Tuesday 27 April 2010
Monday 26 April 2010
Monday 19 April 2010
Thriller Movie Group Questionnaire
Target Audience
15+
1) What thriller sub genre are you most drawn to?
Psychological thriller - 12
Horror thriller - 5
Action thriller - 2
Sci-Fi thriller - 1
Religous Thriller - 2
Crime Thriller - 4
Drama Thriller - 1
Political Thriller - 1
Spy Thriller - 2
2) What do you like about the thriller genre?
Confusion - 3
Mystery - 4
Suspense - 6
Compelling Characters - 13
Hero vs. Villain - 4
3) Out of the choices, who is your favourite thriller director?
Martin Scorsese - 4
Alfred Hitchcock - 8
Steven Speilberrg - 5
Quentin Tarantino - 2
David Fincher - 4
M.Night Shyamlan - 7
4) What makes thrillers appeal to you?
Challenging Storyline - 9
Actors/Actresses - 3
Directors - 4
Interesting Title - 6
Suprising Twists - 8
5) How important are props costume and makeup in a film?
Very Important - 14
Important - 11
Fairly Important - 5
Unimportant - 0
6) What is the most important element in a thriller?
Setting - 8
Acting - 3
Special Effects - 4
Props/Costume - 6
Plot - 9
7) For you what builds up suspeense in a film?
Music - 6
Lighting - 6
Sounds - 6
Camera Angles - 8
Pace - 4
8) Should the story of a film unfold quickly or slowly?
Quickly - 23
Slowly - 7
9) How do you think the opening of the thriller should open?
Chase Scene - 3
Everyday Life - 6
Flashback - 12
Flashforward - 5
Present Time - 4
10) In the opening of the thriller, how much of the plot should be revealed?
As much as possible - 3
As little as possible - 16
None at all - 11
Thriller Movie Group Questionnaire
Target Audience
15+
1) What thriller sub genre are you most drawn to?
Psychological thriller
Horror thriller
Action thriller
Sci-Fi thriller
Religous Thriller
Crime Thriller
Drama Thriller
Political Thriller
Spy Thriller
2) What do you like about the thriller genre?
Confusion
Mystery
Suspense
Compelling Characters
Hero vs. Villain
3) Out of the choices, who is your favourite thriller director?
Martin Scorsese
Alfred Hitchcock
Steven Speilberrg
Quentin Tarantino
David Fincher
M.Night Shyamlan
4) What makes thrillers appeal to you?
Challenging Storyline
Actors/Actresses
Directors
Interesting Title
Suprising Twists
5) How important are props costume and makeup in a film?
Very Important
Important
Fairly Important
Unimportant
6) What is the most important element in a thriller?
Setting
Acting
Special Effects
Props/Costume
Plot
7) For you what builds up suspeense in a film?
Music
Lighting
Sounds
Camera Angles
Pace
8) Should the story of a film unfold quickly or slowly?
Quickly
Slowly
9) How do you think the opening of the thriller should open?
Chase Scene
Everyday Life
Flashback
Flashforward
Present Time
10) In the opening of the thriller, how much of the plot should be revealed?
As much as possible
As little as possible
None at all
Thriller Influences
The thrillers that influence me and make the most impact upon me which watching them are thrillers, which are hybrids. The movies, which have two genres, interlinked which makes the movie more unpredictable. This makes the movie stick into your head and creates many enigma’s about what is going to happen next or why did something just happen.
The most important part of the movie is the beginning and the ending as the beginning creates lots of questions and then slowly the questions through the movie until the end where all the questions are answered. I enjoy it more when the movies ends answering most of the questions created but then ending creating a brand new question because then your brain starts to think of many different ways of what the answer to the question that the movie ended on would be. Also some movies do this, as they want to make a part two and would like to start the movie with the question that they created in the part one.
A Few Thriller Movies that I have watched and enjoyed are listed below.
Ø Godfather
Ø Godfather II
Ø Pulp Fiction
Ø The Matrix
Ø Terminator 2
Ø L.A Confidential
Ø North By North West
Research On Directors - Sir Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born on the 13th of August 1889 in Leytonstone London. His first job outside of the family business was 1915 as an estimator for the Henley Telegraph and Cable Company. His interest in movies began at around this time, frequently visiting the cinema and reading US trade journals.
In 1920 Hitchcock joint the film industry and we was drawing the posters and title signs for the movies that were coming out.
In 1923 he directed his 1st film which was called "The Number 13". Even though the production of this movie was stopped; Hitchcock never gave up and he pursued his career and started to direct another money in 1925 called "The Pleasure Garden".
Throughout Hitchcock’s life he has made many different films and he has won many different awards throughout his life.
