Psychological Thriller Conventions

I found this short sequence very helpful with information on psychological thrillers, we have tried to follow the conventions and themes of such a genre in our own film.

Last Kind Words Independent Film Case Study

17-year-old Eli has just moved with his family deep into the backwoods of Kentucky to work on the isolated farm of a local recluse. Inexplicably drawn into the strange forest that lies beyond the farm, Eli encounters the beautiful, sweet and mysterious Amanda, seemingly the perfect girl. But with the discovery of decaying bodies hanging from the trees, he realizes that the forest - and Amanda - are harboring some very dark secrets. Suddenly, Eli is living in a waking nightmare where the lines between life and death are scrawled in blood, and there is no escaping the terror from beyond the grave.

This film is produced by Brainwave and The East Gable, neither of these are main Hollywood film studios, and was directed by Kevin Barker, who is known for his independent films such as Five Fingers. The main actors in the film are Brad Dourif, Spencer Daniels and Alexia Fast, none of these had major roles in films before but have appeared in some films as lesser characters.

The film's budget was originally estimated to be less than $100,000, in other words a micro-budget. This film is clearly an independent film it was produced by small film studios, only stars relatively small actors and was produced at a cost estimated at less than $100,000. Unfortunately this film has not won any awards and has only received a rating of 4.9/10 from 685 users on popular website IMDb.

The World's End British Case Study

• Stars: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and Martin Freeman (These actors are very popular within British audiences and are very well known for heir usually comedic acting)
• Genre: Comedy/Sci-fi (Comedy is a very popular genre and sic-fi is very modern tying the two together gives a greater audience appeal as they're is a lot of interest for these two genres

• Budget:

   $40,000,000 (estimated)

• Opening Weekend:

   $8,790,237 (USA) (23 August 2013)

• Gross:

   $26,003,149 (USA) (29 November 2013)
• Production Company: Relativity Media, Working Title Films and Big Talk Productions (Both Working Title Films and Big Talk Productions are British production companies)
• Certificate: 15 (This is a safe certificate as it does not rule out a large target audience)
• Release Date: 
• 10 July 2013(Leicester Square)
• 19 July 2013(United Kingdom)
• 23 August 2013(United States)
• Mainly received positive reviews with TIME magazine even saying "It overflows with middle-aged angst over lost youth. And laments the generic nature of our corporate-driven culture."
• Maketing included trailers on T.V. and the internet, displaying the best parts of the film. There were also promotional posters and various merchandise available

Blue Is The Warmest Colour

Blue Is The Warmest Color is based on the graphic novel 'Blue Angel', it was directed by Abdellatif Kechiche who is well known for his films 'The Secret of the Grain' and 'Black Venus'

Aims and Context

• 'Shatter Resistant' Film production
• Genre : Psychological Thriller
• Short Film
• 16-21 year olds
• Director/ camera operator/ editor (shared roles)
• Mixture of incredibly high-key lighting and low-key lighting

Café Noir Reflective Analysis

 

 

 

 

Our class was split up into groups of about four or five members, we were all set the task of devising a short sequence consisting of ten shots. My particular group had to do a film of the genre Film Noir. We got to work straightaway with me coming up with the story and it being drawn onto storyboards. Although we worked well together on this task, it was probably the least enjoyable part of the task as a whole, even though I managed to come up with an idea for the story pretty much straight off, it did take a while longer to choose what shots we would actually compose and then get these and the details on to our storyboard.

 

The filming was the next part of the task and this seemed to go well apart from the fact that two members of my team did nothing and it was only me and Liam who actually seemed to be doing anything. When it came to editing, only me and Liam actually turned up but we worked well together and produced the film to the best of our ability. I found the editing the most enjoyable part of the task as this was the first time I'd done such a thing. It was a hard task to complete but we worked at best as we could in the time provided and got it finished to a moderate standard. Overall I think our sequence was a success considering most groups had four or five members and mine only had two working members, we completed the task on time and it was nowhere near as bad as I imagined it would be.



The Shining: Scene Two

The second scene I have chosen is that o Danny brushing his teeth and talking to tony

This scene happens towards the start of the movie where Danny is seen by himself in the bathroom, brushing his teeth and talking to the mirror. The fact that he is alone is emphasised by the cut to show Jack and Wendy conversing and shows that she may be distracted. He continues to talk in the mirror, and it soon becomes clear that Danny is in fact talking in two different voices as if there is another part of him, we learn later that this is tony, or the shining. The scene then cuts to two girls, standing holding hands quite menacingly in a corridor we are familiar with, it is one that belongs in the hotel, and we also see blood rushing from a red elevator door that also belongs to the hotel. This creates a sense of panic and confusion as we are unsure of what Danny is seeing but we also realise that both things Danny has seen must play a key role in the film and that perhaps he can see what is going to happen, it is after all a vision to show Danny why Tony does not wish to go to the hotel.

