Research Task - Lord Of War (2005)

Synopsis - 
An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an Interpol agent.
Camera -

• A tilt is used to move the cameras view from dead bullets on the floor to a man standing center of shot holding a briefcase. The camera then zooms in on the lead holding the briefcase, the shot then becomes a mid shot. This shot is used in this way to build tension going from evidence of destruction to a stranger holding a briefcase, also builds suspense. (1 & 1.1)
• Camera tilts and lowers towards factory floor showing the factory workers and a machine, increasing the audiences curiosity as to what will happen next. (2 & 2.1)
• Camera zooms in on machine once again increasing intrigue and tension. (3)
• The camera then follows the beginning of the creation of a bullet through a machine going across a conveyor and several other aspects of the machine. (4 & 5)
• Then the camera following the bullet continues along the conveyor but camera tilts upwards giving a low angle shot to the bullet making the bullet look bigger and more powerful than before. (6)
• The camera shakes giving the illusion the audience is shooting down a tube, increasing tension. (7)
• The camera is then cleverly raised following the bullet being picked up and showing this perfectly. (8)
• Camera then again follows bullet through another tube using same technique of a sudden fast movement down. (9)
• After the bullet has been put in a crate the camera get's a low angle close up creating the idea that the Russian soldier was greater than the bullet. (10)
• The bullet then falls on the floor and then camera follows the bullet using a rolling motion in the camera. (11)
• Another clever camera technique is that which was used to create the illusion of the camera being thrown, the camera tilts up and then down very fast while tracking across.
• A super close up of the bullets then makes them look greater to the audience. (12)
• Rocky unstable tracking is then used to show the bullet being carried, then again shows the bullet as almost insignificant. (13)
• Another close up of the fingers lifting the bullet and a tilt and a track shows the bullet being put in the gun. (14)
• A close up of the inside of the gun makes the bullet look huge creating an illusion of mss amounts of power. (15)
• Then see a long shot down the barrel of a gun which actually creates an ominous feeling of tension as men firing guns are shown down the barrel of the gun. (16)
• Finally the extremely fast zoom finally follows the bullet hurtle towards the target. (17)

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1.1

2

2.1

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12.1

12.2

13

14

15

16.1

16.2

16.3

16.4

Sound - 

• 'For what it's worth' by Buffalo Springfield is being played throughout the rest of the video, which is a calm western song featuring guitar and calm male vocals this makes the creation of the bullet seem like a calm and peaceful event. Which is the desired effect as the audience will get comfortable listening to the music of Buffalo Springfield and just as the bullet reaches the end of it's cycle and is fired the music stops and all that can be heard is the bullet flying through the air, all that is seen is the child being shot dropping the audience into a state of shock. The music also acts as a tension builder giving the audience a false sense of security.
• Nicolas Cage speaks before the creation of a bullet is shown accompanied by Buffalo Springfield, Cage speaks with received pronunciation showing he has a high class. Cage also breathes out heavily not in a panicked manner but in such a way to show he is relaxed this suggests he has high status as well.
• Various non-diegetic music is heard reinforcing the idea that the shot is in a factory, for example trolleys rattling and factory workers can be heard.
• When the shot is showing the African soldiers with the bullets the non-diegetic sound of the gun cocking and bullets being thrown on the floor can be heard creating verisimilitude.

Editing -

• Jump after lead character Yuri opens with a quip.
• The shot cuts to what seems like a fairly continuous shot but includes plenty of CGI added in the editing stage to show the audience the life of a bullet, this includes machines stamping out metal and putting lids on bullets, etc.
• Following the CGI look at a bullet assembly line an editing technique is used to show a factory worker lift the bullet and view it, the effect makes the audience feel like they are the bullet and being lifted themselves. The effect is successfully done by showing the mans finger and thumb holding the bullet in front of his face.
• The camera then follows the CGI bullet down a chute into a crate full of other CGI bullets.
• An extremely clever editing technique is used next where they show the crate of bullets being sealed and still leave cracks of light showing even though it is then a jump cut to a Russian Sergeant opening the box.
• The effect is used again but this time the crate is opened by African soldiers near a dock.
• The CGI bullets are then knocked out of the crate and roll across the ground the camera only follows one which is then picked up by computer generated finger and thumb.
• The computer generated bullets are put back in the crate and rock gently as the crate is moved keeping the illusion that they are real going.
• As before the editors have been clever when cutting, this time instead of a lid covering the view the bullet falls down showing a view of other bullets in the crate when it sees light again the shot is in a different part of Africa.
• The bullet is then CGI picked up for the final time and put into a gun which is also computer generated. Following this the bullet is fired and as it hits the child in the fore head a jump cut to a CGI red blood stain fills the shot.

