Final Cut Pro: Technical Audit of Bait Tutorial

On friday's media lesson, the class was taught the basic skills of editing through Final Cut Pro. In the tutorial, I learnt that you cannot open up Final Cut Pro without a video drive as it has all what is needed in this hard drive. So once the video drive is connected to the apple mac computer, you can get started with the programme. I aso learnt how to mark rushes onto the timeline, how to insert, replace and overwrite clips. Then towards the end of the tutorial, we learnt how to add sound and effects such as transitions between two clips, for example a dissolve between two clips could portray time shift.

I found the tutorial very useful as I was assigned the position of editing in my group. Editing plays a big role when making movies as it gets rid of the unwanted shots and joins nicely with another shot, and this is put together through editing to make it flow. On the far left hand window, there is a window which shows you all documents of clips you have on your hard drive so you can choose from them easily. Then, next to that is a canvas which shows the original footage which you can vew/play by clicking on a clip then pressing the 'spacebar' to play the footage. Then on the right hand window, there is a viewer which shows you what you have editied so far and what you have dragged/inserted onto the timeline. You can re-arrange the different clips on the timeline whenever you want to and when it i needed.

When editing the footages, you have to watch it, and while watching it, you have to press 'i' for 'in' to mark it the start of the edited clip, then 'o' for 'out' to mark it the end of the edited clip. Then once you are happy with what you have marked in and out, you then have to drag the clip onto the timeline, then drag the yellow mark on the top of the timeline to the start of the clip to view what you have edited on the viewer. And if you are happy with your clip, you can then chose another clip and do the same process, but if you are unhappy with it, you can just click on the part you don't like on the timeline and press 'delete' to delete it.

List of Thriller sub-genres

List some Thriller sub-genres that inspires you at the moment and why?

Crime.
Personally, I enjoy watching crime thrillers because of the whole 'good cop' and 'bad cop' - you'll never know who's the good one till the end. Also, it is such a cliche to have police chases in a thriller movie because it happens in a majority of thrillers to help build on the tension and suspense. Although it is a cliche, I still enjoy watching it to see how it differs in every other moive. It is the thrill of watching the 'bad guys' get away. This inspires me to base my thriller clip on crime as now a days, the younger generation seems to be commiting as much crime as the older generation. So by having a crime clip, it could possibly open up the eyes of a lot of youths commiting crime.

Religion.
By watching a thriller that is about religion really draws me into the movie as the world that we live in today can relate to movies such as these. It helps us wonder on how to come about the sitations also aiding us to realise other people's point of views. The great thrill about these movies is that religion plays a big role in the world as there are so many different religions, so therefore, it is easy to build on tension and suspense whilst in a church for example. I find this sub-genre inspiring as it is quite controversial and also mind grabbing.

The art of title; Halloween analysation

Halloween (1978)

the title sequence of this film is very effective especially for the genre of thriller.

It is very simple yet very affective. the pumpkin symbolizing halloween. The large shot of the pumpkin with rapid piano music gives a feel of creepiness. The pumpkin representing the holiday; halloween, "the most scariest day of the year" the style of the titles start of with pastel orange colour, however the colour changes as the shots become closer to the pumpkin.

When the extreme close up shot, the font is and orange reddish colour symbolizing fire and danger. the opening shot indicates the production company "A compass international pictures release" The extreme long shot shows title the name of the director of the film John Carpenter and the name of the film which is Halloween; the colour of the word Halloween changes from red to orange, this is used to emphasis the word. Then a long shot introduces the main character, Jamie Lee Curtis a popular actress and P J Soles, analyzing the main characters to be females the audience would have an insight, stereotypically females are vulnerable and passive comparing to males. making it more of a thriller, the audience would feel paranoid and fear; especially the female viewers.

The film was produced in the late seventies, therefore having the limited resources to make as scariest as possible however the simplicity of the film is what makes it much scarier, the pumpkin alone makes the audience have an imagination of their own. Nowadays technology allows film producers to have an advantage of making great films, however this film is one of the best horror films of all time. comparing Halloween 1978 to Halloween 2007 the title sequence of the original film is much longer to the recent one, the recent one is only one shot to analyze the name of the film which last for approximately two seconds.

The title sequence appeals to me because it gives me the feel of anxiety and curiosity of the plot.

The Art of The Title Sequence

www.artofthetitle.com - Choose a title sequence which appeals to you, copy it onto your blog, and write a short analysis of it.

