We watched the thriller film 'Seven' in lesson. I'm now going to apply the theories we discussed in lesson to what we saw in the film. See if we have any matches:
G.K Chesterton: The transformed City.
The setting for 'Seven' was an urban type setting. The city in which it was set was a normal city that was transformed from a to be 'the city of sins'. This is where the city became a well-known city of death.
Northrop Frye: The Heroic Romance.
Brad Pitt's character 'Dave Mills' was an ordinary cop working in a city full of crime. He was eventually transformed into the seventh deadly sin. This, therefore, follows the theory of Northrop Frye, whereas, someone who's quite ordinary turns extraordinary.
John Cawelti: The Exotic.
The theory of John Cawelti is applied here as these normal people, just living thier lives as they normally would, were killed for commiting one of the 'seven deadly sins', hence the exotic element is now present. As people are accustomed to puzzles and mazes the use of the sins as part of the puzzle is a great factor in the film.
W.H Matthews: Mazes and Labyrinths.
The puzzle of this film would be the seven deadly sins that the villian in this film is basing his kills on. He tells us towards the end of the film that the reason behind his killings of these 'innocent' people is, in fact, 'God's will'. He believes he was chosen by a higher power to commit these murders in the name of God. This leads the audience to ask many questions. Hence, the puzzle is set. Also, the fact that the killer is not actually seen until the end of the film creates a nice mystery as the audience is left wondering his appearence throughout the film.
Pascal Bonitzer: Partial Vision.
Bonitzer believes in the theory of 'partial vision' this is the theory that the audience isn't been provided with absolutely everything. In the film 'Seven' the audience are kept in the dark about a few clues and killings. The clues left behind by the killer are obscures slightly to our view. We are read them but don't have much time to fully understand them. Also, the fact that we never actually see the killer till the end is an obstruction. At the end the box is opened and inside the box is 'David's' wifes head, yet we, as the audience, don't get to see the head.
Noel Carroll: Question and Answer.
The audience, throughout the film, are given many puzzles to overcome, therefore leaving us to ask many questions. In 'Seven' when we learn the plan of the killer and his kills are actually based on the seven deadly sins we are always asking ourselves 'which sin will it be next murder?'. We are also asking ourselves 'why is he doing this?' to which we are granted an answer which is 'it's God's will'.
Roland Barthes: Enigma Codes.
Barthes believes in the idea of codes that every thriller must follow. This is the moment in the film where the audience is led to ask questions. Like for example the part where the murders happen, we are led to ask 'by who?, 'which sin?', etc.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Saturday, 18 October 2008
What is a Thriller movie?
Brief:
Film the opening sequence of a new thriller, including titles, aimed at 15 or 18 certificate audience (approximately two mintues in duration)
To begin, we, as a class, discussed our general ideas and thoughts on the characteristics of a thriller film. These were our results:
Dictionary term for 'Thriller':
"Thriller is a loose genre term referring to any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major aspect of its narrative.".
We then looked at a few theories concocted by other people.
G.K Chesterton, an early 20th Century writer of thriller stories argues that thrillers took urban settings and transformed them into exciting locations for dramatic stories. A modern example of this in film is "Panic Room" because the whole concept is this panic room and it'd transformed a normal room into a room of terror.
Northrop Frye, author of "Heroic Romance" , argued that thrillers were stories that took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations. Another example in film would be "Spiderman" because Peter Parker was on ordinary person who got bitten by a radioactive spider and thrust into the limelight.
John Cawelti, author and pioneer of modern culture said that thrillers took the elements of ordinary lifes and added an exotic element. An example of this would be "James Bond" because he is a man with an extraodinary job.
W.H Mathews had a fascination with puzzles and mazes and the theory of mystery he felt that thrillers included these factors and also included the characters having to get to the bottom of puzzle or the audience members questioning what was happening. An example of this would be "Cube" the whole film is like a huge maze and the audience have to ask questions throughout asking how they got in there and 'how are they gonna get out?'
