the type of thrill the audience get from certain situations. It can also indicate the type of relation the character has to the film in general or the rest of the characters or level of activeness or passiveness.

Body language:
Different positions of the body or posture can connote the characters level of self esteem, importance and significance in the plot it can also reflect the relationships with other characters too. Characters can be represented as scared, vengeful, secretive or brave in most thriller films like having a slouched posture leaning against a wall is passive body language represents the character as passive and mysterious in the audiences eyes meaning they may be spontaneous, dark minded and their personality may soon come out and show itself , the character may be disturbed during the movie making the audience expect possibly erratic actions from them. If the character is slanting their head to side it may indicate a more seductive, romantic and playful character making the audience expect more action to do with this romance, this could also create a type of genre in the audiences eyes, showing that we can expect the thrill or dilemma in the film to be to do with this, so the audience will expect this to unfold more in the film. If the character has a strong posture it can indicate authority to that character possibly indicating that the audience has met the protagonist as this person appears to be individual and independent, therefore the audience will start to expect the main character to be versatile and "save the day". There fore body language makes the audience stereotype the character to meet their preferences.

The stereotypical victim may be passive looking with hands in pockets, keeping head down, bad posture etc. creating a height difference, to make them appear powerless and vulnerable making the audience sympathetic and typically expecting the protagonist to rescue them form their bad situation. Their facial expressions may droop down without a smile and sad eyes to make them look specially innocent and hysterical to the audience and the rest of the characters like they have been brought down by a villain "baddie". For example Taken:

The stereotypical protagonist may purposely make themselves look in a certain way to appear strong with a strong posture and soldier like stance to make them look the stereotypical hero, they always look ready for action, they usually look quite tense and have deep stern facial features they tend to evoke respect from the audience. For example the hunger games:


The stereotypical antagonist or villain may use body language and facial expressions to have a sort of dark presence to them which is daunting so they may have a good strong posture initially to make them appear powerful and intimidating or a slanting manner to make them look scary, shadow like and sneaky. Their facial expressions can be lifeless, or taunting with a smile to make them look evil and sadistic making the audience angry with them for causing suffering. For example the purge:


Thriller opening analysis:A nightmare on elm street

Here her body language is of an average posture with head slightly tilted down to make her look like a stereotypical, curious, foolish victim who wondered into the wrong place at the wrong time. Her worried facial expressions though far away indicate a cautiousness. She has no weapons or anything to defend herself with, so she appears helpless.
 
In this shot you see a stereotypical villain behind her with the typically overbearing look where is head is tilted towards her with an evil gaze his posture is slanted showing a sneak attack. whereas the contrast in body language here is her arched posture making her vulnerable, and screaming facial expressions so she is the typical victim captured by the villain.

In conclusion I will use these body languages such as postures and facial expressions to portray emotion onto a character showing status as victim or villain.

Mis en scene setting and iconography

The iconography is an important aspect of a genre such as images, objects, which indicate a sub genre or a setting. The setting of a movie is the location it takes place at, it also gives the atmosphere of a film in sense of what may happen. These are important micro elements as they are used to distinguish different genres and types of films for example a film set in Victorian era may have iconography such as horses and carriages, traditional clothes and buildings to show it may be a dramatization to do with a story made up in that time frame.

Setting:
A setting that's conventional for a thriller movie is usually a large city for example new York because they have large land shapes suitable for action and drama such as tall buildings for cutting edge scenes, they have many roads and back streets for action and makes the audience worry for the character as they are lost in a large city, for example minority report:


Another conventional thriller setting may be a large house possibly suburban usually old to create fear and mystery and worry for the protagonist who will most likely have to solve the mystery in the film with the endless possibilities of what's inside making the audience on edge of things they don't see. For example insidious:



A house could be in the middle of nowhere indicating no escape for the character creating more of a thrill as that could indicate a chase with the killer or a vicious being, and the protagonist then in a confrontation which may be violent and highly thrilling. An example of this setting is 10 Clover field lane:



