British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body, which is classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos since the passing of the video recordings 1984.
BBFC produce extensive research which is primary market research to create their guidelines which is updated every four years. The guidelines are updated regularly because it has to take into account the change of laws and legislation.
There are a number of different areas that BBFC have to consider when classifying the cinematic films.

These areas are:
Discrimination
Drugs
Horror
Imitable Behaviour
Language
Nudity
Sex
Theme and
Violence
Using the above areas,BBFC classify them under different age ranges:
PG
12
12A
15
18
R18

When BBFC classify 12/12A films there have to consider the following things:
Discrimination: whether discriminatory language or behaviour is used which is acceptable unless clearly disapproved of or in an educational or historical context.  Discrimination by a character with which children can readily identify is unlikely to be acceptable.

Drugs: References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.
Horror: Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor.
Imitable behaviour: No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy. No glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons.
Language: Mild bad language only.
Nudity: Natural nudity, with no sexual context.
Sex: Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. Mild sex references and innuendo only.
Theme: Where more serious issues are featured (for example, domestic violence) nothing in their treatment should condone unacceptable behaviour.
Violence: Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy).

15 classification areas that are needed to consider:
Discrimination: The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.
Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
Horror: Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
Imitable behaviour: Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Language: There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity: Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex: Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
Theme: No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
Violence: Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

Timeline Of Opening Sequence To Casino Royale

Sound and Music in Thriller Films

Panic Room:

Silence at the beginning causes suspense and tension making the audience become captivated. At the beginning there is a slow non-diegetic made up of brass instruments. Then in the middle of the opening sequence it became faster creating a creepy atmosphere. It was also contained a ticking clock which could indicate that time is a key issue in the film. There were also ambient sounds of traffic and other city sounds.

Catch Me If You Can:

A soundtrack is played throughout the opening sequence using non diegetic sounds such as instruments including a saxophone, trumpet, violin and xylophone. The music increases in speed as the character is getting chased. Overall, this makes the opening sequence have a parallel sound.

Se7en:

This opening sequence has diegetic sounds as well as non diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds include cars, scream and cutting his finger. Non diegetic sounds involve the soundtrack which contain the instrument of drums. Lyrics are used at the end where a short lyric is sung. It mainly includes sound effects.

Thriller Sub Genre Convetions

The two films that I have chosen are Insidious and Hanna. Insidious is a psychological thriller and Hanna is a action thriller. The reasons for these sub genre differences are because Insidious contains suspense that is created from characters preying upon one and others minds. The suspense is also portrayed by the micro areas, espicially sound. This is because the sound runs parallel with the shots creating alot of tension and suspense which creates a massive impact on the viewer. Hanna also uses sound to aid suspense however it uses lound, fast sound to help illustrate a chase scene. In Insidious the conflict is psychological and creepy but in Hanna the conflict is physical. Another difference between these two films is that Hanna conatains alot of weapons whereas Insidious doesn't. In conclusion both Insidious and Hanna have simularities and differences which create suspense.

Thriller Sub Genre Conventions.

Thriller Sub Genres involve their own unique conventions depending on the sub genre chosen. For example the conventions are different between psychological thrillers and crime thrillers or action thrillers and a conspiracy thriller.

Crime thriller:

A crime thriller has a mixture of both crime films and thrillers that conveys a suspenseful portrayal of a successful or failed crime. These thrillers often focus on the criminals rather than the policemen. Crime thrillers usually reinforce action over psychological aspects. A few main ways to represent these actions are by including robberies, chases, murders or hostages. A crime thriller is usually fast paced with quick cuts and camera angle changes; it usually contains a soundtrack that gives tension and worry. The lighting used will contain the use of shadows and mirrors to create a tense portrayal to the audience. Some examples include Untraceable, The Killing and Seven.

Supernatural thriller:

In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero or villain has some psychic ability. In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers. This type of thriller combines tension of the regular thriller with basic horror movie elements such as ghosts, secret powers and psychic phenomenon. Supernatural thrillers combine these with a frightening but often restrained film. They also generally avoid many graphic elements of the horror film in favour of sustaining a mood of threat, tension and unpredictability. Supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malicious paranormal force or trapped in a situation clearly influenced or controlled by another worldly entity beyond their comprehension. For example the movies Fallen, What Lies Beneath and The Skeleton Key.

Thriller Sub Genre Conventions

Thriller Films by themselves have their own conventions for example having the lighting dark and gloomy, also in every thriller films there is a protagonist and either one or a number of antagonists.

