The title

We decided to call the title 'Kett's Heights' after the location that we are filming at. This title does not give too much away but at the same time establishes something vital, it is also not a fictitious therefore seems much more realistic to the viewer, especially someone familiar with Norwich as one of our audiences - our classmates - will be.  I have done some further research on the location to consolidate knowledge and make sure it is the right name. The photos below are not mine and have been taken from old scans found on Flickr.

Through reading this it has become apparent that the woodland has not really been maintained or publicised properly since the 1980s, almost 30 years ago. It is almost completely unheard of locally, the only recent publication about it I could find was one in the local newspaper dated about 2 years ago talking about how Kett's is a 'hidden gem.'  It has been neglected and is almost in ruin, given that the large scale of it would mean that it would need a lot of maintenance, so technically, in both our fictitious film and in reality, it is abandoned, unused and overgrown. 

This title sprang into mind after visiting the location, the atmosphere there is something that I cannot describe properly, as it would be better to visit for it to come into realisation. Sadly, we cannot do this through a film, so will try to show it through camera work of the place (such as using several establishing shots), as well as the title.

There is something rather poignant about how Kett's Heights has been forgotten, especially as it is somewhere so rich in both history and beauty-although its prettiness is somewhat faded now, and it is sadly in a state of decay. This poignancy can also easily be manipulated to become mysterious, dangerous (due to its abandonment) and scary, something we are going to try and do in our film primarily through the soundscape we are going to create which will in turn create the kind of atmosphere we are trying to achieve.

In relation to the title, it would also compliment it because we are stressing an importance on the location therefore it would be a good idea to do this in an obvious way too, instead of taking up precious time filming too many establishing shots to show the location, something we did in the preliminary task and something we also want to avoid.

KATIE

How sound adds to mise-en-scene: Sin City

The sound in the opening to 'Sin City' is a mix of non-diegetic and diegetic sound to present both the atmosphere and location of the film.

 The non-diegetic sounds of the traffic places surroundings to this piece, giving the opening's location a more ordinary feeling, and allowing the characters to appear as though they are in a normal situation. This effect of placing extraordinary events into ordinary situations, allows the audience to feel comfortable for a while and, in turn, will later shock them further. By using the sound of the traffic the audience are familiar to the situation, by establishing this, the director can make out of the ordinary events seem possible. 
The traffic sounds also establish the urban location of the film. This is typical for a film noir often they are set in a large, darkened city the modern, urban sense gives the feeling of strong morals, and often makes the audience feel a clear sense of right and wrong. This is important in thrillers, especially film noir, as they are often crime related.

The music used in this clip, has a jazz nature and not only reflects the image of the femme-fatal and protagonist (the protagonist typically a man in a suit, and the femme-fatale the alluring woman),  but also the time period as jazz was typical of the 1940s, the era to which film noir is often related to.

The diegetic sounds used in the clip, are to give meaning to the actions. First the footsteps are noticeable, this is often used to create suspense or allows for the audience or characters to be expecting something, in this case it gives the femme-fatale a moment to decide to stay or leave. The second piece of diegetic sound in the lighter, cigarettes are a common theme in film noir, giving characters an air of power or importance. The emphasis on the lighter allows for the cigarettes to hold significance  and for the characters to do the same.

The diegetic sound of the rain starts, and gives the atmosphere a 'deeper' feeling, allowing for the set to seem more real. The rain may also have been emphasised for pathetic fallacy, reflecting the characters feeling the audience can see on screen.

Children in thriller films.

Many thriller films use children as a motif throughout, such as 'The Woman In Black', 'The Shining', 'The Orphanage', 'The Sixth Sense', 'The Others' and many more. 
Children are used in, especially psychological, thrillers for many reasons. Firstly children are seen as outside of society, in the 'adult' world we have rules and norms that we follow, children do not fall into this category and are so used to portray things, such as seeing poltergeist, to dismiss any disbelief or scepticism from the audience. 
Secondly, children are not supposed to be out of the ordinary or scary, by taking this and manipulating it so they seem this way, it pushes doubt into our natural way of thinking, and allows for directors to take what is a normal comfort and change it into something that makes an audience feel scared or uneasy. This juxtaposition is a common feature used in thriller films as it adds an element of unexpectedness to films and keeps the audience on edge.

