untraceable for web from Tom Ryan on Vimeo.

Untraceable script

(entire conversation takes place over phone. Saqib is in the bathroom, Jacob in the detective's office) Saqib - Hello there detective Jacob - Who’s this? S - You’ve forgotten me already? J - ……. S - I’m disappointed, Detective. Two years and you’re still no closer to finding me. J - It’s a matter of time S - Good luck. Time isn’t something you have. I’ve done it again. J - Who are you? Phone cuts off.

Use of sound in Untraceable

We chose to use a soundtrack by Mark Cally called “If I have the baby” for the opening of Untraceable. It is an orchestral track with a fairly slow tempo. This was a suitable choice for our film because it helped to create a mysterious atmosphere around the murder scene, while also fitting the detective’s scene with a feeling of calmness. In terms of sound effects in the film, the first post-production edited sound in the film is the gunshot in the bathroom scene. For several reasons, such as access and the law we were unable to use a genuine firearm for the murder scene. However, we were able to recreate one with use of an imitation gun and editing the diegetic sound of gunshots in Pinnacle, meaning it would have been very difficult to get the desired effect without editing software.

Evaluation question 1

During the shooting of our Thriller Opening, we did encounter some problems; however we carried out the task with minimal difficulties and managed to get the task done. One problem which we could have potentially faced came with filming a scene in toilets, which meant we had to deal with presence of mirrors while filming. As a result of this our group had to take great care to avoid any accidental shots of the camera being used in the background of the scene. Another problem which could have occurred was the problem of access to the office we wanted to use in the detective's scene. However, we were able to secure the location for filming and the room we used proved ideal for the location of the detective’s office. In addition to this the lighting could have been a big problem. The bathroom we filmed in had very small westward-facing windows, and so we had to film specifically in the afternoon to avoid using the artificial light which we felt would have slightly ruined the feel we wished to give to the scene. On the other hand, the detective's office had very large windows and therefoer a lot of natural light shining in, which helped us make the detective's surroundings a lot brighter to make use of Todorov's binary oppositions.

Evaluation task 2

During the late 1960s and 1970s the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer-formula, with varying degrees of success. The company eventually ceased production in the mid-1980s and has since then been, in effect, in hibernation. In 2000, the studio was bought by a consortium including advertising executive and art collector Charles Saatchi. The company announced plans to begin making films again after this, but none were produced. In May 2007, the company behind the movies was sold again, this time to a group headed by Big Brother backers, the Dutch consortium Cyrte Investments, who have announced plans to spend some $50m (£25m) on new horror films. The new owners have also acquired the Hammer group's film library.

Evaluation question 3

Throughout the process of our filming and editing we have gained a vast amount of skills in which we did not poses before we began our filming process. For example the fact we all had to by ourselves edit a produce and opening of a thriller this was a new experience to all of us. As well as this, this is only the second time in which we had used pinnacle studios for editing a video in which we produce (the first time was our preliminary task). One skill which we had learned was how to create numerous title pages on pinnacle which was a new editing skill we had learned for example our production company logo. Also we learned how to add and take out sound effects as we used pinnacle in which to add the gun shot noise that we wanted. The beneficial part of this was the gunshot noise on pinnacle fit the scene perfectly. We also added in a lot of fades and dissolve which we had not done much in the past so it was a good and enjoyable skill in which we had learned and it also made our final production a lot better. Lastly we learned how to add a sound track to our production which was a new experience for us all. We had to save the soundtrack and upload it on the video, but the tricky part was to verify the sound of the music in which we wanted to hear the talking between the assassin and the detective. Over all we had learned a new selection of skills which were important in completing our video. I believe we all had an important part to play in the production and we managed to pick up the new editing skills very easily. The production process was not perfect, however I feel it was a success on the whole given it was only the second time any of the group had attempted something of this nature.

