Institution
Name: Four Brothers
Director: John Singleton
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: 30 September 2005 (UK)
Genre: Thriller, Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Certificate: Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content.
Country where made: USA
Budget:$30,000,000
Box office returns: Gross revenue was $92,494,381
Awards: 2 wins & 7 nominations. Won awards for Image Award and Breakthrough Artist
Award
Running Time: 109 minutes
Four Brothers is an action packed, adrenaline fuelled action thriller film with sub genres of crime, drama and mystery, which are similar genres of The Dark Knight. I think that the target audience for this film would be mainly males with an age range of late teens to early adulthood. I think this because there are many aspects of the film that would appeal to this kind of target audience. Repeating themes such as violence, crime and also scenes of sexual natures are generic conventions that would appeal to a male, early adulthood audience. The certification of this film is R (15 in the UK), which would also suggest a target audience of the range I have specified. The user rating of IMDB for this film is 6.9 out of 10. This is a similar user rating to that of The Number 23, but just beats it by 0.7. One user of IMDB reviewed the film as "How refreshing - a movie that actually exceeded my expectations!". This shows us that the film is something new and has a bit more about it that makes it stand out from other films.
Technology
With technology ever changing and evolving with time, popularity of films have increased dramatically, mainly down to advertising. There are many ways in which the film can advertise including: banners on the internet, trailers on the tv and cinema, film posters in bus shelters and on buses, websites. As there is more technology when it comes to advertising, the general public's knowledge of the film will be increased. This may make more people come to watch the film in the cinema or purchase the dvd. New technology may have also increased audiences access of the film. For example, there are many ways in which people can watch films now days including: cinema, dvd, tv, ipod/itunes, streaming online (illegal). As there is easier access to watch films, and alternative methods to watch films, there will be an increase in accessibility.
Codes/forms and Conventions of the thriller genre:
Four Brothers starts off with quite an upbeat, funky pop song that sounds as if it is being played on some sort of radio, (It turns out to be the car radio). The first image we see is that of 2 dice tied onto the car rear mirror. The dice show a number 2 on each dice. My interpretation of this is that altogether there are four dots, 2 from each dice. This could reflect on the four brothers that are the main characters in the film. We later find out in the film that two brothers are white males, and the other two brothers are black males. This could be what the dice are representing, 2 separate dots on each, but once added together make four, representing the four brothers. It is quite an unique and clever way that the film starts off, with the immediate relation to the four brothers. The first character we see is an old lady driving a car listening to the radio. When she stops the car the radio stops and the only sounds we here is the sound of wind. This has a very contrasting effect on the catchy, upbeat song just a few seconds ago, and the sound of wind embraces the audience that something bad is about to happen. We see the old lady walking into the shop by the use of a very interesting low angle, long shot. In the edge of the shot we see a car and hear its engine running. This gives the audience a feeling that the car has some significant in the film. IT also gives the audience the impression that the old lady is being watched, giving a mysterious vibe to the film, which is a typical convention of thriller films. The next few shots we see are in the shop, when the old lady is telling off a young boy about stealing sweets. This gives of signals of corruption in the area as a young boy is stealing. The next few shots, the audience gets a real understanding of the old lady's personality. She is telling off the young boy for stealing and teaching him the error of his ways and how stealing is bad and it has consequences. This shows that the lady is caring and trying to help the young boy. However, she is also playing a trick on the young boy, telling the shop keeper to ring the police, but she is just pretending to try and scare they boy and teach him a lesson. This shows the audience that she is also a fun character, that still shows traits of youth. One line the lady says to the boy is very powerful and really emphasises her caring character: " I happen to believe you're worth more. But YOU'VE gota believe it". This is very affectionate and shows the audience what a caring lady she is, and that she wants the best for the young boy. In contrast to her almost whispering advice to the young boy, in response to the boys answer, she puts on a more sterner voice and says " are you bullshitting me" and " Now I want you to head straight home, you shouldn't be out at this time of time anyway, ya' hear me?". This again makes her seem like she is trying to put her point across about how important it is to change his behaviour for the better, and that she isn't a push over. It also makes her seem like a motherly figure, and possibly that she has had similar problem with her children in the past, which later becomes unravelled. In these few scenes alone, it has enabled the audience to get a relatively deep understanding of the lady and the setting in a way because it gives the audience an impression on the way their society is.
