Memento is a 2000 American neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Case Study: American Independent Film
Memento is a 2000 American neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Case Study: British Film.
Trance is a British psychological thriller film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge. released at the world premiere in london on the 19th of march in 2013, the film stars James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel. About the theft of a painting, Simon (James McAvoy) receives amnesia after trying to steal the work of art, and has no memory where he has hidden it.
Gaining a world wide total of $24,252,013 after its $20,000,000 budget, the film didn't really see much recognition, after only winning two awards (Best Thriller & thriller poster at the
Golden Trailer Awards) it is considered a minor flop. It did have competition however, the film was released the same week as Oblivion, the Evil Dead remake and Scary Movie 5.
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Film Practical Task: Aims and Context
The aim of my storyboard that i am going to, is to create a storyboard that will successfully translate to film and that will abide to the genre that i will use. The genre i am going to use is a combination of Noir and thriller, as i will use conventions of both Noir and Horror/thriller.
The storyboard will be a short film, but and opening of a short film. the target audience will be about 15+ as i am thinking about using violence in the storyboard.
The storyboard will be a short film, but and opening of a short film. the target audience will be about 15+ as i am thinking about using violence in the storyboard.
Friday, 18 October 2013
"The Shining" Essay: Scene 2
2: In
this clip we see Danny driving round the hotel on his trike. This
clip starts with a tracking show of Danny riding his trike, with only
the sound of his wheels, this makes the audience relax and feel as
though everything is normal. It slows down to a long shot that seems
to be still slowly tracking Danny from a distance, making the viewer
feel as though they themselves are distant, or maybe suggesting the
distance between the family and civilization.
As Danny reaches
the end of the hall, there is the famous high pitch scratching, this
slowly gets louder until just before Danny turns the corner, this is
when the sound gets lower and stops, and then sounds again maybe
making some viewers jump. The high pitch sound is non diegetic and is
used to create tension which slowly rises, along with the volume.
It then cuts to
the hallway Danny turned into and a lower screeching sound is heard,
as though something is about to happen. The camera tracks Danny
around the corner to reveal the two twins, seen several times before
in the film. As the twins are revealed there is a low pitched, non
diegetic gong sound, followed by another low pitched thud when it
cuts to a close up of Danny, showing his shock and horror at these
mysterious twins.
It
then cuts again back to the initial shot of the twins in front of
Danny. This shot showcases a regularly used show by the director
(Stanley
Kubrick) named the one point perspective shot. This show is almost
perfectly symmetrical, emphasising the twins and maybe suggesting
that they are one as there is a use of mirrors and symmetry
throughout the film.
This
twins then begin to talk, followed by a low pitch drone. As the twins
talk, there are constant cuts from Danny, to the twins, and to Danny
again. It then cuts one last time to the twins, but this time they
have been murdered with an axe and there is blood everywhere. When
this shot is revealed, there is a high pitched piano noise, as though
someone has just hit some keys randomly.
The
shot of the two dead girls is interesting, at a first glance it looks
like they have just been killed and have fell randomly, but at closer
inspection the twins again are symmetrical but not down the centre of
the shot. The girl in front is laying face up with her head on the
far right, where as girl 2 is face down, head to the left, but both
of them are in the same body positions. This again may suggest that
they are one person as it almost again, looks as though they have
been mirrored.
When
the twins are initially shown, it is a long shot, but after the shot
of their corpses is show, the shot of the twins goes from a long
shot, to a closer shot, and then to a mid shot. This may make the
viewer feel as though they are getting closer to the danger. As this
is happening though, you see Danny’s growing horror in the for of a
close up, until he eventually covers his face. This is when the low
pitched noise goes from low to high until Danny moves his hands to
see again then the sound stop and it cuts to an empty hall, showing
that the twins are no longer there.
This
scene for me is one of the best in the film, it is unexpected at that
point and then even more unexpected when it shows the two twins
deaths, the sound matches the clip very well as it really builds the
tension, and retains this throughout the scene. The first time I
watched it it was a little scary and a shock to me and most other
viewers.
Thursday, 17 October 2013
“The
Shining” Essay: Scene 1
1:
This scene is the climax of
Jacks insanity. At the start of the clip Jack is talking about what
Wendy wants to do with Danny. There is a lot of red present through
out the scene, at the start of the clip you can see a red door behind
jack, who is wearing a red jacket, this is shown through out the film
as most of the doors and other props are red. A connotation of red is
normally danger and this defiantly applies to this film. This
contrast with Wendy as she is predominantly wearing green, a
connotation of green is sometimes safety, this could apply as Wendy
is holding a baseball bat to protect herself.
As
jack walks toward Wendy and Wendy walks away there is a constant high
pitch crawling non diegetic sound in the background, this is a
typical convention that is feature in other horror films as it
successfully proves to make the viewer tense. However when Wendy is
asked for her input the sound stops, this could mean that her answer
is important and key to the plot, which it proves to be as what she
says sparks the rage fuelled response she receives from Jack. There
is then a similar low pitched drone noise after Wendy finished and
jack starts talking again, maybe to show Jacks growing anger and
insanity towards Wendy. This noise proceeds to get louder and quieter
when jack speaks making the viewer tense again as though something
significant is about to happen.
As
jack continues to follow Wendy, he walks round the table and some
windows come into show, because of the sun coming through the
curtains, it make it look like there are crosses in the windows. The
film does this several times throughout relating to religious themes
and other themes such as sacrifice and betrayal.
