Conventions of Two Genres

Drama Conventions:
.Real life representation
.Emotions and events at their true height
.Easy to relate to
.Form of journey
.Plot twist/complex plot
.Vulnerable situations/characters
.Alcohol, drugs, guns, knives, mobile phones

Comedy:
.Bright places
.Social event locations
.Bright happy colours/lighting-daylight scenes
.Idiotic characters/Normal characters/Above average intelligence characters-socially awkward/ Sarcasm
.Natural camera shots-medium shots
.Props-footballs, golf clubs, things that can hurt you

Reflective Analysis

Our intentions for our film Possessed was for it to be a thriller. We didn't want to scare the audience we wanted to make them feel tense and uneasy, hence the thriller genre. It is a 1 minute 40 second long film.

The opening shot is a forward tracking shot into the bathroom and then the camera pans from right to left to create an establishing shot. We used the bathroom to create a creepy feel to the scene as the bathroom is deserted except for the girl who is revealed by the camera panning left. We then did an extra close up shot on her face to focus on her eyes being closed, we did this to try and tell the audience that there is something not quite right and to hint that she is possessed. We then slowly zoomed out into a close up shot revealing her whole face to make it appear as though she was looking in the mirror and that she is almost acting as though she is dead by just staring at the mirror with no emotion.

A lot of the camera movements are slow to try and build up the tension and keep people on edge, We then cut to a mid close shot the allow the audience to see more of what is going on behind her and still make her appear to be looking into the mirror. Then there is the diegetic sound of the bathroom stalls banging closed to try and add to the the tension. We originally wanted to have the lights flickering at the same time to create low key lighting however there were not any light switches so we had to go without. We then moved to an over the shoulder shot to reveal her looking into the mirror so that you can see her face in the mirror, we did this so the audience would realise that she actually was looking in the "mirror" when the camera was in front of her face. We did a panning shot from left to right to reveal her face from a side angle, again to show her looking very dead whilst staring into the mirror.

We then did a mid-shot from outside of the bathroom to show the girl walking out of the bathroom, the camera then pans from left to right to follow the girls movements. This was also an establishing shot to reveal that the girl is in college and that there are other students around who are oblivious to the situation. Also no one looked at her which could hint to the audience that she actually is dead. We then did slow forward tracking to add suspense and tension to the scene, we did it so people would perhaps question where she was going. We then pushed the button for the automatic door to make it appear as if the girl had made it open without touching it. The camera then stops tracking her to tell the audience that something is going to happen. We also had the girl look left to hint that she could see something that the audience could not so the camera was actually concealing it from the angle it was at. We ended the clip with the girl being strangled, we cut the scene before it was actually finished to keep the audience tense as they do not know if the girl is dead or alive and what happened next.

We added non-diegetic music over the top of the film, the music has high pitch noises with deep background under tones to create suspense. I think the music went well with the film and the banging of the doors was in sync with the music so it worked quite well.

The Untouchables

The scene I analysed from was 'The Untouchables'. It was a nine minute long scene.

The scene starts with a long two shot showing two men walking out of the train station. They are quite close in the two shot which suggests that the two men know each other as there are not many other people there. The camera tilts into a low angle showing one of the men as he walks down the stairs gradually going from a long shot to a close up shot of the man who walks out of the camera view to the right so the camera conceals where he is going and what he is doing which makes you think that perhaps he is not a very important character. The splitting of the two characters makes you think that the two were not actually together. I think this is done to try and make you forget about the other man so when the conflict starts and he re-appears you are surprised to see him.

The camera then pans left and tilts up to reveal the second man standing on a balcony looking over the train station. The camera shows point of view shots, showing a birds-eye view of a woman with luggage and a baby in a pram and cuts to a long shot of the doors and the clock. I think this is done to create tension because he is looking down directly above the baby and you feel quite awkward because the woman is clearly struggling with all of her luggage and the baby so you are put in the awkward situation of whether to actually help or not. As the baby is shown, non-diegetic sound begins of a lullaby type music which suggests that the situation is calm as lullabies are played to try and calm a baby down to get it to sleep. I think the lullaby is very ironic because in a very tense situation that is building up to a conflict and there is a baby lullaby is playing suggesting the situation is calm when it really is not. There is also diegetic sound of the baby crying and the mother trying to shush the baby which I think is foreshadowing death because the situation is already quite tense and it doesn't feel quite right, people cry when mourning a dead person so the baby crying could symbolise death in the foreseeable future. There is montage of the setting which continues to show different point of view shots from the man at the train station, this creates a claustrophobic feel to the scene.

