Historic; War, Battle, Deaths, Fighting, Ownership, Hierarchy
Themes are dependent on their genre because without themes, they won't be able to choose the right genre for the themes that is being made for the film, Without them, the films would be horrible.
List of themes of these scenes/trailer below:
The themes I've identified from this trailer called Black Swan is:
- Psychological
- Jelousy
- Obsession
- Paranormal
- Battle
- Good vs Evil
The themes I've identified from this trailer called Stigmata is:
- Religion
- Supernatural
- Forbidden love
The themes I've identified from this trailer called Memento is:
- Depression
- Trust
- Friendship
- Desperate
- Vengeance
The themes I've identified from this trailer called The Conjuring is:
Setting
It's where the film is taking place/set, it can be set on anywhere depending on the story. Setting usually takes place in location relevant to the film or set in a built place (Fake background, classroom, built room etc.).
The setting must be relevant to the film because if it isn't, then it will be confusing for the audience to understand the story setting,
Iconography
It's an object that gives a meaning to the scene, it's important because it shows the audience what objects will be important to the scene and what they can expect from it for example; During the opening of Scream you can see a knife in the victim's kitchen, in the end the antagonist used that knife to kill the victim.
Setting themes of thrillers:
Typical setting for thriller are:
- Dark forest
- Isolated houses
- Homes
All these setting are used in thrillers such as Scream, Paranormal activity, Evil dead tree etc. These settings are used because it's place where everyone will find it scary and upsetting - it keeps the audience on edge of their seats.
Iconography for thrillers
Typical iconography are objects such as weapons, dangerous objects/items, lamps etc. These iconography, all of these can give an idea of what the audience can expect in the film.
Here's a list of typical setting thrillers in sub-genres.
Action thriller:
- Streets
- City
- Buildings
- Warehouses
Body language means the representation, of their action and movement, of themselves. This is a important convention in film because it helps us, the viewers, to understand what the character is like/going to be for example: the character is/could be a crazy person if their body movement is weird.
Facial expression
Facial expression is when the character shows his/her emotions through their face, an example of this is sadness - when you can see the character's lips is frowning or you can see tears on the character's eyes you can tell that the character is sad. Many actor/actress does to help the audience to understand how the character is feeling.
Costume
Costume is a clothe, dress, mask, hat, cosplay etc. that the actor/actress is wearing for their character/role in the film. Costumes is used to represent the characters for example: if a girl is wearing a uniform during the week and a normal outfit on weekends then it's obvious that she's a normal teenage student. Another example is if a child is wearing plain white clothe this will make the audience see the child as a innocent person because of what the child is wearing and its colour.
Hair and Makeup
Hair and Makeup can also represent the character of the way they look for example: if the character's hair is neat and 'smart-looking' the audience might think he's smart and innocent or a protagonist. Another example is if the character is wearing a mask that can show that he might be a antagonist who wants to hide his/her identity.
Here's an example of Costume, Hair and Makeup, Body language and Facial Expressions:
The image above shows a young women in, what it seems like, a building. Her body language shows that she's fragile and weak - she has no muscular features and her height is average, this makes the audience see her as a weak and powerless person who looks like she's unable to defend herself.
She's wearing a white wedding costume and her hair is neat, this can make the audience think that she's a innocent women who just had a wedding.
Her facial expression makes the audience think that she's is lost and confused of the situation she's in or looks like she's about to uncover the truth.
In this 5 minute opening of Scream, I can see that there are many conventional factors to it. In this opening we can see that it has cinematography, editing, sound and mise en scene - these was all used to create this film.
Cinematography
The first shot we've seen is a close up of a victim face, this was used for the audience to get a clear look of what the victim face looks like and whether if she looks innocent or not. The next shot was a tilt shot being used to show the victim house, it shows the audience that where she's living in is a house with nothing but her inside it at night time. There was a camera following the character using the panning shot, it shows a clear view of what she's doing to the audience.
During the opening, there was a fast zoom from the camera onto the character face - it shows the victim's reaction to what the antagonist said to the audience. There was also a point of view shot, it shows what she's seeing to the audience, it also allows the audience to feel as if they are in the film.
Editing
There was about three editing that has been used:
- There was a straight cut editing; this was first used when the character faced to the telephone; this was used to allow the audience to see the objects around her.
- There was a reaction shot; this was used when the character reacted to what it's being said to her by the antagonist (through the telephone), it allows the audience to see a clear view of her facial expression. Also there was another reaction shot being used - it also allowed the audience to feel the fear and tension that the character is feeling.
-Near the end of the opening there was a montage; it has been used to create a fast shots to build up the killing of the innocent character,
Sound
There was an off screen sound when the victim was talking to the antagonist through the phone, it's an off screen because we are able to hear the antagonist voice and see where it's coming from (the telephone), we cannot see him.
A digetic sound was used when the telephone was ringing several of times, this makes the scene look more realistic because you can see that the ringing was part of the film, meaning that it's not a non-digetic sound.
Also a non-diegetic sound was used when the antagonist was killing the victim and while the victim was slowly dying, Mise en scene
There was a natural lightning, back lighting, high key lighting and a low-key lighting in this opening. The effect of back lighting and the low key lighting creates a dark and tension feeling to the audience.
