Opening of Thrillers Research

Before our group came up with our film idea, as the task set was create the opening to a thriller film I decided to do some research into the openings of various different successful thriller films. The two films I carried out my research on were 'No Country for Old Men' and 'Memento'. I looked at various different aspects from each opening including sound, acting, and shots/camera angles. I used my research from each film to go on to help my group and I come up with an idea for our opening thriller. 


No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men starts with the digetic sound of a police officer narrating in the background, for the opening 1:30 minutes of the film, all the shots are various different extreme long shots that are used to establish the location the film may be set in. At 1:40 in the clip, characters are introduced. The camera cuts to a medium shot of the back of a police officer leading a 'criminal' towards a police car and he is put in the back. The face of the criminal isn't visible to the audience and hidden through the dark lighting in the back of the car. This puts the viewer into anticipation as they want to know who he is and what he looks like. Mise-en-scene gives the audience a little idea of the criminal. He appears to be wearing all black clothing with could suggest he's a villain, also the officer places what appears to be some kind of flamethrower. At this point the viewer is in suspense and the idea rises that the man could of committed a brutal murder with the 'weapon'. The criminal is driven away by the officer and the next shot is inside what appears to be a police station. There is a medium shot of the officer at a desk on the phone talking about the criminal. The camera slowly zooms in and as this happens the villain character slowly moves towards him. Here, it makes the audience want to tell the officer that someone is behind him and keeps them on the edge of their seats. This portrays that the criminal is already seen as the 'bad guy' whilst the officer the good. The villain in black clothing pounces on the officer and begins to strangle him with the handcuffs he's wearing. This puts the audience in a state of distress as the officer tries to free himself, then, blood poor from the mans throat which is again quite horrific for the viewer to watch. During this, the camera focuses on the murderers face and he appears to be showing no emotions despite strangling a helpless man. This is also quite disturbing for the audience. The opening sets the film to unfold, and we get the idea that it may be focused around this horrible man and potentially based on the murders he has already committed. No Country for Old Men uses the absence of sound. This creates a dramatic effect and works very well. Despite typical thriller films using sound to create tension and suspense, this isn't necessary and the director (Ethan and Joel Coen) achieve their aim of getting the audience on the edge of their seats well. 

Memento

The opening scene in Memento begins with an extreme close up of a mans hand holding a photograph from a polaroid camera which appears to be the image of a blood covered room. Already the audience are questioning why he has this picture and what it is of. They are left in anticipation waiting to find out what's happened after just the first few seconds. The shot of the man holding the picture is present for around a minute, and he starts to shake it after around 20 seconds which again gets the viewer thinking and raising questions that this must of happened very recently. However, instead of the photo fading into a clearer image, it becomes unclear and eventually just turns white. Here the audience are left quite puzzled and confused, but realise that the clip is being played backwards when the camera cuts to a close up of the mans face as he puts the picture into the camera and it flashes as he takes a picture. Extreme close ups of various different objects and mise-en-scene are then shown to set the scene of the room. Things such as pouring blood, a bullet, and a deceased man on the floor suggest that this is a murder scene and are in suspense to find out what has happened. Also, the sweat and blood on the main characters face puts forward that he may be in a state of shock after committing a horrific crime or murder. As the opening unfolds and the film 'rewinds' we see the main character shoot the man that before appeared to be dead on the floor. The music at this point gets progressively louder as the sequence quickly 'rewinds'. This creates tension for the viewer as they finally find out about the previous things that occurred in the room. At the end of the opening, the audience are left wondering why the scene was played backwards, this leaves them on the edge of their seats wanting and waiting to find their answer later on in the film. Unlike in No Country for Old Men there is music throughout the opening of Memento which is consistently quite mournful up until the events unfold. This creates a sad and negative atmosphere for the audience and possibly suggests to them that something horrible has happened. 

The research I gathered from each of these thriller openings helped my group towards coming up with a story of our own. Different aspects of each clip gave me different ideas and broadened my mind when mind-mapping various plans, plots and storylines

Propp and Todorov's Theory

Both Todorov and Propp are well known and play a big part in the making of films. They believe that all or most stories, narratives or films follow specific patterns when it comes to the characters and plot of them.

