Genre Research - Horror

This blog post is all about the genre "Horror"

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Thier plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villains.

-Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as dracula, frankenstein, the phantom of the opera and dr jekyll and mr hyde.

-More recent horror films, in contrast, often draw inspiration from the insecurities of life after world war 2, giving rise to the three distinct, but related, sub genres;
           - Horror of personality ( Pycho 1960)
           - Horror of Armageddon (Invasion of the body snatchers 1958)
           - Horror of the demonic (The Exorcist (1973)
              The last sub genre may be seen as a modernized transition from the earliest horror films, expanding on thier emphasis on supernatural agents that bring horror to the world.


Horror films have been dismissed as violent, low budget B movies and exploitation films. Nonetheless, all the major studios and many respected directors, including  Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Stanly Kubrick, John Caroenter, David Lynch, William Friedkin, Sam Raimi, Richard Donner and Francis Ford Coppola have made forays into the genre. Some horror films incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction, fantasy, mockumentary, black comedy, and thrillers.

Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our rvulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of idenity, or fear of sexuality.

Above information taken from Wiki: Horror films

Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spookfests, and the macabre.

Above information taken from Film site: Horror films

Useful resources (draft)

For my film opening i need to do alot of genre research. I have compiled a list of books, web pages and other useful resources.

- Falling in love again, Romantic comedy in contemporary cinema written by Stacey Abbott and Deborah.

-I Love you but ... Romance, Comedy and the Movies written by Cherry Potter.
- www.wikipedia.co.uk/ - A large website that contains alot of information on everything, very helpful.
- http://www.filmsite.org/  A website that contains everything to do with movies including genres and current films.
- Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre  by Tamar Jeffers McDonald.
- http://www.imdb.com/ Useful site for researching films of a particular genre.

Podcast 1 : Initial Ideas

Firstly i am going to show my understanding of what a podcast is, using information from wikipedia- podcast,

- A podcast is a series of digital media films (either audio or video).
- Commonly in a mp3 format.
- Four part definition of a podcast, A podcast is a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; programme-driven, mainly with a host and/or theme; and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software.

I recorded my podcast with another group and we all discussed our initial ideas.

Genres + Openings: Codes + Conventions

To clearly understand how the genre Rom Com open's their movies, i have watched many examples and are trying to find the common Codes and conventions. I am going to post all the film i will discuss here first. And link them to thier imdb page and include the directors and year of release. so everytime i reference one of the movies later on i dont have to include the link then.

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) Judd Apatow
The Break up (2006) Peyton Reed
Hitch (2005) Andy Tennant
Four Weddings and a funeral (1994) Richard Curtis
10 Things i hate about you (1999) Gil Junger
Runaway Bride (1999) Garry Marshall  
John Tucker must die (2006) Betty Thomas
Love Actually (2003) Richard Curtis
Moonstuck (1987) Norman Jewison
Young in Revolt (2009) Miguel Arteta

Production titles.
  
 - Over all the production titles i have seen i have seen a variety of 3 things that are common.
1. Some films have just got the plain production logo playing before the film kicks off. This is the norm in most films. Such as Runaway bride, where the normal "Touchstone" and "Paramount pictures" production title came up.
2. The normal production title comes up but with music/sound coming from the film itselfs. A example of this is Young in Revolt. In this you can hear the character played by Michael Cera doing some that i won't discuss on here. During the production titles.
3. For this kind of production title i saw, what happens is no title credits come up, but instead just plain white text on black background. Example of this is "Channel 4 news" at the start of Four weddings and a funeral.
      - Quite often they is one or two production credits at the start as well as having sometimes a mixture of production credits and just company names in black text.

Normal Titles

    - Out of all the rom com openings i have watched i noticed that the majority of them contained titles for the different actors aswell as producers and directors in the opening. though a few films didnt have them. One of these is Young in revolt where they don't come in till 10minutes into the film.
  - The majority of time the normal titles are usually just white writing (because this makes it look clearer) on top of the clips. The 40 year old virgin does this, As the character is getting ready for work. the different titles are appearing alongside him.
 - Some of the normal titles are just on black backgrounds. John Tucker Must Die where at the start it does this.

Exposition

   - Exposition is a large part of the openings of rom coms, as alot of them are the main characters trying to explain thier pasts, and what is going on.