Below are a list of the movies he has made:
The Lodger (1926), The Ring (1927), Easy Virtue (1927), Champagne (1928), The Farmer's Wife (1928), Manxman (1929), Blackmail (1929), Juno and the Paycock (1930), Murder! (1930), Skin Game (1931), Rich and Strange (1932), Number 17 (1932), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Secret Agent (1936), Sabotage (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Jamaica Inn (1939), Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Bon Voyage & Aventure Malgache (1944), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), The Paradine Case (1947), Rope (1948), Under Capricorn (1949), Stage Fright (1950), Strangers on a Train (1951), I Confess (1953), Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Wrong Man (1956), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964), Torn Curtain (1966), Topaz (1969), Frenzy (1972), Family Plot (1976)
DVD Cover Analysis - Jaws II
The DVD cover for Jaws II is a very eye catching cover. I feel that this cover is eyecatching as when you look at it the picture in the middle stands out. From looking at the cover I feel that the people who designed the cover used a dark colour like a dark blue to be the background colour so that they could put a light colour on top and make it stand out and catch the eye of the viewers.
Also another thing which is very eye catching in this poster is that with the nice blue and the white as the main colours used the Font "JAWS 2" is written in red and is in a very large font, i infer from this that the designer of the film poster wanted the title so stand out as well.
The colour red which is used for the title stands out off the page and I feel that it represents danger as the colour of blood is red and also the picture which is on the cover of the DVD is a shark who has its jaws open behind a young girl.
The title has a small submessage above it which reads "Just when you thought it was sage to get back into the water" This submessage is placed above the title which is a good place as when the Red catches the audiences eye they will want to read what is written above it as well.
The way the picture has been created for the DVD Cover creates the look of a scary film as when you observe closely you can see that the shark is much larger than the girl and it looks as if the girls head is going into the mouth of the shark.
Lastly at the bottom of the picture there are the names of the actors. The names are the same size, font and are the names of the three main actors in the film.
DVD Cover Analysis - Bad Boys II
The cover i have chosen to analyse is the cover to the movie Bad Boys II.
In this DVD cover the background is of a grey dull colour which may represent smoke which could be coming from the flames which are shown at the bottom of the cover, or a very bad day. The colour of the flames at the bottom stand out as they are orange and also the title stands out as it is very big and is in bold black font.
The names of the two main actors ‘Martin Lawrence’ and ‘Will Smith’ are both placed at the top of the DVD cover next to each other, the same size and the same font and colour. The cover clearly shows who the movie is by.
Also on the cover the picture is of the two main characters Both of them have their police badge showing which tells shows the audience that these two people are antagonist’s of the movie, in other words, the good guys.
The Bourne Ultimatum
The movie "The Bourne Ultimatum" movie is not to be found on youttube so I have uploaded the movie trailer instead.
The movie trailer gives the audience an idea of what the film is going to be about, the story line is made clear and who the actors are.
The opening shot is a long shot of a person standing on a road at night when no-one else is around. Whil this shot is playing there is a quick jump to the title which says "His identity is erased". Once the title goes away the shot changes to a close up of a person swimming around in water. While you watch the close up of the person swimming around in water the shot jumps to the title again which says "His loved one murdered". The title stays on the screen for abut 3seconds and then you see a mid shot of a man shooting a gun which jumps into a shot of a car flying driving of a brige.
There is another close up of a women drowning in water and then it cuts accross to the title "His past stolen".
There are quick tranisitions between the shots of people and cars. You see the main character "Jason Bourne" for the first time and he says "Somebody has started this, and im going to find them"
The shot changed again to a driver of a car changing the gears in the gearbox. You see the cars move and then the police talking about Jason saying how he is a dangerous guy. The action continues and then it shows Jason Bourne phoning up the police department and telling them that he remembers everything.
In the end it hows the Movie Name and then a long shot of a man walking away from the camera.
Silence Of The Lambs - Opening Analysis
The opening shot was a long shot of a landscape of tree’s and a very foggy atmosphere. This gave the audience a feel of depression and upset. The tree’s had not got many leaves on them and the floor was covered with brown dead leaves which showed the audience that it was autumn.
The camera then slowly started to move to a hill where there were two ropes going down. From around the corner you see a girl running towards the hill ( this is a long shot of the girl). As soon as the girl comes into the shot the first title comes into the shot as well which is the name of the girl (Jodie Frost).
The girls grabs onto the rope and uses it to help her climb up the hill. At the point the camera is still and the girls is moving slowly towards the camera which is making it a long shot to midshot to close up for when the girl gets to the top of the hill.
The camera goes into a midshot of the girl showing her face and a jumper which she is wearing that has “FBI” written on it.
The camera continues to follow the girl as she is running and then the camera moves to a close up of the womens feet and followers her feet as she is running.
