Western Conventions
Hats/boots
Guns/Shoot outs
Desert/ranches/jails/saloons
Cow boys/ gunslingers/bounty hunters
Themes
Shoot outs/show downs
Justice
Rescuing damsels
Fighting crime
Conflict
Romance Conventions
Wedding
Couple
Love
red/pink
Hearts
Themes
Obstacles e.g. infidelity, illness
search for love
Marriage
Forbidden love/ love at first sight
Overcoming obstacles
Monday, 19 October 2015
Sunday, 18 October 2015
The Shining Analysis
The Shining - Analysis
The
Shining is a 1980s horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick and is based on the
novel by Stephen King. The film shows conventions and themes of a number of
genres, including psychological horror and thriller. It stars Jack Nicholson as
the main character Jack, who gets a job as a caretaker at a hotel in the winter
season. Him, his wife Wendy and his son Danny move into the hotel but because they
are so isolated and there is nobody else around, Jack slowly becomes disturbed
and tries to kill his family. In this essay I am going to analyse two scenes
from the film, referring to camera, lighting and editing techniques, as well as
the sound and genre conventions.
In the opening scene of The
Shining we first see an establishing shot, in which we can see mountains and a
vast lake, which is used to establish the location and setting for the film.
The mountains and lake make it isolated and the shadows make it dark, which are
all conventions of horror films. The non-diegetic music is played from the very
beginning and sets the mood of the film. It is deep, slow and sounds like
trumpets/trombones; which is unsettling and scary. At this point the camera
movement is a crane shot, which also helps to establish the scene, which moves
forward and then swoops to the right into a dissolve transition on to a car
driving down a winding road. I think that the way the camera swoops into this
scene is a metaphor for the camera being a bird that is swooping in on its
prey, which is the person in the car. The camera movement at this part is an
aerial shot and is at a bird’s eye view angle which follows the car driving
down this twisting road. This victimizes the person driving the car and the
fact that the road is twisted could be a foreshadowing of Jack’s mind becoming
twisted. Also the car is the only car on the road and is surrounded by trees
which further adds to the theme of isolation. The film then jump cuts to an
extreme long shot of the car and we can see the mountains and surroundings as
well. This makes the car look miniscule compared to the mountains even though
they are in the back ground but we still focus on the car as the camera is
following it. In this shot high key lighting is used which gives us a false
sense of security as it makes everything look bright. This is when the
non-diegetic music starts to include more high pitched noises and instruments
are used that sound like ghostly whispers; these are conventions of horror
films and make it sound more sinister. There is then another jump cut to move
time forward quicker and it shows the car driving up a slope and in front of an
ominous rock wall and because it is an extreme long shot the person is yet
again victimized and made to look insignificantly small. The camera then moves
quicker and pans forward towards the car into a long shot. This whole scene
seems like a predator sneaking up on its prey at first and then running after
it to capture it. However the camera then continues to move forwards and goes
past the car which lulls the viewer into the sense that nothing bad is going to
happen. Then there is another jump cut to an aerial shot, at a high angle, of
the car which makes it look tiny and like it is being watched and the
non-diegetic sound at this moment are high pitched and sound like war cries.
This could represent that danger or death is coming. The car is then shown to
be driving towards a tunnel which is very dark and you can’t see inside it.
This is a sign of danger and implies that the person is driving towards their
death. Be that as it may, the car does come out of the other side of the tunnel
into bright day light, which again makes the audience feel safe and secure.
There are then two jump cuts to speed it up as it must be a long drive to where
they are going. It jumps to a scene with mountains and snow everywhere which
shows the audience that the person is driving higher and higher into the
mountains, where they will be even more isolated and even further away from the
outside world. Then it cuts to an aerial shot of a large building that
looks like a spooky castle, which we then later find out is the hotel that Jack
will be taking care of. It is grey and dark in colour which has connotations of
loss/death and it also blends into the background of the mountains, making it
look ghostly which gives the viewer an unsettling feeling about the hotel. Also
on the car park there are quite a few red cars and the colour red symbolises
danger and blood. During this shot of the hotel the non-diegetic sounds begin to
sound like crying and wailing which signifies to the viewer that something bad
is going to happen or bad things have already happened at the hotel. The crying
sounds could be of the people that bad things happened to previously and these noises have been used
to build up the tension. It then fades out to a blank screen with the words ‘THE
INTERVIEW’ written on there. This is done so that the audience is aware that it
is about to change to a completely new scene and as it is so sudden, it adds to
the drama of the film.
