I decided to look at a different variety of clips based on the genre thriller, including sub genres pyschological, crime and action; to try and re-create the use of lighting and camera movement, shots and composition in our film. Not necessarily the thousands of pounds paid actors skills or highly budget locations for obvious reasons.
'The Hit List' a pyschological thriller (2010) starts with the camera panning over the city by an ariel shot with 'Seattle, NY' compostioned in the left hand-corner, setting the location for the audience.
Also with the diagetic sound of traffic coming from the streets as the camera gradually gets closer to the streets. The camera then fades out to an establishing shot of a building, with the composistion of the camera slightly to the left and a close up of the bus quickly passing through the shot.
The camera then fades to inside the building with a close up of a painting making the audience forced to look at the picture. It then pans down in an extreme close up on objects we are not sure on creating uncertainty. The non-diagetic music playing sounds sinister dark and makes a sense of terror and suspense for the audience. It finally pans down to a man laid in bed asleep centrally placed towards the camera. The camera slowly moves closer slowly creating a close up. As the man's eye twitches the non-diagetic music gets louder creating more suspense. The film quickly does a quick sudden flash of green lighting filling up the composistion of the camera, creating shock and greater suspense verging on tension.
This would have already have got the audience confused ad uncertain. He is now shown in a close up laid on his side asleep. Quickly flashing back we can now hear gun fire and people shouting (Diagetic?), "Now, go go go..Move!" when it reverts the shot back to him sleeping and his eye twitching the audience now can establish this has a dream, creating mystery. Is it a flashback, or just a dream? The camera then shows an extreme close up of his face, the music now stops. It then switches back to the green light of we assume people in the army screaming "Go go go, now!" It all seems very disoreintated and out of place. A quick close up of the man and perhaps a diagetic sound of a bomb waking the man up. The narrative of the film seems really unclear. The camera then moves to a medium shot of the man getting out of bed and the diagetic sound of the TV (Laptop) as the camera smoothly follows his movements as he sits up out of bed eventually giving the man a side shot. The lightning of the room seems very dark.
The camera then cuts to a close up of the TV, then to a low angle shot of the man suggesting to the audience hes dominant and strong. After coughing into the handerchief he grabs a glass and the bottle of alcohol. It then cuts to a medium close up of him pouring the drink. The alcohol suggets to the audience he has a rough life, perhaps somethings troubling him to drink.
The camera then pans up to a side shot of him and cuts to an extreme close up of the TV. Perhaps from his point of view. Hearing the word 'attack' on the TV creates more uncertainty and terror for the audience, even suspense. The camera's movement then slowly pans up and follows his movements to a medium shot of his face, compostioned into the middle of the camera. It then cuts to a over the shoulder shot of him looking out the window. The audience can now clearly gather he is living in a flat.
The camera then cuts to another low angle shot however this one is close up. The lighting is still very much dark all around him. The non-diagetic music now starts again however this one sounds quieter slower and gentler, perhaps to build up to something dramatic. It then cuts to another over the shoulder shot of him watching the TV again. The man reporting the news on the TV says, "You know it and I know it." the camera then cuts to a close up of the man compostioned slightly to the left. He's shaking his head, creating even more suspense and uncertainty for the audience. What could this mean? It then cuts to an extreme close up of the man saying bye on the news with the caption 'Jim's final File: Mrriage = Man+Woman.' this will create extreme suspense, almost 'edge of your seat' for the audience.
It then cuts back to the same low angle shot of the man almost a shot-reverse-shot. He drinks his alcohol as fast racing, action music starts to play. The camera then cuts to the a medium shot of the TV being compostioned more to the right this time. With a chair with clothes on to the left. Pieces of paper drop into a file called 'The O' Bannon Files' on the TV, yet again more uncertainty for the audience. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of him walking out of his bedroom and cuts to a close up of the laptop compostioned slightly to the left. The laptop shows to the audience a map of the world; a man in a suit and the word 'CONFIRM' suggesting to the audience them man is a secret agent of some kind. Reveling little clues steadily.
The non-diagetic music then switches to a more heroic higher pitch tone with the camera cutting to our next location, telling us it's 'Washington DC' compostioned in the left-hand corner again. The camera gives us a massive establishing shot of Washington as the camera slowly pans accross the side of the city in bright daylight. The camera then cuts to a long distance shot of men in suits walking away from the camera in a park, could this suggest to the audience something important is happening, creating suspense. quickly cutting a close up of a statue compostioned to the right, will this have any significance? The camera extremly slowly pans down to long distance shot of a man sat on a bench in a suit.
The audience must still be deeply intreigued. It then cuts to an extreme close up of the man putting a plastic bag on the bench.Then sharply cutting to the compistion of the man's waist. With a close up of the man getting his phone out of his pocket when it rings. More suspense is created for the audience, who's ringing, is it important?