- Mise en scene

Mise en scene are sometimes used to create exposition aswell as character progression. In both Young In Revolt and 10 Things i hate about you. Different things are being shown to show the type of people the characters are. In young in revolt as he is explaining his past and his story they are shots in his room of objects such as Vinyl records of his favorite band and in 10 things i hate about you it shows her car in relation to other cars to show the kind of person she is.

- Narrative

  Narrative is a huge part of the openings to rom coms. Hitch / Young in revolt/ John tucker must die/ Love Actually all use this. It is used as its a very good way of filling the audience in with what the idea of the film is. What the plot line is up to date. and what the characters are thinking. Its a useful device that is used alot in teenage rom coms.

- Subtitles

   Subtitles are not used in any of the rom coms i have watched. Though if i do find some i will talk about them.

Character Progression

Character progression is a huge part of rom coms. As the idea of the film is that a few characters will change over the course of the film. Quite often in the opening character progression isnt shown because the director wants the audience to know what the character is like before he changes over the course of the film.

Plot lines

     The plot lines in openings of the film belonging to the rom com genre, usually follow the norm of the boy who liked the girl. But the girl is with the jock. And by the end of the film the girl is with the normal boy.
     This plotline is easily seen in John Tucket must die. where the main girl (though the idea is swapped so the normal girl liked the guy but he guy is with another girl) talks about how alone she is. and how she likes this guy. Its also relevent in young in revolt apart from the story dosen't include the girl till later.
     In Moonstruck and 10 Things i hate about you. It dosen't even talk about relationships or show them in any way. In both, a character is partly introduced but the boy or girl of the opposite sex isnt. In Moonstruck romantic references are made in the form of establishing shots of lit up manhatten. But 10 ten things, doesn't even make any reference to the romantic genre.
   In a few rom coms, Relationships are already established and the film is about a breakup and getting back to gether or other ideas. The two films i watched that suit this are The breakup and Runaway bride. In the breakup the opening is a guy fliritng with a girl. Then pictures of them in a relationship while the rest of the film is based on them breaking up. Runaway bride's opening is the bride running away from a wedding on a horse. so a relationship has already occured.
    Lastly two of my examples (hitch and love actually) both involed a 3rd party talking about relationships in the opening. Using narrative. Later on in both of these films the characters find love.
   Lastly a well used opening technique in rom com openings and opening the movie with a character waking up, This is seen in 40 year old virgin

Music

    My last point is the music. In all but one of the examples i watched (young in revolt) they was music. But in the rest the music used was to do with the themes in the movie. For example in the runaway bride the lyrics in the music were to do with running away. Usually the films have used songs written before the film. For example hitch uses Wonderful world by Sam Cooke and The breakup used a Queen song. Unfortunatly i can't use real songs but one example i watched used a made up song to fit the clip. Which doesn't involve lyrics. The 40 year old virgin does this. aswell as FWaaF and partly in Young in revolt.

General codes and conventions of film openings

This blog spot explains a few key codes and conventions used in film openings

Opening Sequence

The opening of a film introduces the audience to the world of time and space in which the narrative takes place. Opening sequences provide a platform from which the narrative is launched and are often called ‘set ups’.

During the opening sequence the filmmaker introduces the characters and begins to develop these characters for the audience who is also orientated into both the physical settings and the historical settings.

Character

Character development is the relation to the audience of a character’s personality, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses and emotions. We are normally introduced to the main protagonist at the start of the narrative. From this point onwards, we learn more about who they really are.

Character development can be done through various narrative devices. The simplest is the traditional ‘Once upon a time…’ fairytale format, which we are immediately introduce to the main character and then told their story.

Another technique is to look back on the character’s life or part of it.


Most films have an introduction of the central protagonist in the opening as this helps the audience to understand who the storyline of the film will be following. Often the character is centrally framed, or tracked to give the effect of the audience actually following them.

An example of both of the above points is Forrest Gump (1994) Robert Zemeckis.
The opening of forrest gump is the main protagonist explaining his life story. This continues for a large part of the movie.

Narative enigmas are key to movie openings as they keep the viewer watching. and to grab the viewers attention. The mystery invoked causes the audience to want to know whats next.

An example of a movie opening that uses Narative enigma is James Bond - Die Another Day (2002)  Lee Tamahori . The end of the opening sees james bond of the end of a drop into some water, With his enemys behind him.

