Thriller Film Challenge, Film Noir/Crime Thriller.

          Thriller Film Project:

This is a finished product of our film challenge. After planning and story boarding we embarked on our filming project. Our film depicts 2 detectives in the 1950-60s Era. We tried making it more realistic by having Jasper putting on an accent, and both detectives wearing clothing similar to detectives would wear during the 60s. We used some terminology that matches the era we are filming in, words such as "Dame" or "Gal", even Jasper's accent matches the era, as he pronounces "Murder" as "Moider". I managed the props and was an actor, Richy and Saimink worked on the camera work and plot, Saimink was also the victim, and Jasper was the main character as the experienced detective. The film was directed, edited and filmed by Richy. In the filming site, we did dry-runs to make sure everything was good, and made some adjustments. In the film, there are 2 characters. John Wayne (Toy) and the un-named experienced detective (Jasper). The short film also has a black/white edited in by using Premier, which adds the authenticity of being a Film Noir/Crime Thriller.

American Sniper's Film Opening | Analysis

           AMERICAN SNIPER FILM OPENING ANALYSIS

American sniper is a Action/War/Biographical Thriller based on the life of Chris Kyle, a US Navy Seal Sniper who was murdered in February, 2013. The film is a tribute to Chris Kyle's life, from a child to a fully grown adult.

The opening sequence is filled with many micro-elements, and it is simply just magnificent. It combines a whole bunch of emotions, making you sit at the edge of your seats. The opening takes place in Iraq, on Chris Kyle's first tour.

The first thing we see in the opening is this: A platoon of US Marines, with an M1A1 Abrams supporting them, rolls through a war torn city in Iraq.

Just this one short scene in the intro tells a lot. In the background, you can see buildings that are very old and war-torn (Destroyed), their paint deteriorating away among the gun-fire and deaths. The state of the building tells us that it is abandoned. 2 US Marines can be seen in the background, looking around for insurgents. This tells us that the environment that the Marines are so dangerous that normal civilians have fled somewhere else, it give us a sense of fear and anxiety.

In this scene, Chris aims his Remington Mk.13 Mod 5 Sniper Rifle at a man acting suspiciously on a cellphone. This scene is important because it has a big effect on the audience watching. It shows the audience the character's expression in combat, in a war-torn country with danger lurking around every corner. Even though that is the environment that they are in, both of them is calm,cool and collected, like it's another boring day at work. Since Chris is aiming at the man, it gives the audience a feeling of anxiety because the audience does not know what Chris is going to do next, is he going to shoot the man or let him go? It gets the audiences tensed up.

In this shot, it is a wide angled shot from Chris's over watch/sniping spot, covering the platoon of Marines down on the ground. This shot shows clearly the environment they they are in. The conditions there are unbearable to live in. Blown up cars and debris from blown up buildings litter the streets. The buildings itself look like those of a abandoned shanty town. This shows the harsh environment these Marines have to go through, it is an eye opening shot of how chaotic and dangerous the setting really is. It gives us a feeling that anything can happen at any moment, ambushes can occur within seconds, it plays a big effect on fear, fear of the unknown.

In this scene, Chris aims his sniper rifles to 2 people, a woman and a child. The woman is handing the child a RKG-3 Anti-Tank Grenade, which can do serious harm to the tank and the marines patrolling (Not seen in this shot). This scene shocks the audience because it breaks all morals and ethics, by using a child as a weapon of war, aka Child Soldiers. The audience are stunned,shocked as the mother hands the child a Anti-Tank grenade. Mothers are associated with warmth and love, however in this scene, it seems like the mother is willing to let her son throw the grenade and get shot by the Marines. It shows the audience how far the terrorists and insurgents are willing to go to kill the Marines, even to the point of using children as cover or as the weapon themselves. This scene is one of the scenes that makes the audience hold their breathe, as they are in disbelieve, that this actually happened. Since the whole movie is based on a true story, this scene actually happened in Iraq. The audience will be shocked, scared, some even traumatized by this actual scene. This scene is very important because it has some short to long term effect on our thinking. When I first saw this scene, a hatred grew inside me, a hatred for the terrorists and insurgents. I asked other people what they thought and most of them said the same thing, that they cannot believe that this actually happened, and they hate the terrorists even more. The scene plays with our emotions and way of thinking mentally.

