Review of ‘Dealt’

The opening, overall, is a enjoyable sequence which oozes mystery and suspense throughout, thanks to the fast paced editing. It is also a good example of a opening, compared to some other student’s work because it doesn’t tell the whole story in the first 2 minutes, the unknown makes the audience want to know more. If I had to be critical however, I felt that the P.O.V shot worked well for a short amount of time, but felt it was dragged on for too long and lost its impact after a while. Also, the location felt a bit too homely, and didn’t go with the whole ‘feel’ of the film, with the sense of mystery being lost slightly. Overall though, I think it was a good opening, with the wholes in the narrative working in its favour as it leaves the audience intrigued and desperate to find out more.

Character profiles

Dylsia Young - a female with long, wavy, brunette hair falling gracefully around her face with piercing deep hazel eyes and a complexion so warm and flawless, there is no doubt in any ones mind that she of course is intoxicatingly beautiful.

Matt King -  a male character with a worked out physique. Piercing blue eyes and soft tuffed , mid length hair. With a tanned complexion and tall build.

Oliver Robinson - another male character, this time the victim of the killer. With blonde hair and blue eyes, his physical features connote a purity and innocence about him.

Opening to Goodfellas (1990)

GOODFELLAS

At the beginning of goodfellas, it starts with the wipe title sequence with the sound of a car noise over the top, this is then continued by and related to the car shot of Jimmy, Henry and Tommy. I think this editing works well of the sound which then is synchronous  with the car shot. The film starts in present day then travels back to when Henry gets older and the story develops to how he got in this situation in the first place. I like the idea of this and for future purposes I would also use this effect in my own work. I like the idea of knowing what happens and then finding out how a person got there is the first place, I feel It grips the audience wanting to know more, so therefore they carry on watching. I also like the fact Henry (Ray Liotta) talks over his life in the present whilst showing the past, this makes is easy to understand for the audience and you can relate to how the character feels first hand. I like the idea of character talking through there life because it adds sincerity through their voice. I think the Goodfellas is a good opening and I would like to take features from this in further projects.

Memento

MEMENTO (2000)

Leonard is an insurance investigator whose memory has been damaged following a head injury he sustained after intervening on his wife's murder. His quality of life has been severely hampered after this event, and he can now only live a comprehendible life by tattooing notes on himself and taking pictures of things with a Polaroid camera. The movie is told in forward flashes of events that are to come that compensate for his unreliable memory, during which he has liaisons with various complex characters. Leonard badly wants revenge for his wife's murder, but, as numerous characters explain, there may be little point if he won't remember it in order to provide closure for him. The movie veers between these future occurrences and a telephone conversation Leonard is having in his motel room in which he compares his current state to that of a client whose claim he once dealt with.

If you're looking for something intense, suspenseful, and different than your usual thriller, Memento is a great film to watch. 

The movie starts with a murder - a revenge killing, in fact. But was the right person killed?

Leonard is a man with no short-term memory. He hasn't been able to form new memories since the night his wife was murdered. Now he's on a hunt to find the murderer but with no way of remembering names, dates, places, facts and faces. He tattoos himself with mementos of his search. When someone knows him, he checks the Polaroids which he keeps to see if he knows them. Does he like this person? Does he trust this person? Is this the killer? He doesn't know unless he's scribbled a note. Smile took the polaroids from this film and changed the meaning of them to suit their character instead of using them as a means of memory that he needs, he uses them as a memory their antagonist wants, they are keep sakes in the same means of memento.

You live the story in reverse order so that you never know more than Leonard does, I think this is a great way to keep the audience involved in the film, I really like the ideas of the audience never knowing more than the character, it sets equality. In one scene you see Leonard getting information from a person who knows him - maybe a good person; maybe bad. In the next scene you see a previous meeting between the two which sheds more light on their relationship. Later still you see how they met. But is that all of the story? You've yet to find out... and you won't know everything until the last scene. By living it backwards, you, like Leonard, have no knowledge of what came before.

It's brilliant story telling. But you might get frustrated because you don't know what's going on. In fact, that's the whole idea, which I love.

This film will leave its own memento on your mind, and you'll have a hard time forgetting how much you enjoyed it.