Production Logos
Production logos are always present in any film opening. These show the audience the different companys that worked together together to produce the movie. The production titles will usually be the same across films but sometimes you find that the title will be chanced to fit the movie theme.

An example of the this is in The Matrix (1999) where the title credits to modified to look like this

An example of a movie production credit is

Exposition

Exposition is largely used in movie openings, This comes in the form of dialogue, mise en scene and so on. This is used in openings to explain to the audience key points about the background, back story, settings off the film.

Mise en scene - Some films use a large amout of mise en scene in the openings to show information about the story and characters. An example of this is The Hurt Locker 2008. Where the opening shows the setting which is a run down part of bagdad. The mise en scene relates to war time bagdad.

Narrative - A voice over or dialogue is used to explain what is going on in the story as well as what has happened and why and where. An example of this is Zombieland (2009) where the main character played by Michael A Cera is explaining what has happened in the past in the film.

Subtitles - Subtitles are used in some film openings to explain the back story and what is going on. A very famous example of this is in the opening of all the Star wars (1977 to 2005) movies. Where a few paragraphs of back story float down the screen. This is known as a Crawl. This has been spoofed in many different films.

The Coursework task

- A brief post that outlines what our overall coursework task is.

 Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/ he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/ reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: The titles and 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.

The final deadline for the coursework is the 7th May, no changes can be made to my coursework after 3pm on the 7th.

Animatics

Background Information on Animatics

-In animation and special effects work, the storyboarding stage may be followed by simplified mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track is added to the sequence of still images (usually taken from a storyboard) to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.
-This allows the animators and directors to work out any screenplay, camera positioning, shot list and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard. The storyboard and soundtrack are amended if necessary, and a new animatic may be created and reviewed with the director until the storyboard is perfected. Editing the film at the animatic stage can avoid animation of scenes that would be edited out of the film. Animation is usually an expensive process, so there should be a minimum of "deleted scenes" if the film is to be completed within budget.
-Often storyboards are animated with simple zooms and pans to simulate camera movement (using non-linear editing software). These animations can be combined with available animatics, sound effects and dialog to create a presentation of how a film could be shot and cut together. Some feature film DVD special features include production animatics.

My Animatic will include still images of some of my ideas for take's and shots. A few images that i have collected which are similar to my ideas such as ideas for Misc en scene. Aswell as locations and inspiration.
And lastly a sample piece of audio music that i would like to try and use (my own recorded version though)

Initial ideas on Film Openings Plus Initial pitch, Initial Concept, The Group.

1. Psychological drama - Boy moves back to village where his parents were killed in a unsolved case. The boy then starts seeing things that make's him almost kill himself.
 - This will use a lot of  special  effects and editing.
 - Use very erie sounds to put across the theme and quiet song in background, slow piano.
 - I am thinking of the 15 BBFC rating because the film won't contain gore, nudity and that. but does have themes of horror.
2. Slasher - A escaped youth offender who was bullied at school hunts down and attacks all the people who bullied him before. In the opening the offender follows one of his victims to a party and murders the person outside the house.
 - 18 age rating due to gore, horror. Adult themes. Teenage actors so will have normal teenage things and costumes.
3. Cop thriller - The son of a police officer who was killed on the job, tracks down the murderer which ends in a bloody confrontation  in the end of the opening.
 - Will be very hard to pull off due to mise en scene. Can't get a gun. or a police car.

The Progression of my Main idea (1)

Back in december i started to think up an idea for my media coursework and over time i steadily built on my idea through feedback and insipration from films and other sources.

December (Drama, Social realist?) - A troubled boy moved away from his home town to move in with his step dad who he doesn't get on with. The film is about his struggle to be accepted in a new place. For example a school where everyone acts the same, while he's different.
                       The opening would focus on him alone, possible include a companion who would be his dog. It be filmed in remote locations such as ilkley moor to show how isolated he is.

January (Pychological drama)- After watching films such as Fight Club, Seven and Requiem for a dream i decided to go down a much darker route in my film.

My Initial pitch

I kept to the whole idea of a boy whos different and seperated from everyone else. but that down to him having pychological problems. And also hes moving in with some foster parents because his parents were found dead (cause of death unknown). The boy keeps seeing something out of the corner of his eye but he never knows what. At the end of the opening this thing speaks to him and stops himself from killing himselve or trying too. The audience know that his mental problem is causing his to have visions of a figue that is himself. (this person will be portrayed as wearing normal jeans and trainers but to create a earie feel the character will never show his face and you will just see a black hood.