Another
scene is when Wendy and Danny are playing outside the hotel in the maze. At the
start of this scene there is an extreme close up on Jacks typewriter so that we
focus on it and see that it is not in use and the page is blank. While close up
on the typewriter there is diegetic sound of a banging noise and then the
camera pans backwards and tilts upwards into a long shot of Jack throwing a
ball at a wall. This is done to show that Jack is getting bored and that there
is no one there to communicate with so he has to entertain himself. It
highlights the fact that they are isolated and are the only ones in the hotel.
It then cuts to Danny and Wendy outside the hotel where there is high key
lighting used to make it seem like they are safe and secure. However they are
both wearing red items of clothing which has connotations of danger. The camera
uses a tracking shot to follow them into the maze and then it goes into a close
up on the map of the maze. This is done to show that they could get trapped or
lost in there easily and we also see the name of the maze is “The Overlook Maze”,
which suggest that they are being watched. Then it cuts to a backwards tracking
shot of Wendy and Danny in the maze and then cuts to a tracking shot of them
from behind so it looks as though they are being followed. This victimizes
Danny and Wendy and the High pitched non-diegetic music emphasises the
creepiness of the situation. There is then a dissolve transition onto Jack which
makes it look as though time has gone forward a bit. We see that Jack is still
throwing the ball around the hotel, which could show that he is starting to become
unstable. He then walks over to a small scale model version of the maze and the
camera comes into a mid-shot so that we can see what Jack is doing. As this is
happening the music gets quieter but still continues to be high pitched. It
then cuts to a front view of Jack from the other side of the maze model and he
is leaning over the maze. This makes Jack look like he is watching Danny and
Wendy in the maze and this is further shown when it cuts to a birds eye view of
the maze. It is made to look like a point of view shot for Jack, but Danny and
Wendy are there. When this happens there is tinkering noises that sound
mystical and spooky. The birds eye view shot makes them look small and like
victims and the camera then zooms in like it is closing in on them, which is
done to make it look like they are trapped and have no escape. There is a cut
to a backwards tracking shot like they are still being followed. The music is
faster and tense which adds suspense to the scene and makes the viewer sure
that something bad is going to happen. However the screen then suddenly fades
out to blank with the word ‘TUESDAY’ written on there and as this happens the
music suddenly stops with a loud, high pitched bang noise, which made me jump.
Thursday, 1 October 2015
Reflective Analysis
This week we were put into
groups of three and were asked to create a short horror/thriller genre film
using different camera angles and movements, as well as diegetic and non-diegetic
sound. Our aim was to make a thriller film using all the camera angles we were
given and add in sound after we had finished filming. We decided that a
thriller film would be easier to create considering our limited resources and
equipment. My role in the production of the film was filming, directing and
acting as every person in our group wanted experience of all aspects of
creating a film. I also had input in the decision of what music we would add to
the film, as well as helping to edit it. We filmed our movie in a graveyard as
we felt that this would make it creepy and added a theme of death, which could
be seen as a foreshadowing of the death of the main character. In our film the
main character is running away from a murderer and then trips over and gets
killed. We wanted to fulfill the thriller genre so we made the film so that the
audience never sees the murderers face. I think that this adds suspense to the
film as you want to know who the murderer is. Near the beginning we did a close
up shot on the victims face to show their emotions and to emphasise how scared
they are. When the murderer walks away from the victim, we used a low angle to
show that the mystery person is powerful and it makes the audience more fearful
of that character. When the main character is running away we panned the camera
to follow them and then cut to a Point of view shot where we see what the
character sees. In the point of view shot we see the character fall over and
then we cut to the camera pointing at the ground and we hear the main character
scream. It then cuts to the low angle of the murderer walking away. We did this
so that the audience can guess what happens without actually seeing it, which
reinforces the thriller genre of the film. Overall I think that we have created
a good thriller film but it may not have the same effect that we wanted it to
as it is quite funny because we are not professional actors, and this is
evident when you watch the film.
