Trance (2013) Thriller review.

Review on Trance:

Visually stylistic but superficial psychological crime thriller centerd around an art heist. Young auctioneer's assistant Simon (James McAvoy) aids a gang of thieves led by Frank (Vincent Cassel) to steal a Goya painting just sold by his auction house for £25m. A blow to the head during the plan causes partial amnesia and he fails to remember where he concealed the artwork while escaping. After withstanding Frank’s brutal torture the gang eventually buy his story – and contact a Harley Street hypnotist, Dr Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to help him recall its location. In trying to assist Simon, Elizabeth unravels a dark world of confusion and deceit locked in his head, leaving him with no grasp on his reality.

Despite a strong opening that hints at a rollicking criminal caper, it falters and miscues for much of the first hour, losing all the momentum initially created. The mystery of the vanished painting isn’t particularly compelling and fades in significance as the film wraps itself in Simon’s twisted, layered psyche. The cast of characters are uniformly untrustworthy and not notably likeable so without a strong driving narrative it's difficult to invest much in them – especially as they’re all fairly flat - and for much of ‘Trance’ the events taking place aren’t sufficiently engaging either. However, well shot and put together, it almost conjures up enough pleasure to override this. Drawing an unusual stylistic portrait of modern London that parallels slick glass apartments with grimy clubs and back alleys – tinted with a recurring palette of orange, blue and red alongside frequent nods to classic noir – it’s an enjoyable world to be swept up in. A pounding electronic soundtrack culled straight from the 90s does much to keep things exhilarating and moving along – totally over the top, the intense music is frequently more interesting than the action on screen. The mysteries and unknowns should make every frame riveting: however, the film shifts around and ties so many knots keeping up becomes tiresome, and solving the various riddles feels futile.

When ‘Trance’ eventually kicks into gear in the final third it atones for an entirely forgettable start, shaping itself into a ludicrous, violent, dark ride - a tonal shift that isn’t really in keeping but at least some ‘stuff’ is happening. Utterly implausible and verging on unfathomable, it ramps up the sex, violence and deceit beyond belief – seemingly pleased to leave the plot to one side and simply have some gratuitous visceral fun. A chaotic mess that just about hangs together, it still has enough shallow pleasures to leave you satisfied – if a little baffled as to what the hell you just watched.

The Dark Knight review

The Dark Knight- Thriller movie review

The Dark Knight is a 2008 British- American epic superhero film directed, produced and co written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the second part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale takes on the lead role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, with a returning cast of Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, who joins Batman and the police in combating the new rising threat of a criminal mastermind calling himself 'The Joker' (Heath Ledger). "The Dark Knight is a film that's fantastic on the action front, seeds its acrobatics in its own reality, and always feels relevant even when its ideas are drowned out by clatter" says a Rotten Tomatoes (timeout.com) critic, giving the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

It's not just the plot line or the shots that make this film spectacular in its effect but, for me personally, its the characters that make the film so interesting. Ledger makes a great Joker with dirty, lanky hair, a voice that pitches and squaks, and a slithering tongue of poisonous insults." Two scenes stick out in mind; him walking away from a doomed hospital in a nurse's dress right before an explosion, and later hanging out a window of a speeding car, tasting the air like a reptile, with the soundtrack falling silent in tribute, freezing this psychotic, iconic villain in time for a moment of sadness amid the noise." 

Hitman Opening Scene review

This film opening begins with short shots showing a young male getting a tattoo of a barcode on the back of his shaved head. This then follows with shots containing different stages of some kind of training facility for children. It is all in black and white and has a dream like effect, hinting that it is possibly a flashback of someone’s or even just a way of showing the past or historical piece of narrative to start the film. The film title appears and you can clearly see the guns within the title, iconography suggests that this film has murder and action in it. There is no diegetic sound, however over this sequence there is the non-diagetic music of Ave Maria, a catholic prayer, which contradicts the visuals the viewer is seeing of children being put through unethical situations. This helps to creates interest in the film, the enigma code of where are these children and why are they doing these things is present.
To help emphasize that these are memories the shots a transitioned with the heavy use of fading, shots often fading seamlessly in and out of focus. This may show that the memories are weak and not all aspects are remembered, except for the most severe parts. There is one section where it appears that two of the children are trying to escape, the presence of barbed wire and fencing add to the mise-en-scene, it portrays that the children do not want to be there. A unknown character then shoots them for trying to escape, however all we see of this person is their eye, signifying how these characters are always being watched over.
With everything being in black and white and all the characters having no hair shows that they are in a very strict setting, where they must conform. What looks like the older characters, who are telling the children what to do, are faceless, and so this conveys that the whole organization is undercover and that those responsible are not to be seen. The introduction of guns shows that this film has violence in it and raises many questions about the narrative, the presence of only males within the film opening will also help identify genre and that this is a male oriented film.