Evaluation questions 4 & 5

Final production – target audience from tomryan1994

Props and costumes

Props –

 Saqib: Gun, phone

Jacob: Gun, phone, certificate showing character is a detective, detective attire (braces, smart clothes)

Costumes –

Tom’s character: Purposely dressed in clothes which don’t identify him as part of any particular group.  This means his character can remain fairly unimportant to the audience, but also shows that he is likely to be innocent

Saqib’s character: Dark clothes, purposely quite non-descript to enforce the idea of the character’s identity being a mystery, and of him being almost faceless.  Dark colours also have connotations of being villainous, or evil.

Jacob’s character: Formal trousers and shirt with braces, to give connotations of professionalism.  Heavily influenced by the character of detective Mills in the thriller Se7en.

Justifications for props and costumes –

The gun in both cases is a small black pistol.  In Saqib’s case, this is to display secrecy and to uphold the idea of the character being a “silent killer”, giving the idea of discretion.  For Jacob’s character, the gun was used to finalise the image of the detective being in law enforcement, after the detectives costume and the detective’s certificate of appreciation which is being read by the detective at the beginning of the office scene.

The phones used in the conversation between Saqib and Jacob were in both cases mobile phones.  The killer uses a mobile to call the detective, rather than a landline.  This is to show that the killer isn’t restricted, or necessarily in a certain place.  This ties in with the idea of him being “untraceable”.  At first, we intended to have the detective receive the call on his office’s landline, to show his closeness to the police department.  However, we decided that if we showed the detective to be talking on a mobile we could create the impression that the relationship between the detective and the murderer was a more personal one.  Secondly, it suggest that the detective, who is the hero in the story, is not necessarily a part of the police force all of the time when it comes to dealing with criminals.

Untraceable Production Shot List

1. Prestige Productions Logo
2. New Line Cinema
3. Low angle medium shot of Tom leaving bathroom cubicle
4. Full screen title credit of Tom Ryan fading in and out
5. Medium below the neck shot of Saqib entering the bathroom
6. Over the shoulder medium close up of Tom's reflection washing hands
7. Medium shot of sinks and Saqib’s reflection with gun outstretched
8. Medium close up tracking shot of Saqib walking towards Tom
9. Over the shoulder close up of Tom’s reflection showing Saqib pointing the gun
10. Low angle long shot of Tom collapsing after the gun shot
11. High angle medium shot of Saqib stepping over the body
12. Close up of Saqib cleaning the gun
13. Dissolve to long shot of Saqib leaning on the sink
14. Full screen title credit of Saqib Younis fading in and out
15. Medium shot of Saqib dialling a number
16. Medium shot of Jacob sat at desk
17. Full screen title credit of Jacob Buick
18. Over the shoulder shot of Jacob holding certificate followed by slow zoom into an extreme close up
19. Return to medium shot of Jacob standing up
20. Close up of the back of Saqib’s head on the phone
21. Close up of Jacobs phone ringing in his hand followed by him answering the phone
22. Low angle of Jacob speaking on the phone
23. Extreme close of Saqib’s mouth talking on the phone accompanies by an overlay credit
24. Medium low angle shot of Jacob on the phone
25. Return to Saqib’s mouth still on the phone
26. Close up of Jacob still on the phone
27. Return to close up of Saqib’s mouth
28. Close up of Jacob speaking on the phone accompanied by another overlay credit
29. Another close up of Saqib’s mouth talking on the phone
30. Low angle medium shot of Jacob still on the phone
31. Long shot of Jacob hanging up and putting his phone away
32. Zoom out and tracking long shot of Jacob walking towards the desk
33. Medium shot of Jacob picking up the gun accompanied by another overlay credit
34. Cut out of Jacob loading the gun and putting it in his waistband
35. Medium long shot of Jacob walking to and opening the door
36. Match on action of Jacob walking through the door
37. Full screen title of Untraceable

