The annotations on our thriller sequence on Youtube are our answers to this task.
TRANSCRIPTION
Genre
Our
thriller would be classified as an action-thriller because of the fight
sequence and the build-up of tension created throughout the opening scene. In
relation to films and TV shows of the same genre, we found that Taken, The
Call, and some episodes from Grey’s Anatomy are similar to what we’ve created.
Setting
The dark
and slightly dodgy hostel room may be familiar to people who travel a lot but
almost anyone could picture themselves in a setting similar to ours. Because it
looks like just a simple room, the audience wonders what can go wrong, and this
makes it exciting. The setting is typical of a hostel in a remote area, but is
countertypical to some of the lush hotels available in England.
Narrative
The cliff
hanger of ‘what happens to the girl?’ or ‘does she die?’ leaves the audience
wanting more as they’re left with an unanswered question. The plot line relates
to current events which could draw in an audience as it’s relevant and of
interest to them. The action appeals to most people because it’s intense, and it
makes you want to keep watching to see what happens to the couple.
Media representation
Speaking of
the young couple, they are very relatable, so the audience can picture
themselves in that situation even more, which immerses them in the sequence.
They fit the target audience and are both young and attractive, making them appealing
to the audience as actors and characters. Their casual clothes and tracksuits
are familiar to everyone, and this is a fairly typical representation of a
young couple. Their dialogue is easy to follow, and, if a little cringy at
times, typical of a fresh relationship between two people.
The
Russians are stereotypical terrorists, as they’re intimidating and
authoritative figures. The dark blue uniform and boots they wear indicates that
they’re part of an organisation, making the audience wonder what bigger thing
they’re a part of. We chose not to do subtitles because it creates an element
of mystery, but the odd word can be heard such as ‘passports’ which helps the
narrative become more clear. This also puts the audience in the girl’s shoes,
because what she can’t understand, the audience can’t either, helping with the
immersive feel of the sequence.
Music and titles
We kept the
music and titles simple and minimal so as not to distract the audience from the
dialogue and narrative. This is effective because we want them to focus on what’s
happening more than the titles.
Director and star names
In an ideal
world if we had the budget, we’d choose an attractive, masculine actor such as
Dylan O’Brien or Alex Pettyfer and a strong, attractive female such as Emma
Stone or Ashley Benson. The stars’ names would appeal to the audience and draw
them in to watch the actors they like. The actors we do have fit well with the
look we had in mind as they’re both attractive and young so still appeal to a
young audience regardless.
Editing and film styles
The fact
that the whole scene is filmed from under the bed comes across as mysterious as
you can’t see the whole picture. This is also helped by the darkness as it makes
the scene shadowy and secretive. We chose to only do one shot because if makes
the audience feel quite isolated, and further immerses them in the room and the
sequence as a whole as you feel in the room as if you’re hiding too. It also
makes the audience focus on the scene, so their attention is not drawn
elsewhere.
For diegetic sound you can hear the couple on the bed giggling and hinting at something risqué. This is a typically feminine sound as it comes across as girly and Ella is being flirtatious, whereas because David's laugh is similar, it portrays him as more feminine because it is not a sound associated with masculinity.
The low camera angle suggests that Ella is weaker than the two terrorists because she is in a vulnerable place, and they tower over her. This is a stereotypically female portrayal as the male terrorists appear to have all of the power from this angle. The terrorists are presented as masculine because of this as they have control of the situation and are intimidating. Ella's diegetic muffled sobs show that she is emotional, which is a feminine trait and therefore depicts her as a stereotypical female.
For mise-en-scene, David, the main male, wears tracksuit bottoms and a black t-shirt. This is typically masculine because the colours are dark and the outfit in general is quite casual. Ella, the main female, wears leggings and a thermal top. This is arguably countertypically feminine because she's wearing dark colours and women stereotypically wear brighter colours, skirts and dresses. However, her clothes are close-fitting, so could be seen as feminine because they show her figure.
The diegetic sound of wind runs throughout the whole sequence in the background. It increases in intensity and volume as the terrorists are about to find Ella. This is parallel to the increase in tension and the cliff hanger, again showing the terrorists' authority as the loud noise connotes danger and shows and Ella's lack of control. We edited the sequence by cutting the end just as the extremists point their guns towards Ella, further showing their masculinity because of their weapons and threatening conduct.
The lack of editing immerses the audience in the sequence, and even though there are no cuts, changes in angle, or movement, the pace changes throughout. When the terrorists enter, the pace slows after the rush to hide. This depicts them as again having control over the situation, because they determine what happens when. They quicken the pace when they find David, and slow it back down again after shooting him. This dominance is a typically masculine representation.
In the background, you can hear the diegetic sound of another guest at the hostel pleading for his life. This is a countertypically masculine representation because although he appears to fight back, he is struggling and is clearly overpowered by the other extremists.
David's protection towards Ella is a typical representation of a man because he's being heroic by putting her safety before his and making sure she'll be ok first. His tone of voice is calm and clear, which shows him as taking charge of the situation.
David makes little attempt to fight back, and you hear the sound of him struggling and in pain. The only retaliation is him swatting the gun away from his face. This is arguably a counter-typical representation of a man because he appears weak and is totally unarmed compared to the extremists with their guns.
Because our extremists are represented as very masculine, their domination of the situation only makes David look less powerful, even though he does have masculine traits himself. Ella could be considered a 'damsel in distress' with the way in which she is depicted, and her flirtatious nature in the beginning emphasises her femininity.
We recorded all of the dialogue in the studio using the Shotgun mic again. Our actors watched the video whilst recording to make sure they got the dialogue to sync with the mouths when you could actually see them on screen. Callum and Louisa were really helpful with this and were good at getting is right. Emma and I went into the suite afterwards to put all of the dialogue into the thriller. It sounds much clearer than the previous one and overall better. Matt said that we can put reverb on it later to make it sound like they're actually in a small room. Emma and I also put in other sounds such as Callum being dragged out of the cupboard.
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| Me and Emma editing |
It's takes a long time to get the audio to sync in the right place but it's really satisfying when it works, and I actually enjoy doing the sound editing because we can put in the best bits and take out anything we don't like. It's also helpful that you can't see the actors' mouths for most of it because if we did, the dialogue sync would be so much more difficult than it is.
After the dialogue we recorded more sounds like the footsteps, the drawer opening and closing, the passport sounds, the boot throw, room tone and more. We did this in a boarding house common room because it was a small room that we could use for everything. Although we didn't have a wooden floor, Myles had the idea to turn over a wooden table and use the underneath as our floorboards. This was really effective as it meant that we could use the same room, and it had the right sound for it.
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| The table we used as the floor |
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| My group in the room we used |
