Soundtrack analysis

Soundtrack analysis

I will be doing a soundtrack analysis on the opening credits of the film Pi, because it is the same film genre to the film genre that i am doing which is a psychological thriller.

The start of the opening scene uses a quiet ringing noise, it starts off by being quiet, then it gets louder. This ringing noise could be used to show madness as if it is ringing inside someone's head, a noise that would drive you insane.

After the ringing noise gets slightly louder, digital sounds come in which make the sound strange as if it is computer generated, this could show that it could be because the film is about mathematics and being driven insane by work, and this soundtrack portrays that sense of confusion/frustration.

Next the computer generated soundtrack gets louder which could portray a sense of madness due to overwhelming thoughts. This is a good soundtrack to have in the opening of a psychological thriller as it gives off the idea of madness and the loss of mind.

When the music gets faster it makes the soundtrack sound as if it is losing control, much like someone would if they were losing their mind. It also sounds as if there is too much information for it to take in, sounding like you would expect a computer to sound if it could make music due to the electronic feel of it.

This is non-diegetic sound which means it is used to fit the mood of the film instead of being used to have emphasis on certain sounds such as sound effects. The soundtrack changes from being quiet, to getting louder and having electronic type sounds put in it, it then gets faster in speed and more electronic sounds enter. This increase of sound and speed shows the process of being driven insane, starting off sane and getting increasingly mad.

In our film we will be using a voice over for the majority of our filming, this is used to tell the story as it makes you connect further with the character. However we will also be using deep breathing noises and the sound of feet running, this will be used to build tension.

Opening shot plans

Opening scene:

The first shot is going to be of the phone the character is using to text her friend to ask him to help her, this will be a extreme close-up to show you the object of importance. As she is asking for help, this leads the audience to believe she is a victim.

You then get a medium to long shot of her standing against a wall with her phone in her hand which tells the audience who was texting, it also shows the audience what she looks like. This shot is particularly blurry  which is a consequence as it doesn't make it as clear what the character looks like and her surroundings. If we had time, we would re-shoot this particular long-shot. 

You then see her leaving where she is and walking round the corner into an alleyway and the narrating begins, this will be a long shot to tell you the location of this particular character (which will be an alleyway). The character who was on her phone is going to be narrating throughout the opening scene. 

The first thing the voice over of the character says will be “I know they are after me” once she enters the alleyway, this will be a long shot still to show that she is now down the alleyway. In this shot you will see her worrying about the fact that people will after her, as portrayed in her expression.

After she says this a flashback of her feet will be shown to to intrigue the audience and make them wonder where she has come from, leaving the audience to question this character. The shot of the feet running will be in black and white. This is to show the audience that this particular shot was from a different time period from the other shots seen previously that are in the present, suggesting that this is her recalling something from the past. This is an action shot. (This shot has been removed due to the film being too long because of the other shots we still had to add in)

The following shot will be her back in the present, her facial expression still expression signs of terror, giving the idea that something traumatic has happened, and she might be running away from something that has frightened. This particular shot will also have a voiceover. (This shot has been removed now due to the film being too long)

The next shot is a flashback, this will be of a sign of a mental institution telling the audience the question of what they may have be wondering before which was where or what was she running from. This shot gives the audience the information about the protagonist as well, informing you that she might be clinically unstable.

The next scene will show her eyes, moving left to right. This shows that she is looking for something, or in this case, somebody. This builds tension as you start thinking what is it she is looking for? and is that the reason she has run away from the mental institution. In this shot diegetic sound of breathing will be used.

Following this, there is another flashback of her running through the trees. However this flashback differs from the rest as while she runs through the forest, the person holding the camera is running with her, to give the effect that someone is chasing her.

After that scene it goes to her back in the alleyway where she is starting to freak out over the fact that she is recalling what happened, therefore she will be pacing up and down. This will be a long-shot to show her movement. She then says that “I know I wasn’t safe there, that’s why I had to go”.  (This shot has now been removed however due to our film being too long)

In this scene you will see a flashback that has been split up into three different parts. The first shot will show her running off into the distance to show how far she has run from the mental institution.