In this opening title sequence, the style is kept very simple. The main colours used is orange and black with some use of red to give it that scary feel. The titles themselves fade in and out and stay on screen for about 2-3 seconds. I've also realized that the people's names are all in capital letters and is in bold to connote 'danger' and the actual title 'Halloween' is in a different font for it to stand out to the audience so they know that that is the actual title of the movie. Also, the use of one object (the pumpkin) which the camera slowly zooms into is a key prop as it has connotations of Halloween. As the camera zooms into the pumpkin, the titles appear, disappear and then reappear which a different name for example, the producer, then the director. The pumpkin is seen as a scary object as someone has made it look like a head which doesn't look very 'pretty' but more as 'creepy'. There is no backlight, just a pumpkin with a candle inside flickering it to give off the only light in the dark room. There is only a little bit of light for the pumpkin to be visible, but as we zoom into its right triangle eye, you can no longer see the orange pumpkin but the light from inside the pumpkin. The simplicity of this title sequence is cleverly used so the audience cannot get distracted easily from anything other happening. The main focus of this plain, but scary title sequence is for the audience to focus on the cast's names that are showing on screen. Furthermore, with the high piano notes playing repeatedly over the titles portray the word innocence while the snare of the drums play rapidly and then the low key piano starts playing when the pumpkin appears on the screen contrasting with the high piano keys which gives off the impression that something is going to happen with the innocent children during the occasion of Halloween. Also, at the end of the credits, the title 'Halloween Night 1963' is on the screen in a white font on a black background and we can hear children chanting a rhyme about Halloween Night insinuating that the movie involves children on Halloween Night. This title sequence appeals to me as it makes me fearful of the pumpkin as it gets closer and closer.

">Halloween Opening Credits

Halloween Analyis- Art of the Title Sequence

CHOOSE A TITLE SEQUENCE WHICH APPEALS TO YOU AND WRITE A SHORT ANALYSIS OF IT.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

Halloween (released in 1978) is a classic example using a title sequence to lure and capture the audience's attention to watch the film. The sequence begins with a dark screen where we immediately hear the sinister high-pitched score. Each text is only shown on the screen for a couple of seconds and dissolves into the black screen. The style of the font is very distinct and bold capturing the audience's attention whilst disappearing. This creates a sinister feeling because it might allow the audience to believe that people may disappear one by one. It is shown in orange slowly changing into red to depict the type of genre of film it is. Red is normally associated to danger so added with the title of the film 'HALLOWEEN', it gives a taster to the audience to what the film may be about. The audience is introduced to a halloween lantern/pumpkin fades into the black background which flickers in and out with the music. This emphasises the halloween theme of the film sets the scene for the rest of the film.
As the sequence goes on, the camera moves away from a long shot to a zoom in to where we focus on the pumpkin. This gives a thrilling image as by already moving in a little circle on its own by zooming allows the audience to feel paranoid and some sort of fear. Zooming in from a long shot to a close-up of a pumpkin draws intensity for the audience to watch the film. At the beginning of the sequence, the production company 'Compass International' slowing moving to the director of the film 'John Carpenter' and the actors who star in the film itself like 'Jamie Lee Curtis','Nancy Loomis' and 'PJ Soles'. Already the audience is established to the actors already and are imagining what type of character they would be portraying in the film away from their previous movie roles. The image of the pumpkin and the titles are collaborated with each other very successfully as the colour scheme is the same and relevantly selects the tone for the film. The theme music used to accompany the title sequence complied with piano and theatrical high violin notes work well together. This could represent in the film where it could connote some sort of chase and the dark undertone of the piano keys could represent the villain. This could force the audience to watch the film as the theme music is dramatic persuading them of the potential action and drama likely to be featured on the film.

Event Diary Blog

Thriller film plots are often inspired by a real life event.
Keep a diary of current and world events. Write about things that you see on the news or read in the papers - the most ordinary stories cold form the basis for a good Thriler!

Curently, the event that happend in Hati has hit the news globally. The natural disaster of the Hati Earthquake is a major real life event as so many were killed, injured and there are bodies still missing. This could be a successful plot for a thriller movie as it about the thrill of surviving. Another event that keeps recurring in the news is the kidnapping of children but this could be seen more of a cliche if this was to be put in a thriller.

Photo Activity

Paranoid

This image is of a survailance camera to emphesis the word paranoia. we have taken this picture because every human living in london are being constantly watched by these survailance cameras. Paranoia is a psychological disorder, people who suffer from this disorder, feel they are being constantly watched, the feel is anxiety or fear. The term matches the thriller genre since the victim always has a sense of paranoia.

