The BBFC

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) which was first called British Board of Film Censors is responsible for the national classification of films in the UK. This non-governmental organisation is funded by the film industry. Under the Video Recordings Act of 2010, the BBFC is expected to classify DVDs, videos and certain video games.
The films and video games that are rated receive a certificate, for example '15' as well as advice for consumers pointing out whether any sex, coarse language, or violence is involved. This is used so that the appropriate certificate is assigned to a film and only people over that particular age can buy that film. 

The BBFC also advise what cuts should be made in a film. Cuts are compulsory if whats involved violates the Protection of Children Act (1978) or Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act (1937). Cuts can also be advised to make the film more appropriate for a wider audience. Also if distributors have asked for a certain certificate the BBFC may suggest cuts so that their film will fit the certificate they requested. 

These are the current certificates:

Universal - This means that all ages are allowed to watch. There is nothing unsuitable for children over four years of age.

PG - This means that all children are admitted, however some scenes may be unsuitable for children under the age of eight.

12A - This means that children under the age of twelve may only watch the film if they are accompanied by an adult. It is not recommended that children under the age of twelve should watch it as 12A films can include mature themes, moderate violence and sex, commonly used milder swear words, soft drugs and discrimination. 

12 - This means that only people twelve and above can buy or rent films or games under this certificate. 12 films can include infrequent use of strong language, infrequent drugs, moderate violence, discreet sexual activity and brief nudity.

15 - To buy a 15 rated film or game you must be over the age of fifteen as it can contain adult themes, strong language, moderate-strong violence, moderate-strong sex references, hard drugs and mild non detailed sex activity.

18 - For films of this certificate you must be eighteen or above. 18 certificate films have no limitation on bad language. They also allow hard drugs and strong violence. Strong sexual activity is allowed as well as sex references and scenes of strong real sex as long as it is justified by the context.

 R18 - For cinemas to beable to show R18 rated films they must have a license, just like retailers must have licences to sell the film. Only people eighteen and over may buy these films. These films include all whats in an 18 rated film however the violence and sex activity would be stronger. These films get demanded cuts more than any other certificate films. 

Suspense and Shock

Suspense


Imagine a scene in a film in a classroom with students and a teacher. The camera reveals that there is a bomb under the table to the audience but we (the students and the teacher) are unaware of it. Will we be saved? Will the bomb go off? This is suspense. An example of suspense is in Alfred Hitchcock's film Sabotage. A boy is given a package to deliver which us as the audience know is a bomb that is due to go off at 1:45, however the boy and everyone around him are unaware. Hitchcock drags the boys journey out, using traffic and crowds which slow him down. This is to build up the tension. We also here a non diegetic ticking noise symbolizing the time and keep seeing clocks which are warning us that the bomb is soon to go off. This leaves us in suspense as we're waiting to see whether the bomb will go off or whether someone will find out in time. 



Shock


Imagine the same scene as before however the camera doesn't reveal the bomb under the table, it just goes off without any warning, exploding and killing everyone in the room. This is shock. For example in the film 'Children of men'.

This shows us a man going into a cafe and getting a coffee with people crowding round a television talking about a death that sounds irregular. It is set in London, however its not London as we know it which makes us question how far into the future this is. All of a sudden from nowhere a bomb explodes in the shop the man has just walked out of, releasing a big gust of smoke through the street and shocking the characters and the audience. 

The Brief

• The titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last a maximum of two minutes.
• The coursework is 50% of the course
• The production itself is worth 60% of the marks

Marks are awarded for demonstrating excellence in the following:

• Holding a shot steady
• Framing a shot
• Using a variety of shot distances
• shooting material appropriate to the task set
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and where appropriate
• Using sound and images

Before we begin filming we must go through the planning process:

1. Organize ourselves into groups and complete the group sheet
2. Under take some research into the genre and complete the research sheet
3. Prepare a treatment for the program and complete the treatment sheet
4. Produce a story board and an animatic

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was known as the master of suspense whose films come to be the bench mark for psychological thrillers. He was born 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone, London, England and after a long, successful career, died 29 April 1980 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA. 

