Thriller Film Analysis

The Tourist

For my research task, I decided to choose The Tourist as my thriller to watch over the Christmas holidays. 

The main plot of the story is issued around the main characters, Elise (Angelina Jolie) and Frank (Johnny Depp). Elise, who is a mysterious young woman, is appeared to be involved with the police from her former lover who had stolen money from her. While she is on a train, she meets an American tourist named Frank, in which she chooses to be her decoy tricking the police into believing he is her criminal lover. However, she is being watched and is told to take a train to Venice, Italy to meet a stranger who looks similar to her former lover, Alexander Pearce. As Frank is caught up in the drama, he has to find a way to get out of the police's way and stay alive.

 The film's opening sequence follows with Elise (Angelina Jolie) being followed by Police who appear to be speaking in a French to one another. They are sitting amongst one another spying on the young woman, Elise.

 

 In terms of camera, the first shot we see is of a window in a wide angled shot, shortly after we see a close up shot of a cctv camera which then follows a zoom into the window to show the audience that someone is spying/watching.

In addition, the opening sequence is crucial in telling the audience what kind of genre the film holds. In this case, we can see that the genre would suggest spies and possible action/thriller. This is emphasised by the use of mise en scene, the setting is set in Paris, France. We can see establised buildings just from first 30 seconds into the film, this shows the audience that the characters may have wealth which links to the main plot of the story regarding money.

 Light Non Diegetic piano music is played while Elise, the character being spied on is leaving her residence. This non diegetic music is used to show the audience something significant is about to happen within the scene.

Characters

Elise is given a lot of screen time, especially during the opening sequence which tells the audience that she is a main character.

Elise's character appears very mysterious throughout the film, however, her sense of mystery inspired me to write about her. She doesn't give much away about her personality which makes me want to watch/know more about her. She shares a love interest with Frank who is played by Johnny Depp.

Johnny Depp who is known as Frank in the film is an American Tourist who is introduced on a train to Venice, Italy. It is there where he awaits trouble, meeting Elise who is being carefully watched by the French Police. He is suspected to be the former lover of Elise but is in actual fact innocent in his right, although, he does have an attraction to Elise both personality and looks wise.

Thriller Film Of My Choice

TAKERS

Takers is a Thriller, Crime, Action Film starring Paul Walker, Chris Brown, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen, Jay Hernandez, Matt Dillon, Michael Early and Tip '' T.I '' Harris.
They are a team of professional criminals who plan bank robberies. They attempt one last robbery which is a once in a lifetime job with a $25million payoff.
The only thing that stands in their way is a detective who is doing whatever it takes in order to bring the takers down.

Camera shots

This is a long shot of the 5 protagonists walking away from a crime scene.
This shot allows us to see the setting. 

This is a clip of Jesse running from the determined cops Jack and Eddie. There are a combination of camera shots. Wide and long shots are taken so the audience can visualize the setting that the characters are in.
 There is a high angle shot of Jesse sliding down in-between two buildings this connotes the danger he is in making him appear vulnerable while also creating intense action. There are two shots of both officers as they are connected.

The editing is fast paced as this is an action scene. The fast paced editing creates tension and heightens the action during the scene. Jump cuts are used in this scene which takes the audience by surprise, this cut reflects on the state of the citizens during this scene who have been surprised by this chase. 

This is the scene where Ghost alerts his former team that he is out of prison and has a master plan robbery for them. There are shot/reverse shots which tell us that there is a conversation being made.

Setting

The takers are in a VIP area of a club owned by Lily and Jake. This is a middle class environment. The interior designs present this idea. Props of the encyclopedia's on the shelf, leather chairs and bottle of alcohol create an idea that this is a masculine place which is stereotypical. 

Lighting

The lighting is made to look natural through the use of lamps. The lighting is soft portraying a calm and relaxing atmosphere.

Clothes 

There clothes create a representational issue of social class. They are in tailor made suits  and ties this connotes they are wealthy and of a higher class.

Sound

Diegetic sound is used so audience can concentrate on dialogue allowing us to follow the story line and reveal aspects of characters. Through the use of this we can hear the accent of the characters they are speaking in an american accent indicating there setting. 

In the background sound of music, people voices talking and cups clinging are faded. The effect of this is to identify there setting while also creating space for dialouge.

Opening Scene

1. Institutional detail of company's screen gems and rainforest films are established in the beginning.
2. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound combination are used. The music sets the mood and tone of the scene
3. there is a two shot of cops in the car
4.  we meet the protagonists one after the other through camera shots of close ups
5. the setting and location of where they are is established. The audience see that they are doing a robbery

 Characters and Subplots

Ghost is a former member of the takers who was shot on a fire escape, while doing an 05 job. 

He ended up going to prison for 5 years and during this time his ex-girlfriend Lily announced her 

engagement to takers member Jake. He is Jesse's older brother.

Each of the 6 characters have individual subplots that give the audience an insight into why they

are part of the takers. These problems result in to them taking money in order to provide a better future for themselves. 

Why are subplots important?

• It is used to tell the theme of the movie and drive the plot forward
• Subplots are what makes characters interesting and more realistic
• It allows the audience to see the events that happen from different perspectives.

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comments from Donna

Hi Annie, Katie and Christabell

can you

check your uploaded footage - its dropped frames and seems pixelated?
Look at some other blogs and think about a blogs style, font type and layout.
do the holiday homework and add screen grabs from your chosen thriller.
talk to camera/phone about your chosen thriller and upload it.
change the 'interesting feet' comment? I'm not sure why this is an interesting perspective?

otherwise you are up to date. well done

Final product and comparison of original and own product

 

 This is our final product for our remake of collateral.