V for Vendetta film analysis research:

 is a 2006 British action thriller film directed by James McTeigue and written by the Wachowski Brothers, based on the 1982 graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

The film initially starts off with a blank black screen. Within seconds, a narrative by Natalie Portman’s character begins, telling us the about November 5^th and Guy Fawkes. As the film begins, emotional, dramatic music starts playing, fading into the background as the narrative begins. It is heard to those that pay attention due to it being much quieter yet still at the same pace telling us the importance of this piece.

As the black fades out we are met by a character, Guy Fawkes in the underground sewers below Parliament. He is lit up in a way that suggest a burning torch or a candlelight, as well as his clothing and general appearance suggesting that he is most definitely not from modern times. His face is stern and concentrated, as well as showing slight signs of uneasy, telling us that he is on what seems to be a dangerous personal mission.

As we find out he is caught we meet an addition character, a woman in the crown of the bystanders that watch on as Fawkes faces his death. We, as the audience some to understand that they share some sort of bond and that Fawkes must be someone important to her, due to the emotional eye contact between the two just before Fawkes is thrown off the ladder. The woman, a possible lover weeps at this and is even shown mouthing what seems to be “I love you” to Fawkes, which is a difficult task for her in her shaky condition. This leads us to believe that they had a relationship, which was obviously cut short by the incident.

As this scene fades out and the music has reached a dramatic climax, the screen becomes once again black only this time to be met with the title sequence. A trail of burning fire creates the film’s trademark letter V, the symbol of the main male character, V. As the letter continues to blaze, it slowly fades into the darkness, being replaced by the film title, too in burning letters. It could be said that this is used not only as a foreshadowing but also as a recap of what the audience has just watched; Guy Fawkes planned on blowing up Parliament which at the end of this film actually occurs. It could also be symbolising V and his character and personality, witness his fiery temper and attitude, as well as the feelings of burning love and affection we come to understand he has for Evy.

The Blair Witch Project Film Analysis research: 

An 1999... film

The start of the film was the title sequence which gave us the names of particular directors that are to do with the film, the background being black and the writing being white. This could suggest to us that the people that are filming were innocent, and the blackness could be a way that shows darkness is around them and something is going to happen. we then see a quote which says 'in October 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near burkittsville while shooting a documentary, a year later their footage was found' I think that this gives us a good understanding as to what to expect to see in the video itself, its shown as a warning to prepare us about the movie. Clips are then shown of different conversations with other people about 'the Blair witch'. It has people giving their views and opinions on the myth, some telling personal experiences with 'the Blair witch'. I think that this has been done to really emphasis how well know the Blair witch is supposed to be and how the myth affects the people in real life and what other people think of the myth. We then are introduced to the characters by asking each of them what they are expecting to see and what they are looking forward to when they go into the woods, we see that certain characters are braver than others and we start to feel as though we are there with them in the film. The scenes which had mysterious things happen, and parts which made you jump where always shown to be in the night time, making the filming turn into a black and white effect. This implies to us that something is going to happen within that scene and it prepares us for what is about to happen.

Film analysis- research

The Accused Film Analysis research:

The Accused: The Accused is a 1988 American drama film starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and written by Tom Topor.

 

At the beginning of the film an establishing shot was used, we see cars driving past a building with a sign asking them to come inside. The day starts off light and eventually gets to night time which may have been done to show us how long she had been in there for.  We also get an understanding that something bad is happening due to the colouring of the setting and the music that was being played throughout it. The music was deep and loud which suggested to us that something is dark in the movie, and we see a man run away from the setting, looking nervous and concerned. The music changed to a faster pace which could have been done to imply his heartbeat.  

 After the music had stopped, there was a silence and a scream was heard, while a girl was running away, she looked panicked and unhappy. Her clothes were ripped to shreds which suggest that she may have been attacked, we then see a close up shot of her face to give us an understanding that she has been crying. The next thing we see is a pale faced woman in a hospital gown all battered and bruised. She was asked personal questions which made us understand more about what went on during the beginning of the movie and learn she was raped by three men. While this scene is being played, title sequences were shown as white stern writing, this could be a way to show us that the girl is innocent until it was taken away from her by the three men that raped her. Lastly we hear she is asked to wear grey clothing as she has nothing else to wear which could imply to us that she feels in the dark and all alone because of the situation that occurred.

Hitchcock's Psycho (codes of a thriller)

Hitchcock's Psycho (codes of a thriller)

Psycho is a 1960 American thriller made by Alfred Hitchcock. In its time it was classed as one of the most iconic stories, with it still to this day being a classic in cinema. It is said to be one of Hitchcock's best work as well as the greatest film of all time.

With it being the most iconic thriller of all time it uses many traditional conventions found in a thriller film, one of these being sound.

Sound is an important factor in films as it creates a basic scene and can create a certain mood that the director wants to create. Depending on its pitch and pace, any mood can be created. In Psycho the main piece of sound is the high pitched repetitive shrieking, used whenever a bad situation or event occurs. Even when we can't see an actual bad thing happening, when the music plays we are led to believe that something might happen or simply what the character is thinking is troublesome.

