Since we are doing a mystery thriller for our film, I have
decided to look into title sequences which are similar to our genre. Through my
research I have concluded that good title sequences for our genre is ones that
gives the audience ideas of what is going to happen but it doesn’t give too
much away. This will allow the audience to ask questions and be intrigued into
what will happen in the film. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a good example
of a title sequence for a thriller film, it has fast cuts to show the audience
what the film is about but then it cuts before they know too much toi spoil the
film for them.
I have also found out in my research that music and mise en
scene is very important in an opening sequence. The music sets the tone for the
film and gives the audience an idea on whether or not the film will be fast
paced and exciting or slow paced and calm. For example, in mystery thrillers,
there is normally some tense music to set the atmosphere as a film that is
exciting but also has a lot of tense and questionable moments. The mise en
scene is important because it is what the audience expects to see because it’s
related to the specific genre, if there was something in the opening sequence
that was related to the film or genre then the audience would be very confused.
This research has allowed me to see the importance of the opening
sequence of a film and that the mise en scene, sound and how it is overall put together
(through editing) is key to set the right atmosphere for the genre of the film.
I have decided to research into similar films to help
make sure we use the right genre conventions so our film will be as good as
many others similar to ours are. The films I have decided to research are Close
Encounters of the Third King, The Bourne Trilogy, and Conspiracy Theory.
The
film, Close Encounters of the Third King is very similar to our idea because it
involves a missing person (in ours there are many missing people) which is due
to an alien encounter. The film is overall about a man who became obsessed with
finding aliens, so much that he ended up losing his job, and then he comes
across someone who went missing after an alien encounter. The alien contact is
similar to ours because our film idea is about conspiracy theories and each person
making their own to figure out what happened and an aliens is one of the
conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories are hard to make realistic so
researching into this and how other films portrayed similar subjects will
really help us in the making of our film.
I looked at the reviews for
Close Encounters of the Third King, it was mostly rated 4 or 5 stars which
indicates it was produced well. The review describes the ending as “sensational”
a long with complementing the director, Steven Spielberg with his use of special
effects and high angle shot which showed a shadow and reflected his work on
Jaws as well. This is the second version of the film as Spielberg did make a
first one so in this one, he made some changes. The reviews described the first
one as “an astonishing achievement” and the second was described as “simply a
better film” (compared to the first version). The reviews also say that this
film did “better at capturing the characters” and it has got rid of “dead ends
and pointless scenes” which has helped tighten the whole film together to make
it even better than the first.
The film The Bourne Trilogy is
also similar to our film idea, it’s a trilogy of films about a man trying to
discover who he is and find out his identity. He literally forgot everything
that happened in his past which is similar to the main character in our film idea;
she wakes up in the middle of nowhere, not knowing who she is or any memories
of her past. In our film idea, the girl has flashbacks of her past revealing
things that have happened to her. The Bourne Trilogy is more of a spy movie
though, but it also has some concepts of our film idea which could influence
how ours is used. It creates excitement for the audience in scenes which is
exactly what our film will include.
The reviews for The Bourne Trilogy
also mostly gave the film 4 or 5 stars. The reviews complement the actors acting
and how well they played their roles; they also say that the car chases were “sensational”
and “full of excitement”. It is also said that the director’s use of long takes
was done so well that you didn't even notice them because they was all filled
with “mind-blowing action” that took attention away from it all.
Conspiracy Theory (which is a thriller) is another
film I looked into, this is about a man who posted a blog about conspiracy
theories he had and to his surprise, one of them was actually true. He then
gets a visit from the CIA because they’re mad that he is actually telling his
readers the truth which the CIA doesn't want people to know, there is also his love interest in the film which they are both put in danger due to his blog. Similarly, our
film has many conspiracy theories which any of them could be true, our film is actually revolved around conspiracy theories and solving the mystery of which (if any) is true which will answer the questions of what happened and why everyone went missing.
Conspiracy Theory was given mostly 3 star reviews, some being 4 stars as well. It is described as being an "uneasy mix of laughs and thrills; suspense and soap", it also says how well the script was written in reminding the audience key points of the film. However, there were some negative reviews too, the love story was called "unconvincing" and it was said that it could of been really good and shown a lot of humour but the "parts of the movie that are truly good" were buried underneath the "deadening layers of thriller cliches".