Many high key and natural lighting has been used - it makes the audience feel calm as if nothing is going to happen.
Low key lighting has been used to build up tension when she was about to be attacked.
The iconography in this opening is:
The telephone - the antagonist used this as a source to communicate with the victim.
Knife - there was a many of knife in the kitchen, the antagonist used this as a weapon to kill the victim.
The victim costume is a ordinary/casual clothing - this shows that she is just a normal teenage girl who's innocent. The antagonist was wearing a black clock - which symbolizes death - and a mask which shows that the antagonist wants to keep his identity hidden.
Lightning - Lightning creates an effect of the film, lightning can show how tense or not the scene will be or how 'friendly' the scene will be etc. Lightning also creates an effect on the environment (in films). An example of this is: A 'slash (horror)' type genre usually shows the scene in a dark place (turning the lights off to turn the scene dark), this scene usually show something horrid or violent. Another example is a movie called Grudge - there's a scene where the setting is in a dark house.
Colour - Colour holds a connotations that may give out meaning to a scene for example: The scene shows a women wearing a red dress in a dark setting, the red dress could mean that she's violet and evil because of its colour.
Here's an example of lightning: In this shot, it shows a bright light shining behind the man, you can't see the man appearance due to lighting. This creates an effect of hiding the character, making the character look mysterious - a lot of the films does this because they want to hide the character/doesn't want to show the audience to know who it is. This is called back-lighting.
Angles of lightning - examples
High angle - it's a lightning that comes from above a person, it usually used to outline the upper areas of the figure and/or to separate it more clearly from the background. You can also call this a top lighting.
Low angle - it's a lightning that comes from a point below the figures, it's also known as under lightning. This creates an effect of making the character look evil or as if he/she is planning something evil.
Back lighting - it's a lightning that comes behind the actor/actress and creates an effect of making the character look mysterious.
Types of lightning - examples
Low key lightning - it's a lightning that creates a dark with small areas of light - it creates an effect of shadows, it is created by using the back lights . This is also known as chiaroscuro
.
High key lightning - this is created by using filler lights, this creates an effect of making the actor/actress looking more natural and realistic to the viewers eyes.
Natural - this is when the scene has no changes to lighting whatsoever so it's all real without any lighting - this is what I mean by natural.
Colour in scenes - examples
There are many colour used in film, here's some example:
Grey Filter - Grey filter is all black and white, this colour is usually used in thriller, horror, action and crime/detective films.
Red Filter - this colour covers the sky or the whole scene in red - this can be used in action, thriller and any films that has gore/blood.
Here's an example of lightning and colour.
This is a trailer of a film called Paranormal Activity 2. In this trailer I can see that most of the scene (from that trailer) setting has been taken inside a dark house and outside (also dark cause of nigh-time), this effect was created by using dark lightning.
It gives fear and tension to the audience because the audience knows that something 'bad' and 'horrid' is going to happen - due to its setting.
During the trailer, there was a women wearing full plain black clothe (shirt and trouser) standing next the the door (next to the baby's crib) for about 1 second, the black clothe symbolizes darkness and death - the death actually happens near the end of the movie.
What is film censorship?
When a film is revised because of the content it shows. A film may either be banned or asked to be cut several times before the BBFC are happy with it.
The reason why the ban, censor or cut it is because the BBFC wants the film to be watchable to viewers - depending on the rating.
What do you mean by banned and cut?
Banned - when a film is taken away from cinema viewing completely due to indecent, harmful or offensive material.
Cut scene - when a film is edited or has had scenes taken out of it to make it appropriate for viewing.
What is their role?
Their role is to protect the public from anything that's offensive or could cause any harm to the viewers.
What does BFFC stand for and what are they?
BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. They are a highly expert and experienced regulator, one of their role is to serve a social function in society by giving advices to protect the viewers and provide public information. They must make an appropriate decisions to protect vulnerable viewers from films. While keeping inappropriate scenes from viewers (those who are under 18) they also, at the same time, respect adult freedom of choice.
What decisions do you they need to make?
Age certificate for a film. They will either need:
- Ban it
- Cut it
- or censor it
After watching the film, the BBFC will either decide on those three depending on their view of it for example:
If the movie contained violence and sex and nudity, the BBFC will most likely to decided to rate it an 18 - meaning that only adults can watch it.
If the film contained only bad language (depending on how many 'swear words' it has ) then it's most likely that the BBFC will decide it to rate it 12 because it doesn't have anything that the 18 rating films has such as violence, sex and nudity etc. List of things that can/get censored
- Violence
- Graphic representation and realism
- Corrupt the young
- Sex and nudity
- Controversy and the press
- Sex and nudity
- Sexual violence
- Religion
- Class
- Language
- Sock
- Drug abuse
- Culture
- Race
- True events
The seven age rating is: U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18 and R18. The rating of 12A is different to rating 12, 12A must be with an adult or have permission to watch from an adult and the difference between 18 and R18 is that the rating 18 is only suitable to adults and R18 is strictly only for adults.