The next few clips is when the action starts to kick in, and the film begins to share many conventions of thriller films. Two masked men burst through the shot window carrying guns, demanding cash. The use of weapons are often used in thriller films and emphasise the theme of violence and corruption. The lady is hiding from the gunmen behind a shelf but releases a gasp of shock after hearing the sound of a gun. This causes the gunmen to investigate the noise, find the lady and end up shooting her. The murder sequence of the lady consists of some interesting camera shots. It consists of one continuous shot, starting with a long shot of the shot, as if someone was looking at the shop. Next the shot zooms in slowly and then pans across following the path of the escaping gunmen. They are cheering at their success of robbing the store, which suggests they feel no remorse or guilt in killing two innocent people. This leaves many questions unanswered for the audience as to why two people would kill an innocent shop keeper and an old lady, could they have been put up to it? The non-diegetic soundtrack has a spooky and eerie feel to it with high pitched notes played frantically by strings, which is a convention of the thriller genre. The shot transaction is a fade out to signify the end of the sequence and introduces a new character and a new scene of a man driving his car, shown by a camera shot that is of the angle that would in the car in front of the mans car.
In contrast to the previous sequence, the title sequence is a bit more relaxed and generally has more positive imagery. I would class the soundtrack as music you would expect to here in a hotel lift, jazzy/lounge/blues music. This helps to set the tone of a quite calm and relaxed environment. As the audience, we get the impression that this town is new to the man, or he has returned after a long time, due to the frequent facial expressions and shots showing the man look around out of his window to see the scenery. The man is dressed in a leather jacket and has gelled back hair. This gives an impression that he is quite a cool, laid back kind of guy.
The credits are introduced on the screen by fading in and out at random positions. The font is BOLD and in capitals. It seems quite similar to military fonts which could reflect on the use of weapons and the theme of violence throughout the film. The text colour is in red and white. The colour red connotes thoughts of violence as you can relate it to blood. This could suggest that there will be blood in the film. Red also connotes imagery of danger, which could again be later revealed throughout the film. White has contrasting connotations such as peace, innocence and love. This could represent that the four brothers are loving at heart, and deep down just want to do what is best. In comparison to " The Number 23", which includes the theme of isolation, Four Brothers is quite the opposite, with the whole film about the brothers discovery how important family is and bringing them closer together. This is quite unusual for films of the thriller genre to end with happy imagery and a positive imagery, however it adds a nice touch to the film after the powerful, violent scenes previously in the film.
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Case Study - Four Brothers
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Shooting Schedule
Here is my group's shooting schedule for our Thriller opening sequence. We have handed these out to all of the actors/actresses involved and kept a copy ourselves to remind ourselves of the dates/times and props and equipment needed.
Characters/Actors/Actresses
Here are some photos to show the actor and actress we have decided to use that Richard made.
Script
Script
Opening Scene – Isolation of Norfolk
Sound of car starting and die
Scott: AHHH! …………………… give it another go….
Hope: What?
Scott: Give it another go!!
Car starts and dies
Scott: I don’t think that it’s going to work
Hope: Really!?
Scott: What’s with the attitude?
Hope: Well, for one were lost! Second were broken down. And Thirdly if you had just listened to me when I told you to get the car serviced before we left, we wouldn’t even be in this situation!
Hope starts to get out of the car
Scott: We are only lost because of you and your damn map reading!
Hope: I wanted to ask for directions but no you said that you knew the way.
Hope is out of the car
Scott: and why do your friends even live out here?....Its the middle of nowhere!
Hope: so it’s my fault now, is it? Do you no what at least I still talk to my friends, where are your friends?
Scott: Well I lost my friends when I met YOU!
Hope scowls at Scott and walks off
Scott: where are you going?
Hope: away from you!
Scott: Oh don’t give me that!
Scott is trying to phone the recovery company
Scott: Are this stupid phone! Why can’t it make a simple phone call!
Monday, 14 December 2009
I have been looking at the website Freeplaymusic.com
it is a website that allows you to download and listen to copyright free music. We have decided that the song entitled Spirit would be an appropiate piece of music that could feature in our opening sequence of. Please click Here
Friday, 11 December 2009
Thriller Music
When looking for thriller music, for the opening to our thriller film, i went to the website freeplaymusic.com which is legal and free.
When I was searching for horror themed music I found this useful page
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1353
To get to this page i clicked on Dramatic Soundscape vol 1
This music is what i was thinking to use in the opening.
