Planning - My Set Tasks

In our group, I've been set the storyboard and the logo for our company. So far the storyboard is coming along well with a two pages of stills done and more to come while the logo is still being decided on before any actual practical work begins on it so in tomorrow's lesson, we will get more of the storyboard done and think up possible names for our company logo and post any updates after the lesson.

Film Opening Scenes - Research 2*

Saw Opening Scene Analysis 


In this clip we see two characters, Adam and Dr Gordon. Straight away, we see the difference in representation between them, evident by the title for Gordon and the tapes left by the main villain, "Jigsaw". Gordon is shown immediately as the more educated one as he is a doctor and suggests to Adam of using his shirt to get the tape recorder. Also he seems more level headed and optimistic then Adam as when they can't reach the tape recorder at first, he nearly gives up but Gordon keeps saying there must be something. For the representation of Adam, he's less trusting and more paranoid by not wanting to give the recorder to Gordon saying he "doesn't want to break it". Also his tape describes him in greater detail, Jigsaw says he spent his time "hiding in the shadows" connoting that he is a more sneaky character and he is also described as pathetic, connoting further his life isn't worth living which is Jigsaw's main philosophy. Another character we get pieces about is the obscure Jigsaw. We only hear his voice through the tapes but it gives us a much more detailed view then we first think. From the first tape, we can tell he despises people who abuse life by the way he talks about Adam and his shadowed, parasitic life as we find out later that takes pictures of other people's private life. We also find he is sick himself from Gordon's tape as a deep cough fills the end of the tape, only representing is view on doctor's as he wants Gordon to break the oath he made when he first became a doctor by killing the man in the room with him, Adam. While the audience know that Jigsaw is the bad guy, they begin to doubt the moral standing of the two men in the abandoned bathroom as we wonder why he choose those two men in particular, wanting to know his twisted reason behind his game. This film opening fits well within the codes and conventions as while its revealed many bits and pieces behind the story, we the audience are no closer to finding the reason behind it all. This follows the main convention of making the audience guess and think up their own conclusion, also not forgetting the mind game element this opening has as that what most of these films include, mind games between the criminal and his pursuer. This element isn't shown till later in the film and adds to the premise by also including the victims in this loop as they want to know why they were picked for this game of sorts.

The whole premise of the film is that the situation the characters are in a game of sorts. Jigsaw develops the phrase" I want to play a game" throughout the series as the people he picked thought that life is nothing but a game to them or don't respect it enough so this "game" is used to test their willingness to survive and learn from the mistake of abusing the life they were given. This is what makes the Jigsaw so much more complex as he is technically not the one who kills his victims, they fail the test and essiently kill themselves as they did not learned there lessons.

While this clip and its content don't really suit our idea of short sequences of the killer's daily routine, it still offers us some ideas like the complexity the killers in this genre have and require. It gives us the idea of what sort of tone the title sequence should be and how the character should be structured e.g. not crazed and foaming at the mouth but more refined, calm and sophisticated like the characters in both Saw and Hannibal who don't think they are the villain necessarily as they just think they are either normal human beings with their own interests or trying to deliver a message to the people who abuse their life which is the case for Jigsaw.

Film Opening Scenes - Research

Hannibal Opening Credits Deconstruction

Hannibal was a psychological thriller/horror directed and produced by Ridley Scott, adapted from the same novel written by Thomas Harris and had a production budget of $87 million with it being distributed by MGM.

In this film opening, it begins with a voice over from two unknown characters discussing the topic of the main character, Dr. Lecter. This immediately follows the psychological horror conventions of not showing the audience the full picture of what's happening within the scene as the viewer can only listen to what they say and ponder the meaning behind it all. By the tone of the characters that are speaking, they are all highly educated by the way they speak philosophically about psychology, saying how its not a science to him and neither did Lecter also hinting at some secret admiration for him. This creates the feeling of discomfort that psychological horrors are known for since Hannibal Lecter is an iconic character who the audience already know is a cannibal and murder, making them want to quickly move away from the subject of this man but the conversation goes on until the actual footage of the conversation comes into view. Now we see who these people are and what atmosphere they are in. The main premise seems to be one character filling in the other about the time he shared with Lecter as the other is obviously fascinated by the individual, heavily connoting this person is equally twisted as Lecter, again relating back to the conventions of the genre.

