Genre Difference, Repetition and Similarity

Chapter Twenty:

"Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem..."

 

Difference, Repetition and Similarity

 

Two films with very different elements can still be classed as the same genre. Take Divergent and Silence Of The Lambs, although both placed in the thriller genre, the films have completely different Mise en Scene, characters and narrative events.

Divergent, Although a thriller it is sub categorized as an action, sci-fi and adventure movie. It is not set in a present day government and costumes, setting, characters and events in the movie are very different to our modern day. The morals of the story aren't applicable to our everyday life.

Much like silence of the lambs we want to discover more about the plot and it keeps us anticipating more.

Silence of the lambs is very different in the fact we can relate it to our present world, The characters are exaggerated but very naturalistic and possible in the plot. It is based in several parts of America and very accurate in location. Unlike Divergent, Silence of the lambs has no romantic elements attached to it at all, it is very much a psychological thriller.

The setting is accurate as we are all aware of what a prison looks like, although it is extreme.

These films are similar in the fact that the audience are always wanting to discover more and read into the plot deeper. There is a protagonist and antagonist, and a major catalytic event is the base of the conflict. The conflict is also often between a male and female character.

Eye-line Match shot in DIVERGENT

C.U Of Hannibal Lecter in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

Over the shoulder shot of Clarice in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

Thriller Genre

Chapter Nineteen:

 "Give yourself something to work towards- constantly."

Thriller Genre

What is a thriller:

Thrillers are a genre of film where they heavily stimulate the audiences moods, enhancing anticipation, uncertainty, anxiety and terror.

Some subgenres of thrillers include:
 
Action Thriller - Fast paced, excitement, mysterious, hero-centered, character and plot driven.

Disaster Thriller - Natural or man-made disasters, chaotic events, survival, morals, loved ones.

Erotic Thriller- Heat, passion, love, suspense, decision, consequences.

 
Legal Thrillers- Law, court, crime, justice, questions, penalty.

Supernatural Thriller- Hero/Villain, paranormal, myth, vampire, demon, werewolf, witches.

Psychological Thriller- makes you think, messes with your head, deceptive games, intelligent.
My Opening Thriller Sequence

 My opening thriller sequence is in the psychological thriller sub-genre, throughout the film the dialogue and conflict is internal and is supposed to make you think.

There are some action-thriller ideas in the plot but not likely to be shown in the opening sequence.

Genre In General

Chapter Eighteen:

"Enjoyment of the landscape is a thrill."

 

 Genre

What is a genre, sub-genre and hybrid genre?

Genre : a style or category of art, music, or literature."the spy thriller is a very masculine genre"

synonyms:

category, class, classification, group, grouping, bracket, head, heading, list, listing, set; type, sort, kind, variety, species, breed, style, brand, make, model, family, school, stamp, cast, ilk, kidney; division, section, department, compartment

Sub-Genre: a subdivision of a genre of literature, music, film, etc.

Hybrid Genre : A cross-genre is a genre in fiction that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. As opposed to the conservatism of most genre fiction, cross-genre writing offers opportunities for opening up debates and stimulating discussion.

Sources : Wikipedia And Google 






Why Is Genre Used? 

Genre is used to stereotype, archetype and categorize films, it allows an audience to get an idea of the film before they see it. Different genres will have different target audiences. Eg. A film in the horror genre will not be targeting young children or elderly audiences.

What Are Genre Conventions?

Genre conventions are the smaller elements in a film which refer to repeating plot points. Usually films will have a set of particular elements then an audience will expect in a film of that genre. These tend to evolve over time and are revealed as the story unfolds. Conventions can also change depending on the situations occurring in real time.


















 

Opening Sequence Cinematography

Chapter Seventeen:

"I wear a necklace because I want to know when I'm upside down!"

Cinematography

I like these clips. Useful ideas for camera angles and setting.

 

 

Thriller Opening Sequence

Chapter Sixteen : 

"Nobody heard him, the dead man. But still he lay moaning. I was much further out than you thought. 

And not but drowning. I was much to far out all my life, and not waving but drowning." 

Rain For Morgan - Underwater Footage.

I really love this underwater footage. This has inspired my opening sequence. I plan to have different shot angles though and create several differences.







Here is the initial idea for my Thriller opening scene.