He was raised by his father William Hitchcock who was an East End green grocer and his wife Emma and had two older siblings, William and Eileen. Unfortunately his father died when he was fifteen. Hitchcock went to school at Saint Ignatius College which was run by Jesuits as he was raised as a strict catholic. He also went to a school for engineering and navigation. 

 In 1915 he started his first job for Henley Telegraph and Cable Company as an estimator. This is where his interest for film started and he often visited the cinema. Around 1920 Hitchcock joined the film industry drawing the sets as he was a very skilled artist.

 In 1923 he directed his first film 'The number 13', however this production was stopped. In 1925 he went on to direct a film called 'The pleasure garden' which was a British and German production. This film became very popular. Hitchcock made his first trademark film in 1926 which was ' The lodger'. This same year he married Alma Reville who he met in his first job in the film industry. They went on to have a daughter, Patricia Hitchcock who was born 7 July 1928. 

He went on to make many films in Britain including 'The lady vanishes' in 1938 and 'Jamaica inn' in 1939. Some of his films made him famous in the USA and he was asked by an American producer, David O. Selznick to move to the USA to direct the adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca which he did so in 1940.  Film companies started to call his films after him such as Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot after the making of Saboteur in 1942. 

Hitchcock was awarded the AFL Life achievement award in 1979 and said his famous quote: 

"I beg permission to mention by name only four people who have given me the most affection, appreciation and encouragement and constant collaboration. The first of the four is a film editor, the second is a scriptwriter, the third is the mother of my daughter Pat, and the fourth is as fine as a cook as ever performed miracles in a domestic kitchen and their names are Alma Reville" 

Other well know quotes of his are as follows:

" The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them"

"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it"

"If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on"

"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible"

"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body on the coach"

He began to write a screen play with Ernest Lehman which was called 'The short night' but he decided to fire Lehman and replace him with David Freeman, a young screenwriter who re wrote the script. However the film was never made because of Hitchcock's health state, but the script was later published after Hitchcock's death. 

Hitchcock was Knighted, Sir Alfred Hitchcock in late 1979 but unfortunately the following year he died due to renal failure in his sleep. 

This is a quote by Rick Altman which shows the impact Hitchcock had on the film industry:

" Under the strong influence of Alfred Hitchcock, thrillers often begin with a crime and the accusation of an innocent bystander. Were the accused to contact the authorities no doubt the case could be promptly solved, but instead the poor bystander runs from the law thus further jeopardizing life and limb" 

Thriller conventions

Thriller conventions: 

• dramatic music
• fights
• pov shots
• 'who done it'
• explosions
• mind games
• chase
• kidnapping
• cliff hanger
• plot twists
• enigmas - problems
• cities
• death
• tension
• suspense

Features and rules that make up a thriller

To make a set of rules for a genre, you need to look closely at different technical aspects, plot generalisations, character types and re occuring themes and situations.

These are the rules and features that we came up with:

• suspense
• tension
• emotion
• helpless/vulnerable people
• identification by audience with the protagonist
• fast pace editing
• low key lighting
• murderer/sereal killer
• protagonist
• antagonist
• somebody is injured or killed
• antagonist returns at the end
• antagonist has facial hair
• extreme close ups

Do films follow rules?

Some film makers claim that 'there are no rules' and some claim that 'rules are there to be broken'. However most people would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream films observe in order for therm to be acceptable to the madd audience.

Thriller

Thriller
We have been looking at what constitutes a thriller.


'The thriller is a very difficult genre to pin down because it covers such a wide range of films. Thrillers are films of suspense that are supposed to instill terror into the audience.'
Susan Hayward
Key concepts in film studies


There are different types of thrillers such as:

• Spy thrillers, for example James Bond 
• Political thrillers such as Ides of march
• Conspiracy thrillers like state of play
• Legal thrillers such as The pelican brief
• Psychological thrillers, for example American psycho

An example of constitution.

Animated director, Chuck Jones, worked at Warner Brothers for decades making short movies starring Bugs Bunny and Co. He also made road runner cartoons and from the first episode, a set of rules emerged.