Every film, story, or narrative has a beginning, middle and end to it. They always involve typical things that are ever present in all kinds of films such as, problems, conflicts, good guys and bad. Which is what makes films so interesting otherwise they wouldn't be as popular as they are today.

Todorov and Propp both came up with their own theories or ideas of how films should be made/structured and what they should include. They then broke them down and found the basic foundations of how they were structured.

Vladmir Propp

Vladmir Propp was born in St. Petersburg to a German family on April 17, 1895. He was a russian soviet formalist scholar published a book in Russian in 1928 called 'Morphology of a Folktale'. His Theory involved:

• Preparation
• Complication
• Transference
• Struggle
• Return
• Recognition
  
  

Included in Propp's theory were different character types that he believed were evident in every story. 

Hero - normally the main character.

Villain - the character the hero is trying to stop.

Prize - what the hero gains at the end.
Mentor - the character who helps the hero all the way through.

Helper - the character that aids the hero.

Blocker - the character that delays  the hero from getting what they want.

Dispatcher - the character that sends the hero on his journey.

Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria on the 1st March 1939. He is a French-Bulgarian philosopher and writes essays and book on literary theory, thought history and culture theory. Todorov's theory included:

• Equilibrium
• Disruption
• Recognition of Equilibrium
• Attempt to repair disruption
• A return of new equilibrium
  
  

In conclusion, both Tzvetan Todorov and Vladmir Propp's theories character types can be put with almost any film, literature, narrative, etc of any genre. Following these men's theories will allow my group to create suspense and tension in my film and give us some guildline when planning the storyline or plot. 

Behind the Scenes: Making and Planning of our Final Piece 'The Shadow'

Our assistant camera man Callum Reay recorded the 'behind-the-scenes' footage of the production of our film 'The Shadow'. Despite filming over a two day period, this footage is only from the first day   as we experienced technical difficulties with the other camera on the second day. This four minute montage of clips shows us having detailed in-depth discussions of what we planned to film, how we would edit the clip on iMovie in the future and actual footage during filming. 

Final Piece - Opening to a Thriller

Linked from YouTube above is my groups final piece. When thinking of an idea of the film, we each came up with an initial idea and brainstormed them to get a better view of our ideas. Together, we combined each idea and created a story board of what we planned to film, etc. We filmed the footage over a two day period but ensured all lighting and setting was the same in order to maintain it's continuity. The protagonist was myself and the shadow type villain character was Daniel Summers. Jonathon Lovelace had the role of main camera man while Callum Reay was our assistant camera man who filmed in depth discussion and the actual filming of our final piece. (This can be seen elsewhere on the blog). Generally, we were very pleased with our final product and felt the collaboration of each others ideas was essential in making the thriller opening as successful as it was. The sound, lighting, camera angles and shots all worked together to help achieve our objective of understanding the key techniques and conventions needed to construct a typical and successful opening to a thriller film. 

Conventions of a thriller essay

With reference to Psycho and other thrillers studied, discuss some of the key conventions used in the thriller genres

There are many different sub-genres within the thriller genre, such as both crime thrillers and psychological thrillers. Despite these sub-genres all thrillers end up sharing the same forms and conventions to create their own unique story. The most successful thrillers form from the plot being clear as this enables the audience to follow the story throughout, meaning that when the twist does come it will be unexpected as the audience will be that focused on what they think is important  they won't be able to see what is really about to happen. This is a key aspect as its what makes the thriller stand out and appear more intelligent to other genres. The three films from the thriller genre that I studied were Psycho, No Country for Old Men and Shutter Island. 

One thriller that i studied that had a huge impact on me was Psycho which was produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960- it conveys all of the typical conventions and more.


The first thing I noticed was filmed in black and white which suggests it could fit into the 'Film-Noir' sub-genre. By doing this I believe that on the whole it helps add to the tension and suspense of the film. A key convention of many thrillers is to mislead the audience, Hitchcock achieves this very well as when we first see Marion she is stealing the money from her boss to enable her to run away with her lover. At first, this portrays that this film will be based on a love affair. However, we soon forget about this as we are then focusing on the money throughout. This misleads the audience into thinking that the money is going to be playing a major role in the film. Hitchcock does this as he wants to lure us into a sense of false security. Something that did come to a shock to me was that the main character Marion, dies a third of the way through the film. This is unusual because it doesn't usually happen and up until this point in the film the audience has seen it from her point of view which from now will change.


