Rope

Rope

Rope is a psychological film. it was adapted from Patrick Hamilton's Play which appeared 1929. The play was based upon real life murderess Leopold and Loeb who killed an innocent man to see how it felt. The case became very famous in America. It was linked to the ideas of Nietzsche and his of notions of "Superman" a morally superior being. Nietzsche ideas influenced Hitler and the rise of the Nazis.

Alfred Hitchcock

The film was made in 1948 and directed Alfred Hitchcock. The unique and interesting thing about the film is the editing. Hitchcock wanted to film the story as one long continuous take so it like watching a play and the audience felt they were living the action. However, before the digital, film came in ten minute rolls. Hitchcock had to compromise and each unedited scene is ten minutes long. Changes between scenes appears rather "clunky" to a modern audience.

Using this editing technique creates a feeling of claustrophobia. The actors and the audience are both trapped in the film. The trunk with the body in the present throughout which adds to the tension. Because both the audience and the actors whether or not the trunk will be opened or if Philip and Brandon be discovered.

Another fascinating element to the film is the way homosexuality is portrayed. The strict censorship of the 1920s meant that the subject could be implies not openly stated. 

Thrillers use such devices as:

James Stewart

• Suspense- We constantly for the body to be discovered in the trunk
• Cliff hangers- At the end of the film with Rupert Cadell( played by James Stewart) be killed by Brandon and Philip?

Source Code

Psycho

Janet Leigh

Psycho is a psychological thriller. its a film in two halves. in the first half we see Marion Crane(Janet Leigh) steal money and flee to be with her adulterous lover. she is murdered halfway through the film which shocks the audience because she was meant to be the main character.

Anthony Perkins

The second half of the film is about Norman Bates(Anthony Perkins)trying to cover the killings of his "mother".

Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock used the device of the Mcguffin to move the plot forward. The audience doesn't care about the McGufin but rather the hero and what happens to them. In this film, the McGuffin was the stolen money.

This film was made in 1960 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. As often happens in Hitchcock's films there is a blonde woman and the blonde woman in this film was played by Janet Leigh  to be the victim as they look more innocent and any danger seems worse when its happening to them. In this film Marion Crane is brutally murdered.

Unlike other thrillers there is no hero

Thrillers are villain driven plots. 

Norman Bates

Norman Bates is the central character for the second half of the film. He is an unusual villain in that he appears so normal and likeable.

Thrillers use devices such as 

 

• Suspense- Marion Crane buying the car with the policeman watching.

Red Herrings- We think Normans mother is the killer.

Cliffhangers- Is Marion's sister going to be killed in the basement at the end?.

The shower scene is one of the most famous in cinema history. The very fast editing and discordant soundtrack by Bernard echoes the knife entering the body. In 1960 the scene was so shocking and Janet Leigh, the actress claimed to have never had a shower since. 

Colour and Lighting

Colour: Denotation And Connotation

Denotation is the literal description of an idea, concept or an object.

Connotation is what we associate with a particular idea, concept or object.

Red Denotation is the colour itself red. The literal meaning.

Red Connotations

• Danger
• Death
• Anger
• Blood
• Love
• Romance

Blue connotations

• Pure
• Sea
• Sad
• Calm
• Cold

 Lighting

Standard Lighting setup includes:

• Back light
• Reflector/ Filler Light
• Key Light

The KEY LIGHT is the brightest and most influential.

The BACK LIGHT helps counteract the effect of the key light or creates an outline or silhouette. 

FILLER LIGHT helps soften the harsh shadows that use of key and back light creates.

UNDER LIGHTING is when the main source comes from below the subject. Used in Thrillers and Horror Films.

TOP LIGHTING is when the main source of lighting comes from above- highlighting the features- used to create a glamorous look.

Low-key And High-key Lightning

LOW-KEY LIGHTNING is created by using only the key and back lights. This will produce a sharp contrast of light and dark areas on the screen as very deep, distinct shadow are formed known as Chiaroscuro(from Italian for light- Chiaro and dark- Oscuro

HIGH-KEY LIGHTNING

• Here, more filler lights are used. Lightning appears realistic.

Camera Techniques Thriller

 This is a short film made to show camera shots. The first camera shot we see in the first seen of running is the high angle because it is been shot from a height angle and it enables the audience to know how vulnerable the person running is.

