Thriller- Defenition

Brief: The opening two minutes of a fictional film including titles

Definition: Thriller films are movies that primarily use action and suspense to engage the audience.

The thriller is a genre of fiction in which tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. The hero of a typical thriller faces danger alone or in the company of a small band of companions. The protagonist may be a law of enforcement agent, a journalist, or a soldier, but typically he or she is cut off from the resources of "their" organisation. More often the hero is an ordinary citizen drawn into danger and intrigue by circumstances beyond their control. While thrillers constitute a distinct genre, they often incorporate elements of other genres such as adventure, detective fiction, and espionage. A thriller includes  suspense as an indispensable ingredient.

Silence of the Lambs Introduction Essay 

silence of the lambs full video

The film "The Silence of the Lambs" is a psychological thriller directed by Jonathan Demme, in this essay I will be discussing the introduction of the film and annotating it to provide an in depth review on the camerawork, lighting and dialog throughout the introduction to the film.

     The film "The Silence of the Lambs" begins with the companies that produced the film such as Metro Goldwyn Mayer on a typical black background, it is then followed by a fade into the Orion presentation. There is a sound bridge which begins during the Orion presentation which continues through another fade into the first scene. There is a fade onto a mid shot of a tree and a view of the sky, both of which are fairly colorless. The credits then begin in a large black font with white boarders in the center of the screen, this is probably to enhance the effect it has on the viewers and draw their attention to the credits. Moreover the previously mentioned bleak view helps the credits have this effect. After a few credits the camera pans downwards and zooms slightly to give a long shot of a "runway". This is where the main character Clarice Starling (by Jodie Foster) is first seen. Clarice Starling proceeds to run up the hill towards the camera, eventually Clarice ends up very close to the camera so she can be properly seen. During her climb you begin to hear her breathing. These effects are all used to help the viewer make a connection with the character, Clarice is being introduced slowly to the viewer from a distance so the audience can familiarize themselves with Clarice's posture and body shape at the same time as letting them familiarize themselves with her face and her facial expressions. The breathing is also added to make her feel more natural, through this natural breathing which people are used to it gives a form of comfort and helps create the bond between the audience and Clarice. There is use of non diagetic sound throughout this scene to help create an air of mystery as the sounds of the birds are heard but not seen on set.