Soon cutting to a medium close up of the man from behind hes not central with the camera. The non-diagetic soon changes moods to a tense beaty sound, hopefully making the audience feel the same way. The non-diagetic music stops. He says, "Yeah?" then as the man starts to speak on the other end of the phone, it cuts to him, with a close up. He is wearing a shirt and tie suggesting hes an important character. The room is yet again dark. He says, "Barbra's gone sir. The man replies with This is assignment 'Seattle' what happened?" says the man on the bench. This creates deeper suspense for the audience and uncertainty, with yet again so many unanswered questions but it's starting to sound exciting. The camera then cuts back to the same reverse shot as before to the man on the bench, creating turn-taking to speak between the two. The man in the tie replies, "I'm not sure what happened he just vanished." Now reveling to the audience they are looking for someone creating suspense ad excitment.
The man on the bench retaliates, "So if the guy dosen't complete his assignment you have no fuckin' idea where he is?" This says a great deal about the characters personality to the audience with the word, 'fuckin' suggesting to the audience he seems tough, brutal and in control. The camera cuts back to a medium side-shot of the man in the tie. The man on the bench replies "This is unaceptable..." the camera then quickly cuts back an extreme close-up of the mans lips saying calmy, "...do you understand?"
This would make the audience tense but excited as the rhtorical question he retaliates with sounds threatning. The camera then cuts back to the man in the tie with a side-shot, turning into a medium shot and eventually a close-up and side-shot, when he walks as he walks towards the camera and says, "I understand I'm gunna' make it right." The man quickly says back, "I have said i'm over-skyed all over my ass, I'm meeting with the director tonight. The last thing I need is-" The main in the tie walks away from the camera creating a medium shot.
The camera rapidly cuts to a establishing shot of the man walking away from the bench as the camera follows him, the tense dramatic, beaty non-diagetic music starts to play again. " - a failed assignment by a rookie agent who has-" The camera now cuts to a low close-up of the same man's feet walking on the pavement.
This connotes to the audience that he looks dominant big and strong, because of his long strides and how low the camera movement is following him. " - dissapeared and hasn't followed orders he is your man - he is your responsability-" The non-diagetic starts to get louder as the camera slowly pans up toreveal the back of the man in full shot. The music getting louder will start to create tension for the audience. (One thing I have noticed with thrillers is they slowly revile parts of the story to the audience.) "- find him and fix it." The camera then cuts a close up to the man with the tie, compostioned to the right replying, "Yes sir, I will." as he walks out of view of the camera.
The camera cuts again to a extreme close up of the other man getting in a black car. The colour 'black' to the audience suggest terror, fear and uncertainty. With a medium shot of the car driving out of view of the camera.
The camera then cuts to loud, rock band beaty music has the sioulette/animated titles role. First showing a black background then with red (which seems a main element of colour in thriller films) curvy swerves, swerving all accross the screen. As the camera starts to pan down showing the different production companies who made it; the actors, (The red swerves continue to have compostion around the edge of the screen as it follows the camera) then a rock song starts to play about fighting and death. (Possibly a good element to repersent action and excitment.) The red colour now becomes white compitioned around the edge of the camera. With three red silouttes of identical men on the screen each been take out by a golden bullet
(no soud is heard by any of these shots) revieling the title in urban white font, "The Hit List" The camera then pans extremly quickly in a diaogonal blurred fashion to more actors names, with smaller red identical silouttes of men in the bckground.
The white swerves have now gone. It shows an actors name with a golden pistol making the name dissapear as it goes through it by the side. The camera pans slowly to a red siloutte with a white ring around it, it then gets shot at again with a golden pistol. The lens still pans around going showing extreme close-ups behind one of them. It continues to show actors names in urban font compostioned to the left with a red silouette on the right with a white ring around him, perhaps meaning it's been targeted. A golden bullet shoots him down.
A golden bullet then flashes through the centre of the camera reveling more actors names as the silouettes lower off the screen.
For a second there is just a black background when the camera pans slowly up. Then the camera becomes slightly jaggered and shaky as outlines of dead people's bodys get compostioned all over the camera; with a extreme close up of blood been splattered all over the screen. This makes gives the audience an impression of what there going to see in the film, for example blood and violence. This similar cinematography carries on for a while.
A black swirl comes into the centre of the screen changing from guns to knifes, weapons. Creating suspense and excitment. It also shows more actors names in compostioned in the centre as the camera pans closer into the swirl giving the audience the impression they are in the film about to enter somewhere.
The titles do carry on for much longer but I just wanted to give an overall view of the fist five minutes of a typical pyschological modern day thriller.
