Mise-En-Scene Questionnaire Results

Pitch

Location, Casting & Narrative Questionnaire

 Location, Casting & Narrative Questionnaire

    1.      Circle the character roles you would expect to see in a thriller film:

Protagonist (hero)                   Antagonist (villain)                 helper

Criminals                                 parents                         Police officers

Terrorists                                 psychotic People         fugitives         

Innocent victims                     family                          old people

Mental people                         gang members             children

    2.  Circle the location you would expect to feature in a thriller film:

Forest                                      Streets                         Cities  

Alley Ways                             Countryside                Abandoned buildings

Basements                               Kitchen                       School

Bedroom                                 Playground                  Hospital

Train Station                           Car Park                      Boat

   3.   What do you think the best way to structure the story?

Non-Linear (not in chronological order)         Linear (chronological order)

   4 .  What would you expect the Protagonist to look like

Draw an image or…

Comment:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  5 .   What would you expect the Antagonist to look like

Draw an image or…

Comment:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

   6.  What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller films:

•  Supernatural Thriller
•  Crime Thriller
• Techno Thriller (sci-fi/ spy/ action/ war)
• Legal Thriller
• Political Thriller
• Conspiracy Thriller
• Psychological  Thriller

   7.  What attributes would you expect Protagonists to have

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   8. What attributes would you expect Antagonists to have

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mise-en-scene Elements Questionnaire

Mise-en-scene Elements Questionnaire

1. What type of music would you expect to hear in the background of a thriller fillm? (Tick One)

o  Intense music

o  Classical music

o  Rock music

o  Rap music

o  Pop music

     2.  What of the following sound effects do you associate with thriller films?

o  Gunshot

o  Heartbeat

o  Cars

o  Background chatter

o  Heavy/Deep Breathing

o  Door slams

o  Children playing

      3.  Do you expect to see a male or female lead in a thriller?

o  Male

o  Female

      4.  What time period would you expect a thriller to be set in? Or what do you prefer?

o  Pre 1900’s

o  1900-1949

o  1950-1969

o  1970-1999

o  2000-2016

o  The Future

     5.  What props would you expect to be used in a Thriller film?

o  Gun

o  Car

o  Money

o  Knife

o  Telephone

      6.  What characters would you expect to see in a Thriller?

(Tick as many as you think apply)

o  Child

o  Policeman

o  Old woman

o  Shop assistant

o  Monster

      7.  What time of camera angles do you associate with Thriller films?

o  Extreme close up

o  Wide shot

o  Quick cuts

o  Panning shots

     8.  What kind of lighting would you associate with a thriller film?

Preliminary Task Explanation

We did a preliminary task to practice using the new camera angles that we have learnt over the past few weeks in lessons and to get some experience with script writing and location scouting. Our brief was:

"A continuity filming and editing task, which involves a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot, and the 180-degree rule. The titles and the opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group."

To begin with, we made sure we knew what the three shots we had to include were, how to use them and how to incorporate them into our preliminary video. We researched each shot, and then took a picture with each shot in mind before we began filming to see how our scene would look.

Shot/Reverse Shot   

A shot reverse shot is a camera angle where one character is shown looking at another character, who tends to be offscreen or the view of them is very restricted. This is then reversed, so we see the other character talking to the character who was previously in the shot. As the characters are shown facing opposite directions, the viewer can tell that they are looking at each other. This could also show characters who are in conversation, and presumably are familiar with each other. 

Match on Action

A match on action is where the clip cuts from one shot to another view with matches the actions in the first shot. The best example of a match on action is where someone walks towards a door, then the scene cuts to the person with their hand on the door handle, then the person opening the door, and then the person entering the room. This emphasises the action and task that the character is completing. 

180 Shot

There is an imaginary line called the axis, which is used to connect the characters. By having the camera on one side of this axis for all the shots, the same character is on the same side constantly. When the camera passes over the axis, it's known as jumping the line or crossing the line. If you break the 180-degree rule, it is known as shooting in the round. 

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Script

After discussing ideas for our preliminary task, my group and I decided to make a story line based off of a crime thriller, as we thought this would be the most effective way to incorporate all of the aspects that were required in our preliminary. We had a scene of a Superintendent discussing a case with an Inspector. We stuck with the thriller genre so we could get used to the codes and conventions of a thriller film and decided whether or not we wanted to use the same genre for our actual film opening. Our actors were Alex and Jordan, as we didn't feel the need to audition actors for our preliminary. Here is an annotated version of our script:

Preliminary Planning

Location: We already knew the idea behind our preliminary task, so we had to find somewhere that could resemble an office in a police station. After looking round different classrooms in the school, we decided to use one of the house offices for our location. The main reason for this was because it had large desks with computers on, and behind these desks was some display boards that looked very busy and added to the police office look of the room.

         

Casting: As this was only our preliminary task, we deiced not to audition  all of our group for acting roles and just came to the mutual agreement that Alex would act as the Inspector, Jordan would be the Superintendent and Maddie and I would be responsible for filming. This was an easy choice for us, as we though that with the scene being based around police officers, it would be more fitting for the boys in our group to take on these roles.

Camera Shots: This was the most important part of the preliminary to us, as we wanted to make sure that we included the three required camera angles (180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot), but we also saw it as an opportunity to practice using these camera angles so that we would have more of an idea what we were doing when it came to filming our actual two minute film opening. Not only did we include the required camera angles, but we also tried some other angles that we had learnt about over the past few weeks.

Low Angle 

We used this low angle shot of Jordan's character walking towards the door as it showed that he was of a high status, and also incorporated the mise-en-scene element of the walkie talkie, which we believed helped the audience to identify that the character was a police officer and not just a random man. We also used another low angle, but this time of the door and from the other side of the corridor. However, after filming one shot from this angle, we realised that when Jordan stood in frame, he blocked the door handle making it hard to see the portion match on action that was of the door opening and we decided that this didn't fully meet the brief that we had been given.

Close Up

We decided to use a close up as a part of our match on action sequence, as we though this would add emphasis on the tasks that Jordan was completing. We also thought that by opening the door vigorously at a close up angle would reinforce the authority and intimidation of the character. It also added to the mystery of the scene, as the audience have so far only seen different parts of Jordan's body, not his face.

We also decided to use a close up as part of a tracking shot, but not as close as the opening on the door handle. At first, we used a standard tracking shot, but we felt that this revealed too much of the character to the audience, so we decided to use this medium close up to follow the character in the room. This was also considered as part of our match on action sequence, and incorporated one of the actions that we required in the brief.


180 degree rule

We incorporated the 180 degree rule as this was a large part of the brief and was one of the camera angles that we were required to use. This was the only angle we struggled to use, as we weren't sure how it would look in relation to the rest of the scene. As a result of this, we decided to shoot the 180 shot from a number of different angles, but still on the 180 degree axis.

Shot Reverse Shot

The last shot we included was a shot reverse shot, as this was as well part of our brief. This was much easier to include in our scene as the brief also said we needed to include two characters having a conversation, and we decided that a shot reverse shot would show this in the best way, and also show the status difference between the two characters.