Spy Thriller:
Traditional Spy Thriller films consist of the hero who is generally a government agent who takes violent action against agents of a rival governent or more recently terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on against the clock.Examples of spy thrillers would be James Bond films, SALT and The Mission Impossible Series. In most spy thiller films there is one protagonist trying to catch the group of antagonists.

Conspiracy Thriller:

Conspiracy Thrillers consist a hero/heroine confronting a large, powerful gorup of enemies whose true extent only he or she recognises.Most conspiracy thrillers have a protagonist who is often either a journalist or amateur investigators who find themselves pulling on a small thread which reveals a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes to far for them to solve by themselves.Conspiracies are often played out as "man-in-peril" or "woman-in-peril" stories, or quest narratives similar to those found in whodunnit situation and detective stories.Examples of conspiracy thrillers would be The Da Vinci Code and Awake.

Both Spy Thriller and Conspiracy Thrillers are very similar when it comes to both having protagonists and antagonists in the film, although most films do but both spy and conspiracy have very significant roles. Also both films have a narrative which presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen.

Generic Conventions of Thriller Movies

Limitless:
Bradley Copper (Eddie) is the protagonist and he finds the antagonist Johnny Whitworth (Vernon) murdered in his apartment which has been ransacked.
The narrative presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen, it is shown when the protagonist is writing a book, finds a drug and which makes the human brain work double the pace of a normal brain. The protagonist says that he feels limitless from just taking this drug.
There is another antagonist who makes the audience aware of the protagonist's fallible behaviour because of taking the 'limitless' drug.

Panic Room
In the film, the micro elements (camerawork, sound, editing, mise en scene) all help created a suspense atmosphere. The film has a lot of very dark and gloomy, low key lighting which creates suspense and tension.
The protagonists are the mother and the daughter who are hiding from the antagonists (the burglars). One of the protagonists (the daughter) is diabetic and goes into a coma when she is locked inside the panic room. But one of the antagonists (the burglar) has protagonist attributes as he helps the daughter by giving her the necessary medication.



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Thriller: Anaylsis

Genre: Thriller
Film: Opening Sequence
Sub-Genre's:                                      Crime Thriller

Psychological Thriller

Action Thriller

Conspiracy Thriller

Erotic Thriller

Legal Thriller

Political Thriller

Rape and Revenge Thriller

Supernatural Thriller

Codes:

1) Technical - Camerawork and Editing

2) Symbolic- Mise En Scene and Characters

3) Written- Title, Caption, Headings and Credits

Conventions in a Psychological Thriller:

1)  Quick Cuts to different scenes

     Music is tense and jumpy
     Close ups on the main character 
     Sharp and short cuts to the character who is distressed
         

2) Short shot duration
    Use a character who looks distressed and has similar attributes to the main character
    Bright lighting on the main character
    The location of the film, is most of the time in a place which has a lot of people around        who will witness the main plot of the narrative
     Lot's of props used to create an atmosphere and tension when needed.
3) Title is shown most of the time after about 30 seconds of the opening sequence
    Credits rolling at the end with the producer, director and cast names
    Captions used mainly when jumping to a different day or later on in the day normally with the time and location of where the scene is jumping to.
    
    

    

Preliminary Video

Evaluation of the Preliminary Task
As a group, we think we created our preliminary very well. We decided as a group when we were creating the storyboard, who was going to do what in the task. As a group we stuck to the brief that we were given. We used all the shots and angles that we were told to use and before we could start filming we had to learn how to use the Canon camera. Personally, it was quite easy to use, which is good because as a group we will have to use it for the next five months. When we had to start editing, it was about harder to get to grips with the editing programme, Final Cut, I think its quite good that we get to do the Preliminary Task so that we get to have a go at editing on Final Cut. From this task, I personally (Lauren) learnt how to use Final Cut and what different transitions there are to use. For the actual production, we are going to have to use the programme. As a group we learnt what shots look good and what shots wouldn't suit the actual production.

Preliminary Task:Pictures of the filming

 At the beginning, Lucy and Lauren decided to put up the tripod to see which angle would be the best for filming of the task.











Alice filmed Lauren doing the establishing shot, we decided to open the preliminary task with a long shot to get the best effect.

Here Lucy is filming Lauren doing the match on action shot. This will show the audience continuity by Lauren touching the door from the other side.












The reaction shot was done by Alice, here reaction was of Lauren coming through the door and Lucy filmed to get the best effect.

Preliminary Task

The storyboard for the filming of the task.