I'm Rose Harvey and this is my blog; I am a Year 12 student at The Leigh Technology Academy. I created this blog to upload all videos and work for my Media Studies A-level subject :-) Follow my twitter - @roharvey
All of the following pictures i took up London, i chose to go to London to take my thriller location pictures as i believed it would represent the 'Adult World' and due to the fact most thrillers are filmed in cities i thought it would be the most appropriate place to go.
Firstly i took a picture of this tall mysterious building, as it was grande and detailed i thought it would make a great building for a opening scene or even just as a background feature. The building captures the eye and is very interesting, just what a thriller should do.
The black steel iron gates drew my attention as i walked past them, i felt like i needed to know what was going on inside, perfect for the mysterious thriller theme. The wide door frame draws the eye, and the grande entrance makes an excellent doorway to be used in a thriller film.
As i went by this building it captured my eyes, it was a difficult one as i wasn't sure weather to take a snap or not, after thinking about all the different things that could taker place in the mysterious, locked up building i decided that it would be great to film in. A scene were a victim was being chased would look great in a big abandoned building like this, no light, no sound, pure msytery.
This shot is just of the street, many thrillers are set in the city therefore i just took a plain picture of the city of London. the busy street filled with mindless people would be perfect for a thriller.
I took a picture of this huge interesting bridge as i believe many different things could occur during a film on this particular location. The detailed, interesting landscape would be extremely suitable for a thriller film, i chose to take the picture in black and white to make it more of a gloomy, mysterious look.
This was one of my favourite location pictures as i believed it was very mysterious and interesting, i chose to take the picture in black and white as i thought it gave the picture extra effect. The building looks unique and mysterious a perfect setting for a thriller.
Suspense:
- Build up of tension
- On the edge of your seat
- Excitement Mystery:
- Who?
- What?
- How?
- Why?
How do you create mystery and suspense with a camera?
To get our minds thinking we watched the opening scene to 'The Usual Suspects' and watched out for how the camera work created mystery and suspense.
I came up with the following:
- You do not see the mans face you only see lower body - Low angle shot
- Do not see gun being fired - only hear it
- Lots of close ups - sections the scene and directs your attention. Camera Framing:
- Close up (face and neck, top of shoulders)
- Extreme close up
- Medium close up
- Medium shot (normal, everyday life view)
- Long shot
- Extreme long shot
Camera Angles
- Low angle; makes the subject look powerful.
- High angle; makes the subject look vulnerable.
- Canted angle; on edge feeling, dynamic.
Shutter island is an intriguing thriller, it includes a great deal of mystery and suspense. The opening scene itself creates tension and mystery as the two marshals, Teddy and Chuck, arrive on the island. A big mysterious boat emerges through the fog and heads towards the dark island in the distance, the two marshals are automatically shown as the main characters; Teddy more than Chuck.
From the first scene on the boat Teddy is made out to be ill in some way, he holds his head frequently and when arriving in the the office he asks for aspirin. The story then starts to unfold as the two marshals arrive at the mental institution, and are told why they are there. A patient named Rachel had mysteriously disappeared from her room, with the door still looked from the outside and metal bars on the window all heads are spinning as to how Rachel did it. The 'dangerous' women needed to be found as she was in the institution for drowning her own children and setting them up around a table like like where still breathing, the marshals get straight to work and start to investigate the institute, staff members and other patients.
While looking around in Rachel's room Teddy finds a hidden bit of paper with 'who is 67' on it this makes Teddy think very deeply as he suspects this is a very important clue. While the two marshals are investigating there are a few different events which make the viewers wonder, firstly the marshals are denied any access to any records, the nurse of the missing patient is no longer at the institute and has gone on holiday and Teddy also receives a not from a patient while interviewing them. The clear, engraved message 'run' makes mystery fly around, Is the patient just purely mental? How does Teddy react to this message? What is the patient trying to tell Teddy? And most importantly why is Teddy being told to run?