I really liked these shots, however they were too similar to the present day shots and therefore had to be changed. I changed these shots to this one which I took of myself writing in a diary. This will give let the audience know why she is looking for her diary as it has the writing in it about her first seeing the antagonist. This shot was taken in back and white to show that this is a flashback shot. This shot is a close-up, it's a close-up to show that this is a code enigma code, and that it is an object of importance even though the audience aren't yet quite sure why this diary holds so much importance.

Here is the shot of the diary she writes in:

This particular shot is a high angled shot. This shows the mise-en-scene, including the surroundings that the characters are in, the car the characters drove in, and also it shows the action as you see Anna Dylan run away. This is the last ever shot taken, leaving

This is another one of my favourite shots as it is an over the shoulder shot. This particular shot you see in the antagonist (Robert Graysons) POV, looking down on Anna Dylan. This shot makes Anna Dylan look like she isn't as good as him as he is looking down on her making her look insignificant which is the type of shot I wanted to create.

Here there is a shot of Anna Dylan and the antagonist behind her, this is enigma as it leaves the audience questioning who this person is behind her and it they are dangerous. This builds suspense as you see the anguish and worry wash over Anna's face which makes the audience feel that they should also be worried of this man. This point in the opening scene is crucial as it shows that Anna is not the antagonist - she is the protagonist. It also introduces a new character immediately showing that he is a villain as he is coming after her. As robert Grayson is introduced second it means that the audience have already had a chance to emotionally relate to the main character Anna. Furthermore making the audience feel worried for Anna as they know her better.

Importantly, the house behind Robert Grayson is red which is a connotation for blood and anger. This reflects the character of Robert as he has killed a girl and also is a psychopath with anger issues.

Here is a shot I'm talking about:

This shot is another one of my favourites as it is an extreme close up of the villain talking which shows his features but not all of them, leaving mystery to the audience on a cliff-hanger adds suspense. This type of shot is used a lot in psychological thrillers to not give the antagonist away too much yet, building tension slowly.

Here is the shot i'm talking about:

Genres and sub genres

Genres and sub-genres

Psychological thriller is a sub-genre by itself, however it fits under the genre of horror and thriller. The themes in a psychological thriller are: reality, perception, mind, existence, identity, death and black comedy. This sub-genre differs from the main genre because the sub-genre is more specific and talks about how it is about mental people instead of just being a thriller or a horror which suggests its about something scary and that’s all. A psychological thriller isn’t just a horror or something to scare you, its deeper and makes you think, causing you to feel an emotional connection to the characters.

As a psychological thriller is the most typical of thriller, it means that it is implemented into all the sub-thriller genres, this type of subgenre makes the film suspenseful as it shows the mentality of a character and the thought process that they go through.

Here are some examples of types of sub-genres contain the sub-genre ‘psychological thriller':

Sub-genres like psychological thriller would be conspiracy thriller which is a type of genre that consists of some sort of hero or heroine who are stereotypically journalists or armature investigators who find themselves trapped in a very powerful organisation. The main character later finding out that to keep the company going the company will use lies and propaganda. This type of sub-genre is like ours because they are both making the audience question who is in the right and who you should trust and who you shouldn’t like in our psychological thriller where you constantly doubt the main character.

Another sub-genre a psychological thriller fits in with would be mystery thriller as a psychological makes you feel an element of mystery to what is wrong with the person who has the mental disorder and a mystery thriller usually gets into the psyche of the audiences as audiences act as if they are part of the film, trying to figure out who the villain is as they find out more information about the characters.

Preliminary task & evaluation

Preliminary task evaluation

For our preliminary task we filmed Sophie and Shannon. For this task we used a camera and a tripod. 

The preliminary task went well and we managed to get all eight shots done. 

A few of the problems we had whilst filming was that there were people in the hallway that we were filming in. This could be avoided in our real opening scene filming by making sure public know that this is a filming area by putting up signs, or filming in a place that is less populated.

Another of our problems that we came across was that the tripod we choose to use was broken, so when we can to use it for the panning shot, it didn't work as well and we had to hold the camera on top of the tripod so that we could use it. To avoid this when we are filming out opening scene we will test our tripod first before we take it out of school to use it.