Settings and sub-genre:
Settings may vary upon different sub genres as some sub genres need more place for action to take place like an action thriller as the plot revolves around things that happen in large spaces, this also adds to the characters description as headstrong bad ass and serious adding to the suspension in the movie. For example hostage:

Supernatural sub genres need setting to create an elusive effect such as a cornfield or just the middle of nowhere this is suitable for supernatural or mystery thrillers as people or creatures could hide in it or the character could become lost in a life threatening situations this could make the characters seem curious, confused and brave to create more meaning to the genre. For example signs:

 A psychological thriller may require a place that is suitable for hiding secrets in confined spaces such as an old house, garage, abandoned train station as these setting tend to be eerie and suitable for jump scares, or even a normal suburban setting to make the character seem innocent when the reality is different making the whole film jumpier. For example American psycho:



Iconography:
An example of typical thriller iconography are props which are weapons such as knives, guns, axes, hammers, chainsaws or handcuffs to create a violent persona and enigma for a character which is typically an antagonist like a serial killer in a horror or psychological, or an outlaw or gangster in an action or crime thriller as these props have connotations and are usually associated with death, blood and brutality. These props usually indicate threat.
Clothing like masks, hoodies, coats, hats, denim,scarfs/bandannas is typical for the male character who is usually the hero or the villain, these items of clothing are usually associated with serial killers,"creepy" character, hit men and gangsters.
Vehicles are typically found in a thriller which is usually a jeep car, motorbike, sports car,  in an action and crime as these are typically associated with fast paced action such as a car chase, abduction which creates an enigma and suspense for the audience before the action has begun.
Conventional thriller locations may be a dark alley or parking lot as these can be typically associated with murder, chases, abduction, or even the place where the stereo typically "creepy" character hangs out which is usually the villain, the time of day in a thriller is usually night in thrillers as this is where most of the action or murders take place
Typical lighting in a thriller is usually low key, only light used creates shadows to create enigma for the film symbolizing danger and threat within the sequence, and usually symbolizes crime about to take place out of the view of everyone else representing light and dark.The lighting is usually only high key when the threat and action is over and out and the situation is resolved
The characters is a thriller usually have to have emotional depth to explain the action going on there, so we know what to expect from the characters, this emotional depth is used to create reasons for the action such as revenge stories or killing sprees.
The plot is usually to do with money or business deals turned toxic this is usually present in action/crime thrillers predominantly. The plot is usually about a character who wants to gain something or get something back that the character was deprived of before the events of the film.
Camera angles are usually eye level to create a natural realistic effect so we can view the action as more authentic

Iconography and sub-genre:
The sub genre crime thriller is usually emphasized on vehicles, guns, money deals and contracts, abduction, murder, a protagonist who wants something back from criminals or to bring the antagonist to justice. The location is usually a large city or small town where the crime takes place. The clothing may consist of identity restricting clothing such as scarfs, hats, overcoats etc.
The psychological thriller genre is usually based on plots which involve murder or experiences of delving into the characters mind so you may see an institution. Props which are usually weapons such as knives, chainsaws, hammers etc. these are associated with pain and torture which is what the character may do. The location can usually be the middle of nowhere to a suburban town.Clothing may be innocent to make the protagonist unsuspecting.
In the sub genre horror thriller you may expect to see a location which is an old house or small town being terrorized by a ruthless killer or paranormal entity.The time of day is almost always night as this sets the threatening mood of being afraid of the dark. In this genre you may expect to see normal suburban clothing as a symbolization of victims.

Thriller opening analysis:Fat and furious 6

In this shot we can see the main prop which is a sports car vehicle indicating that it is about some sort of action. The lighting is high key suggesting that it is about detailed action going on in the film.We can see smoke arising from the vehicle suggesting the thriller is explosive and boisterous in nature.



In this hot we can see we are introduced to the protagonist as the camera is on his side of the car. He is in a car which once again symbolizes action, they are in a far away location suggesting it is a lot to do with travel.the light technique is 3 point to make the characters stand out.


Here is a bird eye shot of the racetrack indicating action and it establishes the setting