As anybody would Teddy starts to get suspicious, he confronts his partner and the head of the facility but both tell him he is being silly. To add to Teddy's hectic job, his illness increases, he receives dreadful migraines and starts to have what visions, which are portrayed at flashbacks. At this point in the film it is not clear why Teddy is having the flashbacks as not much information is given away, all that is made clear is that Teddy lost his wife in a house fire. One of the main flashbacks teddy has is a long scene of him and his with, it confuses the audience and doesn't make much sense until the end of the film.
Teddy starts to suspect that experiments are being carried out at the institute on the patients, therefore when the storm breaks out on the island and prevents anybody leaving or entering the island, Teddy uses it to his advantage and starts to dig a little deeper. The storm also disrupts the electric board allowing Teddy and Chuck to enter the forbidden 'block c'. The ward was off limits as it held the most damaged and dangerous patients.
Teddy looks around the ward, and tries as hard as he can to get clues as to what is going on in the institution. Shortly after looking in block c Teddy comes across a light in a cave, leading him to investigate a dangerous cliff edge. Teddy arrives in a gloomy fire light cave home to a dirty old woman who claims to be the missing patient, Rachel. The mystery in the story starts to get deeper as Rachel tells Teddy she is no patient but a doctor at the facility, she also clears up Teddy's thoughts about the experiments as she claims that this is the reason she is now stuck in a cave. Rachel explain to Teddy that he is being drugged, and he should stop taking other peoples cigarettes and medication or he will end up stuck on the island as a patient.
Teddy returns to land confused and unsure what to think, but with the migraines and flashbacks occurring more and more frequently he decides to take Rachel's advice and stop taking objects that could contaminate him. For Teddy things only get worse from here, nobody believes a word he says and he starts to be unsure himself, Teddy tries to make a break for it but as people start telling him he came alone and he has no partner Teddy looses his mind. Teddy runs up to the old lighthouse as this is where he suspects they are carrying out the experiments and he believe he will find his partner there, however he has no idea as to what is round the corner.
The lighthouse scene is where the truth comes out, it is very confusing even after watching it. The story line is extremely well thought out and once you know the truth you start to reply the whole film over in your head. As Teddy goes in to the top room in the lighthouse, the main doctor is sitting at a desk, waiting for him. The doctor is calm and patronising where as Teddy is shaking, confused and unsure of what to believe. The doctor tells Teddy that his real name is Andrew, he is the 67th patient at the institution and he has been on the island for two years. The doctor then goes on to explain that the 'marshal' fantasy was all his own idea, the doctor explain that Andrew, or Teddy as we have known him the whole film. committed a crime so terrible he hasn't been able to forgive himself and therefore created a knew version of himself. Teddy then questions as to where his partner has gone, as he doesn't know what to believe anymore. When the doctor can reveal Chuck unharmed Teddy starts to worry, then as Chuck backs up the doctors story Teddy doesn't know what to do, is he really mental? Is he patient number 67?
Teddy loses it and picks up a gun, with his mind all over the place he doesn't quite know what todo. The worry and hurt in Teddy's eyes is emotional, you can feel how upset and confused he is, Teddy then takes a shot at the doctor however when he looks back two seconds later, he is still alive and well with nothing wrong with him, this makes us take the side of the doctor. Teddy then realises that he didn't actually shoot the doctor and takes a look at his gun, he snaps it in half and then it is revealed that it is in fact a toy. The doctor then approaches Teddy with pictures of his children, this shocks Teddy and he puts his head down gives a sad, depressive look, he takes the pictures almost admitting the fact he is mental, he then has a hallucination his wife and daughter.
The last scene then goes back to Teddy sitting outside the main building with Chuck, like they are marshals again. However Chuck nods to the doctor insinuating that Teddy, Andrew, is in fact one of the patients at the mental institution. The last words you hear Teddy say are 'What would be worse, living a monster or to die a good man' these are very interesting powerful words that are left in our thoughts.