Another key convention key convention is giving the audience false suspense. Hitchcock achieves this by using the policeman as we know that he is following her, and the audience thinks this is due to the theft of the money making it their only concern. The officer following Marion wears sun glasses which creates a sense of suspense. This is as the audience cannot make eye contact with him and may feel un-easy or insecure.


The next convention that Hitchcock uses in Psycho is the use of enclosed spaces. We see this when Marion is in the shower which appears to be her own personal space so therefore the audience assumes that she is in no danger. 

The suspense is cleverly built up at this point as we immediately see the door open and a shadow approaching her which she is not aware of. At this point, despite obviously not being able to do this, the audience feel they want to make her aware. As Hitchcock manages to make the audience feel this way towards the film, he has achieved his objectives successfully. During the murder, there are extreme close-ups of Marion's eyes, which puts the audience on a more personal level to her and can see that see is suffering through her emotions shown.

Another film I studied that fits into the Thriller genre was No Country for Old Men by Ethan and Joel Coen in 2007.


One major convention that makes No Country for old men different to other of it's genre is the sound. Usually, typical thriller films use sound to enhance the tension and suspense that have an effect on the audience. However, this film is unusual and doesn't use a soundtrack although the directors still manage to keep the audience on the edge of their seats simply by the brilliant acting, the storyline, the setting and the adult content.


The character Anton Chigurh makes the film particularly thrilling as he's a psychopathic killer. He manages to play his role perfectly as he hasn't gone over the top with the acting so much that it looks unrealistic but kept the balance just right. He shows no emotion throughout the film even when he's killing, this makes him seem almost inhuman and also helps create tension and emotion as the audience are always wanting to know what's going to happen next. For example, at the end of the film when he walks out of 'Carla Jeans' he shows absolutely no emotion at all, so the audience are left wondering if he killed her or not. This also contributes towards the adult content as it's not a childlike and predictable film, as the audience are left to draw their own conclusions on what has happened.

The other main character in No Country for Old Men, Lewelyn Moss, is a typical character to the Thriller genre. The audience sympathise with him despite taking money that didn't belong to him. We do this as after committing the theft, he then goes back to the site with all the bodies in and gives water to an injured man, which then gets himself in trouble. This shows that in comparison to the other main character, Anton, he is very human like who shows lots of emotion unlike Anton. After a long chase, Lewelyn moss is finally killed by Anton, which is quite surprising to the audience as they get the idea that he had eventually got away.

The final thriller film that I studied was Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorcese


The fact that the film's story is based on a dubious mental hospital on a shady island already brings up cliches of the Thriller genre, and perhaps the sub-genre, Psychological thrillers. Also, the idea of two detectives being stuck on an Island in the middle of the sea investigating a case in a mental hospital may shock the viewer. 


The very first sequence in Shutter Island, the ship scene on route to the Ashecliffe institute uses various different conventions to create tension upon the audience. This scene is very important as it manages to create a dispirited atmosphere which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats before the hospital gates have even opened. Whilst on the boat, the two main characters/detectives 'Daniels' and 'Aule' discuss their task and what may be ahead of them. They conclude their dialogue by suggesting that their destination is a mental hospital only for the "mentally insane", this again could put the audience experience quite subtle distress of what is to come. The camera then pans out to an extreme long shot of the island, and there is a sudden change of ambiance. The shot, (which is pictured below) is of a dark misty island and fills up most of the frame. It portrays the idea that the island is a inhospitable and mysterious place that perhaps the protagonists should not visit. The audience automatically get a negative vibe about Shutter island, and potentially feel sympathetic to the task that is ahead of the main characters. 