Camera Techniques Exercise and Evalation

We done this work so we could show the different camera angles. Some of the camera angles that we done were:

The story of this was that Stefan was getting chased by Patrick and Stefan injured himself in the process. This led to Stefan falling over and patrick punching him out and Stefan waking up on the bench without any memory of what happened. Alexandra found Stefan and checked on him

Use of the Camera

In this blog I am going to talk about the use of a camera. There are two types.

Camera shot
Camera movement

CAMERA SHOT

 This is an example of a long shot. A long shot is used to show an entire object or figure when filming. it can also be known as a full shot or a wide shot. they are used to set a scene or show when something is going on.

Medium shot: A camera shot in which the subject is in the middle distance, permitting some of the background to be seen

This picture is an example of a medium shot

Close up shot:  In a close up shot, a certain feature or part of a subject takes up most of the frame. a close up of a person emphasis their emotional state.

This is an example

Extreme close up shot:  this is used to focus on a particular detail of the subject.
Here is an example











Point of view shot:  it is a short film scene which shows what the character is looking at which is represented through the camera

Here is an example of a point of view shot.






















Low angle shot:  it is a shot from the camera angle positioned low on a vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line looking up.
This is an example of a low angle shot


















High angle shot: it is where the camera looks down on the subject high angle and the point of focus often gets swallowed up. These type of shots can make the subject seem vulnerable.


This is an example of a high angle shot





CAMERA MOVEMENT







Pan: it is when the camera is turned horizontally so that it can sweep around the scene.

this picture is an example of a pan.















Tilt: this is moving the camera up and down without changing its horizontal axis.

This picture here is an example of tilt












Tracking shot: this is when the camera follows a person or an object physically moving with the subject.

This picture here is an example of a tracking shot














Crane shot: This shot is used to view the actor from above or to move up and away from them. Also a common way of ending a movie.

This picture here is an example of a crane shot








Steadicam: It is a brand of camera stabilizer mount for motion picture cameras that mechanically isolates it from the operators movement.

This picture here is an example of a Steadicam.







Rolling shot: This is used to show car motions in a scene

This picture is an example of a rolling shot.

"North by Northwest" The Perfect Thriller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk0GbTMMbP0 the trailer is effective in many ways as the scenes displayed in it draws the audience to it and makes them want to know what happens next.

It is very interesting to the audience i think because the trailer doesn't give the whole film away there are still certain parts that us a mystery and that is why it is appealing to the audience. Also because there are a lot of famous good looking actors featured in this film and it is directed by one of the most famous directors ever, Alfred Hitchcock.

Stars featured are:



Cary Grant: Who played an innocent New York advertising executive(Roger Thornhill) who was mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for ways to survive.









Eva Marie Saint: Who played a woman(Eve Kendall) who seemed to be working for the villains at first but turned out to be actually with the heroes and helped Thornhill through his obstacles.




  


James Mason: Who played the leader of the foreign spies(Mr Vandamm) who were trying to capture Thornhill.    

• Thrillers are characterised by fast pacing, frequent action. For example in North by Northwest the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlY5kaZC2N0 Drunk Driving Scene 

Thrillers often have resourceful heroes who have to thwart plans of more powerful and more equipped villains. He escapes out of a lot of scrapes:

• Steals a car  after the share cropper scene
• Deliberately gets arrested in the auction scene
• Gets a message to Eve Kendall at Mount Rushmore

North by Northwest has devices such as red herrings, cliffhangers and suspense and this is why it makes a good thriller. 

Suspense: Hitchcock builds up the suspense in The Square Cropper.

Red herrings: We think Thornhill is dead when Eve Kendall shoots him

Cliff hangers: Thornhill and Kendall are literally hanging on to the edge of a cliff in the Mount Rushmore scene.

 

CLIFF HANGING SCENE

The crop duster scene where Thornhill is attacked by a plane is one of the most iconic scenes in this film. It has frequent action sequences and fast editing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g458w2X9uHc

This film was made in 1959 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. As often as it happens in Hitchcock films there is a blonde woman. Hitchcock chooses Blonde women( Eva Kendall) to be the victim in his films because they look more innocent.

Alfred Hitchcock

Thriller Conventions

 Alfred Hitchcock said that thrillers allow the audience to "dip their toes into cold water of fear and see what its like". 