There is a cut from a birds-eye view of the baby, to a long shot of the train station doors to a close up shot of the train station clock. This is parallel editing, this makes the scene feel very claustrophobic and the tension continues to build as you wait to see what is going to happen. The close up shots of the clock suggest that the man is supposed to be there and is waiting for something specific to happen at the hour. The speed of the parallel editing also increases the closer you get to the hour which suggests that the man is panicking that the woman with the baby is still there when he would like her to leave. The man pulls out a gun and there is an extra close up shot on the gun which makes you realise that that place is where there is going to be conflict so the man is worrying that the woman is still there where in merely a couple of minutes there is going to be a brawl. I think there is an extra close up on the gun because they want you to clearly see the gun and understand that there is going to be a gun brawl and most likely some deaths in this location. Also to build tension because when you see the gun you feel tense as you know what is going to happen next and you know the smallest thing could be the fuse to start the fire.

The close up shots of the man's face shows his face looking around, then looking in the direction of the door then looking down at the woman. I think this is done to show his inner conflict on whether to go down and help the lady with her baby and luggage or to stay where he is, it hints that he is going to help the lady before he actually does it and it is confirmed when there is a close up shot on the clock that is about to strike the hour which shows that he has ran out of time and has to help the woman now before she is in the conflict zone.

Horror

Horror: an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. The genre label horror is a loose generalisation which is designed to characterise visual or thematic elements that represent a product in the mind of the consumer known as conventions. These include the structure, the monster, the thrill and the relationship of the film to the viewer.

Horror films have a structure. The basic structure is Order-------Chaos-------Reconstruction. The purpose usually is to show a society or community dealing with a catastrophic change, which is usually due to a monster of some sort.  The opening act consists of an ordered society that is unaware of the looming disruption. Examples of Horror films with a ‘normal’ town are Halloween, Gremlins, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Examples of Horror films with an isolated group are The Thing, Evil Dead, and Alien. Examples of Horror films with and individual are Carrie, The Exorcist, and Rosemary’s Baby. The monster threatens stability and is the chaotic element that breaks down the social order. The monster tends to be the core of the film that makes it a horror. The reconstruction is when there is a return to a stable form which is not necessarily good. The process of reconstruction provides the genre’s basic narrative drive.

Horror is an easily influenced genre and is often merged with Sci-Fi, Thriller and Fantasy which makes it difficult to categorise it/properly genrify. A horror film is normally defined by the presence of monster. There are a lot of different types of monsters and sub-genres but they tend to fall into one or more of four categories, however each of these is subject to cross-fertilisation and combination.

There are natural horror films. Nature represents primal fear and it is chaotic, unpredictable and violent. Human’s insignificance in the universe is shown by futile attempts at controlling its forces. Ecological horror films show the effects of the planet on humankind, which tends to be either as punishment for meddling, the primitive attacking the modern or man as insignificant to the greater purpose of nature’s cycle. The sub-genre often crosses with scientific monster. Resolution tends to be achieved by scientific means, confrontation which re-establishes the main characters link with the primitive self or by nature just running its course.

There are supernatural horror films where the supernatural monster is usually a fantastical evil spirit or object of fear that cannot rationally exist. This monster often attacks both the body and the soul. Many supernatural creatures are based on religious mythologies and folklore. Associated with these are prescribed methods of dispatch, although the cinematic form will often expand, develop or defy them. Supernatural monsters, because of their incapability to be fully explored & uninterpretable nature, also allow the film maker to let their imagination run riot, creating terrors outside our waking reality.

There are psychological horror films where the psychotic killer is based in the real world. The sub-genres thriller and slasher rely on the evil or madness of a vicious perpetrator to evoke their thrills. Sometimes they are given an excuse or a reason for their actions; abuse at the hands of the father, a frightening oedipal complex, or noisy neighbours. Occasionally there is no obvious motive for a killer’s crimes. Stories can be taken from the news or claim to be based on true events to provide extra chills. Sometimes the psychotic killer is crossed with the supernatural creating very memorable horror icons.

There are also scientific horror films and a popular take of the genre is the mad scientist, with a brilliant mind yet fanatically driven, blinkered vision that can lead to all kinds of evil, accidental or intentional. Frankenstein’s monster is a product of a man’s obsessive determination to create life from dead flesh, but people often question who is really the monster, creation or creator? Scientific horror movies often reflect contemporary fears, such as radiation & the atom bomb or biological terrorist attack. These films often explore the ethical considerations of using science for evil as well as good; science is often to blame when things go awry yet is frequently called upon to save the day.

