Case Study - Four Brothers

Four Brothers

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.

Four Brothers 1

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