Throughout the film, there are some shots that are particularly disturbing for the viewer and could put them in a moment of distress creating a tense and subtle atmosphere An example of  this is when the main protagonist Leo is first walking through the mental asylum with his partner. He looks across to the right and the camera slowly moves across showing the media shot of an old, fragile, and ill looking lady chained up. Slowly, as Leo looks across, she lifts up her index finger and 'shushes' Leo as if to keep quiet about something. Himself and the audience appear to be shook up and in a slight state of depression by this demented looking lady. Also, the idea that this women could be real makes this clip particularly tense for the viewer. From seeing this shot in the film, the audience may get the idea that she could play a vital role in the film, however, this is not the case. Later in the film as the story and twists unfold, the reasoning for the lady shushing becomes apparent to the audience. 

Another convention that creates tension and suspense in Shutter Island is the effect of sound. The use of dramatizing non-digetic music creates soundscapes that reinforce the suspense inherent to the image on the screen. As well as this, the digetic sounds are used to alert and sensitize the viewer, increasing the sounds potential effect. An example of how these are used in the film are during the boat scene. The digetic sound of the wind on the boat, paired with use of the non-digetic dramatic music constructs a threatening atmosphere upon the viewers. Only until they are provided with narrative information does they know what to expect from the island. 

Besides this, editing techniques are thoroughly used and play a big part in creating tension. Fast cut sequences are employed by Scorsese which help to increase suspense by change the tempo of certain takes. As well as this, mise-en-scene conveys suspense and tension in Shutter Island, along with the acting. The character's facial expressions signify what they're feeling and their emotions, which can again have an effect on the audience watching. Regularly in the film, Scorsese uses the effect of low key lighting in central parts of the film, and are included to make a 'film-noir' like ambiance, with anxiousness and the anticipation of impending danger. 

All three thrillers I researched and talked above above, use various different techniques and conventions of the thriller genre effectively. Together, these contribute towards making the audience feel psychologically and emotionally distressed, and put them on the age of their seats for the rest of the film. They all use similar types of music typical to the horror genre which contribute towards putting the viewer in a case of suspense. As well as this, various shots, camera angles, acting, and editing techniques help towards making these three Thriller films high in suspense and tension. 

Research of different Camera Angles, Camera movement and Shots

Before coming up with an idea of our final idea, my group and I did some research on different types of camera angles, camera movement and shots. We did this in order to ensure that we got the best out of our opening thriller piece and could make it of the best quality as possible. We planned to incorporate both basic and advanced camera shots and angles to create our piece. 


Camera Shots

The main objective that camera shots have is to demonstrate different aspects of a film's setting, characters and themes and are the amount of space that is seen in one shot or frame. As a result of this, camera shots are very important when shaping a meaning in a film.

Examples of Camera Shots:

Extreme Long Shot
An extreme long shot often contains a large amount of landscape and is used to set a scene or establish a location, which is called an establishing shot. These types of shots are often used to show mise-en-scene in the scene. 

Long Shot

Long shots are similar to extreme long shots but are much more specific and give the audience a more specific idea of the setting. In these shots, the emphasis is on the environment and generally includes the characters whole body in the scene. 

Mid Shot

Mid Shots contain just the characters bodies or a someone from the waist up. In these types of shots, the audience can see the characters faces much more clearly than in extreme long shots and long shots. The interaction between different customers can also be seen in mid shots.

Close-up

Close ups contain only one character's face. Also known as personal shots, they allow the audience to capture the character's feelings and emotions and enables them to feel empathy for the character in the film. 

Extreme Close-up

Extreme close-ups show just one part of a person face and are quite common in Thriller and Horror films. These types of camera shots show emotions of the character in great detail and create an intense mood which provides interaction between the film and the audience. 

Over the Shoulder shot

This shot is taken from behind a character's shoulder, towards another subject. Depending on how much of the subject is show in the shot compared to the person who's shoulder is being film over, the audience can tell who the inferior or superior character is. For example from an elevated/birds-eye view, over the shoulder the subject would appear inferior and a worms eye-shot over the shoulder would make the subejct seem superior. 

Camera Angles

People often get camera angles and shot mixed up, but they are not the same thing. Whilst camera shots are used to establish settings, show emotions and themes, camera angles are used in film to position the viewer in order for them to understand to relationships between different characters. 

Examples of Camera Angles:

Birds Eye Angle

A bird's eye angle looks directly down on a scene from a so called view from a 'bird's eye'. These types of angles are often used as establishing angles to establish the setting of the scene.