This scene is equally as deep as the one above, it is very emotional and heart breaking to see. This seen is shot from Chris's POV, while looking through the scope of his Mk.13 sniper rifle. It shows the child's facial expression. The child looks sad and dull, like he is being told to do something he doesn't want to do, while his mother just simply stands and watches. It is emotional for some audiences, as the child is really young, and doesn't really know what is going on and is simply doing what his mother said. That the child, an innocent civilian, can be used by terrorists to harm people. This scene creates anxiety as the audience doesn't know what Chris is going to do, it plays with the audience's emotions.

Film Noir/Crime Thriller Storyboard + Plan

                                                       CRIME/FILM NOIR THRILLER

Our task is to create a film opening/short film on a Film Noir/Crime Thriller, complete from scratch. The people in our group are Richy,Jasper,Saimink and myself. We started off by planning the details and props/story. After we finished we drafted a story line. Richy,Jasper and Samink worked on the story line while I worked on the filming locations and the props we were going to use. We decided on having a 1950/60s style film noir/crime thriller.

                                                             Pictures from our plan:

 

Here are some pictures from our storyboard:

Why do we watch scary films?

Why do we watch scary films?

Dolf Zillman:
The transfer theory tells us that by experiencing negative and scary imagery. It intensify our feelings, our positive negative feeling. We enjoy seeing seeing evil getting beaten and vanishing because it makes us feel pleasure and relief.


Glen D. Walters:
1) The tension and suspense, created by micro-elements in the film and the narrative. Along with the manipulation of formula. It's not realistic (Unrealism), the idea that it is not real so that it's fine for us to watch, knowing it's fictional.

2) Relevance. The fears explored by the audience, have to be revelent to the audience. They have to believe in it.

Aristotle:
1) Catharis is when we let out our violent feelings out by watching negative or violent things to fulfill our violent feelings and desires.

Glenn D Walters

Dolf Zillman

Aristotle

Toy's Conventions of Thrillers

The Zodiac- Comparing Scenes

Task: Recreating some scenes from the Zodiac movie using a video provided. Then compare with original.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D13q-2I62w

                            1) This scene at 3:34 where the suspect hands the detective his "Zodiac" watch.

                              Original: 

                              Re-make:

2) This scene from the 0:16 mark of the video. Where the suspect faces the 3 detective.

Original: 

Re-make:

3) This shot is from the 1:14 mark of the clip, where one of the detectives examines the suspect's boots.

Original:

Re-make:

4) Another snapshot, 38 seconds into the clip. It contains the 3 detectives, sitting across from the suspect.

Original: 

Re-make:

5) Another still from the 5:17 Mark of the video. Where the suspect leaves the room and the detectives stare at him.

Original: 

Re-make:

(Note: Unlike the photo above, our photo doesn't have a mesh)

Children of Men Opening (Analysis)

  ANALYSIS: CHILDREN OF MEN OPENING SCENE

The opening scenes of the movie, gives us a lot of ideas and feelings about how the world is in the movie. At the start of the film, we hear about the military guarding mosques, a siege in Seattle, and England closing it's border and deporting illegal immigrants. It gives us a notion that the world this movie is set in, has a violent/dangerous environment. This is supported in the film opening, where an un-usual amount of policemen and military helicopters are seen. At the end of the intro, a bomb goes off in the cafe, which further supports my theory of London being a dangerous un-stable place. From what we learn in the intro, the word is set in a fictional plot, in an alternative universe.

Along with the heavy presence of government forces (military and police) London seems to be in a terrible state of condition. With cars extremely dusty, motorcycle hawks-haws,trash piling up on the streets. It seems like London has turned into a slum/ghetto like place. 

With hawks-haws spotted commonly, it is assumed that is a heavy Asian immigrant population based in London. This is supported by the fact that in the intro, we heard a news reporter saying that Britain is closing it's borders and departing illegal immigrants. 

In the intro, the news reporter and news we see on the TV in the movie, tells us that the world youngest person died at 18. This suggests that the movie is set in an alternate time-line where there is this birth control or age control restriction going on, since how can the youngest person in the world be 18. This could be caused by over population of Asian countries. Furthermore, as evidenced by a bomb going off in the intro, there seems to be some kind of conflict/terrorism in London.

The micro-elements in the film also plays a big role, such as the color and clothing of people. Everything is dull and sad, most of the people in the film are wearing dark colors suggesting the movie is in the "dark ages" of humanity.

2 British Police Officers patrol the streets.

A military Chinook helicopter is spotted in the sky.

More police officers are seen inside the coffee shop.

Trash bags piled up on the street.

Hawks-haws are seen everywhere on the streets.

Dusty cars litters the road.

News about Diego's death.

An explosion erupt from the cafe, creating a chaotic feeling.