There is then a cut behind Clarice which is filmed with a hand held camera, the camerawork is done well and due to it being hand held it gives an effect of her being followed or something lingering behind her and makes the audience feel uneasy. In this shot you can see her surroundings which is a forest filled with smoke, this also makes the audience feel uneasy, this is because people like knowing their surroundings and when you do not know where you are you can develop an uncertainty of your safety. The camera then lets Clarice run off into the smoke letting her almost disappear completely, again this use of watching Clarice through a long shot and seeing her disappearance again makes the audience feel uneasy. The next cut if to a close up of Clarice running forwards into the camera, this is also done with a hand held camera and it leaves the background blurred which primarily helps us focus on Clarice's face and helps the audience further familiarize themselves with her however it also provides that uncertainty which is key to the thriller, the uncertainty is due to the background still being concealed from the audience. There is a cut to a close up of Clarice running through the forest at pace still with the hand held camera, this is done from the side to make the audience grasp the speed of which she is moving as the trees go by in small blurs, this is followed up by another close up of Clarice's feet making quick contacts with the ground to also emphasize the speed she is running. There is then a third cut of a closeup on Clarice's face from the side which shows the forest in the background, the close up of Clarice running side on and of Clarice's face help show the other dimensions of Clarice's body while letting the audience know they are still in this ominous forest. Moreover there is some heavy breathing during this particular close up which combined with being close to the character make the audience feel psychologically closer to the character and more connected. After this quick succession of close ups there is a mid shot of Clarice running from behind, there is little smoke and no blur on the forest which signals to the audience that we are coming to a safer or more secure feeling part of the film. There is also a lot of sunlight which becomes visible through the trees when the fog is gone which makes the audience appreciate the surroundings and feel more comfortable.  The next shot is interesting because it must have been shot using a dolly and rails because it glides around tracking Clarice as she climbs over an obstacle, there is also a tilt in the camera at the same time which also gives me reason to believe this was how it was filmed as there would be too much to handle if it was a hand held shot. The tracking of Clarice as she goes over the netting is well shot as you see all angles of it and as she finishes the obstacle she runs close to the camera giving a close up, the camera keeps on tracking Clarice till she has run off some distance. There is the first bit of dialog when someone runs on set to talk to Clarice, the dialog is non diagetic at first as he runs on however the conversation continues on set while the camera zooms in on the two having a conversation. Clarice is positioned lower than the other person who is giving an order putting him in a position of power while she recuperates. As she runs off to her meeting the camera focuses in on the other person to make a close up revealing his face. From here there is another cut to a mid shot of a tree, the camera then shifts downwards and to the left revealing Clarice who is then tracked by the camera as she runs towards a building, on the building you can see the shadows of the forest and the shadows cast by the building on the field. There is a long shot of her running into the building which allows the audience to watch from a distance, usually when you are at a distance from someone there is a problem with communication and this can cause anxiety in the audience. The camera then gives a wide long and wide shot of the location which helps the audience settle in to the next scene, because they know where "they are" they can relax more and concentrate more on dialog. There is a sudden cut after a pan to the right with a zoom to a mid shot of her passing down the stairs, this promotes excitement the audience as there are loud noises and there is action happening all around her, there is a quick exchange of dialog from a friend who as she walks past becomes blurred, this shows how that character is not too important to the film. It also makes the audience concentrate on Clarice.

---------------finish

image tree close up
credits begin in black with a white border - central
pan to the bottom left some zoom
long shot of clarice
focus slowly as she comes up
start hearing breathing when properly visible
close up shot
birds (non diagetic)
cut to behind shot of running hand held camera
lingering behind
she runs into fog
cut to front on in fog no background
cut to side shot of sprinting very hand held
close up on feet
close up on face side on blur background - breathing
cut to behind shot background visible
sunlight
sideways around net
follow her past
watch her go
dialog begins (non diagetic)
camera follows other person
focus on conversation person higher than clarice
close up on person's face
cut to tree, pan downwards see clarice
sunlight
follow clarice sideways
long shot into shadow of building
cut to shot of building (location)
pan right with zoom
cut to closeup on feet (stairs) up to face
dialog, background noise, friend blurred after

Film Annotation 

DUEL- by Steven Spielberg

Minutes 0-4

 The film DUEL starts in the dark while the sound layers over the top. Gradually you can see more as the car pulls out of the garage. The use of the darkness helps highlight the sound of the car starting, this sound needs to be familiarised because it links to the sounds later in the film. The first thing you notice is that the camera has been attached in first person to the car.  Later the car drives through the city and you find it very bleak because of the lack of contrast in lighting. The radio is on throughout the drive in the city which could suggest that the lack of vibrancy in colour was to make the viewer focus in more on the sound and dialog.

The first contrast of colours is when the car goes through a tunnel. The tunnel is dark and there are white lights along the top. This is when the opening credits begin in yellow; this may have been done so people would notice the credits.  Furthermore during the opening credits the title is announced as “Duel” it is placed between the two lines representing a divide of some form. There are brief pauses in the opening credits.

There are a lot of small scene transitions which use fade which helps the changes in location happen smoother and also portray the distance that the person is driving. At a point the driver finds himself in traffic and due to the low first person view from the car there is a sense of being overwhelmed by the other cars which are much larger and it may foreshadow how this car is not as large as the others. The first proper scene cut without a fade happens later at about 3:39 where the camera is watching the car from behind a fence; the next scene watches the car from very far away and from an elevated position. Finally there are a lot of overlapping scene transitions so you feel that the car has been driving for a long time.

