Preliminary Evaluation

What We Did

We created our Preliminary Thriller opening following the style the Coen Brothers.

Our Preliminary storyline featured two women whose heist had failed, landing one of them, Nina (played by myself), in prison for seven years. The clip opens with establishing shots of the setting, a school, then zooms in on our supposed female protagonist (characterised by Bethany), who later becomes apparent as merely a red herring. The camera follows our supposed protagonist into an office where she is confronted by Nina, the antagonist as well as her old partner in crime. During these scenes an upbeat soundtrack plays, the use of music against the grain creates the shock when Nina appears; as well a voiceover by Nina plays over the top of this soundtrack, ending just before our protagonist enters the office. After an awkward reunion between the ladies, our antagonist becomes violent, throwing the other against the wall. As Nina approaches the supposed protagonist an eerie soundtrack plays along with another voiceover by Nina, this time explaining what went wrong in their heist, trust. Nina then strangles the other to death, leaving her flumped against the wall as she leaves the room, the camera drifting from the antagonist to the dead body, gradually fading to a blackout.

Which Aspects Worked Well and Which Were Unsuccessful

All the above choices and shots create our Preliminary Thriller opening, with some working and others not. The use of Mise en Scene, sound, camera shots and angles are all important; we discovered a few useful techniques and rules best not to be broken during the planning, filming and editing of our clip.

Firstly, the opening establishing shots can be viewed as both successful and a failure. In the storyboard for our Preliminary Thriller we presented our intentions of using several establishing, panning, shots of the school, including a cross dissolve transition to give the appearance of people disappearing to highlight the aspect of isolation. We originally decided to use extreme long shots as they are often incorporated at the start of Coen Brothers’ films to exaggerate the impression of being alone, which we attempted to replicate. However, due to a lack of time, we had to cut several of these establishing panning shots and double the speed of the ones we kept, so to keep our clip under one minute long. I feel this has drawn attention away from these opening shots which are usually a strong focus of Coen Brothers’ film openings.

On the other hand, we decided to still use the cross dissolve transition, which worked effectively. Unlike in our storyboard this transition was used to link the shot of a zoom in on the School’s windowed door, and the extreme close-up shot of the supposed female protagonist grabbing the paper from a desk. The impression of a continuous shot through the door allows the audience to feel as though they are intruding; a similar technique has been used in Coen Brothers’ films such as ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’ when the camera zooms in on a particular window, yet does not enter through it, which also presents our intentions to create a similar production to that of the Coen Brothers.

The blank sheet of paper, its presence exaggerated by the close-up of the prop, is to subtly enhance the theme of isolation, as the page is empty. This theme relates to the isolation present in most Coen Brothers’ films; however, I feel that this prop is not used as effectively as it could be as its purpose is unlikely to be recognised by the audience

We used a mid-shot of the lower half of the supposed female protagonist to highlight her femininity. This is done by the use of a tight, tailored skirt and seductive black heels, which together give the impression of a strong business woman. This shot worked well as her costume is used to strengthen the intended viewer response, for them to feel seduced by this woman as well as intimidated

Throughout these shots an upbeat soundtrack is played as this relates to the type of soundtrack often used in Coen Brothers’ films. The cheery tempo suggests a false security and leads the audience to feel more shocked when the events become more sinister. Along with the soundtrack is a voiceover by the character Nina. This sets the scene well as it discusses a heist, hinting at the storyline to create suspense and tension yet not revealing too much so to decrease the later shock. The voiceover ends seconds prior to the soundtrack which suddenly stops, without fading out, as the door is slammed shut. This emphasises the atmosphere of tension and theme of entrapment, as well as creating shock. Shocking turn of events are often used in Coen Brothers’ films, such as when in ‘The Big Lebowski’ the protagonist, Lebowski, is attacked in his home and his head is shoved down the toilet; therefore our use of a sudden shock presents similar aspects to Coen Brothers’ films.

The scene within the office presents both the negative and positive aspects of our overall film. The unsuccessful features were mainly due to the setting we chose as it had little room for manoeuvring, especially when it came to camera shots and movements. This resulted in us breaking the 180° rule thus disturbing the flow of shots; on top of this the desk prop suddenly vanished from shot due to the rotation of characters, so to have enough room for the action. As well the lighting was difficult to alter as the blinds concealing the windows were ineffective and disallowed us to create the harsh shadows we had originally intended for. On the other hand some of the sequence of shots worked very effectively, especially the consecutive shots of Nina approaching the supposed protagonist and then the shot of Nina’s hand reaching up around the other’s neck. As well, during this sequence of shots, the intended shadow of Nina’s figure engulfing the victim foreshadows her soon overpowering of her, as well as suggesting Nina is to bring death and evil, as these are both connotations of darkness. This use of lighting is very effective and stands out in our production to me as it is a strong use of mise en scene used to create tension and suspense.

