'71' - Film Analysis

Crew:

Director - Yann Dermange

Writer  - Gregory Burke

Producers - Angus Lamont & Robin Gutch

Music - David Holmes

Cinematographer - Tat Radcliffe

Editors - Chris Wyatt

Cast:

Garry Hook - Jack O'Connell 

Thommo - Jack Lowden

Training Corporal - Paul Popplewell 

Jimmy - Adam Nagaitis

Carl - Joshua Hill

Themes:

The themes within the film include things such as Betrayal, Trust, Violence, and Exposure.

Genre:

The film falls under the genres of Action, Drama, and Thriller.

Year:

71 was released in 2014.

Running Time:

The film runs for 99 minutes.

Budget:

The budget for this film was £8.1 million.

Box Office:

The film made £1.6 million in the box office.

Production Company:

The production companies for this film are Crab Apple Films, Protagonist Pictures, Warp Films.

Sound:

The sound within 71 is very is very unique at times. One particular moment that caught my attention was the bomb scene. When the bomb goes off, all of the sound becomes diluted and there is a constant non diegetic ringing sound over the top. This makes the audience feel like they are part of the scene and as they can hear what the characters can hear. It can make the audience agitated because they noise is constant and they want it to end which is what the characters want. 

Cinematography:

The foot chase is shot with a handheld camera to bring a sense of terror to the scene for the audience. The camera moves a lot and is very jults a lot, showing the urgency that the protagonist has to escape the pursuers. Over the top was up beat non diegetic music and heavy sounds of fast breathing, making the scene even more intense for the audience.

Trust:

Trust is a big part of the film as the protagonist has to trust a little boy who says he will bring him back to his barracks. Nearer the end, he also trusts the Irish couple to look after him and stitch him up, and he trusts the young boy not to shoot him at the end. Within the film, trusting people is hard because you do not know who is on what side. Which is why the protagonist is held back when trusting the child because he did not know where he was being taken. He has to trust people and rely on them in order to get back to where he was.

Exposure:

I think exposure is another main theme within the film because the protagonist is not in his own territory. The people living there want to kill him, therefore he is very exposed to lot of danger and has to try and survive. He is in an environment he doesn't know off and has to trust others to help him, not knowing whether they will kill him or not.

Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 - Film (Week 9)

Crew:
Director - Francis Lawrence
Writers - Peter Craig & Danny Strong
Producers - Nina Jacobson & jon Kilik
Music - James Newton Howard
Cinematographer - Jo Willems
Editors - Alan Edward Nell & Mark Yoshikawa

Cast:

Katniss Everdeen - Jennifer Lawrence
Peeta Mellark - Josh Hutcherson
Gale Hawthorne - Liam Hemsworth
Haymitch Abernthy - Woody Harrelson
President Snow - Donald Sutherland

Genre - Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure.

Themes - Love, Courage, Power, War.

Running Time - 136 Minutes.

2015 Film.

Production Company - Lionsgate, Color Force.

Budget - $120 million
Box Office - $100 million (first weekend)

Narrative:
Katniss and her friends, Peeta, Gale and Finnick team up for the ultimate ending. Together, they leave District 13 and head towards the Capitol with all the rebels from the other Districts, with only one mission, to kill President Snow. What lies ahead of them is the toughest Hunger Games yet. With the city covered in traps created by many Game-Makers, they have to make their way through to even get close to the Presidents mansion.

Cinematography:
Many establishing shots are used within the film, not only to show the audience where about they are and where the film is set, but to make the characters look small against the giant city. It will give the audience the impression that the character don't stand a chance against the capitol.

Sound:
The music and sound within this film is very strong and is very fitting for the moments it is used. During scenes with lots of tension, the music would make it even more tense for the audience. The music makes the film more interesting and gripping for the audience and allows them to feel more emotions. 
During the scenes when the characters are underground, there are moments when everything goes silent. This will make the audience feel on edge because they will feel awkward. They will want something to happen. 

Audience

There are three theories to to concept of audience. The theories are The Hypodermic Needle, Uses & Gratifications and The Reception Theory. They all have very different uses and goals within them. 

The Hypodermic Needle Theory:
This theory is about how the media has power over the mass population and is influencing them by injecting information into their heads for them to believe so they can get the desired response they want. The audience is seen as powerless and cannot withstand the effect of the information given. The audience would then start to believe it because different platforms of media are giving the same information. Many think this is the reason that there is a link between the violence seen on TV, films and video games and the violence in real life.
Children seem to be influenced most from the media as they are not fully developed to know what is right or wrong. They would imitate and copy what they see. For example, Jamie Bulger was murdered by two 10 year old boys. Apparently the boys had watched a Chucky film called 'Childs Play 3' before they had murdered the boy. They may have been influenced by the film because his death was quite similar to one within the film. 