 

High Angle

High angles look down upon a subject or a character. These types of shots are used to make people look inferior, vulnerable or small as if someone is looking down or standing above them. 

Low Angle

Low angles look up at a character or subject in film. It is the complete opposite of a high angle and makes the character look inferior instead of looking superior, it can also make the audience feel vulnerable or small by looking up to the character. 

Camera Movement

Camera Movement is used in films to shape meaning. 

Examples of Camera Movement:

Panning

Panning is usually used to set the scene or setting of a film and gives the audience a panoramic view of the set.

Tracking Shot

Tracking shots used 'tracks' to move and are most common when exploring a room such as a restaurant. They are used to give the audience a detailed tour of the current situation of the characters. Tracking shots can also be used to follow a character.

Crane shot

These types of shots are often used to signify the ending or finale of a film. The outcome is achieved by the camera being placed on a crane which can then be moved upwards to create a zoom out effect. 

Research of the Thriller Genre

There are 8 main elements of the Thriller genre. They are:

 1. The central protagonist's faces death, their own or someone else's.

 2. The forces of antagonism must initially be clever and/or stronger than the protagonist.

 3. The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or the character who cannot be put down.

 4. The main plot-line focuses on a mystery that must be solved.

 5. The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.

 6. All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.

 7. The two major themes that underpin the Thriller are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.

 8. One small but significant aspect of a great thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world. 

Thriller is a type of genre that concentrates and revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim of a general Thriller film is for the audience to be on the edge of their seats and the anticipation of what is to come. It is a large and diverse genre, with many different thrillers having a wide range of interests for their audiences. Thriller films fall into different sub genres.  However, whatever sub genre this might be they will all emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. 

There are six main sub genres within the thriller genre, these are: 

• Action Thriller
• Crime Thriller
• Film-Noir
• Psychological Thriller
• Science Fiction Thriller
• Religious Thriller

Action Thriller

Physical action is used to create suspense in Action Thrillers. These types of films will include continuous motion and physical action such as physical stunts, chases, fights, battles and races. The protagonist danger that he is facing will be contributed by these various different scenes in action thrillers.

Crime Thriller

This sub genre incorporates suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot and usually concentrate on a serial killer, murderer, manhunt or a robbery. Despite being similar to traditional crime films, this sub genre's storyline usually focuses on around the protagonist and the criminal. Physical and action aspects are also used in Crime Thrillers to create suspense and tension. 

Film-Noir

Not only is 'Film-Noir a sub-genre of the Thriller genre, but a term used for a specific, stylistic type of crime-drama or thriller that was popular during the 1940s and 1950s. With the main character usually being a cynical hero, this sub-genre relies on various flashbacks and a narrative voice to explain the intricate plot. The sub-genre gets it's name 'noir' from the black-and-white style with stark lighting effects used. 

Psychological Thriller

As well as the attributes expected in a normal thriller, Psychological includes elements of drama and mystery into the sub-genre. Physical threat and the mind are used to create tension and suspense in this sub genre and the protagonists in these films must use their mental resources to solve the situation or plot. Often due to their nature, films in this sub genre cross over towards the Horror genre. 

Science Fiction Thriller

Science based and hypothetical themes are incorporated to create the plot for Science Fiction thriller films. Traditionally, heroes, villains, fantastical quests, advanced technology and unexplored locations can be incorporated into this sub-genre to be used to create anticipation and suspense. The 'future-gone-bad' theme will often be explored in Science Fiction thrillers as well as plots that revolve around alien invasions, super-diseases and dystopian scenarios. 

Religious Thriller

Religious themes, objects, ceremonies and questions are incorporated to create a Religious Thriller. Many films inside this sub-genre include supernatural experiences not focusing on a certain religion despite some Thrillers revolving around a specific religious place, such as a church. Some typical themes of Religious Thrillers are demon possession, church cover-ups and exorcisms.  