We converted our editing piece from final cut pro into quicktime so that we could post it on blogger.

Our scene is about two females walking towards each other. They appear as if they have accidentally bumped into each other, but it was intentionally so they could do a bag swap.

The scene ends with the character Annie at the top of the staircase mysteriously looking at the camera to dramatize the scene. She then walks off followed by a dissolve.  

This is from the collateral original scene which is similar to ours. We have a close up of Annie in the beginning so that the audience know that she is one of the protagonists. 

Comparison of original

to our remake

This is an extreme close up. Audience feel closer to character  and are immediately attached to him. This camera shot demonstrates  that he is the protagonist. The prop of the sunglasses connote that he is trying to hide his identity.

This is a two shot of both characters bumping into each other. 
This camera shot indicates that the two are connected.
They appear as if they have accidentally bumped into each other, but this is intentional.  

This is a close up of the iconic prop of the bag being picked up. There is a close up to present to the audience that a switch has been made.

This is similar to the collateral opening as both protagonists meet at one point.
This two shot indicates that the two characters are connected.

This is an extreme close-up of Annie she looks suspicious.
The effect of this camera shot is to make the audience feel attached  to her, and
recognize her as the protagonist.

This is a high angle shot of the character Annie
picking up the iconic prop of the bag.
This is similar to the collateral opening as a bag swap is
made from character Christabell to Annie.

Editing Process For Our Collateral Remake

Screengrabs of our editing process

This is a screengrab of our imported clips

We placed our footage onto the timeline using the 'in' and 'out'
button to select the footage we wanted.

We added effects onto our footage such as dissolves.
We did this to hide some of our bad camera work
and match-cuts that didn't  go well.

Difficulties that we faced and improvements:

• The match cuts were inaccurate which prevented us from creating seamless editing . This is a disadvantage because the audience can pick up on this fault
• We learnt that focusing every single shot is essential, otherwise we will end up with soft shots
• We struggled to follow the different shot types for example mid shots following the top of the head and shoulder
• In the process of filming we should have followed the story board that we planned previously, more precisely
• We didn't film enough shots and as a result the final piece includes several jump cuts, leading to a lack of continuity editing
• We developed an understanding of the important of pre-production planning. A detailed storyboard is a vital tool for a success film
• We learnt the importance of positioning the characters and the camera angles

The making of Collateral (Remake)

After planning out our storyboard, we began our 45minutes of filming indoors.

Here are a few images showing us setting up the camcorder and tripod. 

We managed to set up very quickly and we adapted with the equipment well, it did

not take longer than five minutes allowing us to have more time to film. 

These images show us setting up our cast members working with the camera angles and 

testing the zoom and focus tools. 

Felix is setting up the camera settings whilst Annie and Christabel analyse the 

storyboard to prepare for the filming.

"AND CUT!"

These images show us in the process of filming and working with our

story board (right image)

Here are images of the remake in action. The image on the left shows

the cast and the camera man in action and the image on the right shows the

filming through the camera's perspective. 

"AND THATS A WRAP!"

This collection of images show our group packing up the equipment safely and working

together as a team to ensure the equipment is placed back carefully. 

 These are a few photos showing how much we really enjoyed making

the short remake. Our group had a really good feel of film productions and being on set.
We worked incredibly well as a team to achieve the final shots and this 

practical gives us an insight into our future project. 

Health & Safety tutorial

In Thursday's lesson, we were introduced to our Health & Safety tutorial in which we learnt about the equiptment we will be using to create short films/clips for this course.

 

 Here is the example of the professional recording camera my group will be using, by using this type of equiptment, we hope to achieve a professional clear quality for our short clips and thriller opening. For our filming, we will be using a JVC G4-HM100E Camcorder.

 

While handling the cameras, we were issued to do several things in order to make sure we are safe and careful with using the camcorders. These tasks include;

• Inserting the SD card as well as removing it.
• Turning the camcorder on and off/zoom in and out.
• Hold the camcorder with firm grip whilst on the tripod to prevent it from falling.
• Placing the camera on the tripod correctly and then removing it safely from the tripod.
•  How to set the camcorder in manual or automatic mode.

Other information about handling the camcorder included:

• remembering to not touch the lens in case of finger marks and risk of damage to the camera lens.
• Keep the camcorder away from spillages, drinks or any liquids to prevent it also from becoming damaged as equiptment is very expensive. 

  

We were also introduced to a SD Card to insert into the camcorder for storage space.

In the camcorder, we were shown that there are two slots for memory cards and how to insert it safely. 

We use the SD Card in order to save our work/projects and to transfer it to a computer for editing and the ability to upload multimedia onto the blog for the purpose of this course.

As well as learning about the SD Card, we were also introduced to the camcorder battery and were shown how to insert it carefully. 

 

 

 The last piece of equiptment we were introduced to was the tripod. The tripod is used to accompany the camcorder to serve several jobs, these include:

•  tilting and panning shots without the ability of shaking held in a person's hands.
• Keep the camera held in a still position and to make the clip appear more professional.
• Saves time and effort to hold the camcorder in the right position and stay there.

The legs of the tripod can be extended in order to set it up, ensuring the legs are extended properly prevents the tripod as well as the camcorder from risk of falling over. A green bubble is displayed to indicate whether the tripod is set up properly. The handle bar can be used to tilt the camera upwards/downwards to create a tilted angle and moving the handle bar sidewards creates a panning shot.