Uses & Gratifications Theory:
This theory is quite different to the the Hypodermic Needle theory as the media see the audience as normal people and let the audience make their own decisions on the media and interpret it how they like. The audience chose what media meets their needs and how they use with in their lives.
- Identity - Be able to identify the person or product you are being shown. Also to help form certain behaviours and values to you.
- Surveillance - Receive information that would be suitable and relevant to living. (Weather, finance)
- Education - Being able to receive information, have knowledge and understand the information in order to self educate.
- Entertainment - The media should be able to entertain so you enjoy it and you should be able to escape your worries for a short amount of time.
- Social Interaction - Media helps create friendships and communication with others. 
The internet lets us do all of these things. It allows us to be entertained via youtube because the audience are able to chose what they want to watch. This applies to films because the audience can chose whether they want to watch the trailer to a film. They are not forced to watch it. It helps the audience escape their worries of reality for a period of time.

The Reception Theory:
media texts are encoded by the created/producer and decoded by the audience. The media text may have a message to get across to the audience. They then interpret it in different ways. The audience are and it is understood that they can react in different ways. Many think that the reactions are caused by their cultural background and how they were brought up.
Dominant - The intended reaction that the media wanted. Audience believe and agree with the media. Not much different to the hypodermic theory.
Negotiated - Questioning the information received, but gives it a chance.
Oppositional - Completely against the information.
This comes into the film industry when there is a trailer for a film or the film itself. The audience are given choices whether they like it or not.
This also comes into film because the audience are given the chance to have their own opinions on them. They could either be Dominant and react to the film how the media want them to, Negotiated and give the film a chance, or oppositional and be totally against the film.

12 Rounds - Film (Week 8)

Crew:
Director - Renny Harlin
Writer - Daniel Kunka
Producer - Mark Gordon & Michael Lake & Josh McLaughlin
Music - Trevor Rablin
Cinematographer - David Boyd
Film Editing - Brian Berdan

Cast:
Danny Fisher - John Cena
Miles Jackson - Aidan Gillen
Molly Porter - Ashley Scott
George Aiken - Steve Haris 
Hank Carver - Brian White

Genre - Action, Crime, Thriller.

Themes - Love, Determination, fear, revenge.

Running time - 108 minutes.

2009 Film.

Production Company - Fox Atomic, Mark Gordon Company, The Midnight Sun Pictures.

Budget - $22 million.
Box Office - $18 million.

Narrative:
A cop called Danny Fisher (John Cena) stops a very successful criminal from performing a heist. During this, the criminals girlfriend is accidentally killed. For revenge, the criminal breaks out of prison to kidnaps Danny's fiancé. To get her back, Danny has to perform and successfully complete 12 extremely difficult tasks otherwise he will see her die at the hands of the criminal.

The cinematography in the film is very good. At the start of the film, the whole scene is quite intense. The camera movements make it seem like the audience are part of the film and viewed from specific characters points of view. For example, there are moments within the scene when the camera seems like binoculars zooming on on its target. It makes the audience feel part of the movie. There are many establishing shots to show the location of the film and to show how busy it is. Long shots changing to close up shots prove the style of the binoculars, showing the characters from afar and up close. High angles from the building tops makes it seem like the police looking down to the targets. most of the camera wok in the scene is hand held, making the audience feel past of the scene and to really get into the action. Fast paced music adds to the tension of the first scene and makes the audience engaged and on edge to see what is about to happen. The editing within the video is very quick, cutting between long shots and close up shots to add to the fast pace of the scene. Many close ups on characters faces make the audience see their real emotions and help them get closer to the characters.

Love:
Love is a main theme within the film because a the plot happened in revenge of love. The criminal lost his love and blamed it on Danny. Then took Danny's fiance to make him feel the pain he felt himself.

Determination;
Determination is another main theme within the film because Danny loves his fiance and would do anything to get her back. He completes all 12 tasks which test him to his limits but he still completes them.

Short Horror Film

When creating my idea, I started reading many short horror stories online. I came across stories that are just two sentences long. Here are a few examples:

"I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window, until i heard it coming from the mirror again."

"She asked why i was breathing so heavily. I wasn't."

"There was a picture in my phone of me sleeping. I live alone."

"I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, "Daddy, check for monsters under my bed." I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back and be quivering and whispering, "Daddy, theres somebody in my bed"."

These sort of stories gave me the idea to do something like that. I watched some videos that are based on the two sentence horror stories.

During the 2am scene at its peak, I want this part to be like the moments within this trailer at 1:25. 

As the film has to be 2-5 minutes long, a suggested idea to me was to have the protagonist see the number '2' everywhere during the day. The film Focus does the same type of thing in this scene...

