Sunday 21 February 2010
Research For Our Final Piece
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Initial Research
We used ‘Dirty Harry’(1971) a cop thriller which has influences of the “modern” western style and follows the ideology of ‘goodies and baddies’ in which the police are the goodies who we side with and we want them to succeed in their mission overall. From this textual analysis I concluded that ‘Dirty Harry’ obtains a dramatic opening in which the audience gains an immediate idea of the main characters intentions and potentially how the plot will develop. The audience are successful in identifying the hero and the villain in the film from the first few minutes of the film, giving them an insight of what will happen later in the film. The sequence is effective in setting the scene, the audience easily classify that the film is set in San Francisco.
I also used another cop thriller, ‘The Usual Suspects’ (1995) to support the textual analysis of ‘Dirty Harry’ so that I could fully understand how cop thrillers are constructed to create a successful opening sequence. From analysing this opening sequence, I made the conclusion that ‘The Usual Suspects’ is an effective opening sequence in many ways. It is successful in representing the characters, establishing the setting, portraying the genre of the film and also illustrating to the audience what the narrative of the rest of the film is likely to be. The variety of techniques used in the opening sequence creates high levels of tension and suspense which intrigues the audience and make it an extremely effective opening sequence.
I also wrote a textual analysis (which focused upon representation) on a clip of an episode of ‘Sex and the City’ which is a romantic comedy. In conclusion, the opening scene of ‘Sex in the City’ is extremely effective in creating an authentic representation of both the city of New York, and the people living there. The general idea the audience achieve after watching this clip is that New York is a hectic, busy city full of exciting happenings and that the people who live in there lead a glamorous lifestyle with the large amount of wealth they have. The clip makes New York appear as a very attractive city, it focuses on the brightness of the New York and doesn’t represent any negative ideas. However the idea that New York is not what it seems is also revealed which gives the audience that a different idea of the city and the people may be obtained in the rest of the episode.
From writing several different textual analyses I have gained an important insight into what things need to be included in opening sequences to make them successful. I have also learnt how opening sequences are different depending on the genre, which is extremely helpful with the planning, filming and editing of our final piece.
Mise en scene
All the elements which are placed in front of the camera to be framed, including the setting, props, lighting, costumes and make-up, figure behaviour, acting style, etc.
Costume - Costume simply refers to the clothes and accessories which the characters wear. Costume in films is used to signify character, amplify particular fashions, or to make distinctions between different characters. The costumes of different characters, inlcluding elements such as colour, can be viewed upon to give a representation or connotation of a particular subject or emotion. e.g wearing red could signify lust and passion and black could signify death.
Lighting
Low Key Lighting - This is a lighting scheme that employs very little fill light, creating strong contrasts between the brightest and darkest parts of an image and often developing strong shadows that hide some parts of the principal subject. This lighting is regularly associated with suspense genres like thrillers.
Genre
Horror/thriller - involves death and other horrific acts which aim to scare and thrill the viewer. They often involve plots with mysterious, unexplainable deaths, supernatural villains and innocent victims.
Comedy – the main emphasis is on humor. The plot is always light hearted and sometimes exaggerated to create humor and in most cases ends with a happy, usually predictable ending.
Romantic – the film revolves around a central romance and follows the love story of the characters who are involved. Again, the majority of the plot is light hearted however there are sometimes some serious sections at the climax.
Action – the focus is on high energy physical actions,usually including characters fighting for justice, rescuing and escaping from danger. Action films usually include some impressive, high budget stunts and clever editing skills.
Animation - created using stop-motion or other forms of animation. This is usually used for films where the target audience is young children but is often enjoyed as a family viewing. Animation films usually have simple story lines which are easy to follow, which comedic sections and some twists.
Adventure – follows and exciting journey which focuses on new experiences which are found from the characters and new objects or people/animals which are found on the adventure.
From this, we decided that we wanted to use a combination of horror and thriller as we thought that they were the most effective genre's to create the biggest impact on the audience. So therefore we decided to use this sub-genre for the final piece;
Dark Suspense Thriller
This type of genre promotes intense suspense and a high level of anticipation, anxiety and nerve wracking tension. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. The plot provides thrills and keeps the audience on the ‘edge of their seats’ whilst are taken through a journey containing extreme agony and fear; focusing on the suspense and danger that is generated throughout. Characters in thrillers include criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, psycho-fiends, and more. Generally, thrillers focus on plot more than on characters, which emphasises physical action over the character's psyche.
The haunting and chilling German film "M" (1931) directed by the great Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre as a criminal; a child killer. The story was based on the life of serial killer Peter Kurten, also known as the 'Vampire of Dusseldorf'. In “M”, a group of children are playing a game involving a song about a child murderer. This foreshadows the appearance of Hans Beckert, the serial killer and implied pedophile who was obsessive towards children in 1930s in Berlin. Initially the audience do not see his face; they only see his shadow, shots of his body and hear him whistling "In the Hall of the Mountain King". The film “M” can be used for inspiration when planning our final piece.
Alfred Hitchcock is considered the acknowledged master of the thriller/suspense genre, manipulating his audience's fears and desires, taking them into a state of association with the representation of the often ‘crazy’ reality facing the character. Hitchcock's films often placed an innocent victim into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation. This is a useful style which we will consider using in the planning and preparation stage of the media piece.