Since our narrative falls under a total of four genres, researching all of them will take a lot of time, and then implementing aspects of all of those genres into will be a challenge. Although, having more information will give us more opportunity to create the best title sequence we can.
I researched the two genres mystery and thriller, having mystery being the main focus of the research.
Mystery
Mystery is defined as a “subgenre of narrative fiction”. (Scholastic Professional, 1) The narrative story involves a murder that is unsolved or happened mysteriously. The main character (detective) solves the mystery through “logical deduction” (Scholastic Professional, 1) from the clues and information they find from their investigation. That’s the basic narrative aspect of the genre, they can take many different turns, but the skeleton of mystery films go along the guidelines of this. In tomorrow’s research when I address movies that fall under mystery, I’ll also go over the different types of mystery films that might benefit me in this project.
Through watching different mystery films (which will be addressed in another post), there are certain mise-en-scene, cinematographic, editing, and sound techniques that are typically followed.
Mise en scene-
Setting- countryside home, isolated, big cities, police stations
Costuming- 90’s get-up , protag in most recognizable get up
Lighting- mostly naturalistic, usually lowkey to obstruct the viewers view of the killer
Props- magnifying glass, police tape, murder weapon, blood, evidence
Cinematography-
Distance- lots of close-ups or extreme closeups to show fear
Angles- high and low angles to show potential murder victim/killer
Movement- fast paced tracking shots to show panic or still shots to build suspense
Editing-
Speed- slow paced for suspense, darker transitions, fast paced for actions and murders
Sound- speed is typically fast paced sound if there’s a chase scene, or slow if suspense is being builtE
Sound-
Ambient sound- may be little ambient sound to build suspense
Sound Motif- if the detective comes onscreen, a motif may play
Themes-
-Good vs bad, justice, confusion, persistence, mystery , interrogation, crime always fails
Fonts-
Fonts used in mystery movies are typically simple fonts, or curly looking fonts. The colors are usually white or possibly gray-ish within mystery movies, for example Afterschool and Mystic River.
Thriller
The narrative of a thriller is to mainly build suspense and make the audience anticipate what’s going to happen next. Throughout the movie either a killer or some sort of violence is involved all throughout the film. An equilibrium is typically kept throughout the film and is left disrupted by the killer or the violence towards the victim soon enough. A big part of thrillers is the suspense and anticipation growing in the audience as they watch that part of the movie. This suspense is typically built through the other conventions listed below. (Filmsite, 1) In tomorrow’s research, I’ll go over different types of thrillers along with which movies they might correspond to.
Mise-en-scene-
Setting- isolated areas, dark alleys, house in the middle of nowhere
Costuming- villain in black, victim in white, detectives in uniform
Lighting- lowkey lighting, maybe some natural
Props- murder weapon (gun, knife, etc.), obstacles in house, object victim uses for defense
Cinematography-
Distance- close-ups to show fear, midshots to show the actual killing/violence, long shots to show isolation
Angles- high and low to demonstrate power between killer and victim
Movement- tracking shots and handheld to show chase or getting away from the killer
Editing-
Speed- fast to build tension, slow paced to build suspense (this also applies for sound)
Flashbacks- there may often be flashbacks if the victim and killer have some sort of connection
Sound-
Ambient sound- may have little sound if killing sequence is occurring or to build suspense
Sound Motif- if the killer or someone important to the killing comes onscreen, a motif may play
Diegetic sounds- heightened to build fear since the victim would only focus on that sound
Themes-
Reality, good vs. evil, perception, guilt, obsession
Fonts
The fonts used in thriller movies and in the titles are typically bold or have special little effects within them, as seen in The 5th Wave and Jason Bourne.
With all of these aspects coming into play and shaping our title sequence, I’m sure we can figure out what should go where and what shouldn’t. Plus, with Sitara researching drama and crime, it will show us the blend that would be best to set up our film.
Sources
http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/comprehension/genrechart.pdf
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088930/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089155/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037101/
https://www.filmsite.org/mysteryfilms.html
https://fontmeme.com/movie-fonts/mystery/
https://fontmeme.com/movie-fonts/mystery/
Into The Truth 