Current working progress idea - feb - Ive ditched the idea of making a drama hybrid after i did some research into the drama genre and its sub genres because i couldn't fit my story into any of the ideas.
                     From some feedback i came up with some ideas that could improve on the character progression in my opening. I am going to do a take that will focuss on the characters dead parents. I will show them either by using mise en scene (e.g a photo), flashbacks and maybe exposition.



I am also going to write down small ideas that i have thought of on here for future reference.
- The Background character (the main characters second half) will have a mask that will reference to a poster on the characters wall in his bedroom as it ment to reflect his mind.
- The character will be called frank. Reference to frank from donnie darko.

The Group


Due to a few problems, i am working on my own.
At the start of the problem i was very content on working on my idea. And due to being part of a small class. They wasn't much choice. Therefore two groups of two paired off. I wasn't a huge fan of either idea so i decided to work on my own.
   When the last person in my class came to school after being ill he had the choice to join me but in the end, he didn't. I believe working on my own will be good because i prefer having all the power over what i do in my film.

11/03/10 - After working for some time on my idea and changing the genre a few times i have decided that it wasn't my best choice working on my own and i now regret it. Though I'm not having any huge problem it would of been a lot easier to have another persons creative thought to help me.

Microdrama + Narrative theory + Propps 7 recurring Character types

This blog post is all about what is Micro drama/ Narrative theory and Propps 7 recurring Character types.
I then talk about my Microdrama and then how i followed these theories in my drama. I also explain what Omniscient narrator, linear narrative, and non-linear narrative are.


Narrative theory

 Todorov is associated with the theory that ever narrative can be broken down into three basic stages; Situation, conflict, resolution (or equilibrium, new equilibrium). Crucially, your protagonist is not the same as at the outset, but has been changed in some way from events. These are the 5 stages

1) A state of equilibrium at the outside

2) A disruption of the equilibrium by some action

3) A recognition that there has been a disruption

4) An attempt to repair the disruption

5) A reinstatement of the equilibrium

Recurring character types

Vladimir propp (in his study of fairy tales which continue to influence literary and media studies today) argued that there are essentially just seven basic character types, or archetypes.

1) The villain- whom struggles against the hero

2) The donor- whom prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object

3) The magical helper- whom helps the hero in the quest

4) The princess and her father- whom gives the task to the her, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished

5) The dispatcher- the character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

6) The hero/victim- who reacts to the donor, and weds the princess

7) False hero- takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess

Microdrama

I was tasked to produce a short movie drama that included narrative theory and most of the character types.

Because i was filming at school i wanted to make the film quite plain. So the film is about a boy who is very thirsty. So he borrows some water to get a drink but the drink machine is out of order. His friend then comes and lends him a water bottle so he can get a drink. Its not very intresting but it uses the different character types quite well.

1) The villain- This is the drinks machine because it refuses to give a drink to the boy, its not the typical villain but it fits in.

2) The donor- This is the boy who lends the hero 50p to get a drink

3) The magical helper- This is the friend who lends the hero the waterbottle

4) The princess and her father- This character type isnt used but it could be in the form of a girlfriend.

5) The dispatcher- This is another friend who tells the hero that they is a drink machine and where it is.

6) The hero/victim- The boy who wants the drink. He is also a victim in this.

7) False hero- Not used.

I also managed to follow narrative theory very well in my short.

1) A state of equilibrium at the outside

- Everyone is sat around talking and everything is fine.

2) A disruption of the equilibrium by some action

- The boy really needs a drink because he has a headache 

3) A recognition that there has been a disruption

-The drinks machine is out of order

4) An attempt to repair the disruption

-A friend lends the victim a water bottle

5) A reinstatement of the equilibrium

- He has a drink and once again everything is fine.


From this task i have learnt how directors incorporate the 7 characters as well as narrative theory into movies and have had some practice at producing a movie with them.

