Character Outlines

Character Overviews

Eric

An elderly man, 68 years old, has one daughter aged 30 and a dead wife.  Eric used to work in the filming profession, but retired three years ago. Now, during his spare time, Eric has one joy of playing golf. He lives in a small town where he and his family have always lived. His childhood was not a pleasant one, his father was often in a hospital for the mentally ill and so when he was away, young Eric would have to graft in order to bring home money for the family. Growing up seeing his father locked up, and drugged up, Eric vowed to never allow himself to disappoint his family.

Anonymous Man

He is always dressed in very dark and dull clothes. He has a very steady hand and is a skilled artist. His emotions are never apparent; he is always alone and has no one to speak to. He never speaks and is very clever and cunning. His actions are very dangerous and often end up in death. His victims never hear him coming. Moreover   knowledge of crime scene investigations allows him to cover his tracks really well.

Daughter of Eric – Sophie

Sophie, medium height with long red hair.  She always wears her pyjamas around the house. She works as a nurse in a children’s ward. She works by the side of a local charity called Vision of the future. Due to her busy life style and long shifts, she doesn’t often see Eric nor does she have time for a male companion. Living alone, she often retreats to bed after her long shifts. She was extremely close to her mother, however Sophie surprisingly appeared to have lack of emotion when her mother pasted away.

Wife

She had long hair that she often dyed it to a golden brown. Her blue eyes had a sense of a loving a nature, demonstrated by her caring actions towards all her family. She was the person everyone would feel like they could turn to in a moment of need. Her hobbies were keeping the garden tidy and presentable and loved joining local competitions.  Unfortunately at the age of 66 years, she suffered with a brain tumour for six months and sadly died.

Story Boards

Disturbia

Narrative:
The structure of the opening sequence to Disturbia is linear, so all the events happen in order. In the begining the audience are shown two males fishing, their body language and language suggest that they have a good relationship.
In the middle,

Codes & Conventions:
Concealment is included in this opening sequence, as a blank screen, this adds tension. Partial vision is also used, as the drivers view is what we see.
A peaceful and calm river is shown in the begining, however this turns into a dangerous place, this is known as Transformed City.


Camerawork:
An establishing shot of the rivers and mountains, this gives the audience an ideal of their environment. Shot-reverse-shot is used in the opening sequence, a close up of the father's face, then a upside down shot of the son's face, this shows the relationship between them. A mid close-up of them fishing as father talks him through what to do again demonstrates close bond. As the truck is approaching the car a point of view shot of the son is used to increase the involvement of the audience and makes them feel as they are part of the incident.
During the car crash there are shots which are portray an unclear image, this emphasises how fast the event happened and how disentoriated their thought patterns were.



Mise-en-scene:
In the opening scene, the character's language and body language shows a good father and son relationship, this suggests that they are very close to each other.

Sound:
Diegetic sound is used as of the dialogue at the begining. The non diegetic sound in the opening sequence is the calm soothing music, this supports the happy relationship between the two. The music changes during the sequence, it builds in tension as he gets out of the car and then suddenly stops as there is a close up of his face of shocked emotion. The music builds up the tension to keep the audiences attention, it changes again to emphasise the sadness of the death of his father as it slows down.

Editing:
The editing is fairly slow, this emphasises a calm atmosphere. However, when the car crashes the timing of theshots become much more frequent and sharp in order to build tension.

Graphics:
During the opening sequence, a black screen is shown with voices, this adds to the suspense as it takes away knowledge of who is speaking and what they are doing. At the end of the sequence there is a black backdrop with the title of the film, 'Disturbia'. The word comes towards us from the back and ghost-like letters expand outwards as the letters get further out, it then turns into a bright white screen before fading into the actions. The white capitals on the background, is simple and easy to read.

Red Eye Opening sequence analysis

Narrative:
The narrative structure is linear, this is flowing and helps the audiences understanding of the plot. The opening shot is a panning shot of family photographs, this instantly gives the audience an idea of relationships of the characters in the film and also a relationship between the audience and the characters. As we are first shown a shot of a young woman, this suggests that she is one of the main characters in the film and that we are meant to be on her side. Later on we are introduced to a conversation between the hotel receptionist and to regular visitors to the hotel, their reservation cannot be found, and so further stress and complications are added to this scene.
In the taxi her father calls her in the middle of another conversation so he is put on hold, this adds more complications to the scene.

Codes & Conventions:

The opening sequence includes several codes and conventions such as The question answer model as the audience do not know what is in the box, concealment because the audience do not know who stole the wallet, partial vision is included as we are not shown the faces of the thieves and Transform City.

Camerawork:

The camerawork that is used creates suspense as of the type of shots and camera angles, like the several close ups of photographs and of the fathers belongings, these shots also provide background information of his family. A shot reverse shot is used in the hotel to show the conversation more clearly and to identify who is talking and who is listening.

Mise-en-scene:

The weather in the opening sequence conveys the females stressed situation, as the weather is stormy this may also be used to portray events that may happen later in the film (pathetic fallacy). Also the angry taxi driver and the angered man in the queue convey the stress of the situation. However there is a sense of safety in the airport of all the people that are around her, this may suggest that later on she will become unsafe looking for help.

Sound:

There is non-diegetic music used that is gains speed which increases the amount of suspense and it comes to the end of the opening credits. The music is pounding which may also signify a heart beat or excitement. There is also diegetic sound used, such as dialogue, the sound of the plane and thud of when the wallet gets stolen. Diegetic sound is heard when she is on her way to the airport, there are sounds of vihicle horns and screeching of cars.

Editing:
The editing in the opening sequence is fairly fast paced between conversations, this may be to convey the
confusion of the people having the conversations and their thoughts.

