Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

Aloha!

In this post, I'll be stepping aside from my movie - My Best friend's man - and be talking about the thriller genre. If people are confused with the difference between a thriller and a horror movie, let me explain..


A thriller movie is full of suspense. For example; The Dark Knight, The Maze Runner, Everest, Southpaw, Jurassic World and many more.

Whereas, a horror movie is chilling, spooky and creepy. Some examples would be, 
Sinister, Insidious, The Conjuring, Paranormal Activities and the list is endless.

Now, let's talk about the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. 

Here are some of the main things an audience would find in a thriller movie: 
- suspense and excitement is created 
- usually set in an urban or suburban area
- violence can be central to these films
- the hero and villain will have opposite sides but will have similar characteristics
- a major topic within thriller movies can be said is the injustice within society
- the hero is often an outsider, isolated but has moral values. 

So, what is a thriller exactly?
A thriller movie usually consists of a battle between the protagonist and antagonist. (just to be sure, a protagonist is the leading/main character and an antagonist either opposes the protagonist strongly or is hostile).
The producers leave the tension and suspense for the climax of the movie to keep the audience on edge the entire time. 
As the protagonist is the main character, his/her role is to restore justice whilst the antagonist seeks to destroy it. 

These are the conventions of a thriller: 
- Low key lighting
- quick cuts
- shadows
- tension music
- changes in the angle of shots
- diegetic sound of breathing 
- black and white shots
- a montage of shots


The characters:
- The protagonist is often a brave male who seeks to restore the stability. 
- The antagonist will have a hidden identity that the audience uncovers as the movie progresses
- The antagonist commonly goes out for revenge from a past event. 

Cinematography of a thriller:
- A lot of close ups as well as extreme close ups, mainly of the protagonist character
- These camera angles are often used to show emotions
- The shots of the antagonist will be cut quickly so the audience don't know of him/her until later. For example, a back shot, a lot-key shot, a silhouette or even a shadow

Editing of a thriller:
Many jump cuts will take place as the audience has to be kept unaware but also have to remember them for later on. This will eventually lead to the movie making sense. 
To build suspense, directors regularly use cross cutting and it is also essential for a thriller. 

The sound in a thriller:
Music is essential, whether it be in a thriller, adventure or even romantic movie. It helps to understand the mood of specific characters. 
In thriller movies, music adds to the suspense and tension

Mise en scene:
- For a thriller location is important because the audience can establish the theme 
- Often low-key lighting is used.
- The costumes for the protagonist will be ordinary and everyday clothes but for the antagonist will be in dark clothes.
- Make-up and hair-styles 
- Acting
- Film stoke (Black+white, colorful, Fine-grain or grainy)

At this moment of time, I really hope that all the information above has cleared up any turmoil or has given some completely new knowledge.

Thank you and I'll be back with some more new information!

Development - The Synopsis

Aloha!

So, today I'll be talking about another step in the development part of my short film,

It's called the synopsis. 

In this part, me and my group had to pitch our film by telling the entire class our synopsis. 

Let me just clear up any confusions, a synopsis is - simply a clear, factual summary of the novel's/movie's story line. 

It's a bit difficult to speak of your movie and not telling them what exactly happens because you never know when you might give anything away!

Long story short, me and my group of girls had pitched perfectly and had also answered questions without giving the film away. 

Within the synopsis, we talked about our character's names, which were the following:

Michael Lewis,

Katherine Lopez

Courtney Hill

The girls are best friends and this is where Michael's character comes in..

I can't give away any more but once I've talked through most of the stages me and my group went through for this film; I'll most probably upload it onto this site!

When writing a synopsis, even if it's for a short film, it's important to highlight only the important bits. For example, for the movie i made, i said that it involves two best friends, with some background info on them and the male character but with no insight into him whatsoever. 

This leaves thee audience suspicious and wanting to know more..

What is the male character like?

Is he a good character or a bad character?

How does he enter the movie?

Many more questions should be swarming around the audience's head; and that's the whole point. 