Calm

This hand image was to indicate the word calm. The hand which could also been seen as a waving hand shows peace and togetherness. Thriller films give this feel to the audience either when the vitims safe or the murderer is killed etc. we had this picture taken on one of the clear windows the people walking by, have no idea whats happening. This also occurs in a thriller, for example when a person's being brutally killed, and the neighbours having no clue about whats happening next door.

Clostrophobic

In this picture shows a girl her reflection on the window door, with a lock on the outside to show her entrapment. that represents claustrophobic. in thriller films, claustrophobia is what one of the character in the film is encountering such as a person being chased by a murderer to a criminal chased by the police. Because when a person feels claustrophobic they feel they're in a small place alone, they tend to become less calm and start to sweat.

City

This picture emphasis the word "city". this image shows a landscape view of the buildings in London. thriller films mostly tend to set in a big city, recognizable to the audience. This helps the audience feel threatened. also because of the numerous of places roads, nowhere is really safe, anyone could be hiding anywhere.

Photo 'Words' Activity

CALM

This image portrays an atmosphere of calmness where the hand placed in the left hand side of the image allows the audience to feel sympathy. It also shows a long shot of an urban area with cars and buildings depiciting of a modern city-life. As shown, there is current flow of traffic, this shows that this is a calm setting to those who live in an urban area as they are used to the noise and overcrowding of people on the roads. Calm images can be used in thrillers to contrast the overall tone of the film and lead the audience away from the fast paced images used to create suspense.

PARANOIA

This image could convey a sense of paranoia as there is a speed camera looking ahead. This enables the audience to feel uneasy as the feeling of 'being watched' is portrayed. In return, this sends a thrilling sense towards the audience because it shows the idea of someone being watched allowing the audience to be on 'their side' and engage with them. Paranoia can be portrayed in thrillers to show how a character's feelings towards their surroundings can be manipulated to put the audience through their paces with suspense and tension.

CITY

This image depicts of numerous levels of buildings spreading out into the distance. This is linked to a 'city-like' theme as the image is taken from a high level to emphasise the length of the buildings. In cities, there are lots of tall buildings and long roads often clogged up with traffic, but with this image, the idea of being in the city is evident. This clearly distincts where modern architecture is more in use as opposed to a rural environment. City-like moving images can be used in thrillers to make the victim seem lost in a 'cat and mouse' chase and keeps the audience gripped as they watch it. This increases tension and allows the audience to yearn for the ending.

DEPRESSION

This image immediately links us to the word 'depression' as she is seen to be looking down at herself where her inside realms is unhappy as she places her head down. We are placed in an impression that the girl is isolated from the outside world. This is often used to make the audience sympathise with her and possibly build an interaction with her. The image shown is perceived in a high angle shot to make the girl seem small. This is also addressed to the fact that when she is curled up into a ball, it makes her look vulnerable and innocent. Depression is a topic which is often discussed in psychological thrillers to alert and inform the audience how depression affects a type of character. It builds up tension ideally making the audience to be mentally involved in the plot.

Photograph Activity

Paranoid

This image of a CCTV camera evokes the word 'Paranoid' as it gives us the feel that someone is always watching you like in the famous TV show, Big Brother. Also, as it is situated in a high position, it shows that it is watching everything below, from above to get a bigger picture of wha is happening.

Depression

By having someone sitting in the corner, tightly curled up in a ball portrays the word 'depression' as the person wants to isolate themselves. It also connotes the word 'claustrophobic' as the person is in a toilet cubical. With her hands covering her face hints to us that she wants to be left alone because she is depressed.

The City

We took this picture from the third floor inside the college building to have an 'eye level' view of the city from a distance. This picture evokes the word 'City' as you would expect to see many buildings in a City. Also, as it is taken from the third floor, it is clearer to see the other buildings behind the buildings in front of us.

Marathon Man (1976)

Marathon Man is a crime-thriller film. The main character being the famously known Dustin Hoffman at his younger age. The filmn contains many scenes of suspension.

Two examples is the bathroom scene and as the main character "Babe" is being chased around by a car.

The bathroom scene is after Babe's brother has been murdered, which he then ends up at Babes doorstep. He lays in the bath tub, his frustrated emotive face shows the confusion and sorro. he then hears the diegetic sound of the opening creaking door, then suddenly reacts. the lightning shows the shadow that is coming towards the bathroom he is in. The sound is very slow and almost creepy like, but as soon as Babe reacts by running to shut the door the music becomes rapid and loud. making the audience much more anxious.

The use of sound and lightning shows how effective it adds suspense and thriller to the film.