Graphics:
The graphics used for the credits are black on white to highlight them, and are in a typewriter style font. They are also centre placed and are big and bold, and fade into the background, this may be symbolic of planes which is what the film is about.

Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7

1) What elements of a thriller do you think builds the most suspense?

Music: 27
Camera Angles: 8
Dialogue: 3
Other: 2

C-This shows that people think music is the best way to build suspense in a thriller.

2) Does the music in your opinion, make a thriller more intense?

Yes: 33
No: 7

C-This shows that music makes a thriller more intense.

3) What type of characteristics would you associate with a good thriller?

Male: 14
Female: 14
Non-human: 9
Other: 3

C-This shows that Males and and Females are what people would most associate with thriller films.

4) Do you prefer supernatural aspects to a thriller or more real situations? And why?

Supernatural: 9
Real Situations: 31

C-This shows that people prefer to see real life situations in thriller films, the feedback shown that this is because there is more to relate to.

7) What camera angles are most effective in thriller films?
Low angled: 8
High angled: 7
Tracking shot: 18
Pans: 7

C-This shows that people think that a tracking shot is the most effective camera angle to use in thrillers.

Thriller Questionaire

Please circle your answers

1)      What elements of a thriller do yout think builds the most suspense?

Music                    Camera Angles                  Dialogue              Other

2)      Does the music used in your option, make a thriller more intense?

Yes                         No

3)      What type of characters would you associate with a good thriller?

Male                      Female                 Non-human                       Other

4)      Do you prefer supernatural aspects to a thriller or more real situations? And why?

Supernatural                      Real situations

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

5)      What hero do you like to see? Ordinary person turned into the hero (heroic romance) or sterotypical strong male? And why?

Ordinary person               Sterotypical

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

6)      Do you like an opening to give brief but clear clues into what the thriller is about? Or do you like puzzles? Why?

Clues                                     Puzzles

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

7)      What camera angles are most effective in thriller films?

Low angled                  High angled                Tracking shot              Pans

8)    In a thriller, do you prefer the narrative to be fast or slow paced?

Fast                      Slow

9)    Do you prefer the editing to be fast or slow paced?

Fast                        Slow

10)  What scares you the most?

Clowns                 Blood           Not knowing information             

11)  What plots do you think are most effective in thriller films?

Murder                 Paedophilia                        Mental illness                         Stalker

12)  What type of lighting works best? Why?

Bright                            Dim

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

13)  What sounds associate with a thriller?

Heartbeat        Ticking           Gunshots         Footsteps         Breathing        Other

14)   Where’s the best place to set a thriller?

Alleyway         House             Local area       Park                Woods             Other

15)  Do you want vocals in the non-diegectic music?

 Yes                 No

16)  Do you like it when the murder is the person you least expect?

 Yes                  No

17)  What your favourite colour?

………………………………………………………………………………..

18)  What your favourite thriller?

Disturbia           Seven              De ja vu           Jaws                Other

19)  What’s your least favourite thriller?

Disturbia           Seven              De ja vu           Jaws                Other

20)   Do you prefer simple typography or fancy font?

Simple              Fancy

21)   Age:                        16-19                     20-25                     30-40                     40 and over

22)   Gender:                 Male                      Female

I Am Legend - opening sequence analysis

Narrative:
The narrative is linear and chronological, as all the events happen order, this makes this opening flowing and easy to follow. The interview at the beginning is quite positive and so there is equilibrium, however as the film then cuts to the 2012 the audience realize that Robert Neville (Will Smith) is left as the last heathy human in New York city, which results in a disequilibrium.

Codes & Conventions:

I Am Legend includes several codes and conventions of the thriller genre, it immediately introduces several questions to the audience, like 'How did she cure cancer?',  this is known as the question and answer model. I am Legend similarly uses mazes and labyrinths, as the main character is faced with many mazes full of twists and dead ends in order to come to a final outcome. Additionally 'Heroic Romance' is included as the main character likely to be an ordinary person is to be turned into a hero, this allows the audience to relate more to the film. 'The Exotic' as a normal/modern city like New York is has been transformed into something 'enchanted' full of mystery.

Camerawork:

The film begins with many establishing shots of New York city, emphasizing how stranded and abandoned it is, these shots express the vulnerability that the main character may have. Each shot includes something that suggests that this city has been stranded for at least a  few months as there are plants and weeds that are overgrown. There are many long shots, these additionally show the emptiness of this city. During the opening there is a birds eye view of the city which tracks the vehicle on the road, in this shot the only thing that is moving is Robert Neville's car, this more so portrays his isolationism to the world. When he is chasing the wild deer through the city, there is a tracking shot of the animals and the car, this shows the speed that he is going at and may also suggest how accustomed he is to these streets.

Mise-en-scene:

The lighting in the opening sequence is mostly bright, and begins very calm, however during the chase scene this changes and everything becomes a lot more frantic and unsettling. The majority of the opening sequence is very tense, this maybe to portray events that are to happen later in the film.

Sound:
The sound in the opening is all diegetic, during the first few shots all that can be heard are the singing of birds this is quite positive, other shots feature no sounds at all which may be seen to be calm, yet this may also be to represent death and the vast emptiness of this city. During the car scene, there is a constant roar of the cars exhaust, this may be used to portray the characters anger that he has with the world and the isolation that he has. Other diegetic sounds are the scream like groans from the escaping animals, this may further represent events that are come and the shocks that the audience are to see.

At the very beginning, there are many long takes, these represent the emptiness of the city. However during the chase scene the editing is fast paced and continuity editing is used to help with the flowing of each shot.

Graphics:

The graphics are white on black and the typography is quite animal like, maybe to represent the creatures that are living amongst the city.