Hopefully, that was helpful to you in understanding how me and my group created our synopsis and what should be included to make the best possible one.

Stay tuned for more stages from the film of My Best friend's Man. 

Thank you!

Development - Selecting the story and writing the script

Aloha!

In this blog, I'll be talking about one of the first steps me and my group did in order to make this short film.

This was part of a development stage and it was called 'Selecting the story' and 'Script writing'.
As you probably know, whether it's an advert, movie, story or even music video, a story line is necessary!

To be completely honest, me and my group struggled immensely when thinking of a story line; we just had too many ideas! First off, we though to make it comedy, then we thought about a cartoon/children's movie and after hardcore thinking, our story was based around a chick flick.

But this was not where our troubles ended, once there was an agreement on one idea, we had to write out what was going to happen step by step. Again, as a group of indecisive young girls, we changed our ideas many, many times.  Not because we thought they were bad but because the film overall had to flow and make sense.

Being directors and producers and script writers, we had to think about everything. 

Script writing is not only about what lines each of the characters say but also about the camera angles and off-stage action. 
As present on the left, there is an image of a script for a movie. There has to stage directions and camera angles so when the director starts producing it's a lot easier.

Scripts are supposed to be word for word to the real thing, hence they have to be given a lot of time and effort. 
Usually actors and actresses memorize their script before shooting, so they are mentally prepared for what is to happen next.




Our group had a small script and it didn't include as much detail as it should of because as I said before, we continuously made changes.This may be the reason why when the film is watched, there is not much speaking and when there is, it's not as good as it should be. 


So, lesson for next time; make a proper script and follow it thoroughly because it will be highly beneficial!

Thank you for reading!

The First Media Lesson of A Levels.

Dear my wonderful readers,

Here's an insight to what a media studies lessons can be like..

So, starting A levels can be nerve wrecking, especially when your not with your friends. It's like a whole new start. A fresh start. You don't have as many subjects as you did in GCSE's, so you focus more and your teachers expect more from you too, as you're now an adult.
But, on the plus side, it means you're one step closer to becoming what you want!

Personally, I just started A Levels, which is why I'm able to relate to it so well. The subjects that I've chosen are English Lit, Business Studies, French and Media Studies. And that leads me on to talking about my first ever Media Lesson as a sixth former...

Originally, I have two teachers for the subject, both of which I have heard many good things about.
Whoever's reading this, must be thinking why I chose to write about Media Studies and not something like French or English, well, because people usually have a lot of misconception in this subject. They think it's either too hard or too easy. let me put it this way, its definitely harder for you if you didn't do multimedia computing or computing at GCSE's. However, if you did do those subjects, then you have an idea of what Media Studies is like, but that doesn't mean you won't struggle here and there.

In my Media Studies lesson today, my teacher explained what we'll be focusing on, which is films. So during the course of the lesson, we as a class discussed the things that go on before, during and after a film is showed in the cinema hall.
There's things like the development of the film, where the producer actually selects that story he/she will be producing.
Then there's a stage called Pre-production, where the scenes of the film are rehearsed and insurance for everything single thing is purchased. For example, insurance for the actors/actresses', all the people working back stage and all the technical goods.
Next, the actual production of the film is done; so scenes are shot, the actors change into different costumes, and once the film is made, a wrap party is hosted.
After the production, there's a post-production. This is where any music that is needed in the film, is added in, trailers and posters are made, so the movie is promoted well, all the editing is complete and the film is finally locked.
Which means that it's ready to be shown to the world!
The last stage is called distribution, so, the film is released with a launch party and also means that it is allowed to be physically sent to cinema halls, and can be released on DVD.


As you can see in the photo above, an actress is on a red carpet for the launch of her new film.

So, as you can tell, for an hour's worth of lesson, that was a lot of information to take in, but then again, most of it was general knowledge.

As a first lesson, I was quite intrigued and am happy to say that I cannot wait for the future lessons of Media Studies!

I have attached a link of the visual effects behind the movie of "The Avengers", here.

Thank you for reading!