The sounds in this part of the film are diegetic as you can hear the rustling of trees and the sound of her running through the forest. This makes the feel of the movie more intense.
The camera then goes back into a midshot of the girl running through the forest. This creates a sort of enigma code of making the audience ask “why is she running”
While she is running other names of other actors come onto the screen this time more than one at a time.
A long shot is shown of her running towards a netting which looks to be part of an obstacle course and then it moves to a midshot of her climbing the netting. The girl gets over the top and is hanging on; this is where the camera freezes and then she flips of the net and continues to run down a path a logs.
As she is running man shouts out “Sterling” twice before running onto the set. This again creates another enigma for the audience as it makes the audience think “who is this man”. He tells her that Crawford wants to see her in his office which then raises the question of whom Crawford is and why he wants to see her.
She starts to run back and the camera focuses on a tree with signs that are nailed on it which say ‘Hurt’, ‘Agony’, ‘Pain’, ‘Love It’. Then the camera moves back to her as she is running back into where she first came from where there are two groups of people in FBI jumpers also going for a run.
This gives the audience a little idea about what her job is and why she was running around doing an assault course in the forest near her office.
As she walks into the building she is greeted by many people who walk past and then she is asked “are you looking for Crawford”. She is told that he will be there soon and that she should wait in his office.
While she is in Crawford’s office the camera pans the room which is a total tip and then shows that she has seen something which is very interesting. We notice a board with photographs and newspapers cuttings pinned to it. The camera then cuts to a close up of her face as we see her eyes reading the board.
The camera then moves back to the board and focuses on a newspaper article which said “BILL SKINS FIFTH” with the victims picture below it.
Crawford appears as a blur in the background and says Sterling’s name. Crawford comes into the frame and we can clearly see who Crawford is. The camera then follows him towards his rest and focuses on him at the end of the shot.
Research On North by Northwest
Ø North by Northwest was a movie which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Ø It was a suspense film, which was released in 195.
Ø It starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.
Ø North by Northwest has an original film storyline which is found in all Alfred Hitchcock movies as he is known to be the master of thrillers.
Ø North by Northwest is ONE of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies and also is one the best sellers which lots of money when it was released.
Ø The Movie portrays the theory is innocent on the run, mistaken identity.
Ø He created this movie so that the viewers could have a change from his previous movie “Vertigo” which is still today one of the best films made by Alfred Hitchcock.
Ø The Movie North by Northwest has a few of the most famous scenes in the history of thriller. These are the crop duster chase where a crop duster chases a man and tries to kill him but does not succeed and also the Mt Rushmore chase.
Deconstruction Of North by Northwest
North by Northwest is a 1959 film produced by Alfred Hitchcock is a very famous movie which has won lots of awards and is still known as one of Hitchcock’s all time great production just like its previous relive Vertigo.
The film tells the story of an innocent man who has been mistaken to be a federal agent and is chased by a gang who have been smuggling macro films of government secrets.
Even though north-by-north west is a thriller movie it still has bits of humour, which is a rare thing, but it is pulled of well my Hitchcock as he makes the blend of the humour fit in well with the storyline
Alfred Hitchcock has used narrative theories and structures in his movie for example he has used Todorov theory of Equilibrium where he starts the movie as a normal day at work for Mr Thornhill who is the innocent man who has been mistaken to be a federal agent. The theory if equilibrium has five parts and the first part is the equilibrium, which is Mr Thornhill at a normal day of work like any other day of the week. The second part is the disruption of the equilibrium where the gang of spies kidnaps Roger Thornhill who is the protagonist of the film. This is mistaken identity as the gang think that Roger Thornhill is Mr Kaplin. This all occurred as Mr Thornhill was late for his meeting and he had told his PA to phone his mother when he realised that his mother was at her friend’s house playing bridge so he put his hand up to call a waiter. This was a coincidence to the fact that there was an announcement for Mr Kaplin when Mr Thornhill put his hand up so the gang of spies who were looking for Mr Kaplin saw Mr Thornhill raise his hand and thought that he was Mr Kaplin. Once these two men have seen Mr Thornhill raise their hand they wait for him to walk outside and they hold him at gunpoint, kidnapped him and take him to Townsend.
Once inside the house Mr Vandamme (the antagonist) kept of referring to Mr Thornhill as Mr Kaplin, which confused Mr Thornhill as he was not Mr Kaplin but no-one was listening to him. This creates an Enigma code as throughout the whole film the audience wants to know who George Kaplin really is. Once Mr Thornhill refuses to help Mr Vandamme, Mr Vandamme’s men force Mr Thornhill to drink alcohol and then sit him in a car and set him to drive into the river and drown. Under all of this intoxication Mr Thornhill manages to drive the car away from the river dodging traffic and eventually driving into a police car where he is arrested for drink driving. When he tells the police inspectors that he has been kidnapped they do not believe him and then after a while his own mother doesn’t believe his story about being kidnapped.