Between
the windows there are again some red books. It then cuts back to
Wendy who has a different colour scheme behind her, the colours shown
are warm calm colours like brown and orange, maybe suggesting that
she is the only same one left in the hotel. Or even foreshadowing
later evens when Jack freezes to death. It then cuts back to Jack
still talking but when it cuts back to Wendy, for a split second you
can see a red door in the background to the far left and Wendy looks
at the bat, suggesting that she is having thoughts about using the
back, or even killing Jack.
Wendy
the proceeds to walk up the stairs and starts swinging the bat at
Jack and the crosses in the window come into shot again but this time
with a light shining through and on Wendy's side, as she is higher up
than jack on the stairs as well, this may imply that god is on
Wendy's side.
The
Scratching high pitch noise then comes back as jack walks up the
stairs and starts threatening Wendy and when jack talk about “bashing
your brains in”, the drone also stops, only leaving the high pitch
noise. When jack stops smiling, Both noises come back but far more
intense this time, as though this is the climax, it then lets out a
loud shriek when when jack is hit and one more when he starts
rolling, then one more low pitch thud when he his the bottom and
stops rolling.
For
me, this scene is a good piece of cinematography, but not entirely
scary due to its age, I'm sure 20 years ago it was terrifying, but in
today’s day and age with the advances in technology, the whole film
is pretty out of date, but a great film none the less.
Sunday, 13 October 2013
Why
was The Lone Ranger a box office failure?
At
the start of the year, The lone ranger was thought to be a success as
it was developed by the same team who made Pirates Of The Caribbean
and also stared the family favorite actor Jonny Depp. The Lone
Ranger (2013) is based on the comic book by the same name that
started in 1936 about a law man (Armie Hammer) who has turned into a
masked vigilante, and his spirit warrior Tonto (Jonny Depp) on a
quest, but as we can tell from past films staring the actor such as
The Rum Diary and Dark Shadows, Depp is not a guaranteed hit maker.
Budgeted
at $225 Million, the film suffered nearly being scrapped over the
thought of going over budget, but it was the critics that doomed the
film to fail, after poor reviews in the US transferring to the EU.
Most
of the films problems were in production, the date of the films
release was changed to be months apart and the script went through
several re-writes to at some point include werewolves (never seen in
the comic book) and die hard fans were out raged. Also the film was
release not long before such films as the reboot of superman named
The Man Of Steel, The long awaited Monsters University and Kick Ass
2, The lone ranger had an awful lot of competition.
My
Favourite Summer Film
This
summer I tried to watch a lot of films from IMBd's 250 greatest films
list. One of the films I thoroughly enjoyed was Dawn Of The Dead
(2004). The 2004 remake of George A Romero's 1978 classic zombie film
focuses on a nurse trying to escape the zombie apocalypse with a
group of survivors. In the 1978 version (sequel
to "Night of the Living Dead,") four people take up
residence in a deserted mall while trying to stay alive amid the
armies of the dead and a vicious gang of militant bikers, where as in
the 2004 remake, it has a lot more people, and a lot more conflict,
what you'd expect from a film made 20 years later.
I
enjoyed this film because of all the characters, although some of the
acting was a bit flimsy, there are no two characters that are
similar, they are all individual and completely different, the makers
seemed to have covered every minority to achieve this and also create
tension between them. There is the main focus, the female hero who
has lost all family and has nothing left, the bad ass good guy, a
ditsy blonde, a caring grandmother figure, etc. One of my favourite
is CJ. You meet CJ when the group first get to the mall (the setting
for most of the film) at first CJ comes across as a typical American
red-neck, homophobic, racist, and a good shot and when you do meet
him, you cant help but dislike him and you know he will eventually
bite the dust. But as the film progresses you start to like him more
and by the end, he is the character you most want to see through the
end of the world.
Another
reason I enjoyed it is what you’d expect to be in a zombie film,
the gore. The film (although addressing serious issues that could
happen in this situation) doesn’t take the flesh eating undead too
serious when it comes to the blood and violence, to just be straight,
the gore is cheesy, the heads exploding, making the audience cringe
and the blood squirting out when the zombies bite, and a chainsaw
through the torso, but that’s what makes it good, it makes the film
shocking and makes people want to watch it.
The
film also keeps you guessing, as a zombie film you'd expect plot
twists, but you don’t see it coming in this film. The group seems
to get into these situations that you think you can guess what’s
going to happen, but then you find out your wrong. This film does
this well just by keeping to shock factor high, whether I will be
someone you didn’t expect to die getting shot by another group
member, a surprise zombie attack or even just someone sacrificing
themselves, it always keeps you guessing.
Overall,
I really enjoyed this film and there isn’t much wrong with it,
aside from the “B list” cast, the plot to it is fantastic and
doesn’t slow down. This is a fast pace, gripping, gorey, classic
zombie film and is now one of my favourites.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Genre Conventions
The Alien films are a Hybrid of horror and sci-fi, so the Genre Conventions in this film should be that of horror and sci-fi.
E.G.
Sci-fi genre conventions.
- A dystopian world, destroyed by the xenomorphs.
- A near future setting.
- Aliens.
Horror genre conventions.
- Threatening situations.
- Nameless fears.
- Dissonant music.
- Creatures (aliens).
- Helplessness.
- Safe made unsafe, and safe again.
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