Examples of Films within each of these Sub Genres 

Examples of films within the Thriller genre... on Prezi

Continuity Piece - The Decoy

Callum, Dan, Jonathon and myself came together as a group to create this continuity edited film which will called 'Decoy'. Despite only being a short film, the story focuses on the main character (Jon) who gets 'stitched' up my his friends who plant him will Class A drugs. The moral of the film is not to trust anyone, only those who you're sure can be trusted. Despite only being a much smaller project compared to our final idea, it helped us to understand various things that we needed know for our final opening of a thriller film. Through filming and editing this piece, we understood new things such as, operating the camera and it's equipment (Tripod). 'The Decoy' allowed us to use various shots of the main characters to show their views, feelings and emotions. Because this was only our continuity piece, it consisted of a few small errors that we would have picked up on in the final film. But we managed to take these problems on board and used them to learn from our mistakes when creating the final piece. Some examples of mistakes we made in the film are: not using the music to it's full potential (i.e. not using it to have an effect on the audience like we did in our opening to a thriller piece) and certain shots where wind and other noises can be heard in the background. 

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

The British Board of Film Classification (aka. BBFC) is a non-government organisation funded by the film industry that specializes in regulating different types of moving media. For example: film, video, DVD, and video games. These products must be classified under the video recordings act by the BBFC before release or else it would be illegal to supply the different types of recorded media.

Productions are categorized and issued with a certificate that informs the audience of the product what age range/group it is suitable for. They are classified by usually at least two examiners of the BBFC. Throughout, they look at things that may be an issue such as: discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behavior, language, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence when making decisions. Context, the tone, the impact and the product will have on the viewer and whether there is a higher chance of children using/watching the products at home are also considered by the British board of film Classification during the categorization.

Along with rating, all films and video games rated by the BBFC come with a few lines of advice to the customer, often giving a more details description so the audience has a better idea of what to expect prior to watching. If a certificate specifies that a film or video game is only suitable for someone over a certain age. then only those over that age may buy it.

Universal –Suitable for all ages.

A film that is issued a ‘U’ should be suitable for all audiences over the age of four years old. If a product is issued a ‘U’ and suitable for children in pre-school, this will be indicated next to the rating image in consumer advice.

Products that fit into the ‘U’ category can contain:

-No discrimination as bad language or behaviour.
-Reassuring and mild scary scenes that shouldn’t cause any anxiety to a child.
-Only very mild bad language.
-No reference to illegal or the misuse of drugs, unless there is a clear anti-drugs or educational purpose to the product.
-Only occasional natural nudity.
-No sex references.
-Mild violence only.
-Mild sexual behaviour only (kissing, making love). 

Parental Guidance

Productions that are categorised under the Parental Guidance classification are suitable for general viewing by any ages but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. Any child can watch a ‘PG’ film unaccompanied and should be suitable for a child from the age of eight and upwards. But, guardians of younger viewers are advised to consider whether the content in the production is suitable for their child and whether it will upset them or not.

Products that fit into the ‘PG’ category can contain:

   
-Usually, discriminatory behaviour/language is likely to be unacceptable in a ‘PG’ film unless it will be clearly disapproved of by the audience or in an educational context.
-Again, references to drugs unless in an anti-drug context (etc) are unacceptable.
-No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy.
-Only mildly bad language is acceptable.
-Natural nudity only.
-Mild sex references and innuendos only.
-Moderate violence without detail is allowed. 

Suitable for 12 years and older

The same criterion is used by examiners when examining both a ‘12A’ film and a ‘12’ certificate one. A 12/12A category is awarded when generally a product is suitable throughout for people above the age of 12 years old.

A ‘12A’ classification is only used in cinema and is fairly similar to the ‘PG’ category. No one below the age of 12 can view a ‘12A’ film unless they are accompanied by an adult who believes in their judgement that the film is suitable for that particular child, and will not be upset during viewing.

'12' category films exists only for video and DVD works. Anyone below the age of 12 cannot legally rent or buy a '12' rated video/DVD.

Products that fit into the ‘12’/’12A’ category can contain:

-Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is only allowed if it is clearly condemned.
-The misuse of drugs must not be frequent and if shown, not in a positive light or any instructional detail.
-Moderate physical and psychological Horror threats are acceptable as long as they are not frequent throughout.
-Dangerous behaviour (i.e. suicide) should be dwelled on in order to prevent viewers from imitating or copying.
-Nudity is acceptable. Sexual content must be brief and discreet.
-Themes can be mature but must be suitable for younger teenagers watching.
-No dwelling in detail of moderate violence but is allowed. Neither blood nor injuries should be emphasised but the occasional ‘gore’ moment is acceptable. 