However with this said, the filming shots taken with the tripod did turn out well and weren't shaky. However, some of the shots were shaky and would need redoing if we were to be doing our opening scene. Therefore for each of our shots we will take them more than once so we have at least two shots to choose out of when we are editing all our opening scene shots together.

The eight shots have been added so that they are all in the right order and also so that the colours are correct in each scene so that you can see whats going on. The cropping also went well and i managed to be able to get the shots so that they flow together in sequence. 

When it came to editing the preliminary task, there was a problem with the lighting on three of the shots, therefore i had to use a colour balance on the shots which meant i could make them lighter by editing the colours that were used in the shots. To avoid this issue when we are filming our real opening scene, we will make sure we bring lights to our filming area so that it wont be too dark and we wont have to result in needing to edit the colour balance on each scene.

Treatments

Treatments

Aim

Our aim is to produce a psychological thriller. Our film will appeal to adults and will be completed by the 4^th of November. We want our film to be gripping and exciting we want the audience to feel as if they are part of the story themselves and to feel strongly towards the main character. We aim to achieve this by giving the audience an insight to her life so that you feel as if you personally know the character, and to make the opening scene gripping we will be using non-diegetic sounds and also by adding diegetic sounds to add emphasis on certain noises which will help to build tension. We want our audience to get that this character has been wrongly accused, we also want the audience to understand that she is in danger and that they should feel sympathy toward her. We also want the audience grasp the moral of the story which is that you shouldn’t judge a person before you know what they’re really like, as in this context you learn that she actually doesn’t have paranoid schizophrenia.

Structure

Psychological thriller

Anna Dylan is the main character of our film who has run away from a mental institution. She is believed to have schizophrenia due to her  that someone is after her, therefore she runs away from the mental institution.
 

However due to the fact she has ran away from a mental institution the audience is lead to believe that she is mad and that no one is actually after her, however as the story progresses you find out that someone is really after her and that she is in danger, she isn’t mad.

The reason she is in the mental hospital is due to her being charged of a murder at the age of 12. However, she was framed by a real psychopath called Richard Grayson who works for the prime minister. However, Anna Dylan knows that she has the proof of the diary, therefore she runs from the mental institution to find it and prove her innocence.

 

Opening scene:

The opening scene will include enigma codes and realism. The realism in the opening scene will be that it is filmed in a place which the audience can relate to as it's an alleyway. The setting of the opening scene is also modern, not old fashioned or in a fantasy setting.

The opening credits will be shown first. They will be in black and white, and cut in with footage of a graffiti wall. You will then see a close-up of a phone which is a code, as it shows people that this phone must be an object of importance as it's the first shot you see. When she is typing on her phone, you will see titles come up by the side of her phone to tell you who is starring in the movie.
 
The next shot is a long shot of her typing on her phone. This tells you who was typing, and also what the character looks like. I found this shot to be blurry when I took it, however, I wanted to keep it in otherwise you wouldn't know who was texting. This shot is where the title comes up. I think it was important to put the title here as it shows you the character, a suggestion to why she is running is because she "needs help" which is what she types on her phone.

You then see her walking further into the alley, and looking round as if she is scared someone is after her. This is the first insight of what's happening and why she needs help. Once you see her in the alley, the voiceovers begin. The first voice over consists of her saying "im not mad - im not - I don't belong in a place like that" the worry on her face portrays how scared she is to the audience, furthermore making the audience feel sorry for Anna and sympathising with her. A sign of a mental institution then fades into shot. This shot is in black and white which is crucial otherwise the audience wouldn't know where she "doesn't belong" and what she is talking about.

Another voiceover is shown next, followed by a fading in of a diary shot shown which is a close-up. This is another crucial part to the opening scene as it shows you what she is looking for and why.

Anna then gets a call from someone. Due to the worried look on her face the audience are lead to believe that it will be the mental institution are after her, however, as I pan the camera you see that there is someone else behind her called Richard Grayson. The way the character dresses and how he speaks portrays him as being the antagonist of the movie. The panning of the camera to show Richard is an enigma as it draws in the audience to find out why he is after Anna.