Here's an example:
This film is called Seven and it's about two detectives along with a rookie and a veteran - their job is to find and hunt a serial killer, who somehow, is able to use the seven deadly sins. The rating for this film is 18 - meaning that it's suitable for adults, this is rated 18 because it contains Sex and Nudity, Violence and gore, alcohol/drugs/smoking, profanity and frightening/intense scenes - all this cannot be in any other films that's under 18.
Thriller is a genre that gives heart-beating, tension and eagerness to the audience. Thriller was made to keep the audience to the edge of their seat and also make the audience alert.
After researching and watching countless of thriller films, it comes to a fact that no matter sub-genre the thriller film is, the protagonist will always face problems and/or danger.
What is genre?
The definition of genre is a category of art, music, or literature. So for films, it's a category that a film would fall to (along with sub-genre) depending on what element its constructed to for example: Action, Crime, Psychological, Science-fiction etc.
Themes for thriller
For thrillers, the most common is 'Good vs Evil' theme, so it will type of theme will be about a protagonist (hero) fighting against a antagonist (evil) and saving those who are in danger.
Other common themes are:
Crime thrillers - revenge, kidnapping, justice etc,
Mystery thrillers - investigations, 'whodunit' techniques etc.
Psychological thrillers - mind games, stalking, obsessions etc.
There are many themes for thriller.
There are many thriller sub-genre such as:
- Action
- Crime
- Disaster
- Romance
- Religion
- Supernatural
- Psychological
- Crime
- Mystery
Here's an example of a thriller film:
This film is about two detectives along with a rookie and a veteran - their job is to find and hunt a serial killer, who somehow, is able to use the seven deadly sins.
The genre of this film is:
- Thriller
- Mystery
- Crime fiction
- Psychological
Narrative
Narrative is when it tells/shows the storyline, it's the way the elements in the story are made (according to the story) to make a meaningful story.
It's important to the audience because without narrative - we wouldn't know what the story is about/what it's telling us.
Creating meaning in text: what four elements allows the audience to find meaning?
The four elements that can help an audience construct meaning in a text is:
Connotation and Denotation - Connotation is the meaning of a text (a symbolic) and Denotation is the how the connotation is described. An example for this is: The connotation is a white shirt and the denotation for it is the white shirt symbolise as purity and peace.
Genre - such as lighting, colour, sound, characteristics, narrative etc.
Characters - such as facial expression, body language, relationship, age, gender etc.
Structure
So the four elements are connotation and denotation, genre, characters and structure.
Propp
Vladimir Propp is the one who has created and developed a character theory. The theory of Propp mostly focused/interested in narrative folk tales.
Propp believed that all folk tales were about the same struggles so therefore they had the same characters. He also believed that characters have a narrative function; they support a structure for the text. Propp's classic characters:
- Hero/Protagonist
- Villain/Antagonist
- The Princess
- Villagers
- The Doner
- Father
- The Helper
- The Dispatcher
- The False Hero
The stages for it is:
(1)Complication - (2)Transference - (3)Struggle - (4)Return - (5) Recognition
Torodov
Tzvetan Torodov is the one who has created this theory. He believed the story should start first with equilibrium then disequilibrium and ending with new equilibrium.
Torodov narrates the story - narrating the stages throughout the story:
(1) A stage of equilibrium
(2) A disruption
(3) A recognition that the disorder has occurred
(4)An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
(5)A return of restoration of a new equilibrium.
So the stages is:
(1) Equilibrium - (2)Disequilibrium - (3)New Equilibrium
Aristotle
This theory believed that it is important to arouse emotion from the audience.
This mostly within tragedy (fear and emotion), evoking emotion through themes.
The Aristotle's narrative structure is:
(1) Falling action - The turning point of the story, where the main character makes the decision that defines the outcome of the story.
(2) Denouement - The resolution: all mystery is solved.
(3) Rising action - Protagonist understands his or her goal and begins to work toward it.
(4) Exposition - The audience gets to know the main character
(5) Climax - Greatest overall tension; the phase in which everything goes mostly wrong.
Barthes
Barthes theory believed that objects has its meaning.
Barthes is about semiology - connotation and denotation. The narrative for this can be defined by using the following things:
- Symbolic - (Connotation)
- Semic - (Denotation)
- Cultural understanding - events which can be recognised.
After researching I know now all these three narrative:
Aristotle - that focuses on themes
Barthes - that focuses on semiology
Torodov - that focuses on narrative
Here's an example of Propp.
For this video I will be focusing on the narrative of Propp. After watching this four minute and fourteen second opening of Shrek, I've found all the Propp's (list of characters) I've seen from this opening. The characters (that was first introduced) I've saw was:
- Princess
- Dragon
- Knights
- Shrek
- Villagers
Here's an example of Aristotle and Barthes
In this video I will be focusing on the narrative of Aristotle and Barthes on this trailer of Romeo and Juliet (1996).
Aristotle: There is many emotions in this trailer, there's:
- Sadness
- Love
- Anger
- Revenge and Betrayal
Barthes: One of the scenes from that trailer shown Juliet wearing a white dress - this symbolize good and purity..
