Similarities and Differences between different Psychological Thrillers

Altogether our group has analysed Paranormal Activity 3, Black Swan, The Ring, What Lies Beneath, Inception and The Blair Witch Project.
 The similarities and differences include-

Differences:
-All the films analysed start differently for example..
    -Black Swan starts with a dream
    -Inception starts with a flashback
    -The Ring begins by setting the scene with an establishing shot
    -Paranormal Activity starts as a home video of someone painting a baby's room
    -What Lies Beneath starts by going through trees

-In The Ring the production company has changed their original logo to fit with the film

-Paranormal Activity has imaginary friends/spirits in the opening

-Inception includes weapons in the opening


 Similarities
-Black Swan and Inception both included synchronous sounds and close ups in the first 2 minutes perhaps to show emotion

-There is a young child featured in Paranormal Activity, Inception and further on in The Ring

-Shows women first in Paranormal Activity, Black Swan and The Blair Witch Project maybe this could be a hint to if the female is the main character

-In all of the openings music is used to build tension

-Another way to create tension is a heavy breathing sound in the background this had been used in Black Swan and What Lies Beneath

-Handheld camera used in Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project maybe because of a small budget and to add more realism.

Researching Target Audiences

After doing some research I have found that the target audience for many psychological thrillers is 15+, this is because they include lots of violence and psychological issues which may be disturbing for younger viewers.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-governmental body that classifies film ratings on behalf of the local authorities who license cinemas under the Licensing Act 2003.

Establishing our target audience

To establish the age rating of our target audience, we will look at the ratings of other popular psychological thriller such as Paranormal Activity, Inception, Black Swan, The Blair Witch Project and others.

 

To also help us we have created an online survey through www.surveymonkey.com which we sent to people we knew of all ages to get some feedback.

 

The questions included -

• Are you male/female?
• How old are you?
• Do you enjoy watching psychological thrillers?
• What is your favourite psychological thriller out of Black Swan, Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, What Lies Beneath & Inception?
• What do you like about psychological thrillers?
• What do you think are the main conventions in a psychological thriller?
• How many people would you expect to see in the opening of a psychological thriller?
• What genre of film do you prefer?
• How often do you go to the cinema?
• What do you like to do in your spare time?

Analysis of more Psychological Thrillers

Paranormal Activity 3
Black Swan
What Lies Beneath
The Ring

Inception Opening

Analysis of Inception (2 mins)

Analysing the opening of Inception (2010) from saira_ali

Blair Witch Project Trailer

Note - This is the trailer, I analysed the opening 2 minutes of the film.

Analysis of The Blair Witch Project (2 mins)

Analysis of the Blair Witch Project from saira_ali

Analysing Film Openings From Different Genres

Analysing Film Openings From Different Genres from saira_ali

AS foundation portfolio feedback and deadlines

20th December - initial planning feedback
24th January - planning feedback
7th February - final planning hand in *
21st February - initial screening *
7th March - final screening *
21st March - evaluation feedback
11th April - final evaluation hand in *

Brief

Video 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 (maximum 2 min)