The scene mainly follows the conventions of a horror movie using eerie non-diegetic sounds to intensify the situation and create anxiety within the audience, it also uses the colour red a lot, which is seen throughout the entire film, red is dangerous, the colour of blood and symbolises fear and horror, where red is seen, something bad is most likely going to follow, the colour red is like a warning to an audience, and Kubrick uses it perfectly in this scene to demonstrate the fear that Danny is feeling and that he is trying to make us feel. However, this scene uses high key lighting which goes completely against the conventions of a horror movie, which mainly uses low-key lighting to hide certain aspects, instead Kubrick gives us a sense of safety which contrasts perfectly to Danny’s visions of the hotel that are most dangerous indeed.

The scene has non-diegetic eerie music playing throughout to build up tension within the scene, drawing our attention to the scene, showing that what Danny is doing is very important. The non-diegetic sounds become even more recognisable when Danny starts having his visions again showing they are important and warning the audience of what is to come. This music creates a very unnerving mood and the way it used highlights the visions Danny is having showing they are the most important parts of this scene, the conversation between Jack and Wendy is not particularly important at all in comparison to what Danny can see.

The Shining: Scene One

The scene I have chosen is that of Jack and Wendy conversing about what should be done about Danny

This scene predominantly uses high-key lighting which usually gives a sense of safety, but here it is simply used to show Wendy’s revelation that Jack has in fact finally cracked and gone mad. The scene uses mid-shots to show both Wendy and Jack conversing, the camera cuts between the two, showing what the other can see. This allows us to see the change in moods between the two characters, as Jack gets more annoyed and twisted, whilst Wendy becomes more and more terrified of her husband. During the conversation of Jack and Wendy, we hear a constant high pitch non-diegetic noise in the background, this is can be quite atypical convention of the horror genre as is seen in many other scenes of the film too, the main effect of this is that it builds up tension as it reflects jack’s mood as he becomes more and more annoyed. This sounds tops as soon as we are asked to focus on Wendy and she suggests that Danny be taken to a doctor, this is important because we can clearly hear what she says and this aggravates Jack even more. When Jack starts to talk again, the noise has changed from high pitched to a very low one and this again reflects jack mood this time more anger and frustration, and also leaves the viewer wondering what Jack is actually going to do about it.

Throughout the scene, red is the predominant colour used and is seen on many of the doors, Jack’s clothing, the books in the background, even the carpets shown are red, this could symbolise danger and also is a common convention of the horror genre showing fear and also the likelihood of blood. I think the most interesting thing about these reds is that they are all the same apart from Jacks jacket which appears a much darker red, even closer to the colour of blood, showing that Jack is in fact the most dangerous and is very essence implies death. In the background, crosses are also scene continuously; both Wendy and Jack are wearing chequered shirts and the curtains are also chequered, as the light shines through the curtains even more crosses are on show, this shows the idea that something supernatural is in the hotel and is taking part in the horror that is occurring.

The first time Wendy and Jack are seen in the same shot together, we are looking from behind Jack which causes Jacks figure to be silhouetted, this gives him a very dark appearance and suggests that perhaps he is going to crack a little more and start to become a lot more dangerous. The scene then cuts to a shot from behind Wendy, but here Wendy can still be seen, this shows that Kubrick intentionally silhouettes Jack. As Jack and Wendy are walking up the stairs, the camera is at a high angle, looking down on Jack as if he is lesser than Wendy, even though he has more dominance over her, Wendy is the favoured character and so this camera angle simply reflects my view that Jack is now insane and that he has never been particularly worthy of either Danny or Wendy. As we climb the stairs with Wendy and Jack we realise how high they are actually going up and as Wendy is at the top of the stairs she has the advantage over Jack, the fact that she has a bat and is still terrified emphasises just how scary the situation actually is. 

This is the scene I shall be analysing for my coursework

Cold Mountain

The scene began with a Extreme long Aerial shot - this was used to establish setting and shown us that this man had traveled far, which made us want to know where he was going.

The shot tilts to show us this man's footprints, and doesn't reveal his face until the end of the shot due to the silhouette - which makes him shady and mysterious. 

We can tell that he's been traveling in the cold for a while due to his exhaustion and the frost in his beard, this makes us want to know what is so important to risk the cold environment, and it's not obvious where he's come from and where he's going.