Richard is wearing black which is a connotation to symbolise darkness within him as he's not a good person, allowing the audience to perceive him as the villain.

Richard takes Anna to his car and shows her that he has the dairy that was shown earlier on within a flashback. As Anna and Richard talk I used over the shoulder shots to show the other person, making it look like it is from the characters POV.

Non-diegetic music begins as Anna takes the diary from Richard while he is distracted. You then see a long shot from up high angled downwards of her running away with the dairy. The music ends on a loud note and then cuts of leaving a cliff hanger of what will happen next? will Richard catch up with her? will she be able to use the diary to prove her innocence?
 

Style and technical features

Horror movies:

Woman in black - already done in folder.

Fantasy:

The hobbit opening scene =

Candle being lit is the first scene, then the candle being carried down a corridor, a voice over being used throughout.

Walks to the chest located at the end of the hall and opens it to retrieve the writing equipment.

Hobbit goes into a study, and sits down, looking at a picture of what seems to be his son (if you watched previous lord of the rings movies you will know that this is indeed his son), the voice over (narrative) explains to you that there is something that he needs to tell ‘Frodo’ his son that he hasn’t told him yet, and he sits down writing this story.

The fact that he sat down writing a story after saying he needs to tell Frodo something it tells you that what he is writing will later be given to his son.

Our film genre:

We have decided to choose thriller as our genre because we think that it will be fun and exciting to do. We have taken some of the ideas that were used in the hobbit and developed those ideas so that we can use them in our film.

Technical features:

These features in our opening scene would be:

Angle shots such as: long shot, medium shot, close up and extreme close ups. 
We will be filming during the day therefore we can see what we are filming and we will be able to spend longer on the film and use natural light instead of needed artificial lighting which would be too hard to get hold of.

Locations

We will be filming our opening scene in an Alleyway located in Burnham, we are filming it here as it’s a place that will portray how the character is feeling, dark and empty with a lonely feeling.
We will be filming the flashbacks in the street so it looks like she has been running from somewhere. This will be filmed just outside the alleyway on the street.

Films analysations

Psychological and mystery thrillers

This type of thriller the conflict between the characters is often mental and emotional rather than physical, which would attract more of a female audience slightly more than a male audience. Psychological thrillers also have some kind of mystery to work out and there can also be an element of horror in them as some can be very disturbing. Therefore would attract an older, more intelligent audience because if the audience because if the audience were not able to work it out, they might find it boring. Examples of psychological thrillers include Shutter Island, Phone Booth, Blue velvet and suspicion.

The Cell

The Cell is a psychological thriller film. It’s about a psychotherapist (Catherine Deane who is part of a revolutionary new treatment which allows her mind to literally enter the mind of her patients. However the FBI asks for a favour from her as the FBI have just tracked down a notorious killer Carl Stargher whose motive is to abduct women one at a time and place them in a secret location, which they are kept for 40 hours until they are drowned. However, the killer has fallen into an irreversible coma which means he cannot confess where he’s taken his latest victim before she dies. So it’s up to Catherine Deane to enter the psychopaths mind to retrieve the location on his latest victim before the victim dies. She must enter the mind of a twisted killer, but Stargher’s personality poses dangers that threaten to overwhelm her.

This film fits this genre because the plot is about serial killer who’s mind is entered by a psychotherapist, it is about insanity and trying to find someone who is missing. The plot is challenges the audience as its difficult to figure out, therefore would attract a more mature audience.

Saw 2

Saw 2 is about unlucky people who have been trapped in a jigsaw like puzzle, surrounded by booby traps, and they must follow the puzzle in order to find their way out before they are all gassed and they all die.

This film is a psychological thriller as well as being a horror movie, it’s psychological thriller due to the emotion pain the victims must endure while they are stuck in the shelter.

The audience feel as if they are a part of this movie as they have to look what the victims are going through and think what they would do in that situation making them feel emotional, because of this the film will attract an older audience or teenagers who want to be scared.

The characters have mental conflict as they have to think for their own lives as it’s a battle between them living or someone else living.