The other example is as Babe manages to escape from his captors he is then is hunt down by two men driving a car however, babe runs. As he looks for help, the music is orquestral and livid, when he is spotted by the hunts men he runs through motorways which almost caused his death. the music is very jumpy whenever the men are close the music louder and when Babe hides its at a low tone, which fits with the scene. his facial expression is worried, making the audience feel sorrow, making them want to help; making them involved in the predicament.

This thriller film uses the sub-genre of crime, this enables the audience to become more attracted to the film.

ARLINGTON ROAD title sequence!!

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF

ARLINGTON ROAD

The title shown in this sequence are very abstract and blurrred to depict an image of someone's words scraped across a blackboard. Black and white suggests darkness and innocence which in a thriller film, is often merged with one another to constantly change the audience's first expectations. The way that they were placed all over the screen in terms of editing could lead the audience to believe that something might happen. Images of a surburban neighbourhood was displayed i.e. a road plate to create a safe environment which the audience may identify with. This shows normality and daily life of those living there. Vivid use of red colours used in various scenes of the footage implied danger as it could be referenced to blood where somebody or a lot of people could be killed in this film. It also informs the audience of the genre of the film where blood usage in a film often thrills the audience.

Middle close-ups and close-ups were portrayed in these scenes to fully inform the audience which used in a fast but slow pace conveys the idea of being trapped.

Non -diegetic sounds can be heard for example, voices of screams which allow the audience to be prepared of any sudden deaths or catastrophes which may be shown during the film. In addition with the eerie, sinister sounds and fast-paced montage implies the tone of the film which adds to the suspense because with fast images and sounds, the audience will want to know more and this creates tension with the characters themselves. Negative lighting and symbolic signs are also portrayed in this sequence in a close-up where we, as the audience, feel that the characters may no longer be safe in that area.

A close-up used to show a Dalmatian and a baby blurred looking up in an angle also adds to the feeling of an unwanted presence added to the vulnerability and innocence of them.

All in all, the title sequence of 'Arlington Road' is of a chilling and well informed theme where the audience are left wanting more as the images act clues which by watching the film, piece together.

How is suspense created in..... MARATHON MAN?

SUSPENSE IN MARATHON MAN

To understand the concepts of using suspense in a thriller film, 'Marathon Man' is a good example of a thriller movie which portrayed suspense in numerous scenes throughout the film. To visualise this clearly to the audience, Mise-En-Scene, Camera, Sound and Editing gave a huge role in signifying the importance of suspense to make the plot seem edgy and exciting.

In the beginning of the film, we are exposed to two elderly men arguing verbally and later, physically against each other suggesting harsh competition between the two.We are placed in an urban city with shops and businesses with people surrounded in it. This allows the audience to be comfortable as they are familiar with the setting. Within their verbal abuse, they are seen to be racing each other where one man has a blue car whereas the other in yellow. The cars show that they are of the 'fashion' in that era and seen to be in good condition. The men are also dressed in loose clothing which could mean that the season may be of spring or summer. The two cars speeding down the street suggests a full outburst of anger which could later bring sadness in the result. A close-up of the fuel tank is displayed where a guy is leading the driver into reverse, the tension is built up here where there is diegetic sounds of people yelling. Once reached its destination with both cars at top speed, they explode in flames where a middle close-up is used to show one of the men dead against the wheel. Whereas, the other struggles to put the key into the ignition proven that the smoke is too much for him, he dies himself. This creates suspense as the struggle with the key, plunges the audience to hope for him but as the key drops from his hand, we are to be sympathised with them showing extremeness of stubbornness in the real world.

An example of suspense used in the film is where a close-up of a worn out doll looking solemn and peaceful in a pram. As placed near a rubbish pile, this toy is seen to be cast-away and left unwanted. However a non-diegetic sound of a clock ticking is heard in the background leading the audience into suspense where they already know what going to happen next. Sinisterly, the eyes of the doll slowly open sending a chilling thrill through most people as it conveys the idea that someone is controlling and watching through it. It also implies that time is ticking away and that there's not enough time left which is conceived to which a man going into the taxi through the remaining ticking sounds. Quickly, the bomb is set off and this is depicting of a man running without knowing it himself. This could relate to the title of the film. This is displayed in a long shot where a couple of people near the explosion collapse as well.

Suspense could also be used to purposefully pace the audience and feel in the character's moods as we become more interacted with them. In view of a long shot, a modern yet vintage house is revealed with scenery of grass and trees showing a rural atmosphere. The man looks scared and frightening as the beckoning sounds of silence allow anyone to kill him at any moment. This creates tension and suspense as the plot keeps the audience waiting and with the accompaniment of eerie, dramatic score non-diegetically, this forces the audience's imagination to play 'havoc' with them as they eagerly want to find what's there just as the character himself.