Pascal Bonitzer an award winning teacher at The French school of Film thinks that thrillers give the audience a partial view of the situation and important details are obscured in many ways. Through information being withheld and images etc. "The Dark Knight" is a good example of this because the audience are kept from seeing the Jokers true face.
Noel Carrol thought that a good thriller was structured around a series of questions of which the audience is led to want answers from the movie.
Roland Barthes, a French literary critic analysed all narratives and realised that all narratives included enigma codes that operate moment by moment. Enigma codes are parts of a narrative when the reader is led to ask a question. In thrillers enigma codes are very important for telling the story in a suspenseful way. A good example of this would be "Seven" when at the murders the audience are led to ask many question like 'which sin was it?', 'how were they killed?'.
Film the opening sequence of a new thriller, including titles, aimed at 15 or 18 certificate audience (approximately two mintues in duration)
To begin, we, as a class, discussed our general ideas and thoughts on the characteristics of a thriller film. These were our results:
Dictionary term for 'Thriller':
"Thriller is a loose genre term referring to any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major aspect of its narrative.".
We then looked at a few theories concocted by other people.
G.K Chesterton, an early 20th Century writer of thriller stories argues that thrillers took urban settings and transformed them into exciting locations for dramatic stories. A modern example of this in film is "Panic Room" because the whole concept is this panic room and it'd transformed a normal room into a room of terror.
Northrop Frye, author of "Heroic Romance" , argued that thrillers were stories that took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations. Another example in film would be "Spiderman" because Peter Parker was on ordinary person who got bitten by a radioactive spider and thrust into the limelight.
John Cawelti, author and pioneer of modern culture said that thrillers took the elements of ordinary lifes and added an exotic element. An example of this would be "James Bond" because he is a man with an extraodinary job.
W.H Mathews had a fascination with puzzles and mazes and the theory of mystery he felt that thrillers included these factors and also included the characters having to get to the bottom of puzzle or the audience members questioning what was happening. An example of this would be "Cube" the whole film is like a huge maze and the audience have to ask questions throughout asking how they got in there and 'how are they gonna get out?'
Pascal Bonitzer an award winning teacher at The French school of Film thinks that thrillers give the audience a partial view of the situation and important details are obscured in many ways. Through information being withheld and images etc. "The Dark Knight" is a good example of this because the audience are kept from seeing the Jokers true face.
Noel Carrol thought that a good thriller was structured around a series of questions of which the audience is led to want answers from the movie.
Roland Barthes, a French literary critic analysed all narratives and realised that all narratives included enigma codes that operate moment by moment. Enigma codes are parts of a narrative when the reader is led to ask a question. In thrillers enigma codes are very important for telling the story in a suspenseful way. A good example of this would be "Seven" when at the murders the audience are led to ask many question like 'which sin was it?', 'how were they killed?'.
Preliminary Task Feedback.
What the examiner will be looking for:
- steadiness of camera
- framing of shots
- 180 degree rule
-match on action
- shot-reverse-shot.
Our task:
'So, why did you do it?'
-great match on action
-good use of 180 degree rule
- shot-reverse-shot needs work
(in one frame Matt was still moving, yet in the next shot of him he had stopped moving- keep it flowing)
("'Coz I'm 'ard, sir' -Ric was too far left in the shot, he needed to be more to the right)
(the position of Ric's head didn't match in one the first shot to the next)
- steadiness of camera
- framing of shots
- 180 degree rule
-match on action
- shot-reverse-shot.
Our task:
'So, why did you do it?'
-great match on action
-good use of 180 degree rule
- shot-reverse-shot needs work
(in one frame Matt was still moving, yet in the next shot of him he had stopped moving- keep it flowing)
("'Coz I'm 'ard, sir' -Ric was too far left in the shot, he needed to be more to the right)
(the position of Ric's head didn't match in one the first shot to the next)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