Mr Thornhill takes his mother and a group of police detectives to the place where he has been kidnapped and taken to trying to prove his innocence but the antagonist had already sussed that this would happen so he removed all the incriminating evidence at the scene. Mr Thornhill tries to prove his innocence once again by going around to the United Nations official and tries to follow Vendamme where the antagonist frames him for murder. This makes the police want to arrest him even more, which gives Roger Thornhill more of a reason, to start running. This links into the theory of Innocent on the Run. While Mr Thornhill is on the run he gets onto a train trying to run away where he realises that the police have spotted him and he hides. To his luck a women see’s him hiding and points the police in another direction saving his life.
While Roger Thornhill is on the train the FBI mention a secret agent who is helping track down Vandamme and his movements. This creates an Enigma for the audience as it makes the audience think who is the other agent?
The train comes to a stop where police come onto the train once more and do a check incase Thornhill is on the train and they speak to Eve asking her about Thornhill as she was seen having lunch with him that day on the train.
Eve is the Agent and she pretends to help Thornhill find Mr Kaplin. She gives him directions to where Mr Kaplin is going to meet him. This part of the movie is where the very famous crop plane chase happens where the plane targets Mr Thornhill in an endless chase through crop fields. This creates an enigma, which makes the audience ask why does the plane want to kill Mr Thornhill if Mr Kaplin does not exist. Eventually the plane crashes into a tanker and Mr Thornhill escapes by stealing the vehicle of a person who has got out of their truck to see what has happened.
Continuity Task - The Birds By Alfred Hitchcock
The 1st scene of Birds starts of with a long shot of the actress in her surrounding area. A long shot would have been used to set the scene for the audience for them to engage with the character and their surroundings. After the long shot it moves into a mid shot of the women who is knocking on a door and then entering the house. The camera shot has stayed the same here and is still a mid shot however the camera angle has changed angle as she has walked into the house so that the audience can feel as if they are moving along with her through the house.
The camera follows her into the room and pans her as she looks thought the kitchen. Then it zooms into her into a mid shot and stops as she is stationary in the kitchen. The camera stays in the mid shot position and it follows here as she walks into the hallway and then it stays in a stationary position as she walks down the corridor making a mid shot into a long shot. The camera moves in a quick transition as she turns the corner and moves from a long shot to a mid shot again. At this point we get a point of view shot as we see her looking into the room and then we get a camera shot of the room as if we are seeing the room from here point of view.
The camera zooms into a broken window and the ornaments which have fallen down in the room which leads the audience to think about what has happened for this to occur. The camera moves back to the women in the room and then slowly moves across the room the bloody feet and then slowly moves up the body to show the full body of the person. This is at a long shot so that we can see who the person if that is covered in blood. We then move into an extreme close up to show the persons face with no eyes which lead the audience to thing who is this man and why is he in this situation. The camera in quick transition and shows a close up of the women getting frightened and running away. Then the camera moves into the corridor to show the women trying to run out of the house and then this is followed by another long shot from outside the house showing the women running out of the house in shock.
Narrative Theories
Aristotle
Aristotle believed that all narratives have a beginning, middle and an end
According to him there are 5 different stages to the Narrative Structure,
They are as follows:
- Exposition
- Development
- Complication
- Climax
- Resolution
Vladimir Propp came up with his own structure for narratives after studying many hundrards of Russian Folk Tales. After his studies he found that all Narratives have a common structure and in this common structure there are 7 different roles which a character may play in the story,
They are as follows:
- Villian - Struggle With Hero
- Donor - Prepares/ Provides the hero with magical agent
- Helper - Assists, Rescue, Solves/Transfigures the hero
- Princess - A person who is in trouble with the villian and is saved by the Hero. (Often ends up marrying the Hero and Punishing the Villian)
- Hero - Departs on a search for the princess, Reacts to doner, marries princess at the end.
- False Hero - Claims to be the Hero and tries to take all of the credit.
Campbell also believes that most narratives follow a similar structure and contain universally recognisable character situations i.e archetypes. Archetypes are recurring character types. Joseph Campbell had 6 archetypes for characters.
They are as follows:
- Hero
- Shadow
- Outcast
- Devil Figure
- Women Figure
- Wise Old Man
Claude Levi Strauss came up with the theory of binary opposites. He believed that for everything that there is in narrative there is an opposite for it as well.
His Binary Opposites Were:
- Good Vs Evil
- Strong Vs Weak
- Young Vs Old
- Boy Vs Girl
- Black Vs White
- East Vs West
- Man Vs Nature
- Ignorance Vs Wisdom
- Humanity Vs Technology
