The Secret In Their Eyes analysis

The trailer creates an enigma that interests the audience about the 'Morales Case', this also categorizes the film into a dectective style film. Within the trailer there is a viewing of a man shooting guns which makes the film seem more action based. The words 'Unwritten Ending' that are displayed within the trailer strengthen the constant theme of mystery of the film. It is a foreign language film which alienates a lot of people who speak a different first language and targets a more art house niche audience.

Thriller Examples

This is a poster for the film Seven. We can tell its a thriller firstly because of the colour scheme, the red writing signifies blood which connotes the gorey themes of this thriller. The black background shows the darkness the film is shrouded in mixed with the lit up faces, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, it connotes a misguided conception which is a key feature of thrillers.



This is the silence of the lambs poster. The colour scheme signifies that this is a thriller through the darkness enshrouding the face. The red eyes connote unaturalistic ideas within the film, possibly signifying that it is a pyschological thriller.

This is the thriller The butterfly effect. The imagery in this poster signifies death through the use of skulls which in turn connotes key features of a thriller to us. It also uses dark blues as its colour scheme which conforms to our expectations of a thriller, as does the catch phrase. The poster is enshrouded with shadows which represents the mystery and danger, again a key feature in thrillers. The poster is centred round a character which connotes him as the protaganist. The poster subverts our expectations as a regular scene from everyday life which signifies it as a psychological thriller.

Defining Thrillers

Thrillers are generally about the battle for justice. A defining characteristic about them is that here is normally a downside to the finish of the storyline.You can often define them by the point of view they are set in :-
Detective story - The characters solving the crime.
Caper - The characters sustaining the crime.
Film Noir - The strong characters point of view.
Pyschodrama - the view of a psycotherapist.
Court Room Drama - Prosecuters/Lawyers.
Each main character of these types of drama can have both main and lesser roles and a mirror. For example in Se7en Brad Pitt, being major role, and his wife, a minor role and the opposites Kevin Spacey, opposite to Brad Pitt in Se7en.

Defining Thrillers

The film seven is an example of a psychological drama and a detective drama.
The caper in this film is kevin spacey because he is doing the crimes.
The conspirator is an example of a court room drama.
Silence of the Lambs would be an example of a Psychodrama.
Sin City is an example of Film Noir.

Doctor Who editing techniques

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/trailermaker/view/7iykgi


I used flash cuts at the begining of my trailer to try to create tension and drama, each of the shots are only 1 second long in order to create a high pace. I used a haunting soundtrack in the background of the whole trailer to create tension. I left 4 seconds of just a quiet haunting soundtrack to try and give the trailer an eery sense, but broke this with a harsh voice of the dalek emperor. Directly after this i have a clip of the Doctor saying 'good luck' with pauses before and after it, again to build up tension. I then put a title sequence to inform the audience of the characters and programme but kept the haunting track going to keep it eery and tense.

Editing the Preliminary Task

We used final cut pro to edit our footage of the preliminary task. We checked in all our shots and stored the ones we liked in logging bins. When we put all our clips together we realised they didn't fit together effectively so we began cutting and shortening clips to make the sequence flow.

We made sure to cut on action to try and hide editing techniques, we started with a cut from the swish pan shot to a mid shot of him sliding to a stop. We then cut to a match on action of him slamming down the head phones. We made the cuts here fast pace in order to create a high pace through the begining action. The cuts then slow down to keep it at a calm conversational pace switching between all round angle shots to give all aspects of the conversation and letting us see the reactions of both characters. We then cut to a close up of one characters face to give what he says emphasis with a quick cut back to a mid shot for him walking away.

We learnt that editing cuts into action makes them less noticable and that faster cuts increase pace in the scene.

Shooting the Preliminary task

This was the final product of our preliminary task. We set up the camera on the tripod making sure everything was secure and ensuring the spirit bubble was level in order to achieve a steady shot. We ensured the shot was framed correctly each time and made sure the rest of the equipment was in shot. We planned over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shots to show the conversation between the two. We ensured we kept to the 180 degree rule so that continuity wasn't ruined and used the appropriate terminology so that everyone who had a role on set knew what was going. We made sure we had the right exposure, white balance and focus. The first shot was a swish pan close up of the feet under the table, we filmed this by taking the tripod off and filming the whole thing so we had footage to work into in editing. The next angle is a medium two shot because it has two people in it but its only of the head and shoulders, we filmed this on the tripod to secure a steady filming. When we see the headphones get slammed down we had a match on action to draw the audiences attention to the action. After this we see another mid two shot of the pair to secure continuity in our clip and allow the speech to spoken without cuts to angles in the middle of it. Soon after we use an over the shoulder shot cut to medium shot cut to reverse over the shoulder shot, to show that these two are having a conversation and so the viewer can see the reactions of the two. We then see a close up as the last line is said to add emphasis to it and then a still shot as he walks away.

It was all shot in a media classroom at hurtwood house which worked well as a high tech looking workplace. I filmed the swish pan under the table and offered suggestions to what shots to use. We had a dim soft lighting to illuminate the characters without making the scene look too artificial. This worked to help the scene look ominous and was effective in helping the scene look a little mysterious.
I have learnt that the spirit level of the tripod in filming is very important and how to focus a camera for the whole shot. I have also learnt about how important exposure and frames per second are for creating a realistic scene or blurring actions.