Continuity Task

 The set priliminary task was to film a character opening a door, walking across the room, sitting and interacting with another character. During this we had to remember the shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

This is our final outcome:

The plot to our task is a mental patient from an asylum has escaped and a troubled doctor is sent to bring him back safe, upon his arrival he sees the patient located on the top floor of a building, he makes his way up and tries to persuade the patient to come down, he is reluctant to come at first but agrees then suddenly changes his mind and tries to "save" the doctor from the threat.

For the Storyboard of our set task click the link below:

http://asmediastudieslucyeaston.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/story-board-for-preliminary-exercise.html

The Characters of a Typical Film Noir

The Anti-Hero: the main characteristic of the anti hero is that he is flawed in some way, they often tend to be detectives, private eyes or journalists. These men are often investigating a crime in an urban city back drop. They are also employed by the femme fatale who gets them into dangerous situations. It is also very common the anti-hero will lose in his investigation by either dying or being close to death it is also very common for a film noir to start the film with a scene from the end of the plot and then flash backwards between the narratives.








The Femme Fatale: The femme fatale is a beautiful woman who used to be typically blonde who gets the main character into trouble and danger. She will often employ the skills of the anti-hero and make him investigate a crime which will lead to him to either a shocking conclusion or his death. Femme fatale is french for "deadly woman".








The Girl Next Door: this character is portrayed as a typical beautiful woman and more than often is blonde much like the femme fatale. This character is often the most innocent in the genre as she meets the anti-hero and he will fall for her and she will stick by him or assist him in his investigations.











The Villain: is the final typical character you will find in a noir film. They are usually well dressed men of intelligence. They are also often to be men who are in a position of power such as corrupt police officers, politicians or crime lords. They will pose a great threat over the anti-hero and may be linked with the femme fatale and may survive after the events of the film.

Hansel + Gretel Treatment.

Hansel & Gretel for Fun lovers: Hansel (Seth Rogen) and Gretel (James Franco) are stoner buddy slackers, they've known each other since high school and haven't acheived much since. Once they recieve a call from their dealer has a brand new drug in the forest they set on a comedic adventure meeting a host of creaures including a talking unicorn, fairy prostitutes and Nicolas Cage. Co starring Woody Harrelson as the dealer in the forest, Emma Stone as Gretel's girlfriend. The style would be a comedy by using a light tone and an upbeat storyline.

Hansel & Gretel for Hero Seekers : Hansel (Bruce Willis) and Gretel (Angelina Jolie) are brother and sister born to the mayor of their village as children they were banished and made their way to a house made of candy there they slay their first witch, now as adult witch hunters they must protect their village as a curse is awakened and it's up to them to save the day.




Hansel & Gretel for Youth Of Today: Hansel (Ryan Gosling) meets Gretel (Mila Kunis) during his final year in high school, they become friends then slightly more but worst comes to worst when they are taken by a witch as slaves their relationship is tested but they stay strong as their love is the only thing keeping them alive. 

Film Certificates

The film certificates in the UK are decided by the British Board of Film Classification this has been running since 1912, for cinema releases, the BBFC has no legal power (technically, films do not even have to be submitted for classification), as it falls to councils to decide who should be admitted to a certain film, but they generally apply the BBFC's certificates, effectively making them legally-binding. The classifications are as follows:

U (Universal) which is classed as suitable for all people all ages

PG (Parental Guidance) which is classed as general viewing but some scenes may be unsuitable for children

12 which is classed as for those the age of 12 and older but in cinemas children under 12 may enter if joined by an adult
(this may include content involving strong language, sex references and mild violence)

15 suitable for those aged 15 or older
(this may include content involving strong language, strong violence or sex refrences)









18 suitable for those aged 18 or older
(this may include content with very strong language, sex, racism, bloody violence)

Audience Preferences

 A Cinema Audience: In Marketing Terms

IMDb

Hero Seeker: an audience who do not go out much but place their films well in advance to make sure they get to see their movies. They see the movies to see heroes triumph. Movies they would enjoy include:
Sin City
Lord Of The Rings
X - Men 


Fun Lovers: an audience who are not film literate but are big film and video consumers this type of audience would typically wait for reviews for films or hear about them from friends. They might not see a film for the plot but more for action/comedy. Movies they would enjoy:
Avengers 
Expendables
Hangover
Saw Series


Youth Of Today: this type of audience will see films as soon as they come out. This type of audience might see the movies as they could be loyal fans to a series or frnachise. Films this type of audience would enjoy would include:
Skyfall
Dredd
Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 2
Hunger Games 

An Audience Is

a group of people experiencing an event.

Types:-
active- preeferred- targeted audience/those a product is aimed at
passive- oppositional_ not the expected audience


Distribution- method of showing
Exhibition- method of watching


Form- buy dvd/bluray, rent dvd
illegal straming/ legal downloading
tv/freeview/cable/ satelitte , pay-to-view, cinema-art house and multiplex

Style of the experience

1) DVD - on my own on my tv - hedonistic
2) Cinema- go with friends/ family- mixtue post modern
3)TV - family- traditionalist

Pete Buckingham the Head of Distribution and Exhibion of the UK Film Council suggests that ABC1s represent 49% of the population but 60% of the cinema audience.