Mise-en-scene - 

• A bullet ridden field of war is the first thing to be seen giving the audience a sense of threat straight away.
• The setting seems to be a foreign country with palm trees and building with smoke puring from them this also reinforces threat and keeps the audience alert.
• The lead character Yuri Orlov is then seen standing dressed in a sharp suit with a brief case in one hand and a cigar in the other, this shows he is wealthy.
• Another reason to suspect the shot is in a foreign country is because of the high key lighting.
• Yuri is stood center of shot facing away increasing the audiences curiosity.
• The following shot is in a factory with a lower key of light but not in anyway dark.
• Several factory workers are seen in overalls and hats.
• The setting changes slightly as the camera takes you on a journey through several machines with varied lighting keeping up the illusion and making it feel real.
• The finger and thumb of a factory worker is seen next they are extremely grubby showing a lower status than Yuri beforehand.
• The next character to be seen is that of a military officer which is obvious from the fact he is in military uniform. This character is still out in the open but in a different country obvious from the change in light, the boat behind the character is that of a very wealthy military vessel.
• The shot turns to African soldiers at a dock apparent from the boat in the background but the boat is in a worse condition than the one before suggesting a lower class and status. The African soldiers them selves show a lower class by what they are wearing but suggest high status by the gun in there hands.
• More African soldiers are shown but then an African child is shown wearing simple clothing and holding no gun suggesting a lower status and class than that of the soldiers.

Title list (in appearance order) -

1. Nicolas Cage
2. Lord of war (Title)
3. Jared Leto
4. Bridget Moynahan
5. Ian Holm
6. Eamonn Walker
7. Sammi Rotibi, Eugene Lazarev
8. Jean-Pierre Nshanian
9. Shake Toukhmanian
10. and Ethan Hawke
11. Casting b Mindy Marin, C.S.A
12. Music by Antonio Pinto
13. Costume designer Elisabetta Beraldo
14. Edited by Zack Staenberg, A.C.E
15. Production Designer Jean Vincent Puzoz
16. Director of photography Amir Mokri
17. Executive Line Producer Ronaldo Vasconcellos
18. Douglas E. Hansen co-producer
19. Executive producers Fabrice Gianfermi, Bradley Cramp, Gary Hamilton
20. Executive producers Christopher Eberts, Andreas Schmid, Michael Mendelsohn, James D. Stern.
21. Producers Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly
22. Producers Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts
23. Produced by Philippe Rousselet and Andrew Niccol
24. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol

Credit Analysis -
An example of the font used in the opening credits are below. The reason this font was chosen was to add to the idea of war in the audience created by the talk of weapons and of bullets. The different names are faded in and out to create a smooth effect and not take away the smoothness from the images there being shown over. 

 Finally here is the opening to Lord of war (2005).

Research Task - Drive (2011)

Synopsis-

A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor.

Camera-

• Establishing shot of a busy city which pans across the skyline. Evidence of this camera shot is shown below.

• Following the establishing shot the lead character played by Ryan Gosling is shown in a low angle shot creating the idea that he is a high status character, evidence is below.

• Over the shoulder shot of lead character driving the car creates the idea in the audience that he is in control, shown below.

• The next shot is a point of view shot from Gosling's position and a clever camera technique shows the driver in the mirror, evidence of this is above.
• Aerial shot zooms out and then tracks across the skyline seeing more of the road. Evidence of this is below.

• Mid-shot of the character driving into a parking space, keeps the wonder and intrigue of the audience as to what will happen next, an example of this is above.
• The next show is in shallow focus of everything but the lead character's shoulder. As he walks towards the elevator the image becomes clearer, Both examples are to the right and below.

• Following this the shot cuts to a point of view shot of the lead character looking at the elevator door closing, still giving away nothing to the audience about what will happen next. Evidence of this is in the screen shot above.
• The next shot is a long shot of the lead character opening a door to a dark room, this enhances the mystery and status of the character.

• The next shot is a tracking mid shot as Gosling's character walks across the dark room. Creates a gloomy urban feel in the viewer. Evidence of this is below.

• The shot cuts to a low angle mid shot of the lead character in the dark room still keeping the audience guessing what will happen next. The low angle and light on Gosling's face suggests the character has a higher status. An example of this is below.

