Archive for October 2016

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My group were told to film a short extract from a basic script. We had to do certain camera angles in this scene such as close ups and mid long shots of the two actors talking. There were five compulsory shots that we had to do in order to complete the sequence.

these shots included a long shot of the two actors, over the shoulder shots with both of the characters, close up on both the characters. Once we had completed all of the shots we decided we should add some more shots to the scene such as an extreme close up of the door handle when the actor exited and an extreme close up of the actresses face when the actor has left. We decided to make the piece seem serious and slow paced rather than fast and difficult to follow as it allowed more time for extra shots.

We learned many new things whilst making this prelim such as the importance of the 180-degree rule and how if we didn’t follow this rule the sequence wouldn’t make any sense. We also learned about the importance of making sure that the camera was balanced and not at an angle. We discovered this after we accidently forgot to do this and we had a shot from the camera that wasn’t strait which made the sequence look poor quality. Finally we also learned about the fact that we should always do practice takes of each shot as many times the shot didn’t work and we would have to repeat it several times so to save time we would always do a practice shot so that we wouldn’t waste time on the actual shot.

We also encountered many problems in the short sequence. One of these was the limited space that we had for the over the shoulder shot of the actress. We found it difficult to do because there was only a small amount of space that we were able to work with and we could only just fit the camera but we were unable to get people behind the camera. To make sure the shot was then successful we would roll the camera and the operators of the camera would get out of the shot and then would say action. We also found it difficult to make sure the actors were able to go back to the exact same position throughout the scene as we had no take to mark the place where they needed to stand. Instead we improvised by using coins and placing them on the floor for each of the actors so they would then know where they should stand exactly so the sequence looked more accurate.

What we could have done to make the scene look better was to perhaps make the setting of the scene a little better and more interesting so that the audience really knows the situation that the actors are in and also to make sure that filming the scene would be easier.

This has taught me a few things that I should consider for my thriller opening sequence. One of these is how the setting should suit the scene better as in this scene the setting didn’t compliment the scene that was being portrayed. I also think that in my thriller should have more shots that involve more high and low angles and also tracking and pan shots to make the scene seem more interesting rather than it being so slow and no movement of the camera as this makes the scene seem less exciting.

I have taken one of the final scenes from the film se7en as the sound is both diegetic and non-diegetic and the sound also helps to build up the tension and it hugely effects how the audience feels in this scene. There are also other sound methods used in this scene.

At the start of the scene there are many diegetic sounds such as the wind gently blowing and the crickets in the background. The director also effectively uses a pleonastic sound effect of the knife being opened this also then proceeds into the sound effect of the box being opened. There is also dialog between both the villain john doe and also the detective. There are other diegetic sounds as well such as the helicopter just before the non-diegetic music starts, the helicopter can also be faintly heard during the scene as another diegetic sound as a background noise. There are other noises in this scene that tell us that they are somewhere completely isolated. These include the sound of an old metal fence or the telephone wires around them. We can also tell that they are isolated from how there is no noise of traffic in the background.

Once William Summerset (Morgan Freeman) has realized what has happened to the other detectives, David Mills’ (Brad Pitt), wife then the non-diegetic sound comes into play with the sudden violin noises. This excites us as the audience as we know that this kind of sharp pulling of the strings and high pitched noise in music means that something exciting is going to happen.

It carries on like this building the suspension in the scene. This also has a contrapuntal effect on the scene as it is quite off-putting how calm the villain is in this event and in the circumstances that he is in considering that he is being held at gunpoint. We also get an idea of this at the start before we know that he has the upper hand. We can also start to guess that something else had happened from the way that in the music there is the slight sound of clicking. This is both disturbing and intriguing to the audience like there’s something in the back of your mind but you don’t know what it is.

As the scene proceeds we get more dialog but at one point we hear it the radio of the helicopter to show us that if we were looking at it from just this scene then we would know that the helicopter was working with the detectives. We can also see at this stage that although Summerset is shouting and the Doe is talking, Doe is still louder than Summerset's shouting in the background. This firstly tells us that Summerset is further away but it could also be seen as how David mills (Brad Pitt) is not really listening to Summerset and is instead focusing on Doe and what he is saying about his wife. This effect also makes us as an audience focus om what he is saying rather than Summerset helping us to understand the situation better.

The music in this part of the scene then proceeds so it is not as jumpy as before and is instead it becomes more fluid this could represent how Mills is suddenly realising what may of happened and it was all coming together. However, once he has found this out it goes back to being the sudden pull of the strings except now it is much more urgent and we know as an audience something else bad is about to happen. This is repetitive throughout the scene with constant changing between the sudden use of the strings to build up the tension and when something happens it then goes much more fluidly. This happens repeatedly but each time it becomes louder and more powerful to us as the audience building the scene up for the finale.

The director also uses contrapuntal sound again when Summers slaps the villain. He does this with the sudden sound effect. The music in the scene also becomes increasingly louder helping to build the tension. The high pitched strings in the part when Mills has his gun pointed at the villain also increase in volume dramatically this builds the tension a lot in the scene and engages us as the audience again. When the high pitched noise increases towards the end of this scene it also makes us as the audience feel uncomfortable as it isn’t a nice noise and it is even more uncomfortable because of how in control John Doe is in and how comfortable he looks.

When the first shot is fired it seems to be a lot more dramatic than the others this is partly due to the increase of suspense in the scene. The remaining gunshots don’t seem to be as loud due to there not being as much suspense in the build-up to the end. This is also because these shots don’t have as much effect and meaning.

The scene then ends of the music still playing telling us that there might still be more to come. It also finishes with the helicopter explaining how what has happened and also the severity of the actions taken.

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sound in thriller. Se7en