Previous Student Thriller Openings

SMILE

Pros:

• I thought the voice over worked well in this opening to the thriller, smile. It emphasized the fact he was watching and had the effect of being creepy, adding to the feel I think they were going for. I thought that the voice over was done very well considering the technology available, it is very hard to create a good sound however in some points they could improve the background sound of the camera so that all you can hear is the voice over.

• I liked and thought that the shot to picture worked well having similar framing to that in motion to still frame. I liked the elements of the polaroid shots taken from the movie ‘memento’ this worked well in smile to emphasize the fact he has been watching her in person and not only to memorize these accountings he has taken pictures to keep sake.

• The music is simple and still creates tension. The music fades in, it has a low tone and is very slow and mysterious perhaps portraying the personality of the protagonist. I thought the balance of music and silence while the voice over was played worked really well and they were very careful when using both together not to drown out the voice over so they audience would be able to hear both pieces.

• I thought that this good had put a lot of effort into their story taking ideas from other films and making them own. They really looked into the important features like props that made the film for me as they made the scene seem more realistic to me, the audience. They used newspaper clippings of articles, train tickets and receipts to me this has importance showing that he is part of the ‘real’ world emphasizes that it is more scary than initially thought as he could just be a normal person but with a twisted mind.

Cons:

• I thought the shot where he screws up the paper could have been made more clear. Once looking at the shot in slow motion, it then become clear the it was suppose to be an object that I perceive as an insect of some sort. This could then have greater meaning to the shot meaning that he is willing to kill anything that gets in his way. They could improve this by leaving the shot on the paper for longer then less time spent on him screwing up the paper.

• Another thing that I thought they could have mad more clear was the last shot where she is in fact tied up however this was not apparent to me until I was told, so therefore I think it could be improved perhaps by panning out to seeing her in the flesh.

• They used a similar shot three time of them sitting on the park bench. I thought they could have varied this by using another shot from a different angle.

We have visions that a section of our film will be similar to the opening 22 seconds of this video. We find it very dramatic and emotional, keeping a sense of desperation and tension, all of these factors being extremely important for our project. It also shows the inspiration for our film with the name 'Runaway' and a chance to see a genius at work, Kanye West!

A Popular Horror/Thriller Film

Analysis of a scene from ‘The Bourne Identity’

The Bourne Identity


Shortly after the film has commenced and he has left the fishing boat where the film started, Jason Bourne makes his way to a bank in Zurich to try and find clues to his true identity. He is given a box that is claimed to be his and in a booth he nervously opens it. Throughout the scene he is slowly trying to piece his personal jigsaw together and the deposit box which he opens shows a lot about his character that neither he nor the audience were aware of. When detaching the deposit box in to different compartments, it signifies Bourne himself peeling away layers of his memories and past, finding more out about himself as he progresses. As Bourne is glancing through the context box, the shot is a P.O.V and the pace at which the camera moves around the screen determines how his mind is working. When he is uncertain of who he is at all, the camera moves frantically assessing the box and its contents until he locates his French passports stating his name and address at which point the pace is calm and smooth, reflecting Bourne’s content state of mind. Once he has discovered the contents of the box, the camera looks up at Bourne, as though the power has been shifted because of his newly acquired resources, meaning the audience cannot sympathise as much. The number of passports available at his disposal represents his multiple identities and his spy-like activities, with identity being the main theme and the enigma throughout the film. The amount of money in the box shows he has limitless amount of resources, meaning he will be able to travel around the world without any restrictions, which along with the passports shows it is going to be a global quest. The most important prop however is the gun, not just it being available but the fact that he leaves it behind. This implies his tendency to shy away from violence even when he is surrounded by it, a lot like the start of the film when he has the chance to kill the man on the boat (which he flashes back to), but goes with his heart and decides against it. All of these factors give the audience narrative clues to the themes of the film and what sort of character Jason Bourne is, but also leaving a sense of mystery to enhance character development.

John Carpenter

     John Carpenter


John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.