• The penultimate shot to the opening of Drive is an aerial tracking shot of the leads car driving on an empty road in the city. The shot tracking the skyline slowly zooms in and out as it tracks. The evidence for this shot is below.
• The final shot in the opening is an over the shoulder shot of Gosling's character driving as he was before. Showing that the character still has a high status and still giving away nothing to the audience.

Sound-

• The song by Kavinsky called 'Nightcall' is played throughout, the song is below. The music is techno and includes music from a keyboard and drums. The song is sung by a male singer with a gruffly low voice and a female singer with a low voice. The song gives the film an urban retro feel.
• The music drops and becomes muffled when Gosling's character enters the empty room emphasizing the event.
• There is no diegetic music.

Editing-

• Fade in used to show lead character for the time emphasizes the event, suggesting the character has a high status and reinforces the retro feel given by other aspects of the film.
• Following this there are several jump cuts showing different angles of Gosling's character driving the car, this creates tension in the audience and keeps them interested. The many different angles of this one character does suggest he has a high status.
• Cleverly at one point in the opening the busy high way road in a bustling city very slowly fades out to show Gosling in the car again, at one point before the fade out it stops and gives you a few seconds of both on top of each other. This perhaps suggests the road or the car will be a huge factor of the film, with the name of the film being drive you would guess that to be true.

Mise-en-scene-

• The opening is set in a busy city at the dead of night with the only light on screen coming from the city's many windows and street lights, very low key lighting creating a mysterious and dangerous feeling, also helps build tension.
• The leads attire sums the word retro up and contributes to the many other retro items. The white driving jacket, with jeans and driving gloves suggests he is not a very high class character but the camera angles and street lights only illuminating his face would suggest he is of high status.
• The white driving jacket is decorated with a black scorpion on the back suggesting this character is dangerous.
• Setting change to a car park which stereo typically is a place where action usually happens, so this would build tension for the audience and keep them on the edge of there seats.
• The lead character walks past a check out girl wearing a sweater vest with a badge and a pair of beige trousers, her clothing suggests she has a lower class than that of the lead character.
• Lead walks into dark room and the only light is coming from behind the character suggesting he has a high status.
• Finally the leads car suggests he is of a high class which is ironic as the clothing he wears suggests the opposite, the car is a 1973 Chevy Malibu which is worth $36K.

Title list (In appearance order)-

1. Ryan Gosling
2. Drive (title)
3. Carey Mulligan
4. Bryan Cranston
5. Christina Hendricks
6. Ron Perman
7. With Oscar Isaac
8. and Albert Brooks
9. casting by Mindy Masin, C.S.A
10. costume designer Erin Benach
11. music by Cliff Mastineg
12. production designer Beth Mickle
13. edited by Mat Newman
14. director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel, A.S.C
15. executive producers Bill Lischak, Linda McDonough, Peter Schlessel
16. executive producers David Lanchester, Gary Michael Walkers, Jeffrey Stott
17. produced by Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, John Palermo
18. produced by Gigi Pritgker, Michel Litvak
19. based on the book by James Sallis
20. screenplay by Hossein Amimi
21. directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Credit Analysis -
Above is an  example of the font used in the opening credits, the font itself is very retro as are a lot of things I've already mentioned. The colour choice may have been chosen to attract the viewers eye or to appeal to female viewers as maybe the rest of the film may not appeal to them very much. 

Finally here is the opening scene and credits in all there glory.

21st November

Media Studies - Thriller Work - Preliminary Task
21st November - Final Piece
Our final lesson on this was spent editing, all the clips and putting them together. Being a new user of the editing software I was still figuring it out, but I managed to put all the clips together in the two hours of this lesson and an extra hour after school. I used clever editing techniques to create a creepy effect of my character vanishing. We took two shots one of me sat in the chair behind and table and the next of an empty chair where I was sat. Evidence of me working and completing the majority of the editing task is below along with the finished piece itself.

19th November

Media Studies - Thriller Work - Preliminary Task
19th November
Today was meant to be the beginning of my teams editing but before we could even consider that we had to complete filming. All that was left to film was the scene in which I am in the office speaking to myself. To create the illusion there are two of me we used another actor not in our group and put my jacket on him and only used shot reverse shot so his face was never seen. The evidence for all this is in the final product. As well as creating the illusion of there being two of me we created a rather creepy and daunting end, where I vanish using editing trickery and appear at the window we're filming through. This post is very brief but the final product will show what else we completed in this lesson.