Omniscient narrator - an ‘all‐knowing’ kind of narrator very commonly found in works of fiction written as third‐person narratives. The omniscient narrator has a full knowledge of the story's events and of the motives and unspoken thoughts of the various characters. He or she will also be capable of describing events happening simultaneously in different places—a capacity not normally available tothe limited point of view of first‐person narratives.


non- Linear narrative- is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, hypertext websites and other narratives, wherein events are portrayed out of chronological order and are usually dictated by user choices and set parameters within the media.


linear narrative-  is where storys or events are played out in a non chronological order.

Drama Research

After doing a little bit of Psychological thrillers research i decided that i needed to do research on the drama genre and the sub genres of that. As well because my ideas were slowly drifting over to mainly the psychological genre which i don't want.

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena.

This film genre can be contrasted with an action film, which relies on fast-paced action and physical conflict but superficial character development. All film genres can include dramatic elements, but typically, films considered drama films focus mainly on the drama of the main issue.

Sub-genres

Dramatic films include a very large spectrum of film genres. Because of the large number of drama films, these movies have been sub-categorized:

• Crime drama and Legal drama - Character development based on themes involving criminals, law enforcement and the legal system.
• Historical drama (epic) (including War drama) - Films that focus on dramatic events in history.
• Docudrama: the difference between a docudrama and a documentary is that in a documentary it uses real people to describe history or current events; in a docudrama it uses professionally trained actors to play the roles in the current event, that is "dramatized" a bit. Not to be confused with docufiction.
• Comedy-drama: is in which there is an equal, or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content.
• Melodrama: a sub-type of drama films that uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with "crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship." Film critics sometimes use the term "pejoratively to connote an unrealistic, pathos-filled, campy tale of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical characters (often including a central female character) that would directly appeal to feminine audiences." Also called "women's movies", "weepies", tearjerkers, or "chick flicks". If they are targeted to a male audience, then they are called "guy cry" films.
• Romance: a sub-type of dramatic film which dwells on the elements of romantic love.
• Tragedy: a drama in which a character's downfall is caused by a flaw in their character or by a major error in judgment.

Conclusion;
After much thought i have decided that linking in a drama genre in with the Psychological genre would be too hard to achieve because drama is a massive genre and they is too much scope. I have therefore decided that i will just stick with the Psychological triller genre.

Prelim Task

This is my prelim task uploaded through youtube and embedded onto my blog.

Our preliminary task consisted of a 'Continuity task involving filming and editing character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule.'

Match On Action:


Match on action is when an action is shown, followed by the result of the action. For example, seeing a close up of a character's hand opening a door, followed by a shot of them coming through the door from the other side.



Shot-Reverse-Shot:

This is when a shot of a character's face is used, followed by a shot of another character, and back to the original character again. This is often used when two (or more) characters are having a conversation, to allow the audience to see the different expressions and reactions. It also breaks up long shots to keep the audience interested.





180 Degree Rule:

This incorporates the rule that if you are filming two characters you must stick to a particular side and not cross the line.
 
I decided just to do something very simplle as i could make the prelim very short and quick and shows the different shots very well.
We used a camera on a tripod to film most of the shots apart from a view which were off the tripod, Then used imovie to put the clips together.
 
Evaluation of prelim task;  
Overall i think i completed this task quickly and well. Ive had a lot of practise with the camera and the movie software so they didnt prove to be a problem in production. And because the short is all about showing my understanding of a view shot types, it didnt matter when it came to acting. The only thing that i could of improved on was the shot where the main character moves up to the door and if you notice his hand moves quite close to the door. On the next shot his hand is out of view then moves onto the door. But it could all be from the angle of the camera so i didnt change it in the end. Though if i had more time i would of done.

Film Genre's Continued And Psychological thrillers research

(Continued)

After brainstorming ideas i discovered that it would be very tricky to create a comedy, due to the lack of funny actors and i don't think I'm a good enough writer to write the script for a opening to a comedy.
Therefore i decided i wanted to create a drama. After looking through the idea's i came up with i decided i wanted to expand on my idea and create a hybrid genre movie opening.
I first idea for the movie is about a boy struggling to fit in (not very intresting and done before)

- Horror drama hybrid, where the boy could go around murdering people
This is a quite well used plot idea of a troubled person murdering other people.
An example is John Carpenter's Halloween 1978
- Action drama Hybrid, i struggled to come up with a idea that would work well. A secret agent child? Too hard to achieve and personally wouldn't be a very good finished project.

