CASE STUDY

 

David Fincher 

• Movie director
• He normally casts the actor Brad Pitt
• The thriller films he has directed are: Se7en, The Game, Fight Club and Panic Room

From looking at all of David's opening scenes to his films they all seem not to show characters. This may be an interesting way of not to introduce the characters but to show the mise-en-scene and to maybe show items that may be significant through out the film.

When watching the openings they were engaging because you do get a lot of information, just by not seeing the characters. This is a way that the audience can be engaged because David wants the audience to think more about his films so they have have a load of questions asked but can they be answered, so they would have to watch the film to find out. 

 

SIMILAR TEXT RESEARCH

 For our media AS, we have to analyse three thriller openings. This is to see how different thriller genres are opened in the first scenes. Here I am going to show how different thriller openings are presented.

Dexter

In this essay I will be explaining how the programme Dexter fits into the genre of thriller. This isn’t your typical thriller opening as many other thrillers may open with symbolic items that may appear through out the film or something’s that are mysterious and will have to watch the whole film to find out what it is about. With Dexter it shows an ordinary man getting dressed for work, but there must be a twist as this fits into the thriller genre. Whilst watching the opening to Dexter you hear music which sounds Mexican which could symbolise happiness, so you feel as if this isn’t a thriller. But more into opening, it gets more interesting as Dexter (The protagonist) starts showing his everyday movements as violent, for example when shaving it shows blood. People instantly think there is going to be some form of violence within the programme so they may have to watch more of this character to find out what he is really about. But on the other hand, he is only shaving as this is apart of an everyday procedure. Then he puts a tissue over the cut, then it gets a close up of the tissue and it looks disturbing because it looks violent because blood is normally associated with killing. Most of the camera angles are close ups, I think this gives good effect as you want to see more of this character and how he is with his normal day to day procedure when going to work. As these are interesting because he makes them seem as if he is a violent person. There is also a scene where he is cutting meat, but people assume that he is cutting up a person because the meat looks large and the way he cuts it quite powerfully as if he is determined to something terrible.

You don’t seem to see the characters face as much, as the viewers are more interested in what he is doing and trying to find out what his character does a job. The lightening through out the scenes is quite dark and dull, this may give the illusion and impression that he is a dark character and he is hiding something. When Dexter puts on his t-shirt it looks as if he is suffocating someone, so from these scenes we may get the impression that he is a character with a twist just by seeing his everyday movements and how he executes them.

This character may be misjudged because of the following scenes we see through out the opening. But he may be deceiving and the viewers may want to find out more about him because they are not too clear on what he is like. Dexter links into the thriller genre because it is a mystery why this character is doing such brutal procedures in the morning. Many thrillers may consist of killers and murders but Dexter fits into the thriller genre because from the opening scenes we get the impression that there is going to be mysteries of the Dexter character. The title in this opening seems to reflect the character, as the title looks like it is symbolising blood so this may signify that the character is a powerful and murderous person. 

Protagonists are always the main character within a film/programme so from opening scene we may find out a lot about them which may signify what may be determined in the following scenes after the opening scene. 

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

General Questionnaire

Kerry took a general questionnaire to explore the audiences views on film and music so that we can improve and think about my thriller opening. By taking this questionnaire Kerry has now developed a helpful audience profile. It will help us when creating my opening as it means that we have more knowledge on the type of music and films people prefer and how to capture their attention when watching my thriller opening. The results show that different age ranges and genders influence peoples likes and dislikes. Below shows the questions Kerry asked in her questionnaire.

                                                                                                             

General Questionnaire.

1.)What film genre do you prefer?  

2.) What age bracket do you fall into?

3.) Do you buy films online?

4.) How often do you go to the cinema?

5.) Are you male or female?

6.)What is your favourite film?

7.)Who is your favourite actor?

8.) Do you own more than five  DVDs?

9.) What genre of music do you listen to most?

10.) What was the last film you saw?

 From completing this questionnaire Kerry found that the younger people she surveyed preferred rock and pop music and owned more DVDs and brought more films online. Whereas the older people she surveyed went to the cinema more and preferred more romantic and comedy films. Kerry gave out her questionnaire to 15 people and received a variety of results, however she found similar results to those of similar ages. This could show that nowadays the media around us has changed and influenced us differently. We have learnt that when creating my film we need to take into consideration our target audience because if we don't refer to what they want to watch it wont appeal to them. This task has helped me to understand that we need to make sure my film will captivate my target audience. From these results we will develop this further into a specific questionnaire as well as a one to one interview.

CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS

Here are some pictures I have taken, to interpret a typical thriller mise en scene is. I used this because the audience may just assume that this is to do with the thriller genre because it looks dark and mysterious. 

Picture taken of a forest - creates the illusion of mysterious

Another picture taken of a forest

When you ask anyone about a thriller film they normally assume that the scenery and the characters are going to be dark and mysterious. The pictures show what a typical audience would think of a thriller genre, they would say it could be set in a forest or some where dark so the audience feel tense and wondering what is going to happen.

On the other hand thrillers can be completely different to what a typical audience would think. Thrillers may normally start with scary music that is very tense and the images could be confusing because the audience are trying to work out what is going on. Its important that thriller films get the audience engaged because otherwise the audience may think its tedious if they keep seeing the same images as other thrillers. For example thrillers can start with scary music and a weird situation and this might be tedious for the audience because they may know what is going to happen etc. Whereas if it was set on a sunny day the audience will be more engaged because they will want to see what is going to happen because the mise en scene is a completely different interpretation to what the audience thought. 

These may not be your typical mise en scene for a thriller but some directors may wish to use the sun as a deceiving way of showing thriller. 

TITLES WITH MUSIC

[Press Here] - Opening Scene to Se7en

TITLES



 

Opening Title



This is an important convention for thrillers because the way the titles come in may reflect the way the characters are, for example Dexter's title reflects how the character is. This is because they are blood like and there is blood squirted. From the title the audience can see that the protagonist may be deceiving and hiding something.



CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS

Within any thriller film/programme people normally amuse that the opening is going to mysterious and chilling. But an example of a thriller programme that doesn't really show much thriller is Dexter. This is because Dexter the protagonist shows normal day-to-day procedures e.g. shaving. 

[Press Here] - Dexter Opening - Morning Routine