Sound Evaluation

Sound Evaluation

In the short video that our group produced we decided to make an interview for a TV show. It was a Halloween special, where the interviewer (Ellese Lee) asked an actress (Ruby Canary) questions on the new thriller she was starring in.
We included diagetic and non-diagetic sound, which was the conversation and the music used.  At the start of the show we included some music for the intro and an evil laugh to show that it was a Halloween special.  Throughout we could have had some low music playing, however I think that the film was good without it.
The editing took a couple of days and we found it a little hard as the voices didn't match up to the footage.  This was soon sorted however it meant that some of the speech at the start was able to be heard.  

However, with some mistakes I feel that the film is able to show the difference between diagetic and non-diagetic sound and it also runs smoothly.

Sound exercise

Alfred Hichcock

Sir Alfred Hitchcock (13 August 1899-29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer.  He was able to use and introduce suspense as well as other techniques in his psychological thrillers.  His use of red-herrings and cliffhangers were able to shock many audiences and keep them on the edge of their seats.  His films include North by Northwest, The Birds and Psycho.

Most of his films include twist endings and plots that feature violence, murder and crime, he also used macguffins that serve the films themes.

Many of his films have been influenced by other directors and producers such as F.W.Murnau, Michelangelo Antonioni and Luis Bunuel.  He was influenced by Murnau's visual storytelling which was the main influence to the start of Hitchcock's The Lodger.  Also Antonioni's Blow Up influenced Hitchcock to use nudity in his movies as seen in Frenzy. Plus, Bunuel influenced the surrealism used in Hitchcocks films.

Mcguffins

A macguffin is an object or device in a film or a book which serves merely as a trigger for the plot.  It is also seen as something that 'the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the macguffin is.'  It is seen as something that is generic, ambiguous and completely unimportant to the plot.  Examples of macgiffins are money, power or victory.

In some thrillers the macguffin is important at the start of the plot but as the story progresses and by what the characters go through its importance to the story declines.  It may become important again during the climax of the plot however by the end of it, the macguffin is completely forgotten about. It is something that the audience doesn't care about and is totally unimportant to them.  

Examples include the brief case in Pulp Fiction.  It is what drives the plot but is mostly forgotten about in almost every scene.

Also, the Ark of the covenant in Indiana Jones.

Suspense and shock

Shock is when there is a sudden upsetting or surprising event.  There are many examples in movies however there are a few in North by Northwest and The Birds (by Alfred Hitchcock).

Shocking scenes in North by Northwest include the plane crash as we did not expect the plane to fly into the side of the truck and cause an explosion.  Other things that we thought would have happened would be that it would fly away from defeat or it would have actually killed Thornhill.  Another scene which shocked audiences was the fake shooting in the restaurant.  It was expected that Thornhill and the villain would have had a big discussion or argument in the middle of the restaurant, however when Eva pulls out the gun and shoots Thornhill it was very unpredictable. This scene was then able to build suspense for the next scene when the audience finds out that Eva was in on the shooting all along.

Throughout The Birds the audience are shocked multiple times.  Scenes include the party scene and also when the birds enter the house through the chimney.  In both scenes we did not expect bird attacks because of the atmosphere in them.  When the party was being held everyone was happy and having a good time but when the children are attacked it is horrifying for the audience.  Also, as the characters have just recovered from a recent attack we do not expect another so soon.  So when we hear the noises of the birds it causes more shock.

Suspense is also a big factor in thriller films.  Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.  There are also examples of this in North by Northwest and The Birds.  

In North by Northwest suspense is created when the villains take Thornhill to the house and start to question him and accuse him of being someone else.  This builds suspense because the audience wants to know what they want with him.

In The Birds suspense builds when the mother walks into a house and starts to find things are broken around the house.  It builds suspense because the audience doesn't know what has happened and if it was another bird attack.

Types of Thrillers

In the genre, thriller, there are also many sub genres.  These include Political thrillers, medical thrillers, spy thrillers etc.

In a political thriller the hero must ensure the stability of the government that has employed them.  This is seen in such films as Seven Days in May and The Manchurian candidate, a more resent example would be Agency.

Medical thrillers are when the hero is a doctor/personnel who is working to solve an expanding medical problem.  Well known films for this are The Hot Zone by Richard Preston.  Famous actors that are involved in this sub genre are Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen, Micheal Crichton and Gary Braver.