Untraceable: Synopsis The opening follows two characters. An unidentified killer and a detective who is tasked with catching him. The killer is highly skilled, and frustrates the detective, revealing a “flaw” in the hero not only by covering his tracks well, but with phone calls which taunt him. The opening of the film centres around one of these calls. The film follows a common convention of the killer and detective playing cat and mouse for the duration, with continued taunting on the killer’s part and the detective hitting more and more dead ends in his investigation, in a detective’s office where no one else seems willing to help with the case, and a rival detective who envies our hero’s abilities and does his best to be unhelpful in the case. Eventually the detective’s brilliance and persistence leads to him to discover that his chief detective, who has been discouraging him from pursuing the investigation has been contracting the murders for financial and political gains and has recruited almost his entire police force into the corruption. He is unaware of the phone calls. The hero is forced after a manhunt to confront the chief and eventually apprehends him and a number of other rogue detectives who he thought to be colleagues, including the rival detective whose house, when searched after being arrested, reveals him being responsible for phone calls attempting to throw the detective off the trail. A closing scene reveals the hero acting the new chief of the detective’s office, with a new workforce. Equilibrium has been restored.

Opening to Se7en
Open Seven from Stephen Adams on Vimeo.

Se7en: thriller opening

In this essay I am going to analyse the opening of the thriller Se7en.

The setting and iconography of the thriller Se7en, the first scene is set in the morning this is to denote that it is the beginning of a normal day in the life of our “hero”. It shows Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) in his home. The room is coloured with a soft blue, which connotes calmness and implies Somerset’s character to be a calm, collected one. The scene entails Somerset preparing for a day at work, and has a medium shot of his table with some of his possessions neatly laid out on it. The first piece of equipment he has is a badge, which shows imply that he is a member of law enforcement.  In addition to this he has a pen which suggests that unlike a usual or stereotypical policeman or detective he is more likely to use his knowledge and intellect as opposed to force or violence.  Lastly, he has a pen knife which shows that he is likely to take a more light-fingered approach to situations, but also perhaps an old-fashioned one as use of pen knives is not as widespread as it was in the past.  Other aspects of Somerset’s house seem to connote a more old-fashioned style of life.  For example, the technology we see in the house is very limited, even for 1995.  We see lamps and lights, but we don’t see televisions, radios, or other luxuries which were common in 90’s American households.  This suggests that Somerset is not a man of amenities, or leads a particularly luxurious or wealthy life.  It also suggests that he may not have much of a life outside of his job, as the metronome is the only item we see in his house that isn’t part of his work. The sound in this scene reinforces these ideas.  Particularly the sound of sirens in the distance, signifying crime.

In the next scene the lighting is low key high contrast chiaroscuro, and is set in a dark, squalid house.  We are also shown and told about blood being splattered “up the walls”, informing the viewer immediately that the dead man they saw in a medium-long shot was murdered.   When both detectives leave the crime scene the viewer immediately notices the extremely rainy weather, which is a use of pathetic fallacy to give the conversation and the situation a negative and gloomy feeling. The streets seem to be in a poorer area of a city, and a lot of the windows have bars on them.  Not only does this again show that the area where the detectives are working is not a pleasant place and has high crime, but the bars could also be a metaphor for the situation the pair of detectives are about to be trapped in as the film goes on.  The idea of the city being a generally unpleasant place is reinforced by Somerset’s dialogue in this scene, where he dismisses detective Mills saying he has worked in homicide by saying that he “hasn’t worked here” and therefore may not necessarily be qualified.

In the final scene we are again shown detective Somerset’s home where he begins to get ready for bed. As he does this the room itself is peaceful, however in the background diegetic noises such as dogs barking and sirens are heard, showing that although he has done his best to make his surroundings tranquil, he cannot change the fact that he is close to the unpleasant area where he lives.