The rules were as follows:

• The road runner cannot harm or upset the coyote except by going 'MEEP!MEEP!'
• No outside force can harm the coyote, only his own ineptitude or the failure of acme products.
• The coyote could stop anytime if he were not a fanatic
• No dialogue ever except 'MEEP!MEEP!'
• The road runner must stay on the road, otherwise logically, he would not be called the road runner
• All action  must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters; the South West American desert.
• All materials, tools, weapons or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from Acme corporation
• Whenever possible, make gravity the coyote's greatest enemy. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

Watching the episodes, the rules have been applied.

Preliminary task

Preliminary task


My preliminary task is a demonstration of continuity editing using match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.


The key edits


Match on action - This is where we see a character start an action in one frame and then see them continue it in the next.


180 degree rule - This is a basic guideline that states that two characters or other elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.

Shot reverse shot - This is usually used for a conversation. We first have a shot of one person talking and then reverse to see the other person talking.

eye line match -  This is where we look at someone staring at something and in the next frame we see what they are looking at.

This was the guidelines for our preliminary task:

• Character A walks towards a closed door
• Character A enters through the door and crosses the room to where character B is seated.
• Character A and B exchange a few lines of dialogue
• Either A or B exits the room

This was our preperation for our task.

For our preliminary task we all took on roles but all put our input into everything. Florida and Tajinder were the main actors although Tina and I did play parts. Tina and I did most of the filming and so we had to make sure we had the camera at the right angles and include the shots such as shot reverse shot. We had to make sure we filmed 'baggy' so that we left enough footage to be edited. As well as the necessary shots we also used over the shoulder shots, medium shots, close ups and long shots. 

We then had to edit our film, placing the frames together and adding in transitions. We added a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end. The rest were cuts as our scene was an argument and so it was very tense and fast pace. 

Paranormal activity

Paranormal activity


This film builds suspense and creates a tense atmosphere without showing the viewer a lot of action and detail. It does this using a lot of techniques.


Camera
This film is shot in a home video style. This film contains mainly point of view shots and tracking shots and still long shots of the room. 
The point of view shots work well to create a tense atmosphere as us as an audience feel like we’re there as well. It shows the psychological state of the character. It shaking shows the characters nervous and afraid which then has an effect on how we feel. Following the screams and action builds suspense as we are waiting for the person to get there to find out what is happening. We feel like we’re there as we see things the same time as the characters do. 


Sound
The sound plays a big part in creating tension in this film. The sound elements used in this film are all diegetic but are created to sound louder and more intense. The noises heard such as foot steps, door slamming and creaking, scratching, groaning, screeching and dialogue all add to the tension. They create an eerie atmosphere and make us aware of danger without actually showing us.


Lighting
The lighting is all natural coming from sources within the setting. These create shadows and result in most of the film being in darkness. This instantly makes us feel scared and unaware of the surroundings.

Mise en scene
The setting is a normal home with a normal couple which in its own way makes the film scarier as it makes people relate to real life and feel that this situation in the film could be a reality. 
The characters facial expressions and body language create a lot of the scary atmosphere as their responses to what is going on in the house show their fear. 
The male character has a lot of pride and feels he should take care of the problem as its he’s girlfriend being haunted. However he soon realises the situation is out of hand and becomes very nervous. We don’t see a lot of his facial expressions but his point of view shot is always shaky and disorderly which shows he’s nervous. 
The female character is very vulnerable and scared. She is dependant on the male and is always showing how frightened she is. Her crying, screaming, grabbing hold of the man in panic and her general facial expressions build up tension. 
Their dialogue also contributes towards the atmosphere as they are always talking in fast paced, panicky tones.


All of these aspects create the atmosphere without needing to show us a lot of action. Although we never see what is actually haunting the woman, the noises it makes and the fright it causes still scares the audience. 

Source code

Source Code- Duncan Jones 2011

The opening of this film is an establishing shot. It shows us the setting which is the city, trains, cars, roads etc. This shot is accompanied by non diegetic music. There is then a sound bridge as the music merges with the sound of the train. 
When it changes from the establishing to the train, all of the sounds are exaggerated such as the coffee spilling onto the main characters foot and a can being opened. These noises being exaggerated creates tension. The cuts are very short as the man keeps looking at different people with confusion. His facial expressions show us that he is feeling very disorderly. His eyes are always moving and he acts very nervous. When there is a point of view shot it is shown shaking and unsteady to show the psychological state of the character. It shows his confusion. The tension builds as he continues to get confused and begins to shout. It keeps building and the shots get quicker. The train then explodes and the shot is very dramatic and captivating. 
The camera work plays a big part in creating the tension as the close-ups of the exaggerated sounds and the quick changes of shots build it up. 
This opening is very effective. The director makes us want to watch on as we want to know what has happened to the man. The impact of the explosion grabs our attention. The lighting and colour used for the explosion is so bright it captivates our attention.