The Orphanage (2007) Director - J.A Bayona

'A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.' (IMDB)

In The Orphanage, children are a recurring motif and carry the film's eerie nature throughout. The setting of an orphanage gives an instant unknowing feel to the film, as the children shown have no direct links to anybody around them. This gives the film a new level of unexpectedness as, as the audience, we can't gauge anything about these children and must rely on the way they behave to find out information about them. This again brings in the idea of children being separate from the norms of society, and allows the film makers to really twist the film by abruptly changing the behaviour of children the audience felt were 'safe' and passing it off as their unpredictable nature.


In The Orphanage, and many other psychological thrillers such as 'The Conjuring', the use of children's games is predominant in creating a tension-filled, dark atmosphere. The innocence of the game played by the children, 'One..two..three..knock at the door' where one stands facing away from the other and on 'knock at the door' must turn around whilst the others freeze, allows the director to give control to the children- whereby they can control the adult in the scene. By giving the control to the children it leaves the adult and the audience with a  feeling of the unknown- that anything could be just out of sight or reach. 

This scene reinforces the idea of the unknown as the child is placed behind the turned back of the adult in a dark room, the darkened room added to the theme of the creepy, unwanted children being in control it pushes the fear of the unknown and keeps the audience on edge for the entire scene.
The sound in this scene also hugely contributes to the eerie mise-en-scene. The voices of the children, using an innocent yet sinister tone when speaking gives the scene a cold atmosphere. Children's voices and laughter is often used in thriller films, directors can again manipulate the innocence of the 'untainted' child's mind to portray  sinister events, in juxtaposing the eerie nature of the scene and the innocent, normal behaviour of children the director gives the effect that such 

 

(geeksofdoom.com)

The main 'ghost-child's' face, in The Orphanage, is also covered with a woven bag, and covered with a child's drawing of a face. The covering of the main antagonists face is a common feature in thriller's, and gives the effect of distortion whilst also  removing their identity giving them anonymity and allowing for the audiences imagination to replace it with whatever they find scary or disturbing. 




The use of the children's drawing is another common feature of thrillers, in The Woman In Black, children's drawings are used to foreshadow horrific events yet to come and in The Orphanage these drawings give us a glimpse of the children's eerie mentality. The use of these drawings gives, again, something ordinary and everyday that edge that turns it into something fearful. 

Planning our thriller opening

AS MEDIA : PLANNING TO OUR THRILLER OPENING - PREZI: This includes a synopsis, pitch. intertextual references, location inspiration and screenshots.

The location-- Ketts Heights

This woodland is fairly overgrown and gives a desolate, isolated environment for our thriller opening. The area has been neglected since the second world war, this adds to the deserted,eerie nature of our film.  

The ruins of a thirteenth century castle still remain at the top of the location, providing again, this neglected and overgrown appearance to our thriller opening.

We felt our location should include somewhere fairly urban to create an isolated feeling within somewhere populated, and to create a piece that audiences will find they can feel close to. The heights are surrounded by housing, making it perfect for this. 

Weeds, creepers and ivy surround most of the paths. This is ideal as we want our antagonist to be able to hide easily- this also allows us to film our point of view shots from a slightly distorted view.

Costume planning//character profiles

The planning for the protagonist's outfit/ appearance has proved more difficult to visualize and find inspiration for. This is largely due to the lack of such characters in films. It has also proved problematic because we do not want to reveal the character entirely,in order to build up the tension, so minute details like grubby fingernails are perhaps something to be focused on rather than an overall look. Having said this, there are a few films I have looked at such as "Requiem for a Dream" (below), an intense and disturbing film about drug addiction. The character below looks scruffy and vacant, a look we want to use.

Similarly, in "Christiane F," a film about life on the streets of Berlin, this character is suffering from a drug addiction, and has turned to crime to fuel it.

It will not be explicitly demonstrated to the audience that the protagonist in our film is suffering from a drug addiction, although he will have the stereotypical look shown above, which illustrates his nature as a deeply disturbed individual.