Character Background Information
HOPE: Hope is fun, charismatic, and loving towards her boyfriend, Scott. The couple live in London, however they are in Norfolk staying with some olds friends when their car breaks down. Hope can sometimes a bit unintelligent and naïve which later becomes revealed in the film. I would compare her to Paige Edwards, the character that Paris Hilton plays in the Horror/Thriller film, House Of Wax. Her character is similar to that of Paige Edwards because they are both quite unintelligent and also both quite glamorous.
SCOTT: Scott is a football fanatic man who is in a relationship with Hope. Scott is having a hard time at work so him and Hope have decided to have a mini break to stay with some old friends in Norfolk. His stressful life has caused his and Hope's relationship to become a bit of a low and they find themselves arguing more than usual. Scott can develop a bit of a temper, which is unravelled later on in the film.
KILLER: The killer does not have a name as this emphasises his mysteriousness. Not having a name also suggests that he does not have any friends/family as no one knows his name. The killer is a big build and very strong. His personal character is not very easy to understand, but throughout the film, parts of his character become unravelled. I would compare him to the Jason in the film Friday the 13th as they are both mysterious characters and their character and personality is revealed through their behaviour throughout the film.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
My Magazine
In my magazine I have decided to include a features that would appeal to my target audience. My target audience of my magazine are young adults of mixed genres aged 12-24.
My magazine is going to be a magazine that comes out every fortnight. Each fortnight I am going to include a cover story of a band that will include interviews of bands and photos that will roughly be 4-5 pages long.
I am also going to include free posters of bands each week. This will be a big selling point of my magazine as it will appeal to my target market and make them want to buy it.
Other features I have decided to include consist of a feedback page where customers can write in and talk about bands and hot topics. I am going to also include aspects of different genres of music, selecting the main headlines of each genre and including articles on the topic. This will widen my target audience and help me sell more copies in shops. I will include a gig review section where I will have reviews of recent gigs all over the U.K so readers can find out about all the great bands out there. Another feature I have decided to include is a article that introduces new and upcoming bands to the scene. In these articles readers can find out a little bit about the band and also help the band out by raising awareness and getting their name out there.
My magazine will include a review section of all the new c.d’s that have been released recently and the reviewers will give a 5 star rating system and a short summary of the c.d that will enable readers to find out how good the c.d is.
I am going to include a page that will allow readers to email in and review new and upcoming bands, albums, music videos and much more. This will enable the audience to interact with the magazine and make the magazine more popular.
Hollyoaks Title Sequence
The first image we see whilst watching the opening/title sequence of hollyoaks is the glamorous eye of a female character opening in time with the music. The iris of the eye is a really magnificent blue that stands out and, along with the eye makeup, helps bring out this characters glamorous look. The title of Hollyoaks appears in the centre of the eye. This could suggest that the main themes encountered in Hollyoaks is glamour and youth.
The theme of youth and glamour is also reinforced throughout the title sequence as each character is introduced. All of the characters appear to be trendy and quite young, mainly early 20’s, with the few exceptions of characters that appear to be in the 30’s. As well as reinforcing the theme of youth and glamour, the characters would appeal to the programs target audience. I think the target audience for Hollyoaks would be teenagers, so by including late teenagers, young adults in the title sequence, the target audience might be attracted to the program as they are of a similar age. The female characters appear to be quite classy and good-looking. This would appeal to the programs target audience as people may aspire to look like them, or to have a partner like them
The representation of a few characters stand out, and could act as a way to draw in a wider audience. For instance there is a wider variety of characters including sport fanatics, Goths, good-looking characters and geeky looking characters. The Goth who is dressed in black, has dyed black hair and has a lip piercing. The black colours connote darkness and depression, which could reflect on his character. The sports characters, both a boxer and rugby player, again reinforce the theme of youth and energy.
The sound track is very upbeat and rocky. This would appeal to the teenage target audience as it is in a similar genre of music most like. The upbeat song also could represent the programs action packed episodes that is quick paced and interesting.
The final image we see is of the title hollyoaks. The title has been amended to have symbols of male and females in both of the letter “O”’s. The semiotics of the title connote males and females. As this is at the end of the sequence, it could represent the main theme of the program, about friendships and relationships between males and females.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Case Study - The number 23
The Number 23
1)Institution
Name: The Number 23
Director: Joel Schumacher
Production company: Contra Films/Firm films
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: 23rd February 2007
Country where made: USA
Budget: $30 million
Box office returns: Gross revenue was $105,036,499
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Drama
Certificate: Rated R for violence, disturbing images, sexuality and language.