Another convention used is low key lighting. Though hard to see due to Psycho being black and white, in incriminating scenes light is minimal. The scenes are dark, both in actual and metaphorical scenes; what has just occurred is evil and dark, which fits in well with the concept of minimal lighting.

Yet another convention used in Psycho is fast paced editing, especially used in the shower scene. The use of fast paced editing and shots, creates a panicked almost desperate atmosphere, which is complementary to the drama of the murder of the shower . This is quite a dramatic scene using quick short shots to create the right mood. If this code had not been used, the effect would be completely different and no longer effective.

Conventions of Thriller sub-genres

 Thriller sub-genres is the parts that thriller is broken up into, there are many different types of thriller movies such as Conspiracy thriller, Crime thriller, Disaster thriller, Mystery Thriller, etc. Despite all these being different they still come under the main ‘thriller’ category.

Techno Thriller – This subgenre tends to be fictional most of the time. Where fictional characters such as robots are used and they are attempting to take over the world, this mainly tends to follow science fiction. And there will always be a hero who will save the day and stop the robots taking over the world. Examples of techno thrillers are films such as matrix or iRobot.

Psychological Thriller - This plays with the audiences mind, because the protagonist in this sub-genre is always mental or they may also suffer from amnesia. It shows the conflicts of being mental, and what the protagonist has to go through to become normal or remember his past, or they may never recover which creates more suspense within the film. An example of this could be psycho.

Conspiracy Thriller - This consists of a hero or a heroin, who are some sort of detective or journalist, investigating on a large organisation and then seem to be trapped by this organisation. The organisations are then brought down by the main character (the protagonist).This genre always shows good overruling evil in the world, and this genre mainly consists of secrecy of the government or large organisations.

Disaster Thriller - This follows a certain group of peoples survival after a natural disaster or artificial disasters such as hurricanes, volcanoes, floods and earthquakes. In some disaster films the disaster had been caused by human activities such as atomic bombs and nuclear disasters. This shows us about the future and how man kind may end up and who will survive and who wont. an example of this could be a day after tomorrow.



Codes and conventions of a thriller film

Codes and conventions of a thriller film:

The conventions of a thriller come down to sound, lighting, and editing.

An extract from ask Jeeves explains;

"The codes and conventions of a thriller include mirrors, low key lighting, shadows, obtrusive editing, quick cuts, changes in camera angle, tension music, stairs, flashbacks, use of photographs in black and white, disorientation of time and space as well as montage editing. The mirrors represent the darkness within some characters while shadows and low key lighting represent the inner darkness within beings".

Some of these features are displayed in the thriller film panic room, staring Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart. This is a fast pace dramatic film that uses most of the aboves listed conventions. An example of this would be the scene where Foster's character, Meg, leaves the panic room in search for her phone. Though the scene does not contain music and is slowed down to suggest a feeling of adrenaline, the quick jump cuts showing different shots of characters,as well as minimal lighting in some parts and uber bright lighting in others help show that this is a thriller film. It creates a panicked atmosphere, a very appropriate mode for the title of the film, as the audience watches Meg and Sarah's (Stewart) struggle to keep themselves safe.

http://www.mindmeister.com/219500572/codes-and-conventions-of-a-thriller-film

Preliminary Task Commentary.

Preliminary Task Commentary:

 

In true cinema-graphic style we began filming from the end backwards. We filmed the conversation between Elle and Marta initially from an angle that panned down from the mid shot of Elle walking into the room, I don't like this because it isn't fluid and you can hear the 'creak' of the tripod as the camera pans down. As we hadn't written down the line Elle and Marta were saying we found it difficult to reproduce the same conversation form different angles to show ur knowledge and the correct use of the 180 degree rule.

The next shot we filmed was the shot of Elle walking (skipping) down the corridor this was a relativity simple shot, it was just a long shot as Elle walked down the corridor. The follow shot however proved quite difficult. This shot was to demonstrate proper use of match on action, this meant we had to film two different shots and past them together so they looked as if they were on single continuous action.

The next thing we had to do was edit. This was out groups first experience using editing software, this meant that it took us a while to get used to how the software worked but once we crossed the initial hurdle edit went fairly smooth and we were all relatively happy with the final results.

I think with a few tweaks and some extra knowledge we will get a lot better at editing for our final piece.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task:

Our original plan was ambitious but maybe too creative...

we did not have the skills, the props or the people to film well.

on the day of filming we brainstormed and came up with a similar but less ambitious.



Our commentary

The preliminary task was meant to introduce ourselves to the subject and get a feel for the work expected of us, we were required to meet specific camera features:

• match on action- two camera shots working together to make one flowing camera movement
• shot reverse shot- a change in direction showing different character's perspective in a scene  
• 180 degree rule- shooting a scene within a 180 degree radius

We found this task difficult to begin with, due to a member being absent on the day of filming.  this made us have to revaluate our initial idea and think on our feet. After a discussion about what we was going to be doing, production run fairly smoothly with few complications. For example we had background noise and struggled with our lines due to the fact we had to make them up on the spot not long before we filmed.