Induction Tasks

Jurassic World

A films success is measured by gross made in the opening weekend, the gross from the worldwide opening, and the total gross worldwide. Jurassic World was a very successful film setting a new record for the highest-grossing worldwide opening of any film in history, making $511.8million. It also became number 3 on the global box office total list with the worldwide gross total being $1.522billion, overtaking The Avengers.

Being made a part of a much loved franchise, many fans of the Jurassic Park trilogy were expected to go and see the next film in the Jurassic series so success was already expected for the film. Many people were already excited about seeing Jurassic World so it was expected to be a hit, being a part of a much loved franchise, but the Jurassic team gave the film an extra push by allowing 3D and IMAX showings of the film to encourage even more people to see it therefore adding to the film’s success. However some people believe that showing the film in 3D didn’t really add to its success as some people said that the 3D effects were not brilliant which put other people off of watching it in 3D.

Another major factor believed to be a part of the film’s success was main actor Chris Pratt, who *already had two previous successful leading roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and the Lego Movie. His part in the film encouraged people to watch Jurassic World who were fans of his acting roles in the other two previous films. However, other people may suggest that having only a couple previous leading roles meant that he was not actually that well known so his part in the leading role was not really a factor in the films huge success compared to if they had used a more well-known actor for the leading part.

Also believed to have added to the film’s success was the animation and special effects in the film. Since the Jurassic Park films technology has come a long way, as has computer animation and special effects. Many people believe the animation and special effects in Jurassic World were brilliant and that the dinosaurs and the setting were very realistic which meant that the film was a huge success. However some people believe that the animation is not really considered a factor in the film’s success compared to the storyline because a film should not be considered a success unless it has a decent storyline, which is very important considering some people believed that the film was lacking a solid storyline but made up for this greatly with the animation and effects so without the great animation the film would not have been as big a success.

Media-hype is also considered one of the main factor towards the film’s success as technology now allows for advertising to be accessed everywhere, on social media and news and internet adverts which means that more people are reached to advertise the film to and also if one person writes about the film it has a domino effect so all of their friends see it on social media and then their friends can and so on. With a big budget of $150million they had the money to advertise the film everywhere and arrange interviews to get more people hyped up about going to see it which they managed to do with their full media coverage. The media-hype played a major role in the film’s success compared to the Jurassic Park film where things such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube didn’t exist so advertising in the media was to a minimum compared to now. 

Southpaw

My favourite film this summer was Southpaw. Southpaw is about a famous undefeated boxer named Billy Hope who turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services.

At the start of the film he has everything. The film begins with him preparing for a championship fight, the fight started with him not doing very well but you soon realise that he enjoys the pain and he uses it to make himself stronger when he wins the final round and yet again becomes champion. As he is doing an interview about the fight when another rival boxer who he has yet to fight challenges him and riles Hope up by saying rude comments about him and his wife. A few days later Hope and his wife go to a charity convention where Billy Hope gives a speech about his childhood living in the child protection services system. As they are leaving the come across the rival boxer again who insults Hope and his wife. Hopes crew and the rival’s crew begin fighting. Then one of the rival’s crew pulls out a gun and shoots which hits Hopes wife who then dies.

He becomes very depressed, is drunk nearly 24/7, and takes drugs to deal with his pain. At the same time neglecting his daughter’s presence who is looked after by her nanny the majority of this time. We watch a distressing scene where hope is shown crying to a picture of his wife and holding a gun. He then leaves the house on the hunt for revenge on the man who killed his wife but doesn’t find him. He drives home drunk and high on drugs and crashes his car into a tree, then whilst injured makes his way into his house and passes out where his daughter finds him and cries for help. After he is treated in hospital he has to go to a court hearing about his daughter, his daughter is taken away from him and put under child protection services and he is told he has to have no alcohol or drugs and get a suitable living place and income and there will be another hearing in 30 days.

He finds a small, cheap apartment and gets a job as a cleaner at a training centre. Eventually Tick Wills, the owner of the gym, agrees to train Billy Hope again so that he can get back into the routine of fighting. His ex-manager approaches him and tells him about a fighting deal with the rival boxer. Billy Hope agrees and he continues to train for the big fight whilst slowly repairing his relationship with his daughter. In the end he becomes victorious and wins the fight against his rival and becomes the champion once more. The film ends with his daughter holding his hand saying lets go home.

I enjoyed this film because there were lots of fighting scenes which I particularly enjoy watching. They were also very realistic which makes it more believable and better to watch. I also enjoyed it because I felt a connection with the main character Billy Hope. The film is about how he loses everything and has to fight to get through it to be strong again. There were many scenes I found quite upsetting, as I could relate to certain things which made me enjoy the film more.