14th November

Media Studies - Thriller Work - Preliminary Task
14th November
On our second day working on the Preliminary task my team listened to a camera briefing my Mr T and then cracked on with our recording. Filming Louis walking up the steps first, we had to re take many shots as they weren't what we wanted this caused us to run out of time. Leaving us with having to find more time somewhere to complete filming. In the filming we got done we tried to use as many techniques as possible, canted, low, high,etc. The main evidence is the final film but I have taken some stills of the areas we filmed to show where we filmed, the stills are shown below.

12th November

Media Studies - Thriller Work - Preliminary Task
12th November
During this lesson we discussed what the preliminary task would entail. Miss Dughan split us into teams, giving us the simple task of creating a short film which features a character opening a door sitting at a table and interacting with another character using the shot reverse shot technique.
My group spent the entirety of that first lesson planning the short film, ready for filming next lesson. We began with creating a short list of ideas as random and as dark as we like just to get the ideas flowing. From there we picked our favorite which happened to be a psychiatrist seeing a patient who spoke to him self. I was cast as the patient and Louis as the Dr, Sophie would be behind the camera.
With the idea in our heads we set out creating a few story boards and a few short lines the characters would be saying which are both shown below. We also listed several camera angles we would like to use in the short film as well.

Se7en Research Task

Portfolio Thriller Research Task
Se7en
The first film I looked at for this research task is the disturbingly powerful Se7en, starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. The movie is about an unidentified city crippling from urban decay, in this city surrounded by crime Detective William Somerset is about to retire after a very successful career. For his final job he's pared with Detective David Mills a cocky, young and short-tempered cop from Springfield. The film follows the two men tracking down the serial killer, John Doe who after years of being hard done to he has decided to use his intellect to make an example of the world. John Doe creates 7 murders demonstrating the seven deadly sins. The film combines so many disturbing sounds and images to make you feel uncomfortable in you're seat. For example the 7 murders are extremely graphic, the example below is of John's demonstartion of Pride. The murder included John Doe badly tearing apart the victims face, glueing a phone to one hand and a bottle of pills to the other giving the victim the choice to ring an ambulance living out the rest of her life with a deformed face or kill herself.

 

A thriller usually consists of a war between a protagonist character or group of pragonists against an antagonist or group of antagonists.The thriller would then include a disruption in the equalibrium, which the protagonists will try and rectify where as the antagonists will try and keep it that way. The protagonist is usuallty a brave male where as the antagonist will have a hidden identity which will be uncovered as the film goes on. The stroyline is designed in such a way that it creates this feeling in the audience that it could happen to them which scares them even more.

Conventions of a Thriller -

• Low key lighting
• Quick cuts
• Shadows
• Tension music
• Changes in the angle shots
• Diegetic sound of breathing
• Black and white shots
• Montage of shots
• Protagonist is in the mercy of the antagonist
• Alot of Close ups and extreme close ups
• Antagonist shots cut quickly and hide there identity.
• Usaully low key shots,silhouettes or shadow of the antagonist
• Music is used to create suspense and tension
• Protagonist wears everyday clothing creating versimilitude
• Antagonist will be in dark clothes.

Se7en uses all of these several times, I'll go through some examples to show clearly when se7en uses certain techniques and what effect it creates. The first is Low key lighting which is abundant in this film, an example is when the cops first find the prostitute who is murdered to demostrate lust in John Doe's sick game. The low key lighting is used to enhance the already disturbing image shown on screen, also to create almost verisimilitude in a very sick manor as the low key lighting shows what a brothel looks like in todays world.

The video above shows very clearly how the convention of music is used in se7en. It is also an example of how the film creates tension as the music is almost uncomfortable to hear as it rockets from fast two slow and almost upsets the listener.
The clip Below shows 2 minutes of the film se7en and in that clip there is at least half a dozen conventions, I'll mention a few to look out for then you can spot the rest. The beatiful use of the camera shows several conventions, the way different angles are used to create tension during the chase as we are unsure what is about to happen next. The way the camera angles can make such a simple chase past a lorry seem so tense to the viewer is remarkable. After John Doe knocks Detective Mills to the ground he is shown to be wearing dark clothes and is not fully shown. Finally to tease the viewer and to keep them guessing on who John Doe is we only see John Doe's body through a reflection in the water and his face is still not clear. The method of leaving the audience constantly guessing and figuring out what could possibly happen next is what gives the film the power to distress and strike fear into viewers still after almost 20 years.