No country for old men & Zodiac

C L A M P S


C     Costume
L Lighting
A     Actors
M Makeup
P Props
S  Setting




No country for old men

This film starts with the sun set fading in from black. The shots show time moving on as the sun changes its positions. For the first minute and 40 seconds there are continuous cuts showing us different parts of the desert like setting whilst a voice over is speaking.

 The first movement we see is a mill type propeller turning in the wind, we then get closer up to this and the shot changes to a pan of a man being arrested.

The setting is a lifeless desert. It is full of dull, brown colours. This setting straight away makes me think of a cowboy type film. Another thing that makes me think this is the police officers uniform and car and also the voice overs accent. The style of the police car and the officers costume shows me that this film is set in the past.

This beginning scene is an effective opening as the voice over is telling us a story in his life. The speed of the cuts showing the scenery are about six seconds which makes us carefully listen to the story as what is on the screen is calm. They get slightly faster just before we see the arrest as it is getting to the end of the voice over.

Zodiac

The opening scene creates suspense using mise en scene. They do this so to grab the audiences attention so that they watch on.
This film starts with what we assume is a couple enjoying a celebration. Although the male character is dressed casual, the female character is dressed up which suggests she has made an effort for the occasion. This tells us that they hope to enjoy the night. The opening sequenceis full of fireworks and big crowds. The firewworks give off alot of light and noise which grabs our attention.
Going from this noise and light into an isolated situation (in the car) immediatly creates tension. The girls facial expressions show us that she feels someting is going to happen. She begins to look very nervous when a car appears. When fireworks are aimed at them it gets tense and we begin to know something bad is going to happen. This makes us as an audience want to carry on watching to see what happens to them.

Thrillers - North by Northwest

Thrillers


Thriller is a wide genre of literature, television and film. A lot of the time they include sub genres such as a horror thriller. They are stereotypically fast paced films with a lot of action and drama. Alot of thrillers use devices such as cliffhangers to cause suspense. Thrillers usually include a villain, hero, chases, narrow escapes and near death experiences. They create escapism from reality for the audience and gives them an insight to a life with fear,action and danger


Alfred Hitchcock's - North by Northwest


North by Northwest is a film made in 1959, written by Ernest Lehman and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.It starts with a New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of  foreign spies. He is pursued around the country and has to find a way to survive. This film is a classic thriller which includes all the stereotypical elements such as villains, a hero, chases etc...
Even in the first fifteen minutes of the film it includes all the action and fast pace filming. This technique is used in such films to grab the audiences attention straight away.
This film is fast pace and full of action for example when the hero is being chased around a deserted field by a plane trying to kill him. This creates tension and engages us. 

The film also has red herrings, such as the character 'eve'. At first we think shes a regular woman and then assume that she is part of the villain crew. However we later on find out that she is working with the FBI. Another example is when the hero gets shot the audience believe he is injured, however we later see that it was all staged. 
The Macguffin in this film is the micro film but in other films could be money, survival, source of power or could just be unexplained. This is the object in which the film revolves around and why all the action happens. However as Hitchcock said "the audience don't care" as it is irrelevant when watching all the drama and fast pace action.
I think that North by Northwest was successful in its time. It got a very good reception and was popular among viewers. Time magazine called the film "smoothly troweled and thoroughly entertaining". The New York times said it was "year's most scenic, intriguing and merriest chase". This classic film was nominated for three academy award and won a Edgar award for Best motion picture screenplay. Even now it is still well known and  seen as the seventh top ten classic film according to AFI in 2008.  

Welcome

Welcome to my new AS Media studies coursework blog. This blog will chart my progress as I complete my foundation portfolio.