Understanding Genre

Genre is how you can identify a piece of media for example: books, movies or music. The genre is classified by a set of stylistic criteria.

Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre

The "Thriller" genre  is a very broad genre, it uses tension, suspense and excitement as it's main elements. The genre will often stimulate the viewers moods by adding a high level of anticipation as they don't see what is coming. Thrillers can be divided into sub genres such as "period thrillers", "pyschological thrillers", "conspiracy thrillers", "erotic thrillers","political thrillers", "pyschological thrillers", "spy thrillers" and "supernatural thrillers".

Conventions of the film noir genre:  
Characters and plots: The genre of film noir often revolves around men who are often flawed or questionable morally, they are also often down and out detectives or private eyes that are given a case by a beautiful but dangerous woman, this is a femme fatale. The plots are revolved around crime which is a key element in the noir genre.

Mise-en-scene: Noir movies are often based in urban citites such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Chicago, this is because the noir genre will make the city a "labirynth" or "maze" for the hero. Bars, nightclubs, lounges or gambling dens/casios will be heavily featured.  The lighting will be dark and almost silhouette characters this is a technique called chiaroscuro. The cars and fashion are often old fashioned.

Iconography:
Guns, cigarettes, smoke, alcohol, neon lighting, trilby's, cars, police iconography.

Themes: 
The Haunted Past… In the noir world both past and present are inextricably bound… One cannot escape one’s past… And only in confronting it can the noir protagonist hope for some kind of redemption, even if it is at the end of a gun.
The Fatalistic Nightmare. The noir world revolves around causality. Events are linked… and lead inevitably to a heavily foreshadowed conclusion. It is a deterministic universe in which psychology… and even the structures of society… can ultimately override whatever good intentions and high hopes the main characters may have. http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/the-themes-of-film-noir.html 

My Top 10 Favourite Movies

10. The Evil Dead 2
 The film is set in a forest where evil lurks and the main character is Ash (Bruce Campbell) a college student who is trapped as his friends and girlfriend are possessed by the evil spirits as the night progresses he must fight to survive.


9. Gran Torino

Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood this film is about an old war veteran who lives in a neighbour hood of asians but he soon befriends one family and  grows a bond with a teenage boy as he protects him and his family as they are attacked by a gang. He soon decides to rid the problem of this gang.

8. The Dark Knight Trilogy

When Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman series he created a dark and more realistic and character based universe where the dark knight must defend his city from dangerous threats such as a group of terrorists, his arch enemy Joker and a masked madman Bane.

7. Kill Bill

Directed by Quentin Tarantino this is a tale of a former assassain who is out for revenge against her old team for an ambush at her own wedding which resulted in her going into a coma and the death of her unborn baby.

 6. Edward Scissorhands

In the first collaboration from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp this is a tale of a boy who was made by a brilliant scientist but is unfinished with scissors for hands and when a suburbian mother finds him and takes him down to live among real people and the disintegration of his relationships with those around him.










5. Sin City

In this stylish noir graphic novel adaptation it stars Bruce Willis as a honest cop in a dirty town who protects a stripper (Jessica Alba) from an evil madman yellow basterd. Mickey Rourke as Marv a man out to avenge the only woman he has ever loved death and Clive Owen as Dwight who helps a prostitute protect her part of town.

4. Scream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_%28film%29

In this Wes Craven directed slasher film, high school student Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) struggles with the one year anniversary of her mothers death but soon her class mates are murdered and the murderer stalks the teenagers dressed in a ghost face mask  but she soon discovers the murders are more personal than she realised. The reason i like this movie is that it turned the slasher horror genre on it's head and showed it from a different perspective but at the same time the movie was a parody of the horror genre showcasing the cliches and flaws within it.

3. Pulp Fiction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction

This is the second movie directed by Quentin Tarantino and stars an all star ensemble cast such as John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman and Bruce Willis. The movie consists of 4 overlapping stories but are not told in order which adds to it;s narrative structure. I love this film as the characters have been so well thought out and the situations over the top but well written. But the best thing about this movie is how influential the movie is especially the 50's diner scene and it is also very quotable.




2. Kindergarten Cop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindergarten_Cop

This movie is about an cop, John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzengger), who is forced to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to find the wife and child of his rival a gangster serial killer to put him behind bars for good. The reason i love this movie is that Kimble is so out of his comfort zone as a tough guy cop it provides the comedy but the storyline and bond he establishes with the children he teaches is also touching but the film is not low on action.









1. Die Hard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard

This movie tells the story of a New York city cop visiting his estranged wife in Los Angeles for a christmas party at a large finacial company but is interrupted by a band of 12 terrorists he is the only one who escapes and takes down the terrorists one by one. The reason this is my favourite movie is that this action movie has a thought out plot and developed characters that you can actually identify with and feel for, also the action is completely blockbuster and explosive. This movie is regarded as the best action movie ever made.

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