To conclude the film as a whole, i would say the shutter island cast and crew did a fantastic job of creating a on edge, mysterious film with clues to follow and a story to un fold. Shutter Island is a very unique film and i love the story line and the emotion behind each of the characters. If you haven't watch it yet i would strongly recommend it! I would Rate this film 5 Gold stars out of 5, thats how much i enjoyed it. Heres the trailer for a sneak preview.
To get more of an idea of what a thriller is and what it consists of, as a class we looked into them. Thrillers have many different aspects to them which added all together make the thriller what it is, i decided to be technical and made a collage on the computer. research different things that made contribute to the thriller atmosphere as a whole. Including things like props, set design, location, lighting, colours, character and the typical thriller scene i created the following collage.
By completing this task i have learned what a title sequence is and why we have them. Every film has to have a title sequence for legal reasons and to stop copyright.The timeline i have created was to help me acknowledge the slates, the timeline allowed me to identify how many are generally included on a title sequence. Looking at the time when each title come on screen also helped me realise the timings.
This is a timeline of all of the slates about, the timeline includes the timings and what the music does during this time.
For this task i had to look at a title sequence and take screenshots of the scenes i thought were interesting or relevant. Throughout the whole of the title sequence the colour scheme was dark, dull and plain however whenever there was a peek of colour it was always red. The main theme around the title sequence was death.
In
this screenshot the font is very sharp and to the point, the dark
colours including greys and blacks represent a gloomy atmosphere. I
found the piece of hair hanging on a nail very interesting i thought it
represented death or a injured person in some way. The screenshot isn't
very busy, it only has a line of font and the main focus, the hair, i
personally think this is very effective. The background adds to the
atmosphere as the wall is ripped, broken and damaged, to me this
represents danger or a warning.
This screenshot is one of my favorites, the colours are very plain
and dull like in the other 8 screenshots however the tips of the flowers
are red. The red represents danger, as the flowers are all dead the red
'danger' theme ties in and brings the theme to life. The font isn't to
heavy and gently sits in he frame, the lighting brings out the flowers
and draws the eyes to them.
The gloomy colours and mysterious fog makes the atmosphere tense, the main focus is on the title, Durham County, the fine sharp letters have been made focus of the screenshot by having bold, dark lettering. The font is also eye-catching as it holds the only colour in the scene. The red triangle (representing the A) in the title is red, again i think this represents danger, many danger symbols are red and usually triangle shape.
The dark dull colours represent a negative atmosphere, the font is sharp and simple yet effective. This screenshot gives off a depressive and soul sucking mood. The fog/emissions coming from the building gives off a bad impression insinuating that something negative or tragic has happened.
This screenshot it very eye-catching, it follows the same colour scheme as all the other frames (black, white and greys) the doll has a red jumper on, which in front of the plain background looks bold and extremely eye-catching. The character looks scared, her facial expression is more plain than anything else, it is like she doesn't know what to do. The girl looks lost, maybe even a little lonely.
The dark colours make the frame seen mysterious, scary and freaky. The darkness makes you wounder what is going to happen and weather someone is hiding. The font is consistent throughout the whole title sequence, therefore the font on this frame is also very sharp and eye-catching.
The silhouette of the man is interesting, it draws the eyes to the frame, as the back ground is light coloured it makes the man stand out. The outline is very sharp and precise which makes the frame look interesting but scary looking.
The lighting in this particular frame is very interesting, the light is directly behind the font which is again sharp and to the point. The colours are more dark in this particular frame, which allows the light to look like it is shinning through the font. The man dancing with the doll gives off various different vibes, i think that the main is mental or delusional in some way and that is why he is dancing around with a doll.
This last frame is also very dark, the darkness makes the atmosphere very gloomy, the darkness also makes the character at the front stand out even more. The man at the front is lighter than the background making him stand out, his body language makes you think that he is in trouble, scared or petrified.