Awards: 4 nominations
Running Time: 98 minutes
2)Audience
The Number 23 is a thriller film, with sub genres of mystery, drama and aspects of horror As this is quite a diverse range of genres, I would expect that the films target audience is quite vast. From looking at the films genres, I think that the target audience would mainly be fans of horror movies as from looking at the film poster and trailer, the horror aspects stand out a lot, suggesting that this film is aimed for horror lovers. The user rating of IMDB for this film is 6.2 out of 10. One user of IMDB commented: "A well written thought provoking story". Another said "A below-average, washed-up wannabe psychological horror film". The film looks like it has achieved to please the minds of the majority of the viewers with an average rating of 6.2 out of 10, however there are some people that suggested that the film had too many flaws and the plot line was lost towards the end of the film.
3) Technology
With technology ever changing and evolving with time, popularity of films have increased dramatically, mainly down to advertising. There are many ways in which the film can advertise including: banners on the internet, trailers on the tv and cinema, film posters in bus shelters and on buses, websites. As there is more technology when it comes to advertising, the general public's knowledge of the film will be increased. This may make more people come to watch the film in the cinema or purchase the dvd. New technology may have also increased audiences access of the film. For example, there are many ways in which people can watch films now days including: cinema, dvd, tv, ipod/itunes, streaming online (illegal). As there is easier access to watch films, and alternative methods to watch films, there will be an increase in accessibility.
4)Codes/forms and Conventions of the thriller genre:
The title sequence of The Number 23 consists of an off-white backdrop of paper/parchment in which a lot of numbers appear in black. The numbers show some calculations, which could put forward the theme of working things out, e.g the plot and the mystery. There are also a lot of number 23's jotted about in the screen. This could suggest that this is a main idea and recurring event, that the audience would expect to see in the film. In contrast to the black and white, there are blotches of red stains, that look like blood, that smear across the screen. The fact that the red smears look like blood could suggest that the film is quite violent and brutal, which emphasises the sub-genre of horror. The use of parchment and the text's font is as if someone is typing them up using a type writer and when the blood is introduced it could signify that the person is going threw pain to write down the information, which could later be rectified in the plot. As the title sequence goes on, there is more and more blood up to the last point where the screen is full of blood and the number "23" appears. This could represent that the person using the type writer has died and the number "23" could represent the cause of their death, creating a lot of questions for the audience. The colour red really stands out in contrast to the more neutral black and off-white. Red also connotes thoughts of danger and blood. The non-diegetic sound track is quite eerie and features a lot of drums. The use of drums makes it seem spooky, possibly representing violence because years ago, drums have been used as war drums to scare the enemy. The range of dynamics also help build up a lot of tension by having soft music followed by dramatic loud music. The sound track sounds quite electronic and the use of sound effects and phasers give the track an almost sci-fi feel to it, which again builds up tension.
There are many aspects throughout the film that genre is utilised. The main example of this is the fact that the mysterious theme is slowly unravelled throughout the film. Throughout the film, many questions arise, that later become answered. This is a typical feature of thriller and horror films and keeps the audience interested and engaged in the film. The first shot we see is an establishing, followed by a slow zoom to Walter, who is sitting in his van. The use of the establishing shot is a useful technique of setting the scene and giving the audience a quick, simple and effective understanding of the location and situation. These opening shots show Walter in his everyday life, on duty as a animal control officer, about to finish his shift, the time is shown by a point of view shot looking at the radio clock in the van. A few minutes until he has finished his shift, he receives a call in from a women secretary who has a grudge on him after a Christmas work do. We then see a flashback, represented by rewinding very quickly. Flashbacks are typical conventions of thriller films and they act as a explanation of occurring events. A scene with his family at home shows summarises his life and shows the audience that he has a good, enjoyable life and gets on with his wife and son. This could act as a contrasting device as towards the end of the film, him and his family become more corrupted. The next scene, Walter is attempting to capture a vicious bull dog. An interesting shot used in this scene is the point of view shot of the dog behind the cage. The camera moving out from behind the cage signifies the movement of the dog as he confronts Walter. Walter gets bitten by the dog after failing to capture him and has a serious, deep wound to his arm. This could act as foreshadowing of events to come as blood is involved and Walter is very stressful. Another convention of thriller films present in the film is the use of fast paced editing when a action scene is involved. Fast paced editing makes the audience feel as they are in the situation as it is real time and everything is happening so quickly. It also helps show perspectives of other characters to give the audience a fuller understanding. Fast paced editing in action scenes also contrasts with slow, calmer cuts and editing in other parts of the film, which gives variation to the film and makes the action scenes seem more excitable.