Images from movies that will influence the way my film is filmed:

tilted camera

low shots

close ups

UWantMeToKillHim? - Analysis.

Cinematography:
The cinematography within this film is very unique. When it is following the main protagonist, it is usually a handheld camera to show how his life is unsteady and not very good. It makes the audience feel part of his life as they feel like they are living it with him because it is a handheld camera. There are many close ups to him to show his emotions and to make the audience feel closer to him. during the scenes when he is online talking to people, there are extreme close ups on the words. This is to emphasise on the fact that when something is put online, it is there forever. It can also show how extreme some of the conversations are that he has.

Lighting:
The lighting during the film is very dull and cloudy, like England normally is, but it is like that from the start. It tells the audience straight away that it is not going to be a happy film. grey is seen as a dull, emotionless colour that represents loss and depression. This means the colouring of the film from the start somehow foreshadows what is going to happen at the end. There is loss and depression within the movie. The only time the protagonists face is lighten up brightly is when he is on the computer talking to people. This shows how it is the only thing that makes him happy.

Mise en Scene:
The setting of the film is in London. There are many scenes in estates of flats. The characters there would wear hoodies which portrays the stereotypical type of person that lives there. Most of the clothing the protagonists wear are either their school uniform or hoodies. The school uniform can connote a young and innocent person but the story of the film makes the characters not innocent at all and they know what they are capable of doing.

Performance:
The young actors were very goof during the film. None of the line and emotions seemed forced which made the overall feel of the film very natural. The topic of the film was very serious, and the young actors portrayed it well in a sensible and accurate way. Their characters seemed very realistic and gave off a warming feel to them. This would mean the audience would be able to feel close to easily and understand them.

Trust, friendship and revenge are the main themes within the film, because trust is what the whole film and friendship relies on. The main protagonist (Mark) trusts people online too easily and early into their friendship and ends up falling for them. He even trusts someone online when they tell him to stab his best friend. He goes along with it and follows through with it. Revenge comes into it when he realises that the person he trusted was lying to him the whole time. He then does not regret stabbing him and says he deserved it.

Other themes include violence and obsession. Mark gets over obsessed with people online and it tends to consumes his whole life. He turns to violence when everything is bad, to think it would help sort everything out just because someone online told him to.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension - Film (week 7)

Crew:

Director - Gregory Plotkin 

Producer - Orin Peli & Jason Blum

Cinematographer - John W. Rutland 

Editor - Michael Aller 

Cast:

Ryan - Chris J. Murray

Emily - Brit Shaw 

Leila - Ivy George 

Mike - Dan Gill

Skyler - Olivia Taylor Dudley 

Genre - Horror

Themes - Family, Exploitation

Running time - 88 minutes

2015 film

Production Company - Blumhouse Productions & Paramount Pictures

Budget - $10 million 

Box office - $16 million 

Key scenes:

- The ritual scene.
- The scene when the protagonists realise that what is happening is for a reason. (They notice they are in the house for a reason, the antagonists wanted them to be there. Their daughter has a connection with Hunter which is why they are being haunted.)

Narrative:
The story leads on from the third film, but includes a new family who find the tapes of Katie and Kristi. They soon realise within the tapes, Katie is describing their home. The adults of the family do research into the tapes and the events and find out that Hunter (Kristi's son) and the Leila (the little girl from the new family) have the same birthdays. 6th June, 2006. They also found a cult who use the blood of two firstborns to bring something into the world. In this case, Toby.

Lighting:

The lighting within this scene is very dark as it is night time. The lighting is quite natural but spooky. The dark colours and lighting gives a scary mood to the scene. When in the dark, the protagonists can seem helpless because they can not see very well. Most of the scene has dark black-like lighting. The colour black means power, death, and evil. The power is shown by the demon having power over the protagonists within the film. It is also the colour for grief, which is shown by Leila being controlled by the demon and taking her away from her family. 

Performance:

The acting within the scene is quite natural. The film series has been known for not using scripts for the films because they wanted the dialog to be as natural as possible. I assume the same has been done with this film. The dialogue from the mother sounded very worrying which was realistic and 

Sound:

The scene uses both non diagetic and diagetic sound. The diagetic sound being the recorder payed by Leila. It would have been edited to be heavier during the scene to give more of a sense of tensions. Although much of the sound would have been diagetic, it would still have been added it during the editing stages. Especially the bang on the window. 

Family is the main theme of the film. It shows how one thing can break a family apart and how they would put their lives on the line for each other to make sure they are okay. 

Another theme of the film is exploitation. The demon takes advantage of young Leila who does not know the difference between right and wrong. She does what Toby says and trusts him, not knowing the consequences.