Analysis of the Preliminary Task

Our Preliminary task took about 2 weeks to film, we filmed all of it inside the school and took about 3 takes of each shot. I think we worked well in terms of working with the disruptions of working in the corridor and using a handheld camera for the first time, and we did plan effectively when making decisions about what the plot would be, where we would film and the different shots we were going to use. 


There are a few things we could have improved on however. During production, one of the rooms we needed was taken, so we had to use a different room that looked similar from the outside. We did do this, but because we filmed on two separate days we didn't have the "managing director" sign for the final scene. We didn't think about this when filming, which means that there was a lack of continuity editing in that respect. 


I think we did use a good range of shots, we didn't use some shot types, but this was because we didn't really have the opportunity to do so, for example extreme close ups or cutaway shots. We did use a range of close ups, establishing shots, mid shots and long shots. We did use a high angle shot when using the CCTV effect, and some of our shots were used to good effect as we were trying to be fairly secretive about the characters until there was a confrontation. 


The editing was not a particularly long job, simply because we only had a 100 second clip, and there were a few fairly large clips. Most of the time we didn't have any transitions, we just used straight cuts from one clip to another, but at the end we used a fade to black, and the credits were white text on a black background, and we did use a sound effect of an aeroplane taking off. We used this as it made a buzzing kind of sound, which is often seen in films when viewing a camera. 

Memento

Analysis of Memento

Memento is a Psychological Thriller, typically revolving around mystery with a non-linear storyline. Many conventions are used both typically and uniquely in this film. At the very beginning of the film there is a use of a gun and Polaroids of a picture of a bloodstained room, the denotations used are guns and blood, which connote death and danger, these are conventions of the thriller genre and intertextual with other films.

The non-digetic sound is also used to very good effect; the introduction contains a large amount of disconcerting string sounds which leave the audience both wondering and right on the edge of their seats. Later on there are sounds which carry a drone to them, they rumble which goes well with the monologue being spoken by the main character, this gives a sense that the story may do the same thing, it signifies unhappiness and almost death, which the main character seems to have committed to in a way. The sounds are almost a taste of what will happen in the story, as it reveals negativity, matching the black and white and dark colours used in the mise-en-scene.


At the beginning of the film there is a black background with blue writing over it when introducing some of the key characters. This is very unconventional for a thriller film as typically we see white on black. This different text gives off a sense as if a bold statement is being made.


In the opening of this film, there is a strong use of footage being literally reversed - although this is not a distinct convention of the genre, the emotions it causes the viewer certainly are. When watching, without any further clue, the audience gain a sense of confusion because what is going on seems very enigmatic. It does not seem to be realistic.

Analysis of The Happening

‘The Happening’ is a film which was produced in 2008. It was released as a psychological thriller – there are many different aspects of the film which we see in the first five minutes that we can analyse to define which genre the film belongs and which conventions are used effectively in the film.

In the opening scene, we can see it is a typical day. When viewing the mise-en-scene, there is nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. There is a public path and a green area with children playing and many people walking. It is a summer’s day with the sun out and a slight breeze (however we only take this into account after watching the scene several times). In a typical thriller film everything is opposite to this, they are usually set in the night time with very few characters around, however this is only the opening of the film so we do not really consider this.

Similarly, in the building site, it is a summer’s day with a slight breeze. There are several men working there who suffer the same fate. In these two different settings, despite the atmosphere being the same there is a contrast in characters. In the park, there are mostly women and children, whereas in the building site there are many more men – as they all suffer the same demise it becomes apparent to the viewer that everyone is in trouble, irrespective of age, gender or anything else. The convention of people dying is certainly intercontextual with the thriller genre, but not too often is there mass death in the very early stages of the film. This shows that although using any conventions well in this film, they are also used very uniquely to make the film different to other similar films.

Both digetic and non-digetic sounds are used in the opening to the film, and both are used to very good effect. The digetic sounds used are mainly the characters speaking to one another, as well as the natural sounds recorded such as dogs barking, and most importantly, the sound of people screaming and dying.

The only noticeable non-digetic sound used is during the introduction of the film – this is the eerie music added at the start to the images of moving clouds. This gives us a sense that wind is being portrayed as dangerous and we realise that it will play a big part in how the story is told.

In the very early scene in the film, including two women reading books. When the virus takes over one of the women, she takes a sharp weapon from her hair and stabs herself in the neck with it – the sharp object shows a direct link with many thriller films, all of which usually include death, and sometimes with a sharp weapon, this means that it is intercontextual with other thriller films, as it meets one of the most typical conventions in the genre.

The other signifier that it may be a thriller is some of the camera work that the directors use to good effect. There is everything from extreme-long-shots to extreme-close-ups used, to show the setting, or extreme detail respectively. The emotions shown in the movie are that of worry and fright, these are typical signifiers in films that something bad is happening, which is usually the sort of thing that takes place in a thriller. The same goes for the setting, especially when backed up by eerie non-digetic sounds.