A hat and gloves (preferably fingerless to show dirty hands)will have to be used, as well as a tattered coat and fairly plain, dark clothing. These clothes will be used to infer a number of things to the audience, such as the time of year (echoed in the setting), personality of the character and their lifestyle, as with any costume. I am stressing an importance on this particular character's appearance because it is an obvious way to establish their character and give the audience a clue to their past and their personality in a short amount of time, given that we only have two minutes to get the viewer interested. Having said this, we will have to do this subtly, with (as I have mentioned before) minute details being focused on as we do not want to have any full body shots because it would completely destroy the mysterious and suspenseful façade we want to create through camera shots of costume and character.

KATIE

For our thriller, we wanted the victim (who is female) to be dressed in a certain way that will infer innocence and youth to the audience, which in turn will enable them to make an easy connection to who is the protagonist and antagonist.
Although we want the costume to infer innocence and youth, we also want her appearance to seem as though she is grief stricken and on edge, deeply upset by her friend's horrific death. To do this, I have looked at some characters in films that have been affected by something that has caused them to appear tired and stressed.
The first film and character I have taken inspiration from, and in turn created an intertextual reference, is the 2014 horror thriller film 'the Babadook.' The subject matter of this film is largely irrelevant to my group's planning, however the sequence of events does cause the character I am focusing on, Amelia, to become nervous and exhausted, rather like what we want our character to be like. This can be achieved through the look as well as the acting, and both (I think) are equally important in this case.

(image below taken from thebabadook.com)

Amelia's facial expression in this particular still infers her being unhappy and worried, but when studying this for some time I have also gathered that she has bags under her eyes and her hair is slightly messy. This is something we could easily recreate.

The clothes she wears throughout the film are in subtle muted colours such as creams, greys, light blues and pale pinks. These plain and demure clothes are another aspect we are thinking of taking, as it creates a certain anonymity but at the same time shows the character as sweet and feminine, something we want to do. It adds to the character being a victim, and their fragile femininity and inferred innocence add to the audience perhaps feeling sympathy towards them more. We can manipulate this to add to the horror at the end of the thriller. The appearance of our female victim will help us to involve the audience and make them feel a certain way, the manipulation of this will work to our advantage and will help to affect the audience more.

The character of 'Hannah' from the TV series 'Remember Me' also presented this subtlety in her clothing, showing both youth and innocence through this.  

I have planned a rough costume below, incorporating the muted colour palette and the plain, faded design as well as the main prop (the flowers).

We will have to experiment with make up and powders to get the pale, tired look or to enhance it further, mirroring the intertextual reference above.

Font inspiration for our thriller opening

    Font inspiration for our thriller opening

Zodiac- We felt with our intertextual reference to the Zodiac film in relation to our opening of a thriller, the Zodiac being a notorious murderer and our opening featuring an obsessive killer, that the handwriting of the Zodiac killer would be an appropriate font style to use. Handwriting is a common feature used in thriller title sequences, giving away a lot about a person whilst simultaneously keeping their identity hidden. 

The Zodiac killer also uses a code when sending letter sand writing notes on his victims. We felt that a code would be a good font to use for small parts in our opening sequence, it presents an almost deranged mind and also gives a sense of an unexpected nature. 

Zodiac Cryptogram

'Each section consisted of eight lines of seventeen symbols, which included a variety of items, from Greek symbols to Morse code to navy semaphore, and even a few astrological symbols, notably Taurus' http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/zodiac_profile/2.html


The code not only presents a slightly deranged mind but also an overly clever one too, this almost unimaginable intelligence it presents, allows for audiences to feel as though whoever uses it is unstoppable and that they are always one step ahead of the good. It may be difficult to present these as our antagonist's doing, but, by using colder lighting, rough cuts and loud noises when the code is shown on screen, we can easily establish the person who is using it to be the killer.

 'Se7ven' was another inspiration in terms of font for our thriller. The scratchy nature of the handwriting paired with the jumpy rough edits and cuts gave a sense of an almost psychotic mind and allowed for the film to clearly establish a horror/thriller ambience from the start, due to our limited time we felt this was essential. The almost child-like style of handwriting used with the overwhelming amount of paper, diaries and diagrams in 'Se7en' is also reflected in many thriller films such as 'Sinister', these items portray a sense of over-analysis a common theme when madness or a psychotic mind is portrayed. By simply using a font, such as the scratchy and uneven one used here, cinematographers can almost immediately push the theme of the film to the audience. The uneven and 'jumpy' quality of the font gives the underlying sense that something is wrong, if the title sequence isn't neat or in order, it sets the audience to expect a the film to follow the same path.