These reviews of similar films are going to help is go in the direction we need to go in to make this film good. The reviews for conspiracy theory are a good example of what we don't want to do so this research is really going to help our ideas, for when we write our script and film, go well.
This is one of the main things that all films use, however it is more used in mystery thrillers to create excitement and mystery. There is usually a conflict between two characters (the protagonist and the antagonist), this will help create excitement in the film and the protagonist will be the main character. There is also usually a victim of which the protagonist will save, this is one of the main story lines of the film which is the cause of most of the action, creating suspense. It will also have a mystery revolving around the whole storyline, this is what the protagonist tries to solve and most likely, by the end, the whole mystery will be revealed. Also, the protagonist usually has a sidekick which will help to solve the mystery and save the victim, they usually have a weapon or item that is only for them, this is clearly shown to the audience.
The mystery is created mostly through lighting. The lighting is usually normal however, when the antagonist is around it is usually low key lighting to hid their face. This creates a mystery of that character, the audience wont know for sure who they are so they will begin questioning other characters, wondering if it is one of them, this helps create tension and suspense in the film. There identity is usually revealed at the end of the film along with the mystery. Silhouettes are created using lighting and these are very commonly used in mystery thrillers to create the whole mystery aspect of the film, it also makes it more thrilling because it could be a silhouette of someone holding a weapon (such as a knife) or just generally someone sneaking up on the protagonist. Silhouettes are used to create fear in the audience, therefore keeping them engaged.
Weapons are also used a lot in mystery thrillers, this is to show the audience that violence has occurred or that violence is about to take place. It could also be to symbolise that someone has just been murdered, brutality and pain, this creates tension and suspense in the scene. Also, if a weapon (such as a knife) has been used then it will have blood on it, this is a typical mystery thriller convention. Weapons are used to engage the audience into a scene because it clearly shows them that something has either just happened or is about to happen which is usually a murder or someone being injured.
Scary locations, such as woods (especially at night), are also a typical iconography features in mystery thrillers. Woods creates tension and suspense because it's as if the characters are lost, they usually aren't familiar with the area and so when something happens (maybe running away from the antagonist), the character(s) must try and escape. This can create a sense of vulnerability for the character(s) and suspense for the audience.
Street lamps are also common in mystery thrillers, the protagonist will usually be stood underneath it which empathises that they are good but are surrounded by darkness. It also connotes that they are alone in the darkness and illustrates isolation which creates a sense of fear and tension for the audience.
The movie, Psycho, is a good example of how silhouettes can be used to create suspense and tension, it also has a knife in the silhouette which creates fear for the audience.
Like
any other film, there is the use of sound. It is common in mystery films to
have some mellow, eerie, orchestral music to add suspense to the mystery,
however, the genre I am researching is the mystery thriller genre, Mystery films tend to be
more old fashioned so mystery thrillers do have a bit of that element but are
more modern. Non-diegetic sounds are still used to add suspense to the mystery
but they are more modern, sometimes there will be old fashioned sounds to keep
the old mystery element but it isn't as common now a days in mystery thrillers.
Like
thriller films, mystery thrillers also use extreme silence to add to the
suspense. The silence emphasises the loud sounds that suddenly happen which
builds suspension and tension in the scene. Mystery thrillers also have music
starting quietly and then it gradually gets louder, building to something which
also builds suspense in scene. These techniques help make the film more
exciting and gripping for the audience to watch, rather than it just being
diegetic sounds which could make it boring and the audience may lose interest.
Along
with non-diegetic sounds, mystery thrillers also use diegetic sounds such as
dialog and background noise going on in the scene. This is to make it seem
realistic because it’s unnatural for everything to be non-diegetic sounds.
The film, Pyscho, is a thriller and although it's not a mystery thriller, it has good non diegetic sounds that can be used in mystery thrillers. For example, the shower scene music is very eerie and helps to build suspense and tension for the audience.
A mystery thriller can be set in many locations. For example, some can be set in a isolated rural area, usually in an old house that is completely separated from the rest of the world. It can also be set in an urban area, to give it a natural setting and because urban areas have a high crime rate which adds to the suspense of the film. Urban areas are also much bigger and populated areas which can add to the chaos in some scenes, and making the protagonist appear more powerful for fighting/defeating evil in a big city.