Halloween (1978) was a smash hit on release and helped give birth to the slasher film genre. Originally an idea suggested by producer Irwin Yablans (titled The Babysitter Murders), who envisioned a film about babysitters being menaced by a stalker, Carpenter took the idea and another suggestion from Yablans that it take place during Halloween and developed a story. Carpenter said of the basic concept: "Halloween night. It has never been the theme in a film. My idea was to do an old haunted house movie. The film was written by Carpenter and Debra Hill with Carpenter admitting that the music, not the film, was inspired by both Dario Argento's Suspiria and William Friedkin's The Exorcist. Carpenter again worked with a relatively small budget, $320,000. The film grossed over $65 million initially, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time. He relied upon taut suspense rather than the excessive gore that would define later slasher films in order to make the menacing nature of the main character, Michael Myers, more palpable. In addition to the film's critical and commercial success, Carpenter's self-composed "Halloween Theme" remains a recognizable film music theme to this day.

His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores (usually self-composed). He describes himself as having been influenced by Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nigel Kneale and The Twilight Zone.

With a career that has spanned over thirty years, John Carpenter has attained a reputation as a respected independent filmmaker. Although some of Carpenter's films have not been commercially or critically successful upon initial theatrical release, Carpenter has developed a large cult following through home video releases of his films. Many of his films, most notably The Thing, have been rediscovered on VHS, laserdisc and DVD and have since been embraced by many fans – interesting, as The Thing was initially Carpenter's first big setback. The film was considered excessively dark, and did not do well at the box office and Rob Bottin's effects were considered too grotesque for a mainstream audience. Retrospectively, the film has gained much critical appreciation

Example Of Our Music

An example of the music that we feel would fit our film, due to its emotion and beauty, which are themes throughout our story.

Previous Student Work Review: Calculated Killer

Pros:


- The music used is simple and laid back but it also has the ability to create suspense and tension.
- On the bus we see the character placed on the right of the screen, this shows the vulnerability of the character. 
- Good use of cross cutting to show narrative links.
- The graphic match from clock to clock is very clever.
- The editing and cuts from the gun shot to the stapler, to the filling of the cup is an impressive psychological motif of the gun shot and the blood that flows out the body.


Cons:


- The whistling of the character played by Will, whilst walking takes away the seriousness of the scene/opening a little.
- At the beginning of the opening shot on the bus, you can hear the slight hit of the camera and that takes away the sense of professionalism of the shot.

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Thriller Review: 4.3.2.1

What is 4.3.2.1 about?

While Jo (Roberts) is chained down in a dead end supermarket job, her friends are all out on their own separate adventures: Cassandra (Egerton) is jetting off to New York to meet her Internet boyfriend; Kerrys (Warren-Markland) is on a one woman crusade fighting for female liberation and Shannon (Lovibond) is on a one way trip to meet her maker. But a chance encounter with some diamond thieves sends their separate worlds on a collision course with not only each other, but fate itself. These 4 girls are about to have 3 days they will never forget, spanning to 2 cities. That is ... if they survive. – Source IMDB.

The opening sequence starts with the titles, the opening credits are based on a black background connoting the dark and menacing atmosphere of a thriller. The sound used during the opening credits is very eerie which is good for the genre.
The opening shot is an extreme close up of the character Shannon, they’ve used a straight cut from the titles to her face, they keep the shot with diegetic sound from the shot for the duration of 6 seconds before it does a speedy zoom out into a establishing shot of Shannon standing on the edge of a bridge, already causing suspense and tension within the first few seconds. It then straight cuts again into a low angle shot of a car pulling up and three girls stepping out with a gun. This causes confusion for the audience, as we have no idea what is going on however we still feel the tension. It then cuts to Shannon who is shown on the right hand side of the frame showing her vulnerability. It then shows another close up of her face and straight cuts again to her falling off the edge transitioning into a black screen.
This causes the audience to feel confused because we have no idea what is going on. We hear the song “4.3.2.1 go baby go” play over the black screen and the numbers 4.3.2.1 appear on the screen in white connoting a sense of purity over the violent connotation of the black.
You can listen to the song here:




As you can see the song is a very unconventional for a thriller, as you’d not expect to hear this music for the opening of a thriller. It then moves on to clips of four very different girls in their everyday lives using straight cuts again to transition into each clip. The use of straight cuts keeps the audience alert within the scene, commonly used in action sequences to keep the audience involved. We then see these four girls come together at a casual café as friends, which makes us ask more questions over why three of them were holding one at gun point right at the beginning.
Overall the first 3 minutes of the film have introduced us to the main characters and captured the audiences’ interest to see how the beginning images play out from the beginning.