Behind The Scenes: Camerawork

We tried to use as many different camera angles as possible throughout the opening.

We used a canted angle when the wife was looking at the mistress. We used this to show how the wife's anger has caused her to become desperate and frantic. As well as this, canted angles tend to catch the attention of the audience as it allows them to ask why they are viewing it from this angle. We wanted our audience to feel sympathetic for our mistress character, showing her innocence throughout- we did this because we wanted to go against the stereotype that you see about them. Usually they are portrayed to be manipulative and unsympathetic to the family of the man they are with, but we wanted her to play a victim, she was unaware that he was married. 

We used a few long shots throughout, many of these were used to set the scene. The first one we used showed the setting- it was used in the same way an establishing shot would've been. It shows the couple tied up and the woman behind them. It immediately clarifies to the audience what they are dealing with. These types of shots are used frequently in thriller movies. As well as this we used one when we showed the male character getting home from work. We did this so the audience would be able to see the whole of the scene, as throughout this scene, the camera didn't move- the people walked towards the camera.



We used an extreme close-up of Amelia's face (she plays our mistress) to show the innocence of the mistress and how she was unaware he was married. She is begging for her life. We did this to make our other two characters seem more like villains than they really are. We want there to be a certain degree of dislike for our lead female character as well as a dislike for the male character. We also used an extreme close up to show how the male character felt no remorse for his actions. 


The majority of our shots were either mid-shots or point of view shots. This was done, firstly to show consistency throughout the shots, so the audience didn't get confused. It was also done because we wanted to show the audience how the wife views these people, who she believes has 'sinned' her. There is also a use of a point of view shot with our opening credits, as the female character walks towards her house. We wanted to show how her mental illness effects her life- hence the shaking camera and fast movements looking around checking that she is not being followed, this is because she is paranoid- she hears voices in her head and she doesn't know what to do about it. We wanted to show why the characters have been abducted for something as menial as cheating- we thought this would be the best way to do that. 

Behind the Scenes: Mise-En-Scene

Setting- As previously mentioned we chose to use a garage as our main setting because it fits with the theme of our thriller film, this woman wouldn't have access to elaborate places to hold the couple- especially on such short notice as 15 hours. This also made it easier for us as it allowed the filming process to be a lot simpler as we had constant access in case we needed to re shoot any shots, which we did. The image to the right shows the location we used. Although it is smaller than we originally thought, we made it work to fit in the way we wanted, to get the right aesthetics. We also shot in our school car park, this was to create the ambiance of surprise. We made it as though our mistress, has been surprised on her way to work the next morning after meeting Jack. It had high key lighting as it was during the day, however this also created a problem for us as it was sunny. The sun kept reflecting off of the cars and washing our actress out, this meant we had to wait until the sun went behind the clouds, to keep the location we wanted without ruining the scene by making our actor difficult to see. We also used the hallway of a house, to show how the male got to be where he is, he comes home from work and ambushed by his wife who hits him over the head with a pot. 

Lighting- Our film has low key lighting throughout for a few reasons, firstly, most garages don't have extensive amounts of lighting and we tried to be as true to real life as possible throughout the filming process, as well as this, a common convention of thriller films is low-key lighting that helps to build the suspense and tension throughout the different scenes which is something, I hope we incorporated in our work. We had no natural lighting, and the artificial lighting we had was a little light bulb attached to the ceiling. This again helps with the ambiance and aesthetics were going for in the scene.  However when we filmed outside and in the hallway we used brighter lighting to show the normality in contrast to the scene where they are tied up, as him coming home from work and her going to work is a normal part of a daily routine.


Costume and make-up- Our mistress, named Emily wore a simple, yet nice grey dress, as though she was going on a casual date with Jack, her partner. The husband, Jack was wearing a shirt and trousers and the wife was wearing everyday clothes during the bulk of the scene but she was wearing more professional clothes when she kidnaps the husband and his girlfriend indicating to the audience she may have a normal job. This also shows how her mental illness might be underlying and only comes to show when it is triggered. We chose this because we have this theme throughout to show the normality of the situation, a surprising number of people cheat on their husbands/wives, and showing how this has escalated to the 'sinners' being held captive against their will. 


Space and Staging-

We had limited space and we tried to use it to our advantage in the garage. We placed the chairs where our actors would be sitting in the centre of the space- this was done to show they were the main focus of the film, with a sofa behind for our antagonist to sit on. It was placed here so it would look as though she had the situation 'under control', as she felt she could sit down. This could link to the fact that her mental illness means her mind his always paranoid in every day life, but in this situation she feels under control.

Props-
The props we used included; 2 dining room chairs, an old seat belt to tie them up with, a sofa, and a cricket bat, when we were filming in the garage. In the scene that Emily (the mistress) gets abducted there was a mobile phone, and a tissue that looks as though it has chloroform on it. Finally for the scene where she abducts her husband, we used a wedding ring and a pan that she used to hit him over the head with. Each of these items was accessible to us, meaning it is likely that it would be accessible her. Which again, shows how normal these people are, and how this can change in a matter of hours. 

Extension Task: Analysis of Three Film Posters

Shutter Island:
Shutter Island is a 2010 American Psychological Thriller Film




Identity:

This is an audio clip of me talking about the film poster.



Gone Girl

Gone girl is a 2014 is and American psychological thriller.
The title immediately suggests that someone is missing, but doesn’t give away whether that is physically or mentally, or whether it was by force or by choice. The use of alliteration makes it sound pleasing and it leaves you asking questions , so you want to watch the film.
The colours used in this poster are blues, white and pinks. Blue has common links to mental health, but is also a natural colour usually associated with nature because of its links to water and the sky. This could indicate that the woman is mentally unstable and maybe she hasn’t disappeared but she has something wrong with her.
The fact that half the title is hidden by the clouds could also indicate this as it could represent her clouded mind and how she is unable e to remember who she really is, and again this has links to nature.
The main image is of a man, and we are unsure whether he has something to do with her being ‘gone’ or if he is trying to help. The landscape around him indicates he is searching for something he may never find- whether that is the girl or if it is answers we aren’t sure.
If you look really closely, faded in at the back there are a pair of eyes that leave you questioning if they belong to the missing girl, they look frightened which could indicate that she has gone missing.
Running near the bottom, is a strip that looks like something you would see at the bottom of the screen when you’re watching the news- this challenges the mental health point, as it would  stipulate that the girl is really missing as the news always shows you this in order to help bring the person home.
All of this links in to the conventions of a thriller film as it leaves you questioning the information you have and why it may be inaccurate. It also features the colour white, which I have previously identified as a colour commonly associated with thriller movies. This may be because it represents the victims as white has connotations to innocence and purity. 

Extension Task: Famous Actors

What's the difference between being a Hollywood Star and a British Star- can you be both? 

I think its possible for you to be both a Hollywood Star and a British Star, look at people such as Christian Bale, Jamie Dornan and Eddie Redmayne, each of these stars have had their big break in an America thanks to a film series; Batman, 50 Shades of Grey and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, respectively. What I think the difference is however, to be a British and a Hollywood Star, you have to be British- an American can't be both because they were not born/ raised here in Britain.