We used the website 'dafont' to research potential fonts to use for our thriller opening, after looking at various fonts such as 'horror sketch' and 'mouse handwriting' we felt that although both these fonts reflected the handwriting and the horror feature, the best font to use would be the 'beautiful horror', as it combined the scratchy and uneven look of the 'mouse handwriting' and the thin, scrawny lines used in 'horror sketch', and also best reflected the writing of the Zodiac, an aspect we really wanted to capture in our opening.



Soundscape for our thriller opening

Our opening to the thriller film is set in the inner city, although we are filming within a small secluded forest area. The sound need to reflect both of these aspects and include other features to present our storyline.
The non-diegetic sound in our thriller opening is very important in giving depth to our film and creating a realistic piece of media.

The first piece of non-diegetic sound we decided on was to have a recording of a police or news report explaining a murder nearby. We have explored the different ways of getting hold of this although we couldn't find anything that wasn't copyrighted or revealed too much information, and therefore decided to record our own piece and place it over the clips- this way we can ensure it is as we want it to sound and will be copyright free.


Other sound we could get hold of easily included the sound of birds. In using this light and calming sound before scenes depicting any danger, the audience will be lulled into a false sense of security( a common technique shown in thriller films) and allows the film to shock the audience unexpectedly. We found a bird sound on 'http://soundbible.com' called 'sunny day sound' that fitted this description perfectly.


The next non-diegetic sound we needed was the heavy footsteps from the antagonist walking through the forest, this was slightly more difficult to find as we needed the footsteps to appear as though the person was walking through a woodland area, and for them to not be too slow but also not too fast as it had to match the way we wanted our antagonist to move. We felt the footsteps would add a sense if urgency and give the audience that feeling of being trapped, with no form of escape, that a lot of thriller films often use. The sound we decided on again came from 'http://soundbible.com' and was called 'Hiking a trail'. Although this sound was not perfect due to the overlapping surrounding sounds  giving the clip a sense of a more tropical forest rather than a British woodland, we felt it could be presented as an on going sound to create distortion and confusion in each of the clips.


Another sound we needed to find for the antagonist was one of heavy breathing, the breathing adds an urgent atmosphere and gives the antagonist the identity that we didn't want to present onscreen. 
We know our antagonist is going to be a man, in keeping with classic thriller traditions, and needed to find a sound that reflected this. Again looking on 'http://soundbible.com we found 'breathing weird' and 'breathing vent' both presenting slightly distorted, unconventional breathing that we felt would fit in well with the identity of our antagonist. Although, both of these sound clips had faults. The 'breathing weird' clip felt too dramatic, and made our objective feel very obvious, although the 'breathing vent' was very quiet and, as the name suggests, made the person sound as though they were in a enclosed space, giving the clip a slightly 'sci-fi' feel that we wanted to avoid. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXHURaIl7hA 

City sounds were also an important feature we felt needed to be included. Although the opening is set within a woodland area, we felt the city needed to be recognised within it in order to create a more secluded feeling. By using the juxtaposition of the woodland onscreen and the city sounds presented off screen, we can use the common technique of placing horrific or extraordinary events in ordinary, everyday places. The city sounds also present a familiarity that the audience can relate to and allow the events to seem more probable.

Title sequences in thriller films

Se7en (1995)

"Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi." (IMDB)

The title sequence to 'Se7en' creates an atmosphere of an almost psychotic mind, and allows for the audience to gain an insight into the character of the antagonist.

The books, paper, drawings and writings of the antagonist seem to suggest they are analysing something or someone, this could show they are a detective or police officer although the jumpy and scratchy nature of the handwriting pushes these ideas away and associates them with an antagonist. Scratchy handwriting is often associated with criminals in films as it portrays a fast pace mind that is not quite as everyone else is. The effect of using this writing and the effects of it moving around so quickly, leaves the audience aware that the character is the antagonist, although it gives the character unpredictability, a sense that anything could happen.

The use of close-up shots on the needle and thread or the careful placing of photographs onto paper, shows the antagonists attention to detail, this feature is commonly used in thriller films as it allows for the audience to feel as though the antagonist will always be one step ahead of the protagonist. By giving the characteristic of an attention to detail, the antagonist again shows the slightly psychotic mind, one that notices even small things that other do not, this again allows for the audience to feel the antagonist is unstoppable.