All this is focusing on the representation of the characters as, judging by the background, the one on the left is extremely wealthy from the presence of canopy beds, elegant furniture and the apparent butler by his side. But its not until we get a close up of the wealthy character, that we see his heavily disfigured face. This sudden cut to his face comes as a shock to the audience since we didn't expect to see it so suddenly. The atmosphere lulled us into a false sense of security from the charming mansion - style house and classical music that played over the beginning, linking to the conventions as these types of horrors may show one view but then drop on its head from some sudden twist. It also links in with the concept of "body horror" which is one branch of the genre. Body horror deals with the themes of degradation of the human body like disease, decay or mutilation which is the one in this case. This character has clearly suffered horrific mutilation but the audience don't know how and possibly might not want to know but subtle hints are dropped throughout the opening scene from their lengthy discussion on Hannibal. All this connotes some hidden meaning or agenda by the characters since why would someone be so entranced by such a insane individual unless, they did something to them, suggesting to the audience that Lecter is the cause behind his disfigurement. So while it may not seem to fit within the psychological horror genre, it does down to the letter but only much more subtly then most other films like Se7en. In terms of representation for the other character who is retelling his experiences of his time with Lecter, he seems to be more complicated in nature for a few reasons. The first being he talks rather highly of Lecter, always calling him "Dr. Lecter" and his comment of psychology not being a science just like Lecter hints at his own admiration for the character but his willingness to reveal all he knows about him and selling the iconic mask he used to own, connotes a more complex nature compared to the other who, while may be a victim is portrayed as a villain. His actions of siding with this individual seem to put him in the same light but could be shown rather as desperation since the character may need money and is just taking a chance, and on the other hand, he is just handing out simple information about Dr. Lecter so he is more like an impartial or neutral character.

Final Project - Intial Research

For our final project, Craig and have thought about doing a psychological thriller/ horror. For our research we have looked into what are the codes and conventions of a psychological thriller/horror, the main distributors and producers of this genre and examples of films of this particular genre.

Codes and conventions

The main element that psychological thrillers include is the way the plot is structured as instead of typical action films where the characters rely on their strength, psychological thrillers instead have for example, the criminals play games with the officers chasing them, aiming to destroy each other’s mind in turn creating the suspense in the film as the audience is constantly on edge of who will win this battle of wits. The reason this genre borders close to horror at times is because this technique shows the audience sometimes disturbing insights into what the antagonist is like who, unlike typical horror, is a normal human being and not some monster. This frightens the audience more as the character is a human doing these depraved things and shows another side of humanity that we are afraid to admit exists. This is mainly used in the serial killer films like Seven as we see these sides to the killers in great detail, creating the psychological horror part to the film.

On occasion, sometimes the film may focus only one characters struggle like the film The Machinist starring Christian Bale. The whole film is about a character who has had a year long period of insomnia and doesn't know why. Also keeps seeing a man called Ivan who doesn’t exist and post-it notes depicting hangman games. While all this seems insignificant, it all builds up tension towards the climax of the reason behind it all. So a main link between most of these thrillers and horrors is instead of going full bore with monsters and gore, they give smaller clues that all add up and keep the audience guessing whilst coming up with their own ideas as this is another part of these films. It’s all about the character's and audience's interpretation of everything in the film as while one my find something useless within working out the plot, someone else might think it’s the final piece of the puzzle. In terms of tone, the majority of films usually go for unsettling dark atmospheres coupled with the main tones of death, humanity and sometimes morals like the Saw films target moral ambiguity as the title character "Jigsaw" thinks he's helping people understand life better while the audience and the other characters think he is just demented with the work he does. Sixth Sense is a good one for the death aspect as the whole film deals with this subject.