I then looked into the triller Genre.
These are a few key points about "Thriller films"
- includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres
 Such as Action, Conspiracy, Crime, Disaster, Drama, Erotic, Legal, Medical, Political, Psychological, Spy, Techno and religious thrillers.
- Most thrillers are formed in a combination of the above for example
Robocop directed by Paul Verhoeven 1988. Which is a techno/political/conspiracy/military thriller.


- Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains. They followed Propps 7 recurring character types.
- Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively
- Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements
- In recent years, when thrillers have been increasingly influenced by horror or psychological-horror exposure in pop culture, an ominous or monstrous element has become common to heighten tension
- Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it "thrills", it is a thriller.


I am quite intrested in psychological thrillers so i have looked into them more

Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. However, this genre often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. Also, occasionally this genre will border into the also wide-ranging Horror genre.

Generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot.

Deconstruction of the definition

• Psychological – Elements that are related to the mind or processes of the mind; they are mental rather than physical in nature.

• Thriller – A genre of fiction that attempts to "thrill" its audience by placing characters at great risk. This constant unease throughout the story makes the narrative suspenseful to the reader by creating a tense atmosphere.

• Psychological + Thriller – By combining these two terms, the definition changes to a narrative that makes the characters exposed to danger on a mental level rather than a physical one. Characters are no longer reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies (which is often the case in typical action-thrillers), but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind.

A few very good examples of Psychological thrillers are 

Seven (Also known as se7en)

Seven (stylized as Se7en) is a 1995 American crime film directed by David Fincher and written byAndrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective (Morgan Freeman) and his replacement (Brad Pitt), jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.

Seven is a very twisted movie created by David Fincher, by using plot twists and very distrubing imagery and themes it manages to make you think about it for weeks and weeks. 

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a 2001 American science fiction film written and directed by Richard Kelly. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle,Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell, and depicts the reality-bending adventures of the title character as he seeks the meaning and significance behind his troubling Doomsday-related visions.

"Donnie Darko creates an atmosphere of eerie calm and mounting menace"

Night Watch Opening

This is my presentation, I couldn't find the opening 4 minutes anywhere.

Callum Moreman Night Watch

Notes from other peoples presentations (some of the presentations didnt have key details.)

Love Actually- 2003- Richard Curtis
Nominated for 2 Golden Globes     Budget 30million
Distribution; Studio Canel and Universal studios
Producer; Working Title
-Very Mixed reviews, some of them are good and some very bad, Mainly directed at Richard Curtis though.
-Opening starts with a heavy romantic genre/theme.
The theme is multicultural and shows all sex's, age's and cultures. A negative point is it uses very heavy sterotypes.
- Women not used for male gaze in the opening.
- Opening is very emotional, Makes the audience feel good.
- Titles used to anchor that they is more then one love story in the film.
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Gladiator - 2000- Ridley Scott
Dreamworks  Main Character Russel Crow
- Production logo changed colour to fit in with the setting of the film.
- Made 34.8million in the opening weekend in the US
- 3 Oscar Wins and 30more wins
- In the opening a variety of shots are used in the opening to show setting's, characters, and emotions in the movie.
- Diegetic sounds of background noises used heavily in the opening. Non diegetic humming musis could signify tension or depression.
- Aimed at a fairly young audiance due to volience and history.
-In the opening part that was shown the genre action is show though they isnt any action but a build up aswell as a history genre (set in roman times)
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Fool's Gold (No director or production year)
- Budget 20million made 1 million in britian and around 13.5 in america (opening weekend?)
- Attractive actors/ Actresses to appeal to both sex's
- Exposition using narrative
- Anchorage in titles.
- Music changes when the themes in the opening change such as serious information then jolly music establishing shots and so on.
- Hybrid Genre: Adventure/ Romance

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Matrix- 1999- Marchorti Brothers
- The directors didnt have any expirence directing and were also the writers of the story.
- budget of 63 million
- Action Thriller
- Production logo tweaked to fit story, Noise/Colour
- Whip zoom opening shot.
- Film was the start of the Spx Era
- Women countertype - Strong woman. Outlaw
- Targeted 16's to 35's
- C2DE Working class/Middle class       45% Female audience
- Made 16million UK $173 US $463 Worldwide
Distribution
-Warner bro's Pictures
- Roadshow Entertainment
Production companies
- Grouchell film patnership
- Silver Pictures
- Village roadshow pictures
- Warner bros picture