Typical colours used in mystery thriller films are usually dull colours such as, grey. This is to add to the suspense and mystery, dark lighting is also used to add to the suspense, it's usually used in scenes with the antagonist to hide their identity or in scenes where the director purposely wants to keep something hidden from the audience (which is quite common in this genre). Colours such as red can be used to illustrate danger and because the rest of the colours are mostly dull, when red appears, it really stands out to make it clear to the audience. This builds up tension and suspense for the audience and creates mystery of the character, also because the director is keeping things hidden from the audience, it makes the film more gripping to watch because they don't know what's going to happen next which builds up the suspense.
It is typical to see weapons in mystery thriller films as that is most likely a clue and what was used by the antagonist. Weapons connote violence and so create tension and suspense, weapons create even more tension and suspense when they have blood on them, this indicates violence and that someone has been injured because it's quite clearly been used before. Weapons can also be a lead for the protagonist to find the antagonist and reveal more of the mystery, they can also be used to connote danger, for instance, if the weapon looks as if it's not been used before, its a clear indicator to the audience that it is going to be used on someone to cause harm to them.
When researching into film ideas for our final project, it was key that we took into account the budget of our film, before we decided whether it would be a mainstream movie or an independent one. Our budget is going to be relatively low with a sensative storyline, so it became inevitable that it would be an independent film within seconds of writing the plot. As we looked further into the marketing of these two different types of film, we learnt that mainstream films are usually given a-lot more scope with media platforms, wheras independent films have to rely on critic's reviews and the internet to generate awarness. For example, Four Lion's writer Chris Morris used the internet as a way to get funding for his film. He offered people the chance to appear as extras in return of anything between £25 to £200 to be put towards it's production. He had to resort to this because both the BBC and Channel 4 turned down the film as they believed it was too controversial to be shown to wider audiences. However, his decision to get help from the public through appealing to them from social media platforms was incredibly successful and ended up securing him a distributor for his film.
The Hunger Games (2012)
Mainstream films like The Hunger Games don't usually have to create their own funding because they are being backed by popular conglomerate companies and their subsideries such as TimeWarner with Warner Brothers and The Walt Disney Company with Marvel Entertainment. This allows them to not only have a significantly larger budget but also a Wide and Saturated release which sees their films being given out to a larger demographic.This contrasts against Four Lions which was given a Limited release in America.
We started to look at Independent Film companies within the UK that would be appropriate for our film:
Mystery Thriller is the subgenre we have decided for our
film, these types of films are often thrilling, exciting and gives the element
of mystery in the film to encourage the audience to think about what’s
happening and figure it out.
A typical storyline for mystery films is that there is a
problem, crime or something that is unresolved, the whole point of the film is
to discover what has happened. The plot usually centres on the main person who
is trying to figure out what is happening and that is normally the protagonist.
This is usually done by the protagonist piecing together clues that they find
which leads them to the truth and tracking down the person responsible.
We have combined this typical storyline with a typical
thriller storyline which has made our genre a mystery-thriller. A
Mystery-Thriller film is usually based on a mystery that the aim is to solve it
by following clues (much like a mystery storyline), it then has many thrilling
moments in it. There will be a protagonist in the film and antagonist in the
film, however, in some thrillers this isn't always the case. In thriller
mysteries there will also be action scenes which grips the audience into the
scene, this combination makes a film both thrilling and interesting to watch,
constantly drawing the audience in. Typically, the antagonist creates problems for the protagonist which the protagonist will then have to solve or defeat the antagonist with the use of action scenes.
Thriller is a genre that centres on creating feelings of
suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety within the audience.
They often try and keep the audience on the “edge of their seats” as the film
builds towards a climax. Common elements of thriller films are; the cover up of
important information from the audience, fight/chase scenes, red herrings, plot
twists, and cliff-hangers.
Mystery films focus on the efforts of a detective, private
investigator, or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a
crime or situation through the use of clues, investigation, and deduction.
Mystery is a subgenre of both the categories of crime films and thriller and
horror genres. An important plot element of mystery is suspense. This is often
done through the use of soundtrack, camera angles, heavy shadows, and plot
twists.
The Mystery-Thriller genre mixes elements of both thriller
and mystery to create a film the centres on the investigation of odd goings on
but also keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.
Examples of Mystery-Thrillers include:
Crimson Peak
Sicario
Gone Girl
The Maze Runner
Inception
The Bourne Trilogy
Mystery-Thrillers often have villain-driven plots, where the
antagonist creates problems that the protagonist must overcome to either defeat
the villain or find the truth.