Isolation is a key theme in this film and a typical convention of thriller films demonstrated by uses of long shots and the main character, Walter on his own a lot of the time. Walter, who plays the main character, gradually becomes more and more isolated as his mind becomes possessed. The isolation creates thoughts of being vulnerable and the audience may develop a fear of the character because as he becomes more isolated he becomes more Infatuated. Another convention of thriller films utilised in The Number 23 is the use of foreshadowing through means of the mysterious book. Foreshadowing is a device used that give hints and clues about things that become developed in more depth as the film unravels. There is also cases of red herrings when it comes to discovering what the actual number "23" is all about. The use of red herrings is to send the audience in the wrong direction so that there is a twist in final scenes of the film. This makes the ending a lot more effective and is a typical feature in thriller films and mystery films/TV programs. For example murder TV programs such as midsummer murders often use red herrings in a way that makes the audience believe that one character is the murderer, but in actual fact, later on in the program the audience discover that it is actually someone else who was less expected that was the murderer. It is a very effective way to end a film/TV program as it makes the audience think and possibly leaves them in awe.
Mise en scene
Meeting 2
Meeting 2
For the second meeting we discussed the storyline and the people to the play the characters.
Plot: Sun almost setting over the isolated scene - another isolated scene in Norfolk in the distance you can see a car with the bonnet open and a man standing over it, the sound of the engine starts and then dies. The camera moves closer to the car so that you can see the female in the car. The shot changes to a mid shot of the back of the man looking at the engine he then closes the bonnet and sighs. The couple than start to have an argument about how they are lost and the car is broken down, throughout this there will be a switching of over the shoulder shots, and also some shot that show they are in a fight i.e only showing one of them, I got this idea from the film Vacancy. After the fight the girl walks of saying “I’m going to try and get signal” in a bad attitude. There will be some selection of shots showing her walking and getting signal. While she is doing that the boyfriend gets out the car and moves around, their will a shot of the field and a shape move in front of the camera, giving the sense of someone being there. It will then show a shot of the reflection in the window of the car, showing the boyfriend being stabbed. The women walks back looking at her phone saying I cant get signal “anywhere.” After realising that her boyfriend isn’t at the car she looks about and shouts a his name, she starts to looking in the car and sees a note, it reads I have found a town down the road meet me their. As she is walking down to the town there is a shot where the camera is in a hedge you see a hand with blood dripping down it and in the background the women walks past it not seeing it. It will then end with the sun setting fully.
Though the opening there will be parts that have mysterious and spooky music to go with the conventions of a thriller
For the blood we are going to use watered down ketchup, with a little HP source to make it less red. If this turns out a bit too tacky and looks unprofessional we will use fake blood instead.
Characters:
Killer - Jack Rolph
Women (yet to be named) - Harriet Millsopp
Man (yet to be named) - Will Durham
Meeting 1
Meeting 1
For our first preproduction meeting, on making an opening to a thriller, we decided to talk about any ideas that we had, and this is what we came up with:
Richard put forward an idea that he had been thinking about it was to film a sunset over a flat rural area, this would be to show the isolation of the area.
Another idea that we had was maybe filming some people moving in a city and then to speed it up. Also to have a person moving though the people, very slowly though so that he can stand out, this would be to show the persons abandonment from the world. I came up with the idea of having the sound of a heart beat matching his footsteps as this would help build up tension.
After a few ideas we decided to make the genre thriller and horror, we believed that this would be the most suitable genre for our film as most of the ideas that we came up with where for the conventions of a horror and thriller. We then came up with more ideas for this:
We had an idea that maybe a character had visions of an arm with blood dripping down.
For the plot of the film we thought maybe of a modern jack the ripper story.
For the location we thought maybe isolated area in Norfolk or maybe in a multi story car park.
We thought that the maybe the first person that the killer kills might be a hitchhiker.
We then thought of a person who has a broken down car in the middle on nowhere.
We also thought of putting in a twist at the beginning. We thought of a person that we would make out to be the main character in the beginning and then later would turn out to be the victim of the killer.
The killer may have a signature to his crime i.e symbol, weapon of choice.
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