Alfred Hitchcock

The word thriller a broad term. There are lots of types of thriller. Examples include: 

       

Seven(Crime Thriller)

              

Psychological Thriller

Legal Thriller

Thrillers have resourceful heroes. These heroes are usually male.

• James bond- Daniel Craig (Skyfall)

• Jason Bourne- Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity)

Bryan Mills- Liam Neeson(Taken)









Sometimes thrillers are "hard men" an example is Clint Eastwood







   







At other times they are female heroes. An example is Ripley in Alien.



Thrillers have frequent action sequences with fast editing. A good example is found at the start of James Bond films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jygRWM3nIA0 This YouTube clip is from 007 Spectre, car chase scene.


Thrillers are villain driven plots. The hero is usually reacting to what the villains have done. These villains are usually powerful and have more men and resources than the hero. E.g. in James bond films the villain is usually trying to take over the world. In James Bourne films the hero is against the CIA.

Thrillers use such devices as:

• Suspense
• Red herrings: When the audience is deliberately mislead.
• Cliff hangers: Where the hero is literally in danger of dying any second.

Thrillers are different mystery stories. In a mystery story we do not know who committed the crime and want to find out. In a thriller we often know the villain at the start and want to see if the hero escapes and thwarts the villain.

Genre/Narrative

KEY FILM LANGUAGE

The key technical components of  a film can be divided into two key categories.

• Macro element
• Micro element

 Macro refers to genre and narrative.

 Convention is the stuff we see in genre.


Narrative structure: This is the way events are showed to the audience.
Story: A sequence of events, often referred to as plot.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF NARRATIVE

Linear: The sequence of events that are shown in the order that they took place- the beginning, middle and the end. This is the most popular form of narrative structure.

Non Linear: The sequence of events that are revealed out of the expected order.

The Coursework Brief

1. The Brief
2. Foundation

 I have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fictional film in the thriller genre.

the sequence should last a minimum of two minutes.

• I may work in a group of 2-4 students.
• As acting is not assessed, I am free to use actors that are nit members of my group.
• The film is worth 60% of my coursework grade.
• The accompanying blog is worth 40% of my coursework grade.
• together the Foundation Portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS Level.

Welcome

Hi there my name is Alexandra Adjei, I'm 16 years of age, I'm in sixth form at the moment and one of the course I'm doing Is media studies which is what I'm going to talk about today. But first I'm going to talk you through some of my favourite Tv films or series which range from super heroes to science fiction.


These two shows are my favourite since the deal with meta humans, people with powers which was cause by a dark matter, normal people who just like to participate in crime and romantic relationships as well. It couldn't get any better than that. the best thing i like about these two shows is that you get to solve the crimes with the characters as the show goes on and sometimes you even get the answer before they do. These shows just have one protagonists but with every episode comes a new antagonist which makes it even more interesting.






The vampire diaries is a Tv show which revolves around two teenage vampire brothers who fall in love with a human girl and they both fight for her love. What catches my attention with this show is the character development of the protagonists.You literally get to see how the characters change from being shy at first to being bold, fierce and confident. Now the originals is a spin off of the vampire diaries and it also revolves around love but in a different way. Its got to do with a family of vampires and werewolves who are trying to fight of witches who want to harm them because they see them as a threat.



Other genres that I am interested in are adventures. because just like the genre name, it takes you on an adventure which is really cool. There are so many obstacles that they come across which is hard to figure out whether or not they would overcome. And it makes you itch for the next episode to see what happens especially when its left on a cliff hanger.







there are so many films that i could talk about but i would also like to talk about the kind of music I listen to. I like Pop and Soul and a little bit of Hip Hop.

I like listening to Adele because of the emotion she portrays in her music. Its really touching and I cry every time i listen to her and her songs are so relatable. Which is why she's become an international sensation. Some of my favourite songs from her are When we were young, Hello and all i ask.

As for Pop, I listen to one direction, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Taylor swift and the list goes on. the reason as to why i listen to this group of people is because their music is catchy and easy to get in your head.

I also listen to a lot EDM( Electronic Dance Music) and this just for the mere reason that it keeps me up on my feet. The beat lifts up my spirit when i am in a bad mood and  it makes me feel better because it makes me want to dance.

Some of the artists that i listen to are:









And so many more.

So this is the end of my blog about who I am, what i am studying and the kind of things i like regarding Tv is music.