In class we watched the intro to 'Children of Men' (2006) a thriller film by Alfonso Cuar on. The film is set in 2027 in the United Kingdom.
The intro creates a lot of mystery, the it starts with people standing in a cafe with the people acting as if they are completely horrified and cannot turn away from the TV. They are watching the news. The news tell the audience that the world's youngest person has died. He was 18 years old. This makes the audience wonder how or why the world's youngest person is 18. This creates an enigma.
We then follow the main character outside the cafe, and we watch him, expecting him to do something. Suddenly the cafe that he was in explodes, the fact that this was not expected by the audience, creates shock. Woman walks out in distress, holding her own arm.
This makes us want to carry on watching because we want to find out more about this dystopic future.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Aspects of the Thriller: Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899 in London, UK. He became one of the most well known film directors of all time, and pioneered the thriller genre.
Hitchcock used a number of devices in his films to create maximum suspense and mystery.
Hitchcock's Maguffin
Maguffins featured in a lot of Hitchcock's film, they were plot devices that motivates the characters, but has little to do with the actual story line, although it may seem like they do. A famous Maguffin is in the thriller psycho in which Marion Crane steals the money entrusted to her, and drives off into the sunset. At that point people might think the film is about her running from the police or whatnot, but it's actually about her being murdered.
Enigma:
An enigma is a puzzle or mystery that the protagonist must solve. It is usually solved at the end of the film, and by doing so the protagonist becomes victorious. A famous example of an enigma is in North by North West where the main protagonist must find out the mysterious identity of Mr Kaplan, to become free of his captors and all the trouble that has ensued because of this case of mistaken identity.
Red Herring: A red herring is something that diverts the audiences attention to what is really happening.
Hitchcock used a number of devices in his films to create maximum suspense and mystery.
Hitchcock's Maguffin
Maguffins featured in a lot of Hitchcock's film, they were plot devices that motivates the characters, but has little to do with the actual story line, although it may seem like they do. A famous Maguffin is in the thriller psycho in which Marion Crane steals the money entrusted to her, and drives off into the sunset. At that point people might think the film is about her running from the police or whatnot, but it's actually about her being murdered.
Enigma:
An enigma is a puzzle or mystery that the protagonist must solve. It is usually solved at the end of the film, and by doing so the protagonist becomes victorious. A famous example of an enigma is in North by North West where the main protagonist must find out the mysterious identity of Mr Kaplan, to become free of his captors and all the trouble that has ensued because of this case of mistaken identity.
Red Herring: A red herring is something that diverts the audiences attention to what is really happening.
No Country for Old Men opening scenes
In class I watched the opening scenes to No Country for Old Men. In these scenes we here dialogue from Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee-Jones) and we meet the main antagonist of the film Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), although at this point we are not aware of who is. He is shrouded in mystery, we do not see his face.
Anton (name is only revealed later on in the film) when we first see him is being arrested, he is dressed all in black. When he is put into the police car the back of the police car is shrouded in black, making the audience wander who this stranger person could be. Also, emphasis is put on a strange metal canister that he was found with, this again is to keep the audience wandering about what is going to happen.
When they arrive at the police station, the officer is on the phone, we see Anton behind him put his handcuffs in front of him, and walk confidently up to the officer and strangle him to death. Anton is calm, and knows exactly what he is doing. The look on Anton's face it the one of a psycho, as he kills the officer. This to make audience get to know the character, that he is psychotic and a merciless killer. Once the officer is dead, Anton casually washes his hands, picks up his canister and leaves.
The next scene begins with Anton driving the officer's police car, and he pulls over a car on the road. As Anton slowly and casually walks up to the car, the canister is shown, and it makes the audience feel suspense and wander what is about to happen. He causally asks the man to step out of the car, tells him to hold still, put the hose that is coming out from the canister up to the man's head. A pop/bang is heard and the man falls down dead, this causes shock to the audience as there was no warning for this.
Anton (name is only revealed later on in the film) when we first see him is being arrested, he is dressed all in black. When he is put into the police car the back of the police car is shrouded in black, making the audience wander who this stranger person could be. Also, emphasis is put on a strange metal canister that he was found with, this again is to keep the audience wandering about what is going to happen.
When they arrive at the police station, the officer is on the phone, we see Anton behind him put his handcuffs in front of him, and walk confidently up to the officer and strangle him to death. Anton is calm, and knows exactly what he is doing. The look on Anton's face it the one of a psycho, as he kills the officer. This to make audience get to know the character, that he is psychotic and a merciless killer. Once the officer is dead, Anton casually washes his hands, picks up his canister and leaves.
The next scene begins with Anton driving the officer's police car, and he pulls over a car on the road. As Anton slowly and casually walks up to the car, the canister is shown, and it makes the audience feel suspense and wander what is about to happen. He causally asks the man to step out of the car, tells him to hold still, put the hose that is coming out from the canister up to the man's head. A pop/bang is heard and the man falls down dead, this causes shock to the audience as there was no warning for this.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Welcome to my AS Media studies coursework blog.
Hello, in this blog I'll be detailing my progress in making my thriller film.
Brief:
This project will be an opening of a thriller, it will be 2 minutes long, we will be working in groups of 2 to 4 people, however this blog will be individual to me.
I will be using this blog to show my steps in planning and research, construction of my film, and i will be evaluating the finished result.
Brief:
This project will be an opening of a thriller, it will be 2 minutes long, we will be working in groups of 2 to 4 people, however this blog will be individual to me.
I will be using this blog to show my steps in planning and research, construction of my film, and i will be evaluating the finished result.
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