The Other guys





In the opening scene to the other guys it starts off quickly as it is a sattire of an action thriller. Most of the camerawork is done to look like it has been filmed with a handheld camera, the dialog and diagetic sound from the environment start almost all at the same time. Instantly there is a shot which moves between two cars which helps keep the attention to the video and help smoothly introduce characters without too many scene transitions. The credits are also there in a white font as if to not make itself too prominent and keep focus on the action. As dialog ends the music volume is turned up, soon after there is a slow motion effect used when a bullet is fired. Many more small cut transitions are added with close up's to create a more tense and paced atmosphere. Eventually the car drives into a bus, when the car lands in the bus the music and alot of the background music is muted for some comic dialog, this is done to emphasise the joke. The typical action cut scenes return and the car chase continues, finally there is a last slow motion section followed by bright and loud exaggerative explosions to finish the introduction to the film.

Drive:

The introduction to drive starts with a gliding night time city shot, as this happens the credits start in a bright pink color in the center of the screen. Then there is a fade into a low angled shot putting the main character at a higher position to the camera. There is then a cut to an over shoulder shot which focuses on the main character and shows the background moving while blurred. After a few seconds you cut to a first person shot however you can see the main characters face in the reflection of the mirror. Next there is a cut to a side shot with shadow along the side of his face, also all of the surroundings are shadowed making the main character more focused on. There is a switch to a crane shot which zooms out showing different lighted sections of the roads around the car, from there the shot fades into another side shot. The opening then cuts to the bright inside of an underground car park. There is a shot from behind the main character which shows the another character of importance walking at the same time, from there you have a long shot from inside the lift showing the woman walking away. The next interesting cut is from a low angle watching the main character with the moonlight casting a shadow on the wall, it also watches him walk away revealing the small corridor behind as he shuts the door the scene changes to another city shot which zooms out gradually showing the car driving along a main road. There is then another over shoulder shot without any blur showing the road.

Collateral Opening

Collateral opens with a long shot with blur to focus in on the important characters. There is a closeup with slow motion on one of the main characters but then it quickly cuts to the two characters meeting in a bump. The the bump is followed by the drop of a suit case and both of these are emphasized by being shot in closeup and having the sound loud made louder. There is some quick dialog between the two characters where everything around them is blurred and it is shot from a close distance. Then you have an over shoulder shot of one of the men walking off through a blurred crowd. There is a cut to a closeup on some eyes on an advert on a taxi which again uses blur to focus the viewers attention. There is another cut to a magazine which is followed up by multiple short cuts of closeups from different parts of a taxi, then there is a cut of the magazine again being opened. The scene is set by showing different people doing their own jobs in a blurred effect and having lots of diagetic sound there are more bright colors to suit the big Hollywood label production style. More cut scenes to the magazine reveal a character who looks outward, there is a first person shot from his point of view watching a taxi come into the garage while everything else remains blurred. There is a sudden cut from there to a low angle shot showing a bag and the man getting into a taxi, it then proceeds to show him cleaning and using the car. When he turns on the lights there is a cut to the front of the taxi for each light. The camera gives the view of some people arguing in the background but cuts back to the man in the taxi, when he closes the door there is close up on his face as all music and sound is muted. There are more close ups of small personal objects are placed in the taxi. It shows a picture of an island three; the first time is when he places it, the second is when he stares at it and the third is when he puts it away. There is a mid shot of a character looking over the taxis and then it has another long shot showing his elevated positioning. The taxi is then shown backing out of its parking spot and into the camera where it slows down, there is a small change in focus to see the inside details of the taxi but then it drives off into a long shot.


