Childhood memory - storyboard test

Understanding sub-genres

1) Crime Thriller

2) Psychological

3) Espionage/Spy/Political thriller

4) Supernatural

5) Action

6) Film Noir

CRIME THRILLER

Based on a crime being solved or prepared and seen from either the detectives or criminals point of view and can sometimes be both.

Codes and conventions:

• Cat-and-mouse
• Chasing
• Mysterious
• Rivalry

Setting:

• Banks
• Crowded cities
• Dark nightclubs/ streets/ alleys

Technical codes:

• Camerawork- close ups to show the frustration from the antagonist or protagonist, long shot/ establishing shot, blocking shots
• Fast paced music to build suspense

PSYCHOLOGICAL

Psychological thriller films contain both genres of horror and thriller. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre as well. The main characters are usually emotionally unstable (or have mental problems), making them not able to differentiate between good/bad and what is real/not real.

Codes and conventions:

• Perception
• Identity
• Reality
• Plot twists
• Scenes of violence

Setting:

• Old, abandoned houses (victorian buildings)
• Hospitals (mental hospitals)
• Dark isolated buildings/ places

Technical codes:

• Mirrors
• Shadows and low lighting
• Flashbacks
• Tension building music
• Quick cuts
• Mixture of slow and fast editing to show the up and downs of someone with a mental illness
• Claustrophobic spaces

ESPIONAGE/SPY/POLITICAL

This sub genre focuses on the protagonist involved in conflict with a large secretive organization (that has bad intentions).

Codes and conventions:

• Secrecy and conspiracy
• Good VS Evil
• Includes working institutions (e.g: police, government, army)
• Fighting/chase scenes
• Possibly plot twist

Setting:

• Urban areas
• Huge modern locations

Technical:

• Dark/dim lighting
• Tension music
• Quick cuts

SUPERNATURAL

Supernatural thriller is a sub genre which consists of the main character having supernatural abilities. The plot usually involves the protagonist fighting a malevolent paranormal force brought by the antagonist.

Codes and conventions:

• Good VS Evil
• Tension and suspense
• Villain/protagonist possess superpowers/psychic ability
• Plot Twists
• Unworldly elements or creatures
• Religious elements

Setting:

• Forest
• Abandoned areas

• Small houses (isolated)

Technical:

• Dark/dim lighting
• Tension music
• Quick cuts
• Diegetic sound of breathing
• Montage of shots

ACTION

The main protagonist is the hero and controls the action, while the villain is often a millionaire or ex-military who sometimes hides his/her identity. The villain may also have an evil companion.

Codes and conventions:

• Black(villian) VS White(hero)
• Guns = danger
• Helicopter chase

Setting:

• small American town(everything appears okay and tranquil providing an equilibrium.)
• city centres (sense of speed can be shown easily this provides a sense of urgency during a disruption)

             

Technical:

• Dark and mysterious lighting is used to show danger, bright lights is used to show happiness.
• Emphasis of power is created by the camera angles
• Tracking shots during chase scenes
• Diegetic sounds are amplified

FILM NOIR (dark film)

The film noir genre generally refers to mystery and crime drama films produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s.The genre was prevalent mostly in American crime dramas of the post-World War II era.

Codes and conventions:

• Omniscient narrator
• Flashbacks
• Black and white
• Plot twists
• Emphasised narrative gaps

Noir hero:

• hard boiled detective, alienated from society, morally ambiguous
• Tragic flaws -  uncontrollable lust for duplicitous women.

Setting

• Small town, suburbia
• streets in the early morning
• Street lamps with shimmering halos
• Flashing neon signs on seedy taverns
• Diners
• Apartment buildings
• Streams of cigarette smoke wafting in and out of shadows

Technical

• High contrast lighting
• Low & high angles
• Narration
• Flashbacks
• Denouement in the opening scenes
• Audience is cognizant of impending doom
• Sudden noises

Zodiac Narrative range

Director: David Fincher (who specialises in Thriller films)

NARRATIVE RANGE

Unrestricted - Audience knows more than the characters

Restricted - Audience learns with the characters

UNRESTRICTED - It is based on a real-life event (non-fiction). We know the ending.

-Bigger Picture!!-

RESTRICTED - Suspects, case details

-Details!-

EXAMPLES

BP= High shot: large city: unrestricted

Distance: shooting scene

Distance: Following taxi

D = Tracking shot from car : Character view

Closeup : Evidence

Might act on claustrophobia - makes you feel unsafe

Overwhelming - No closure provided in the end

Restricted - See from characters' perspective

CHARACTERS

Graysmith:

• Detached/Outsider
• Motivated
• Curious
• Brave

He peers in from the outside
detached from coworkers

And again

Graysmith is wearing different clothing and colours.
He also has no seat.

And again

Toschi:

• Hardworking
• Important
• Stylish
• Lawful

He is in the centre of the shot

Even talking to Graysmith,
he is centred.

Important man

CONFRONTATION

In the confrontation between the two in near the end, Toschi is shown to be organised, calm and also exerts his lawful persona.

Graysmith, on the other hand, is messy and expressive. His notes are scattered and his side of the room has a more cluttered and busy atmosphere.

Research into similar texts - film opening

References

American Horror Story: Murder House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3VVJb562Y
- Haunted house looking theme
- Dark
- Negatives
- Pictures of children
- Jars with body parts

True Blood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjooosDIFgQ
- Abstract ideas instead of showing just vampire (e.g. fangs on a snake, christians protesting, predator vs prey, decay etc.)

Dexter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4
- Close ups that are uncomfortable
- Suggestive clips (e.g. cutting the food, shaving, bleeding, putting on tight clothes etc. suggests the way he murders his victims)
- Shape theory

Little curiosities film opening

Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIviyUXLOoI (2:02)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcFW83jeYho (carnival version)
Credits to Robert Austin

Sequence ideas
About the main character and what they do (sewing animals together)
Creepy everyday things
- eyeliner really close to the eyes
- applying lipstick and then sucking on a pacifier
- cutting skin around nails
- tugging of skin when tying hair/ putting on clothes
- putting in contact lenses

Actual creepy things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYaTa_lOf4
- pickled jars of animal parts
- sewing animals
- surgical equipment
- uncanny plushies
-

Mise-en-scene
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/23/superstar-doctor-fired-from-swedish-institute-over-research-lies-allegations-windpipe-surgery
- medical certificate
- news about revolutionary surgeries
- candles + shrine
- baby bottle + pacifier
- surgical mask

LOGO ideas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGvA9HaZc4c

Moodboard for little curiosities film opening

Casting for film opening

What we need

- Do not need to see the face (close-ups and only body shots)

- Somewhat skinny

- Female

- Long, bony fingers

Why

- Not seeing the face creates suspense and an eerie feel to the video

- Skinnier people are bonier and it looks creepy

- Female because there are shots of putting on lipstick and eyeliner

- Long, bony fingers are creepy and sort of skeleton like which links to death

Who will play the part

May - this is because she can only apply SFX to herself and SFX is needed