A Spy thriller is when the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or terrorists. Famous examples of this are The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum and television series Mission:Impossible and 24.

Well known sub genres are psychological thrillers which are when the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.  Examples of this are Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion, Shadow of  a Doubt and Strangers on a train.  Also including, The Good son which stars Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin.

There are also religious thrillers in which the plot is closely connected to religious objects, institutions and questions.  While suspense stories have always shown significant affinity for religion and philosophical issues Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has led to a current boom in religiously oriented thrillers.

North By Northwest

North By Northwest is about a 'innocent' New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies.  Throughout the film we see how the main character (Thornhill) is pursued across the country while he tries to find a way to survive.  The film stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.

In typical thrillers they are fast paced and have frequent action.  In North By Northwest this is exactly what is involved.  Throughout the film there is always something happening such as The plane chase which ends up with it crashing into the side of a truck or the fake shooting scene.  There is always suspense and tension for the audience with every scene, keeping them intrigued on what will happen next.

However, in the film we see that Thornhill is not a resourceful hero.  He is just an ordinary advertising executive who lives a normal life and wouldn't usually have enemies that would try to kill him.  This makes it an unusual thriller even though this has been done before.

Rules and Conventions of Thrillers

Thrillers are always seen as movies that are fast pacing, contain frequent action and have resourceful heroes that are always tying to overcome obstacles given by a villain.  They also contain similar devices such as red- herrings, cliffhangers and suspense.  They are also mainly driven by the villain trying to ruin the hero.

However, even though most thrillers contain some of these devices, the thriller is a very flexible genre as they can engage the audience with either psychological, social or political tensions.

Moreover, other characteristics of thrillers are that they may take place in exotic settings or cities.  The heroes in thrillers are seen as 'hard men' that are accustomed to danger such as firemen, although they could be normal people that are just brought into the danger.  However, as it is traditionally been men that are the leads, there have been lead women in films such as Alien.

The definition of a thriller is that they provide such a rich literary feast.  There are many types such as legal thrillers, spy thrillers, action-adventure thrillers, medical thrillers, police thrillers, romantic thrillers and many more.

Thrillers also overlap with mysteries and can be distinguished by the structure of their plots.  In thrillers the hero must overcome the plans of the enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened.  Whereas murder mysteries would be spoiled if the murder was found early, but in a thriller the viallin or murderer is usually known all along.

Written Assignment

AS Media Studies - Written Assignment

In the short video that our group produced we decided to use an element of dance.  The story involved a dancer (Andrew) coming into the hall and being told what to do for his audition in front of some judges (Ruby and myself). When the music begins and Andrew starts dancing the judges stop him to tell him what he was doing wrong and say that he is not good enough for what he was auditioning for.  He agrees to train harder and come back when he has improved and thinks that he will be able to pass.

In our film we tried to include as many shots as possible such as a pan, close ups, a long shot and a tilt.  These were used because they were able to show emotion, such as Andrew’s sadness when he was told that he was not good enough, by the way the camera was close to his face.  Some shots were not used such as crane, low angles shots and high angle shots because this would not have been appropriate for what we wanted to film. 

When using the different shots we had to think about why we should use them.  At the start of the video we used a tracking shot; this was so that we could film Andrew walking up to the teacher and talking to her.  Next we used a vertical pan to go down to Andrew’s feet to show his outfit for the dance and to show that he took off his shoes just like Ruby said.  The next two shots were used to show the anger on the judge’s faces and to show the hurt and sadness on Andrews.  We used a close up on the judges but the tilt was used to show the devastation caused to Andrew.

I think that each of our shots were successful, however the tilt could have been a bit smoother.

Some of the shots used were steady such as the long shot and the close up.  This was because a tripod was used to steady the camera.  However, when the tracking shot was used it was hard to keep the camera steady because the camera had to be moving to keep up with the character.  Also the tilt was unsteady as it was a hard shot to do.

Overall I think that we did a good job when thinking of the different shots to use and the filming of them.  The person behind the camera (Sophie) did find some elements difficult such as the tilt but was very good with using the tripod.  However, some improvements could have been made such as the characters slowing down so that using the tracking shot would have been easier to do.  Also, we need to get used to using the tilt shot and other camera positions such as low and high angles.

Media short video