Sunday, 27 September 2015
favourite film summer 2015
My favourite
film I have watched this summer 2015 is probably Jurassic World. I really
enjoyed the Jurassic Park films so I went to the cinema to see if this film was
as good as or even better than and in my opinion it was a lot better. It is my
favourite film of this summer 2015 for a number of reasons, one being that the
dinosaurs were a lot more realistic because technology has improved a lot since
the Jurassic Park films were released. I enjoyed this film because it did not
take long to get into the action and the main part of the story. I was worried
that this film would be too similar to the Jurassic Park films, however the
story was very different, because the scientists at the park had created a new
species of dinosaur using a mixture of different dinosaurs DNA. This made the
film exciting because it was unpredictable of what this dinosaur could do. My
favourite part of the film was when we found out that the dinosaur was part
raptor so the raptors, which were trained by the main character, turned against
the humans but then near the end they helped the humans take down the dinosaur
because they realised that their trainer had looked after them and had a real
connection with them. I think that this part added emotion to the film, which
is another reason why I enjoyed the film because it wasn’t just an action film,
it had a number of different moods which included a few funny parts and also
sad parts as well as exciting parts. I think that this film is my favourite
film of this summer because it was a very clever story line and was written in
a way that there will be a sequel, the acting was very good as they obviously
had to pretend the dinosaurs were there, it was an amazing action film and I
cannot wait for the sequel.
Thursday, 24 September 2015
Colombiana
Colombiana
Colombiana is an action thriller film starring Zoe Saldana. In this clip it shows a woman (Zoe Saldana) in a prison cell who escapes her cell to kill another inmate and then gets back into her cell so that nobody suspects it was her. One of the first camera technique we see in this clip is a low angle on a prison guard which is done to show that they are supposed to be in charge of the prisoners and are powerful over them. Throughout the clip there is low lighting which creates a scary or tense atmosphere which is enhanced by the non-diegetic music, added at certain points in the clip, which also adds suspense. We see the main character put on a black cat suit which could show colour being used to symbolise death and mystery as in the clip she kills another prisoner and she is sneaking around the jail whilst the guards are unaware of what is going on. The clip has many cuts which make it seem more fast paced and the parallel editing shows what is happening in different locations. It shows that what the woman does affects what happens in the other scenes, e.g. when she turns the cctv camera around, this makes the police officer watching the cctv react and think that something must be wrong. There are also many close ups used, for example there is a close up of a warning sign for a room with electrical equipment and the woman goes in there with a cup of water so you can guess what she is going to do. Then there is a close up of the water slowly dripping into the machine which is done to show how much time the woman has got to carry out her plan and makes it more intense. When the machine short circuits we hear diegetic noise of it shutting down and this lets the audience know that her plan to turn the machine off so that she can crawl through the fan has worked. In the scene where she is climbing through the giant fan/propeller there is parallel editing done where in the other part there is a guard going to turn it back on after her trick with the water made the machine short circuit. This is done because it adds tension as you do not know whether she is going to get through on time. At one point in the clip, the woman jumps off a roof and grabs on to the ledge so that she doesn't fall. This scene is edited in slow motion which makes us focus on the action and makes it look more exciting or dangerous. After this she is hanging off the edge and there is a low angle on a prison guard who is looking for her over the roof. This is done to emphasise how close they are but she is still not seen. As the action in the film increases, the music gets faster and louder which makes it more fast paced and like she is running out of time to get back to her cell before she gets caught. When she is climbing back over the ledge there is close ups on her feet as she is slipping and struggling to get back up the building, however she manages to do it which shows her strength. The close up is done so that we concentrate on her feet so we think she is going to fall but then you feel a sense of relief when she manages to gain control and get back onto the roof. Throughout the clip there is parallel cuts and this is done to show us how the main characters actions are affecting the actions of the other characters in the parallel scenes. For example when she kills another prisoner, there are parallel scenes to show her trying to get back to her cell without being caught and the prison guards running around frantically as they are clueless as to how and who killed the prisoner. Before she kills the other prisoner there is a close up on her gun. This is done to show the audience what is going to happen and so we can’t see anything else, so that we focus on the gun. There is also a point of view shot where she has got back in to her prison cell on time and the guards are going round making sure all other prisoners are still in their cells. We see what the guards see, which is the woman lying down on her bed with her normal clothes back on.