In the parallel cut edit, it shows us that he's separated from his wife, which makes me feel sympathetic toward him - and that they long for each other because of the voice over which is reading the letter to us. This is also shown in the way that the voice over starts just before the cut, and he looks up, as if he's listening to her voice.
The low key lighting in this shot is to show her loneliness and distress.

In the next cut we see a dead deer, which has been frozen to death which shows how dangerous the environment is and are foreshadowing for the deaths that are about to happen. 

This is mainly Low key lighting, made of natural light from the fire and little fill light - this is to give the contrast of the background, which has been illuminated blue to show the coldness. The closeness of the warmth and cold shows that in this setting you're never far away from danger.
Two new characters join the shot quite abruptly due to the darkness of the environment, and they are wearing all black clothing which is commonly known as evil which signify's that they are not to be trusted. They also arrive on the shot on horses, which shows their  dominance, power and control over these other characters. 

The guy above is seen unlit unlike the other characters, and the fact that he's hiding behind a rock could show that he's cautious and untrusting of the two men that arrived out of nowhere - we see most of the shots of the characters around the fire from his point of view. The close up shot allows us to see the fear and his emotions of the other characters.

I feel like the shot where the two characters get shot is the strongest shot, as it affects you emotionally. I felt shocked when the two characters were shot - this could be due to one of the characters (Right) acting childlike and oblivious to what was going on around him, we could see this as he was smiling still when they made him cover his face. We feel empathy for this character, as well as the other character (left) as he act's like his father, and looks after him. The childlike manner of the Right hand guy makes us think of him much younger than he actually is.

After a jump cut, the next shot is of two women who are talking about the war - the woman above is mostly seen from the camera behind objects (Above). This could show her distance from the other character and her distress. The change of time from night to day could show that the evil's past, and that they're safe for a while. 

Pokemon: The First Movie

Pokemon: The First Movie is an inspirational and heartwarming film. First released in Japan in 1998 this film has stood the test of time and is actually the second highest grossing TV adaptation film.

The film, follows the story of Ash Ketchum on his journey to be the greatest Pokemon master of all time. A phrase which here means he wishes to befriend as many people and Pokemon as he can in the Pokemon world, stressing the importance of friendship to the audience.

Pokemon is a massive franchise and as such the films are hugely popular with all audiences, not only do they appease a demand of entertainment with both its story and comedic elements, the film also contains key views. The first Pokemon film contains important morals that should shape our lives.

Focusing on Mewtwo, a cloned Pokemon and his questioning of life, the writers of Pokemon have tackled a key issue. The film ends with Mewtwo reforming his ways and instead of worrying why he has a life, he is going to live his life because that is what is important. Another key message put across by the film is that we have more in common than we realise and if we focus on this rather than our differences, as Meowth says 'well who knows'.

Pokemon has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember and is still widely popular today. It provides entertainment, morals and a ticket back to my quickly disappearing childhood and as such is the best film of my summer.

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger, released in 2013 by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films, stars Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the lone ranger. The film, directed by Gore Verbinski, follows the original story of the duo, but despite it's estimated budget of $225 million, had a poor performance at the box-office and was received negatively by American critics.

The Lone Ranger is considered to be a failure by some because of it's main western theme. Over the past ten years, 'cowboy' films have decreased in popularity, with both 'Cowboys and Aliens' and 'Alamo' expected to be summer hits that turned out to be box-office disasters. it seems cowboys are no longer as popular as they were in the past.

The film budget, estimated at $225 million, may even have ballooned to $250 million, the budget it seems had started to run out of control. The main problem here is the film probably ended as a mere shadow of the original vision and as such does not bear the same sort of effective story telling power it would have.

The other reasons are fairly minor in comparison but are still important. First it seems that Johnny Depp can no longer guarantee a film's success, there is a large pattern with this problem as people seem to care once more about the story of a film and not just the actors. The Lone Ranger was also released at a time with  many films that were predicted to be huge hits such as 'Man of Steel' and 'Monsters Inc University'. Film tickets are expensive and without any particular  uniqueness the film just couldn't be the box-office attraction Disney was hoping for. In other words, it's competition is much too strong.

Finally, the lone ranger is a classic American TV show and is well-known to most Americans. However, introducing this character in the large world is a much harder prospect. this is because, simply put, that character does not have a large enough fan base worldwide. So it seems, The Lone Ranger, was considered to be a box-office failure because of it's western theme, out of control film budget, dependence on actors, competition and a general lack of interest.