Taxi Driver:

The introduction to taxi begins with a black background with red credits, it then fades with music into a cloud of smoke. The car comes into shot through the smoke and comes close to the camera, however most of the car is still covered by smoke. The title "TAXI DRIVER" comes up in the smoke after the car has come through. More credits appear in bright orange through the smoke. There is an extreme close up of just the main characters eyes darting around in the different street lights. We see a first person shot of all of the street lights through a wet windshield which makes it look like a painting. Then an effect is added to the view from the front of the car showing the street in odd high contrast colors and giving everything a blur. There is a shot where two images are merged, there is a fire in front of a few pedestrians walking by a road with a contrast of blue and red, this is followed up by a close up of the main characters eyes again. Smoke is used again for the transition between his eyes and him walking into a shop. The colors in the shop are much darker, the camera glides under the main character and ends in a portrait position under him so you can see his full face for the first time.

Children of Men:

The sound starts before the black screen cuts to a full room of people dressed in dull colors.

There is an tv in the background so the viewers can see what the people are watching, at the back of the shot you can see out of the shop. There is some small dialog and then it cuts to the tv which is filmed by a hand held camera. The camera follows the main character through the room of people, as the main character walks out of the shop the camera turns to face the door watching a reflection of him going out, it then goes onto the street and gives a wide shot of the surroundings. The camera seems to be in first person and follows a bike go past to catch onto the main character again, all as one shot. The camera slowly turns around the main character and looks down the road before there is a large explosion. From behind the main character the camera is brought closer towards the action while still being handheld for effect.

Games i like.

Guild Wars 2 


Skyrim

Combat.
Combat has improved exponentially from oblivion and can be a lot of fun. From dual wielding, to magic I enjoy all of it. The problem with combat though is gets really stale really fast. Dual wielding seems to get the most repetitive. "Spell-Swords" type builds seem to be the least repetitive. 

The big issue in combat is that.. there just honestly seems to be so little of it. And it looses its charm playing the game so much. Where are all the enemy's? Enter cave, kill about 10 bandits and leave. I can expect that same formula for just about any cave with the occasional cave having some draugr in it. Its just monotonous and repetitive. It just feels like when combat starts to get exciting, they're no more enemy's left. I feel like they should have added more skeletons, bandits, bears, elementals, etc to the world. 

In closing, combat can be repetitive as long as the game has a strong driving story. Look at oblivion, combat was horrible, and I loved ever single bit of that game. Skyrim really falls short in the story department.

Story
The story this time around is by far my biggest gripe about the game. Skyrims story is a muddy, messy, insufferable piece of crap. The companions guild line quest is an amazing 6 quests long. One of the quests has you run into a cave, kill a bear and its complete. One bear. The dark brother quest was entertaining, but still so short. I miss oblivion's quest log that gave extra information, the extra little info the game for quests, and the stories that drew you in. 

Lets move on to non guild/mainquest related quests.. Fetch X item, for Y reward. Plenty of games do this, but the difference is that you can have fun doing them. The amount of gold you get for completing these fetch quests is miniscule. Your better off doing another large quest and get some story while your at it.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are amazing, and you can tell they worked really hard here. From the reflections of your character in the water, to the night sky, or the way draugr's eyes glow the faintest blue under there helmet everything has been meticulously created. I thought it was amazing I could pick up a book and hold it by a cover, and it opened in game, then I can actually inspect it, then read it. Its things like this that draw you in.

But graphics aren't everything. Its like hanging out with a vegetarian friend and them serving you dinner. Sure you like the salad, tofu, and the fresh cut fruit salad he made but you hunger for that meat.. That meat is the story. You can only sustain yourself so long off of graphics and combat. 

In closing, this is a great game. But its also comparable to a siren. It draws you in and your hooked, everything is amazing. But then you spend so much time in the land of skyrim that you realize something is very wrong. Play it and love it, but dont expect an amazing story. The world honestly doesn't give a crap if you are or aren't in it. 

And there you go. Great game, with some personal negativity. Ive never given a "quick-review" of a game before so flame on.


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