The reason why some of the shots during the confrontation between Nina and the supposed protagonist do not work as consecutive shots is due to several shots having been cut. Originally our film would have exceeded far beyond the maximum time limit and therefore, so to ensure the dialogue is damaged and makes sense, we had to cut several shots of unnecessary dialogue. However, the shots used for these cut sections would have allowed the sequence to flow more so without sudden changes in angles and camera directions, leading to the breaking of the 180° rule. This definitely had a negative effect on the overall production as the scene suffered due to this time limit and no longer appears as it should do.

We used an extreme close-up of the antagonist’s hand locking the door, along with a sound effect to register this action. The close-up, however, does not fit in the sequence of shots and appears out of place; even so, its appearance is effective as it highlights how they are trapped. The sound effect we used was created by morphing two other sound effects together, this posed difficulty when editing as there we had no actual sound of a door locking and therefore had to improvise.

Toward the end of the office scene, as the antagonist casts the dramatic shadow across the victim, another soundtrack and voiceover are simultaneously played. This time the soundtrack is of a much slower pace; the use of this tense string instrumental creates a daunting atmosphere and foreshadows the sinister approaching events. As well, the voiceover, though still voiced by the same character (and actor), is spoken slower and deeper to also add to the suspense. By using the line “people will die” in our voiceover this suggests that numerous deaths will occur, adding to the suspense and shock of the scene. This is very effective as it allows our short clip to interest the audience in what else is to come.

Both of the characters wore red lipstick so to represent the colour’s connotations of passion, danger, and blood. This worked well, especially during the mid-shot of the supposed protagonist’s head and shoulders. The make-up used implied to the audience the danger of this character, suggesting she may not be all she appears, perhaps even as far as swaying her to be more of an antagonist in the audience’s minds. This is effective as it causes the audience to question the good will of the character, often an aspect that appears in Coen Brothers’ films, thus further creating an obvious link between our clip and these auteurs.

I feel that the costume choices worked well as the antagonist is in all black, as opposed to the assumed protagonist who wears a white blouse. These colours, especially when used in Wild West films which the Coen Brothers have created many productions in the style of, represent good and evil, suggesting to the audience which of the characters they should believe to prevail. I believe our twist, in that the ‘good guy’ dies works effectively as it puts the audience on edge and continues them to question which characters they can trust.

The actors chosen for the production were myself and Bethany, however as Bethany is dramatically taller than myself, especially when in heels, her height gives the impression of her character to have authority and power over mine, Nina. With Nina having to overpower the supposed protagonist I feel she should appear more superior, with height being the object of doing so, and therefore I feel the actors chosen for the specific roles did not work effectively, possibly even having a negative effect on the appearance of the film.

Areas for Improvements Next Time

· Next time I feel we should attempt to create our own sound effects so that we are not restricted by the limited sound FX on the editing software used.

· I don’t feel that the high and low angle shots worked well as they appear too exaggerated and unnatural; next time I feel more subtle camera angles should be used so to keep the realism of the production.

· Having learnt of the 180° rule, next time we can ensure it is not broken which will enable toe smooth sequence of shots.

· Now that we are more understanding of time limitations we should be able to create a production of a suitable length without having to cut and speed scenes as this does damage the overall production.

· Knowing the importance of which actors are selected, I believe we should be specific to the characters and how they should appear, when casting for our final production.

· If props are to be used we should make clearer their purpose to allow the audience to understand their use and what they symbolise.

· With more time and access to better equipment, next time we should ensure better lighting instruments are used so to create the effect we desire as in our Preliminary Task we resorted to camera flashes in already bright rooms.

Throughout the film we managed to incorporate costume choices, props, effective lighting, make-up, two soundtracks, diegetic dialogue, sound FX, two voiceovers, low and high angle shots, two-shots, mid shots, establishing shots, extreme close-ups, over the shoulder shots, long shots and close-ups. Together these compile an overall successful Preliminary One Minute Thriller.

By Elli Smart