The first shot will be a crosscut between a woman drowning and the contrast of two girls and two boys in a car going on a road trip. The woman will be filmed underwater floating peacefully. The sequence will be a mixture of mid shots and close ups. It will be at an eye line height. There will be non diegetic classical music and no diegetic sound. This will then cut to a shot of the four teens, they will be driving and the shot will be through the windscreen of either the driver, passenger of front windscreen. The foursome will be listening to diegetic dance music and raving in the car. The shot then moves onto Dan who is smoking a split out of the car window. The scene then cuts back to the woman drowning and we see her hair and dress getting wrapped around her body and face. There is a close up of her face from a direct over head angle. As the shot cuts to a wide shot of the teenagers truck we zoom in on a car following them. It is an Audi. The truck is seen turning off and pulling into a open space near a lake and the shot cuts to the car pulling in towards the camera. The music is turned off and the four teenagers grab their bags out of the back of the truck this is a wide shot showing the kids with their bags and tents. A few lines of dialogue are exchanged and they kids go to put up two tents. We cut to a shot of the tents in place and it is now early evening. The next shot is in the tent with both the couples, as they unpack the girls notice their underwear is missing. We see the girls empty their bags. Josh offers to take Maddie to get some more clothes from home and we see them walking towards the car and the headlights light up. During this time Jasmine and Dan decide to go swimming in the lake we film them from a wide shot and see the couple splash into the lake. It cuts back to Evangeline drowning and the classical music has stopped and we hear the diegetic splashing from underwater, a voice over is played over this and it is Evangeline talking about her death. As if she is watching herself. She continues to speak as we cut back to the couple in the water. In sync both the couple stop moving and Evangeline finishes her speech. We see an over the body shot from Evangeline and we see Jasmine open her eyes underwater to see Evangeline's corpse. She screams and the noise is heard through the water and bubbles escape to fill the shot. Fade to black.

See Phoebe's Blog. I Will Work With Lucie And Phoebe Phoebe's Blog

Thriller Synopsis - Evangeline

Chapter Fifteen :

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Evangeline

Evangeline is a young woman living with Thanatophobia. This is an abnormal fear of a person’s own death.  Evangeline developed this phobia as a child due to an incident in which she nearly drowned in a lake at her childhood estate. This phobia begins to take over Evangeline’s life. She avoids doing anything which may be linked to or cause her own  death.  She came from a wealthy aristocrat family and has never worked a day in her life. Her mother and father died while she was still a child and she was raised by her grandmother. During a car trip one afternoon, the rain begins to fall heavily and the weather becomes severely violent. Evangeline suffers a halloucitation in which the car begins to fill with water, she pulls over and desperately tries to escape but the doors are locked from the inside. After this event Evangeline makes the decision to visit one of the most renown doctors in the world, Dr. Alastar Cagney. She travels up to the small rural village in Ireland where his centre is based and is admitted for an unknown period of time. During their first meeting Dr. Cagney seems uninterested in Evangeline’s condition and shows little attention to her. Evangeline begins to experience more and more nightmares and is obsessed with her own death. One night Dr. Cagney follows Evangeline back to her room and photographs her in her sleep. We see Evangeline get up after he has left and lock her door, unknown to him she saw him taking the photographs. Very soon after this event a new story dominates the papers, two bodies were found in a nearby woodland. Evangeline becomes fixated on the fact that she will be next and the killer is Cagney. She plans her escape and that night leaves the treatment centre without telling anyone. Not knowing where to go, Evangeline checks into a small B&B in the neighbouring village. Once inside she realises she’s left her purse at the centre, but she remembers her credit card in her pocket. She pays for the night by card and locks her door as soon as she’s in her room.

The next morning Evangeline wakes with ease and as she sits up she notices a very familiar object on her bedside table. Her purse, and inside several photographs of her in her sleep. She leaves the B&B in a panicked frenzy she returns to her home in Kent. During the next few days Cagney is arrested under suspect of murder, though Evangeline can’t put to rest her feelings of unease still. We see Cagney’s court cases and are led to believe he is sentenced until Evangeline is seen sat in a café and is watched receiving a phone call, we hear the caller with his strong Irish accent and become aware it is Cagney, he threatens her. Evangeline takes off leaving all her belongings and phone in the café, she drives through the rain for a long period of time and arrives at the estate we are aware is her childhood home. She is seen walking into the lake fully clothed and drowns herself. Alastar Cagney is seen watching from a window of the house.

Prelim Edit

Chapter Fourteen:

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way."

Preliminary Task - Final Editing

After filming my prelim task, I used Adobe Premiere to edit it.
I imported all rushes and placed them into bins. I then chose what rushes I wanted to use and labeled them. When trimming the rushes I learnt it was important to make sure timing and continuity were accurate.  During the shot where the character is walking through the door and we see her feet it was important to make sure the timing was correct in the match on action shot. I made sure to use lots of different shots and angles in the editing. I am happy with the finished product.

(I am unable to embed the final product. Here is the link)

 Prelim Task 

I edited this scene with Grace Phelps. Click to visit her blog. Grace Phelps


Analysis of the shoot.

The door opens and the actor walks in, The shot is a mid shot and at a low angle.
 The door is heard opening and squeaks a little.

We cut to a wide angle shot and see the actor crossing the room walking over to another actor sitting in a chair.

We hear the door shut.

There is a close up on the paper and pen in the table. We hear the paper and pen hit the table, this is parallel sound.

 

It then cuts back to the actors in a wide shot exchanging a few words.

There is then a low angle over the shoulder shot making the front facing actress seem superior.

The low angle on Christina is a close up to show her expression clearly. And make her seem intimidated.

The wide angle shows the difference between the two characters. We see one is much more in control.

We then cut back to a high angle over the shoulder shot making one actor seem less powerful.

We see one of the actors leave the room and we hear the door open, this is diegetic sound.

Then the shot cuts back to a low angle over the shoulder shot to make the actress have more power again.

 

 

We use a close up to show the actors reaction to the situation and focus on the expression.

We then see and hear the door closing once the actor h