Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging things in order to make language visible creating the iconography. This makes most of the films visual representation of genre by putting things in a certain order. Typography ensures that the micro elements of the film look right to fit the genre its in like a horror movie wouldn't look right unless it had the right font.Typography makes up the connotations in a movie as it is the way things are arranged to appear a certain way to visualize genre.

These connotations:
Genre
Style/mood
Possible narratives
Production values
Themes


This is a thriller genre here the colours are fairly natural to create deceptive origin, the small font is bold,  black and squared indicating mystery, uncertainty and intensity typically indicating something psychological. there is a crack on her face depicting that there may be something wrong with the character indicating that the plot may be about it.

This is from comedy genre the colours blue, white and black together create a  lively and bright atmosphere making innocence a theme which is a common mood of comedy movies, the font is bubble, bold and fairly large depicting goofiness and humor indicating the plot in the movie the two men on the front are in a position which makes them look like they are immature which is funny for adults.
 
This is from the science fiction genre the colours here are abstract and vivid creating an imaginative curious atmosphere creating a curious plot to the movie, the font is very robot like and squared making it look scientific in nature so it looks right for a sci fi movie. There are robots in the background typically associated with inventions or creation setting the mood for the movie.

Thriller genre:

The font for this thriller film is bold, brightly coloured and sliced to represent its horror thriller genre to make it more chilling to look at to make it seem more jumpy and shocking as a psychological thriller. the colours in this case. It tries to add suspense to the movie before it has already started. in that scene the shadow colour adds a sinister mood and style creating a theme of suspense.

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.