Definition of :SUSPENSE!!!

SUSPENSE

Suspense is an anticipating feeling which added by tension, allows a person to feel a particular way. For example, in a thriller film, suspense is used to make the audience feel interacted with the characters and feel the 'want' to watch more.

Marathon Man (1976)

Detailed analysis of Thriller Clip analysed in class.
Whilst watching Marathon Man, look fo at least three examples of a suspenseful moment.

The Thriller Clip we analysed is class was 'Marathon Man'. There was a part in the movie when there was a close up shot of a black pram being pushed slowly down a busy street full of people. The suspense was created with the use of silence (no music) and the slow pace the man was pushing the pram. Also, in the shot, the pram filled 75% of the screen and the rest of the screen shows the man's legs walking slowly and other people's legs walking quickly around him. The silence in this shot plays a big part of creating suspense, alongside the slow movement as it corresponds with what is going on around his movement, noisy pedestrians rushing. Another scene in the movie that held the audience in suspense was outside the opera stadium when there was supposed to be a meeting with a man and a woman in a red coat. But the man warned the woman to keep on walking because it was unsafe. So the woman kept on walking into the darkness as it was late at night. The camera was locked onto the dark area the woman walked into then there wa a sudden noise hinting to us that something has hapened. At this point, it was quite engaging the audience as they wouldn't want to miss anything. Then, there was a football that was thrown towards the man which came from the darkness, still holding the audience in suspense as they might think it's a bomb. And with the man just standing there, scared, makes the auidiece scared for him. Once again, the use of silence in the night time creates and builds up the suspense beautifully as there is no music playing in the background which could distract them from what is actually happening in the scene. One final scene where it holds the most suspense is when the old man opperates on the main character's teeth. The setting straight away gives off that creepy mood because it looks like a deserted place where no one goes so if he shouts help, no one can hear him. It is just four grey, dull walls, a chair, a table with dentistry equipment on it, and a sink at the corner. There are big close ups to the main character's face so the audience knows what is going on and to capture his petrifyed emotion making the viewers sympathise for him. It was a successful shot because when the old man opperated on him, we could only see them from the back so we never got to see the actual torture but we heard a loud scream and the loud drilling noise which contrasted greatly with the silence.
Overall, in the three scenes analysed above all had one thing in common which was the silence. Silence contributes greatly with suspense and the build up of tension.

Arlington Road (thriller sequence)

How is suspense created in the film you watched in class?

The film sequence i will be discussing is Arlington Road (1999).

By watching the first few minutes of the film which was the title sequence, I established that it was a thriller movie through the sounds, camera, mise en scene and editing.

Firstly, there were a few static images shown of a suburban village which is most probably of Arlington Road, a town in America which shows normality. It was quite difficult to make out as they are in inverted colours and these images only stayed on the screen for a second. Some images stood out clearly, such as fences, and the front yard of a house which portrays safety and it could also imply that it could be a deserted area. The fast pace images change to images such as an angry dog barking in a cage which gives off the impression that this suburban area has been disturbed by something or someone. The images then seem to have a lot of red colours showing, hinting 'bloody' images. There were also images of 3 young girls in white dresses portraying innocence, and with the colour red being injected into these shots implies danger with the innocent. The fast pace montage gives it the thrilling feel to movie with non-diegetic sinister sounds playing over it with added unrecognisable voices. The use of the hand held camera contributes to the unsafe atmosphere of the suburban area. The titles are abstract and blurred which works well with the red colour over the images making the audience suspicious.

Definition of suspense: Arlington road

The opening scene of the film Arlington Road (1999) creates suspense by the way they have used camera work, sound and editing.

The definition of suspense is a feeling of excitement or uncertainty anticipation of an approaching climax at one point of a film.

The film opens with images of a white gate and black background that could symbolize the innocence thus the evil that the film contains. titles overlapping to state the production companies and name of the cast.

Mid-shot and close up shots of static images enable the audience to have an insight of what the film could be about, image of the dog, toddler and houses show of suburban america; a safe environment, the toddler shows how passive the characters may be. However the director has used different colour such as the negative effective and red colours which could be refered to the blood or danger involved in the film. other images, such as the star and road sign give a creepy feel to the audience, other meanings to the film.

Establishing shots are used to show the audience what is the setting and what the film could be related to.

The non-diegetic sound in the background is of a dramatic genre indicating it will be a thriller film. The editing of this film is a rythmic cut, matching the music.

Definition of Suspense

My definition of suspense is a pleasurable excitement and anticipation regarding an outcome such as watching a thriller movie that engages you into the movie, excited for the next bit of action to play.