Suitable for 15 years or over

Any person below the age of 15 years old wishing to view a ‘15’ certificate film should not be permitted to see any of its kind in a cinema or to rent/buy its video work (DVD, etc).

Products that fit into the ‘15’ category can contain:

-Discriminatory language is acceptable but as a whole must not be endorsed.

-During the film the consumption of drugs is allowed but the film as a whole should not promote/endorse drugs to the audience.
-Strong humour unless sadistic or sexualised.
-Dangerous behaviour (i.e. suicide) should be dwelled on in order to prevent viewers from imitating or copying.
-Sexual activity may be portrayed without a large amount of detail. Productions whose main primary focus is arousal or stimulation will probably not be acceptable.
-As long as it’s with light detail, nudity is allowed in a sexual context.
-Any theme may be permitted if the product is suitable for person above the age of fifteen years old.
-Strong violence is acceptable but infliction or pain should not be dwelled on in great detail.
-Extremely gory images are unlikely to be acceptable in a 15 rated production. 

Suitable only for adults (18+)

Productions that are rated as an ‘18’ certificate are only available to be viewed by people over the age of 18 years old. This is the same for both the viewing in a cinema and purchasing or renting an ‘18’ rated video/DVD.

Films under this category do not have as strict limitations on various different things unlike the other certificates. For example: there is no limitation on the bad language used, hard drugs are usually acceptable, along with strong sexual and violent references. Strong sexual activity is also allowed. Some scenes that involve strong real sex may be permitted if they’re justified by the context.

To be shown only in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults no less than 18 years 

Also films cannot be seen or purchased in normal cinemas or shops but can only be viewed in specially licensed and video works can only be purchased/rented to adults in licensed sex shops. Some ‘R18’ Videos/DVD’s may not be available for delivery over mail order.

Again like the ‘18’ certificate, ‘R18’ movies are only legally allowed to be viewed by people over the age of 18 years old. However, it is a special and legally restricted category especially for films containing sex or strong fetish material.


Products that fit into the ‘R18’ category cannot contain:

-Anything that breaches the criminal law or a product that appears to be ‘obscene’ by examiners.   
-Certain scenes that may provoke adults into inappropriate abusive sexual behaviour. (rape, paedophilia)
-The causing of pain or ways in which someone may be inflicted upon physical harm through a sexual manner. May be considered by examiners if it’s non-abusive or only moderate behaviour.

Continuity editing

Continuity editing is a style of editing that requires  the director or maker of a film to try and make it as realistic as possible and much like the audience's reality as possible. This means the film is trying to recreate what the world around us is and try to make is easier on the audience to comprehend and understand the action happening on the screen. Within this style of editing there are many terms or ways of implementing the style. These affects can be used independently of each other to create desired effects. 

Some styles of continuity editing are:

• Establishing shot
• Point of View Shot (POV Shot)
• Over the Shoulder shot
• Flashback shot
• Reaction shot
• Reverse shot
• Eyeline match
• Match on action
• Axis of action
• 180 shot
  

Above are some screen-shot examples from a continuity edited film. Out of the list above they display 'Match On Action', '180 Shot and Reverse Shot' and 'Eyeline Match'.

One of the most important parts of continuity editing is that no drastic changes are made to the characters or setting in between the different shots in the film. For example, a change in clothes, an obvious change in lighting (such as if a film is shot over more than one day, ensuring that the weather isn't more or less bright than the previous shots filmed), random mise-en-scene in any shots that may not have been there previously and unwanted dialogue, speech or discussion that can be heard in certain shots. This is important in order for the film to meet it's purpose of being as close to reality as it can be.

 Above is a really good clip on YouTube that I found of some people giving examples of many of the listed types of continuity editing. They used a film example of a 'Shoot down' in order to do this. This video was extremely helpful when understanding the concept and idea of continuity editing before making and directing my continuity film piece. Not only did I use it personally but as a group we found it extremely helpful. 

My groups continuity film called 'The Decoy' is on a separate post on my blog and can watched from there.