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Horror Film
30 Days
of Night
30 Days of
Night is a horror film about a town in Alaska where during the winter they have
30 days of darkness and are invaded by vampires who plan to destroy the town
and its people. The film stars Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Danny Huston In
the main roles and it is directed by David Slade. In the beginning of the film
a creepy man comes to town and cuts off all types of communication and
transport from the townspeople, stopping them from leaving or contacting
anybody. He then warns them that they’re all going to die and that “they’re coming”
but he will be saved by them. However, when the vampires arrive nobody is safe.
For 30 days the very few survivors of the attack are stuck hiding out in an
attic, planning how to defeat the vampires whilst they roam the town looking to
destroy any remaining life. I think that this film is not a very scary horror
film but it is very gory. I did enjoy this film slightly because the ending was
good and the story was different to other vampire films but I personally do not
like horror films.
In the film the creepy man at the start destroys all forms of transport in the town, including the husky dogs. In this scene the dogs are barking with teeth showing so are obviously distressed and probably trying to warn off the intruder, then there is a close up on a knife so you know that something bad is going to happen. This could also be interpreted as a foreshadowing of what the vampires do to the humans. There is also a scene that uses an aerial shot that moves forwards so that you can see the devastation caused by the vampires. In this view you can see a lot of blood because the town is covered in snow, so the contrast in colours emphasises the suffering of the town and the people. As well as this there is use of diegetic sound throughout the film, for example when the survivors are hiding in the attic you can hear people still screaming outside. Although you cannot actually see what is going on, it is clear that something dreadful is happening. In the film the vampires have very dark or red eyes, which could mean that colour has been used to show that they are evil as the colour red is usually associated with danger and blood.
Overall I think that this is an average film with a good use of camera techniques and sound etc. but I do not think that it is scary enough, it is more gory and there are some parts where you have to look away from the screen especially with the added sound effects which make it even more horrible.
Sunday, 13 September 2015
Jurassic World Box Office Success
Jurassic world
Jurassic world was released in UK cinema on 11th
June 2015 and was a box office success worldwide. It has made a new world
record for the biggest opening weekend worldwide making £524.1 million beating
the previous record of £483.2 million held by Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows part 2 [http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Jurassic-World-About-Beat-Another-Record-Held-By-Avengers-72140.html].
It is also the highest grossing film of 2015 so far and is in 3rd
place on the highest grossing films of all time. I will be discussing how
Jurassic world became a box office success and how success of a film is
measured. The success of the film is measured by how much money it makes from
ticket sales and how long it runs for.
Jurassic world became a box office success for a number of
reasons. I think that one of the main reasons for the film’s success is the
rise in ticket prices over the years. It may have only placed 3rd on
the highest grossing films ever because the ticket prices are higher this year
than they have been for films released in other years. Another reason for the film’s success could
be that the male lead is played by Chris Pratt who is a popular actor and became
more well know after starring in Guardians of the Galaxy and voicing the main
character in The LEGO Movie, which are both very popular films and were only
released in the year before Jurassic World was. The success of this film was
probably because of the success of Jurassic Park, as the fans of this would
have probably wanted to watch Jurassic World to see how it compared to the
original. Another reason for the success of the film is the huge marketing
campaign, with the director and lead actors/actresses doing interviews and
speaking about how much the first film had influenced Jurassic World and that
the trailer was shown in the adverts before “blockbuster” [http://www.thewrap.com/inside-jurassic-worlds-t-rex-sized-marketing-triumph/]
movies such as The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, Furious 7 and Avengers:
Age of Ultron.
To conclude I think that Jurassic World was a box office
success because of the amount of advertising and marketing and the fact that it
is linked to Jurassic Park which was very successful at the time it was
released in cinemas.
REFERENCES
http://www.thewrap.com/inside-jurassic-worlds-t-rex-sized-marketing-triumph/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
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