The opening of Se7en represents the two characters as not only being in law enforcement, but as being committed to their jobs.  For example with Somerset’s home being so work-oriented, and the fact that Mills moved to the city with worse crime of his own volition.  However, we see differences between the two characters, particularly in their approaches.  Detective Somerset is a man who is shown to have a more careful approach to investigations, asking questions which seem to his colleagues as being irrelevant.   This idea is also given with the view of his tools in his house, where we are shown his pen instead of say, a gun.  Detective Mills is represented in a much more eager and energetic way.  In the conversation he is also very eager and the fact that he chose to move to a harder place to work represents him as a character willing to challenge himself.    For example, when he enters the crime scene he jogs up the stairs and walks quickly into the apartment.  This contrasts to Somerset’s measured and cautious approach.  The dress codes of the characters are also contrasted.  Mills is wearing a leather jacket over his traditional white shirt and tie, which is a change from the suit which you would expect a detective to wear. However, this is a convention Somerset follows; giving the impression that Somerset is likely to be a more experienced and perhaps aged character.  The other characters in the opening have are not named, largely showing their irrelevance to the story as a whole; however the interaction between Somerset and the unnamed detective is an important one as it demonstrates Somerset’s methods being different to his colleagues.  The other character we are shown, besides the dead body, is the murderer during the opening credits.  We are shown only his hands, which are bandaged on the fingertips.  This is a result of him cutting his fingertips off to stop himself being traced, immediately portraying him as a character with something to hide.  He is also portrayed as a mysterious man with some kind of interest in religion, as we see him cutting various pieces of paper, including the word “God” out of a piece of American money.  The non-diegetic soundtrack to accompany this scene is “Closer” by Nine-inch Nails, a song with screeching, industrial sounds which also mentions God, finalising with the viewer the knowledge that religious ideas will play a part in the film.

Preliminary Production

Tom R - Preliminary Task 1 from Tom Ryan on Vimeo.

The preliminary production task was to film two characters arranging a meeting over the phone, and then eventually meeting in a scene where shots/reverse shots are used.  The production also includes match on actions, close ups and long shots.  This means I learned different techniques of filming, as well as different angles and ways to position the camera in order, to, for example show continuity between scenes, or avoid reflecting the camera in glass doors.  I also learned the importance of making smooth transitions between shots, such as when someone is walking through a door from the left, in the next shot on the other side of the door they have to be coming from the right

Something that went well in our task was the variety of shots we managed to include.   We used Long-shot and medium shot of characters, match-on-action of people opening and walking through doors, an establishing shot of the school building the scenes were set inside, and shots and reverse shots of dialogue between characters while observing the 180 degree rule.

Our biggest mistake during this task was probably taking too long to get all the shots we needed to.  Doing this meant that some of our clips seemed rushed, and on the first day of filming we originally didn’t have all the clips needed for the film.  Doing the filming over two days also meant that the people who were being filmed were wearing different clothes, resulting in a few continuity errors which would have potentially ruined the film.

The most productive aspect about working in a group was that each member could be delegated their own roles, which were two people filming and two people being in the production.  This meant we could be a bit more time efficient, as well as having more people to give opinions and ensure the filming was done correctly.  The least productive aspect of working in a group was that it can be harder for everyone to understand what the group is intending to do in certain situations, for example which camera angles are going to be used at different times.  The best way to overcome this problem is with better communication within the group.

I was most pleased with being able to use clips which we had recorded ourselves and edit them in Pinnacle Studio, because the fact we had recorded them personally meant we had a better understanding and could therefore use the clips more efficiently.

The tools we used in Pinnacle Studio were originally quite simple, such as splitting and deleting sections of the film to avoid scenes that were too long.  We also learned to transition between scenes in different ways, such as fading the shots together, or using dissolve between shots to show the passing of time, or a change in location.

I was most pleased about the production with regard to filming and editing the match on action shots for the production.  I think our group did well to record the ‘same’ occurrence from different angles and manage to get a smooth cut from one angle to the next through editing.

Hi I am Jacob Buick, this is my blog for my AS foundation portfolio where I will post all my research, planning, construction and evaluation information.