 The use of the two layers of film overlapping at points, such as when the hand is highlighting the text, gives the sense that it is ongoing, and that they have not stopped for a while. This creates the idea that maybe the antagonist is getting somewhere with their work, in doing this the audience feel as though the protagonist is far behind, and that they will not catch up. This overlapping also allows for the film to create confusion and distortion, by placing two or more clips into one frame, it can create the illusion of an overcrowded mind and gives a distorted atmosphere to the piece.

The use of the blade and needle also give the antagonist a bad view, in showing their hands willingly hurting themselves, without the facial expressions, the audience cannot tell whether they are doing it for fun or otherwise. Although, the smooth and steady camera shot ,and movements of the antagonist, suggest they are doing it as a normal routine and that it doesn't bother them. This goes well when presenting a psychotic mind, and clearly presents them as very different from the audience.

The drums and scratching sound effects along with the sound of a typewriter add to the clip's sense of this deranged mind, whilst the audience can see the paper, drawings and analysing's of the antagonist, the sound of the typewriter especially reiterates his psychotic characteristics and reinforces the idea of his 'over analysis', a common trait associated in films with those who may be slightly deranged. 
This feature of a slightly deranged mind will be an important feature in our opening to present the antagonist, we will be using a font similar to this one shown here- resembling handwriting- to hopefully recreate this effect. 





                       Arlington Road(1999)
"A college professor begins to suspect that his neighbour is a terrorist." (IMDB)




The title sequence for 'Arlington Road' creates a distorted and uncomfortable atmosphere and gives the audience an initial impression of what the film may hold.

Beginning with black and white angle shots of garden fences and swiftly moving to a negative shot of a neighbourhood, it establishes the film's setting of a regular house, but also keeps in the eerie nature of the film. The shots also almost look as if they have been filmed on a handheld camera, this is commonly used in thrillers, such as The Blair Witch Project, to engage the audience and make them feel as though they are in the film, the use of the effect also creates a distorted almost sickening view of the location, creating a confusing and dramatic atmosphere to the sequence.

The jumpy nature of the text reflects that in 'Se7en' presenting the idea that something is wrong, many thrillers use this and immediately tells the audience that the film is not going to run smoothly, giving a sense of urgency alongside the already stated confusion.

The use of the red background in the nest few shots contrasts the black and white negative shots previously, the colour red connotes panic and danger, this paired with the ever-changing nature of the shots gives the audience a sense of unexpectedness, and allows for them to feel uncomfortable. The red also is associated with the more obvious, blood. This may be foreshadowing events to come in the film, red is not a usual colour to be seen in houses or on streets and so it creates an eerie atmosphere and makes the audience feel that something is wrong. 

The sound in this sequence starts with voices and high sounding strings, this is another common feature in thrillers as strings can be manipulated to resemble scratching sounds. This is very effective as it puts the audience on edge, and gives the film a feel of uneasiness. These sounds continue although screams are added to the next few clips, alongside the red background again, this gives the idea of possible murder or bloodshed and sets the rest of the film up to explain this. The sound gains intensity after this, with added sound effects of an almost wind-like nature and giving the piece higher volume of sounds, this allows for the sequence to gain a sense of urgency, keeping the audiences on edge. 

The overlapping shots are used again in this sequence, with the various shots of houses overlapping whilst cyclists and people go by. These shots create distortion out of an ordinary location, in doing this the audience now change what they feel is safe, and the director can manipulate these things to make ordinary events seem frightening. This is again a very common feature in thriller films often using children or toys to create something scary.

The final shots of this sequence keep with this idea of putting something uncomfortable in a comfortable situation, the screams are heightened along with the red colour, as a woman walks through the streets, the camera starts to focus on a house and uses low-key lighting and shadows to portray an eerie atmosphere. The camera also moves around as though the audience were looking around, presenting a sense of urgency and terror.

The camera flicks to a shot of some children behind a gate, and a noise of an animal growling is paired with a close-up of the child, this representation of something very ordinary being presented as something fearful again makes the audience uncomfortable and now unsuspecting of what is good or bad.