dirty harry

Dirty Harry is a cop action thriller, in which Clint Eastwood stars. It is a classic 1970's film which was one of Clint Eastwood's best films along with his Westerns. It is about a serial killer and dirty Harry's (Clint Eastwood) task to hunt him down. It starts with a list of all the San Francisco police killed in action. then it cuts to a close up of an end of a gun. after a couple of second a slow drum beat stars, then it changes to a first person view though the sniper scope, the scene progresses as the target is followed, then the camera zooms out for an establishing shot of where the victim is. then as the viewer waits to see what happens, the music gets louder, then quiets down as it switches to first person, it seems that he's hunting her.

        Then he steadies his aim and shots, we see the victim get shot. then we see the first of the credits, Clint Eastwood appears on the screen the same time that he walks in to shot, in the credits the viewer gets the impression that he is a good cop from the way he solves where the killer was straight away, also the music used as he heads towards the building that he suspects the killer came from, is quite funky and fast. from the first couple of minutes the viewer can tell what the film is going to be about and place the film roughly in the year it was made because of the recording quality and the instruments used.

      The opening shows what is to come later on in the film, it is an action packed glimpse of what is to come, this tells the viewer what the genre is straight away so they know what to expect.

these are our storyboards for the thriller opening.

http://ellieas.blogspot.com/2010/11/final-thriller-opening.html?spref=bl
This is a link to our second and final continuity exercise. We decided to scrap the original lighting idea and used better lighting. This worked better and greatly improved the original one. There are a few small errors where the separate pieces of film hasn't completely fitted together perfectly.

Recce shots for thriller opening

This is an alleyway we found in wem, the red bricks give it the 'moscovin' look we wanted. and the almost narrowing lanes makes the feeling of nearing its end.

Another alleyway we found which overlooks a scrap yard

an empty park is wierd as a park usally has people in it.

A grave yard is quite sinister and deathly

possible locations:
. wem; church, park, alley, town hall, school, stairs, car park
These are the best filming locations that we could find in wem.

Thriller Openings- Mission Impossible

The opening of mission impossible is inspired by the old television series. it starts with a close up of a hand lighting a fuse. the fuse lasts all the way though the opening credits, the fuse is used because people associate fuses as being a count down to an explosion of some sort, with the similar style to the original series kept in mind, they show brief moments later on in the film for a glimpse to what exciting thrills lie ahead. in 0this it  The music is very stylish and fits perfectly with the style of the film, its fast and catchy. They used the original music but gave it a more modern twist to show it's age. I think that this really works well, as it wouldn't be mission impossible with out it. The clip is very fast moving and energetic, which sets the atmosphere for the rest of the film.

This is our first attempt at the continuity exercise, we tried to use night cam to add to the mystery. I do not think this worked well, because of the way the light was used.

Thriller opening Idea

Ideas
. action scene
. James bond type opening
. lots of lights and effects
. Flash back
. non-chronological order.
. the credits appear after the opening scene
. pre-haps alternating between a questioning/interrogation scene and a action scene.
. explosions
.  create suspence and grip the audiences attention.
. close shots, mid shots, extreme close ups, long shots.
. start with a establishing shot, then a close shot of what is going on.
production logo/name
. Laughing monkey productions
. picture of a monkey
. drawing of a monkey
. rough drawing of a monkey
possible names action thriller
. unknown enemy
. unknown fate
. narrowing lanes
. darkening lanes

More storyboards

storyboarding

Alfred Hitchcock 'North by Northwest'

Alfred Hitchcock's 'north by Northwest', (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIlqatMQSgI) starts off with an animation of some lines shooting across the screen, the credits are on the the lines, the lines finally stop to form what looks like the bars of a prison, this makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic.


      The animation eventually ends up with a fixed pattern, it is at this piont that the animation stops and changes into a film, even though it is only  a small part of the building it is quite clearly a sky scraper, because of the glass and the amount of windows. soon the reflection reveals more by showing the reflection of the traffic below, at this point the viewer is able to locate the buildings location,  because of new Yorks iconic yellow cabs. Then the camera pans down slowly and changes the shot to the bottom of the skyscraper, where we see a crowd of people scurrying around. The choice of music is very clever as it is a very fast piece and it is in a major key, this almost sounds like scurrying which matches the scene we can see.


         The viewer can tell what time of the day it is by the amount of people rushing around. It seems as if it is the evening because of the way all the people are exiting the buildings instead of entering them. we are shown two middle class women fighting over a taxi, this adds to the chaotic surrounding and makes the viewer feel even more uncomfortable, and claustrophobic. 

thriller

A thriller is a genre of film, that usually involves crime, violence and mystery that grips the viewer they usually cover up important parts of the plot, so that the viewer has to work out what's going on.

Ten thrillers from 2005 onwards:

. Inglorious basterds
. Batman begins
. sin city
. Watchmen
. sherlock holmes
. I am legend
. no country for old men
. valkyrie
. the hurt locker
. the dark knight

Below is the opening to sin city.

The director used light and dark to create an atmospheric scene. I like this and would consider using this in my thriller opening. It isn't extremely violent and it shows the hitmans point of view.

Analysing Alfred Hitchcock's 'Marnie'

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Marnie' starts with the opening credits in the form of pages being turned like a book. this is used because it was based on a novel by Winston Graham. It starts with the film maker, universal pictures. Then the leading lady 'tippi' Herden, then the leading male role, sean connery and then the director Alfred Hitchcock. this shows that he was as important as the leading actors in the film. Then the co-stars appear, followed by who is featured in the film, followed by the director of photography. then the production designer, then the assistant director, followed by the unit manager.

 once the credits have ended, it zooms in n a yellow bag which takes up the center of the shot. the colours were cleverly Then it slowly zooms out on the person and shows that this defiantly a train station.   chosen because every thing is a dull grey colour, unlike the bag which is bright yellow. this makes the bag stand out and focuses the audiences attention on it other than everything else in the frame. in the background there is a railway track in the back ground, which indicates where the bag and this mysterious person is.

soon after, the scene cuts to someone talking, immediately the viewer assumes that he is some kind of manager  because of his suit and glasses. He talks about someone who stole from his safe (with a close up on the safe). Then he gives a brief description of the suspect, who he obliviously fancies. we can tell this from the way he describes this woman.The is being interviewed by two police men, who seemed to find the situation amusing because of the way he describes her. There is also what I assume is the receptionist because of the way she stands away from everyone else in the corner. She seems to be finding the situation amusing as well. It turns out that the manager didn't get any references from this woman, which the police men and the receptionist find even more amusing.